WIPW

I have been in the grip of this bug for 3 weeks now and recovery is sooo slow.  Just when I think I am recovering I find myself laid low again.  I have a class coming up on Saturday so that has been my first priority.

I have partially prepared kits all over the over the place.

At the last minute I have decided to change thing by including a second frame.  This one is smaller.  This will allow students the chance to repeat the project in another size.

I also was not happy with my knitting so, it has come been pulled undone and re-knitted on a smaller sized set of needles.

I am much happier with this.

 

Where I live

We have had quite a lot of rain over the last 24 hours and it has turned quite cool.  Cold enough to put on a cardigan and button it up.  The rain has flushed lot of insects out of the ground and the Kookaburras and Magpies are feasting on them and getting very wet.  I have been watching the caterpillars which are on the move at the moment.  The seem to join up head to tail to make one giant animal.

We have been having some wonderful sunsets lately.  They bring joy to my soul.

One thing about the wet weather is that I don't feel guilty just sitting and sewing.

WIPW

I have started work on the embroidered jewelry.  The designs are small, stitched with one thread and there is little room for error.  I don't like some of the stitches that are recommended, especially when worked in 1 strand of embroidery thread, so have decided to choose my own stitches.  Having said that the designs are sweet but the black fabric just attracts dust and lint.  I'm going to have to get rid of that.

I keep working on these box bags trying to get the perfect finish.  (Some of the ladies in my patchwork group only know one way to stitch, perfectly.) I didn't stitch enough small embroideries for this one.  It just isn't balanced so I'm going to have to use it at home.

I have now switched to some of the Tilda Woodlands range that I bought a while ago and I love it.  What I didn't get was some of the plain fabric.  Hope my patchwork shop has that in stock.

If you are into making patterns

When I was teaching full-time one thing I taught was how to draft patterns for clothing.  It was the rare student who liked this topic.  I think it was because most students didn't have an ability to visualise what they were making.  This is a skill that isn't really taught in school.  You might get a bit of it in art but nowhere is it actually 'taught' in the curriculum.  You only have to look at all the Apps available on line that do this for you.  They range from doing your make-up to designing houses and interior design and a whole range of other tasks that you have to 'visualise'.  Some people are born with this ability but for the majority it has to be learnt.  The other thing that most students found difficult was the math.

This brings me to the box bags I have been experimenting with.  I found a pattern on the Bernina site "We all Sew".  It is a great pattern and just fine for a knitting bag.  Like a lot of things it was designed to sell the designers fabric and I wanted to use my own.  So, I added some handles and did just that.

Then I got to thinking about making it in other sizes.  Now there is a simple mathematical formula for working this out.  For the length you add your desired finished length to your desired height plus 2 times your seam allowance.  For your width use 2 times your desired width plus 2 times  your desired height plus 2 times the seam allowance.  That gives you the size of the fabric you need to start with.

EVERYONE JUST SWITCHED OFF, DIDN'T THEY?

I thought back to my classroom days and saw all these blank faces, with one or two exceptions.

The internet is a wonderful thing so I went looking for an App or a blog post that would do this for you.  And I found a blog that had an automatic calculator on it's site.  It was a blog written by Sarah Kirsten.  She has a "Pouch Pattern Calculator"  that you just fill in the measurements and it works it out for you.

She write very thoughtful blog posts and there are lots of hint and tricks to be picked up from this site.

 

The next book

My last book seemed to be finished before I began!!  I don't think this next one will be the same.

Pachinko, which means "pinball"  has me putting it down every few pages to think about what I have just read.  I don't know a lot about Korea or the way of life of it's people.  I know that there is ill feeling between those people and the Japanese but as to why I am now finding out.  I visited Korea with my husband when he went on a business trip a number of years ago and remember having problems with the stainless steel chop sticks.  I also fell in love with their hand stitched thimbles and other small stitcheries along with their patchwork.  This book starts out saying one thing but opens you up to a range of other emotions.  If you enjoy historical fiction you will love this book.

You can click on the link at the beginning of the last paragraph to read a range of reviews from people far more informed than me.  I also know that the Korean's practice their own form of Kogin embroidery which is so similar to the Japanese form it is hard to tell them apart.

This is a good book and a great read.