Bit of Sewing. Bit of Knitting, Bit of Crochet

....and any other bits I can think of!

I'm into my third week of retirement and it doesn't feel quite so much like a holiday now.  I've joined a local knit and natter group, although I will miss tomorrow and next week's meet, which I'm enjoying.  Going on long walks (as I had a small Dorset walks book and walking longer distances locally too).

I'm still keeping busy, with some sewing, mainly quilting, but no more skirts at the moment.  I have bought a couple of books from Amazon by Wendy Ward about skirt making and also sewing with knitted fabrics, which might be a good skill to learn.  I bought a small amount of plain stretch fabric and I discovered an overlock foot that comes with my sewing machine and tried out a few stitches to try seaming and hemming.  There are patterns included in the books which will need tracing onto pattern paper, which I will get around to and will try a t-shirt top next month.

I found a block that my Mum had made along with some fabrics to match.  She had started on a disappearing nine patch block which didn't quite work out for her.  While David was out all day I took the block and fabric pieces and played around.  This made a little quilt 25" square, which isn't that big, but may be ok for a small baby or to drape over pram/buggy, but definitely not a cot quilt.

I didn't have the blue fabric for the strips but chose one that matched really well.  From the middle picture I joined up square of the cream fabric but the print is quite busy so it doesn't notice as you can see in the bottom pic.  I quilted and bound it at the weekend and finished off the ends and it doesn't look too bad.

I chose a length of green fabric with coloured wavy stripes, with goes well with the green fabrics on the front for the backing.  Its labelled too so the quilt is properly finished.

Yesterday I made a 'Dodgy Bag'. This was a make along hosted by Ali of Little Drops of Wonderful video podcast.  She labelled this term for the knitting project bags that she makes as she was learning to sew and the name has stuck.  So I decided to make one (one can't have too many bags!) yesterday using some leftover fabric from my Mum that I rather liked although it is pink!

There are two different dark pinks for the base and the ribbon casing.

 It's big enough to hold 3 x 100g balls of yarn

 There is even a pocket for bits and bobs

Trying to think of a solution to finish off the ends of the ribbon I made to small hexies and joined together on each side.  There is also a little tag with a D ring on which stitch markers can be clipped on to.

For the bit of knitting I have been using the Crocus colour way from Lay Family yarn to make the Spring Bandit Shawl.  This is not going well at the moment and I think my inclination is to undo the final edging rows and do some more of the rows in the body of the shawl as there is quite a bit of yarn  to do this.  The original pattern uses Aran yarn although a few projects on Ravelry have used 4 ply/fingering weight wool.  So heres how it looks, sorry if the edge looks a bit funny but thats the cable on the circular needles not lying flat.

Lastly the Crochet bit.  I'm picking this up of an evening when watching the television and keeping track of the colour changes on the Notes on my iPad. When I've worked each colour I put an asterisk next to colour's name.  Here's how it looks now

I hadn't turned this photo so that the green with the markers is on the bottom.  I've nearly finished part 4 (of 6 parts) of the colour changes and it is getting quite big.  The last blanket I made, the Granny Stripe one I didn't continue to its full length and I am not sure if this one will either.  It is a really good pick up, put down project.

So that's my makings for now.  David and I are off on holiday to Yorkshire tomorrow and touring around, ending on a trip to Gloucestershire on our way back home on Bank Holiday Monday.  No doubt some pics will appear on Instagram or Facebook (links on my sidebar) but will have a proper catch up when I get back.

Meanwhile I will leave you with some pics of my walks.  See you soon.

Early May Catch Up

A lot has happened since my last post and I have finished work at the end of April and am now (I hope!) retired.  More time for doing stuff (again, I hope!).  Go places, see new things. catch up with friend, more time to sew, knit or crochet and this week enjoy the sunshine!

My work colleagues have been really lovely and they have been a good bunch to work with, however all the changes that have happened in payroll legislation over the past few years have made it a more complex job and felt it was right time to leave.  I also felt that my family needed more of my support too at this time.

So what have I been up to since then?  Well David and I have been out and about locally,  I went to Christchurch on Wednesday to sew an A-line skirt, went a local Knit and Natter group on Thursday and in between I've been slowly, slowly sorting out UFO's and using up fabric to make into small sewing projects and I have finished of one of my Finish A Long items.

Last Sunday David organised the family for a gathering at West Moors Country Park near Ringwood but it was soooo bitterly cold, we struggled to keep warm.  Managed to ride on the miniature railway and walking on the play trail with the grandchildren.  I won't show pics here as I didn't take many (good ones anyway!).

On Wednesday I went over to Christchurch to the Little Sewing Company to learn how to make an A line skirt.  Myself and another lady were taught by Amy and we learnt some really useful things, like neatening the side seams before joining the pieces, how to insert and invisible zip and about cutting the facing pieces inside the skirt.  I haven't sewn my own clothes for a long time (when patchwork and quilting took over my life!) so this was to give me back the confidence in making my own clothes.

It fits ok, but having worn this properly yesterday I think next time I could take in the waist a tiny bit more.  The pattern sizes are different from shop clothes sizes so it's having to go by measurements  rather than dress size.  It was a good class and I hope to do another later.

This week, I can't remember which day, I saw a blog post by Just Jude which had a link to a tutorial to make a Dumpling pouch by Michelle Patterns. My own attempt lead to a slightly wonky zip placement in the pouch, but it was quick and easy to make. I think there may be a few more of those.

Thursday was knit and natter at the local community cafe and although I know Carol from Bourne Quilters I also knew another lady from the slimming club and also met another girl who is a friend of my daughter Sarah.

Yesterday was one of the nice days in this Bank Holiday weekend and David and I went off to Sherborne.  Its well known for its Abbey and it was nice to wander around the town and market, also taking in the craft market too.

 It is really large and a job to take in the whole building, so here's the central section.  We briefly went inside although there was a big band concert going on so couldn't wander and explore.

 A memorial to one of the Digby family. who own Sherborne Castle

We went into Sherborne Museum and amongst the artefacts there came across this unfinished hexagon quilt. At the bottom of this pic you can see that it was turned over to see the papers. The museum was celebrating its 50th anniversary, so we had a piece of birthday cake!

I also took the opportunity to visit The Slipped Stitch, a lovely small yarn shop in Cheap Street and saw these lovely little yarn cakes in cake cases with stitch markers in the middle.  Irresistible.

But I finished something today - woohoo!  My house wallhanging, which is on my Solo Finish Along list, was worked on today and now hanging in the hallway.  I made this too small for last year's mini quilt swap so made another to send to my swap partner.

This is the quilt I made

And this was the one I sent my swap partner, Gillian

As you will see the one I sent was wider.

I didn't like the giant beanstalk that the one I kept had on it, but didn't know if it had enough room for a tree. A little while ago I removed the giant beanstalk and drew a tree to about the size I wanted for the quilt.  A bit different from the tree in the above wallhanging.

 The drawing was turned over so I could trace the reverse design onto fusible web.  The remnant of fusible was used to draw leaf shapes which I backed onto there scraps of green.

I used one of the decorative stitches to create drapes at the windows.  It makes them look less stark.  For a bit of fun I also appliquéd on an owl sitting on the roof.

It's properly finished now as I added a label.  I'm really pleased I've got that done.

During this week I've also managed to get all the black/grey and yellow/orange 16 patch squares done, all 20 or them.

I've put them into rows and will stitch those up this week I think.  Good to see a bit more progress with this.

I've also got 6 blocks done for the low volume/blue cross blocks for the block swap.

So one way or another its been a busy week.