The Anonymous Blueberry Muffin Thief Sews...

I'm lazy. I just started writing a blog post and then realised that I'm going to have to check a couple of books for references. And work out how to reference IG posts without insulting people. And then realise that I don't think anyone actually cares about my opinions on the gender constructs in quilting... I'm sewing for gifts and swaps at the moment. And knitting a hat on my lunches. Wordy post to come when I can find the book I need.

I really don't know. As you will have realised, I'm shite at this. I only really blog at work, because that's the only time I'm usually at a computer and not being distracted by other stuff, and it can be a pain because it makes photo uploading difficult and I lose my train of thought halfway through a post when I have to go and deal with something. But, sometimes it's useful to have a place to vent. Or scream about Y-seams *shudder* or why I was consistently using the wrong type of interfacing for about 18 months (just... don't) I'm starting this year with no money, a massive list of stuff that needs doing to the house, and a lot of makes I want to make. And a job that is making me progressively more and more miserable as the weeks go on. I'm currently trying to avoid having to make curtains, but I have a massive window/door thing going on in my living room that makes it absolutely freezing. Dad and R have both said they might have stuff I can use...

But life got a bit weird. One of the things I was not planning on doing this year was having to find a buy a house in the space of a couple of months. But because I'm me, I fucking managed it, and am now settled in a little 2 bed house that I own 25% of. Because the housing market sucks, I don't earn a massive amount, and this was thrown at me at the start of the period I'd allocated for saving for a deposit, I didn't have a huge deposit, so shared ownership was all I could afford. Hey ho. It means I'm not renting off my dad anymore, and most importantly, I have my very own craft room. Same table, mostly the same set up, but it's not in the dining room anymore :D All through this, I have definitely been sewing. If you follow my Instagram , you'll have seen my headlong fumble into foundation paper piecing, and another Simplicity 1347 for Odyssey LARP. I also made a Simplicity S1008 for a one off event. It's not perfect, and needs the zipper fixing, b...

I'm still reeling at this week. It's sucked. First David Bowie and now Alan Rickman. Words can't express the loss. Work is driving me into the ground as well; we're just starting to deliver on a project 2 years overdue and it's all going mad. I've not got a lot of words, but I want to try and blog the backlog of christmas presents I made. This is a Falling Water scarf I made for my step-mum.

I hope everyone had an excellent festive season! I'm a dirty atheist with pagan leanings, so christmas is about spoiling my friends and family and eating too much food, which is basically what I did. New Year was quiet due to everyone else being off doing stuff, but I spent it with a pile of pizza, a pile of books and a pot of tea (I was sadly asleep before midnight due to food allergies, but c'est la vie) Anyway, you're here for me making stuff, so Christmas present posts! I made most of my gifts this year, and am absolutely not still trying to finish the quilt I started for one friend. It will be a christmas/birthday/house moving gift and all will be well. But let's start with something small... ties! I do wear ties occasionally. Once I'd got over the horror of wearing them to school, I used to wear them to the goth club I used to frequent at university, and now I do wear them, very occasionally, at work. It confuses people so I don't do it too often....

I've got a bunch of stuff that I keep meaning to post, but work is manic and when I'm at home I'm trying to get all of my Christmas making done (lots of making, the obviously I can't blog about yet) A few weeks ago I finally bit the bullet, cleared off the living room floor and cut out the Sewaholic Hollyburn that has been sat, pattern cut, on my living room table for months. There was an issue with the fabric I was originally going to use, which turned out to have a directional print, which would have been fine but I didn't quite have enough of it, so the pattern languished, as did the fabric I'd bought as a replacement. The photos are pretty awful, because err, there's me, and I need some kind of tripod like thing for my phone so I can take decent photos (asking my dad to take pictures never ends well; he sulks and they end up with oil tanks or lorries in the background thanks to the work yard)

I'm hoarding posts at the moment. There;s been plenty of making, but I'm not feeling the enthusiasm to write them up.  Plus some of them aren't finished, some of them aren't photographed and some are xmas presents that have to stay hidden. This post is a mishmash of quilting experiments, all set in motion by me recklessly signing up for the Schnitzelandboo Mini Quilt Swap on instagram. I've barely been quilting 6 months, and I've never done any kind of craft swap, but the opportunity was there so I went for it, and it was a blast. I made myself learn so much, and while I haven't received my package yet, the one I sent out has been gladly received. So without further ado... stuff I have made in preparation, and to send with my mini-quilt swap.

  Another overdue blog post. Oops. My first foray into mini-quilt making which didn't quite go as planned when it ended up being larger than intended. This was a gift for a couple I know who were celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary, and the 10th anniversary of their meeting (which is terrifying as we were at university together, it can't have been that long ago!) I didn't have a clue what to get them, as their interests diverge quite a bit from mine, but they both love cats, so I thought a wall hanging quilt with some personality would be a nice thing. I chose the Kittens Quilt pattern from Elizabeth Hartman, because it was a reasonable sized block, and I might be planning to make myself a kitten quilt with some of the many fat quarters I have stashed :D

Am I comic book nerd? Not so much these days. I still love comics, don't get me wrong, but my money tends to go on household shit and fabric and novels these days, so when I do buy comics, it's because I really love them. I haven't actually bought anything by DC in several years, since they launched their New 52 and mutilated a bunch of my favourite characters (John Constantine, the Midnighter, Apollo, the list goes on). I'm not even that much of a Batman fan; too much ego and wangsting, and one of my exes was VERY into Batman, which was always a bit creepy. That said, I do love the hangers on of the Bat-family; Tim Drake was my Robin, I guess, but I love Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson should always lead with the crotch, and his love for Barbara Gordon is the best thing ever. Actually, Barbara Gordon is the best thing ever. I love her as Batgirl, but really she's at her best when she's Oracle, snarking and controlling all the chess pieces. It's a shame th...

*the Purple Marauder does no such thing, nyarrr This is mostly a very boring post about a skirt I have made WAY too many times now. This is my 3rd Imagine Gnats Alder skirt (previous ones here and here ). It's a quick easy make that doesn't use up masses of fabric, and most importantly for me, has excellent pockets that can hold tissues, both my phones (work handset and mobile), random bits of stuff I have to lug around the workshop and my kindle *not all at the same time, but that's a test I haven't quite put any of these through. This was part of my MadeUp pledge (the other half being the banner that I plan to spend the evening embroidering), which was to make a skirt that was actually suitable and sensible for work. I wear my other two Alders fairly regularly, but they're both quilting cotton and so quite stiff. They're also garish as fuck, and while my workplace is pretty lax, I sometimes feel like they're humouring me (to say nothing of the...

This is where I confess I'm terrible at blogging. I get bored, I forget, I think what I'm saying isn't very interesting (it's not) and forget that what I'm actually doing here is mostly for my benefit. And then I get distracted by work being a pile of shit. Anyway, I've got WAY too many projects on the go, and my pledge for didyoumakethat's Made Up Initiative is way behind where it should be (sodding hand embroidery) but both the banner and the skirt are getting there. I've also got a present to finish by the end of September, and xmas presents are looming. I also have a load of patterns that I want to make for me. But before all of that, what was taking up space on the sewing table was a quilt. I know, I know, I said I'd never get into quilting, but then there were pretty fabrics and a couple of clothing failures and straight lines and not too much thought seemed like a good idea.

The last month or so has been a little bit hectic; lots of changes going on at work, and LARP is in full swing. Plus my birthday and various other bits and pieces mean that while I'm sewing plenty, I haven't managed to finish anything since the belt. I've got a bunch of patterns I want to try, I have a quilt top finished that just needs actually quilting (waiting for the backing fabric to arrive) and I'm in the middle of a super sekrit project that has to be done by the last weekend in August and is currently barely past the cut out stage. What I have managed to do is finish my Hitchhiker scarf that I started back in April. This was, as promised by the friend who gifted me the pattern, a simple and satisfying knit. I probably would have finished it ages ago were it not for my goldfish like attention span. This is 5 and a bit 50g balls of Patons Mirage DK (50/50 cotton viscose mix), knitted on 4mm needles (I think). It's super soft and squishy, and by some mira...

I don't do spring cleaning, I'm usually too busy, but as the weather is finally heating up, I've had to accept that my sewing machine needs servicing. It's full of lint that I can't get out, and the tensioning is acting up beyond what I can fix. So it's off to be looked at today. And hopefully it won't take too long, as I have a banner that needs to be finished for the end of August. In the mean time, I'm planning on getting on with cutting up fabric for projects, and some hand sewing. The banner need embroidery, so I need some practice.

More costume making. I did this from scratch without a pattern, based on a rough idea of an obi belt, and a couple of 'corset' belts I found on Pinterest. The idea for this character is very much a wandering priest; she's an Orc, so rough clothes are the by-word. I wanted a wide belt to draw the rest of the kit together, and to have something with extra pockets in, and something to hang stuff off. This was made from some faux suede that I'd bought about a year ago from Calico Laine, because I wanted to see what type of material it was. I used some fleece as internal padding. I still need to sew some rings onto it so I can tie pouches on to it. (please excuse the bathroom selfie, there's nowhere else in the house with a mirror)

Two dresses in less than a week. That's not mad, right? I did it though. Two linen Simplicity 1347s, following on from the toile shown here .

So, costuming. LARP. That thing I do. I've been fiddling with kit for a couple of weeks, modding a dress into an over-dress kind of thing, and working up the courage to start new kit for Odyssey (which, at under 2 weeks to go, is becoming a priority). It's an ancient worlds LARP, which is awesomely fun, and I play in Greek nation. Sadly, the weather is rarely very Mediterranean, and cloaks are a necessity. I have those sorted. When I started playing, I was playing a combat character, and was bombing around in kit that looked like this... charlottemoss.co.uk  only with armour. Kit that was thrown together out of some scruffy blue fabric I found on the market a day before the event. I love that chiton; it's gorgeous soft chambray and I'm stupidly proud of it. It fits weirdly, tends to show my bra straps, and I have to wear shorts under it for modesty, and it now permanently smells of camp fire smoke, but whatever. Add that shawl (which has a hood, made by the exce...

Just ignore me for the most part, I'm tired, irritated with work and trying to sort stuff out for another long weekend in a field. I'm also broke and payday isn't for another week :( Anyway, I made another skirt! Did I mention I love this pattern? I do. It's awesome, has pockets and hits my knee just where it should. One day I might even make a version that isn't made in a novelty quilting cotton. On the other hand, who doesn't want a skirt covered in tasty tasty fungi?

For which I do apologise. You know how sometimes life just gets in the way? Yeah, it's been that sort of month. Lots of stuff, lots of dipping in and out of projects, lots of not enough sleep. Actually, that's a given during LARP season. Behind the cut; a Polly top, some quilting blocks and some waffle. Not actual waffles, sadly. I don't have any.

I've been in a bit of a rut the last week or so. I'm making progress on the Hitchhiker scarf, but my sewing machine is still in it's box and the table and surrounding area is still covered in LARP detritus. I've got a niggling injury and what my friend R calls "brain weasels" which are getting in my way of doing a lot of shit at the moment, and the lack of crafting is driving me round in a vicious circle of "want to craft" - "no space to craft" - "no energy to clear space" - "blah" - "want to craft". My plan this weekend is to try and sort this shit out, because my whole house is suffering. Before this funk hit, I ran an event for which I made many props. This is the kind of thing that I wish I could do more often, but as we run on a weekly basis, I don't usually have time. But as it was the first event of the year, I had the prep time (and as the plot required several maps, it needed to be done or the p...

I'm off to Empire for the long weekend. I have with me my sewing box (for helping fix stuff tomorrow before time in) and my knitting (for the periods of downtime I will probably have). Have a good easter weekend! 8 points down, aiming for 50 Sewing, Shakespeare and the Hobbit.