I like making things: July 2016

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Not much crafting at all but a lot of other stuff!

So, these past weeks have been better, I haven't done much crafting at all but we have been busy doing other things which you can read about in my other blog if you are interested. Just click on the sentence below and it will take you there.

Doing things out in the workshop and outside

I did sit and make a gingerbread Christmas ornament one day. I don't think he looks too handsome though. I haven't quite found the solution for the faces yet.

My husband bought me some nice new gel pens for experimenting with the leather colouring.

Also, it is my birthday next week and he has bought me a new leather swivel chair for my sewing room. It hasn't arrived yet but I am excited to be getting it. One of the problems I was having is that my chair up there was too low. This one goes higher and is really strong so the hydraulics shouldn't go out on it like it did my other one. It wouldn't raise up so I had 4 pillows on it to make myself higher and then I was wobbly on it.

Yay, Happy Birthday to me!

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Experimenting with more leather colouring

After making the belt the idea of colouring some of our leatherwork became appealing.

I have made a keyring for my daughter as she has an affinity with dragonflies and coloured it. I will be mailing it off this week for her to try out and see how the colours stand up to everyday use.

Not done anything else this week in the way of making things, I am in another bit of a craft funk!

Hopefully I will get out of it soon.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

The dresses were too big but that's OK cos she'll grow into them, the finished belt and a patchwork pillow made entirely by my 8 year old grand daughter.

The visit with the family was wonderful. The house was very large and accommodated us all perfectly. The dresses I made for our littlest grand daughter are too big but will fit her when she is two. (Not really surprising as I made size 2 lol). Sometimes babies wear a bigger size but she is not a big baby. She is gorgeous and a joy. She is so happy and would say 'hi Nanna' and wave at me and I would wave back, so adorable.

Our daughter in law loved the belt. We had to get a buckle when we were there at the Tandy store which was about 12 miles away. 2" buckles are not plentiful but we found a really nice Al Stohlman one for it there. I took tools to finish it off and it was a good job I took my individual hole punches as the prong on the belt was quite large and there were not any holes big enough on my rotary hole punch. The belt is as wide as the belt loops which is what she wanted and still a little stiff even though we conditioned it over and over so I suspect that it will take a bit of time to break in.

They requested that I take a sewing machine with us as our elder grand daughter who is nearly nine wanted to do a project. She is really getting into sewing and made an absolutely beautiful dress for herself at sewing camp. She really is a great little dressmaker/machinist and I am sure in time she will far surpass me with her projects.

She wanted to try some patchwork quilting. I had some pre cut squares and cut some more the same size for her. She decided what she wanted to make, chose the squares to use, laid it out how she wanted it and sewed it all together. I just had to show her how to use the machine and tell her what she needed to do. She did perfect 1/4" seams and they all matched when she sewed them together. She is a perfectionist and likes to do good work. She made this little pillow for her baby sister.

Afterwards, she and I watched Grease together so a double bonus.

She has plans to make her some stuffed toys in the future for her little sister and I am sure they will be amazing too.

Glad you stopped by

I started this blog in 2011: Ever since my Mum taught me to knit at the age of about six or seven I have made things. Back then it was doll clothes. I was also inspired by Mrs Levitt an elderly lady who had a sewing room in a conservatory type room on the back of her house. I would sit and watch her in awe as she sewed.

When I was a child living in England the school system was such that you started at 5 years, did two years in Infant School, then four years in Primary School then five to seven years in Secondary School, depending on whether you chose to stay on after fifth form to get qualifications to go to University. I can't remember much of the Infant school other than making the standard square doily thingy from fabric that had holes in it so you could embroider patterns into it. A bit like the modern day cross stitch fabric but with bigger holes and spaces to make it easy for small hands to use. I also remember with great joy getting a toy sewing machine one Christmas which sewed only chain stitch but I did make doll clothes on it and that was before I started Primary school. I do have very vivid recollections of Primary school and having sewing and knitting lessons. In Primary school I knitted gloves and made a dress from scratch hand sewing it all.

Secondary school continued on with sewing by which time I had progressed to using full sized sewing machines and was making more intricate skirts and dresses. My parents bought me a proper sewing machine when I was thirteen. I used that same machine right up until I emigrated to Canada at age forty six years.

I have always had a fascination for sewing machines and knitting machines. I bought my first knitting machine at around age twenty one from an ad in a newspaper for twelve pounds. I had absolutely no idea what one was just that I wanted one. I trundled on the bus to the address in the advert and handed over my twelve pounds having absolutely no idea what I had really bought. Fortunately it came with a manual. It was an aged Knitmaster, very basic and I loved it. I wore it out. Next was a Brother push button one which I didn't keep because it was at a time in my life when things were difficult. Later on in my life, around forty, when things were better I bought a brand new Brother punchard machine with a ribber attachment. I loved it and made many things. Life took a different turn, I moved countries twice and along the way, regrettably I sold it.

Now, through the universe's blessing I now have another machine. It is a vintage one because they stopped making them early 90's but works perfectly and I love it. So I decided to make this blog to document my knitting progress and include sewing projects.

In 2013: we embarked on a new hobby, leather-work. My husband got started with it and it drew me in. It is something we can do together. We have a workshop so have plenty of room to work. We added another workbench for me to work on in 2013. We already had one but we were tripping over each other both trying to work at it. We only make things we want to make. It is strictly a hobby. We made some things for our good neighbours who help us out a lot. I am also working on Christmas presents. So this blog now incorporates the leather-work. Knitting and sewing will always be my first love though.

Fast forward to 2023 and now age almost 75 years. I have seven sewing machines, four knitting machines, several ribber attachments and a garter carriage for one of the machines. I am blessed beyond words, but I know that I have more than enough machines to keep me going in my lifetime so I don’t think I will be adding to my collection any time soon……….unless a nice embroidery machine manifests itself very cheaply.

I am a Brit living in the USA, sometimes I spell like a Brit and sometimes like an American. Sometimes I use slang and even make grammatical errors. I blog for the pleasure of it and to record my endeavours in the event that my memory fades, as I am sure it will with more age. I will be able to look back and remind myself of the things I have made along the way. So please forgive my mistakes when reading about my life making things here in the hinterlands and I hope you get as much enjoyment from my blog as I do from reading the blogs I follow.