Birds, birds

This morning I started with cutting material. It went quickly.

Then strips were joined together to create a block. Block was cut diognally and cut in blocks for the pheasant tails.





I decided that 3 birds will be enough, two males and a female. So three different tails were made.

Then another two colours cut in stripes , sewn in a block, cut dioganally and voila - we have material for the wings now!

Then it was rather finicky jobs to put the rest of the pieces together, and I have not finished yet, but all in all not a bad result for a day's work - both males are nearly done, except the red around eyes and beaks.

For tomorrow I have planned to complete these two and then make the female. It mst take less time as her wings and tail are completed already.

Finally reunited!

Finally! I'm reunited with my sewing machine! YAY! And right now I have an urgent project to start to be completed ASAP. I went to the shops yesterday already and picked the materials; draft sketches also had been done (key word - pheasants!), BUT... with current development in Ukraine my heart is bleeding and my hands are trembling....

Can you imagine that 100 years right after the beginning of WWI a new war might be starting right now here, in Europe? I mean, right now, while you read this post? I had heard Soviet bullets swarming above my head already and I feel for Ukrainian people right now.  
Carl Bildt ‏@carlbildt 11 mins

When Russian forces demands that Ukraine forces in Crimea surrender weapons it's clearly a military occupation that is taking place.

Russia, your name is shame!

Jeremy the Bear

 

This is Jeremy the Bear. 5 joints, glass eyes, needle felted noise. Jeremy’s standing height is 32 cm, sitting height – 26 cm, so he is the biggest so far. He also has an open mouth. He still needs little things done then and there but in general he is ready. 

And this is Laura, the little bear made by my youngest. All 5 joints and blue glass eyes. Now the full garderobe for Laura is planned and some pieces already on their way among the schoolwork.

Monty

Let me introduce you to Monty. He is the first one who has the right strength in joints so he is the first who can stand properly.

 

Monty’s standing height is 20 cm, sitting height – 16 cm (Not a big difference as his legs are short but sturdy). His nose is needle felted and he has glass eyes. 

He already has a little basket that he can carry around and now I’m making him a few little things to put in the basket. There is no point to have an empty one, right?

My youngest also decided to try to make a teddy bear by herself. So far it’s coming together nicely so I’m very proud of her. She knows basic knitting and weaving, now she is trying toymaking with hand sewing and tghen it will be time for a sewing machine. If nothing else, she will be able to sew a lost button at least later in her life.

While I’m completing little unfinished jobs right now, my head is full of knitting designs and patterns. It’s great as when I start, I do not want look back. 

Another wee one

Here we go... Among pumpkin carving and layers of make-up I managed to finish another one. This little creature is ready and even named - Muppet. Glass eyes and needle felted face and paws. Sitting height - 14 cm, theoretical standing height - 19 cm.

Theoretical because no way this wee wobbly one will be ever able to stand. Poor thing is wobbly. I mean seriously wobbly. So for myself I decided - never ever again romantic old fashioned joints with buttons or something like that... Never ever again.

Maybe I simply do things wrong but at least bolts and nuts with additional leather discs holds things together without looking like leg or arm will drop off next minute. That's the reason why poor wee one is wearing a scarf - take it off and it's obvious that we have a serious Parkinson's case. Never ever again.

Other than that I like his little palms and toes, and other little details like that. He is not a bad boy in general, just wobbly. Poor little one.

When its too wet even for the duck

In comparison with Sandy it's nothing, of course, but weather again seems to be too wet even for the ducks. There is nothing I can do about it - just put my boots on the heater to dry out, make a big cup of coffee and wrap myself in a blanket. And cheer myself up with the fact that itš not snowing here yet. :D But anyway - this is the time of the year when knitting mode starts creeping on me.


Yesterday I started another toy - not sure yet which kind of creature it will be at the end, I will decide it later. I'm experimenting with designs and technologies still  and haven't find the optimal solution for joints. With this little one I tried buttons for joints. Metal bottons with leater discs and a wite. Not happy - again too wobbly.

I make the joints tight, as tight as I can, and at the beginning all looks nice. But when stuffed - well, joints become quite loose, nearly vobbly again. Maybe its because I like to stuff properly, very tight, so toy isn't soft anymore? I do not know yet. But so far I'm not happy. I had been reading a lot on Internet about them and will try until I will find the solution which I'm happy with. 

Experimenting with different designs is much more fun. This creature will have needle felted face and paws - I like mixing sewing and needle felting in a toy - it adds character then and there. At the same time it definitely takes away the vintage look which sometimes is not the right thing.

If the weather will be bearable, few other trips might be an option but right now I prefer warm blanket and a big mug of cofffee on the side. Autumn is slowly creeping on me.

Among other things

Despite fact that I spent most of my time on wheels, I managed to finish another bear - her name is Minnie.

She wears nice drawers (trimmed with vintage lace) and a knitted cardigan.

Her standing height is approx 28 cm. 5 joints, glass eyes. Everything, except cardigan, is hand sewn (it is hard to carry a sewing machine along :D). Cardigan is knitted out of nice,soft wool,

This time I feel I'm getting there... OK, at least into the right direction.Slowly but steady.

Yay!

My first pair

I’m busy bee right now. Weather hadn’t been nice to me so I spent a lot of time in my room. Yesterday I cut over 600 pieces for the next quilt top and right now finished noses of both bears. Now they only need some pretty dresses for Christmas.

 

The little one is Miranda, that’s definite. Tiny girl, watching after herself very well with a bit of forced smile. I presume she doesn't like this world very much, so many things are going wrong by Miranda. Kids are quite not as well behaved as they were and overall morals are going down, you know... All that stuff is quite upsetting Miranda but she will keep calm and smile. Ladies do, you know.

 

The boy... By unknown reason to me his name is Rodger.It just is. I think he is a little bit of a dreamer. OK, maybe a Liverpool fan and all that outside but deep inside he is still whistling  "Imagine"... 

I do not like his name very much but things are how they are. Like Miranda. Not my fav name at all, especially for a bear.   

Both have cheap plastic eyes and 5 joints, with bolts. Now I must find what I’m doing wrong as all joints are a bit too loose. Using two washers and two nuts to secure each bolt it needed to be pretty tight, but they are not.

 I will try to add leather washers next time, maybe they will improve the situation. If you have any ideas what I'm doing wrong and tips, please, share your knowledge!

Autumn in the air

By some unknown reason I can smell the autumn in the air today. Autumn in the air doesn't mean school only. It's also about knitting and other wool things for me. I love knitting but never in the spring. Spring for me means sewing, a quilt or two, and maybe a dress. Autumn comes with knitted socks and mittens, and sometimes something special, just for fun.

My youngest is moving into her "new" room. I can't say that I'm extremely happy with the outcome, but again - it's HER room and she is ecstatic about the outcome. She had the final say on everything and for her first design - not so bad. But it also means that I'm not doing anything with the sewing machine. So I thought that I can share one of my last year's creations.

 I was obsessed to make a cape for a while. Always wanted one, never actually had enough time to consider to make it seriously. Last autumn it was the right time. I already reduced my job amount and time in office, slowly getting into "stay at home mum" mode when I stumbled upon a large woollen blanket at the thrift shop. It was high quality wool, made in UK, large enough for my project. The only fault - it was pale yellow - way too light colour for what I wanted so I hand dyed it and then dig through my yarn stash... The rest was just into making.

So materials are:
1) a blanket from thift shop;
2) yarn leftovers from stash;
3)the only thing I bought was lining for the cape.

I used an old woollen skirt  for the base in the shoulder part so cape sits stable there. Quick stitching to make it stable and then just all the different autumn colour yarn lines.

 Sewing machine was not used at all in this project. All just a thread and a needle, very old fashioned way. LOL

Fishscale Embroidery

While digging through granny’s drawer I found another piece - pillow case - which might be interesting  because of once popular but now nearly forgotten technique. This manner of embroidery became a novelty during the nineteenth century. By using a variety of coloured fish-scales, very effective borders and designs could be made at a negligible cost.

The most suitable backgrounds for the opalescent tint of fish-scales were velvet, velveteen, plush, satin, or silk, in various shades of green, blue or pink.

 The best scales were those of brilliant iridescent hues with deep serrations, such as could be found in the perch and in some varieties of carp. Other type fish-scales that were beautiful were also utilised, amongst them the luminously coloured scales of the common goldfish. The most brilliant colouring, or rather iridescence, was found in the female; the scales were larger too.
Typically the scales were prepared while quite fresh by cleansing them thoroughly, or, if necessary, by soaking them in clear water until soft and pliable. The fishy smell would pass off entirely, and the thin membrane would roll up, only adhering at one side of each scale.
I remember soaking them in dishwashing solution before drying out as well as ironing them. In the picture you can see white little spots decorating scales – it’s simple punctuating by needle or awl.The edges were trimmed by scissors to fit the flat decor but Victorians managed to create really stunning 3D flowers.

Mr Noir

Last night we were walking our dogs, as usual. Suddenly out of the blue appeared little perky black gentleman who wanted to join the team. A Dachshund mix. After about 30 minutes of playing it was clear that something is missing - the owner.

It was late, it was time to go home and little fella was still playing with us, ready to follow wherever we decide to go.

Sigh... You know that moment when you do realise that you simply MUST make a decision.

Well, it was easy. I called the little fella. In response he jumped on my lap and licked my face (in case I hadn't already noticed how nice boy he is). I attached the dog lead to his collar - sure, right, are we going home?

So, yes, we went home - our two and this little fella. Our dogs were ecstatic - nice playmate to be taken home - Woo Hoo!

Last night he spent trying out ALL the toys of our dogs. Ecstatic. He tried all the beds and settled for the night with the child. He was the first one to bark when neighbours walked past our doors. He settled in. Right from the doorstep.

This morning he refused the dog breakfast. These little boring bits in the bowl... Yeah, probably there are some miserable dogs who eat such stuff, but no, thank you.

Our breakfast was something completely different. As soon the fridge door was opened, one black head was in it to check out what he would like to have for breakfast. (Cruel me - dog biscuits or nothing. )

Then we went to the vets in hope that he will have a microchip. No. Microchip is absent. No names or numbers on his collar either. But the dog can tell a lot about himself and his owners. He was acting perfect at the vets. Friendly, happy, intrigued but not frightened at all.

Vet removed a thick. A nervous teckel with some attitude problems would create a drama. This fella just sat there - polite and friendly, and vet got a proper kiss as well after the procedure. According to vet, this little one is no older than 2 years, probably 12 - 18 months, not spayed, very healthy and one lucky boy.

Last night I left messages already on our dog-missing sites, and today I left an information in all city shelters and major vet clinics. I really do hope that he will find the way back to his owner very soon because there is definitely somebody who is crying for him. If not, he will go to shelter. In hope to find a new owner. I can't keep him, of course. But until then:  Mr. Noir, s'il vous plaît!

It is still raining cats and dogs outside so I will try to arrange all my current projects in line:
to complete the bag for the picknick blanket,
make the pillows,
re-arrange one red linen summer dress which is a tad bit too big for me around the top. Three little jobs and a strange dog... not much for the day, isn't it? LOL

Voting fun

So yesterday I entered my blanket for Internet voting, and it is doing surprisingly well. It feels really good as I hadn't been doing anything creative for years, many many years, and now I have my mind so tangled that I can't see what I'm doing. When strangers press the button and vote for mine (and no, I had not asked all my relatives vote for it :D ) for me it is like big pat on shoulder. 
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I was considering about adding applique of a big, bright red dragoon on it and other options and then decided to leave everything how it is right now without any attachments.
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One is clear - I really like the creation, whatever materials or techniques are used, so it is unstoppable now. I have no idea on what I will stop at the end, but my dream is to open an etsy shop and try to make my creations sellable. A dream, just a dream, but it would be great. (Everybody must have at least some dreams).
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Until then I must learn so much - so many new materials and new techniques to try out and learn.

On the other note - being cheap makes life so much more fun when learning and trying. Yesterday I raided the charity shop in a big way - 25 shirts were purchased. These are only some of them - look great, isn't it? I really think that quilts started to use every last bits of material when they had value. Now so many materials are thrown away that could be recycled. At least these shirts will have second life. Recycling also keeps my not so thick purse happy - shirts are for 25 cents each and gives me about a square yard of material each. Nice, isn't it?

I did it!

Yes, I did it! I completed the quilting today and now the quilt is spinning in washing machine already.
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As I said, quilting is not nice - I still have serious learning to do - maybe one day I will take a class or two. Or will get the long arm machine instead of my old poor Singer. But anyway - it's finished and that's all that counts at the end.

I named it "Driving in rain" and hopefully will enter it tomorrow just in time for the contest. It will be fun.

Half done

So, the half of the picnic quilt is completed. It's not washed, it's not ironed - just right off the sewing machine, so looks even worse than it actually is.

As usual, I'm not happy with quilting, and it spoils all the fun of piecing, but that's life :D At least I can show that I am doing something productive, not only telling silly tales from the past.

Today I'm planning spent all day quilting to see if I can kill at least a half of the remaining pieces. I had a target - to complete it tomorrow as I have busy weekend ahead and I want to finish it. Tomorrow.