Patchwork Cushion

The stairs in our house seem to have become a natural seat. As they extend by a few steps into the kitchen / dining room people tend to perch a few steps up to join the conversation in the kitchen but stay out the way. We had a lump of foam left from another project so I decided to make a narrow cushion to sit on the stairs. The only fabric that matched the current décor was the box of denim so out it came. I decided to go a bit patchwork on it...

Sew strips together, 1" between seams. Note the 45 degree lines marked on - this is to aid alignment as this section makes the corner.

Add more strips, trimming and ironing seams as you go.

And more strips...

Corner done. Sew together two wider strips to make the remainder. Attach at 45 degrees to the corner.

Everything lined up and marked ready to sew on the backing. Note the button hole that becomes the hanging loop.

Pin right sides together with the backing fabric. I used a thick calico for this. Don't forget to enclose the hanging loop.

Sew three sides, trim and press. Turn the right way round before inserting the foam, rolling in the bottom seam and sewing shut.

Done!

And hanging from the edge of the stairs- the stripes matching the direction of the stairs is sheer luck!

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A Bedroom Makeover 2. Let there be light

What would a bedroom makeover be without a bed! For years our guests (and before them, us) have been sleeping on just a mattress, with the top of an old desk acting as a headboard. This has done the job admirably, and no-one has yet complained of a dodgy nights sleep, but time has come to spruce things up a bit.

We picked up a simple TARVA bed base to fit the current mattress (though I'm sure in years to come the mattress itself will get an upgrade) and then set about accessorizing it with a couple of JANSJO lamps. The idea was to mount the lights to the bed frame itself  (quite high on the sides to minimise the structural impact of the big holes). We also considered mounting them to the bedside tables but this would have left them a little low for sitting in bed reading.

These lamps arrive in two pieces - the flexible arm and a heavy base which meant we didn't need to modify them at all - we only want the flexible arm for this build. They would have been held to the base with two screws - perfect for refitting to our bedframe. After a careful bit of marking on the side struts of the bed frame Joe then set about the drilling. Firstly two pilot holes all the way through the frame. Then he used a flat drill bit to cut a recess for each hole from the back of the frame, and then finally widened the hole a little from the front. This left us with a narrow hole at the front that was a tight fit for the screw mountings, which then opened out at the back to a wider hole that allowed for the washers that were provided.

Adding a depth marker to the flat drill bit - this was one hole that didn't want to go all the way through!

Piloting first.

Drilling out the widest holes to allow for screw heads and washers.

We then assembled the bed frame before finally screwing the lights to the bed (with the help of some blutack to keep the screws the right way round in the depths of the holes we'd created).

What do you think?

p.s. we're not being paid by Ikea for all these furniture mentions - they're just a convenient fairly local store! 

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How To... Re pot an orchid

We got an orchid as a thank you present many months ago. As it had gone to the effort of putting up another flower spike I decided we should re pot it. It's really easy so I thought I would show you just how simple it is. So, unlike my usual instructions, how to re pot an orchid in 4 pictures and less than 50 words:

Soak, then rinse / pick off the existing compost.

Pour in orchid compost around the roots (in a clear pot).

Poke the compost down between all the roots - you need to get a finger dirty sometimes!

Secure the flower spikes with sticks. Water and enjoy.

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A Winter Trim

Winter is a time of year for clearing up in the garden. With no fresh plants to tend to and the weeds mostly hiding there is space to focus on big things. Particularly trees. When the leaves have fallen and the trees are dormant it is generally a good time to give them a good prune. Fruit trees that are pruned when dormant will sprout more shoots whilst those pruned in the summer are less inclined to shoot upwards. Our apple and pear tree had suffered several years of neglect so I am pruning in the winter to try and encourage new growth that I can use to reshape the tree. This will take several years to achieve as I don't want to lose my entire harvest!

It is important to prune fruit trees to ensure there is space for all the branches (overlapping and crowded branches cause issues), that the branches don't get too long (getting in your way and potentially snapping under a heavy harvest) and to get a desirable shape. It is important to let light and air get to all the branches. It is also worth ensuring the shape of the tree doesn't get in your way. If it overhangs the lawn prune lower branches so you don't hit them when pushing the mower around. Trim the top if it is getting too tall. It might seem obvious but its surprising how long I will dodge and duck under a branch before I get round to pruning it!

Before

After

If you want to take the shaping further you enter the realms of cordons and espaliers. We are attempting to train a pair of trees to form an espalier arch but as I am still learning with those I won't teach you my bad habits! In this post I will run you through how I prune my bigger trees - do share your approach if it is different. I am by no means an expert.

Joe's Guide to Pruning

The first thing I do when pruning is to try and make sure the tree has space around it. We have several larger trees to the north of the fruit trees. Although they don't cast shadows our main apple tree was starting to look a bit overgrown and crowded.

Next I check for any overlapping branches and for overcrowded areas. Decide which of the branches are healthiest and in the nicest shape and prune the others. Try and catch them when its a year old shoot causing the problem rather than letting it get several years old. If you need to take out larger branches do so carefully. Try and get a clean cut (with a saw if the branch is large) and avoid damaging the surrounding tree as it comes out. Be careful not to create places where water can pool and rot the tree - this happens most at large forks and points where multiple branches sprout from one point.

My parents always pruned with a rule of thirds. If you take a third out you are unlikely to kill it. I tend to do the same with the trees - if it needs a significant reshape (as our pear tree does) take out no more than 1/3 each year. It will be done in a few years and the old wood should still fruit in the interim. It may seem dramatic chopping out significant branches but it is worth considering that a tree should happily fruit for many years. Chatsworth have a fine apple tree arch that is 30 years old and very productive!

Thirdly check for any diseased branches or rot. If the shoots look shrivelled or slightly rotten prune it. Check any forks for rot starting to form. I tend to go over zealous on removing iffy wood. Its not going to do the tree any long term harm if I take slightly more off than I need!

Finally prune for aesthetics and the future. Look at the shape and see if any growth is going in a direction you don't like. Decide which of the years growth you want to keep longer and which wants cutting back. I try and prune mine to one or two buds left if I just want to fruit in that area, or leave it at 6-10 buds for a longer shoot. I don't like excessively long branches so I tend to keep them at that.

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2013 Christmas Cards

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago one of our Christmas traditions is to make our own Christmas cards. I enjoy card making all year round, but when it comes to making Christmas cards it becomes a joint effort because some very different skills are needed. While I might happily put an hour or two into making an individual card, we don't have the luxury of that sort of time when we're making several dozen in a short space of time and so it all becomes about engineering a design that can be reproduced in a few minutes. All the emphasis goes into producing that first card, so that the rest can flow off the production line.

This year we came across a fabric shop in Chester when we were there in October. Spotting their selection of Christmas material got us thinking and we quickly decided to make Christmas tree cards using three triangles from different fabrics. Simple.

Do you have any idea how much time it can take to settle on the size and shape of three triangles? We tried to do it by eye, with mathematics and got through a lot of sticky-notes. There may have been a few rude words exchanged. We tried triangles of equal size (definitely no), equal shape with decreasing size (didn't quite look right), equilateral triangles, isosceles triangles, nothing quite ticked all the boxes. The breakthrough came when we realised that we needed three completely different triangles. The top triangle needed to be pointier than the base triangle and setting the middle triangle half way between the two finally solved the quandary and we were finally on our way.

Design now sorted, here's a guide to making your own Christmas tree cards:

1. Make cardboard templates of your three triangles to the below measurements.

2. Use these templates to cut out equal quantities of big, medium and small triangles. They should tessellate nicely allowing good use of the material.

3. Make another template that is the size of your base card and has your final tree shape cut out of it - this is all about speed!

(Optional: We printed a short letter into the inside of our card before assembly. If you decide to do this you'll need to make sure that the line of stitches we'll be adding later won't interfere with your text. )

4. Set up your sewing machine with a shiny thread and do some tension checks - metallic thread can be a pain!

5. Position your card, with the template and three triangles under your machine and carefully sew a line of stitching through the middle of each triangle, and overshoot at the bottom to make the trunk of the tree.

6. Release the card and the template from your machine and tuck the ends of the threads through to the back of the card. Trim the threads and secure with a little bit of tape if needed.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until all your cards are made.

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Origami Advent Calendar

I know I'm running a little late in the year for advent calendar explanations as we're already a week into December, but I'm going to do so anyway. We've had a variety of advent calendars over the last few years, some shop bought, others hand made. Last year I made this one, and as it's stood the test of being in the back of the cupboard for eleven months it is getting a second outing.

When I say origami, its actually a fake! As nice as it would be to make these properly, I chose to use paper that was far to thick to bend nicely, and I wanted this to hold its shape through whatever battering it might get! For both these reasons I decided to glue the envelopes together rather than just fold them into position.

To make your own (maybe for next year?!):

1. Cut out 24 squares of paper of different colours and sizes. Mine were 7.5cm, 10cm, 12cm and 18cm - but if I were to do this again I wouldn't go smaller that 10cm. The 7.5cm ones are a little too small.

2. With each square in turn, fold along the diagonal, then take one of the points and fold it back on itself. Open this last fold out again.

3. Fold in the two side points to the line you've just made. Glue these into position.

4. Number the envelopes 1-24. I tried to keep this as random as possible.

5. Trim one of the two points, and punch a hole in the other.

6. Thread all the envelopes onto a ribbon - the thickness of the ribbon and the size of the hole meant mine held through friction (pure luck, let me assure you), you might find you need to tie knots to get yours to hold.

7. Fill with your advent treats of choice and hang somewhere in your home.

Hiding in too dark a corner to capture a 

proper photo of - sorry!

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Patchwork Quilt: 3. A Guide to Paper Piecing + Free Pattern!

Following on in our patchworking series, we thought we'd talk you through the paper piecing process with our latest quilt as an example. Even better - we'll show you how to make one of the blocks we designed - and give you the block pattern for free!

What is paper piecing?

As far as I'm aware there are two styles of paper piecing - English and American. English paper piecing involves tacking the material to lots of paper diamonds or hexagons and then sewing along the edges that are nicely defined by the paper inside, creating intricate regular patterns. American paper piecing involves having your pattern drawn on paper, sticking the fabric to it and sewing along the lines, trimming the shapes to size as you go along. American paper piecing is often used to create more unusual shapes. At the end of both you remove the paper templates. These methods allow precise piecing of shapes and patterns which is exactly what we need with these celtic knot blocks. We're using the American paper piecing in this case.

Left: This quilt by Jenny's mum uses English paper piecing. Right: Our cat quilt is American paper pieced.


How is it done?

1. Start by printing the pattern onto freezer paper. This paper is normal on one side - which allows you to print on your design, while the other side becomes sticky when warm - this means you can iron your fabric to it and it will stay put. In the case of this celtic knot, the patten is made up of three triangles. Cut out roughly around the quarter inch seam markers.
Tip: make sure that your printer is set to no scaling, or 100% scaling to make sure your block is the right size.

A, B and C triangles printed out and trimmed.

These instructions are for one A triangle: for the instructions for a whole block keep reading.


2. Then cut out the material for the A1 shape. These pieces of fabric don't need to be accurate - so long as they are big enough to cover the shape plus 1/4" seam allowance all the way round. Place the fabric pattern side down on your cutting board and then place the paper on top of this printed side up. Cut around the shape you are after, but don't cut the paper! While you're here you might want to cut out the rest of the pieces for the A triangle too.
Tip: remember to think about which way round the fabric will end up - and which direction you might want your fabric to sit. Is the pattern directional?

A1 cut to fit the shape plus seam allowances, plus a bit extra.

3.Take your first piece (A1) and iron it, right side up, to the shape labelled one.
Tip: put the material onto the ironing board first, followed by the freezer paper sticky side down  so that your iron doesn't stick to the paper.

A1 ironed to the paper.

4.Take A2 and sit it right side down on top of A1. The shape should sit such that when you sew along the line between A1 and A2, fold A2 open and iron it flat, A2 will cover its requisite shape and seam allowance. Getting this positioning right can be the key to the whole process, so take your time and find a way that suits you. Cutting your material with plenty of room to spare will also help this.

5.Sew along the line between A1 and A2.

Tip: set your machine to a small stitch length, the more holes you make at this stage the easier it will be to remove the paper later.

Sewing the line between A1 and A2.

6. Fold back A2 along the seam and check that it sits correctly. If it does then hold the paper out of the way and cut the seam to 1/4".

Folding the paper out of the way, ready to cut the seam.

Trimming the seam to 1/4".

7. Fold open A2 and press it into position.

Pressing A2 open, and sticking it to the freezer paper.

A2 in position.

8. Repeat steps 4-7 for A3, A4 and A5, completing each in turn before progressing.

Once all the pieces have been attached and pressed, well done - that's the basis of paper piecing.

A triangle finished. Don't worry about excess material at this stage.

So how do I make the whole block?

In order to make a 9" x 9" celtic knot block you will need:

• 4 print outs of the pattern
• 1 backing fabric
• 2 contrasting patterned fabrics for the rings - we used a jelly roll for these (2.5"x44" of fabric)

This pattern relies on making four matching quarters but in two different colourways.

Following the paper piecing guidelines above you will need to make:

• 2 A triangles where
• A1 is colour 1
• A2, A3 and A5 are the background colour
• A4 is colour 2
• 2 B triangles where
• B1 is colour 1
• B2 and B3 are the background colour
• 2 C triangles where
• C1 is colour 2
• C2 is colour 1
• C3 is the background colour

and 

• 2 A triangles where
• A1 is colour 2
• A2, A3 and A5 are the background colour
• A4 is colour 1
• 2 B triangles where
• B1 is colour 2
• B2 and B3 are the background colour
• 2 C triangles where
• C1 is colour 1
• C2 is colour 2
• C3 is the background colour

When you have this it will look like this:

 Yes, this is made from different material - but the theory is the same.

Next sew each C triangle to a corresponding B triangle (the colours of B1 and C2 should be the same), so that the points marked match.

Ready to sew B to C

If you're happy with the join then trim the seam allowance to 1/4" and remove the paper along this edge. Press open to make a large triangle. 

Then sew each B/C triangle pair to a corresponding A triangle (the colours of A1 and B1 should be the same). Repeat the process of trimming, removing the paper and pressing the seam. After this you should have four squares, two of each colour option.

Tip: getting all points to match nicely can be hard work. We tack ours in place before sewing properly. 

One half done, time for the other.

Finally, sew the squares into pairs, and then into a whole square. Again, trim and press each seam as you go.

Congratulations, you've completed the block, time for a large cup of tea!

Here's the pattern. We've made a PDF version for you, but also included the Quilt Assistant file. This program is free to download, and will allow you to scale the block to make different sizes - or modify it completely if you wish.

If you make the block do send us a picture - we'd love to see the different variations.

  

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