Back properly on Monday
Posted: April 28, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »
I have been away for Easter and not really got back into the swing of juggling all the different digital streams I’m involved in so i will be back with a proper post on Monday. But for now I have created a facebook page for my Phoenix business here: http://www.facebook.com/FionasPhoenixPlymouth and have added lots of lovely photos.
Paint the whole world with a rainbow
Posted: March 26, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: handmade, handmade monday, moda, needlework, quilt, quiltsy, sewing 8 Comments »
As you know, to say that I have become quilt obsessed is something of an understatement. This has now extended to making treasuries on Etsy too – although those pictures look kind of quilty too. The commission for the table runner and placemats is underway for a Mrs B of Tavistock and I attended a much better Craft Fayre on Saturday organised by Year 6 of a primary school; they had even arranged the Military Wives Choir who sang right in front of my stand and were wonderful. My latest treasury is called “Paint the Whole World with a Rainbow” some of you may remember this phrase, fondly or otherwise! There’s nothing of mine in there just beautiful quilted items from my fellow Quiltsy team members.
This last week I have been making a Noddy quilt from panel I found on Ebay and have upcycled – it was sold as new but I think has been cut down from a duvet cover? Anyway, I’m delighted with the finished item which is here:
The quilting on the back looks lovely too. The dotty blue fabric is from the Maisy Mouse range by Andover fabrics – I think this is now discontinued but in the depths of deepest Devon, Ashburton to be precise, can still be found. There are more pictures here, in my Etsy shop.
In other work the tea cozy at the top is made of Domestic Bliss by Moda charm squares. I used six for each side, pieced them by machine and then wadded and backed them with a pink gingham check. I used a tea plate to round off the corners and then quilted both sides in a simple diamond design. I bound the bottom edges of the front and the back before constructing the cosy and then pinned the two pieces together and machine sewed the binding to the top seam. This was then hand finished on the reverse.
If you would like full instructions – leave me a comment and I will see what I can do – it’s simple and fun to make and sits nicely on my 2 pint pot. I’m over to have a gander at the clever new things over at Handmade Monday. You should go too.
Missing in Action….
Posted: March 12, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: craft fair, life, needlecraft, quilt, rant, sewing 11 Comments »
I won’t be around for long today as I finally have to get to grips with the house of doom and all that that entails. It has taken a very back burner because I have been so busy getting things finished for a number of Craft Fairs that have been a complete waste of space. Organisers quite happy to take your £25 table fee for very minimal promotion. I’m sorry but a banner or an announcement in the What’s On section is just not good enough. I won’t name and shame the organisations involved but there were approximately 30 traders at the show yesterday, some with more than one table and very few of us sold anything at all. I sold a House Mouse card for £1.50. I may have a commission for a table runner but that’s not confirmed yet.
My fellow traders said, well it is for a charity, and I was happy to pay the inflated fee because of that. But even charities should work for that fee. I would be interested to hear what others have experienced. Variously I have encountered venues without lighting and heating, where I had to assist getting tables out, dirty toilets and no promotion. Organisations seem to be of the view that there only responsibility is to provide the venue. We operate on our own insurance and I generally do some promotion of events myself, probably much to the ennui of my Facebook friends and tweeps. One venue even sold itself as having multiple coach loads turning up to every event; at the first one I attended four people turned up and they refunded our money and agreed to move it to a Saturday which they duly did. However their one banner by way of publicity still had the Thursday on it The lack of promotion and the tiny footfall meant that after three goes I have kicked it into touch.
Perhaps I should start organising them myself. Again, anyone with any experience of this please comment or message me.
Anyway, the things that I have been working on recently are the lovely set of four coaster with bees called “Wonder where the Boidies is” it being Spring and in memory of my dad who said without fail every Spring, “Spring is sprung, the sap is ris, I wonder where the boidies is”.
I have also been making some place mats which I have called “Mystery Tour“. I’m not sure if the Beatles did travel in a campervan on
the Magical Mystery Tour but they should have done; they did, however come to Plymouth during its production.
And obviously, I have finished another quilt. This time from a pre-printed quilt panel. I quite enjoyed it but think on balance I prefer the piecing. I have a number of projects on the go and will get back to them next week – we have some things to sort out, apart from the house of doom (the garden of despair chief amongst them).
“Catch a falling star” isn’t on Etsy yet as I want to take some better photos and it’s too big to stick on a bit of fabric and crop out the doominess.
I would like to thank Vicky for a lovely mention on her Hulu Crafts website. Both links are well worth a visit, her blog is fascinating and her shop is my very idea of heaven.
Lastly but not least please, please, please go over to Handmade Monday and enjoy the talent that is there.
Stitching in the blood … with Handmade Monday
Posted: February 26, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Christie Morrison, family history, needlework, patchwork, sewing 31 Comments »
Way back in 1921 Margaret Morrison and her two sisters and older brother were orphaned, losing their coal miner father to an obstructed bowel. Their mother had died the previous year and they were left alone. John, the oldest at 17, reported the death to the Registrar and the family left their tied accommodation to go to their nearest family in Edinburgh. They couldn’t all be accommodated with their grandparents and in order to stay together they set up home on their own. Margaret was 13 and Christie and Bessie were between Margaret and John in age.
John joined the merchant navy and Margaret became apprenticed to a dressmaker. Between them, Margaret and John paid for the home and set about paying for Christie and Bessie to become nurses. They both became nurses, Bessie became a very senior Matron in a number of large hospitals around the country. There was some kind of rift during or just after world war two and Christie became estranged from the rest of the family – if you know anything of Christie Morrison born circa 1905 in Bannockburn, Linlithgowshire, Scotland I would be delighted to hear it.
Margaret Morrison was my grandmother. Her full name is a bit of a mouthful, Margaret MacLennan Morrison MacLachlan, and she has been gone for long time, having died in 1981. Whenever I am stitching I think of her. She worked for most of her life and I wish that I had her treddle singer. I have one small piece from her home. A pottery cat string holder which hung on the wall of her kitchen where we sat together when I was very small watching with fascination as she removed her rollers.
I hope she would think I have done a good job on the bag above. It is made from alternately pieced 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric which are then pressed and pleated to conceal the contrast fabric. The pleats are partially stitched so that the contrast fabric can be glimpsed. It has had cotton wadding added to give it some body and the top has been bound in black bias binding and hand stitched. there are two imitation leather handles attached with vintage green silk twist. It is lined with matching cream fabric. I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and I’m very pleased with the way it’s turned out. It really is lovely to be able to make things and to share the creativity of others – please visit Wendy and the crowd for another Handmade Monday extravaganza – I’m a bit early but won’t have time to post tomorrow.
Day Tripper
Posted: February 24, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 70s, Kate Spain, life, moda fabric, quilt, sewing, Terrain 4 Comments »
I think I may have given the impression over the last couple of posts that I am a bit down. I hope this blog doesn’t come across as wallowing or depressing as most of the time that’s not the way I feel at all, occasionally, a bit of a wallow is quite therapeutic and allows one, well, me anyway, to spring back with vim and vigour. The vim and vigour might be a bit more evident if we had had the much mooted T-shirt day yesterday. It was dull, dreich and miserable. I put my newest quilt on the line for four hours and it made absolutely no difference to it. It just sat there, waving its funkiness in the grey air.
I brought it in 4 hours later weighing approximately 0.0025 grammes less than when I put it out. There was, as they used to say in a part of the world where I once lived – frequently in Post Office queues, “no drying”.
But it is now finished, dry and folded and in a little while when the light gets better I will attempt to photograph. I am really delighted with this one. If you thought I was chintzy and traditional at heart well, you were wrong. The fact is I love it all.
I have used the Kate Spain Terrain patterns (a jelly roll) and some additional yardage (a yard and a half) of a matching print. The quilt it has yielded is bigger than my recent ones being about 40″ x 60″ about the right size for a first bed, a coverlet for a single or a throw for the back of a sofa. The way she has used the colours which are strongly contrasting make me want to sing – they really are joyful. It is, as you can see very simply pieced and echo-quilted to emphasise the strips of colour. This looks particularly effective on the back of the quilt. The thing I am most pleased about is the binding. I have made a binding strip from some of the left-over strip and well, it just works really well and I’m delighted.
Today I will be mostly playing with my (sshh!!!) new sewing machine. It has a larger harp area for rolling my quilts, droppable feed dogs and 84 different stitches. It also hums pleasantly, in a reassuring, germanic way and just feels more “the ticket” for a more industrial set up. It was not what I thought when I bought Hannah a sewing machine for her Christmas present last September (which she never got, see here).
Now, all that said, I’m off, back to my hollow and there I will wallow … in glorious mud. It must be a legacy of Junior Choice but I cannot hear the word wallow without that song coming to mind.
Off to hum Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud in a reassuring, germanic way for the rest of the day.
discover new oceans
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments »
Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. — André Gide (1869–1951)
Because I care – featuring handmade Monday
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: carer, etsy, life, quilt, red, stroke 13 Comments »
I admit it. I have been a little distracted for the last couple of weeks and have not really settled down to writing . The whole business of the previous post discomfited me and the issue of the house I am trying to no-longer think about. This is odd as it has been the one beacon of solace for so long. I should have known better …
Whilst I have not been busy blogging, I have bee busy with other things – meet Pavlova, my latest creation which has kept me occupied along with another two quilts, Trip and Dolly Mixture which should be done later this week.
In other news, I have been out to a Carers’ Ambassadors meeting this morning. Carers Champions are a not for profit organisation representing and helping carers in the Plymouth local authority area.
If you are a carer and live in Plymouth have you heard of them? Have you had any help or assistance in your role? Have you had a Carer’s Assessment by the local authority and if so what has been your experience of the process? Any compliments – any concerns? I am meeting with the local authority on 3 April to provide a carer’s perspective and would welcome local input and even experiences from further afield. Leave me a comment or if you prefer not to leave it here, email me at fimacmorris@aol.com. I am attending the Carers Champions drop-in on 5 March in Plympton to ask carers there about their experiences and would love to hear from anyone who has experience of this, good or bad.
I can tick this off today’s to do list and pop over to Handmade Monday to see what Wendy and the gang have been up to.
Intercepted
Posted: February 10, 2012 Filed under: artist, council house, demolition, family, illness, life, stroke | Tags: brain injury, life, stroke 4 Comments »
Disappointment seems to follow swiftly on the heels of disappointment in my little life. Closely followed by a swift kicking . Are you detecting a particular tone to this post? Sorry about that. It seems that despite suggestions from our social landlord that due to our circumstances we may be eligible for an early move it now seems that we are not and that by the time we do move there will be none of the new houses that are suitable and adaptable left.
I know I shouldn’t have trusted the woman in the office gotten my hopes up but I just wanted something nice to look forward to.
In an attempt to cheer myself up I was playing old TV themes – it’s a game we used to like to play, our own version of Name That Tune, but during the course of this little interlude it emerges that John can no longer remember that Jason King drove a Jensen Interceptor. The only reason I have ever heard of a Jensen Interceptor is because John used to bang on and on and on and on and …. about Jason bloody King and his Jensen bloody Interceptor. I feel bereft.
I have a lovely report from the lovely psychologist to tell us that actually after all the brain mashing John is still average with some particular difficulties thrown in for good measure but was highly superior before. I had actually worked that one out for myself but ho hum. There are whole chunks of our life and of his own that he can no-longer remember and every time I am confronted with it I feel gutted again. It is almost seven years since this nightmare began.
Sunday Blues featuring Handmade Monday 51
Posted: January 29, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: life, moda, needlework, patchwork, quilt 24 Comments »
It’s a soft, grey, January day here in old Plymouth town and there was some talk of snow on an earlier weather forecast. I will believe it when I see it.
I have just checked the metoffice site and there is a weather warning – perhaps, perhaps not. It looks like my travel plans for tomorrow may be cancelled. I was quite looking forward to a day out – what a shame.
Friday saw the arrival of some lovely bits of fabric on which I have spent far too much money. I bought some more fabric for a bag (3 different designs). Included in this stash is a new jelly roll which, as a pennance for indulging myself, I had mad an agreement (with myself) that I couldn’t start it, couldn’t even unroll it, until I had finished the Puttin on the Ritz jelly roll.
I started out to make another small quilt but I had 15 strips left and once I had started sewing it was clear that it wasn’t enough. So this is what I made instead.
It’s a baby changing bag 14x12x6 with a matching changing mat, comme-ca:
So now, as well as finishing the Boy Blue quilt, I can embark, comparatively guilt free, on new quilt journeys. I have some lawn prints waiting to be turned into a pinwheel quilt, I have some Sherbert Pips collection which are going to be one with stars made of 4 patch blocks and half square triangles and I have the Morris & Co ones which I am keeping for me.
They will form the quilt for our new bedroom in what hopefully will be our dream new home. If you all send prayers or positive thoughts or good vibes I’m sure that can only help.
When you’ve finished with all that malarky – why not pop over to Wendy’s Handmade Monday, I know Ros‘ tutorial will be one not to miss. Happy Sunday everyone.
Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Posted: January 27, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: etsy, handmade, life, moda fabric, needlework, Phoenix Trading, quilt 9 Comments »
I actually managed to finish her on Monday but owing to the dismal weather and me being involved in lots of voluntary things this week, it has taken me until now to post here. I am very pleased and also a litlle bit bemused as to why these quilts have adopted genders!
As said before Ruby is made from 1 charm pack of Moda Ruby with 5 inch border of an aqua and cherry fabric from the Ruby range. this has also been used for the backing fabric.
It is bound in an ice blue plain cotton from the Bella solids range. I don’t have a particular thing for Moda although I do love their fabrics but I’m trying to make my quilts work together and at the moment I lack the experience to be able to tell if different manufacturers’ fabrics will work as well together. I’m playing it safe, if you will.
It is stipple quilted in the colourful central panel in
my own unique messy style using a variegated pale grey Gutermann Sulky thread and in places it has been unpicked due to tension problems when I was nearing the end of my reel. It looked more like crochet than sewing. The batting is Warm and Natural. I’ve used it for the others too but again this is down, really to a lack of experience in anything else. Another happy accident. It seems to be well regarded but I just found it originally at a good price for what I wanted (a cotton batting). I thinking of using Heirloom wool batting for commissions – I suppose that depends on the price the client is willing to pay. I have one in mind for myself which will use wool batting and William Morris fabrics. For our new house 
.
I am satisfied with the overall standard of finish. I just have to work out now how much to sell them for. I have a craft fair next Friday at the Roland Levinsky Building in the University of Plymouth and would like to get them on my etsy shop over the weekend with some other bits. So if you have any experience in this (pricing quilts for sale) please contact me. Ruby measures 36″ square. It has been washed and has that slightly wrinkled quality that I love.
I’m currently working on a new project for next week’s craft fair and will hope to post the results on Sunday for next week’s Handmade Monday – next week is busy again with a day at Bristol with the Phoenix team, a day interviewing for this voluntary thing I’m doing and the Craft Fair on Friday – I think Thursday may be a bit fraught.
