Bag and Baggage.

This is the bag. The VHC has taken to a little Christmas bag I made for his sister, and it has proved quite useful for carrying the things hè likes to take around with him. Like juice, and Thomas books, and other essentials. This was going to be a Christmas present, but I think he may get it early because it makes granny and granddad's life easier. The handle is like that because it is adjustable as one grows. I made it fairly quickly yesterday morning, with bits and bobs from the stadh.

The baggage, on the other hand, was not quickly made.

I could go on at great length about everything that went wrong, but I won't, because almost everything that could go wrong did. And if it did go right, I changed my mind about it...

It is some of the velvet which I roller-printed after the last CTW session. It was going to be a Dorothy bag, but after I found Alysn Midgelow-Marsden's instructions here for 'spice bags' it became this, although the techniques are different to hers. 

Much easier to construct, I thought, no setting in of bases or channels for pull cords. And the instructions were clear and it was indeed easier to construct - if I hadn't had to deconstruct it several times...

Still, I like the result. Totally useless of course, but a good way to show off a bit of stitching.

The other thing I finished this weekend was a third and final (?) blanket. I forgot to photograph it before I washed it and as I'm unwilling to wrestle it off the drier to repair the omission, you will just have to imagine a large, dark blue, square woolly thing. As I finished it half way through the last episode ever of 'Borgen', (sob, sob, weep, weep) I had to find some more subtitle-reading knitting, so I started something very slightly smaller.

Socks. I have too much sock wool, although not as much too much as I had Shetland, so Saturday nights,  for the foreseeable future until I get bored, will be sock knitting nights. Assuming there are subtitles to read, although 'The Bridge' seems to be returning in the New Year. Worth watching if you missed it the first time, and even if you didn't.

This afternoon has been spent wrestling with a Christmas tree (him) and with present wrapping and card writing (me). Soon to be followed, I hope, by a cup of tea and a mince pie. I am generally of the Scrooge persuasion at Christmas, but some things I like - mince pies, trees, and school Christmas concerts. We went to one of those last week, and have another at nursery this week. Can't wait!

Busy busy busy…

Having a college-free morning, I buckled down and tidied the workroom. Sort of. Put print-outs in the right places, emptied the bins, put some bits of fabric away – so now you can see the floor and a bit of work space.

It won’t last.

Then off to college to assemble my plinth wrapped in corrugated card with a tatty cardboard box on top of it. This was a relatively quick process - apart from taking all the cardboard off and remounting it with the corrugations outside 'cos Miss thought it would look better – and it did. Note to self – always make sure your display doesn’t have to be hung on the wall or from the ceiling so you don’t have to wait for a man to come and erect things for you. [Double entendre intended – sorry, I’ve got that sort of mind.]

Since I got home I finished this – which I mentioned a while ago and then went very quiet about. It got shelved for a while because it had got to the machine sewing stage and I was more in the mood for sitting in sunshine with a bit of hand sewing. But as part of the deck clearing, I decided to finish it. Not sure about the flap, and I think the button will have to be moved, but it holds the essentials better than the elderly black one I've been using.

 

For those who remember a tirade I posted ages ago about small bags, I should point out that this my little bag – I also carry a bigger one with all the rest of my junk in it – other specs, drawing kit for Babybel,  shopping bags, rain hat, extra tissues, camera etc. etc. etc.

So now that is out of the way I have no more excuses for not getting started on SAM, PMS, PCs and essay - not even the photo challenge, which ends tomorrow.

The penultimate challenge is ‘black and white’. Now, PFAEC has lots of recipes for turning your colour images B&W, but the effect I fancied for the image I wanted to use wasn’t one of them. I wanted something moody, and ‘Nocturnes’ inspired by Whistler, seemed to fit the bill - so I decided to try the Nocturnes effect and remove the colour afterwards.

I think I was a bit heavy handed with some of the steps so it’s a bit cartoonish, but I’m quite pleased with it. Can you imagine Heathcliff behind those windows? [For those who don’t know it, it’s Haworth Parsonage, where the Brontes lived.]

Tomorrow is the final self portrait - will Cheshire reveal her true face to the world at last?

Not bum-bum likely. 

Naughty granny keeps her promise …

at last.

Several weeks ago, I offered to make one of these for Babybel, who is into dollies – or was then.

And the weeks passed, and I lost the instructions, and I forgot about it – but when I was having a tidy up earlier in the week, I found the print-out – and then I found some fabric – and I felt like doing a bit of straightforward sewing – so here’s my version.

Slightly modified as I had to cut my doll sling according to my cloth, but the instructions were clear and it went together quickly.

So, flushed with success, I decided to make a bag as well, using some similar fabric from the stash and a magazine pattern.

I have ranted written before about my difficulties with a magazine pattern. This one was no better. From the mysterious metre of bondaweb mentioned in the list of materials, which never appeared again, to the ‘you what?’ instructions for the straps, to the downright wrong instructions for sewing up the main bag piece. Not sure if it was badly written in the first place or badly subedited [do sub-editors still exist?] – but if you didn’t have  any experience of making bags you would have ended up very frustrated, and with a back pack with it’s straps on the side rather than the back of the bag.

It is finished, but as with the last one it is an odd size – a backpack which looks as if it is meant for an adult but with straps only long enough for a child. I think it will probably become a toy bag!

Next time you see me tempted by a magazine pattern, warn me off!

Any problems with this are entirely my own fault. It is, as I’m sure you recognise, a knitted book.

I was not so foolish  to think that I was the first person to think of knitting books, but Google only came up with knitted book covers. But then, when I fossicked around Aimee Lee’s website, where I'd gone to drool over her sari book, I found this and this and this - and a lot of other wonderful stuff.

I love the materials Lee uses – not that I want to copy her, but I do think I need to explore other colours and textures. Having said that, mine feels lovely – soft and squishy. More experimentation needed.

It’s definitely not a drawing though.

Fed up of the election yet?

Thanks to Margaret Cooter for the link to this lot. which may cheer you up a bit.

Apart from that bit of disillusioned cynicism – to paraphrase Margaret – it’s been a disappointing week. College was OK – I got qualified approval to go ahead with what I’m doing - ‘as long as I justify it and don’t just go for the obvious approach’ - [thinking – that’s difficult!] - but I am still waiting for the bits of textiles from Babybel and Co. Nagging has taken place, I admit it – which has been followed by a deafening silence.

They’ll probably never speak to me again now I have published this on the world wide web.

A digression

Why have people taken to referring to ‘the internets’ in the plural – does anyone know? Have I missed some stunning technological development or is it just an affectation?

Back to the plot

The second disappointment was an outing to an embroidery exhibition yesterday – not going to say which one, but it is a group whose work I've seen before and found quite inspiring. Not this time.

About half of the exhibitors had chosen to  show groups of very similar pieces – same shape, same size, same colours, same subject, same technique, same price – anything up to a dozen or more, rarely more than A4 in size. One larger piece would have looked great – lots of small ones meant that individual pieces got lost. Although each exhibitor had her own style and technique, the result was still very samey.

So I went and spent money in Hobbycraft instead. And had chocolate cake and coffee in Haskins.

Today I decided I wanted to make a bag. Of course, I have lots of bags – but there was an interesting looking pattern in a magazine I bought recently – again I’m not going to say which one – so I thought I’d try it. I spotted fairly quickly that the measurements given for the straps were wrong – a shoulder bag with straps 40cm long? – but I think some of the other measurements must have been wrong too, because the bag ended up long and narrow – even after I’d added a sort of yoke to the top to make it a bit deeper. It would make a great knitting bag if I hadn’t put long straps on it!

So that was a wasted day. Wensleydale said I  was developing my skills, but I’m not sure what skills I’ve developed apart from swearing, sulking, and trying to turn a sow’s ear into something closer to a silk purse [but not much closer…]

And of course, because it is a Bank Holiday weekend, the weather has turned cold and drab. Not that we go out on Bank Holiday weekends, but it would have been nice to sit in the garden and listen to the planes.

So a bit of disillusioned cynicism was exactly what I needed …

P.S. The BBC’s weather website says ‘chance of snow’ on Monday. They cannot be serious!

Thanks for the comments …

there is someone out there after all! Obviously the onion had stumped everyone.

For once, it didn’t snow on Tuesday/Wednesday night – well, not here in the coastal plain, anyway. Mr and Mrs Cheddar had some, and so did some of my more far-flung fellow students. We just had rain, rain, a touch of sleet – oh, and some rain …

Despite the weather [and some fairly horrendous traffic on the M3] we enjoyed our trip to the Art Gallery. Got to like a teacher whose first act when we got to the gallery was to send us into the [very good] cafe for coffee. [I can recommend the chocolate flapjack. and the feta, tomato and mint sandwich I had for lunch.]

The we had a scene-setting tour of other areas of the gallery, before going into the Hodgkin print exhibition. Mel, the teacher, took us round in reverse – and I realised why, when we got to the ‘first’ room. She was saving the best till last.

The exhibition is called ‘As Time Goes by’ – the titles of two huge [20’ by 8’] prints. And they are mind-blowing, even after the big beautiful prints we’d already seen. One is mostly in reds, the other predominantly blue. Well worth a visit – and the other pieces in the rest of the gallery at the moment are interesting too, including a very covetable Monet.

Today has been for hibernating – although I did finish the doggy bag. That is a sketchpad inside it – although I didn’t manage to get crayons to put in the crayon pocket. Babybel’s daddy is coming down tomorrow, unfortunately without Babybel, so he can take it back with him.

 

 

After that I went a bit further with the rolls of paper from the Contemporary Textiles workshop. Well – a bit over the top really. What started off an an experiment with weaving - I’ve got weaving on the brain at the moment - ended up like this. 

I had been thinking about figures – but he [definitely a he, despite appearances] wasn’t quite what I thought I was making - definitely one from the subconscious. I find him totem-like.

The droopy bits of thread were because the fabric was torn and I liked the dangly ends – and that led to some bigger dangly ends.

The fabric wasn’t a reasoned choice – it was the first thing which came to hand – so I think he may meet some paint tomorrow.

A long time ago …

in the summer of 2008 to be exact, we went to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow where we saw, amongst other things, an exhibition of suzanis.

Which inspired a piece of needlepoint, which was going to be made into a bag.

I finished the embroidery, bought the backing fabric, zip, clasp etc. and found some fabric for the lining in my stash, but unfortunately it became a UFO*, and lived in a plastic bag in the cupboard. But just before we went on holiday it fell out on me again and I decided to finish it.

There was a bit of resistance when it came to putting in the grommets [not my favourite activity] – but today I plucked up my courage, my hole punch, my hammer, and my grommet setter – and it is finished. I wish I could have got a brown clasp – but it will do – in fact I’m quite pleased with it. So much so that I’m thinking of designing another piece of suzani inspired needlepoint – probably in even more non-traditional colours …

Today’s picture is one of my ‘textile words with two meanings’ ideas. Not sure it works – but trying out ideas is surely the point of a sketch book – or even an unsketch book.

The letters are self adhesive fun foam – also used for some of my alphabet tags, which are languishing a bit at the moment as the result of bag finishing. Wish I had a bit more stickability– that’s why I need the discipline of a formal course.

* Unfinished Object

We’re having a rain storm …

a tropical rainstorm – well, a cold tropical rainstorm. So we stayed at home and did stuff.

Like assemble a book. I say ‘assemble’ because all the constituent bits were lying around waiting for their purpose to be revealed – I just introduced them to each other.

The cover was an experimental bit of quilt-and-then-shrink I did months ago – I lined it with some [wall] lining paper left over from something else and then added some pages, either stuff I’d painted previously in a spirit of experiment, or various bits of drawing paper.

After owning it for at least 12 months, it has dawned on me that the bindings in Keith Smith’s book ‘1, 2 and 3 Section Sewings’ are perfect for fabric backed books. The clue’s in the title, really. This is the ‘running stitch’ sewing [eagle eyes may spot there are actually 5 sections.] The added doodads are spacers from a long demolished charity shop necklace [the necklace, not the charity shop] and purely decorative, although I am telling myself they may help to stiffen the spine a bit.

And because the weather has been foul all day – I also made a bag. [I should point out that today was W’s day to cook, although I did make a cake for our visitors tomorrow. Melting method. It’s quick.]

After I’d made the Sock Sack I decided that if I made a bigger one it could be a fluffy pastel and white cardigan sack – so here it is with aforementioned cardigan.

Not for me or W. of course.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I’d drifted into our local Oxfam shop and found that they were selling crafty stuff – shisha, glittery bobbles, pachworky bits – and these. Carved wooden stamps – for £1.49 a pop. Bargain! I‘m not sure if all Oxfam shops are doing this, but worth a look if you like that sort of thing, and of course it’s all in a good cause.

And finally – just to reassure myself that rain doesn't always drench down in torrents – a petunia in a shower at Whitchurch Silk Mill.

A rare sighting …

of a finished object. Or two.

The felt book from ‘Re:bound’. The button hole would have been better a bit to the left and horizontal rather than vertical – but given the dearth of FOs around here recently – I’m pleased with it. It should fit neatly into my capacious bag for notes and sketches.

It wasn’t really in the spirit of ‘Re:bound’ because it’s not recycled, but it did use up a UFO or two – the embellished felt cover and the lining, which was an early experiment with fabric crayons I never thought I’d find a use for.

And as I think I’ve noted before, Finished Objects, like buses, tend to come in pairs. [I had a lot of time today because we got up early for Wensleydale to take the car in for repair.]

 

This is the BQL August Challenge converted into a bag. I needed cheering up, hence the very un-me colours. And I used up some of the fabric from the cushion cover [hey, another FO!] so that was a bit more stash reduction.

 

[We won’t talk about the felt and Vilene I bought yesterday - because they are staples, not stash – or the silver net because that was only £1.50 a metre in the sale and you wouldn’t expect me to ignore a bargain like that, would you?]

Today’s image is, for a change – not the plank. More ‘son of plank’. It is the scan of the book back which I showed you yesterday, Picniked with the ‘Boost’ filter. Can you tell I like Picnik?

 

What I meant to do today was ...

to carry on exploring my design ideas, and possibly begin to put some bits of fabric together.

Which is what I did in the end - although it had nothing to do with my design ideas.

I've had a birthday recently and as a belated afterthought present I got a lap top. Never had one before, never used one, all a bit scary.

Of course. it came without a case.

Well, I could have bought one, but where's the fun in that?

So I Googled around last night and found this.[PDF alert.]

Looks easy doesn't it? Two main pieces, made of felt so no finishing - won't take long to run one up, will it?

Of course, I wasn't going to do it today. Some time later when I had finished thinking about salt pans.

But, I thought, it won't take long, so I'll do it this morning and get back to the designing this afternoon.

Mmm - felt? I've got lots of wool felt but I've got plans for that and the colours aren't very exciting. I think I've got some big bits of Kunin felt at the bottom of the cupboard.

[Here you have to imagine me head down in a box of felt bits while Quality Control assists me by trying to get into the deepest recesses of the cupboard.

Unfortunately I didn't have one piece of felt that was big enough. So I'll use two colours! This lime green and blue look good together -[unfortunately I didn't have any suitable pink].

Mmm - decorative ribbon? Got ribbon in more or less the right colours but it's a bit boring - but I could put the narrow ribbon on the wide ribbon and embroider it. And I could embroider the contrasting band of felt and the bag itself... [I'm glad to say that I did not completely lose my sanity and do hand embroidery - though I did get as far as finding some suitable hand embroidery threads.]

But the felt seems a bit thin - so I could line it!

[Head down in a couple of different boxes to find some suitable fabric for the lining.]

While I'm at it, I could quilt the lining. [Fortunately the wadding was already out]

And there's lots of this lining fabric, I could add a pocket. Or two.

You get the picture. I eventually finished it about 4 pm.

This is the blue side.


And this, despite appearances, is the lime green side.

I'm glad I did line it though, I wouldn't rust those handles in felt alone.

And then I had a quick doodle for 'Doodle Day'. The topic is 'daisies' - so I am afraid I cheated and used my daisy stamp.

Today's orange picture is also plant life - real this time - January blossom from the Hillier Gardens. A cheering sight on a cold day.

Today's daily photo is a scan.

This is the grey scale version of the original - because when I looked at the sepia coloured original it occurred to me that it looked - er - a bit like the contents of a baby's nappy.

This came about because the pebble extract I traced reminded me of my recent BQL challenge quilt - so I wanted to try the design out in layered applique - or, at this stage, in layers of paper. I just chose the wrong colour supplement page to cut the paper out of ...


This is the negative scan which is much better, and reminds me of Mackintosh roses. If I were to turn this into an embroidery, I would want to keep the ethereal feeling - perhaps reverse applique using sheers?

I find it interesting that when I look at the image the other way up, that little piece sticking out at the right looks totally wrong - but this way up it works as a little leaf.

I have been re-reading Dunnewold, Benn and Morgan's 'Finding Your Own Visual Language' [strongly recommended for struggling designers] and they recommend turning a dubious piece round before you decide it really is a failure. Worked for me!

I have finally finished the last bag - it's very orange because that was the only piece of even vaguely suitable fabric I had which was big enough. I am determined not to buy any more fabric if I can possible avoid it -although I did buy some elastic today, as that is one thing I don't seem to have a stash of.

I needed elastic because I have been doing something I haven't done for ages - dress making. Not for me of course ...

Hopefully I will have something to show you tomorrow!

And so, as the sun sinks slowly in the west

we bid farewell to the Hillier gardens. Wensleydale didn't think this would work as I was shooting straight into the sun, but I'm glad to say it did.

Mmmm - I shall have to think about something new for tomorrow. I could revert to the seaside, I suppose - or show you a few photos from India. I have a lot of photos from India...

Reverting to textiles - this is bag number 2. The panels came from a quilt design by Marinda Stewart but I can't find it on the web, so can't provide a link. The panel fabric is my own hand dye with some furnishing fabric for the rest of the bag and some of mum's acres of lining fabric inside.

You may be wondering

whether any embroidery has been taking place chez Cheese recently. The answer is 'No'. There has been a fair amount of stash sorting and some sewing and knitting - but very little embroidery.

I mentioned my new method of storing fabric in an earlier post. This is the result - a [relatively] neat and tidy stash cupboard. It may not look tidy to you - but believe me compared to what it was like before ....

There are other stash cupboards by the way - this is just the fabric one. Apart from the lining fabric which has a suitcase to itself. Why do I have so much lining fabric when I don't do dress making? It was inherited from my mother. Why did she have so much? Heaven knows - she could have carpeted the house with it and still have spare. And why so much bottle green when she never wore green? But I digress. As usual.

In the course of my sort out I found several bits of embroidery and patchwork which had been begun but not finished. Not really 'works in progress', more that I had got thoroughly bored with them. Some immediately got shoved back on the top shelf - but some I decided to do something with. Like make bags.

As I have mentioned, before I made books when I wanted instant gratification I used to make bags. So I have - er - several - bags. Patchwork, embroidered, knitted, crocheted. What Imelda Marcos was to shoes, I am to hand made bags. Babybel's mum has taken several of the bigger ones off my hands but I still have quite a few small ones. Never mind - I have made a few more.

The top one is crazy patchwork. It was originally going to have hand embroidery as well as the machine embroidery - but I decided I would never get round to it, so it has ended up as a giant pencil case. Used up a zip from my stash too. Is it odd to have a zip stash?

I think the one below was originally going to be sliced up for fabric mosaic. [Does anyone else ever find things they don't remember making?] I decided to add some couching instead and it has ended up as a sort of mad plaid. A second over sized pencil case, and another zip gone..

This is one of three panels from a lovely quilt that I started a long time ago. I still like the design but I decided there was no way I was ever going to finish it - applique is just not my thing. So this is the first of three bags. It is pretty big - about 20" by 17" by 3" - patchwork always get measured in Imperial here because that is what my patchwork rulers are!

And now for something completely different - the hydrangea. I'm sure there are larches at the Hillier gardens but I didn't photograph one. [And if you don't get that reference, don't worry, it means you are a lot saner than I am - and probably a lot younger too.]

This is my favourite of the photos I took at the gardens - I see free edge applique and French knots. It is not at all my sort of colours - not nearly bright enough - but I don't think I'd change it at all for an embroidery- although I may play around with it in Paint shop Pro later just yo see what happens!

I had intended

to continue with the beach theme for the daily photo but when I looked out of the window this morning I changed my mind, because the back garden looked like this.

It isn't snow, just heavy frost, as it is -2 degrees C out there - not cold to many of you, I know, but cold for this bit of the south of England.

And for no extra charge you get a second photo. I do love the way apple trees grow - especially elderly and long neglected apple trees. Although we know little about the history of the land on which Cheese Acres is built, there were small holdings in this area just after WWI so it is possible that these trees and those in our neighbours' garden are up to 90 years old. [If you are an apple tree expert and think I'm typing rubbish, feel free to let me know!]

By the way, it isn't called 'Cheese Acres' because we have acres - just a tribute to a much missed broadcaster who called his home 'Peel Acres'.

The next images are not part of my daily photo plan. In the old BBM days [before book making] I used to make bags for instant gratification, and as part of my search for the perfect bag. The perfect bag is, of course, impossible, because it would be the size and weight of a credit card on the outside but hold as much as a small pantechnicon.

I am always amused by patterns for evening bags which claim to hold all you need for a night out - a key, a credit card and a lipstick. I obviously don't go on the right sort of nights out because I carry a little bit more than that. I need at least three keys [door, car, garage] not to mention the car door zapper. And what do you do if your credit card is refused because someone has yet again tried to use it fraudulently? - which has now happened to me three times. And don't these people ever need cash? I would save a bit of space in the evening bag because I don't wear lipstick, but that space would be taken up by my comb and hand cream [my skin gets very dry].

And the 'all you need for a night out' plan always seems to omit your reading glasses - without which you cannot read the menu. Plus, in my case my contact lens kit, in case I need to re-lubricate them - and my seeing glasses - in case I lose a lens. And if I'm taking two credit cards and some cash I might as well take my purse because if I take the cards out I'll never remember to put them back.

Then there is the mobile - not that I ever use it but I got it for emergencies and if there was one I'd look silly if it was at home. And a packet of tissues. And a notebook and pen. And, depending where I'm going, my camera - not having the sort of phone that takes pictures [can we say technophobe?]

Obviously on a night out I wouldn't take the spare shopping bag needed because I am trying to be green. But you can see why this is my handbag of choice. It holds all the above, [although finding stuff in it can involve unpacking], plus it leaves my hand free. And the zip is concealed against pickpockets.

So why did I make this silly little item? Because of the problems with the back pack I though it would be nice to be able to put the real essentials [purse, phone, reading specs and keys] in something I could string round my neck and over my shoulder, for times when I can put the rest of the junk elsewhere - still accessible, but not weighing me down all the time. It is based on these instructions, but bigger. [!] The bobbled braid fell out of my scrap bag and insisted on being used. I think it goes well with the very silly twisted cord.