Sewcial bee sampler block 7

I wasn't sure about this block as it has no border and. Have put a border of mini pearl bracelets by Lizzy House around the other blocks. So I decided to use a neutral background of the same fabric line, not that I could initially find my fabric, that was because it was neatly put away with the other colours. I like this block and am looking forward to putting it together with six other blocks.

March socks

I started this new pair of Hermione's Everyday socks by Erica Leuder on 5 March. And this morning I finished the ribbing. They just needed to be blocked now after I pick up my sock blockers and docks from the Eisteddfod exhibition on Sunday.

Now I need to finish my Snowmelt shawl by sewing in the ends and blocking it.

March socks

I have chosen some lovely pink yarn by Kate Selene with speckles of green to signal the start of spring.

I am helping at the Eisteddfod this week and also participating in an emergency exercise on Wednesday so I needed a simple project in case of quiet intervals. So I cast on a pair of Hermione's everyday socks.

I also finished clue 5 of the snowmelt shawl, but have yet to sew in the ends and block it but I did block the Girl from the Grocery Girl shawl last week.

Bjorn Bear cushion

I decided to make one more item for our local Eisteddfod. I already had the Bjorn Bear pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, grabbed my fabrics and I finished the cushion the same day.

Summer Sampler finish

The Summer Sampler was UFO number 8 on the list of UFOS for the APQ challenge 2017. I actually worked on this from 1 February to get it finished even though it was more important to finish my Eisteddfod entries. I put all of the blocks on my design wall, only to find that I was one block short. I then reviewed my blocks so far and realised that two blocks didn't fit in with the rest due to being too light. I had used Kona iron as a background colour to tie the blocks together. So I decided to take out the two light blocks plus one other block to make a sixteen block quilt with the grey sashings.

Cross stitch progress for February 2017

Having had four pieces framed during February, it was time to move onto the Once Upon a Yime sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  The February block looked almost complete but there were lots of details to add. I finished the February block today and will spend the rest of the afternoon working on the September block.

I also finished the frame around the whole piece in February. I had visions of getting around the piece and being a half a stitch put, but it worked out perfectly. 

March is already complete so I will work on either April or December and perhaps stitch all the names of the months too. Thinking about it, perhaps December would be the better choice. Off to workon September   now.

Wonderland Bag

As a treat, after finishing my Dear Jane quilt, I took a break and made myself a project bag. I used :

Sotak Handmade's Lola pouch pattern

Wonderland charm pack by Katarina Roccella

Sparkly Essex dyed linen

Corduroy bias binding from Beyond Measure

I love the corduroy binding which I hand sewed to the front.

Cross stitch progress

I have just collected four cross stitch pieces from the framer, so I have mostly Christmas pieces to finish now. I need to also finish the February block of the Once Upon a Time sampler, also by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

Merry & Bright a 2016 pattern which I made a lot of progress on during our cruise in November.

The Woodland Sampler, a much older pattern.

The Autumn sampler which has no glass on as I will enter it in our local Eisteddfod next month.

The Spring Sampler to finish the four seasons of samplers. Now I need to work on the February Once Upon a Time block and finish the border too.

Sewcial Bee Sampler

As you know I love a good sew along. I resisted thus one for several weeks, but two weeks ago I caved and sewed up the first three blocks.

I am starting in the top left with pink as you can see. Then I am moving onto red and pink.

Then onto red. I am loving my text fabrics.

And then onto red orange. No text fabric but I also love the Carolyn Friedlander screen in orange.

Then orange and I chose my border fabric for each block but I am missing a few colours.

This week it's another red and pink block.

And I am up to date with the blocks but need more of the colours of mini pearl bracelets.

Dear Jane finish after 17 years

It's finished. I hand sewed the binding down on Sunday having taken it to Jersey Modern Quilt Guild on Saturday. As I was getting ready on Saturday to go to our meeting and found the missing corner. Damn. Too late, never mind. That will teach me that I need to be tidier.

I used a swirly pantograph in with thread top and bottom. I took it off the machine early on Saturday morning and quickly did a rough trim of the excess backing and wadding. On Sunday I trimmed the quilt, machine stitched on the binding to the front and hand stitched 240 inches of binding to the back.

I am pleased with how it looks and will celebrate by stitching up a project bag for myself.

February knitting

This month I decided to work on one pair of socks and the Snowmelt shawl by Helen Stewart.

I finished the socks quickly, which I knit two at a time. They have a small mock cable up the side of each sock. The wool is by Vickevira.

The Snowmelt shawl is a mystery knit along and I chose three turquoise / grey yarns from Life in the Long a Grass, The Knitting Goddess and Kate Selene.

There are five clues spread over five weeks. So far three clues have been released and I gave kept up so far. I find with knit alongside and sew alongside, that if I don't keep up, the projects get shelved. I need to insert a lifeline before starting clue four on Thursday.

I also need to block my January shawl now that I have finished all of my Eisteddfod entries.

Progress on my oldest WIP

According to one of the blocks in my Dear Jane quilt, this UFO dates back to October 200. I guess I should be relieved that it is from this millennium and not the 1990s.

I applied the last border at the last Jersey modern quilt guild meeting and realised that I was missing one corner block. Oops. All of the blocks in this quilt are made from Christmas fabrics. In particular the corners are made with a gold fabric. Of course I had destashed all my gold fabrics and the Dear Jane book was sold long ago. Time for some procrastination. I searched for images of the quilt on the Internet and enlarged a photo of the corner block but I still need to make. This required two stars in the star bloke with a border and when I came to sewthe block I decided to simplify the block and remove one of the stalls. Fortunately a friend had the perfect fabric for the block.

The quilt has now been quilted with a large all over pantograph and is ready to be trimmed and the binding applied. I am entering this quilt into the eisteddfod so I need to complete it this month. I have various projects that I'm working on but I need to focus on just one project at a time. Not my usual modus operandi.

The Eisteddfod is in March and entries need to be handed in on 4 March so I have just two weeks to get this finished. Wish me luck.

100 days 100 blocks

I participated in the #100days100blocks challenge on Instagram. I missed posting my block on one day. The challenge finished in December and someone has another challenge to finish you quilt by 25 January, which I have gone with days to spare. 

I mixed fabrics by Aneela's Hoey for Moda Fabrics with Kona plains from stash. Simply Solids had a 30% off flash sale around Xmas so I worked out how much I needed and bought Essex dyed linen in Steel. 

I quilted it with an all over feather design which worked beautifully until the last row. Once finished I quickly machined a 2" binding to the front of the quilt and spent one day last week just hand stitching the binding down. It is now ready for our local Eisteddfod.

Making progress

I should be working on project 6 on my list but decided to finish my 100 blocks quilt as the sew along finishes next week. It is finished and bound and ready for a full photo, hopefully tomorrow. I also finished all customer quilts before putting my own in the machine.

I finished the hand stitching of the binding in one session, so rewarded myself with a new make. I decided to make a Lola pouch by Sotak Handmade with duplicate blocks from the quilt. Turns out I had six, so four went into making the pouch, with more hand sewn binding.

I have also sewn a few more Colorway blocks which is a pattern by Camille Roskelly. I am making a total of 25 and have 17 made so far. They are a combination of various Bonnie & Camille lines to and a jelly roll.

Tomorrow is our Jersey Modern Quilt Guild meeting and I must decide what project to work on and get it ready to go. Preferably a project without hundreds of pieces. Time to make a cake for tonight's game of canasta. Probably lemon drizzle.

Amish star

I was a little nervous when I started quilting this customer quilt as it's made from Oakshott shot cottons and the backing was a light fabric, possibly Kaffe Fassett? The customer chose a medium peach orange and it turned out beautifully.

It's all about the knit

Hooray, my Bertie Bott socks are complete and on Ravelry.

I use my own vanilla sock recipe with the Fish Lips Kiss heel and Hiya Hiya Sharps circular needles. I will now focus on my shawl and then a UFO for the rest of the month, but I have picked out yarn for my February socks so I can wind the skein into two balls at knitting group on Friday.

I am at the halfway stage of my the girl from the grocery store shawl. Most of the Artesano yarns denim colour has been finished but there are two small stripes to add into the latter part of the shawl. I found the repeated garter stitch with an increase in one end of each row and a decrease at the start of the odd numbered rows has been a bit boring. There is more patterning in the next part of the shawlwhich I hope makes it a more interesting knit.

I had hoped to finish my mini mania scoff. I was costing off when I realise that there was a mistake in the last row. So I will try and correct that this week. I'm looking forward to finishing the scarf.

Oops I did it again

Last week I said that I would cast another shawl on only when I had finished another project. Ha ha that didn't happen did it? I cast on the girl from the grocery store shawl by Joji Locatelli. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I cast on the Bertie Botts colourway from London House Yarns and I am participating in the inside number 23 Harry Potter KAL. I have cast on plain vanilla socks and I have already turned the heel. I am trying to knit at least three stripes a day but with three customer quilts yesterday slowed my progress.

Here is the The Girl from The Grocery Store shawl. Knit from stash using Artesano Definition Sock Yarn in the colour denim. This was bought as fire damaged stock and the smell of smoke has gone now. This is paired with C'mon Barbie, Let's Go Party! By Voolenivine Yarns on her Wolke base. This was a gift from Kristin for test knitting the Wildes Meer shawl last year.

I am trying to knit one repeat a day but that is taking longer as the shawl gets wider.

I plan to finish my Mini Mania Scarf tomorrow. However I also need to fit in some sewing and cross stitch. Perhaps I should dedicate a day to each project to finish them, but I am easily distracted. I am happy with a bit of progress on a few items thus far.  Perhaps I will change tack when I want to see more progress at the end of the month and cross some items off my extensive to do lists.