Lately

Hello

I hope you are well and safe and Storm Dennis isn't being bad to you.  Luckily I live on top of The Cotswolds but around the River Severn flooding is severe, my heart goes out to those people affected.

When I was shopping last week I saw some Marmalade Oranges.  

Several hours of chopping, boiling and bubbling later, my marmalade was made.

Miss Clicky and her hubby moved into their new home in the summer but they still haven't got blinds and curtains for their kitchen.  I offered to make them some for Christmas so they choose the fabric and I am in the middle of making.  Our kitchen island makes the perfect cutting table. 


I saw these little clips on Pinterest to use instead of pins.   I got a bag of 50 from Amazon and I am really liking them.

I have been using my Singer 201 (Kathleen) for this job.  I found this machine locally before Christmas.  She was made in 1945 and has the Indian Star decals on the bed.  

When I picked her up I asked the seller about this and she told me that her parents were in India and that is where it was bought, used and then shipped back to the UK.  The box number and their name was written on the case.

Singer 201s were used by Rolls Royce for sewing their leather seats as it was the only machine up to the job.  She had a wiring check and PAT test from an expert to make her safe to sew with.

She is a lovely machine to use and goes like a rocket!   However, things haven't all gone well.  She was skipping stitches.  I tried all the usual things, changed the needle 3 times, re-threaded, played around with the bobbin and stuck a straw in the cotton reel to stop it wobbling around but the stitches were still skipping.  I walked away.  

The next morning I looked down into the tension discs and noticed a tiny piece of yellow thread, left in from her service.  We are now friends again.

It's not all sewing.  The blanket that I started for Baby Needles has grown a bit but not that much.

I am half way through a Tierney Wrap Cardigan.  This pattern is from The Knitter Issue 42.

It is shaped by short rows, and made sideways.

Lastly I have a pair of gloves half made.  I think I am going to use these as my plane knitting next week, gloves will make a pleasant change from socks.   I am off to Chicago to stay with Mr Clicky for a month.  

Mr Clicky arrived back in the UK yesterday, his flight arrived earlier than expected, blown faster by the storm.    We are flying to Chicago, together, for a change, next weekend.   Let's hope I can get the blinds and curtains made before we leave.

Have fun................Clicky Needles.

Meet Minty

Hello Folks.

As the weather this Sunday was predicted to be miserable (what the weather man actually said) I decided to make the day a sewing day.  Before I show you what I got up to I realise that I haven't yet introduced you to Minty.

Minty is a 1967 white Singer Featherweight that I bought from a wonderful man about 45 minutes drive away from me.  Sadly, his wife had died, she used to own a needlecraft shop and their home was filled with antiques of all sorts and lots of sewing and knitting things.  He made me a cup of tea, played me a song on the Jukebox in the dining room and I spent most of my time saying, "oooo" or "wow" or "oh my, you've got a ........."

Minty dates from 1967 which is the same year as me and although she is a officially called a white Singer, there is definitely a tinge of green in the paintwork.  They are quite often called Celery or Mint.

I came away with other treasures as well.  A Vulcan chainstitch toy machine from the 1950s which needs a little work to get it working.

An enamel Singer sign.

And a beautiful set of Sylko drawers

Complete with a rainbow of threads.  I love these drawers so much.

Anyhoo back to my Sunday.  I spent 4 hours cutting out squares for a quilt I am making for my very good friend.  The blocks are a Christmas Tree and the quilt is called Holiday Patchwork Forest.  Pattern here.

I strip pieced with Minty.

I love strip piecing, so quick and easy.

After some more joining and pressing, I'm almost up to single bed size.  Although this is a Christmassy theme I have used reds/pinks/greys/greens and only used one Christmassy print.

Whilst cutting the squares I cut double, so my next pile to sew is almost ready to go.

I visited Miss Clicky and Baby Needles today and i was able to take over this hat and cardigan that I have just finished.  

The cardigan is the same pattern as the one I made just before Christmas minus the eyelets and with a contrast row of purl.  Sadly the other cardigan didn't survive the washing machine.  My fault, I thought the yarn was machine washable, but the felted cardigan said otherwise.  This set is made in Drops Karisma so is definitely machine washable.

Lastly that lovely bright yarn I showed you last time?  Not a temperature blanket, which I would love to be making but it is a bit tricky with being away, it's a blanket for Baby Needles for when she is in her buggy.

That's me for now, I am confined to barracks tomorrow because my car is in the garage, so I'm thinking of a bit more sewing.  What will you be up to?

See you soon...........Clicky Needles.

Happy New Year

Hello Folks.

Firstly I need to say Happy New Year to you.  I hope you had a good Christmas, ours was great.  I celebrated another birthday, Mr Clicky was with us for two weeks, we met up with family and friends and we spent loads of time with Baby Needles.  

I have making as well.  I gave these wrist warmers to my niece for Christmas, made in Katia Polaris, a lovely quick and easy knit.

I completed the stitchy bit of the winter Craftpod box.

I finally got round to binding the baby quilt I made from Clicky's old work shirts in June ~ remember when purple shirts were a thing? ~ I made the binding using the left over bits.

I made this quilt using Ivy, my 1892 Singer handcrank.  

As I was trying to take some decent photos of it, I realised I had the perfect place by stuffing  carefully placing the edge of the quilt in the electrical conduit on our breeze block wall.  The perfect display place.

Before Christmas I bought myself something a little indulgent.   Our kitchen/living extension is a large space of 9m x 3m and is tiled throughout.  We also a lovely fluffy felt rug perfect for popping toes in.  The trouble with that is, fluff balls everywhere.

I bought myself a robot vacuum cleaner.  It is simply brilliant and named Colin.  I have it programmed to clean at 8am; it goes over the hard floor, under and behind the sofa, through the chair legs and dining table and into the living room and over the carpet there.  When it has finished, it goes back to the charging station.  If it gets tangled up ever, it beeps and shuts down.  The other morning I found it had eaten a loo roll like the Andrex Puppy.

We didn't go overboard with presents this year, but I received some knitty themed things.

My Mum gave me the two mugs at the back, love a knitted mug, and my lovely knitting pal Romain gave me the coaster and a tiny tin with stitch markers in.  Romain is a master at hunting down knitting presents, I'm not sure where she finds things!  The tin is so tiny, I have already lost it 3 times!

Romain also gave me this cracking Christmas card, made, I think, on a Cricut machine.

Lastly a yarny delivery I received this week.  I wonder what it might turn into?

Right, that's me for now I'm off to catch up on blog reading, it may take a while!

Bye for now...............Clicky Needles.

Finishings

Hello there.  

I have been making an effort to get bits and bobs finished.  You know how it is, that last little bit of finishing never gets done.

These houses were free with a Christmas magazine last year?  maybe the year before.  I stitched the cross stitch straight away but hadn't got round to the final joining and stuffing.

As always with a kit on a magazine, the supplies were at a bare minimum and there wasn't enough felt to back all three houses, so I found some in my stash.  

Finishing No 2.  A pair of Joes Toes slippers for Baby Needles.  I bought the felt bottoms Wonderwool this year.  Knitting the uppers was a very quick job in a chunky yarn I found in my stash.

They have been sitting around on the side for several months waiting for me to sew them up.  The soles have holes punched in to enable you to join.

All finished now.

Arm warmers.  I started these about a year ago, finished one arm and hadn't bothered to make the other.  These (should've) been a really quick make in Aran wool but........

Will I wear these?  When I am a bit chilly and having a Highlander moment, maybe.

A cardi for Baby Needles.  This should've been another quick project using up some double knit, it's not large.  It sat around for a long time as I procrastinated and didn't move anywhere, mainly I think, because I was running out of yarn and knitting both sleeves at the same time so as not to end up with one sleeve longer than the other.

Anyhoo, I found some mismatched buttons yesterday and sewed them on.

My last thing to show you today is my advent tea light calendar.  I like an advent candle but more often than not, it burns down several days at a time because I forget to blow it out.  Advent tea lights therefore are an excellent solution.  They seem to be disappearing a bit too fast for my liking though.  

Master Clicky and me picked up our Christmas Tree on Saturday but it is in a bucket of water outside still and I still have presents buy/wrap/make.  Mr Clicky comes home on the 21st and I'm not sure whether he will be a help or hinderance.

See you soon.................Clicky Needles.

December!

Hello All.

December seems to have crept up on me, this morning we woke to a frost.   Not that I'm complaining, anything is better than rain.

I have a few things to show you today.  The first is a cross stitch sampler that I made whilst I was away, for my lovely little granddaughter Willow.  She delights me every time I see her, and is growing fast.  She now has two, very sharp, teeth.


I looked on Pinterest for samplers with Willow trees in and came across this pattern which was on sale on Etsy from AnnieBeezFolkArt.   Bizarrely, she lives about five miles from our apartment.   It is from a set of four; Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, called Sheltering Tree, with the tree in various colours and different animals underneath.  I took the season name out added Willow's, and took the whole thing down to add the birth date.  

I found a box frame in The Range and used a piece of Foamboard also from The Range to stretch it over.  It went in and out of the frame several times because I managed to trap some glitter in with it from something else I bought.  It is now in Willow's nursery.

I took it into my head about a week ago to make an Advent Calendar for my (grown up) children.  I had a peruse of Pinterest and thought that paper stars looked good.  This was an easy job.  Cut out stars from brown paper and sew round the outside whilst popping a sweet or chocolate inside.  Easy but time consuming.  Cutting out 100 stars took quite some time even with several layers at once.   I found some red metallic thread in my sewing box which I bought years ago because Shiny Thing! but had never used because I thought it would be difficult to sew.  

Actually it was a doddle, no different from ordinary thread.  Sewing the stars ~ with a needle I keep for paper sewing ~ was again easy, but time consuming.  It is actually my sort of sewing, no need for accuracy and fun to whizz along.  You'll notice I am using my modern 'plastic' machine.  Master Clicky is currently working on a motor of a vintage machine I may have acquired, more on that another time.

Anyhoo, the end result.  The Advent Calendar that is for Master Clicky tied up in our kitchen between the lighting conduit.  I didn't put any sweets in for me, I have cut down a lot in my chocolate consumption since returning from my travels and I don't seem to crave it anymore.

For Miss Clicky and her husband (husband, that still sounds weird!) I cut a piece of contorted willow from the garden and they assembled theirs hanging from a door.  I love how this one looks.

I have been sorting things at home, going through old paper work and shelves, the vast majority of which need chucking out.  Not a nice job but so worth doing.  I also need to reclaim the spare bedroom from Master Clicky's 'stuff' which he lobbed in there whilst, 'Sorting out my room.'  I am trying to persuade him to part with electronic Battleships, numerous old cricket bats and a selection of toy guns, 'Do you really need them?'  

Right, that's me for now, I have a not very nice dental appointment this afternoon, so wish me luck.  

See you soon.........Clicky Needles.