QALong 2014 - What Is It?

John Lennon once said that life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. As a teenager I thought the quote so mind-blowing that I wrote it in everybody's yearbook when we graduated from secondary school. Nowadays I'd change it slightly: life is what happens when you are busy looking in other directions. To wit: I have apparently started a quilt-along in 2014 without meaning to do so. Amazing.

Some back-story, first. A close family member of mine announced over the holidays that she is expecting a baby. It was an unexpected announcement but one that was incredibly cheering.My mind immediately went to "what can I make?" - a knitting project was decided upon and some yarn was bought (this happens occasionally).

Then, I found a metre of kids' fabric on sale. The colour was pleasingly gender neutral and it had a lot of happy zoo animals on it. Oooh! Educational and non-nauseatingly cute! I knew the fabric would be perfect for a baby quilt but when I came home, I realised I have only made one quilt in my entire life and I would not have the amazing Bronwen at my side to lend moral support during the making of the quilt.

Bronwen used to run quilting classes at my local craft shop. I went on her beginners' course a few years back and she was the best. She was patient, fun, and incredibly knowledgeable about patchwork and quilting. I knew that if I stood any chance of making a second quilt ( for lo! I have made but one in my entire life), I'd need Bronwen to be there. I am not incompetent nor am I bad at sewing - I just panic easily whenever a rotary cutter is involved!

Thankfully Bronwen is on Twitter, heard my lament and she suggested a casual quilt-along starting this spring. Bronwen wanted to finish a couple of WIPs and would I care to join her? Before I knew what happened about ten or eleven people had joined us.

Would you like to join us too?

#QAlong is mainly going to run on Twitter. Starting March, we'll have a monthly* informal show & tell/chat/support group night on Twitter.(*possibly more often depending on how it goes!)

There is NO set pattern, NO set fabric, NO set timeline (other than it'll really kick off in March), and NO skill level required. 

We have experienced people on-board and we have complete beginners (like me) on-board. #QALong is about having fun with no pressure and no rules. You work at your own pace with your own chosen project - but with the added bonus of having a virtual quilting group at your disposal!

Bronwen has agreed to answer a few of my questions here on Fourth Edition. We'll talk fabric choices, how to deal with rotary cutters, and how to choose a pattern that suits your skill level.

There is NO sign-up for #QALong either - that's all part of the whole idea. However, if you do have questions for Bronwen (or anybody else - I can help with colour selection, for instance), do leave a comment and your question will be included in one of the help posts here and we'll also discuss on Twitter. 

I am personally a bit daunted by the thought of doing a quilt but I cannot wait to get started.

Yes She Said

I bought myself two Christmas presents. First of all, I finally became a member of MetaFilter - still the best community weblog the internet has to offer. I have been lurking on MetaFilter for almost ten years, so it was definitely time to take the plunge and cough up those five bucks. My second gift to myself has also been a long-time coming. For years I have been circling Garthenor Yarns and their organic, sheepy goods. Their yarns are produced from sheep kept on organic lands and the yarn is spun with minimal processing and no dyeing. I finally cracked earlier this week and now my Shetland single ply laceweight in 'light oatmeal' has arrived.

Oh, but it is beautiful. It reminds me of the Faroese laceweights I have been using: the same self-assured simplicity and honesty that says 'this has worked for centuries, so why change anything?'. This yarn is as far away from novelty yarns or instant gratification yarns as you can get - and for my money it is all the better for it. Although I'd love to see Karise knitted up in this sort of rustic yarn, I think I'll end up writing an entirely new pattern for it.

Okay, I have also bought fabric but it is less an indulgence than a response to 'oh dear, I have just thrown out half my wardrobe'. I did try to find tops I liked on the high street, but eventually I just went to Mandors and bought several yards of pretty polycotton in their January sale.

I intend to make several Art Teacher tunics - I'll be tweaking the pattern, though. The original Art Teacher tunic had a zip which I confess never using as the tunic easily slips over my head. I'll also lengthen it a tiny bit, make it slightly more A-line and I'll try very hard not to have ironing mishaps during construction. Scout's honour (I was never a Girl Scout).

Finally, I'm going to read James Joyce's The Dead tonight. Why? The story takes place on January 6.

Joyce is one of those authors with whom I have not really made peace (having said that, I think that is everyone's relationship with Joyce). I have read Dubliners from which The Dead is taken. I have made headway into Ulysses and Portrait but never attempted Finnegans Wake. I could happily drown in a sea of Joyce's words - Listen, a fourworded wavespeech: seesoo, hrss, rsseeiss, ooos - but I never connected with him the way I connected with TS Eliot.

Having said that, if you have not read any James Joyce and you recoil at the very idea, sit down and read The Dead. It is a fairly quick read, you won't need a spreadsheet to help you understand it and - best of all - it is wonderful.

Well Still Pretty Good Year

First task of the year: sort out the wardrobe. I should probably not use the word 'wardrobe' as that word implies system, thoughtfulness, and coherence. Most of my clothes stem from the frantic days of arriving in the UK with a suitcase of clothes and needing workplace-suitable attire. As a consequence, most of my wardrobe consists of cheap clothes bought in a state of panic.

Nowadays I lead the charmed life of a freelancer working within a creative industry with ties to fashion. Interestingly this means two things: 1) I have a great collection of pyjamas because I spend a lot of time working in my jammies, and 2) I have discovered that while I do not care much for fashion I do care a lot about style.

So I went through my wardrobe and threw out everything that did not fit, that needed a degree of mending that was at great odds with the intrinsic value of the item itself, or which had been too fashionable when I bought it and thus no longer stylish (I think of style as something which cannot pinned down to a particular time nor place - rather it transcends time and place).

Verdict: I need tops and trousers somewhat badly. I need basic cardigans. And I am not allowed to knit myself any scarves or shawls because I have a lot (note the phrasing: ..knit myself.. which means I can knit for others or for design purposes). I can sew some of the things myself, but what I really need is a focused shopping spree.

I hate clothes shopping.

My neighbourhood made national news yesterday after the recent hurricane felled a few trees, made several chimney pots collapse, and ripped roof tiles off. The police have closed off one street due to unstable masonry. I was safely ensconced at work but was troubled by the amounts of roof tiles I encountered on the way from work. One of the big trees in our back garden has fallen too. It is still blustery out there, but the worst has passed. In case you are curious, I live very close to where the fourth photo in this series was taken.

Knitting-wise: I'm swatching for a few designs. Reading-wise: I have finished two books so far this year, although the less said about the second book the better (it was not my idea).

FO: Klimt Skirt

I could get addicted to making my own clothes. This green corduroy skirt is ridiculously Just What I Like & Cannot Find in Stores, that I cannot believe I did not do this dress-making lark years ago.

One pattern from a Danish sewing magazine One and a half yards of green corduroy One yard of green poly lining One invisible zip One spool of green poly thread Selection of Liberty fabric scraps & vintage buttons

One happy seamstress & wearer.

I altered the pattern (of course I did). The appliqué was done different to the pattern suggestion, I added lining and did away with the slightly clumsy bias binding around the waist.

Klimt? Why not. In fact, look at Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" and tell me that you cannot see it. Just me? Okay then..

And I'm wearing my own handmade St. James sweater with this skirt. Oh, wardrobe love.

In other crafty news, I spent the morning trying to decipher a crochet pattern written in Afrikaans using a Dutch crochet glossary, Google Translate and reverse engineering from photo. Adventurous! After an hour and six rounds, friends kindly pointed me to an online English translation of the pattern.. and I felt a bit silly.

Finally, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of the loveliest people I have ever met, Paula. This little video is for you..

Of Petals and Parcelforce

I spent the evening sewing again. I'm making a much needed lined corduroy skirt and I had this idea in my head. I am using remnants of Liberty fabric swatches for the embellishment. Let's see how my idea looks when the skirt is properly assembled, though. The pattern is from a Danish sewing magazine my mum sent me earlier this year. I love receiving parcels from my family. Tiny presents and unexpected treats. My partner gets his beloved Danish marzipan, I get craft magazines and licorice. Win-win .. except when Parcelforce messes up and they do mess up quite frequently.

Add another Parcelforce failure to my bunch of stories - this time my story guest-stars my gran who sent me a lovely surprise parcel in July. Of course the parcel just happened to be picked up by a driver who 'forgets' about collection cards and just dumps parcels in the local post office rather than try to deliver them. And of course the post office gets tired of undelivered parcels taking up space and returns them to the Parcelforce depot where they disappear.

I have never lied this much to Gran over so short a timespan. Of course I knew where the parcel was! Unfortunately the post office was closed just as I made it there. Oh, I am just waiting for the delivery man to confirm when he's going to pop by.. If you have ever had a gran whose worried silence speaks volumes, you will know how I have felt these past two days.

Thankfully, Parcelforce does have nice people working for them. Steve found my parcel tonight after trawling the depot. And he is going to make sure that the parcel is being delivered tomorrow.

It better be. I cannot deal with Day Three of Gran being worried.

In other news, I was rather underwhelmed by BBC4's Elegance & Decadence: The Age of Regency. The subject matter is so interesting - the early parts of the 19th century were filled with radical ideas, grand geopolitical events, and amazing cultural upheaval - but despite an enthusiastic presenter, the while thing got mired down in cumbersome details about marble tables and gilded tableware. At least Beau Brummell was briefly mentioned (to my great geeky delight) but why he was to be singled out among the rarified set was never really fully explained beyond a brief dressing-up session. I shall keep watching but my hopes are slightly dampened.

Off to read some Russian literature. As you do.

Sewing FO: The Art Teacher Outfit

It's blustery and windy outside. I think autumn has just hit Glasgow in a big way. We never really had a summer this year - just a few sunny days and temperatures around 21C interspersed with torrential rain. The past two years we have had very hard winters. I hope winter will be milder this year, but with autumn arriving early .. who knows? I finished my dress - cue awkward posing in our stairwell (it's too windy to take reasonable photos outside).

I had my Other Half help me with the hemline - which is why I shall no longer refer to it as a dress. This is henceforth a tunic which irritates me greatly. I had made it to wear to work but it is definitely too short for that purpose. To hell with "but it shows off your legs!" - I needed a practical dress and this is not it. I'll try wearing it with work trousers, but I do not have great hopes for that.

The pattern was very easy to use and easy to adjust. I'll definitely use it again (and maybe even try making the trousers).

I like the raglan sleeve construction which is done with several pieces and results in a very flattering sleeve. I note that several people on PatternReview said that they felt the sleeves were too tight. I have Big Girl arms and the sleeves fit just fine - they are maybe even a smidgen too loose.

I altered the yoke slightly and sewed down the gathers about 2 inches below the neckline as I felt the dre tunic would benefit from a bit more structure. I understitched the facings too in order to combat the floppiness reported on Pattern Review. I did away with the ruffles on the sleeves (just not my thing) and simplified the pockets.

The pockets are super-cute, if slightly impractical.

I will probably do the same mods next time I sew this - but I'll add an extra 3 inches to the length. As it is not a hugely flattering shape for my body type, I might try and draft a slightly more A-line body next time. Or possibly do a couple of pleats empire-style underneath my bust. I do have a waist, you see, and while I'm a big fan of comfy dre tunics, they can be comfy and show off that waist at the same time. So there.

Did I mention I had an ironing accident with this fabric? Cunningly I fixed things so you cannot tell. Despite its tendency to fray (and melt), I do love the fabric. It works with everything in my wardrobe and is really nice to wear.

New things learned: making ironing accidents disappear, adding extra length to whatever hemline length my partner suggests, sewing patch pockets (super-easy) and dealing with flimsy and slippery material.

With autumn here already, I think it's time to address my urgent need for skirts.