Carnival Calamity 2025 Part 3

 Carnival Calamity 2025 Part 3

Well now I have calmed down after last weeks fiasco I am ready to try again.

Start from Scratch

Since I am now out of the Blue Felt I have abandoned Connect Four and have got some Yellow Felt and Starting from Scratch.

Measuring Again

As always it is back to Measuring to make the base from which to work from. 

Full Squares

I am going with another Grid Pattern so the Yellow Felt is Full of Squares.

One to a Hundred.

Although the Felt is Full of Squares I do not need all of them. Taking a Ball Point I number them starting with One and going up to One Hundred.

Trimmed and Labelled

I have now Trimmed and Labelled the Grid with a Start and a Finish Point

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 35

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 35

Technically my Bag is now usable. However, I want to tidy it up.

Sort Leaves

Before I can do anything I need to Sort out my Leaves and see what Colours I have. I may need to make some more.

Pin Leaves

I start to Pin the Leaves in place ready for Sewing.

Inside Out

Some of the Leaves are quite hard to get to, especially the further down the Bag you go. For these I turn the Top of the Bag Inside Out. This makes it much easier.

Yellow Hole

I have found a Yellow Hole. By the looks of it is the result of a dropped Stitch, which I did not pick up correctly.

Hole gone

I Sew the Hole together. I then place a Leaf over it to hide the Mistake.

Yellow Problem

I have found another Yellow Problem.

Problem Fixed

Again, I Cover the Mistake with a Leaf. I try where possible to use different Coloured Leaves to help break up large blocks of Colour.

Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 8

 Crikey Not Christmas 2022 Part 8

In the last Blog I had realised that the way I was going to Embroider the Yellow wouldn’t work. It would take far too much Thread

Spreading the Yellow

 

I decided to Unpick and Start again. This time I would only Embroider right at the Edge. I simply did this by putting my Needle through again and again. It is like Blanket Stitch but without crossing the Thread.

Bottom Right Side

 

After I had thought I had done them all I found one lurking down the side. Typical! However I decided to do this one slightly differently.

I was quite anxious regarding the amount of Thread I had left. I only had 2 Skeins of this and it was so old I wasn’t sure that I would get a good match even with the same number.

Bottom Left Side

 

I had completed the Right Side and now started on the Left Side at the Bottom. This is slightly different to how I had done the others as they were being Embroidered up the Sides at the same time.

Top Left

 

I could now Gauge how much I Thread I had used for the Bottom in total. I decided the best process was to now move to the Top. I began on the Left.

Double Top

 

Once I had finished the Left I changed to the Right Hand Top Side. I was Embroidering this Leaf far more Densely than I had the ones I had put to one side.

Yellow Trimmed Ivy

 

The tails were beginning to annoy me so I decided to Cut them off. I then added a few more little bits of Embroidery. As you can see in the above photograph the Yellow does not go entirely around the Leaf. This is because it doesn’t in reality.

Ivy Leaf Collection

 

After finishing the Single Ivy Leaf I now had an example of how to continue with the other Leaves. I Embroidered the Tops and Sides. Then I added little touches of Yellow ad hoc.

I also went over areas that I had already done and increased the Density of the Yellow Edging. I just managed to finish the last one when the 2^nd Skein ran out. Phew that was a close call.

Yellow Peril 2021

 Yellow Peril 2021

Sometimes things just don’t go right.

Wrong Left Glove

 

I have made lots of these Gloves in a variety of Colours. However for some reason this time I have gone wrong. If I am reading the Patten correctly I should have worked on the Thumb then the Finger next to it.

Somehow or other I have ended up doing the Little Finger first. This means all the Rows are wrong so I am now going to have to do it by eye. This means keep trying the Glove on to see how it fits.

Sew Up Glove

 

I have managed to finish Knitting the Glove and Sew it up. I tried again with the other Glove and it happened again. Not only that but to my Horror I realised that I hadn’t changed Colour. Not much I can do about it at this stage.

Yellow Beret Set

Here is the Yellow Set. I have added the Mustard Yellow into the Scarf and made a Mustard Brooch to add on to the Scarf. I may be able to add a little detail onto the Gloves but for now they are going to have to stay like that.

Clay-time Playtime 2021 Part 4

 Clay-time Playtime 2021 Part 4

Now the pot is made the fun bit can start.

Varnish Outside

 

I wanted to colour the pot but as I was intending it for the Bathroom I didn’t think watercolours would be a good idea in all the steam. Then I hit upon the idea of using Nail Varnish.

I had lots of half used Varnish so I found a nice Sand Coloured Yellow and began to Varnish the Outside

Dish Base

 

The Outside Varnish needed to dry so I turned it upside down. In doing so I realised that I would need to Varnish the Base of the Dish as well.

Bottom Varnish

I wasn’t sure which Varnish to use as I need the Yellow for a Second Coat on the Outside Edge. I decided to use a Clear Varnish as a kind of Undercoat.

Purple Swirl

 

After sorting through the various Bottles of Varnish I selected a Purple Shade and carefully Varnished a Thick Purple Swirl on the Base.

I had to wait for this to dry before doing a Second Coat so I very carefully added another Coat of Yellow to the Outside Edge.

Pink Bands

 

I wanted to add more detail to the Swirl so I picked a Pinkie-Gold Varnish and began to apply. I wanted to start small then make Thicker Bands. Unfortunately this proved more difficult than I anticipated.

In the end I had to keep do some Bands then and more Purple to try and even out the lines. Sometimes I added too much so then I had to wait for it to dry and then add more Pink.

Gold Edge

To add a nice Edge I selected a Gold Varnish and Coloured in between the Swirls. It was hard work but I am very pleased with the result.

Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 - Another Problem

 Autumn Cape – A Long Term Project 2021 - Another Problem

For some reason things never seem to go smooth for me. I have now found my Leaves and was going to start adding them when I Spotted something.

Wrong Colour

 

I should imagine that this was another of my working in the wrong light and being too tired moments. I have inadvertently added a Bright Orange to the edge of my Night time section.

Unpick Colour

 

There is absolutely nothing I can do to hide this so I have to Unpick the Leaf.

Replaced Colour

 

I have Replaced it with a Dull Yellow although the camera has made it look quite bright. I haven’t put it back in exactly the same place because with Unpicking I slightly Damaged some of the Red. Therefore I had to adjust the angle to cover it.

Night Start point

 

This is the area I was supposed to be working on. I need to make the Brown section look more organic and add Embellishments.

Branch Embellishment

 

I begin to add more Branches. This is going to take a long time so only going to add a few at this point.

First Leaf

 

As you can see in the above photograph I have put a few twigs on and added my First Leaf.

Absolutely Fantastic

I am still struggling to use my new phone to take photographs and somehow I have appeared to have lost them. Will have to retake them. Do the problems never cease?

A Tale of Two Masks 2020

A Tale of Two Masks 2020 

This time I am trying something a little more complicated. I am going to try and make One Mask into Two

Lucky Circles

 

I was sorting through my bags for some Black material when lo and behold I found Two Circles already Cut out. That’s a Lucky start.

Match Hem

 

I Hemmed One Circle and proceeded to start the other. Now I do generally like to try and get things roughly equal but in this case I need to be more precise. Therefore I Pinned the Circles together so I could Match up the Hems correctly.

Orange

 

Next I needed to make an Orange Circle. For once I didn’t have any material handy so I have had to nip to the market to pick up some Orange Felt. I tried drawing a Circle in Chalk but it wouldn’t show up. Therefore I have used a Biro instead. 

Orange Snip

 

Once I had my Orange Circle I Folded in Half and Pinned it. I Snipped a Triangle out of the Centre. This is going to be a Nose. 

Eye Opener

 

I am having real trouble trying to get things equal. The Felt is a little thick and the Cutting isn’t getting through evenly. I had to do a lot of reshaping on the Mouth.

The Eyes are awkward to do because of not being central. I decided to Fold over the Top of the Circle so I could Snip there.

Yellow Backing

 

Sometimes I can be too frugal with my material. I wanted a Yellow Backing but every time I sewed I found that it was either too small or the Stitching showed through.

Yellow Circle

 

After several attempts I gave up and Cut out and Sewed a Large Yellow Circle.

Perfect Pumpkin

This is much better. The Yellow shows through correctly after I have placed the Orange on top. A pretty Perfect Pumpkin.

More Blooming Flowers 2019 Part 5

More Blooming Flowers 2019 Part 5

This week’s blog is short and sweet as I am reaching the Finale.

Tiny Yellow Stitches

I am now beginning to start the Stamens. These Stitches have to be very Tiny. I am Backstitching in a Circular Pattern

Finished Yellow Middle

Once I have completed the Circle I have simply added a few extra Stitches over the Middle.

Yellow Ring

Now I have got the hang of the process I continue filling the Middle of all the Outer Blooms.

Fully Completed Yellow Interior 

I have now Fully Completed the Yellow Interior of the Bloom. Needless to say it was both fiddly and laborious.