Stitched sewing organisers

I am valiantly trying to get all of the projects from Aneela Hoey's book completed for the sewalong so I can return to only participating in two sewalongs at any one time. Yesterday I completed the book and tool Folio. This project is due to be completed by 11 February when we will be in the Caribbean. I hope to be able to post the photograph to Instagram during that week as I am sure there'll be free Wi-Fi somewhere during our trip. I think I only now have the covered tape measure to complete to finish this sewalong.

I have enjoyed using my stash of Alison Glass fabrics and although the turquoise zips don't match the chosen fabrics, I like the pop of floor they give.

Next I need to bind a couple of quilts.

Planning for 2018

I was lucky enough to win a copy of the 2018 Quilter's Planner and one of my big plans for 2018 is to tidy my work room. I am going to do it step by step. I am destashing as I come across items that I nolonger  want in my life. Perhaps they were gifts, prizes or rash purchases. I also have a lot of scrapbooking tools that I need to review.

My first task this month was to clear my desk so I am just left with my most used tools. Next I am going tidy my Ikea cart to house my current WIPs in the top and I am not sure what else. I also want to tidy my cutting station and wadding too.

I need to unpick wadding from quilt backing which is an easy and portable project to take to my Wednesday morning quilt group or when I have a spare ten minutes.

Christmas celebration sampler

Having scrapped my first attempt at this pattern in 2017, although my crafting Mojo seemed to leave me in December, I had this sampler permanently by my side. I have made a decent amount of progress, however the amount of white in the border does intimidate me. I have now completed the inner border and all of the letters. Once I have finished the block T, I will put it away and attempt to complete one block per month. Otherwise I will work on the UFO selected by the American patchwork and quilting magazine UFO challenge.

I have already completed two out of the nine blocks including the border adjacent to the block. I find that when I cross stitch with white thread that I am not completely satisfied with the look I achieve so any white sections are always the last to be completed. I am sure that I will get this one finished by Christmas 2018. I still have another Christmas Crosstitch UFO to complete in addition to this one.

2018 plans

I won a copy of the fabulous Quilter's Planner in a #missingmarket giveaway on Instagram. I have set my goals for the year and almost immediately realised one of my goals would be a challenge - to only participate in two sewalongs at a time. Oops, I am already participating in two and the QP BOM starts this month. My plan is to try and complete all of my Sew Stitched projects over the next two weeks. Here is my completed 2 in 1 pouch for next week as it looked easier than this week's project!

And the inside.

Today I need to start the triple pouch.

Stitched sewing organisers

Here is a collage of the nine projects completed from the book by Aneela Hoey in 2017. 

As I am away for two weeks in February I need to get ahead. 

APQ UFO challenge 2018

The challenge has started at http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/how-to-quilt/finishing/2018-ufo-challenge My list is written and is shorter than 2017, in that all of my cross stitch UFOs have also been added to the list and my oldest UFO is from 2010. With a bit of application, I could finish most of them by the end of 2018.

Here's my list with photos where possible. I am going to try and photograph all of them over during December.

1. Jan Krentz star from 2010

2. TQS BOM Sedona Star from Jan 2012

3. Lion from 2017
4. Sweet tea and green beans from 2014. Top is pieced and ready to be quilted.

5. Milky Way quilt from January 2017 - again top is pieced and ready to quilt

6. Tula Pink butterfly from October 2017. I need to move a few blocks and then quilt it.

7. Christmas on Gingerbread Lane

8. Christmas Celebration Sampler. I have restarted this one and I am working on it this month as an advent project

9. It's a small world from 2016 2/3 pieced

10. Pretty London

11 Hugs cushion

12. Retreat quilt from January 2017 - two blocks left to quilt.

Christmas Celebration Sampler

I planned to work on this project for an hour each day in December. I made considerable progress and got to the top border. However the more I stitched, the more I became convinced that the fabric was too see through and despite the hours already invested, it hit the bin a week ago. I ordered the even weave in the colour gingerbread from The Makery. The fabric arrived today and I have made some progress and I love the project.

Not bad progress for a few hours. I hope to have the internal frames and numbers done by next week. Then I can start on the fancy border. I am nervous until I get all of the sides joined up as I worry that I will be half a stitch awry. A great advent project. I doubt that I will finish it this year, but my cross stitch UFOs have reduced over 2017 so progress to a finished project will be satisfying.

First day of advent

I haven't bought an advent calendar for myself this year but I have reused an old calendar to make a yarn advent calendar for myself. I am going to use the yarn to knit another pair of Yule Ball socks, which are my own design.

My advent plans are to do something Christmassy every day, cross stitch on my Christmas Celebration Sampler for an hour and knit on my Yule Ball socks every day.

I had done very little on the sampler before today and I am worried that the aida is a bit transparent. I am going to plod on though and try and get the dividers and letters done this week. Then I will start on one of the backs and its section of frame.

Land of sweets cowl

I enjoyed knitting this cowl from the yarn left over from my What the fade shawl.

The yarns are by the following dyers:

Stranded Dyeworks

Kate Selene

Lone star arts

Fondant Fibre

Life in the Long Grass

Devon Sun Yarns

See it all pouch

This was a nice quick make from Aneela Hoey stitched sewing organiser book. I used an old Alison glass text print on the front and I fussy cut another Alison glass fabric for the back.

I used a corduroy bias binding purchased from beyond measure at the Edinburgh Yarm festival. Instead of copying the pattern for the pouch I cut a rectangle the correct size and then used the corner rounder from our rainbow retreat goody bag to round the corners of the two layers of fabric and vinyl.

12 days of Christmas sampler

After the recent retreat I went on, I returned home a little under the weather, possibly due to the extra brackets added to my brace which irritated my mouth. So instead of ruining a big sewing project I decided to work on a Crosstitch project.

I was so pleased to actually finish the 12 days of Christmas sampler and it is now ready to take to the framers. Are usually choose a simple frame but wonder if something more ornate and painted red might be more suitable.

It's now time to work on the November block for the once upon a time sampler.

Boxy pocket pouch

Thus a project by Aneela Howy from her book "stitched sewing organisers" I thought I had followed the instructions to the letter but apparently not as in the final making up I had to use a 3/4" seam to catch the pockets in the seam allowance.

There is a pincushion with the project so I used some of the crushed wZlnuts and lavender from Carol, which was a gift at a recent retreat.

Knitvent 2017

I get terrible FOMO when I see new knitting or  quilting patterns released. I was determined not to buy the Knitvent pattern collection this year as last year I only knit 1 of the 4/5 patterns in the collection. I resisted until I saw the first pattern release. The land of sweets Cowl by Helen Stewart is designed for a yarn advent calendar with 24 mini skeins of yarn. I immediately decided to do the pattern using the leftover yarn from my what the fade! shawl.

I print the pattern in booklet form which makes it easy to slip into my kniting bag. I then formulated a plan to fade from one colour to the other. However I didn't have as much of the sunset yarn by Kate Selene as I perhaps needed. I've therefore just guessed how much I could get done with that yarn and then striped it into the next yarn. So there will be a little bit more of colour C by Lone Star Arts than I had planned. This is going to be a perfect project to take to my quilting group tomorrow morning. So far I am at 43% complete. I think the newest pattern in the collection may be released today or tomorrow.

Stitched sewing organisers

And it's already week 4 of the sewalong based on Aneela Hoey's book. I have made this box in the same fabric as last week's bag and week 2's tomato pin cushion

Honey badger socks

Hooray I finished my honey badger socks using stranded dye works oasis base in fingering weight in the colour frost bite. Unusually the socks were knit cuff down and when I tried them on I found the cuff a little unyielding. So once I had kitchenerstitched the toes, I unpicked the cast on and did a stretchy bind off.

I am waiting impatiently for a delivery of fabric so that I can cut some blocks ready to take to the simply solids retreat this coming Friday. I am nervous that the delivery won't arrive and I will have to sort out a completely different project to take with me.

Once upon a time sampler – October

The end is in sight for the sampler. I have finished the October block and although there is little work already done on the November block, the December block is half done. I am not sure even what fairytale is the pictured in the mid-November block!

This project will now be put away until next month and I will try and finish my honey badger socks before the end of the month. 

Stitched sewing organisers

I love a good sewalong but dithered about joining this one based on the book by Aneela Hoey. My friend Jane offered to purchase the book for my birthday but I decided on another book so I only bought the book just before the sewalong started. There have been two projects to complete so far. The first was the handy fold up pouch and the second which I completed on Sunday was the green tomato pincushion.

I sewed the handy fold up pouch in the fabrics that I used for Lizzie's going to university quilt. I am not sure what she will use it for but it might be useful to pop in to a handbag if she ever used one!

This week's project was the green tomato pincushion. Mine looks more like a flat peach! I used some Tula Pink fabric and a scrap of felt from a felt kit. This project was very fiddly for something so small.

This week's project is the project tote. I have chosen some Essex dyed linen and Alison glass fabric and ordered the interfacing needed from sew hot. My order should have been dispatched on Monday and I have photocopied the pattern ready for when it arrives.

Progress on honey badger socks

I wound a skein of frost bite yarn by stranded dye works' Amy on her oasis base ready for our week in Spain. I had spent the previous week finishing my what the fade!? Shawl.  Unfortunately that has left me with an inflamed bursa in my shoulder. My physiotherapist has advised that I take it easy with my knitting.

I did very little knitting on the socks during our week in Spain but I have made steady progress with them since our return. My plan this week is to do one pattern repeat each day so as not to aggravate my shoulder but hopefully it should be enough to finish the pair of socks this month.

12 days of Christmas sampler

I'm getting excited to see this sampler finished. I have now finished seven blocks out of 12 and the border is also complete. I should have it finished for Christmas 2017.

I did take this project on holiday to Spain with me, however we went sightseeing for eight or nine hours a day and by the time we got back to the hotels, we were ready for bed. I started block 12 after finishing the border and had most of the hat done. So I worked on this one on Monday.

Block six was also almost complete and I only really had the nest and some details to finish. Now I have finished one block for last week and one for this week, it is being put in storage and I am going to work on the once upon a time sampler block for October next.

Working on one project at a time at the moment and being focused on finishing one item is working for me. It may seem strange to put this sampler away after finishing just two blocks, however I prefer to do a small piece at a time and not get bored with the project I am working on. I am stitching the sampler one block per week and by my calculation I should be finished by the end of November which gives me time to have it framed for Christmas.

What the fade !? Clue five

Happy dance! My huge what the fade shawl is finished. When I say finished I mean I have bound off and will block it on my return from Spain. I have loaned my blocking mats, wires and pins to a friend so I need to get those back first. I'm delighted with the change I made in the colour order and will now have more confidence in choosing yarns for the faded sweater.

I didn't immediately start clue five on Thursday as I was a little unsure about the I cord binding. However I am really pleased with it and happy that I decided to do as the pattern instructed.

Time now to cast on my holiday socks!