New project, and swan news

This week I was looking for a nice hand sewing project for Tour de France, and came across a leftover block from an earlier project. I unpicked the outer row and two hexagons and had this flower for my new Grandmother's Garden:

When I first started blogging, it was to get this quilt finished at last after working on it on and off during 11 summers and leaving it to mature for several years before the final push in 2008.

My daughter's quilt has 2,226 little hexagons, hand pieced and hand stitched. I'm still going to work that way, and use the same fabrics I had chosen for the big quilt, but this time the quilt will just be a little one. I will share this process with you, and I promise it will not take 17 years!

The reason why I needed a new project was that I finished the previous one. I had been knitting beanies and a scarf for Jan's Oz Comfort Quilt projects. Here I used some super soft and fine yarn Stephanie has sent me:

Here is the multi-coloured green beanie again with two others I knitted with my leftover yarns.

I mentioned in my stash use report the clothespin aprons I made. Here is mine, hanging on the washline waiting for the laundry to dry. The fabric is ' "Klopins" - Sven A. Gefeldt - Design Finnish Linen printed exclusively for Nordiska Kompaniet'. Nordiska Kompaniet is a big warehouse in Sockholm, Sweden. The fabric used to be curtains in our utility room when Scandinavian Design was getting very famous, in the 1950-60's. Now the curtains are faded and stained, but they can have a new life in close contact with real clothespins. In case you wonder, the design is white clothespins on yellow background.

Some weeks ago I went to the village centre to take pictures of the swan family, last year's couple with five new cygnets, who had been seen there again. On that day there were big lawn mowers working around the pond, and a man with a trimmer too, so the peace-loving birds had moved back to the smaller, more quiet pond where they nest. Last week I was lucky to have my camera with me on an early morning walk. The pond was quiet and the weather was beautiful.

One of the swan parents was there! They obviously take some time off from childcare and fly in turns to this bigger pond for some private time and a quiet breakfast without interruptions.

I stayed behind a tree and hardly moved when I took several pictures of this whooper swan, but maybe the click of the camera was too loud for him after a while. I felt he was saying something about staring and privacy, so I put the camera away and walked home. I had private cup of tea and some newspaper reading without interruption and without anyone staring at me.

I'm looking forward to seeing the cygnets' flight practice at the end of the summer when they need to get to these wider waters in order to have long enough landing strips.

Zippered pocket tutorial, and bird babies

 Bags are nice, and bags with a zippered pocket inside are even nicer. When I make a bag for myself, I usually like to add a pocket to keep my keys and cards safe while the bag can preferably be open or closed with a single button. Maybe you think zippers are difficult to sew, but I can show that they are not necessarily. (Changing a zipper for boys' jeans is on the top of my least favourite list.)

EDITED TUTORIAL
First you need to measure the zipper you are going to use. I prefer 18 or 20 cm, the length commonly used on skirts and trousers. Measure the teethed part only, and add a tiny bit like 2-3 mm.

Cut the pocket so the width is the same or more than the length of your zipper tape. The pocket can only be as deep as the distance from the zipper to the bag bottom. Draw a line as long as you just measured, about 3 cm from the top of your pocket fabric:

Pin your pocket fabric right sides together on the lining where you want the pocket. Now sew a square around your line using the side of your normal sewing machine foot as a guide. Make right angle corners and double stitch the ends where your drawn line ends.

Here is my square, you may need to click the picture to see  better.

Then comes the exciting part: you must cut along the line. I start by folding the fabric in half across the line and cut a hole along the line somewhere in the middle.

Then open the fold and carefully cut along the line. When you are close to the end, cut towards each corner but be careful not to cut your stitches. Do this at the other end as well.

Then pull the pocket fabric through the opening, and finger press the seams flat. Pin the pocket on the lining at the corners, finger press the ends so there are no wrinkles. If this seems impossible, you may need to cut a bit more, but again be careful with the stitches. You could iron the opening to make things easier at the next stage.

Next take you zipper and pin it under the opening with the pins on the right side. Use your zipper foot if you have one. This can be done with a normal foot or a quilt foot as well. I usually stich the zipper down on both sides, so I started on the right side, with the zipper pulled down a bit so I can make a straight line.  When I have sewn  down to the first pin, I stop with the needle down, lift the foot and pull the zipper closed. Foot down again, and continue sewing close to the edge of the fabric all the way down, make a nice turn and double stitch across the bottom. Then change your zipper foot to the other side and sew across the top a double stitch, and finally down the left side of the zipper. Again, you can open the zipper for the first bit if your needle comes close to the zipper pull.

Here is the zipper on the reverse. Notice that I have sewn the top ends of the zipper tape together, this helps to sew a nice square seam when fastening the zipper.
 

 

To make the pocket, sew both pocket tops together above the zipper -the zipper foot  is good for this as well. You need to fold the bag lining away and sew only the pocket fabrics.

 

Then join the pocket sides, and bottom, if you have a separate pocket back fabric (I had a long piece which I  folded at the bottom). Stitch the pocket front piece (with the zipper) on the pocket back with right sides together.

 The pocket is now ready, and you can finish your bag lining. You can make any bag pattern perfect for you by adding the pockets you need.

Here is my new bag made of the fabrics I bought in June. I have another one coming in white with purple dots.

A week ago the pied flycatcher babies flew out from their nice house. This last one took a long time, coming to the opening and going back in again.

Finally it made the decision, jumped out and ended up on a big branch about a metre from the nest. The mother came immediately and rewarded the baby with a treat. I watched them for about five minutes, but apparently the baby then knew how to fly, and they both vanished. I can still hear them almost every day, but they don't live in the nest any more.


The baby is almost the same colour as the oak, and with his or her back towards the camera. You can click the  pictures to enlarge.

Stash use report for June

Welcome to hear about my month with fabrics. Take some rhubarb upside down cake with your coffee:

Or maybe I can bribe you with some wild strawberries? The aroma is way better than in the big strawberries from the garden or strawberry field.

You have heard of my favourite fabric shop closing, and selling their stock with 30 % and 40 % off., and how I started buying fabrics for backings and bags and unknown purposes. Well, in June the prices went irresistible:

Sewing notions -50 % and all fabrics -70 %. With the cake and the strawberries I offered you, can you blame me for this:

or this?

I may have not photographed all new fabrics but I did measure them, and  25.4 m new fabrics bought with money came home with me in June. (This is my clever way of not counting the fabrics I have been given, as they are not new and I didn't ask for them.) It is a lot, but I really can't see why on earth I should need to buy any new fabrics this whole year.

On the stash reducing side, I have not been quite idle. I used 3 m for the children's pillowcases, about 1.2 m for my Antique Mary Jane bag (as you see, all fabrics used count, old and new!), 1.5 m for some clothespin aprons and Kaaren's block, and finished the crumble quilt which took 3.4 m off my shoulders, as I already counted the crumble blocks last month. The fabrics used in June total 9,1 m. That is not bad after all, I think, only leaves me with 16,3 m more fabric than I had at the beginning of the month. Ouch!  I sincerely hope everyone else carrying the Use your Stash badge has done better than I have!

The weather has been hot again, and we are expecting a refreshing thunder and rain before we melt away. Not much energy for sewing as the sewing machine is in the hottest room of the house. I have been stripping paint instead, trying to get all the black paint off a little cupboard before I will paint it white and fill it with my sewing things which without warning have taken over the high table I was supposed to keep empty for cutting my fabrics.

Mary Jane, the antique version

The unofficial European Bag Lady Club is launching today their newest bag. This time we have made the Modern Mary Jane bag by Loft Creations. Simone won the pattern in Stephanie's giveaway (you can see three version in this link!), and Stephanie was so generous that she sent the pattern as a gift to Melanie and me so we could all make this nice and useful bag as a "Bag of the Month". Simone already made one version using the kit she won, but today we'll see her second Modern Mary Jane.

I decided to use an old, stained tablecloth with torn hemstich and a hole.

This is my Antique Mary Jane:

I used the best part of the tablecloth for the panel, and cut the remaining embroideries for the squares around it, adding some colours of the stitcheries for fun. Inside I added a zippered pocket:

I remembered I had a vintage button from Stephanie, and the size and colour were just perfect for the bag.

This is the backside. I had some old linen for the back panel and the handles.

Finally a closer look at the front. Many of the embroideries are worn from use and washing, so this has been a well-loved tablecloth. I'm happy to give it a new life.

Thank you Stephanie, this was a nice and easy pattern. I like roomy bags with something special, just like this one. Now everyone, pop in to see what Simone and Melanie have put together!

A while ago Stephanie told a sad story about an empty robin's nest in her garden, so I thought I could cheer you up with these pictures. We have three couples of pied flycatchers (ficedula hypoleuca) in our birdhouses, and they are all busy feeding their young babies.

I just read that the babies eat about 15,000 insects during their 16 days in the nest, so we should be really grateful for the mama and papa birds. Above is the mama bringing a mouthful to the babies, and below  the papa looking for new prey.



Have a nice Midsummer!

Crumble block quilt top, and tomato news

The big peonies are opening their flowers in our garden, just for Midsummer.

This week I took my pile of crumble blocks and added white sashings with black cornerstones (from stash, naturally) to make the quilt look less wild. This will go to Australia for Oz Comfort Quilts. Jan is working all the time to make quilts from donated tops or QAYG blocks and sending the finished quilts to places where they are most needed: flood victims in Queensland, earthquake survivors in Christchurch, New Zealand, abused kids or homeless people. Read this post on her blog Oz Comfort Quilts.

These pillowcases - fabrics I couldn't resist for 70 % off the price in the fabric shop now closed down forever - will find their way to kids through Jan as well. Can you imagine, she has sent 396 quilts this year alone! Naturally, she has "sub-contractors" all over the world, but joining the QAYG blocks or making quilts from donated quilt tops is a huge effort. In her spare time (!!) she knits scarves and beanies to keep those people warm as it is winter now down there. If you feel like you could join in and help, you find more information on Jan's blog. If you don't feel like sewing or knitting but still think you want to help her with the postage fees, there is now a donate button on her blog, and on the other blog as well: Sew Many Quilts, Too Little Time.

The beginning of the summer here has not been as warm as the end of spring in May. However, our tomatoes are doing fine, they have grown higher and there are first signs of tiny buds to be seen. How are your tomatoes, Candace? On Sunday I sowed radishes in front of the tomatoes, and this morning there was a green row to be seen already! Melanie, these were left over from last year.

On my way home the other day I saw the first wild strawberries by the roadside. The ones in our yard are not quite ready yet, but I think we can celebrate Midsummer with a handful of them.

Lazy days

Writing a new blog post takes longer when you don't have anything to show. The weather has been hot, +27 C  and more (80 F), far too hot for me. The plants need water. Yesterday we were sure there was going to be a thunder but all we got was a few drops of water and some rumbling sounds. I have not sewn anything worth showing. It is too hot, and I need a new cutting mat.  I have been getting to know my new  toy:

I had some birthday money and decided it was time to give Mr. K his lovely little pocket camera back and get my own. This big camera is not so easy to carry along, but on the other hand, I always have big shoulderbags, so I'll just leave out the umbrella and the book if I want to take the camera with me. I'm only learning, and I have not yet read through the 195 pages of the manual. Uploading the next pictures on blogger I noticed the huge size of them, about 2.4 Mt compared to the first one, 83.9 kt. I need to find out how I can take smaller pictures!

At the beginning of the summer I like to use the new harvest, when the green things start to grow again. Nature is ready to give us organic food which is rich in vitamin C and iron, nettles:

I wear rubber gloves and use scissors when I cut the top three pairs of leaves of the nettles growing at the edge of the woods. This loosely filled bucketful was enough to make three meals. I rinsed them in cold water and blanced them for a minute or two, and pureed them. I mixed one third with potatoes and cream to make a soup, and the rest  of the nettles went in the freezer. They can be used like spinach, and taste almost the same.

I wanted the bigger camera so I could take better pictures of the birds without disturbing them. This blackbird father was struggling with a big worm he was going to take to his babies, and he didn't notice me at al because I could sit on the verandah while he was down on the lawn.

You can click on the picture to see the details. If your don't like his kind of food, click on my soup plate instead.

Now it's time to drink some cold water before I melt. I promise to sew something for the next post!



Stash use report for May

This has been a productive month after all. I have used lots of fabrics (5.3 m in May) from my stash to make the QAYG blocks I have already shown in my last post, but I wanted to use the too short bits as well, and started making crumble blocks to clear the sewing table. I tried to use colour themes for the blocks:

I even used tiny triangles to make squares to start a block:

Sometimes there were no matching fabrics long enough for the last 6½" side, so I pieced them too:

At the end of the project I noticed I was trying to make log cabin blocks with no system at all.

Finally I had my blocks, packed the remaining scraps in the plastic bag and looked under my desk: No bits wider than 1" in the waste!

I estimate the blocks used up about 1.5 m fabric. Hip hurrah! The Raggedy  Friends Quilt took about 3.7 m; I have been working on it since last July, but not counted the fabrics until now that it is finished.

I used 2.7 m for a jacket and lining, and 0.9 m for a slip, and gave away 0.7 m fabric for the Bag Club ladies, which is also counted as using my stash. This means that 14.8 m of fabrics have stopped being in my stash! On the other hand, I have only bought 2.2 m new fabrics, balancing very well the ugly results of April. Now I can feel relaxed and think about the fabric store selling all fabrics for 40 % off, as there is not much time left.


I waited for the apple trees to look like whipped cream again to take a lovely picture, but before I could really see the blossoms, white petals were blowing in the wind! I hope it was warm enough for the bees to fly so there will be apples in September.

In October Mr. K and I planted some Phlox Subulata on the slope facing the street.

They survived the Winter very well and are blooming now!

The narcissi are blooming for the first time in their new place, last year they just made buds.



Today is the first day of Summer, and at my time it meant the beginning of a three month summer vacation. Have a happy Summer, holiday or not!