Happy Halloween :)

 

Crazy Quilt Journal Project....March Block

 Gemini: The Twins

• Colour- Yellow
• Element- Air
• Gemini Zodiac Color Palette - Jade, White, Citrine
• Gemini Zodiac No-Nos - Red, Orange

To try a define what was considered the colour jade I went to the DMC thread colour chart on Thread Bare where I found four shades of jade: jade green 505, medium jade 562, light jade 563 and very light jade 564. Luckily I had three of those thread colours. 

No DMC thread in shades of citrine. I Googled and found that the colour can be yellow, golden yellow, greenish yellow, brownish yellow, amber etc.  Lots of choice. 

 Here is my finished block. 

Take care :)

I'm still here.......!!!

Yes I'm still around in the blog universe. It's been a very weird summer for me and I haven't been very production creatively speaking. 

Also, I have developed tinnitus in both ears. To say that I was losing it mentally for awhile is understating my reaction LOL  I couldn't focus on anything. Really horrible. 

It's very difficult to describe what your hear.  I think it's different for every one who gets the condition. For me it's that buzzing noise the street light wires make in the summer when it gets really hot. Imagine that going on and on and only you can hear it. 

I have an app that has various sounds that I listen to with headphones that has really helped me. It sort of trains you to focus on sound I guess and then not focus if that makes sense.  My favourite is the "Birds By The Pond"....tweet tweet :) Reminds me of being way up north in the woods sitting beside a stream fishing with my dad.  

The Crazy Quilt Journal Project sort of staggered to an end. I'm not really all that bothered.  I'll go back to it eventually. 

Meanwhile, I'm getting hints about the unfinished Santa Claus from certain members of the family. So I guess I better finish him first. 

Take care :) 

An ode to grandmothers....sorta :)

I was looking through old emails and I found this from 2012. Gave me a chuckle.

 

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2024..... February Block

I'm a bit behind with my blocks as I did a stupid thing and burnt the thumb and index finger of my left hand. I never noticed that I used those two fingers as much when I did hand work. Like tying knots. Sheesh. 

Anyway 😀

February block...the second horoscope sign.....done!! 

Taurus: The Bull

Colour: Green

Element: Earth

Take care.

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2024.....January Block

Last post I showed you my hexagon idea which was actually plan B. I did do a bit of stitching on it but then I thought....nah. Each seam is 3 inches (7.62 cms) which is not a lot of space to work with.

I did have a Plan A but it was discarded almost immediately. The picture of the Aries image in the middle didn't really work. 

Plan C finished. Aries: The Ram. Colour: Red. Element: Fire. On to my February entry. Stay tuned.

Take care :) 

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2024 - January Part Deux.....Fixed......

I originally had to put the image into a circle of the same fabric because it was too small to fit into the middle of the hexagon. Very fiddly and me being lazy. 

I reprinted the image and I think this time it's straight. My dad was an Aries and I think he must have been looking over my shoulder and telling me it was shoddy work 😀 Hopefully he will now let me get on with it. 

Take care :) 

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2024....January

I decided to use as my theme for 2024 some zodiac signs I have. They are for card making and scrap booking. I printed them on fabric using freezer paper. 

The first sign is Aries, the Ram. Colour red. Element fire.

Sounds good right? 

I have made three attempts to put the sign into a block. I tried the traditional square block and then a circle but somehow I didn't like the look. Then I thought I'd do a hexagon. I very carefully constructed it. All sewn by hand using the English Paper Piecing method. A lot of time and work. 

Then I decided to take a picture. Arggghhhh!!!!!

Can you see what's wrong? Look at the printing on the image. It is very slightly off centre. I cannot believe it. I know I lined it up and pinned it before I sewed it in place.  It's a good thing I noticed before I started stitching.  

Maybe the fates are telling me not to do this theme. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year........

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2024......

A new blog has been created for the 2024 Crazy Quilt Journal Project. 

Here is the link.......https://cqjp2024.blogspot.com

And, of course there is the existing Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/287852761834560

I have no idea what I'll do this time around. It was hearts in 2022. Hmmm.

I'm looking forward to participating again as it gives me incentive to create. Last year it was very quiet in my sewing room.

Take care.

p.s. Santa is still at the Tate workshop. Will he be seen by Christmas day? He's a bit miffed with me at the moment and isn't cooperating. I'm probably on his Bad List. Underlined twice. 

Christmas stars.......

Someone posted this video on one of the FB groups I belong to. Christmas stars for your tree.

 

Santa is almost coming to town........

So I'm moving my doll making over here to this blog. 

Reposted from November 23, 2022. Yes you read right 2022.  I thought I'd start at the beginning. 

My husband has been asking me to make a Santa Claus for a couple of years but not the Coca Cola version. I bought a pattern called Old World Santa by Deanna Hogan of Blue Heron Dolls that seemed to fit the request. I checked and I bought it in 2007. 

To say that I'm really enthusiastic about making a Santa doll would be a lie. I wasn't when he first suggested it and I'm still not. I started it last year in November 2022 and now it's December 2023 and I have gone back to finish it. 

If you go to the link you'll see that there are two versions. I'm making the Santa wearing pants rather than the long robe. 

It's made with craft velour or doe suede which I normally don't use. My favourite fabric is Kona cotton. 

You see those zig zag lines on all the body pieces? The directions on this pattern are......."Follow the grain and stretch lines indicated on the pattern pieces.....the zig zag line indicates the cross grain (with the most stretch, perpendicular to the selvedge." That really confused me so I had to Google to make sure I understood what cross grain meant. 

So the pattern pieces are cut perpendicular to the selvedge? 

Most doll heads made in cotton are cut on the bias and not the cross grain and the body parts on the straight grain which runs parallel to the selvedge.  

As you can see in the pic above I pasted the pattern pieces to cardboard as it's much easier to trace when the pattern uses the freezer paper method. I have a really old Singer sewing machine that I use as I have a "custom" machine foot for doll making. It was a plastic foot that I never used and I took out the middle bit with cutters. Makes it easier to see the seams on the freezer paper specially when sewing those little fingers. And....you can see that the pieces are perpendicular to the selvedge. 

This is a standing Santa but this doll pattern doesn't have an armature. I have made standing dolls before without and they do stand for awhile but eventually the stuffing settles and the legs lose firmness. You can fix that by opening the legs and putting in more stuffing but I'd rather not. 

I have the body put together and it's standing. I put wooden skewers up through the feet and legs on into the body. The legs are very firmly stuffed. I plan to put Santa on a wooden base and the wooden skewers will be glued into that base to support him. 

I've picked up a few tricks over the years when making dolls. After you have inserted the pipe cleaner into the doll's fingers it helps to clamp them with a hemostat. Why? That way when you are wrapping the pipe cleaners together with tape or thread or whatever method you choose to secure them they stay in place.  Otherwise they move about in the hand and you have to keep resetting them into the fingers. Hope that makes sense.

This is where I got to last year. Now I have to make the head. I think there may be a few swear words. 

I will be back before December 2024. Stay tuned 😀

Question?????

I was wondering if anyone would mind if I posted about my doll making on this page. By that I mean the how to's and process and so forth and of course the final product. 

I do have a sort of blog for doll making but I only have 4 followers and it gets lonely over there 😀