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.

Working with scraps

 

My system for sorting my scraps is very basic. I have a basket with bags for each major colour and when I have scraps, I add them to the basket. About one a quarter I take my basket to my morning quilt group and sort any loose scraps into their correct bag.

 

I chose not to cut the scraps into specific sizes like Lori Holt advocates and I do the cutting when I want to make something. We did a scrap swap at the Simply Solids retreat and I came home with more than I took, so I think a bigger basket will soon be needed. what do I consider a scrap? A part strip from a project, odd charm squares, fabrics I no longer love but would use in a scrappy quilt.

 

Also at the Simply Solids retreat, my friend Carol won a copy of Lori's Cozy Cottage 2016 calendar. As Carol already had a copy she was happy to swap with me for my prize of fabric. As part of a blog hop, Lori showcased this mini quilt which uses the cosy cottage pattern from the calendar. I dived into my scrap bags and pulled and cut fabric like a mad woman. The window of the house is some Blueberry Park hand printed fabric which was someone's scrap. I had been looking for just the right project to use it in. The girl with her hula hoop was fussy cut from an older Aneela Hoey print. I'm also pleased with how it turned out.

 

For the quilt backing I used a fat quarter that isn't my cup of tea but it came in a bundle and the off cuts have gone into the scrap basket. The binding also came from my scrap basket and was pieced and ready to go. So remainders of binding also go in my scrap basket.

 

This doughnut pincushion was a kit from Sew and Quilt from our retreat good bags, but paper piecing is always a good use for scraps.

 

And I love the perfect buttons from a friend's mother's button box which I was given last year. Scraps of wadding were used to stuff the pin cushion and that was another scrappy project from last week.

 

 

 

Bee block for Carole - bright birch trees

Carole requested blocks on a bright background using this tutorial.  I enjoyed making the block and it will be a jolly quilt. Here is my block (orange background) along with Jane's block which I'll post tomorrow.

 

 

 

I'm up to date with bee commitments, although I still have more retreat photos to share with blocks made over that weekend. I am the bee mama for the CQ Jersey bee, so get a month off. Beautifully planned by me as Lizzie and I are off to Barcelona to cruise with NCL for the half term week.

On my long arm - boats

A baby quilt for a boy who was expected to be a girl. I quilted this in Frozen Swirls to conjure up a storm at sea.

And a super cute backing.

Simply Solids retreat -.swaps

Are you tiring of my mini reports from the retreat? Sorry there's a few more to come. Next is swaps. As well as the secret sewer swap, there were badge, scraps, name badge and FQ swaps.

 

 

I didn't participate in the name badge swap and I used mine from the first FQR in 2012. I didn't have badges to swap by I did have some badge like zipper pulls and I received the above in return.

 

 

I made up three scrap packs for swapping at the retreat and received some lovely fabrics in my bags including some Summersville and Blueberry Park which are handprinted by Karen Lewis. Jenny brought lots of scraps that she didn't want to take home and Jacqui who is the distributor for Art Gallery Fabrics also added some Art Gallery fabrics onto the table. Even after we all had taken a few extras, there was a huge bag of extras for Justine to take back to the shop. I also picked up a blue checked fabric to use as a backing for a project. A great swap. Thank you Pippa for organising the swaps.

Farm Girl Friday - the final week

I have now finished all of the blocks in the book along with a few of the extra blocks - corn, pig and tomato. This si the Winter Star block which I have made 18" square. It uses some of Katy Jones' map print for the background along with my favourite pearl bracelets.

 

And here's the final block called Woolly Sheep. I will add the legs once I've either quilted it or put the top together. Another cute block.

 

 

Completing this top is my goal for October's ALYOF challenges. First of all I need for my long arm to return from being serviced.

Simply Solids retreat goody bag

When the party started at noon on Friday, we checked in at the desk and were given a lovely tote bag. Those of us who paid for our retreat in full on booking also received a £25 gift voucher which I spent on Sunday. More on that this Sunday.

The tote was a great quality and stuffed full of good stuff. Thank you to Lisa and Justine for the extra tote to be used as a giveaway at the Jersey Modern Quilt Guild's first meeting on Saturday 3 October.

 

 

What did the bag contain - well what didn't it contain more to the point. We also received a raffle ticket and the winner - Shevvy - won a box of Aurifil threads. I may have had the gingerbread man for breakfast whilst starting to unpack my stuff.

 

 

We received ever popular Aurifil threads. One of these may not have come from this goody bag and may have been one I took with me to make a bee block. That block is the only thing that hasn't come to the fore in my unpacking. Give me a few more days and it might appear.

 

 

A very generous gift from Sewline of a glue pen, marker and water pen to get rid of the lines from the marker.

 

We received two mini charm packs and a Kona FQ, but I particularly liked these FQs from Dashwood Studios. The fabrics also appear in a project in the issue of Quilt Now in our bags. A generous and quality goody bag all round. Thank you Justine and Lisa.

Simply Solids retreat - secret sewers

Our mission for this swap was to stalk a fellow retreater whose name we had been given by Pippa and make three gifts for her. The smallest to be given on Friday, a medium size gift on Saturday and the final larger gift on Sunday when we would reveal ourselves.

 

I was lucky that my recipient was on the next set of tables to us, so I could drop my gift on her table when she was distracted or absent from the room. I made this Kilner jar pin cushion before finding out that a similar class was being run at the retreat. The first gift didn't get much of a reaction which had me worried.

The second gift delighted Iris and I heard her say that she loved the fabric. I wasn't the only swapper to make the goody goody binding bag. Free pattern here.

 

My final gift which was also made from Indelible which I purchased from Cotton Patch was a Super Tote by Noodlehead. Many Noodlehead patterns were made for this swap. I used Soft & Stable instead of interfacing and it makes a sturdy bag but is expensive. I would have happily kept this bag for myself. Iris seemed delighted with the gift when she found it under her table, an hour after putting in there.

 

And the gifts I received were all delightful. Gill stalked me well. I received an orgy of Bonnie & Camille/ Apparently I was difficult to sew for as I made every item Gill was considering. My first gift was a charming needle case with a yarn charm and some needles.

 

Then I received a lovely scissor case with some Bonnie & Camille fabric. Perfect.

 

 

One of my gifts was also wrapped in a FQ of Bonnie & Camille. All of the Bonnie & Camille goodies will go straight into my basket dedicated to Bonnie & Camille. Hmm. I am making a basket pattern at the moment using scraps of Bonnie & Camille so I might add these into the mix.

 



 

And just when you thought it didn't get any better than that, a bag to fit my A5 Filofax into. Apparently Gill got some funny looks when she went to Paperchase to take some measurements. A perfect set of gifts. Thank you once again Gill.

 

 

The blue snips are very useful and are the same ones Jane added to her second gift. I must put them in my tool pouch for today's all day sewing session.

 

And just as you thought I'd finished, here are some photos of other people's gifts:

 

We put all of the gifts on a table to admire.  Jane received chicken themed gifts from Helen. we sussed that out early as the gift appeared after she came to chat with us.

 

Jacqui made these lovely items from a not yet released fabric line from art Gallery Fabrics. The bag is a Craftsy pattern apparently.



 

Many wished they had participated as each and every gift had been carefully thought out and beautifully made.

 

Maria had to buy orange fabric for her recipient Jenny who loves orange.

 

 

Come back tomorrow when I will show you the contents of the very generous goody bag.