Sew love to.......Crochet?

I can knit and I can sew but I've never learned to crochet so at the age of ahem 41, I decided it was time to learn.

I bought this book, a crochet hook and some yarn and set to work.

First of all I couldn't even work out how to do the slip knot to start off! My husband had to show me how. As a child I had at least learnt to crochet a chain and after much fiddling around I remembered how to get this far.

As well as using the book I used some films on u-tube to learn how to double (USA single) and treble (USA half treble) crochet. To be honest I needed the films as I couldn't work out what to do just from the book but that was probably down to me rather than the book's instructions as now I know what to do the book makes sense.

I won't show my first few efforts, they are very wonky and I have a tendancy to pull the yarn too tight. A friend showed me how to do a square which was a great help.

Here is flower I made from the book. I've used a thinner yarn and a different size hook but it's ok.

Finally, last night I did a square with changes of colour. Hurray! I'm not sure what to do next. I may do more squares and make a cushion from them.

All this made may think about how, as adults, most things we do come naturally. I felt so awkward trying to hold the yarn and hook and manipulate the hook through the yarn. I felt like a newborn lamb learning to walk or a child learning how to hold a pen and write.

Amanda has kindly sent me some Bushfire Quilt appeal Star blocks which I will send with mine during the first week in March. If any UK bloggers would like me to send their's with mine let me know.

Bye for now, Maria

Australian Bushfire quilt block appeal.

Tia has set up a flickrgroup asking for 12.5 inch star quilt blocks which she and her band of helpers will make up into quilts to be donated to the victims of the Australian bushfires. Hopefully these quilts can offer some comfort to people who may have lost everything in the fires.

This link will take you to a blog entry where a survivor of the 2003 Canberra firestorm explains how some of her family's most treasured items that were donated were those handmade, with love, by complete strangers.

Please click on the flickr link at the begining of this post and it will take you to the Bushfire Quilt Project flickr group where the appeal is explained in more detail. This includes details of the suggested quilt block.

I would like to volunteer to send blocks made by UK ladies to Tia. I think it would be good if a few blocks could be pooled and sent in one parcel rather than individual people sending one or two at time. Do you think that sounds like a good idea?

If anyone reading this would like me to send your blocks with mine please leave a comment and I will contact you with my postal address.

I better get going with making some blocks! I look forward to hopefully hearing from some of you.

Bye for now, Maria.

Quilts in progress.

Hi there, it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. All is well but I haven't had much to show until now.

I have a couple of projects in progress. The first is a quilt for project Linus. I have loads of fabric to use up and a great deal of it is children's fabric. I thought that charity quilts would be a great way of using it up. This one is bright and cheerful and I hope it will brighten up the world of an ill or under privelaged girl. I've now got to put the borders on. I have loads of the yellow flowery fabric left, enough for the backing and border.

About a year ago I started this quilt which is based on a design from a Kaffe Fassett book. It's a medallian quilt which means that you start with a central block and then build it up by adding borders. I'm not concerned that it's taking so long as this was my plan from the start. I wanted a long term project to keep going back to whilst working on other, smaller projects in between.

My next border is to be made of nine patch blocks made up of lots of different fabrics. Once they're sewn together you won't be able to see that they're nine patches. Hopefully they'll look like loads of small random squares. Luckily I have lots of scraps to use up for this as I needed lots of different designs.

So, here is my pile of sets of three squares ready to be sewn into nine patch blocks.

I hope you've enjoyed todays little look at what I've been upto.

Bye for now, Maria.

Another bag finished.

Hurray, I've just finished this bag for my friend's 40th birthday.

The last three bags I've made have been basically the same design so I think it's time to try a different design next time. This is my own design and I think I may try a bought pattern next.

As you know the title of my blog is sew love to sew and I have been thinking about how true this is. Wouldn't it be terrible to not have a hobby to loose yourself in?

I went into my sewing room yesterday, picked up the project I was working on and felt a rush of joy and exitement at the thought of some sewing time. I just love the textures, colours and the satisfation of creating.

A non-sewing friend asked what I'd been doing one day. She looked at me as if I was bonkers when I told her that I'd been sewing, but I'm so grateful to have a hobby which I love sew much!

So what's next? I'm planning to make a couple of charity quilts for project Linus. A few years ago I made and sold fabric gifts for children and I have quite a lot of children's fabric left so I thought charity quilts would be a good way of using some of it up.

I also have a small amount of the Amy Butler fabric I used for the table runner left. I thought I'd make a small wall hanging with it to go in the dining room to match the runner. Just got to come up with an idea for what design to use.

Bye for now, Maria

Table Runner.

Hi, In my last post I showed the placemat I made in these beautiful, fresh Amy Butler fabrics. Well, I've just finished this table runner to go with it. And although I say it myself I think it's great! It's only a short table runner so hasn't run very far - ha ha.

I did some what I call twirly quilting on it. It looks fine on the front but the stitches don't catch properly on the back. This is ok for somthing like this or a wall hanging but I want to quilt a bed quilt with free motion quilting and the stitches need to be good on the back and front. Well this leads to the fact that I need (want) a new machine! I have decided that it has to be a Bernina so I now have to save up some pennies to pay for one. I'm even doing some extra shifts at work to earn the money - I must be desperate!

Below is a preview of the bag I'm making for my friend's 40th birthday pressie. I love those purple batik fabrics. I need to give it to her on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday and as usual I will be rushing to finish it in time. Why do I always do that?

Bye for now, Maria.

My new placemat

This is the first item I've made in 2009. It was good to start with something quick to get me back in the swing. I needed the instant gratification!

The placemat was made from fabric from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern range. I used the pattern given to me by my partner Marie from Linda's bag swap.



I was planning to make a full set but decided to make a table runner to match and I haven't enough fabric for both. Our dining table is now rather scruffy so I now keep a cloth on it and the mat looks lovely in the centre with this glass bowl on top.

Here is the side board on which I plan to put the table runner. It is looking rather bare as it is, mind you it is often the home to mail and other junk but I'm trying to keep it tidier. Not easy in this house.

I can't decide what pattern to do the table runner in. Must hurry up and make a decision soon though as I'd like to start it today. I have a HUGE pile of post Christmas ironing to catch up with though and it's staring at me in my sewing room.



Bye for now, Maria.

The last of the christmas sewing.

Hi, I hope you all had a great Christmas. We had a fairly quiet family time. I had to work christmas night but at least I had the whole day at home. We went to Norfolk to stay with my parents for a few days between christmas and new year, it was great to have someone else do the cooking for a while!

This is the bag I made Mum for christmas. I was very pleased with how it turned out. I used a stiffer interlining than I've used before and put in a special stiff base in the bottom. It stands up on its own well. I didn't finish it until about midnight on the night before christmas eve.

Mum showed it to some of her friends who all loved it which does the ego good. I'd quite like to have an etsy shop to sell some in but as I have to pay full price for the materials I'm not sure the profit margin would be high enough to make it worth while.

Below is the last of the cushions I made as christmas pressies. It's not really my colours but the young lady I made it for has a black and grey bedroom so hopefully she will like it. ( she hasn't received it yet - I won't bore you with the details)


I haven't done any sewing since I finished the bag before christmas and am ready to get going again. I'm planning to make a couple of charity quilts but think it's time to do something for myself first!

Bye for now, Maria.