Wonky is as wonky does

I had an interesting phone conversation this morning with my mother-in-law, who lives in Bendigo. I told her it was cold here in Canberra, and I was going to spend most of the day making a quilt from a pattern and some fabric I'd bought in March. And that I had a lot of kits and patterns-with-fabric that were wallowing in my sewing room and I really wanted to sew them. My mother-in-law is 83 years old and also a quilter. She said she understood what I meant, and that she wouldn't have time to make everything she had kits and fabrics for, and she worried what would become of her own sizable stash once she was gone.

Wow. It was a maudlin conversation, but one that rings true for any of us with a sizable yarn or fabric stash. What happens with our stuff when we are no longer here to enjoy it?

So I went back to my pattern-and-fabric and suddenly hit a wall of frustration. I'd ironed my fabric, and on reading the patterm, templates were mentioned. I don't do templates. Can't stand the things. If I'd read the back of the pattern when I'd first seen it, I would never have bought it.

And then I remembered I had a ruler for patterns such as these. And I decided not to bother using the pattern I'd bought. I was going to go it alone.



I'd bought this ruler at a quilt show after attending a demonstration on how to use jelly rolls. And I've never used it before today (and yet I have quite the collection of jelly rolls!)



And here's the problem I now had.My fabric, bought on recommendation from the quilt shop I bought the now-rejected pattern from, was a Kaffe Fassett stripe, and it's not at all straight. The stripes are almost freehand, so trying to get a neat intersection between the four pieces was providing impossible. However, I was getting some pretty cool, if not wonky, results.





I know there will be people reading this post who will gasp in shock and horror at my non-perfect blocks. But I like them. I'm embracing the wonkiness of them. But I can guarantee that each one will measure 7.25 ".



And here's where the design wall comes in. I've mentioned my design wall before, and some of you asked for more information about it. Design walls are all different, depending on personal preference, but mine is a length of flannel fabric, about $11 a metre from Lincraft. I have previously used pellon batting as well. When you hang the flannel or batting up against the wall an amazing things happens when you put a quilt block on it. It sticks. No pins or glue required. It's a quilting miracle. My wall is curently just pinned on the spare room wall with thumb tacks, but eventually I will be making a permanent wall with foam core board and screwing it to my sewing room wall.

Using the design wall means you can see things at eye level. And you can start playing. When I put my 7 completed blocks up, I realised that while they were wonky, they were also a little conformist. So I put some pieces on the wall and mixed them up to see what I had.



One block is made of four different cuts, while the other is made of just two. And mixed in with the other "all the same" wonky blocks?



It kind of gives the quilt a bit more zing.

In keeping with the wonky theme, I'd decided to make a log cabin border around each block, with each log being a different width. Once the blocks are rotated, they will look off-centre and give, hopefully, an optical illusion of different sized blocks (which they won't be at all). But I had to audition which colour fabric would look best as a background, for the logs.



Grey looks pretty good. A little bit industrial, and certainly doesn't look traditional, which is what I'm after.



And white looks pretty good too, although I'm not much of a white fabric fan (don't let the fact I have 3.5 metres of the stuff in my stash fool you).

I'm going to leave these on the wall for the day and keep walking past it. As I do so I'll be forming new ideas and rearranging blocks as I make more of them before I put them all together into a quilt. And that's what makes having a design wall such a valuable quilting tool.

Late afternoon, midwinter

I'm having a bit of a down-in-the-dumps kind of day. I came home early this afternoon to an empty house as the Mister has gone to see his family for a few days. I used to love having the house to myself, but these days not so much. I thought about doing some sewing to cheer myself up, but then I looked outside the window at the late afternoon sun and picked up my camera instead.



I really, really love this photography thing. I still have a lot to learn about it, and I do love the low f-stop setting a little too much, but I'm enjoying learning more each time I take my camera out of it's bag.



Today I fiddled with the manual focus. I love the effects I can get when mixed with different light sources - in this case a late afternoon winter sun.



Photographing random things in my backyard seems to cheer me up. When I think about it, it's the first thing I did each time I came home from hospital stays over the last few months, even though I could barely move. These two posts reflect that. And I seem to have a bit of a things for death and dessication. I promise I won't read too much into that, just so long as you don't.

Tonight I will sit on the couch and crochet my lovely purple shawl, and watch something happy on TV. I might have some ice cream. And tomorrow I will take some more photos.

Projects lost and forgotten

Recently I was searching for a partially made crocheted cardigan. I had a cold and I wasn't able to sleep, and I wanted to sit up in bed and crochet something.

I found my cardigan in the sewing room, in a bag along with a lost crochet book, lost yarn, lost stitch markers and a lost shawl.

Yes, a lost shawl.




It's called the Eva shawl, which Thornberry and I challenged each other to make back in September. I remember finishing it on our around my birthday in late September and being a little, ah, perturbed by the 70s colours in the shawl. And then I obviously shoved it in a bag with the cardigan, yarn, stitch markers, and book, all of which became lost and forgotten. And all the shawl had needed was a good blocking.





Oddly, the colours don't upset me as much as they did last year, and I really like the shawl. The shape of it drapes nicely around my shoulders, making them very warm although the yarn, Kauni Wool 8/2 Effektgarn isn't the softest stuff ever made, and in fact I would go as far to say that this yarn is scratchy and distinctly un-snuggly. Bummer.

And the forgotten cardigan? Take a look.

I have months to go on this. So slow going. And so heavy that it's hard to hold up when crocheting it. I get tired, and tired of it, very quickly.

My latest project is being made using some yarn I bought from my friend Suzy Hausfrau. She has started an online yarn store here in Canberra, importing European yarns. I fell in love with some little skeins of Holst Garn, which is a 2 ply merino and silk lace yarn from Denmark. It's a little stiff when you work with it, but apparently softens up once washed.

It's another shawl (because I'm addicted to them). The pattern isn't apparent until you pin it and stretch it out. I'm probably a quarter of the way through this pattern, which is a Japanese by Pierrot yarns. And I love the colour, even though everyone who knows me knows that I don't like purple. If it's any consolation, I also bought some baby alpaca from Suzy in deep burgundy red.

But I am loving this shawl, and the yarn and the colour. Maybe I need more purple in my life anyway.

Toscane

One of the things I love most about living in Canberra is winter, with the crisp air, smell of woodsmoke and gorgeous blue skies. However I am not loving winter so much this year. Winter has been kicking my butt. I am so cold all the time, probably from being so sick and having reduced circulation from not moving enough when I was recuperating from my surgery. For the first time in 20 years, I have actually looked forward to summer. And I hate summer.

Last year I made a beautiful charcoal coloured shawl using Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, and I've been wearing it constantly on these super cold days we've been having. It is so unbelievable warm and as I still had four skeins of the "Bristol Red" Silky Wool in the stash from when I purchased it last year, I thought it was time to make another big warm shawl to keep my shoulders and neck warm.



This is the Toscane shawl, another pattern by EclatDuSoleil. I really love Helene's patterns, obviously - this is my third of hers and I have plans to make more. She has a real knack for shawl pattern writing.

The pattern recommends using a floufy yarn like alpaca to bring out the bobbles in the stitch pattern, but I went in the opposite direction with a very matte, very textural yarn. I like how it turned out. This shawl will be worn frequently - like it's charcoal cousin, it's warm and cozy. Unlike it's cousin it's RED, my favourite colour.


I think I'm going to wear it tomorrow for an early, cold start to the Old Bus Depot Markets' Creative Fibre Day. I don't do the markets anymore, but Carrie does and she'll be selling my sack bags on her Fibrewebs stall. I've offered to help her out for a couple of hours (and not just because I might get first dibs on her lovely  hand dyed yarn). If you're in Canberra, come along - it's always a great day.

Pretty triangles

Last October I was at my usual Saturday morning knit and crochet session with the Queanbeyan girls when Carrie brought along some gorgeous hand dyed merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn to show us. I was lucky enough to snaffle a skein which had red tones - burgundy, scarlett and a little sparkle of pale red.

The quandary then was how to use it. I was on my "10 shawls in 2010" mission back then, but as the skein was only 400 metres long I wasn't too sure I'd get much of a crocheted shawl out of it. I came across a pattern called "Pretty Triangle Scarf" by Kim Miller, and decided it was the perfect pattern for my gorgeous skein of red. It was a little shawl, worn like a kerchief. I knew I'd get a lot of wear out of it.



The yarn is gorgeous - soft, warm and springy. It was lovely to crochet and from memory the pattern only took me a couple of weeks to complete. All I had to do was block it and make the tassles.



And of course that took me until this week to do. I was home sick with a bad cold, and some lovely warm sun was streaming through the spare bedroom windows. I took a chance, used my new blocking wires, and it was dry by the evening.



I was doubtful that the tassles would look any good. But I like them now they're attached to the scarf. They work as a balancing weight against the rest of the scarf.

I'm on such a scarf and shawl bent at the moment. I have another red shawl currently being blocked on the spare bed which hopefully I'll be able to show you in the next couple of days. It's big and snuggly and I think I'm in love with it. I can't wait for it to come off the blocking wires (hopefully by tonight - my cold has me banished to the spare room, and that's the blocking bed!). Here's a sneak peak.



I'm supposed to be in the Blue Mountains at Wintersong with my friends this weekend, but my blasted cold has kept me away. I am consoling myself with lots of hot tea and lots of crocheting and sewing. It's not the same as singing, but it will have to do.

A day in the country

Our friend Patricia, who I made a cowl for a few weeks ago, came to Canberra to visit this weekend to double check I survived the ordeal of the last few months (she was pleasantly surprised). It was a good excuse to do some touring around the region, even though Pat and I both moved here from North Queensland in 1991 and she only moved away 5 years ago.

But still - any excuse.



We headed to a little town called Gundaroo for lunch at Grazing. It's our favourite place for lunch - the food is beautiful and the atmosphere relaxed. We always go to visit the chef's garden out the back before hopping back in the car to drive home again.

Did I mention the food? This is the parfait, and it tastes just like a Dutch delicatessan smells, all almondy and cinnamony and spicy.



When Patricia arrived earlier in the day, I presented her with another scarf I had made her. The pattern is Solveig by EclatDuSoleil (Ravelled here). It's a crocheted baktus shawlette, worked from one side to the other and then a ruffled edge is crocheted on. It's all done in one piece, and you know what that means? Only two ends to weave in. Bonus.



I was ambivalent about the ruffled edge when I started it, not being much of a ruffly person, but once it started to form I was hooked (ha ha).  The yarn is hand dyed Fibrewebs Merino Silk in a luscious eggplant colour. I bought a couple of skeins of it from Carrie before she sold it at our July market stall last year. So glad I did. I love this yarn. I could marry it except I doubt it would make me cups of tea after dinner like the current yarn husband does.



I love making things for people who I love who I know are going to appreciate it. I've been making Patricia scarves and neckwarmers for years and she still wears them all. My sister-in-law sent me a photo yesterday of my baby nephew in his pram covered in the rainbow ripple blanket I crocheted his older brother back in 2007. Being a quilter and a crocheter, I get the chance to keep people warm, and that's a really nice feeling.

Kaffe Fassett revisited

A few months ago I went along to a Kaffe Fassett workshop and learned a lot. And then life happened and I never got to finish my quilt, even though I had very good intentions of having it all made and quilted by winter. But on Friday I bit the bullet and cut the rest of the diamonds out.



I then created a new temporary design wall in the spare bedroom. Except I have a friend coming to stay next weekend. If that isn't enough incentive to get this quilt sewn together, I don't know what is. If you're familiar with the quilt, you'd see that I have cut diamonds for the outer border (the bright blue and pink spot) so that I can trim them straight later on. In the book, Kaffe says I should be cutting out shapes from templates so they "fit in" the gaps, but I am refusing to take sewing advice from someone who doesn't even sew his own quilts. Fabric wastage be damned.



A quilter friend told me a couple of months ago about pressing your seams open - she'd been to a workshop with Brenda Henning where this had been discussed. A few text messages flew back and forth between us this afternoon, and I decided to give it a go.  Unfortunately it didn't work out as well as I wanted it to, mainly because of the diagonal seams doing my head in a little. So the seams are now pressed to one side.

This is my little finger pressing tool*. It's brilliant - and it beats using an iron (which only stretches your fabrics anyway - I leave my ironing until larger segments are sewn together).



There are a lot of pins used in making this quilt. I want to make the effort in trying to make my points match up (I am failing at this, but Brianna has already made her quilt from the class and assures me it will all work out in the end!)



It's very slow going. This quilt is testing both my patience and my ability to eyeball a 1/4 inch seam and pin through it. I shall persevere though, if only for the fact that I think it will look spectacular once it's done. And once it's done I can get on with making more quilts.

*In case you were wondering, it's a Clover pressing tool.

Progressing

Recovery is awful. I'm sure it would be a pleasant place to be if you were a sloth or a hibernating bear, but when you are someone like me who is usually on the go all the time, with a finger in every pie and doing three things at once, it's just frustrating. You want to do things, but your body just won't let you. I used to be able to swim 20 laps at the pool. Now a walk to the local shops and back is a massive achievement (worthy of a two hour nap afterwards).

This week I had a little breakthrough, both in mind and body. I decided to get back on the crochet testing bandwagon again - last year I tested a couple of shawls for designers and it was a lot of fun. There are deadlines, negotiations, and deciphering of instructions. So I took on a small project to start with - a Ruffled Clutch Purse, by Chocolate Mints in a Jar. It was pretty quick - crocheted in a couple of hours.



It's lined and has a zipper. I think it's pretty cute, although probably not the easiest thing to crochet when you have a normally tight gauge.



I am now crocheting another shawl for my friend Patricia to go with her red cowl from the other day - it's called Solveig and I'm using Carrie's Fibrewebs Silky Merino sock yarn. I'm not a purple lover, but I'm loving this colour. It reminds me of bruised grapes.

Dear Patricia

I made you this crocheted cowl* for winter. I hope you like it. There are a number of ways you can wear it, as you'll see. But don't be limited by my lack of imagination (and the photographer's impatience when I was modelling it) - I'm sure you'll have fun finding ways for the cowl to keep you warm.

You can leave it loose and casual.




Or you can pin it up against your neck. You can use a shawl pin, or a brooch, or a chopstick. Or rely on the yarn sticking to itself. If you wear a coat over the top, this is perfect.




Or you can pull it up to also keep your nose and ears warm, or to hold up your local bank. Whatever suits.




Lots of love
Michelle xo

* Specs for those of you who aren't Patricia: The pattern is Cowlin' Around by Deborah Atkinson and it's not only a freebie but a great pattern. The yarn is Fibreworks hand dyed 4 ply 100% wool. It's a lovely yarn, but I have never used a Fibreworks yarn that didn't bleed like nobody's business when it was being soaked. Patricia - don't wear a white jacket with this cowl on a rainy day!  Hook was 2.5 mm which was the smallest I had used in a while and by jingo it might have made me go cross-eyed. But I loved making this and I am going to make myself one, perhaps with some polwarth undyed, or 8 ply alpaca or something. You should make one too.

Practical

Besides the traumatic memories of my ordeal (and a lifelong friendship formed with my roomie Pat) I brought home something else from hospital three weeks ago. No, not a raging staph infection. It's called a t-tube. Sure, it sounds cute, but I'm not at all fond of it, except for the fact it is keeping me alive. It has to stay attached to me and my bile duct for at least 6 weeks after surgery, and is there for testing and any further blockages or cases of jaundice. And as my adorable surgeon keeps reminding me - if it comes out, I need another operation.

God help me - I don't ever want another operation like that again.

When I first came home, the t-tube was clamped and attached to my tummy with dressings and tapes by the community nurses who look after me a few times a week. Guess who's massively allergic to all dressings and tapes? Yes - that would be me. Allergies mean blisters mean infections, and so the dressings were abandoned and my waist was effective bandaged* to keep the tube together.



I knew there was a better solution. I had an idea to make a tube of stretch fabric to hold the main section of tube to my stomach, and a pocket for the extra clamped length which could then be tucked inside the tube when worn. I used some stashed stretch fabric, and got to work.



So now I have a very comfortable alternative to the bandage.



(needs some applique, or puff paint)
This is actually the first sewing project I have undertaken since I went into hospital at the beginning of May. And I can't believe I made something so utilitarian and ugly rather than something warm or beautiful or (publicly) wearable. The white is a bit boring though, and given I have to wash these every day, I'm going to make the next two sets a bit more exciting.



Love stripes.


*I say "bandaged" but what it really comprised of was the cut-off top of a stretchy adult diaper, courtesy of ACT Health. It was kind of embarassing, but also laughable. Because I've discovered if you can't laugh at your predicament, you cry and that's no fun at all.