TATTING: CHRISTMAS
 

I tatted this for a friend as a Christmas gift.
 

This pattern* is my favourite for bookmark crosses.

I like that it's lacy but not overly so.

Even the men like it when tatted in hunter green or Prussian blue.

~~~

A modification: I joined the picots.

This way, the cross holds together better.

It tends to flop around when picots are not joined.

This is how it looks without joins.

Thread: DMC Cebelia #30

Read about this cross here.

It's more delicate than the red one as I used finer thread.

I like both crosses ~ this pattern works, the thread just expresses different moods.

This one, fragile and the red one, strong.

 

*Pattern is from "The Complete Book of Tatting" by Rebecca Jones.

~Ema N~
 

 

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SCRAPPY X'MAS TREES
 

 A friend and I agreed to exchange hand-made Christmas cards

 instead of e-greeting cards.

We found blank postcards and decided to use them.

 

 I filled the blank space on the postcard with x'mas trees

 using scrap fabric and double-sided tape.

 

 Paste the tape on the back of the fabric.

 

Then cut out triangle shapes,

remove the tape backing and stick them on the postcard.

Stripe fabric work as trunks and
a rummage through the scrap bin yielded a few stars.

(As I type this, I realised stars fit in with the "Space" theme too.)
 

This was fast – and fun - to make!

I think this would be a great craft project with kids.

 

 

~Ema N~
 

Linking with up Le Challenge, where the theme this month is “Space”.

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PATCHWORK BUILDING



Do you see what I see?

 Half-square triangle patchwork on the façade!

This building made me smile the whole day.



It looks so cheerful.

Inside are doctors' offices and all things medical.

 

~Ema N~

 

 

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NOODLES  IN SPICY COCONUT BROTH

 

On a cold, rainy day, the perfect lunch is noodles like this.

 

Only the green beans are real.

 

Everything else came out of a packet:

the noodles, flavouring oil, powdered seasoning & coconut.

 

This was the lunch of my secondary school years.

 

I succumbed this afternoon because I recently watched
something on telly about instant noodles.

 

Also because today is M's birthday.

We were classmates
and she loves instant noodles as much I do.

She always adds an egg to her noodles.

She went on to Cambridge.

I didn't.

It must be the egg.

 

~Ema N~

 

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QUILTY365

I'm making flowers for Quilty365.
 

I'll pick fabrics based on what made me happy or what I'm thankful for each day.

 

Each flower will represent a week.
 

 The centre was originally to be a circle applique

but I wanted to have some variety, ie not all fabric.

 

I tried a tatted* motif and like the way it brought the petals together.
 

So all flowers will have tatted centres.
 

It doesn't take long to tat these, so I think it's do-able.

(*Tatting is a method of making lace by hand using a shuttle and thread.)

 

I started on December 1 and here's my week:

 

I'm using a whole piece of cloth as the base fabric.

 

This saves me from having to cut background squares

so I can concentrate on needle-turn applique for the flowers.

 

 

There is two-and-a-half yards of this men's shirting fabric.

 

I had intended to make a shirt dress out of this but never got around to it.

Can't wait to fill it up with happy flowers!
 

~Ema N~

Linking up with QuiltyFolk, host of Quilty365.

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LEAF DARTS
 

These leaves were made by sewing a dart on a triangular piece of fabric.

I got the idea from dressmaking (like pleated patchwork here).

 

When sewing clothes, darts are used to transform a flat piece of cloth

 into a three-dimensional shape that accommodates the human body.

 

Think, for example, of bust darts that create space for “the girls”.

 

Layers of leaves on audition. Not sewn to base fabric.
"Trunk" is a chopstick.

 

 I made these after reading Lara's AHIQ post here
asking for suggestions on leaves.
 

 Here's one Aspen leaf:

 

Backstitching secures the thread so it doesn't unravel

and lose the three-D volume. 

For me, I backstitch it all the way to the start.

It's a short dart, I don't mind back tracking for security.

 

Round leaves, elongated leaves...all can be created.
Just cut fabric to the shape required.

The degree of puffiness depends on dart shape and length:

 

I like the one on the lower left, stripes look like the veins of a leaf.
 

How to attach such leaves?

 

The green leaf:
*fray-checked edges, sewn down with running stitch

 *scrap batting tucked into the leaf

 

The purple leaf:
*needle turn hand-applique - in progress

 

 

These leaves sew up quickly and use up all those small scraps.

 

They're fun to make.

 

And they're pretty!

 

 

 

~Ema N~

 

 Linking up with AHIQ.

 

 



K1P1

Lots of moss stitch and double moss stitch recently

as I knitted scarves for a charity drive.

The best part of this is a colleague who has not knitted

for over 20 years picked up her needles again!

She knitted six scarves and enjoyed it.

There's no stopping her now :-)

~Ema N~

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FABRIC RECIPE

When I was young, my mom had me copy out recipes from cookbooks

as a way of keeping me quiet for an hour or two.

 

I remember writing out the word, “Method”, many times over.

That's why recipes are my inspiration for this month's Le Challenge.

 

I baked this when I was 14 years old!

 

I chose this Swiss Roll recipe from my Home Economics textbook.

The plan was to make a fabric version of it.
 

 

The text was embroidered on a piece of calico.

First, it was written on the fabric using disappearing ink pen.

 

The problem was the ink faded faster than I could embroider!

Over half the words were done more-or-less freehand,

guided only by the faintest of lines, sometimes none at all.

 

That's why it's wonky.

 

All part of the charm, I say.

 

 

The swiss roll was appliqued.

 

There is batting under because I wanted

to quilt in swirling lines to reflect the roll of the swiss roll :-)

It's nice, the three-dimensional effect and texture.
 

 

The swiss roll pattern is from Patchwork Tsushin, October 2012.

 

Sadly, this Japanese magazine ceased publication earlier this year.

 

It was a delight, full of inspiration. I'll miss it.

Drying out after a wash. The purple thread bled!

The whole thing is tucked into a tile and metal frame
 suited to the rustic vibe of this fabric recipe.

 It's pretty on the bookshelf.

~Ema N~

Linking up with

 Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish It Up Friday.

Kathy's Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching

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PLEATED LETTERS

 

I wondered if pleats could form letters.
 

A few details of this experiment using random pieces of scrap:

“I” : double pleats + strip of batting = volume, visual weight.

Did this to balance “I” against “D”, “E” and “A”,

 which are wider and have more complex lines.

 If left as a single vertical pleat, "I", even as a wide pleat,
would be overshadowed by its companions.

By the way, all this was eye-balled. No measurements etc.

“A”: I wanted to give prominence to the two diagonals,

which are the defining lines of this letter.

 

 To do this, the horizontal pleat was sewn first,

followed by the two slanted pleats.

 

Note that this is different from how I would write “A”,

where the horizontal line is drawn last.
 

I learnt from this that the pleat sewn first would be “recessed”,

pressed down by the pleats sewn over it.
 

I had to think about recessed and prominent lines of each letter

to determine the order of sewing.

 

Sometimes, this may mean going against the instinct

of sewing in the same order as writing.

* * *
The three-dimensional effect of these letters appeals to me.

Question in my head at the end of this experiment:

 Would it work to mix and match

pleated letters +
improv letters or foundation paper pieced letters

to form a word/sentence?

* * *
 

Not ironed. I like it puffy!

 

I chose the word, “idea”, to thank Ann and Kaja for starting AHIQ.

 

This is a great platform to test and share ideas and I am grateful for it.
  

I was told this by a senior director of an organisation I worked for:

If you have a dollar in your pocket and
the person next to you has a dollar in her pocket and
you both exchanged what you have,
you'd still end up with a dollar each.

But if you have an idea and the person next to you
has an idea and you both exchanged ideas,
you'd end up with more ideas than you started with
and be the richer for it.
 

(Modified from a quote by George Bernard Shaw)

~Ema N~

 

Read about my Pleated Patchwork experiment here.

 

 Linking up with AHIQ.

 

 

 

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GOLD!

Here's my thought process for this month's theme:

Gold --- Gold Medal --- Sports

So I used marathon race bibs to make a pouch.

 

You know, those rectangular pieces with numbers 

that runners pin on their t-shirts.

These bibs are from a colleague who runs full and half marathons,

some times competitively, other times for fun.

I made the pouch the usual way.
Sewing seams with right sides together then turning them out.

Well, this plastic-whatever race bib material creased terribly

and the colour flaked off in places when I turned them right side out.

 

Both sides of race bib pouch.

In desperation, I ironed it on a low temperature setting with a press cloth.

 

That flattened the creases, but they are still there and

I fear they are permanent.

But my colleague liked this “distressed” look.

Phew!!!

 

 

See the pic above? Notice the two new bibs from my colleague.

She wants another pouch!

~Ema N~

Linking up with

See what others created for Le Challenge's "Gold" theme!

 

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PURPLE SWEET POTATO

 

Freshly steamed purple sweet potato --- the perfect snack on a chilly day.

 

Love the colour!

 

I want to make a patchwork quilt using colours of fruits and vegetables :-)

 

~Ema N~

 

 

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PLEATED PATCHWORK

 

I'd been making some clothes recently and had to sew pleats.

 

I thought it would be interesting to use these on patchwork blocks too.

 

So, yesterday, I experimented.

 

Before ironing!

 

Machine-stitched pleats onto a strip of cloth.

 

* No measuring, no markings
 

* The width of each pleat and the spacing between them are different
 

* A few pleats are straight, others are slanting
 

* On the gingham and purple flower blocks, cross-pleats were added

(sorry, not the best photo – please look closely!)

 

 

I do like the texture created by the pleats.

 

The effect is best on solid colour fabric and not prints.

 

Making all blocks pleated is too much for the eye to handle.

 

But I think ONE pleated/textured block in the centre

surrounded by plain blocks can be very interesting indeed!



~Ema N~

 

 Linking up with AHIQ.

 

 

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