Last Siblings Together block

For this monster 18" block we used the quick flying geese method similar to the method used at www.patchpieces.com/files/flying geese.pdf I wasn't as quick as Sonia who did the block in 30 minutes, probably because I don't have many large pieces of solid fabrics so had to rummage for something suitable.

I have made quilts for Siblings Together for four years so it is now time to change direction and participate in the Jersey Modern Quilt Guild charity quilt and also make my QAYG block for the Beachability quilt that Jane is making. There's never a full moment around here.

March is craft month

Craftsy

March is National Craft Month, and one way you can celebrate is by honing your crafting skills! Craftsy has grouped complementary classes together that will help you in your learning journey. These bundles are now discounted starting at 50% off for the next few days. Hurry, the offer ends Sunday!
And if you go to the Craftsy blog you can enter the free giveaway too.

Are you thready?

White Stuff are running a competition where you have to embellish a piece in f fabric and there's a £50 voucher as a prize in every store and a grand prize of a crafty trip for two to Italy. This is my entry for which I have been editing for some rhinestones to arrive for the eyes. Then I found out the square should have been a rectangle, so today I have added dome cream fabric, some lace to cover the join and a White Stuff button to draw the eye.

I am pleased with my free machine embroidery which I haven't done begore and will deliver my entry tomorrow, if this the cult throat doesn't develop into a cold.

March goal setting

 

I have just had a look at the list of quilts that I wanted to finish in the first quarter and well, they're all finished. I've just had a look at my list of projects that I want to finish this year and they're all biggies. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and work on the patriotic hexagon quilt that I started with Jenny and Lorraine about three years ago. I guess the benefit is that it's a collaborative effort and if I get it quilted, I can ask Jenny or Lorraine to bind it? That sounds like a plan and they're quick than I am at finishing projects.

The first task is to find a cheap source of wide backing and then formulate a plan of attack for the quilting. I'd love to find a digital quilting pattern for the flowers.

February OMG finish

I am pleased to say that I finished the kitty quilt using the Elizabeth Hartman pattern. The 18th birthday that I made it for is in ten days time but unfortunately I miscalculated and entered the quilt into the Needlework Section of the Jersey Eisteddfod.

My daughter Lizzie loved the grey background for this quilt so I'm using the same grey for her "Going to University" quilt. I have 22 blocks out of 50 pieced so far for that project.

As well as finishing this quilt, you may just be able to see the lovely new badge that I'm sporting for the Jersey Modern Quilt Guild which arrived in time for our February meeting. The Guild has now reached capacity so we can only invite ladies to join us when there are spare tables.

Unseasonal finish

Another small finish that has been hanging around since December. I don't like black fabrics in Xmas collections so I put them aside from the Sweetwater layer cake that I used for my Christmas churn dash quilt. There were two designs repeated so I quilted two pairs using Insulbright for the wadding and made some oven mitts. I used shop bought bias tape and all I have had to do for two months is stitch down the tape. They're now done and ready for Christmas.

My cake making has also been unseasonal as I used this heart bundt tin for a stunning lemon drizzle for an event last weekend. My only purchase on our university visiting trip last week and from TK Maxx too.

A little finish

I saw this pattern by Susan B Anderson on her podcast and thought it was cute. Then I saw on the Little Yellow Uke and Little Bobbins knits podcasts that they were hosting a Little along. The penny only dropped today that the name of both podcasts contain the word little. Doh.

I purchased the pattern from Ravelry and debated about what yarn to use. I thought that I had nothing suitable until I spotted this wool that I purchased  on a trip to the WI's Denman College, perhaps two years ago. I then borrowed some DPNs from a WI friend. I quickly had the body knit and I needed to buy some eyes, which soon arrived.

I have never knitted an I cord before so that was a new technique. And I think I nailed it. I think attaching the eyes was the trickiest part. Nick couldn't tighten the eyes and suggested either pliers or a small hollow tube to apply consistent pressure. A light bulb came on and I dug in a donation bag and I pulled out my eyelet setter. Perfect.

 Another small finish and I have also got all of my Eisteddfod entries together apart from my framed cross stitch which I will collect this afternoon. I decided not to complete one entry which would have been a rush and that has worked for me. There's always 2017.

Learning new things

I am still a beginner knitter, having only started knitting again a few months ago. I have also become an avid watcher of YouTube knitting videos. One I have been watching is Kristin of Voolenvine and she mentioned that she had a shawl pattern that she would be looking for knitters to test knit the pattern due for release on 1 March.  I offered my services as a beginner knitter and the pattern duly arrived. 

The eyelet section was quick and relatively easy, so long as I remembered to do the increases. Then I had to wait for the beads and crochet hook to arrive for the beaded section. YouTube came to the rescue with a video for doing an applied border. I was really pleased with the mock cables in the border. 

The shawl was knitted in Manos del Uruguay in silk blend fino (30% silk and 70% wool) in the colour flame red. The name is a little ironic as I bought two balls in a fire sale for £5 total. I was a little nervous soaking he project, but it blocked well, but did bleed. All ready now for the Jersey Eisteddfod. I think I wil wear this to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March.

February socks

My February socks for the brown bag sock club are done apart from sewing in ends and soaking, but I have to get on with a test knit and another Eisteddfod entry.

These were knit on 2mm Karbonz which like many have observed are not very smooth. I think I want to try some Addi sock rockets next. Perhaps I might be able to pick up a pair at the Edinburgh Yarn Fest in March. The wool is Crazy Zauberball. And I almost forgot, I tried the Fish Lips Kiss heel for the first time. These are half an inch shorter in the foot than my last pair so I am hoping they will fit better after blocking. At the moment they are a snug fit.

When I got home yesterday, a little parcel from Canada was snuggled in the corner of our front door step. It was this gorgeous Bis-sock from biscotte yarns. The draw on their website closed at the end of January and arrived in just two weeks from the draw closing. And it is so soft, on a 85% superwash merino and 15% nylon base. I can't remember the name of the colour way though and it doesn't seem to be on their website.

My Secret Garden BOM

I am a sucker for a good Block of the month (BOM). This year I spotted the Pat Sloan - My secret garden over at Freequiltpatterns.info I jumped in and made the first 16" block last month. I used fabrics from recent I Want her Stash bundles with a dash of red Blueberry Park by Karen Lewis.

Having made good progress on my #craftfor20 tidy up of my craft room, I decided to stitch up a storm yesterday. So I printed off the instructions for February's blocks and stuck down snippets of my fabrics to the instructions. I changed the centre square and eliminated the HSTs.

The blocks look very different from each other at the moment even though I've used the same red Blueberry park print and the dark blue honeycomb print. I have bagged up this month's fabrics along with the blocks ready for March so as to try and tie the colours together. I will also add the January fabrics too.

Craft for 20

A podcast that I watch by Little Paper Foxes has an initiative called Craft for 20 for February. I have decided to take that idea and tidy in my craft room for twenty minutes. I feel that an orderly craft room will be liberating.

Yesterday I started by the door to my room and tidied my cart. I was hoping to find a hexagon die in there but no luck so far. I want to put my pliers and poppers in there but that box hasn't come to light yet either and I had it only a few days ago. Strange.

Today I have tidied my desk. I have two baskets to donate and have kept a third which I use to transport pieces to my ironing board. 

Whilst looking at the next area to tidy - the window sill, I spotted a bag containing two mini quilts to bind. Not a big job, so an hour later and the minis are bound and ready to donate to our local SCBU tomorrow. 

I completed two more at our group's all day sewing day last week so I have four to donate. I am sure many of you will recognise the blocks from the book Patchwork Please! I completed these during the sew along perhaps two years ago?

February goals

 

This month's goal is to finish this cat quilt for a March birthday. The pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman and uses fabrics from the I Want Her Stash programme from Westwood Acres.

This is a very doable goal as I just need to sew down the binding on two sides and it's a perfect project to take with me to my morning Guild.

Where did January go. I completely missed the sign up for the January monthly goal. However I did finish my goal of the cow blanket, more about this later in the week. I broke out my Brown Bag sock club bag 8 yesterday and I have some Crazy Zauberball socks to make. There was also some hand cream and a lipstick to use up this month too. The sock wool is already balled up and ready to cast on.

You can see that my miscellaneous project to complete is my Woodland Sampler which was the 2013 monthly project from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. So I dug out the embroidery, an empty floss box and accumulated my supplies. Hmm, for some reason not all of the flosses are there. I will work around that as the month progresses and substitute if necessary. Yesterday I completed the date panel and inserted 2016, so that is a commitment to finish it this year.

January socks - almost a matching pair

Just a basic sock - toe up - the pattern is by Tina Robbins on ravelry. I was very concerned that having washed them and put them on my blockers that they were going to be much too big. Now that they've dried, I have tried them on and they fit, however next time I will use fewer stitches and shorten the sole by 1/2"

I used Knit Picks Felici in Surf's Up which was a  present from my husband at Christmas. I used 2mm Knit Pro Karbonz. I have 30g of wool left which I have combined into one wrapper. I think I have two further balls of this wool, so I might get three projects out of the four balls.

Bankhead hat

Sorry for being so quiet in January. It's not that I haven't been crafting, I just haven't made the time to blog. Whilst my January socks are blocking, I wanted to share this simple knit with you. Inspired by Dan of Bakery Bears podcast who loves this pattern, I decided to distract myself from turning the heel of my socks and print off the Bankhead hat by Susie Gourlay which is a free download on Ravelry.

The pattern calls for worsted weight wool on size 7 needles so I bravely broke out some DK weight yarn by Fondant Fibre on their Yeats base and the colour is called Sonnet. I'm pleased to have finished it ready to start a test knit in February.

I have lots of other finished projects to share next week and I'm excited to see which yarn that I'll be knitting with in February.

Q1 2016 finish along

 

 

It is time to complete entries for the needlework section of the Jersey Eisteddfod , so it's time to list what I want to enter and what I need to finish. In no particular order I have on my first quarter's list:

• Spring Sampler
• Three pairs of socks
• Farm Girl Vintage quilt
• One Siblings Together quilt
• Cat quilt - I'm stuck on the placing of the blocks

 Not for the Eisteddfod:

• Two project bags
• Oven mitts - which should have been completed for Christmas and need to be bound
• Four Bloom mini quilts - orphan blocks to be turned into mini quilts for SCBU
• Scarf that I'm making to practise my continental knitting



 

Vignette project bag

I dug out my old Vignette project which I have had to admIt to myself is never going to be finished. I am going to break up the components of the project and rehome, reuse or sell. 

I used two portions of the embroidered border in this bag and I think it's pretty enough to enter in our local Eisteddfod.

It's plenty big enough for my January sock project. I have since added the January tube of hand cream, some stitch markers (also pink), a notebook and a book ring on the ribbon loop.

I now need to find my new 2mm knitting needles and print off the pattern and recipes that I'm going to use for these docks. Hmm, my sock ruler would also be useful.

First I need to get out the cow blanket.

Happy New Year

My daughter had a New Year's Eve party at home, so we decided to leave for most of the duration. We had dinner, went to see the New Star Wars movie which finished at about 11.30. We then parked up near to where there were fireworks just after midnight. We then went for a walk and enjoyed the display. It was a lovely dry night. 

I have set myself up for the brown bag sock club for 2016. In each bag there is 100g of sock yarn and a tube of hand cream. I have added a postcard to the front of each package with a number and  two sewing projects for the month. Some bags also have a lipstick or lip gloss to finish up.

The Canadian Knitter on YouTube chose 5 to work on this month. 

So this month I will be working on a pair of socks in Knit Picks Felici in Surfs Up, making a project bag and finishing the cow blanket. I will explain the cow blanket later in the month as I need to retrieve it from the top of wardrobe first.

2015 best nine

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Advent crafting

Although my lack of posts might indicate that I'm slacking, nothing could be further from the truth. I have one last pre-Christmas quilt on my machine for a customer. Inspired by the Bakery Bears cosy blanket advent knitalong, I have been cross sticking a Christmas pattern, one square per day and do far I'm keeping up with my expectations.

This is the It's a Kawaii Winter Wonderland from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery gals. However I have taken out the Kawaii elements. 

I have also been sewing up one kitty a day from Elizabeth Hartman's pattern and again, I'm keeping up. This morning I cut out six more blocks as I have found it's the fabric preparation rather than the sewing that takes the time.

Here's today's block called Daisy in the pattern which I have named Driving Miss Daisy.

Back to some binding on the customer quilt. I have used up all of my 1/4" steam a seam tape do will have to try dome other methods to secure the binding to the back of the quil, before machining down the binding.