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!

Butterfly quilt along

After the disappointment of not getting the Butterfly kit on my birthday due to the incompetence of the shop and their computer system, I have been waiting for the release of Alison Glass's fabric line called diving board. This was released at the end of September and I received a fat quarter stack last week. I dived into the stack and started with some easier blocks as the sew along started on 1 August.

I a, already out of some fabrics as I haven't realised that fat quarters wouldn't suffice. So I have to reorder some fabrics and others I have changed to similar fat quarters from my stash. I hope this gives it an eclectic look rather than a messy look.

Block one called intersection and I included a screen printed fabric from Helen Steele which I purchased at Festival of quilts.

Block 2 is called Chunky cross and I have finished eight of the 10 blocks. Again I need to order some more fabric to finish these blocks.

And finally block 11 called flying geese #1. I love the neon pink on cream background fabric for this block and I am sure I will order more of this one even if I don't need it for this quilt. It comes in a couple of other variations.

One tree Heel socks

As the end of the month of September approached I decided to focus on finishing one pair of socks this month. I had already cast on the one tree heel socks as a toe up sock. I did five repeats of the tree branches in a yarn by fondant fibre called dook dook dook. It's amazing what you can achieve when you focus on only one project. I used this yarn for my first pair of socks which had sat at the back of a cupboard for a year or two and I decided to rip them back and remake them into a pair of socks but I would use (and fit).

These socks have now been soaked and are blocking on my sock blockers. I think my next job is to choose a pattern for my October socks, ready to take on holiday in a weeks time. Then I am going to spend some one day on the what the fade?! Clue five. I'm not sure about the find of used at the end of crew five so I'm going to wait and see what other peoples sure Space look like.

Q4 Finish along

Well Q3 finishes from this list were sparce and I missed the link up deadline again. Never mind, Q3 is upon us and I am going to list those items that I will definitely work on and should get near to finishing:

Quilts

1. It's a small world 4 out of six panels are complete apart from some appliqué. This progressed a little in in quarter 3 and I should at least get it pieced this quarter.

2. Lion abstractions quilt - all of the foundation piecing is done, so I need to sew it all together, order some threads and quilt it.

3. The Thread House retreat quilt which is over half way quilted but I need to do some unpicking first.

4. Tula Pink butterfly quilt which I have just started for the sewalong in Alison Glass fabrics.

5. Everything in its place bag for which I have all of the supplies.

6. Retreat tote as we are doing a Sewalong at JMQG in November.

Knitting

7. October socks which are ready for our holiday in Spain

8. Mini mania scarf which just needs the ends of the rows tidied and the fringe trimmed. This stalled as I had no recipient in mind, but a friend has asked for scarves for shoe boxes for Romania so I will finish it and pass it on.

9. What the Fade shawl which I am on the final clue for and working on it today.

Cross Stitch

10. Once Upon a Time sampler which I am doing one block a month and have three months to go. Once finished I will get out another cross stitch UFO and do the same in 2018.

11. 12 days of Christmas sampler which is progressing well and the border is finished, so again I plan to do one square per week which should see it framed in time for Xmas.

Mini quilts

I'm sharing two mini quilts that I finished at Simply Solids retreat back in July. The first was a planned ginger sh and was cut out ready for the retreat. Bjorn Bear by Elizabeth Hartman is a cute pattern which with an extra border to bring it up to 18" square is perfect for the Chez Soi Christmas challenge. Our challenge is to make an incubator quilt for SCBU. As my son was in SCBU almost 22 years ago, it is a challenge that is close to my heart.

The day I left for retreat, a new subscription box dropped through my letter box with this guts pattern. However I was not piecing thin strips of fabric to make the ball of wool so I dove into my stash to find someone me suitable striped fabric and I am pleased with how it turned out.

This is also the right size for the SVBU challenge and also completed on retreat. Time now to list  my UFOs for the next quarter as Q3 had more starts than finishes.

12 days of Christmas border

Again I'd decided to focus on one project or more specifically one part of one project. I have been working on the 12 days of Christmas sampler by the frosted pumpkin stitchery and had got to a stage where I had completed two sides of the border and two half's half sides of the bowl order. I then decided to focus on only the border. I managed to finish it in one day and it matched up once the two sides met! What a relief. Working over two threads of linen it is very easy to be one thread out. But not this time!

I reckon that if I work one block a week between now and the end of November, the sampler can be framed and ready to display for Christmas.

Block six is almost complete so I will work on that first for an easy finish. I already have five blocks complete as well as the border and the bottom title. The borders dividing the blocks are also finished.

What the fade!? Clue four

Clue four was published last Thursday and I got straight on to knitting the clue. I finished half of the clue on the day of release. I was busy on Friday and Saturday so planned to finish the reminder on Sunday. I managed to knit a few extra rows than planned on both Friday and Saturday so only had six rows left too knit on Sunday morning.

The rows are now getting very long with almost 500 stitches in each row. The next clue is released on Thursday with a bonus clue the following week. We are off to Spain the first weekend in October so I would like to finish the shawl before going on holiday. The shawl is a bit big to fit into my hand luggage. I think a pair of socks would be a better holiday knit.

Time to get out my 12 days of Christmas cross stitch again!

12 Days of Christmas

After I finished clue three of my what the fade shawl, I decided to get out this cross stitch piece out again. I also decided to change to a different frame and make a cover for the frame. I used a 5.5 inch strip of a fabric cut from a fat quarter that I won from Tikki London in a giveaway.

I have made great progress and hopefully in the next week I will be half finished. I hadn't realised there was a title at the bottom of the chart so I have a little more to do than I had at first  anticipated. This will come out again once I have finished clue four of my shawl.

I have just started block six of this pattern which is of swans a swimming.

What at the fade!? Clue three

After a lovely three days in London including a trip to see loose women at ITV studios and a day at Kirstie's handmade fair, I was keen to get home and finish clue three of this shawl.

I have moved yarn B to yarn D. I think this is a big improvement and will mean that yarn C will now be next to yarn A and both contain orange and pink so should fade together better.

I now plan to work on some cross stitch until clue 4 is released on Thursday.

What the fade!? Clue two

It turns out the clue one of this mystery shawlnwas just a warmup. That was probably just as well as I am a beginner brioche knitter. In clue two we have used all six yarn choices. We have also done a lot of brioche knitting.

I have to confess to doing some unpicking however not as much as for clue one. We have now cut yarn C so it looks like we have some garter stitch in the future. Hooray!

I think yarn C would have been a better chance choice as yaron B however it has not being unpicked. Now it's time to cast on a pair of socks for some travel knitting on Friday.

What the fade clue one

The first clue of this mystery Knit along was released last Thursday. I had chosen my yarns from stash but was never entirely happy with yarn six. This clue uses four of the six yarn choices and I swapped out yarn 6.

This shawl was definitely a learning experience. It included brioche stitch and I started the shawl a total  of 10 times. Hopefully I have learnt a lot and the next clue will be less traumatic. Here is the front of the shawl which took me almost 3 days to complete.

And the reverse. I am hoping that the next clue has garter stitch or stocking stitch to make progress quicker.

What the fade?!

Andrea Mowry's newest pattern is what the fade?! which is being run as a mystery knit along. My so faded sweater also by Andrea is languishing as I made The sections too short so I have run out of colours. It is about to be ripped out.

I have at last chosen my yarns for this mystery fade along and they are as follows:

Lone Star arts arts in an unknown colour

Pinata by stranded dye works

Sun set by Kate Selene

Marie Antoinette by fondant fibre 

Garden party by life in the long grass

I am undecided about colour F which at the moment is purple pop fizzle by Kate Selene

The pattern includes brioche which is new to me and I wonder if that is where the colours transition. More will be revealed on Thursday! And every Thursday thereafter for a couple of months.

Once upon a time August 2017

I realised last month that there was a lot to do on the August block for this Crosstitch sampler. I took it out quite early in the month and this is how it looked.

It's amazing what you can achieve when you focus on only one project. I managed to finish the square in about three days. This block it represents the Bremen town musicians.

The September block represents Rapunzel and is already about 60% complete, so it should be, in theory, a quick finish.

Jungle abstractions 3

After a mild panic where I thought I had lost a page of the pattern I photocopied some extra units that have not come out very well. This means that I have now sewn up units 1 to 36. I think it's looking great already. However I am finding Space the solid fabrics to be a little bit boring. So I feel I need to crack on with this otherwise it will become a UFO.

My progress on this might seem a little déjà vu as The unit that I finish this week is the mirror image of the unit of one of the units that I finished last week. I still need to so this weeks unit to last weeks unit and then to the nose. I will do that when I'm completing the blocks next week. I still need to do some photocopying of a few missing units. However I think progress so far is good and you can all ready see that it is a lion.

The finished quilt is 60 in.² and and I am very pleased that it fits on my design wall as there are over 120 individual units is to complete. For the smaller units I will use my portable design boards. So with 36 units completed out of 120+ I am a quarter of the way down.

Jungle abstractions 2

With my daughter away this week I have been able to complete units 16 to 23 and sew them all together. It is starting to come together. This is the largest portion of the quilt which is vaguely divided up into four portions.

And here are two portions of the quilt sewn together.

Next week I will work on blocks 26 to 36 and finish the  mirror image of this block to the side of the lion's mouth. I have found the wonder clips to be very useful when sewing the units together. Next I need to check what parts of the pattern need to be copied again as it is printed on paper which is slightly larger than A3.