Tara Tuesdays - Part 18

The Sewing Circle

I had my weekly get together with my girlfriends last week (minus Sue & Em) and as we were all being rather productive I decided to write a little bit about what we are all working on. We were at Mags' this week and she supplied the usual delish refreshments of cakes and tea which we need to keep us going. Believe it or not it is hard work talking, knitting, sewing, crocheting or doing nothing (ahem) and we need this sustenance to get us through the evening!

I took some photographs of what we are all crafting and then asked Mags, Gin & Mary what they are making; here is what they had to say (interpreted by me!):

Mags is knitting a beautiful Tiger King hat taken from a Ruth and Belinda pattern. She is using 4mm needles and Peruvian Silky yarn which is very soft (80% alpaca & 20% silk). She has made one before and was so pleased with how it turned out; she is getting ahead of the game and is making this particular one as a Christmas gift, nothing like being prepared is there! Gin also purchased a pattern for some Ruth and Belinda mittens and you may recall seeing them in one of my very first blogs? The cable stitch used in both patterns is quite simple to work and creates a lovely effect too! Mags also told me that she is going to start a six week night class next month in drawing where she will learn the technique of constructing realistic drawings and developing skills in the Sight Size method (SML?!?!) Mags is always keen to learn something new, she has attended a bee keeping course, a cooking holiday in Italy to name but a few and is a woman of many talents!

Gin has just made some lovely hearts which she machined and then has hand finished with running stitch. This project is a work in progress as Gin isn’t too sure what she will do with the hearts yet and is just experimenting with them at the moment. She did say that she might make a garland from them but she is still undecided. Gin is also starting to cut out some lovely chicken fabric to make some cushions with so I am hoping that they will be finished by the next time I see her (no pressure!) Watch this space for further details!

Mary is working on a fireside rug which she is making using the Rag Rug method. She attended a one day course in Ticehurst recently taken by Debbie Siniska where she learnt how to rag rug. There are a couple of different techniques and Mary learnt how to hooky and proddy on her course! Once complete, Mary’s rug will consist of 8 separate squares. She is using hessian and fabric remnants from her stash which include some of her kid’s old clothes, nothing like a good bit of upcycling! Mary has already made 5 heart squares all using the hooky technique and to finish the squares she will use one colour for each square using the proddy technique. I will have more on this to show and tell once Mary has finished the rug which knowing her won’t be long!

And finally onto me. I am still knitting alpaca squares for my blanket but this week after looking in the window of the Susie Watson designs shop in Tunbridge Wells, had a sleepless night dreaming of everything I want to buy in there (all of it in fact!) This restlessness inspired me to make some hearts and a tea cloth using an old stained table cloth of my Mum’s that I loved the embroidery on and didn’t want her to throw away! I made two different sized hearts as I had to cut round marks on the table cloth to get to the good bits of fabric that I could use. The fabric is a sort of thickish linen and was lovely to work with. I also had this really fab gingham fabric that I think worked really well with it. I was quite pleased with the how the finished products turned out and may make some more tea cloths to go with these ones!