ScrapHappy August 2021

Time for something completely useless…

On a recent scavenge through the garage on the search for an 18cm beige metal zip, I came across this little plywood bird at the bottom of one of many boxes. Presumably I’d bought it years ago when I had mosaic on the brain but at some point had decorated one side with pale blue and floral fabric. Glued on. A bit of gold paint. A dot for an eye. Other side blank. No idea what the plan was. Most likely no plan. Still no plan, but I decided to quickly do something with the blank side so I could use it for this month’s ScrapHappy.

Clearly Bird was calling out for some Jekyll and Hyde treatment. I stuck on a scrap of metallic black fabric, some sequins that were in a box donated by a friend (getting rid of her unwanted craft supplies), and 3 snippets of narrow silver ribbon. I strung some beads on a bit of transparent sewing thread and Bird now hangs on a cuphook above my desk as a permanent reminder Not To Buy Anything Unless I Have A Clear Purpose In Mind.

And that, my friends, is my contribution for this month.

* ScrapHappy is open to anyone using up scraps of anything – no new materials. It can be a quilt block, pincushion, bag or hat, socks or a sculpture. Anything made of scraps is eligible. It is hosted by Kate and Gun. Email Kate at Tall Tales from Chiconia at the address on her Contact Me page, or leave a comment on her ScrapHappy Post. You can also contact Gun via her blog to join.

PS. I found 172 zips, none of them the right colour or length.

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cross stitch, broken glass and one for Rachel

I already had a frame for my finished cross-stitch but no glass. I went to Peacocks in Mowbray last week and had a piece cut to fit. It cost me R80. Today I fiddled around with getting the fabric aligned properly and thought what a brilliant idea it would be to use a staple gun to keep the folded-over corners flat at the back. So, yes, it worked – but it also caused the glass to break. Anyone else would have thought of that before they just jumped in, right? Tomorrow – back to Peacocks to cough up another R80. What a waste of money – I could have bought two bottles of cheap dry white for that!

 

I’ve made a bit of progress with the new cross-stitch, and am really really enjoying using my own selection of colours. I get to use up stash thread and just generally have more fun with the whole thing :

And while we’re on colour, I had to stock up on cushion stuffing this morning. This bolt of fabric from riiiiiiiight on the far side of the shop starting singing my name, and I didn’t even bother to pretend not to listen. I should get three or four cushions out of it, just in time for next week’s Made in the Cape market (the first one of 2019). It’ll be interesting to see if they sell, or if it’s just me thinking Ohmigod I love this and must have it in my house!!!

And here’s a gratuitous photo for Rachel in her Little Room – a close-up of the bottom row of the bookshelf that appeared in my last post. Nice mix, hey? – needlepoint, Ruth Rendell, some South African stuff, the incredibly funny Carl Hiaasen, even a bit of Salman Rushdie!

Ruth’s bedspread

I was very disappointed to discover that the grey-water system in the new house only links to two bathrooms (one of which is seldom used). I couldn’t understand why so little water was coming out every day, as the washing machines (yes, two of them!) are in near-constant use, and also a hell of a lot of washing-up gets done around here. (Don’t look at me, and don’t ask. Just don’t).

So, under even tighter water restrictions, Rob fiddled around with some of the water outlet pipes and we now have an efficient – albeit rudimentary – “system”, involving lots of different-sized buckets carefully positioned over various drains. Twice a day, I decant from the bigger buckets into smaller buckets and go staggering round the garden with them trying to keep the plants alive. It’s very bad timing to have tendonitis in my right arm but how can you not use your right arm ffs, so I keep on regardless.

I don’t know how I got started on this, actually, but clearly I am obsessed with trying to get my garden growing the way I want it!! — I was planning to show you Ruth’s bedspread, which still needs a backing but will be ready in time for the market on Saturday.

She asked for shocking pink and navy, with a lighter blue and some grey here and there. I didn’t have anything useable in bright pink, so bought 2 metres of mediumweight linen and spread it out over the kitchen counter to break the solidity of it with some printing in whites and grey.

She’s also asked to make some little fabric containers – I guess something like this (found here), so I’ll have some fun playing around with that idea today.

patchworky

I’m getting all patchworky. And I’m blaming Kate. My first two bedspreads were large irregular squares and rectangles and some strips. Nice, she said, but try cutting smaller squares because then you can fit in more contrasting fabrics. And what do you know, I’m hooked!

Side one and side two of a bright reddy-orangey mix, four strips of 10 squares each so far. I’ve opted for 10-inch squares because it seems like a manageable size. Not too big, not too small.  Yay for the rotary cutter and cutting mat. If the house started burning down, they are now the first two items I would grab. (Sorry, cats.)

Maggie asks if I will be quilting the bedspread. It’s a short answer – No. There will be no batting and no fancy-pants stitching designs. There will be a lightweight cotton backing and topstitching round the edge. I know my limits!

donkey work

I enjoyed playing around with those bits of left-over fabric more than I realised. And when it comes to enjoyable sewing, nothing beats the simplicity of straight lines. Someone I knew would have called it donkey work, in which case I’m having an Eeyore week.

The colours don’t show up that well in the pics, but they are a gorgeous mix of blues and creams and teals and greys and browns.

I like random, so I’ll never be one of those clever quilting ladies whose exquisitely thought-out fabric mosaics I admire so much! But I still felt I deserved a rotary cutter and a proper cutting mat – an early birthday present to myself :-)  My squares are so much squarer now!