Craft therapy in a chaotic world

What is it about cutting up fabric

and sewing it back together again

that is so gratifying?

Why does choosing yarn in beautiful colours

and spending a few hours basically hooking it into tangles and knots

make the tough realities of life just a bit easier to take?

How can a needle and a few bits of coloured thread

yield small beauties that put the ugliness of the news into the background for a while?

Craft is the perfect antidote to the horrors of the world around us.

We crafty folk find happiness in sharing our knowledge

One of the workshops I teach

One of the classes I take

inspiring new friends

Teaching a new friend to sew on a rainy afternoon

enjoying the company of old friends

Enjoying decadent treats on Craft Night with Jooles!

The news has been getting to me lately. It’s all too much sometimes. I switch off the radio and reach for something to make, something to take my mind off all the negativity.

Craft therapy. In these tumultuous times, we’re all holding onto our creative gifts, enriching our family lives with simple makes

I've been making snowflakes with linen thread and iridescent thread hooked together...

And while conflicts spread the globe, so too do our creative connections

We’re sticking together, we crafty folk, we’re reaching out across the vastest distances to share the simplest of pleasures in this complicated world.

Craft therapy.

Don’t you wish a news report would end not with the weather, but with a Craft Update?

“And in Surrey this evening, Chrissie Crafts has finally finished her daughter’s quilt! A lovingly made patchwork in shades of rose and aqua, Chrissie reveals exclusively to us that this will be Bunny’s Christmas present. Well done, Chrissie.”

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x

P.S. I first wrote about craft therapy a few weeks after starting my blog. You can read it here.

A Big Ta-Dah!

I have finally, FINALLY done it! My very first quilt is finished!

TA-DAH!

My Happy Spring Quilt, with a disappearing nine-patch design and diagonal quilting through the center of each square.

It’s only taken about 16 months from when I first bought the Moda Dogwood Trail Charm Pack...sheesh!

Truth be told, I could probably have completed this in a few weekends. But I was extra cautious with my first project; I would work on it only when I had a chunk of time to myself when I could spread out the project, measure carefully, gather the courage to rotary cut the fabrics, learn new techniques...and I can count on one hand the number of occasions when I actually have those few spare hours for sewing!

You know how it is, in the evenings sometimes it’s just nice to pick up a familiar hobby, something that doesn’t require intense concentration, that is more meditative at the end of a long day. Crochet and embroidery offer those relaxing elements for me. Sewing is still too new. But I really, really enjoyed making this quilt! Here’s the back:

It is by no means perfect, but the kiddies and even Darling Husband have been snuggling under it since I finished it! I have learned a lot from this project – mainly just to chill out a bit, it’s only fabric and thread! I had some wonderful guidance along the way from quilting friends, even if they were just patting my shoulder and telling me to get on with it already...

To those of you who are accomplished quilters, did you feel this way in the beginning? I know my confidence will grow as I do more, and believe me, I want to do more...

As soon as I finished the final stitch of my first quilt, I dug out the panda fabric I used for Bunny’s lampshade, and I bought a few coordinating fabrics. A simple patchwork quilt, with big squares and stitch-in-the-ditch, is what she wants.

And I’m making a bold statement here and now: This will NOT take me nearly a year-and-a-half to complete! I am experienced quilter now...

Chrissie x

Speedy Nine-Patch

Little Flower has quite an affinity for Peter Rabbit and all the other charming Beatrix Potter tales. I love reading the stories to her – I remember reading them myself when I was young. The collection was kept tucked in a bottom shelf of the library, second aisle of books. I would go to that shadowy lower bookcase, plop down on the floor, and take out Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, the Flopsy Bunnies...I loved holding the little books in my small hands, I felt like Ms. Potter made them just for me!

So recently I purchased a Beatrix Potter fabric bundle and made a quick nine-patch cushion for Little Flower

Bunny decided she wanted to get in on the action, so she got out the owl fabric bundle I gave her for her birthday, with its bright turquoises and pinks. But my 10-year-old wanted to make the cushion with me. This nine-patch technique was taught to me by a quilting friend, it is so brilliantly simple quick – it cuts some time-consuming corners with sewing and pinning and whatnot – but I’ve never seen the technique in a book or a blog, so I thought I’d snap some pics and show you here!

First you cut your squares. I’m not going to give measurements, because this works on cushions, quilts, anything with a nine-patch square...

Bunny wanted to fussy cut the owls

Then lay out the nine squares in the pattern you wish

Now here’s the first sewing step, so pay attention. Fold the right-side squares face down over the centre squares, so the right sides are together.

Take the top two squares, just stacked as they are, and sew a ¼-inch seam down the right side, nearly to the end. Unless the squares are very big, don’t worry about pinning them, just line them up neatly and be careful not to slide them around.

Just before you get to the end of this first edge, take the centre two squares and line them up with the previous two. But don’t overlap! You don’t want to sew them together as such, you just want to continue sewing the edge – you basically are saving the step of cutting the thread of the first two squares, setting them to the side, then sewing the edge of the next two squares, cutting the thread, setting them to the side...

Can you see how they’re just touching at the edges but not being sewn together overlapping? Continue down the edge, then grab the bottom two squares and line them up the same way. This time sew clear to the end, and cut the thread. Open up the squares and you will have this

Your centre column of squares is now patched to the right column. Repeat the process on the left side

You will need to either sew from the bottom two squares up or turn the squares over to sew the seam from the top down, so that the fabric columns are kept to the left of the presser foot. This will be clearer to understand when you are actually doing it! Just be careful and make sure everything is lined up the right way. Here’s the next column finished

Pretty speedy, eh? Now let’s finish this nine-patch – fold the bottom three squares towards the centre

(I will state here that I don’t bother pinning or pressing edges or seams during any of this, because my quilting guru said it wasn’t worth the extra effort, but if it helps you sleep better at night, be my guest.)

Sew a seam along the edge of all three squares. Take care to line up the previous seams as best you can to keep the patches aligned on the finished piece.

Repeat this process with the top row.

Here is Bunny’s completed nine-patch! Isn’t it jolly? She noticed the uneven squares on the bottom two rows and wasn’t happy, so we sewed on some owl ribbon.

This is why I emphasized the precaution of lining up seams carefully in the last step – but I’m pointing out her little error here so you see how to fix it without ripping it out. I barely noticed it myself, I was just tickled that she was enjoying using the sewing machine!

Simple envelope style for the back – two pieces with topstitched seams...

...overlapped onto the front panel, right sides together...

The front panel is under there...

...and sewn all round. Ta-dah!!!

Well done, Bunny! Incidentally, this is the technique I used for the patches of my Happy Spring Quilt – that was a Disappearing Nine-Patch, because after the nine squares were sewn together, I took the rotary cutter through the centre of each block, dividing it into four patchwork squares. And no, I still haven’t finished my first quilt, but hey, I’ve managed to steal enough time to put the border on the front this weekend...

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x

Getting back to normal...

Ah, the end of half term, struggling to return to a normal routine. It takes the family nearly a week to get back into the rhythm, after a week of staying up later, sleeping in, fun day trips, fun stay-at-home pyjama days...and especially having Grandma here to spoil the girls silly!

My mother is on an airplane back to the States right now, and after I got Bunny to school on time, and Little Flower happily doodling at the kitchen table, I started clearing up the chaos. Toys, books, craft kits, clothes, fancy dress costumes to tidy up...and don’t get me started on how much vacuuming and scrubbing is waiting for me all week! Am I the only one who turns a blind eye to daily household chores during half term?

Ugh, all this talk is terribly dull – want to see what I did instead of laundry this weekend?

A *bit* of a ta-dah with my Happy Spring Quilt! The top is all sewn together! There is still a way to go, I know, but this is my very first quilt and I’m so excited to have pieced the top all together!

I am love love loving the colours, so very feminine and happy. I knew my first quilt would be a challenge, because I’m still rather new to sewing, so I wanted to make sure I worked with fabrics and colours that made *me* happy. Very self-indulgent, isn't it? But it keeps me interested and keeps me focused on the goal.

I’m learning a lot as I sew these lovely bits of fabric together. See the wonky edges? Two times I ripped out the seam of a long strip, because the strip came up a whole inch short at the end. I measured the fabrics, reassured myself that I hadn’t skimped on the length by accident, then re-sewed the strips on, but with a bit of tension/holding the fabric tight so it would stay flat and even. And they made it to the end, pretty much. What is that about?

Anyway, I didn’t let it get me down, I learned from the experience and everything seems ok. The edges will sort themselves out – I’m just glad the blocks all stayed even as I went along, because I learned with the first two rows how easy it is for them to be off, too! (Gosh, this quiltmaking stuff can be so tricky!)

These were moments that I was plenty glad to be working with girly pinks and florals, so I didn’t grit my teeth and rip seams with my bare hands...

Will it get easier with practice? I find that right now I only have the time and energy to sew at the weekend, because there is a lot of measuring, ironing and lining up and pinning seams to contend with – not the most relaxing of hobbies to do on a weeknight. At least not yet!

Next step, the quilt sandwich. Luckily, I have a friend down the road who is an accomplished quiltmaker, and she has promised to hold my hand during this process. And what pattern/technique will I use to quilt the whole thing when it’s together? Decisions, decisions! (Advice gladly accepted...)

One more photo to show you before I go fold some clothes and clean up dinner dishes (*yawn*). I managed to make a bit of progress with the Dr Seuss embroidery

The yellow fill stitches are taking a while, but it’s pleasant work, and like the quilting, this bit is rather new to me. I’m enjoying the process. I’ve not done this amount of fill stitching before; I’ve mainly done doodle stitching outlines and whatnot. So I’m learning as I go, how to manage long and short stitches, how to handle stitch direction...I’m just anxious to get him outlined in black and add the cartoony black shading lines! Then it’s on to those green eggs and ham...

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x

 

Happy Spring Quilt

The blossoms and abundance of sunshine has me in the mood to take the next step with my first quilt.
The last time I wrote about it, I had made the bold move of cutting my nine-block squares into quarters.

Yesterday I laid them all out on a blanket on the kitchen floor to nail down a pattern. I want to keep it simple, so I envisage the squares set out on a background of off-white, with a decorative binding and reverse.

Eegads, that’s a lot of florals in one image!

After carefully gathering and labelling each row in order, I set about cutting strips of the plain fabric to go in between each square.

Here is a peek at one of the two rows I finished yesterday – it made me so happy to see the über-pretty patterns out in the bright sunshine that I decided I would call it my Happy Spring Quilt.

Remind me of this when I’m still learning how to quilt the thing on a dark night next January...

On Saturday I went to the local library and found these intriguing books

I haven’t yet leafed through the quilt book, but Granny Squares looks super! Nice mix of granny chic and more subdued projects. There are at least three patterns in it that I intend to crochet – cue the Amazon One-Click. I have such a love-hate relationship with One-Click. It’s just so easy. Too, too easy. I expect a personal Christmas card from Amazon’s founder this year, thanking me for my custom.

Anyway, once I have read a bit more of Granny Squares, I think I’ll write a little review. I have some overall thoughts about it that others might find useful. And of course I’ll show anything I make from the book, to see how the patterns work in “real life”!

I’m going out to the garden now, must do some weeding so the lovely flowers can have centre stage!

Chrissie x