Friday Finish - December 2021

 

 

Not much got done in December, ten days of a cold and two days in London didn't help. I didn't stitch the Sydney block for the ATW BOM but that's on my 2022 UFO challenge list. I need to redo the plane block and replace a portion of another block.

The Cookie Exchange was a three week sewalong with Hands on Design. I did finish the stitching but I haven't turned it into a fully finished piece to display.

I stitched three Clarence Gnomes for  Moss & Lotus' sewalongs. The theme this year was #sewagnomegiveagnome2021 I made a cushion for myself and my daughter and a block for my friend Jane. Jane also turned hers into a cushion.

I am still sewing along with free block Friday and have ten blocks sewn. The last two blocks are more complicated and I plan to finish those in 2022.

I have finished the 2012 Prairie Schooler Santa and now have 17 out of 38 Santas complete. I need to decide how to finish these and fully finish those that I have finished so that they can be displayed next year. I hope to stitch one Santa per month in 2022 and there are an additional three Santas on my 2022 UFO challenge list. If I keep on track, that would be 15 more complete and just 6 more to stitch in 023.

The first part of Barbara Ana's mystery sal with Creative Poppy was released in mid November but I have only really stitched on it over the past week. It is only a small piece to fit in a 7" x 7" frame. 

I plan to stitch some more on this piece over the long weekend. I want to finish the gold stars along the top of the piece next along with the mountains and buildings. My approach has been very arbitrary but if I plan to finish section two (the top first) and then I can work on the girl (part thee) and then the bottom trees and buildings (part one)

I have also knit four hats for my daughter for herself and to gift to two friends. I hope she doesn't want any more for the time being. Lizzie flew back to Aberdeen yesterday and took my old Bernina with her. She is also visiting a flat today to move into at the end of January.

I will share with you my 2022 UFO challenge list on Monday and hope that once the first number is chosen tomorrow, I will find a little more focus.

WIP Wednesday

 

There hasn’t been much crafting around here over the Christmas period. All I’ve accomplished is to knit another Tiilda hat for my daughter to gift to a friend. The cheeky minx even wrapped up the wool as my Xmas gift.

We are full of seasonal colds so there’s not much activity here. Matt and Lizzie fly back to the UK tomorrow and then it will be down to me to tidy up the house, take down the Christmas tree and prepare meals from the Xmas leftovers.

Friday finish

 I have finished the 2012 Prairie Schooler Santa on vintage stormy night Belfast. Unfortunately I used the wrong side of the fabric but there are a few more like that in the 17 that I’ve completed. That leaves 21 more to stitch in 2022.

Wishing you all a very Merry and Healthy Christmas.

Monday Make - Tiilda hat

 

I knit this beanie for Lizzie whilst we were in Aberdeen last month. All I needed to do was to see on the bobble but that necessitated a pair of pliers to pull the needle through the bobble.

Wool is Hayfield bonus chunky tweed in the shade 101 called storm cloud. The free pattern is the Tiilda hat by Inese Sang from Ravelry on 4mm circular needles.

Friday finish - lazy susan block

My gnomes are all finished and one had been gifted, so it's time to turn to my Free block Friday blocks. Lazy Susan is block 10 of 12 so just two more blocks to complete and then decide on a setting. I am pleased with my fabric choices and especially the pink background as suggested by @gnomeangel in her Jumping Jacks version.

 

WIP Wednesday - more gnomes

 

I am making progress with stitching Clarence the gnome. I have one finished block to gift to a friend, one quilted block ready to make into a cushion for myself and one cushion complete apart from adding cam snaps to the back also to gift.

This is a fun pattern from Moss & Lotus on Etsy.

Monday Make - Gnomes

Saturday was our Jersey Modern Quilt Group monthly meeting and Kerry Jane, a new member, provided all of the instructions and ingredients for us to make a tomte neisse. Kerry Jane estimated it would take about 90 minutes but in definitely took longer than that. However I am very pleased with my new Christmas decoration.

After the meeting I went to St Peter's Church to see this year's Christmas tree display and our angel tree was certainly different to most of the traditional trees.

I am participating in Moss & Lotus's #sewagnomegiveagnome2021 sewalong. So far I have made two of her Clarence the Gnome patterns to gift and still need to work out a colour scheme for a gnome for myself. I need to add the eyes to both of these and make up the blue gnome into a cushion or Santa sack for my daughter.

In other news we did some more Christmas baking yesterday and now have a stollen and some Lebkuchen for my Wednesday morning group.

 

Friday finish - free block Friday

 

There hasn’t been much sewing this week! I was shattered after returning from London as we did so much walking.

Today the ninth block of free block Friday with & Noam Angel was released this morning. I have managed to keep up with this so long and all of the nine blocks are complete. I am loving my choices of fabric and I am pleased that I’ve substituted the dragonfly fabric for the plain white as it adds a bit of interest to the blocks.

I thought I would also finish another Tomte block this morning but when I went to join al the parts together, I realised that I had used two different fabrics for the jumper. I will have to do a bit of unpicking this evening as this afternoon we're going to make German biscuits at a local organic food cooperative.

Monday make - cookie Exchange

My  only Black Friday purchase was an annual subscription for me and my daughter from Bread Ahead. I attended my first virtual class yesterday on Italian festive makes. I had to give the biscotti to my husband to take to work as they were too moreish.

The clementine and almond cake has gone into the freezer and will be shared with Jersey Modern Quilt Group members on Saturday as I’m on tea duties. I’m also doing an in person workshop on Friday making German biscuits. I will also use them for Saturday.

Lastly was a very successful focaccia which will be a treat for my hubby to take to work to have at lunchtime with his bowl of soup. 

On 1 December the first part of the Cookie Exchange was released with a border of stars and cookie cutters 

Two days later the second part was released with a sturdy table and holly garland. I thought the parts were weekly but this is working for me as it can be finished and I will move on to another project.

The final part of stitching was released yesterday but with all of the baking, I only finished about half of the pile of cookies, mason jar and mixing bowl.

I am off to London today for an appointment tomorrow and will meet my daughter at our hotel in Borough. A trip to Rosenbergs is planned for today, perhaps I’ll get some stitching done whilst waiting for Lizzie.

 

November 2021 Achievements

I achieved all but one of my November goals, so it was a good month and I wrote my patteren for Go Big Baby Bear and submitted ahead of schedule. Spooky Sampler was my largest project this month and is complete.

2013 Prairie Schooler Santa complete and made a start on another one.

November block for ATW BOM complete, just one more to finish.

Freebie Friday blocks up to date and I'm loving my choice of fabrics.

I also completed a few unplanned projects including three beanie hats, a skull hexie cushion and a scrappy tumbler runner ready for gifting.

The only thing I didn't achieve was one branch of Christmas Tree by Barbara Ana. Kit by Nitka Moscow. I found when I was stitching on the bottom level that I was one stitch out, so I need to do some unpicking and it will be put in time out for now.

December 2021 plans

 

All bets are off for December, I seem to have joined all of the sewalongs this month so I'm not sure if I'll finish anything. On 1 December I think there are four emails expected, including the last block of the ATW BOM with Whole Circle Studios. The final block is Sydney but completing the quilt is on my 2022 UFO challenge list which takes the pressure off.

The Cookie Exchange is a three week sewalong with Hands on Design. I have the threads on order and a project bag ready to start this, but I think this may not be the first one I stitch today.

This cutie arrived in my in box yesterday and I have joined in many of Moss & Lotus' sewalongs. The theme this year is #sewagnomegiveagnome2021

I am still sewing along with free block Friday with just last Friday's block to stitch to catch up. The block is cut out and ready to sew.

I have started the 2012 Prairie Schooler Santa and it is about a quarter done, so that should be achievable this month, perhaps.

The first part of Barbara Ana's mystery sal with Creative Poppy was released two weeks ago but my progress is virtually zero. It is only a small piece to fit in a 7" x 7" frame. 

If that wasn't enough I bought a year long pass to classes with Bread Ahead on Black Friday and have booked five classes this month to cook along with Lizzie who arrives home next Tuesday. I am meeting her in London for an appointment I have and then we're flying back together. I have only very small hand luggage for the trip so will be taking no crafting with me, but Lizzie is planning a trip to Rosenburgs and I'd like to go to TK Maxx to search out some more Rae Dunn. Then once Lizzie is home, I am sure we'll be sewing clothes.

Monday missions

 

Yesterday after another lovely meal in Aberdeen, this time at Brewdogs, we headed to the airport by taxi as the roads were still icy. We eventually got home just before 10pm, after worrying about missing our connecting flight at Heathrow. However that flight was also delayed so we had plenty of time to spare.

My mission this morning was to have a CT scan at 8.45am, made more challenging as I slept through to 7.40am and there are about seven schools and colleges in a one mile radius of our home. I was five minutes late but all was good and I offered my profuse apologies.

Second mission of the day was to retrieve my Patchwork Rabbit advent calendar from the main Post Office. Delivery had been attempted last Monday and it could have been returned to sender today so that was a top priority.

My advent calendar is now being displayed on my design wall in my sewing room. It is deliberately not in numerical order to add to the fun and I plan to spend ten minutes tidying each morning before I open each day's envelope. Let's see how long that lasts.

Before lunch yesterday we returned to both Hobbycraft and TK Maxx. We each bought something in Hobbycraft:

I have a hole punch for thread drops, some murano fabric and a box for my Janome bobbins

Nick has a new black ink pad and a Happy Christmas stamp

Lizzie has Star Wars fabrics for more masks for friends.

A treat for Friday was an escape room called "Into the Amazon". Matt did not see it as a treat and was not happy, but we played well as a team and completed the task in 40 minutes and escaped. Lizzie thought it was her favourite escape room so far. This was only my third escape room.

Jobs on my to do list are:

Reconcile my credit card

Make last week's Freebie Friday block

Play canasta this afternoon, but I must do a LFT first to protect others.

Friday finish - Tiilda hat

We are in Aberdeen this week for Lizzie’s graduation from Aberdeen University with a masters in medical physics. The ceremony was mainly in Latin and there was a bagpiper around to pipe in the faculty.

Matt has also joined us and we are eating very well. Today we are doing an escape room which Matt is not happy about. We are also viewing a flat to get her out of the dump she’s in.

Lizzie asked me to knit a purple hat for her friend. I knit it before leaving Jersey and we bought the Pom poms from a lovely local shop.

I also knit Lizzie a baby blue version with a white Pom Pom 

                                    

Now I’m knitting a version from wool we purchased from hobbycraft and another friend wants a purple one. I think that will be my limit. The pattern is the Tiilda Hat by Inese Sang free from ravelry.com