Rejiggling

Please excuse the techie talk in this post, I’ve been having a bit of geeky fun here and am rather chuffed with the end result! However, I’ll put the geeky bit at the end, so that you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to!

You’ll see I’ve been tweaking my blog again and now have a navigation bar which appears just under the blog header – this is the techie bit I’m rather pleased with! I’ve put links on there for my designs and tutorials and those pages then link to the relevant blog posts. Once I get it sorted, I’ll also be adding links to PDF versions too.

And to celebrate, I’ve got some new snowflakes too! If you remember, I was posting the designs of the snowflakes I used in my Snowflakes in the Snow biscornu. I’d posted 8 and still needed 3 more, but didn’t like the designs I’d used enough to chart them and post them.

So here are 3 new snowflakes. Note that I haven’t stitched them myself yet, but I’d be interested to see how they work out!





Now for the techie bit!

I was looking for a way to make it easier to highlight and show links to my designs and the tutorials I’ve written, particularly as I’m hoping to add to them going forwards.

I decided I wanted to have separate pages to my blog which could be accessed via tabs just under the header or some kind of navigation bar. I even, briefly, considered moving to Wordpress or Typepad, but I like a lot of the bits I’ve set up here and didn’t fancy having to start from scratch elsewhere.

So I decided to search for any blogger tips or hacks which would let me do something similar here. Now, I’m quite happy fiddling around and making minor changes to my template, but I’d prefer not to have to get into the guts of XML or anything like that, so I wanted a relatively simple solution.

As usual with the internet, one link led to another and I found myself on this page, looking for a post which would supposedly tell me all I wanted to know. Instead I found a link to Add Page Element to Blogger Header and Blog Posts in the header-wrapper and main-wrapper. Using this would mean that I could add widgets above mt blog header, or below the header and immediately above the posts.

And I found another component in my XML template which I changed to allow me to add widgets immediately below my header – the crosscol-wrapper. Once I’d found that I knew how to create a simple navigation bar for the pages I wanted.

I haven’t seen this written up anywhere, and it’s the simplest way of adding a navigation bar I can think of! Once I added widgets to the crosscol-wrapper, I could add a HTML/JavaScript widget there and in that write some simple HTML for a table, with a matching background, and a cell for each page I wanted to link to on the navbar!

The links on the navbar just link to blog posts I’ve created for 01.01.2001, completely separate from my normal blogging.

How simple is that?

Slightly different (alternative 15 sided biscornu)

While I was off work last week, I finished off my biscornu using the blackwork designs from Anita at Stitch Creations. I still finished it as a kind of 15 sided biscornu, but slightly different!



Following this idea, I attached the top on a different orientation - very simply but a very different result!

I've stitched it on 32ct Vintage Blue Zweigart linen using DMC 3840 (I think) - I should maybe have used a darker blue floss, but I still like it as it is. The beads are Mill Mill seed and pebble beads.

The way to make this kind of shape is very similar to making the more rounded 15 sided biscornu.

• Stitch your 15 squares, all the same size.
  


• Join 5 together to for the top and another 5 for the bottom - you will have 5 left for the sides. Join the five sides to either the top or the bottom - this will give you a kind of bowl shape.
  
• I realised something at this point that I could do to illustrate the difference between the two kinds of 15 sided biscornu -
  
  For the 'normal' rounded version, join the 'peaks' of the flattish side to the 'valleys' of the bowl.
  
  For the alternative version, join the 'peaks' of the flattish side to the 'peaks' of the bowl.
  
  Remember to leave a gap to stuff your biscornu and then sinish stitching together. I found the final stitching together a bit more awkward for this alternative version than previously. Of course, it didn't help that it wasn't until I had finished sewing it all together that I decided to add the beads to the top!

I hope this sense - just the simple change in the orientation of the top makes a complete difference to the final item!



My original 15 sided biscornu tutorial with more detailed instructions can be found here.

Snowflakes in the Snow (with 15 sided biscornu tutorial)

Long post with lots of photos, but hopefully useful information!



I've been a bit distracted from my planned stitching recently (this seems to be happening faaar too regularly these days) by the above 15 sided biscornu or banurukotti. I first saw these last year here on this Russian blog and then saw that Anita had designed this lovely one too. Somehow the idea of making this kind of thing with a snowflake pattern caught my imagination, but I just didn't manage to find the right snowflakes to stitch.

At last, a couple of weeks ago, I saw this post from Janet Perry for the snowflakes on her December twinchy. That got me started! Janet's snowflakes were just perfect for what I wanted to do, so I printed off the charts and got started.



As I got going, I started playing around with Janet's snowflakes, adding beads and trying out different shapes and stitches. And before I knew it, I had ended up with 15 squares each with a different showflake!

Four of the snowflakes are Janet's, one or two were copied from images I found on the internet and the rest are my own. I might chart some of them sometime to share.

As all the tutorials I've seen for this type of biscornu have not been in English, I thought I'd write my own for anyone who's interested.



Step 1 - You need 15 stitched squares all the same size. The squares I used were all 20 x 20 stitches. As with a 'normal' biscornu, the outline round the edge of each square was done in backstitch and I used a #12 perle cotton.

When you have your 15 squares, cut them all out leaving a border of at least about half a centimeter.



Step 2 - I then divided my squares into 3 groups of 5 squares - 5 squares for the top, 5 squares for the bottom and 5 for the sides.




I then whipstitched the 5 squares for the top together.



When you have joined the 5 squares together, you will have a kind of 5 pointed star. Note that it will not lie flat, however hard you try.

Now, join the 5 squares for the bottom.




Step 3 - The next step is to join the side squares to either top or bottom. I've tried to show in the photo below how this works with the arrows showing which sides wshould be joined to each other.



You will end up with something like this.



Step 4 - Now you can start to join the bottom/top to the top/bottom plus sides in a similar way to that in which the sides were already joined. I haven't got a photo of this step - not quite sure how I would show it!

Only join about three quarters of the way round so that you leave a gap for stuffing. I use a general toy stuffing to stuff my biscornus.

Now, this is a point that I've never seen written anywhere for biscornus or anything else. When I make a biscornu, I sew on the central buttons before I've completed stuffing. I like to have my button in a reasonable indent in the middle of my pin cushion, so, in this case, I half stuffed my biscornu and then attached my button. Then I completed stuffing, working the stuffing around the threads holding the buttons, and stitched the opening closed.

Et voila!



And if anyone saw a mad woman yesterday morning, wandering round Vicky Park with a pin cushion and a camera, yes, I confess, it was me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And before I forget, you can still sign up for my PIF! I'll leave signups open until next Monday and then let you know the result. And for those who've asked, I'm quite happy to post overseas, so don't let that put you off!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The snowflake patterns I used in making my biscornu can be found on the following web pages of my blog:

• Family Sampler (with added snowflakes)
• Life without stash

Remember, I also used Janet Perry's December twinchy snowflakes. This gives you 12 snowflakes. I don't have another 3 to share at the moment, so you can either make up your own or wait patiently until I get around to thinking of some more.

My notes on an alternative 15 sided biscornu are here.

Mice

Apologies in advance if your PC can't cope with this post - there rather a lot of photos!

I saw these cute mice on Helen’s blog, Homespun Hearts. I realised, looking at them, that I would see how they were made. So, while I was away last week, I splurged on mouse-making! Now all the women in my family are proud owners of these little cuties!

How do you like the results?


They’re really very simple to make. Each mouse is made from 3 identical leaf shaped pieces of felt, a long thin strip for the tail and a couple of small rough semi-circles for the ears.


The 3 leaf shaped pieces will form the two sides and belly of the mouse. Before stitching any of the sides together, decorate two of them. Use your imagination here – anything goes – stitching, buttons, sequins – whatever takes your fancy!


Now take two of the leaf shaped pieces and sew them together down one long edge. I mainly used a thread colour that matched the felt colour, but you could use a contrasting colour. Similarly, I simply oversewed the edges together, but you could use a more decorative stitch. I also used a fairly long piece of thread so that I would be able to use the same thread continuously.


When you reach the end of the two sides, stitch the third side in the same way on to the free edge of one of the first two sides.


After stitching down this edge, you need to start stitching the remaining free edges together. I often put in an extra stitch or two at the end where all three pieces meet. When you get to about half way along this edge, stop stitching! You don’t, however, need to finish off your thread. You need to stop now and stuff your mouse. I have a little toy stuffing that I use for this kind of thing.


I didn’t stuff my mice too tightly, just enough to add a little padding.

After stuffing, you can continue stitching towards the end of this long edge, but again, stop a stitch or two before the end. In the gap, slide in the mouse’s tail, then fasten the edges of the gap together and add a stitch or two to hold the tail in place.


At this point, I would have an eyeless, noseless and earless mouse! Now I would add the eyes and nose – just a few small black beads or some black thread. Then on to the ears.

Before attaching the ears to the mouse, I fold the points at the outer edges of the semi-circle of felt in towards the centre of the base and put in a couple of stitches to hold them in place.


Then attach the ears to the mouse.

The mouse is now complete!


A little velcro stitched or stuck to the belly makes a little brooch.