2013

For 2013 too.

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HST magic :) (lots of pics!!)

There are many tutorials on the web for making hst fast and easy. Here's one that'll give you 8 hst in a few minutes. I did not come up with this one and don't know who did, I just want to share...
First you start with 2 squares, one colour for one half triangle. Mine are Christmassy red and white.

Put them on top of each-other and draw 2 diagonal lines and sew on each side 1/4" from the line. So far nothing new.

Then cut: 2x diagonal, 1 horizontal and 1 vertical like this:

Press them open and cut them to the exact size (mine are 3 1/2 ") The precision trimmer by Martha Mc Closky is an absolute wonderfull ruler for that!

And tadááá...8 perfect hst's

Ah, the possibilities!

Unfortunately we need math. Don't worry, it's simple:   

 

              (A+1/2")x2=B

Meaning: A is the unfinished hst and B your starting square.

My hst is 3 1/2". Add 1/2" makes 4". x2 makes 8. So my starting square B was 8".

For safety I added another 1/4". If you are just as accurate as Harriet Hargrave you need not do that.





 Now what to do with these? Make a Christmas pillowcover that's easy to put on and off your cushion!
Sew your block of choice together and put a piece of thick fusible fleece on the back and quilt it if you want.

Then the back. Same hight as the pieced block but for the width, cut a piece that's approx. 1 1/2 the size of the pieced block.

Cut that piece in half

Make a seam on the cut edges

Put both pieces on top op your block, right sides together, overlap in the middle

Sew the overlap to secure it and then sew all the way around.
Sew a lockstitch all around to prevent any fraying.

 Turn, put a cushion in the pillowcover and enjoy!

Time for Christmas

My opinion about stitcheries was that it's rather lame and oldfashioned. Probably due to the "jolly"season, I did make one though :) And found it fun to do as well. Who would have known..haven't done any embroidery for over 30 years or so. I just started with no knowledge whatsoever to hinder me.

(found the pattern at red-brolly.com)

But now that it's done, i don't really know what to do with it. Shall i frame it?? Make a pillowcover??
Problem with the latter is that I ran out of large pieces of solid red fabric and ofcourse solid red is the only option I want. I found a piece of somewhat darker red and I guess that'll have to do. No fabricshops in the neighbourhood that sell solids and no patience for ordering online..Besides, i would never get it in time for Christmas anyway.

(Mmm, looks brighter in the picture than in real life...)
Weighing the options, I took a break to surf the net mindlessly and i read this post. Just what I needed! Let me share:

I rest my case.

Odd jobs

According to my dictionary, i have been doing "odd jobs", meaning that i am my own handy(wo)man.
Never heard of the expression, but truth is that i have been very busy doing all sorts of things that had to do with my toilet, bathroom and kitchen. After 26 years things needed a upgrade. Real renovation was far to expensive, so I put my painting clothes on and went to work!
New wallpaper above the tiles (no, we don't have tiles from floor to ceiling), a chandelier in the toilet (!) and new shelves there too.Painted the spaces between the tiles (is "pointing"a correct word? Grouts?) so now they're white again, scrubbed the same things on the floor. Those are grey again instead of black

Repeat in the bathroom

What needs to be done is finding a suitable towelrack and new bathroom cabinets. Hang the mirror and put all the stuff back. Gone are dirty tilegrouts, black fungusspots between bath and wall and old/worn out accessories. Today I finished another job: putting a blackboard sticker on a kitchenwall. Tricky, since the decall was 53x2.00 mtr. It turned out fine and I immediately wrote all sorts of stuff on it. Never knew that actual writing on the wall was so much fun to do *lol*

Inbetween i helped DS moving from one studentdorm to another ánd managed to play with fabric.

I had fun making some wonky dissapearing 4patch blocks. The result reminds me of kitchentowels:)  I think I'll make some more; it absolutely needs more red.. It'll have to wait though. First we are celebrating "Sinterklaas", the Dutch equivalent of SantaClaus (actually the other way around...), i'm going on a househunt with Quilting DD, Christmas is near (decorating!!) and much more.
Only 3 more weeks 'till my Christmasbreak..pfffff....!