In-house and occupied

Well, isn't this a strange time to try out something new? I hope this finds you safe and well and finding lots of outlets for those creative urges.

Last month when I was due to post on my New to Me's I had succumbed to what might, or might not, have been the cause of the worldwide closure. I couldn't concentrate on anything so it is probably just as well that I didn't have the energy to post as who knows what gibberish I might have written :)

I was supposed to be attending a full day Embroidery and Applique workshop two weeks ago with the very talented Roslyn Mitchell, who gave a fascinating presentation at my EG group a couple of years ago. Ever since then I have been looking for a chance to attend one of her workshops, so I was thrilled when I discovered one would be held not too far away on a day that I could attend. Needless to say lockdown put paid to that :(

So, my New to Me's this month are, of necessity, in-house.

 Our Endeavourers Quilt is due to be revealed on May 1st and I have been playing around with tea-dying fabric. The tea towel above (yes that is the before photo!)

Now looks like this! Trust me it will make sense in time :)

I have always struggled with isolated French knots like these when I have been stitching a pattern.

If I think that I can get away with it this is usually how I stitch them, with the thread trailing across the fabric between the knots.

No longer! Thanks to this tutorial from Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread no more trailing threads :)

I am so delighted at having discovered this method and only wish that I had taken the time to look for it sooner but, then I suspect I am not alone in that regard.

Hoping this finds you all well and finding joy in the small things too!

Stepping out of that comfort zone

It is a new decade so time for some changes to this blog. Over the last year the New to Me posts were, for me, less about the link party and more about a nudge to post at least once a month. So I am still going to write posts about anything I have tried out because you know I love to experiment, but won't be hosting the link party as well. I rarely link up to parties these days so it is not very fair to expect other bloggers to do something I am not doing myself!


I have as the post title tells you tried something very New to Me this month and I may live to regret it:) At our weekly quilting group recently we have been encouraged/cajoled/exhorted to enter a quilt in the upcoming Scottish Quilters Show. The deadline for entry was originally January 24th, but was then extended to January 31st to give those of us who were procrastinating less excuse to chicken out, I suspect!

Well, as you can see I finally took the plunge and put in an entry.

I entered the only quilt that I have that has a hanging sleeve, my BOM quilt from Quiet Play's And Sew On BOM back in 2013! I have no great expectations of the quilt as far as the competition goes, as I used the blocks for FMQ practise and I am fairly sure that my paper-piecing was less than stellar in places :) However, I thought it would be a fun entry to the competition in general.

There are several categories for entries and I wasn't sure whether this was Contemporary
(Quilts based on the traditions of quilt making, but have an original approach. Makers may use non-traditional fabrics, fabric painting, printing, dying and embellishments. These quilts should have an original design and can be hand or machine pieced, or a combination of both) or Modern
(Quilts with a modern design, can be based on traditional design with a modern twist. Quilts may include the presence of the following features: minimal and simple good design with bold graphic colours and high contrast; varying sized blocks, exaggerated scale, asymmetry and simple graphic quilting).  In the end after some discussion with fellow quilters and show veterans I went for Contemporary. 

I opted not to have the Judge's comments sent to me as I have also volunteered to steward at the Show so will see the harsh truth soon enough :)

Would love to hear if you have used the advent of a new decade to accompany me in that strange place outside the comfort zone!



 

Not quite going to plan

Merry Christmas one and all, welcome to the last New to Me link party of 2019.

I hope that you are enjoying a lovely day wherever you are, I shall be celebrating our grandson's first birthday today so have an extra reason to be joyful!

As it is the 25th of the month it is also time to celebrate our attempts at trying out a new technique or activity in December.

New to Me's have been thin on the ground here as we have been having some work done to the house so I have essentially been confined to the kitchen for the last couple of weeks :) Finding your way to the sewing machine barred by a pasting table puts a bit of a dampener on the enthusiasm I have found!

 I did manage to escape the mess and head off to Kirsties Flowers for the evening with my son's lovely partner, Zoe, to create a festive table arrangement. This is what we were aiming for!

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the final arrangement for some reason, that might have been something to do with the consumption of Prosecco on the night :)

 I have also been trying my hand at "Furoshiki" gift wrapping with middling success it has to be said! I bought the wrapping square (and a book on Furoshiki wrapping) when we were in Japan in October with the full intention of wrapping all of our Christmas gifts with fabric! Needless to say that plan went by the board when I realised quite how many gifts needed to be wrapped. I did, however, pull out the book for this gift bag for a daughter-in-law using one of the fabric squares we bought in the most gorgeous shop in Kyoto.

All of the fabric squares were laid out like this, how could I resist??

So, that's my New to Me's this month now it is your turn to share what you have been trying out in December. The link party will remain open until the end of the month so if you have been trying something new for gift giving link up once the gift has been given and received. I look forward to seeing what you have been up to in December. As always, please visit our linkers to encourage them in their new endeavours and add the link party button (on the sidebar or above) to your post to help others find their way here.

Finally, have a great Christmas I shall join up with you again in 2020!

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First time woes!

Time to reflect on the New to Me activities and experiences that I have attempted in November.

For a change this month, most of my New to Me's are actually sewing-related but as you can probably tell from the title of this post they haven't been entirely successful :(

First up, my local Quilters group hosted a Christmas themed sewing day at the beginning of the month, where we were making origami gift bags and hexagon star table mats. I didn't get to the group on the day as I was still furiously stitching away on my "Wynken, Blynken and Nod" piece for the Endeavourers Challenge, so I had a go at them both later at home.

This double-sided gift bag is made from two 18" squares and as you can see it turned out pretty well :)

So encouraged by this success I pulled some 10" squares from a long ago Christmas layer cake fabric swap and made these cute little bags!

On a roll now I pulled more Christmassy fabric to have a go at the Hexagon Table mat.

I thought it was all going swimmingly until I looked properly at the pieced top

and discovered that my prairie point stars were not quite as accurately placed as I had thought :( Time to get out the seam ripper! As of now the strips are all ripped out and I am debating whether to start afresh with new fabric or try and put this back together again with accurately placed points. Starting afresh is the favoured option as I type :)

Whilst I was debating what to do about the wonky points I decided to get a head start on the Christmas baking and set to making the first of several Christmas cakes needed for the festivities. My daughter-in-law has been following a gluten-free diet for most of this year so I decided to try out a New to Me recipe for a gluten-free Christmas cake.

The recipe sounded delicious with the dried fruit being soaked overnight in a dark stout reduction and chunks of dark chocolate added to the mixture before it was baked. All was well until I followed the instructions for baking rich fruit cakes in a slow oven in the AGA! Five hours into the cooking not only was the cake nowhere near cooked but some of the liquid from the cake mixture had leaked all over the oven floor :(( Not quite the outcome I was hoping for.

The second attempt is in the oven as I type, but this time in a hotter oven so that all that lovely dark stout goodness stays in the cake rather than in a pool on the oven floor. Fingers crossed for a better outcome this time.

So, that's my mixed New to Me experiences now it is over to you to share what you have tried for the first time this month, and as you can see it is not just about the successes we are also here to share the failures too! As ever the Link Party will remain open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time to write up that post to pass on that hard-won knowledge with your fellow bloggers. Please keep the posts current we are not here to commiserate over past failures but rather to offer advice and support on current problems! As always too check out your fellow linkers posts as they could do with lots of encouragement and support for their bravery in trying something new.

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Exploring a New to Me Country

Welcome to October's New to Me link party.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will already know that I spent the last three weeks enjoying the sights and tastes (!) of Japan, so there have been lots of travel New to Me's this month, and not a single sewing N2Me :)

My first ride on a bullet train, followed by several more over the course of the three weeks. They were a very pleasant change from the usual service here in the UK, I can tell you. Immaculate inside and out, punctual and fast what more could you ask for?

 Our first introduction to Japan was the Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo, which was just across the road from our first hotel. As it turned out visiting the Temple was a great start to the holiday as it is Tokyo's oldest temple and is, apparently, the most widely visited spiritual site in the world. The temple sits at the centre of a complex of buildings that included a five-storey pagoda and an avenue of small stalls selling assorted snacks and souvenirs. The stalls are apparently handed down through generations and began when the street cleaners outside the temple were granted the right to sell goods to the visiting pilgrims. A steady stream of pilgrims willing to part with their money is always going to be too tempting isn't it?

Everywhere that we visited there was a fascinating juxtaposition of old and new and nowhere is that more evident than here in the Hama-rikyu Gardens in Tokyo, which are surrounded by the towering skyscrapers of the modern city. The Gardens were originally created for the hunting lodge of a wealthy potentate in the 1600's but now stand as a tranquil space for the public amidst the hustle and bustle of a teeming city.

Equally tranquil but very different was another New to Me, the stunning Zen Rock Garden at Ryoanji Temple. It is apparently the most famous Rock Garden in Japan and it is not hard to see why, it was absolutely beautiful. In a trip that took us to lots of amazing places, this Rock Garden was my favourite of them all. Even although we were surrounded by other tourists there was a real sense of peace at the Rock Garden. It was not difficult to see how easy it would be to spend hours just contemplating the meaning of life here! The Rock Garden is even older than the Hama-rikyu garden as it is reputed to have been created around 1500, that is a lot of contemplation!

The trip wasn't all about ancient structures though, we also took a trip on the quirky Dotonbori Ferris Wheel in Osaka. The stretch across the top was a bit nerve-wracking but the views across the city more than made up for the tense time :)

Fortunately, there was always a tempting snack to be had! We loved the food all over Japan, and even had a cookery lesson in Kyoto, where we made all of the elements of our own Bento Box (another New to Me), and you can see the results above! Chicken Teriyaki, Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing, Prawn and Pumpkin Tempura and Sushi we were very proud of ourselves :)

One of the highlights of the trip for me was the abundance of textile and textile-related activity in every place that we visited. These Kimono offcuts were being sold at a Flea Market we visited in Nagoya. I am sure you will not be surprised to know that the bundle on the left might have found its way into my case :)

So, that's my New to Me for this month, now it is your turn to link up and share any new experiences that you have had this month, successful or not. The link party will remain open until the end of the month and I would love it if you included a link back or the blog button at the top of this post in your post too.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Feathers and Faded Grandeur

Have you tried anything out for the first time this month? If you have, you are in the right place to share your triumphs (or tribulations!) as another New to Me link party opens for submissions today.

My New to Me's in September are a bit of a mixed bag, but aren't they always :)

I used a New to Me "fabric" - cereal packet inner - to provide "crinkle" for my ribbon tag toy for the smaller gorgeous grandson.

I had a go at creating a hat for the bigger gorgeous grandson to go with the woodcutter's outfit I also made, but as you can see whilst it sort of fits it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, so that one might have to be revisited!

A while ago I came across this tutorial from Pillar Box Blue for making denim feathers and finally found a chance to have a go this month.

The tutorial uses Jute twine for the spine of the feather and thanks to our trip to Dundee and the Verdant Works earlier in the year, I had the exact supplies needed on hand :) Another New to Me too, as this was the first time that I had used Jute twine, and as you can see I have enough twine to make a an entire pillow of denim feathers :)

I found the tutorial really easy to follow and as I have a whole stack of used denim waiting to be upcycled I am sure that I will be making more of these soon.

My final New to Me was my first visit to the once magnificent Chateau de la Mercerie above. The Chateau, which was originally a 19th Century hunting lodge, came into the possession of two bachelor brothers, Raymond and Alphonse Rethore, in 1925. The wealthy brothers then set about extending the original building, to the grand structure that you can see in the photos. According to the guides, however, the brothers were notorious for becoming bored with projects so many of the planned developments were never fully completed. The structure to the right of the terrace, for example, is just a facade, albeit a fairly spectacular one!

After their deaths in the 1980's the Chateau changed hands a couple of times and eventually fell into disrepair, whereupon the local Mayor negotiated a deal to lease the Chateau for a nominal sum for the local community. Work to restore the Chateau and grounds is now undertaken by volunteers, who have themselves become experts in the crafts that they employ to repair and restore the building and interiors.

 

 The tiled paintings above adorn the entrance hall and are apparently unique in France. They are up to 6m in height and were made in Portugal and then shipped to the Chateau before being reconstructed in their final location in the Chateau. There are over 30 of these painted panels in the house and gallery, although they are not all of the same quality as some of the smaller panels were fabricated in France in the style of the original Portugese tiles. 

The Chateau was an extraordinary place to visit and a project it will be interesting to follow in the coming years. 

So, that's my New to Me's this month now it is your turn to share your trips (successful or not) 0into the uncharted territory of new places or experiences in September. As always, the link party will remain open until the end of the month and please visit your fellow linkers to encourage them in their endeavours! I would love it if you mentioned the link party in your post too :)

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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A Book and a BOM

Is it just me or are the months flying by? It is hard to believe that it is the 25th of the month already, which means that it is time for this month's New to Me link party!

This month my New to Me's are a mix of complete and only just begun projects.

The complete was my first ever Quiet Book for this quarter's Endeavourers Challenge.

The pages included my first time using sew-in magnets, despite having them in my stash for years :) It was also my first time using Bosal Foam again despite having it in my stash for at least three years! Clearly the policy of never throwing anything out on the basis that it will come in handy one day is warranted.

The only just begun project is my first block for the Happy Little Things BOM that started this month and will run through to December. As you can see not a lot of progress has been made, despite the fact that I have taken this to the last two meetings of my Quilt Group! That probably tells you the ratio of stitching to chatting at the group :)

The Happy Little Things BOM combines two of my favourite things, embroidery and quilting, so I couldn't resist joining in. I have chosen to embroider the centres of each block but instructions are also given for an appliqued block centre or a pieced  novelty fabric centre, so the resulting quilts are going to look very different when finished.

So, that's my New to Me's this month now it is your turn to share anything that you have tried for the first time this month. As ever, the link party will remain open until the end of the month and as always you are invited to share your New to Me's regardless of whether the outcome was success or failure, everything is a learning opportunity here!

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Sunshine and flowers

No sewing posts to show you yet as the new sewing room is still not finished !!!! The cupboard door and drawer handles are being attached as I type so, fingers crossed, it will not be too much longer before I can settle down to some stitching:)

 We were in France at the beginning of the month so I took advantage of the guaranteed sunshine to have a go at some sun printing.

The specially treated fabric is left out in the sun for up to 20 minutes. The recommendations advise that the fabric and items for the print are placed under glass to keep everything flat, a glass baking dish was the best that I could come up with!

After 20 minutes in the sun this is what the fabric looked like.

When the fabric is rinsed the dye washes out and you are left with an image like this.

When I get my sewing room back you will see what I did with these prints!

When (yet another!) commitment to work on the new room was missed (the 5th in a row!) the OH and I decided to treat ourselves to a day out at Dumfries House, something we had been promising ourselves for months.

The house was the subject of much press comment several years ago when it was purchased by a consortium headed by the Prince of Wales for an eye-watering amount of £millions. On the day that we visited the house and gardens looked magnificent, so it wasn't difficult to imagine how that money was spent.

The gardens were a glorious riot of colour, aren't these magnificent?

Beautiful and productive, the vegetable garden was in peak production mode!

and even the greenhouse was stuffed to bursting with an abundance of flowers.

Lunch in the cafe wasn't too shabby either :)

If you are ever in the area, Dumfries House is definitely worth a visit. To see the interior of the house you need to take a guided tour, which normally isn't my bag, but our guide for the tour was excellent and the house and the furniture particularly was so stunning that the tour flew by.

So, that is all that is New to Me this month, if you have tried anything New to You too in July I would love it if you linked up a post to the New to Me link party.

As always the link party will remain open until the end of the month and it doesn't matter whether the attempt at something new was successful or not, it is all about celebrating the trying here :)

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