The Sewing Room

pennib

At last finished my green patchwork quilt


Seems funny not having it on the sofa next to me waiting for the next stitch to be put in! My finger has been stabbed to smithereens and has no feeling left! More piccys ya know where.

Keiss_21

Wow, wonderful quilt pennib, well done!!

I had a great weekend. Worked in the sewing machine shop on Saturday without the boss - sold 4 machines!! Was pretty busy, but fun.

On Sunday I had a lovely time at the Quilts UK show at Malvern, great fun! I spend (quite) a bit and attended two workshops, so I now know much more about some Japanese fabric techniques than I did before.

Here's what I made:

and

Off to bed in a mo, working in the shop tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone x

pennib

Isn't it great when you learn new techniques. Lovely brooch and pin cushion.(Is it called cathedral window?)
Hope you had a fabby time when you were up here and in Orkney. How did your knitting workshop go? Sorry we didn;t have the sun, but it's out all this week :0P

spugzbunny

thanks guys - that's all really helpful!

Greying_Pilgrim

Hi all!!! :hello:

Just de-lurking to say hello, after being pointed in the direction of this thread by the multi-talented Keiss on another thread.

I decided the best thing to do would be to start from page 1 - so it has taken me some time to catch up!! However, joined you again at page 613, and just haven't got round to posting since then!

Anyway, firstly, thank you to everyone who posts pics of their lovely makes. It really is inspiring to see what folk make, whether for their own use, craft outlet or client.

I recently invested in a new sewing machine (an 'all-rounder', I don't think I'll go heavily in the quilting or embroidery direction, but......) so i wanted to mention special thanks to Avstar, who blogged a 'reminder' post about donating unwanted sewing machines to tools for self-reliance. I had heard of this organisation before, a 'very green' friend (sadly lost to cancer some years ago) was a firm advocate of this charity, and would collect items for them with gusto. So I got a timely reminder of what to do with my 'old' machine. I could of kept it - it worked - but in reality, I am so delighted with my new machine, it only would of gathered dust. So thanks to Avstar,TFSR now have at least one more machine to donate to a project than they otherwise might. :T

Also, on the 'buying new machines' front, I think it was FlowerofScotland (I do hope I've remembered your username correctly) that mentioned not overlooking your 'local' sewing machine retailer (if you have one). Can I second this. I was all set to order a machine from SMD - they really seem like a great company with consistently good feedback. But I thought I would give my local retailer at least a chance. I was able to 'test drive' a number of machines, with a knowledgeable demonstrator, which took up several hours (with no pressure to buy at the conclusion of this). The price of the machine was actually cheaper (by £10) than anywhere else on the web (one other firm had a price match), and importantly, a priority for me was a hard case. The machine I wanted came with a soft case. The retailer threw in a brand new hard case (retails for about £50??) when I made it clear I would buy. Of course, that retailer now has 'first chance' at my future machine related purchases, but I was still impressed.

Finally (hurrah those still reading chorus!! :rotfl:), can I thank Ailsb for mentioning a fabric store in Bridport - which turned out to be Livingstone Textiles - which I had the pleasure of visiting a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't of found it if you hadn't mentioned it - the directions were brill!!! It is a fabric Aladdin's cave and the staff are very friendly. They even steered my DP off to a cumfy chair and newspaper so that I could rummage around the stock 'uninhibited' :rotfl:All, in all, a very nice place to shop.

Well, back off to lurkdom. Nice to 'meet' you all.

Kind regards,

Greying

Keiss_21

pennib wrote: »

Isn't it great when you learn new techniques. Lovely brooch and pin cushion.(Is it called cathedral window?)
Hope you had a fabby time when you were up here and in Orkney. How did your knitting workshop go? Sorry we didn;t have the sun, but it's out all this week :0P

Nope, it looks like cathedral window, but it's Japanese folded patchwork, where a circle is folded over a square and stitched by hand (with some wadding in-between). The brooch is a Japanese folded flower, so an Oriental theme for my workshops!!

The knitting workshop went well, four women turned up, one of whom had never knitted before, and the others hadn't knitted since school. We all enjoyed ourselves and much knitting was done. I managed to keep out of the rain...the wettest day of my two weeks away.

I had great weather at dad's, even more enjoyable when it was very wet "doon sooth"!! It did mean I got an awful lot of gardening done, not sure if that was quite such a great thing (I was aching most evenings!). Still, the garden and greenhouse looked sooo much better, so I made quite a difference.

I need to work out what quilt design I am going to do for a cot quilt/play mat for my lil sis's first grandchild due next month....leaving it a bit late to do I know, but I have been sooo busy lately. Think I might do a basic squares one. The material is lovely and bright - red/lime green/cream/pink/pale blue, patterns and plains so will be quite bright and cheerfull!! My sis wants me to make a X-stitch sampler for this baby for them to give to her, but don't seem to have found a design they like...soo difficult!!

Oh well, I'll just have to keep on looking.

Keiss_21

Hya Greying :wave: , good to see you over here.....you have been busy catching up with this thread, well done :T:T!

I agree about the local sewing machine dealer, though I did get my last machine from Mr T (slapped wrist, but it did cost me only £35 plus LOADS of vouchers so very MSE! :money:). I am now working in a local sewing machine shop (had my sixth day there today) and see first hand the service and help that is given too every person crossing the threshold. I am loving working there and have managed to sell a few machines already - seven so far

Of course I have fallen in love with a few of the more expensive machines, so will have to start a saving pot for that....perhaps I'll get one in 10 years time..or even longer!! :rotfl:

Need to get pattern and x-stitch hunting before heading to bed. Invigilating tomorrow morning first thing, so an early start (again).

Have a good week everyone, hope it doesn't get too hot for you!

cuddles123

Great makes everyone - as usual.

Made a couple of Project Bags today

Ailsb

Just popped in (haven't posted for ages but still read) to say welcome to Greyling and glad you found the shop in Bridport. I love it and have started saving for my next trip down there in August!!

Have managed to sew 12 blocks for my quilt. Only another 30 (!) to go. I then have the task of buying a new machine which can free quilt. My machine doesn't have the function of adding a foot or dropping the feed dogs. It hasn't caused me a problem so far as I've only done small projects but this one is different.

Once I've narrowed down my options I will be back for advice (if that's ok). I can't spend too much - no more than £300 tops, so I'm not looking for top of the range electronic just a basic machine which will quilt.

Off to a craft class now, doing a pottery session this morning which should be fun.

pennib

I added the wording 'When I am big you will recall that really once I was so small'. + name etc. Over on the cross stitch thread they are really helpful and might be able to help.
The quilt colours sound gorgeous, nice and bright, my cup of tea!
Envy you with working in a machine shop....well done you on selling all those machines. Hope you get a bonus:D

Hello GP dont go back into lurkdom;)

Aislb Let us know if you find a good machine for quilting as I'm after one as well!