New things...

This week I've been pretty busy working on my Mod Sampler Quilt. After discovering that all of my pieced squares were not the uniform 8.5" required I kinda filed the whole project under 'D' for disappointment and left it festering in a big bag for a while. Every once in a while we would shoot each other reproachful glares but, ultimately, I swallowed my pride and realised that although it will never be perfect it is only my very first quilt and therefore mistakes are to be expected.

My new found enthusiasm was short lived, however, when I started sewing the sashing! Err...yawn! How boring is this task? I'm pretty sure I wont be using sashing again for a while - not that I need to with sooo many gorgeous designs out there to choose from. I'll be posting pictures of my progress soon. Again, the sashing has come together less perfect than I had intended, but I've decided that not pre-washing the cotton batting and allowing the finished piece to take on that lovely puckered, vintage look will cover most, if not all, irregularities! Says a lot for my skills though - I can't even sew straight!

Anyhow - all this talk of quilts leads me onto my next piece of news. Following some online shopping these lovely items arrived at my door on Tuesday:

Denyse Schmidt 'Quilts'

Fabric Mini Bundle from 'Fabric Rehab'

I must confess to being slightly disappointed (a common theme in my life - woe is me....) with the book. Don't get me wrong - it was well thought out, comprehensive in terms of instruction and photographed very well, but it only included 10 actual quilt designs and the remaining 20 projects were largely....errm.... pointless, I guess is the word. Some were lovely, maybe half a dozen. But honestly, as much of a beginner as I may be, do I need an entire project dedicated to demonstrating scrappy patchwork rectangles that are then attached to folded cardboard thereby creating fabric notecards? I think not. That said - here are a couple of faves:

I love this quilt - I tend to lean towards vintage styling but I like how this contemporary design would work in almost any setting. The colour palette is perhaps a little bland for me - but then, it would be easy to spice it up!

I think this may be my favourite project in the book - although, on the picture on the cover you will notice that they had cropped the top and bottom off of the image, so I thought the patchwork lines meandered from one side to the other. I think I would prefer that to these somewhat incongruent 'floating' shapes. Nonetheless, a very striking design and would be a good way of using up lots of scraps.

Finally, I really enjoyed looking at this scarf/wrap design. This is very much the kind of thing I like to make and give away as gifts. The juxtaposition of the thick, dark tweed/wool and the light floral cotton/silk make the piece really eye-catching. I would imagine this would be pretty cool made up in chopped up pairs of jeans too (and who doesn't have at least a hundred pairs of jeans that they hang on to without a hope in hell of ever getting into again?!)

I'm not sure exactly what I intend to do with the fabric that I got but needless to say it will probably find its way into my next quilting project. I made the Mod Sampler Quilt mainly in pastel shades with a few stronger tones thrown in. Next time I fancy using much deeper, richer hues so I think these will be a perfect start to a new collection. Can't grumble for a fiver!

More Soon

Mother's Ruin xxx

FO: Rustic Shawl

So finally (and I'm sure I'm just about to echo the Monday morning posts of over a million British bloggers) the sun came out this weekend! Of course, the fact that rather than a gradual shift from inclement weather into barmy summer evenings we have all, instead, been catapulted from frosty mornings and central heating right into prime BBQ weather at such a rate that we've sustained whiplash means that, inevitably, I'm surrounded by people with colds. How pleasant!

So while my friends coughed, spluttered, hacked and wheezed their way through the weekend I was busy getting things done! Most of Saturday was spent clearing the house of debris in order that I could flog it all to unsuspecting shoppers at a local car boot sale the following day (which I did with a pretty good level of success, I might add!) but by mid afternoon, hot, tired, weary and being assaulted by Friday night's hangover which, from nowhere, had got up a second wind (in my defence it was a birthday party so alcohol was entirely appropriate, nay, necessary to fully show my commitment to the celebrations!) I decided to plonk myself down in the sun (there's a novelty!) and weave in the thousands of yarn ends that were hanging from my recently completed 'Rustic Shawl'. I'm not entirely sure how I managed to have quite so many waiting for me there. I'm starting to believe that, out there in the ether, there may have developed some kind of fibre goblin who, while contented knitters sleep, steals into project bags and randomly ties lengths of yarn to the item in order that, come sunrise, we crafters will be afflicted with unending frustration and much cursing!

Anyhow - here are several pictures of the finished object. Mind you (not to dwell on my already obvious technological ineptitude) my new camera has so many different functions/settings/enhancements/adjustments and general 'stuff' that I have yet to work out how to prevent the pictures from going grainy when photographing items inside the house. If you compare these to last weeks images of Archie outside in the garden there is a phenomenal difference. I know it's merely aesthetics and that you can still see what I've made but, well, isn't aesthetics really what you and I are all about?! And while we're on the subject - living in an all male household causes me so many problems when it comes to obtaining 'modelling' shots! In the end, Hubby had to photograph me wearing the shawl. I'm cropping AS MUCH of myself out as is humanly possible and please bear in mind that I'd spent most of the day scrabbling around in cupboards, under tables, in the shed and swinging from the rafters in the loft. By no means should my oh-so-attractive outfit in the photo's be considered representative of my usual style! I have been known to make an effort before, you know!

Anyway. Enough stalling.

Hubby has taken the F.O. into work today as there are several ladies there who like to see what we've made and some even go on to purchase things (shout out to Emily - I know you're reading!). Indeed, I think a face-to-face sale will be far preferable for this shawl - it's pretty huge so it would be a nightmare to send through the post!

Ordered a new sewing book and a small selection of fabric at the weekend so will be posting about these when they turn up!

Until then, I'm off to spend a little more time staring at people. I do love how the sunshine flushes so many attractive (and not so attractive, I must admit) people out into the streets in various levels of nakedness! Hoorah for short shorts, I say! *wink*

More soon

Mother's Ruin xxx

Funny lookin' bird....

Having pretty much fully recovered from whatever nasty bug has been afflicting him recently, Archie has decided that the (sadly empty at this point in time) bird bath is to be his new throne....

Could he be any more smoochable?!

I've also just finished this simple knitted shawl, made from a gorgeous yarn that I got at online from Knitshop. The yarn is made up of 2 plies - one linen and one cotton, and knits up into a really interesting, textured fabric. The colours are fantastic too - this one is kinda gold and pewter. I also have it in a red colourway. Unfortunately the pictures don't really do it justice. Not really sure what I'm going to do with this. I don't think I know anybody that would wear it! :-(

More soon

Mother's Ruin x

Drum roll please....

The winner of the 5" charm squares pack is: Two Hippos!!!

Congratulations! I'll be in touch to get your postage details.

Thank you to everybody that entered. As you all probably know, I dabble in many crafts so keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway soon when there'll be some gorgeous yarn up for grabs.

On a personal note - I'd also like to extend my genuine thanks to those of you that left such kind and thoughtful messages yesterday. They were much appreciated and I feel bolstered as a result! Whoever could have guessed that there were so many lovely women (and men!) in the world?!

Nothing very exciting has been happening here in the last 24 hours! I continue to work the border on my crocheted shawl and hope to be able to post some pictures of the finished item very soon, but otherwise all is quiet with Mother's Ruin.

More Soon

M x