Small things and a few big pillows

I just realised there are several months went by without posting anything. My stitching mojo left me, and I did some smaller things, but somehow forgot to post even them. To wrap up 2021 I start with these bits and bobs:

I made a little bag for a friend - his wife asked with a very specific measurements to sew this to keep bicycle tools. I used the remaining material of my sister-in-law carrier, and it was perfect for the task.

I also finished 2 pillows of the circles I sewed from the Round the Year pattern. There is also a 3rd partially ready, and they turned out real nice.

 

I fixed a bag for my sister-in-law an also bought a stay-at-home jogging for me which I really liked, but needed some fitting. I am looking for one at least for 3 years, but none I found I liked, and this was close to the ideal. It is nothing fancy, but a simple jogging without any writing from a warm cotton. Somehow it seems everwhere there is some extra something added, or the material is awful. I checked some extremely expensive ones, but I did not like them at all, and at the end I found these in H&M dirt cheap, only the waist was a little too high, so I cut it back by a few centimeters. I just love them!

Pomarium ready, sparkling begins

 I have finished Pomarium last week, now the beading starts. Glimmer on! It is huge, I put a pen next to have a feeling of the dimensions.

Pomarium last run

Last corner of Pomarium is in the making! I mixed up the floss and used the one for the leaves for the trunk and branch of the little tree ( I was even wordering the green-gray...)  but realised my mistake only when both trees were ready, so I simply chosed a different greenish (caron waterlilies 065 - jade) for the leaves.

 

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Bagmaking - 1st sturdy bag

I have tried to create a summer bag for me. I have my ideas but could not find any bag that fitted - not because it was overcomplicated, more like it was too exact. I have my favourite one for a while, and it started to get a too used look, so I was looking for an exact replacement - but unfortunately it was discountinued and no similar one was in the shops. So I grabbed all my materials and started to sew, and here is the result:

 I made many pics to remember the process, because I reality I want a lighter version, but this greyish one is a forgiving trieal piece.

1) External hidden pocket opening backside strengthened, and pocked sewed on, then turned into the inside. 

2) Internal pocked also sewed on (no picture)

3) Zip added to external material: (handles should come later, I mixed up the process !)

4) Handles sewed on, I uses double sided tape to keep it on place. For the handles I cut 4 long strips and paired them together and folded them.

 

5) final construction

exterior and interior

 

 

Sewing of the interior and exterior: matching the materials facing together

  

Cutting of corners and sewing them together to have a stable bottom:

 

THE BAG IS READY

Kingfisher

I have found my new summer holiday piece: Kingfisher. I have bought this kit more than 10 years ago, when I was expecting our son - he is going to be 12 next Spring, so maybe it happened 12 years ago... It is part of a series of birds by Anchor, where I finished the Bluetits, the Red Robins, and this Kingfisher was sadly sitting among my kits to be started. There is an aida in the kit, and I have moved to linen a long time ago, but somehow I was in a nostalgic mood and I thought using some easy aida with fairly low count and not too many colors could be a good choice. 

Actually it is quite a lots of colors, and seems a few only because I compare it to my Chatelaines, but definitely easy to have a kit with me when I am packing for a holiday. The central bird is ready, the wood it is sitting on will be the next, and also the missing triangle, which will be some leaves overlapping the central bird.

Pomarium border

The border of Pomarium is back on the frame. All the little apples are waiting to be picked, just like the 5 triangle flowers. Now I am adding the trees before I am moving the hoop.

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

All the trees are done, lets move!

Pomarium 4th garden

 I have finished the 4th garden in Pomarium, only the border and the corner trees are missing. And of course, the beading!

It is huge!!!

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Pillows

I was waiting for 5 minutes of free time since Spring to fix my husband's pillow. He is using a long pillow, and it was quite used, and low on feather, so he got a new one. The old one was sitting in a corner of the wardrobe to be fixed as a couch pillow. After several months I took the 5 minutes and cut it to a smaller sized cover and created a perfectly stuffed little pillow. I need only a new sheet to use it!

When I ordered a fabric for my sister-in-law I also ordered a stuffing material. I chosed a big one (5kg) of siliconed puff, and it came in a huge packet. I sewed up 3 pillowcases and stuffed them (~650g each). They still look a little bit bumpy, but I will smoothen them out soon.

The original huge bag

The remaining stuffing material - still a lot!

A bag for my sister-in-law

My sister-in-law is a physiotherapist, and when needed, she also takes her folding therapy bed for visits. The cover was kind of falling apart, and she asked me whether I can make a replacement. This was my first time with waterproof material, but I said I will give a try - and I did. 

I found online a good place to buy durable fabric (hektor extra 400D, 325 g/m at k-elme, could be even stronger). It turned out quite easy to sew, the most difficult part was the measuring of the original (90x75cm)! I took the original zipp and main strap, for the smaller handstrap I made a new one. I added a sidepocket with covers as well. I also realised that my velcro had adhesive on the back and it killed 2 of my strongest needles, so I skipped it.

Cherry

The last arch is ready!!! Cherry on the cake, no more confetti tree background, all the arches are done!

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Pomarium - Apple

Last week I have finished the apple tree in the last but one arch, there is only the cherry remained. The confetti flowers took quite a while to stitch, but putting it on the blog was even more time consuming :)

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Baby book

I have finished my first soft book. The planning and choosing of the materials was quite tedious, the actual sewing went quickly! The name is not contrasting enough, but I did not want to frog, so it remained. Otherwise I am quite happy with the result, the 10 months old hopefully will be as happy as me :)

The size is 6,5" for the coversheet and 6" for the inner sheet. For the coversheet I added the applique and stitched the 2 sides together reversed then turned them out. I did the same for the inner sheet, then did a stabilising stitch ariud the perimeter twice and also in the middle, then stitched them together. There are many different materials to stimulate the baby fingers: plush, felt, corduroy, canvas, handstitched embroidery on a cotton background.

Polka dots

I have finished this polka dot quilt for my niece, a few weeks (months?) back. She had chosen several designs, and the first I have prepared for her went finally to the teacher of my son last June. I was thinking choosing a different one, and the rainbow dots gave the idea. It has extra soft minky-like backing, which is also dotted. 

It was a very quick finish, the background is white-on-white 10"x10" blocks with an appliqued circle of 5". I sewed the rows with a half shift to give a little play to the design, and arranged the colorful dots as you can see. 27 circles all together: 8 green, 4 blue, 5 yellow, 5 pink, 5 purple.

I used 27 5"x5" charms for the dots, 30 10"x10 for the background, and 1m 1.5wide minkie for the backing. Approximately 1.5m material for the top, 1m for the back, all together 2.5m (2.5yard) fabric usage to finish.

Polka dots: 49" x 58"

Matching up!

 I was curious to see how my Pomarium goes, is there any hidden hickup along th lines - so I quickly did the matching up of the border and also the last arch for the fruits. All is well, both are perfect, not a misalignement anywhere! I am hoping for a next finish, but it will take some time...

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

I am planning to move forward with my wip killing, and buy a box for the Stitches around the world piece, and mount it up. If it is done, then I can start another Chatelaine to accompany Autumn Watergarden and the 2 other ones: the kingfisher and Long Dog sampler, Sans soucis. I thonk it was a good idea to start with a smaller Long Dog, because I realised it is not as exciting as it seemed last summer. I am not saying I do not like it, but it is for sure that I do not mind leaving it in its cover at all.

The decision is which Chatelaine should be the next one? I have Mushroom and Fern, Herbularius, an Deep Blue Sea kitted, all are different. Deep Blue Sea has darkflue fabric, so it should be a piece when my eyes are not tired. Herbularius is similar to Pomarium, but full green. Maybe Mushroom and Fern are the easiest, grey fabric, medium sized, nice colours. I have also realised, that I have ordered Tinctorium as well. This is the 3rd of the Cloister Gardens (Pomarium for fruits, Herbularius for herbs, Tinctorium for dyes, Rosarium for roses) but it has quite cold colours, what I am not sure I want to spend years with...However, it is not urgent, there are several months of stitching in Pomarium, too.

A long waited FINISH!

This week during my homecation I went through many things to be cleaned and fixed, and I decided I will tackle my list of wip/ufos as well. 

I offered the Autumn cottage for adoption, because I do not like the floss included. It is a wool acrylic blend and maybe I am turning to a silk snob, but I realised I really do not like to touch the acrylic. It was quickly taken, and one is off the list.

The second one was a long time piece:it took me quite a while, but finally I have finished my Nativity Sampler from Victoria Sampler. The hardanger part was sitting in my wip (ufo?) basket almost 4 years. It was my holiday tracel piece, and it has a loooong history. First I started in 2011 but on a wrong fabric, so I stopped at the top angels and framed it separately. I restarted in 2014 July, and worked on during the holiday until 2017, when the kloster blocks were ready. And then I was afraid to move further, because my hardanger ventures were long-long time ago. Then the pandemic hit, and no travels were done. Then ... no real excuses, but stalling. After braving myself it was a quick finish, only took 2 afternoons. My hardarnger far from perfect, but not that bad, and I only cut 3 wrong lines :)

Pomarium moving on

Pomarium is moving forward slowly but steadily. I am partially finding my mojo - I was working a lot on the computer lately and I realised this was the main reason for my lack of stitching.  The laptop has its strain on my eyes, and after 8-10 hours in front of the screen the tiny holes were not welcoming at all. 

Also nature knocks ony my 47th door and taking my eagle sight away. I do not need glasses yet, but I see (or in practice starting not to see) the difference of this year of homeoffice did to my sight.

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Pomarium back on track

 

Chatelaine: Pomarium

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

chestnuts

I just realised that in English there is a difference between horse chestnut and normal chestnut. All the pictures I did before in practice are horse chestnuts and the real chestnut came only now, with the second half of the Autumn Watergarden as seen above.

And the piece in its full glory (minus the wrinkles...)

Chatelaine: Autumn Watergarden

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

Autumn Watergarden - one branch of chestnuts ready

 I have finished the chestnuts, and there is the other half branch of a different type of cheshnut, a hairy one. When I am done with them, half of the piece is ready. I do not like it as much as the other ones, but I am committed to finish it. It is not so bad, but the colors are a little too cold for me, I prefer a warmer palette.

Chatelaine: Autumn Watergarden

Fonal/Floss: DMC + many silks as suggested in the kit

Anyag/Fabric: Zweigart antique white 32 ct Belfast

A closeup of the finished branch:

Useful things

I have continued sewing some household items. I have bought a pul fabric ( breathable waterproof poliurethane on one side if the fabric) to make a breadsack. However, I did not want the material to touch our food, so I added a simple lining - I really like it, it keeps our bread fresh! I usually bake our own bread, make 2 loaves a week, one goes to the freezer, the other to the sack. When it is over, we take the other out from the freezer, but still, with this new breadcloth it is enjoyable even on the 3rd day.

The other item was these reusable vegetable and fruit sacks. They were extremely quick to make with the serger, and I will use them instead the plactic ones for shopping.