Still Experimenting With Book Covers

Second attempt, using the first piece that I cut out last week.  This time I decided to make a pouch rather than a cover that open and shuts with the book.  I can just about squeeze a prayer book inside it.

When the book is inside the binding at the sides sticks out at right angles.  Perhaps I should use it for a slightly smaller book.

The flap only just overlaps, so I won't be able to fasten it with a button and buttonhole.  Loops for buttons are a possibility, or perhaps a clasp.  I am still deliberating and rummaging through my tins of bits and pieces for ideas.  For the time being a bit of cord will do the trick.

I have yet to sort something out for the book I originally wanted to cover.  Let's hope it's third time lucky!

Free Motion Mavericks this week is at Andrée's blog 

Quilting and Learning and I'm linking up!

A Picture for Sunday - Cycling in Snow

It didn't last long, but I made the most of the two days of snow that we had last month.

These two cyclists were on a path that cuts across a field of winter wheat.  I love the effect of their silhouettes against the stripes in the field.

Linking up to Wandering Camera at Whims and Fancies

Little Miss Marple Cardigan

Ready to give when a little girl arrives.  There are two babies on the way in the family, so I have to be doubly prepared, with two baby boy cardies and two baby girl cardies.

I rather like the pink tweedy effect, which comes from using two random yarns in two row stripes in fisherman's rib.  It gives that old fashioned conventional look, similar to the little blue cardigan with cables that I made last year.

I really enjoy the effect of the raglan shaping on the stripes, making them turn a corner.

The buttons are the same as the ones on the blue cardigan.  Of all the buttons I have stashed away, they were far away the best match - they really completed the old lady look.  Of course, once there is a little girl inside this cardigan she will make it all her own and I will forget all about little grey haired ladies solving crimes.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 217 - Trial and Error

Has too much knitting addled my brain?  My project today consisted in not much more than a bound rectangle, yet I made one mistake after another.

Fittingly enough, the idea was to make the most of rejects.  When I was making my Mother of the Groom outfit a couple of years ago, I made quilted panels from which to cut out the pieces for the jacket.  I thought that they would be softer and easier to work with if I washed them.  It didn't occur to me that the dye would change colour, and if I washed them all I would have a jacket and skirt in different shades of blue.  I ended up with three panels I couldn't use.

This week I had the brainwave of using the spare panels to make book covers.  I had a particular book in mind, and set about making a cover for it.  Using the book itself as a guide, rather than measuring, I cut out a rectangle, then checked it by wrapping it round the book. It was too small.

So I cut out another, bigger, and moved on to the next stage...

… putting a fabric triangle in each corner.

At some point I realised that this one was too small too.  The covers were to big to fit into the corners. 

Not to be put off, I carried on regardless and started attaching the binding.

When I reached the third corner I realised that the binding was too short.  Rather than unpick the whole lot, I decided to turn it into a design opportunity and added an extra bit of binding in a darker shade of red.

Once I had finished the binding, I ferreted around the house for a book small enough and deserving enough for the smaller-than-expected cover that I had made.

Here it is, all wrapped up...

… and here is the view of the back, with the accidental design feature.

And inside is the pocket-sized New Testament that belonged to my grandmother, given to her by a friend on 5th September 1907.

The original intention was to make a cover that could be fastened, but I have decided to leave this one just as it is.  Somehow it feels more comfortable holding the book in the cover.  The book has already been repaired once, many years ago, and the spine could give way all too easily, and having the cover around it keeps it safe from damage.

Now the challenge ahead of me is to make a cover to measure for the book I first thought of, and get it right.  I'm making no guarantees.

Here goes for week 217:-

Many thanks to Margarita for linking up with her beautiful zip-up case.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

A Picture for Sunday - Brushstroke Clouds

Clouds sometimes imitate art.  This was one of those days.  This photograph was taken a few minutes after the photo of the oak tree.

Linking up to Wandering Camera at Whims and Fancies

Goodbye Bamboo Needles

Finally, I've finished using the bamboo needles.  Yes, I well and truly hate them.  

This week I made a concerted effort to knit up to the armhole shaping on all five pieces of this little baby cardigan, then I transferred all the stitches onto a circular needle to start the raglan shaping.  Usually I'm not that keen on circular needles - they feel too short, and they make my tension a bit looser.  However, in contrast with the bamboo needles, they are a total pleasure to use.

Now that I am reaching the neckline and the rows are getting shorter I am much happier with this project.  Alternating the two random yarns has worked well, giving a brighter band of colour on each piece.  The final challenge will be finding the right buttons to complete the look.

Variations on Blue for a Girl

One of my artless photos ever... sometimes I just don't care.  

I usually photograph my finished quilts in the kitchen, pinned to the back of the curtain that divides it from the dining room.  The light today was terrible, so I slung the quilt across the settee instead.  And because my knitting lives on the settee I threw that into the picture too to stop the quilt flopping forwards.  It adds a touch of reality - I've been slightly under the weather and feel as though I have been living on the settee this week.  It's my knitting zone, covered with balls of wool.  It's a good job we haven't got a cat.

These are the same floral prints that I have used in the last few cradle quilts.  I make them in batches, and ring the changes by using different combinations of fabric for the dividing strips, borders, binding and backing, so no two quilts are exactly alike.

This is the first time I have used this backing fabric.  It is a very fresh blue, which goes equally well with blues and purplish tones, and manages to pick out the tiny blue flowers in the binding.

Free Motion Mavericks this week is at Andrée's blog 

Quilting and Learning and I'm linking up!

A Picture for Sunday - Sunset Swimmers

Sometimes the accidental shots are best.  

Last week, the day after it snowed, I went to Clevedon to see the sunset.  It was far from spectacular.  Meanwhile, while everybody else was wrapped up in coats, hats and scarves, four hardy souls were taking a dip.  I took several bad photos of them, and this intriguingly dreamy picture when I accidentally clicked the shutter while moving the camera. 

Linking up to Wandering Camera at Whims and Fancies

Mango Chutney

Every now again I see a bargain that I cannot resist.  Before Christmas a local greengrocer was selling boxes of six mangoes for next to nothing, so I bought them, cut them up and stashed them in the freezer.  This week I finally got round to making them into chutney.  I didn't have a recipe, but improvised.

This is a recipe in one of my old books, Modern Cookery Illustrated, from the 1930s.  I have never made this particular chutney because I am not fond of apple chutneys, and absolutely hate sultanas in any chutney, but this recipe has given me a formula, which I have used time and time again.

The magic formula can be summarised as a pint of white vinegar, a pound of sugar, and about 5 and a half pounds of anything you want, which can include dried fruit.

Also I checked the ingredients in my favourite shop chutney so I could give my own version a spicy kick.

This is what I ended up using:-

1 pint white vinegar
1 lb white granulated sugar
3 lb 10 oz mangoes
1 lb 10 oz dried apricots
a few pieces of crystallised ginger, chopped
2 fresh chillies, finely sliced
several cloves of garlic, cut into large pieces
half a teaspoon of salt
half a teaspoon of cloves
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons cardamom pods
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons black onion (nigella) seeds 

Everything went into a large pan to stand overnight.  By the next morning the apricots had soaked up vinegar and were nice and soft.

At this stage it looked and smelt delicious.  Sometimes the smell of chutney can be overpowering when it is being cooked, but this one wasn't so bad, most probably because there were no onions.

I gave it a long slow simmer until the mango was thoroughly cooked and the consistency was right.

It ended up looking like this - not beautiful, but with recognisable chunks of mango in it.

Now I have eight jars of chutney to forget about for about three months.  Or three years.  The longer you leave it the better it tastes.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 215 - River Thames Lap Quilt

Slung over the back of the settee and ready for the next time the weather turns cold, my very first lap quilt!

When I first saw the Thames fabric in the shop I knew it would be a good match for the cushions that I made last year.  When I got it home I was really pleased to see how well they went together.

More difficult was choosing the backing fabric.  I have plenty in my stash, but in all the wrong colours.  There were only two possibilities, so before Christmas I made a decision.  When it came to making the sandwich a couple of weeks ago I promptly changed my mind and plumped for the coffee mugs.  Why do I see them as coffee mugs?  I'm a tea drinker.  It must be the absence of saucers, and the background colour, which is nothing short of perfect.

As for the binding, this tiny black and white check was the obvious choice.  I only had a small piece, no doubt from an oddment bin, just big enough to provide the binding for this quilt with only a tiny bit left over.  I love the way it helps the black outline of the buildings stand out.

This was an easy quilt to make - no piecing, simple quilting, and not too big.  My husband has resisted using it, despite having been under the weather, saying it makes him feel like an old man.  When the temperature drops I shall have no hesitation in demonstrating how to make the most of it.

Here goes for week 215:-

Many thanks to Roseanne for linking up with her beautiful tummy tags quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.
  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.