How I made.......

?????   Did you guess from the pic I showed last week?
Want another look?

I first saw these several years ago when I made one in a class, I was told it was a Victorian Thimble Case.  I have since seen them called so many different names, a coin purse, thimble case, thimble holder, thimble pip, clam shell and brazil nut!   My original case was made of cardboard and was a single layer with an inner and outer skin of fabric, no wadding.  It did work but only lasted so long, maybe I'm a bit heavy handed opening and closing it.  You just squeeze the two ends and when you let go it closes again, clever.

Looking through my box for handwork to take with me on holiday I came across a clamshell kit with templates and instructions, this one had two layers of plastic and instructions very similar to the old one, which I a assuming was how victorian ladies made cases for their thimbles.  But, me being a bit thrifty I got out a sheet of template plastic and drew around the pieces, why make just one when you can use it as a template and it makes a nice little gift?  So I took it on holiday with some fabric and wadding and made........

five.  Well it did rain a lot.

They are a nice little project and very easy to make,

First I took my templates and glued them to a piece of scrap wadding, there are six pieces, three larger and three smaller for the inside.

When the glue dries just cut around the shapes, you can see here they are slightly different sizes.

I laid the pieces on to a piece of fabric and cut around leaving a good 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Then I stitched around taking a big stitch at the pointed ends and drew up the threads just like you do with a circle and tied it off.

Then I laced across the back, I thought it was a waste of time doing this bit, until I didn't do it, it keeps it nice and taught and just the running stitch around the edge didn't do that.

Finished.  You do this with the three large pieces and the three smaller pieces for the inside.

Then you line up a big outer piece with a smaller inner piece,

and ladder stitch them together leaving a margin around the outsides.  Binding clips or something similar are the best thing to hold them while you stitch.

Then it's just stitching the three pieces together using a small overstitch in matching thread.  The hardest bit is adding the third piece while it tries to spring apart, but it's ok once you get going.

You need to stitch up the remaining sides about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch and you are done.  How is that for a nice little hand project?

Did you notice I made the insides with bright contrasting colours?

Except for this one, Husband asked me to make him one and chose his own colours, apparently I got them mixed up and the greyish colour was supposed to be on the outside, although I think it looks more interesting the way I made it.  He hasn't decided what to do with it yet.

I wanted to make one for my silver thimble, it was a gift from a friend and I'm very attached to it.  I have small fingers and this is perfect for me, only thing is I keep loosing it so I really needed the case.

Would you like to make a thimble case?  You don't need to buy a commercial kit, or even template plastic, since I made mine I found a great tutorial AND there are free templates too, so just pop over to supermomnocape for the tutorial, she shows you how to make your own templates or you can always download her free templates. in three different sizes, the large one is the same size as mine although mine is the small size in the commercial kit, if you want a bigger set you can always just enlarge the template when printing it.   Why don't you need template plastic?  Because you can use plastic from margarine tops and bottles which will work just as well.  If you are not a quilter and don't have wadding you could maybe use a piece of thin felt instead.  

I was going to show you some other stuff but I think I've bored you enough for today so I'll just show you this weeks Gypsy blocks.

Puss on the corner, as you can see one is bordered the other not.

You may have noticed I have turned on comment moderation recently and last week added a bit under  where comments are left saying anonymous comments will not be published.  I have been having a lot of spam recently and some unwelcome comments too.  I'm not so keen on the word and tick the box thing and this is easier.  I hope you will understand.

I made a bee block yesterday, I used some of my Gypsy fabric and LOVED the colour combination, I'll show you next week and you never know, I may even have an update on circles too.

EDIT  I write this post last week but the curse of family illness struck, quilting and blogging were the last thing on my mind.  With three elderly parents all with health issues chances are it may well happen again, so if I don't respond to your comments or visit your blog that's what it's likely to be so please forgive me and I will be back soon as I can.

Until next time,

With smiles from,

Kate x

Linking up with:
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?
Kathy's Kwilts and More hosting for TGIFF

I'm Back..........

from my holiday, but my feet hit the ground running.  What with trying to catch up at work and organising the catering for the two day course this weekend, yes I'll be serving and clearing up too so no weekend off for me, I haven't had time to draw breath.  No sewing, no blogging, I haven't even answered all my emails or even started to catch up with my blog reading yet, where has the week gone?  Do you ever come home from being away and think was it all worth the effort?

The holiday?  Lovely, but I haven't sorted pics out yet, sorry, although I took hardly any to be honest, it rained the day after we arrived, and the Monday, Tuesday morning, we did get out for a lovely walk in the afternoon, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, at which point we decided to come home in the afternoon instead of staying until the next day, and yes, it rained all the way home too!

How about seeing some more Gypsy pics?

Indian Hatchet is this weeks block, the easiest so far.  I actually made it last month but I've been holding back.

This is Old Maid Puzzle, one of two which is for week eleven really but I'm jumping ahead so you get to see SOMETHING new this week anyway, but I'm still holding back on the second one.

Bordered Puss in the Corner, this is next weeks block, one of two,.  I'll show you a pic of the blocks in situ next week so you can see how far I'm up to.

I was going to show you my holiday sewing but you will get the full post on that next week, want a sneak peak?

Some of you will know what it is and some may not, I'll tell you all about it and how I made it next week.

Sorry for the short post, I have to dive back into the whirlwind as is my life this week, but just wait, I leave work in two weeks time and start a new chapter in my life, how exciting is that?  I had to promise I would keep doing the catering though, but that is only once a month or so, I can cope with that.

Until next week,
with smiles from,
Kate x

Linking up with:
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?
Katie Mae Quilts hosting for TGIFF
Crazy Mom Quilts

Is there anyone there?

I've not been here to do much sewing this week, in fact I'm not here at all..................... Spooky!  But no, the wonders of modern technology has allowed me to schedule this post so I'm writing this before I go away.

Want to see my next Gypsy block?  Sorry, no choice, you are getting it anyway,

this is it, the name is Star Block, pretty boring name isn't it?  Especially after Crazy Anne and oh I must tell you, it seems I have been calling one block by the wrong name.  The second block I introduced as Perishing is actually Pershing.  Just to set the record straight.  Back to Star Block, no it's not as bright and colourful as some of the others, but I think it will add more contrast.  If all the blocks end up super bright the quilt will be overpowering with little balance, so I am adding some cooler and darker shades.  That's how I'm thinking anyway.

This is the updated pic to illustrate what I mean.  I have looked at so many Gypsy versions, and each one is wonderful and unique, some are monotone, some are completely saturated with colour, some have multicoloured strips and some have neutral strips to show off the blocks more, such as two tone creams, or black and white, such variety.  Mine will have multicoloured strips, like the original pattern, so it will live up to the original design.  If all those strips were bright you would need sunglasses to look at it, that's why I'm adding the cooler and neutral shades.

I did get a little more quilting done on circles before I got away, I got nearly half the quilting done in the coloured circles.  I had a big think about it first, hang on I'll show you..........

Now you can see, circles, or pebbles as they are known.  Pebbles best describe mine too as they are not all circular, AND they overlap quite a bit, far from perfect in fact.  Do I care?  Not on your nellie, I decided to do pebbles as my control needs a lot of improvement yet and I still struggle with manipulating a larger quilt (ok not that large but it is for me).  If I had tried to do something fancy like orange peels, which would have been perfect, it would have been disastrous, so I chose pebbles and if you stand back and screw your eyes up they look great, so I'm happy.  I had a variegated thread so I'm using that, hope I don't run out, I've had it for ages, but it's a King Tut so I'm hoping it will still be available if I need it.  Fingers crossed.

Thinking of Gypsy recently I also started thinking of the quilting, some quilters machine quilt and some hand quilt, that got me thinking of the baby quilt I made for my youngest granddaughter Emily.  It was just a panel with borders but it matched the theme of her bedroom.

This is the only pic I have as I forgot to take one before I gave it to her Mum and I pinched this from Facebook.  Yes, her bedroom has a jungle theme.  I had bought this panel years beforehand and some yardage of the matching print too.  I think I should have added a border between the flowers and the small print in hindsight (which is as always a wonderful thing), but I didn't and it can't be changed now.  I had to juggle the yardage as I had a limited amount but I did have enough to make it all face the same way, don't ask me why I decided to do it like that I can't remember.   I added cornerstones in orange, which I also used for the binding.  As a point of  interest I have been using some of the  leftover orange scraps  recently to make the noses on my snowman cushions.  Waste not want not.

Unfortunately when I zoomed in the quality wasn't good enough to allow you to see the hand quilting, so I will just have to tell you about it.  I hand stitched around all the animals and some of the detail on them as well as some of the leaves, butterflies, rainbow etc..  I even quilted around the small animals in the border.  It took me ages, good job I started early.  Emily now uses it in the camper van, she is going on five so the design is still fine for now.  However I believe there are plans afoot to turn her bedroom from a jungle into a bedroom fit for a little girl, so a new quilt may be in the offing before long.

If you have left a comment since Saturday I won't have read it or answered it yet, as I said last week I don't have wifi, a phone signal, or tv this week.  I have taken a little hand sewing, though not much, and a couple of books too,

these are they, World Without End and Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett.  I have read them before but I don't have copies so I treat myself as I won't be spending anything much at all when I'm away.  I didn't mind buying these as I know I will reread them in the future, also after many years a third book will make them a trilogy next month and I have had it on preorder for ages so this is the right time to read them again.  I don't think I will get them both finished in time though, these take some reading.  It's the kind of books I like, no three to four hundred pages for me, there just isn't enough words for a good complicated story to develop.

So, that's all for today, no linking up, unless you are reading through Mean Queen, she has my blog on her sidebar.  If you haven't read it take a look, she is indeed the queen of frugal living in the UK.  The posts vary a lot, sometimes she just shows some pics, other times she talks about her crafting, sometimes she talks about how she has been saving money or her opinions of life, and some of the posts can stir up a real hornets nest.  Do make sure you read the poem on the sidebar one of the readers wrote, it sums her up brilliantly.   It's a great blog, but don't just judge it on one post, have a good look around while you are there.  There is also a monthly update on the quest to walk a thousand miles a year and lots of people add their totals in the comments.  Do you know it's not as difficult as you think?  All you have to do is about three miles a day.  Amazing, I never thought of it like that.

See you again next week and I will tell you where I have been and what I have been doing, but don't hold your breath, it won't be THAT exciting.

With smiles from,
Kate x