March Beginnings

It's been a while but I'll start with my monthly marker.  There is a wee bit to catch up on, so grab a cup of tea (or beverage of your choice!).

The stitches are bright so I had to make this my marker.  

I had the chance to go to a wool sale at the end of last month so picked up some yarn including some Aran to make myself a cardigan.  This is a new cast on and an unusual technique for me, starting at the neck collar and making the cardigan in one piece. I have made a top down cardigan before but not starting like that, so it will be an interesting make.

This called the Harvest cardigan by Tin Can Knits, which is a free pattern.  I've liked the look of their patterns and decided to have a go at this one.

Here's my progress as at today (15 March) after two false starts and a bit of un-knitting.

The garter stitch section (on the right) is the border of the cardigan which starts with the neck and continues down the fronts.  Left of that is the main body of the cardigan and the stitch markers are marking the raglan increases.  I have found this a difficult start but now I feel I'm on the way with getting this made.  It is a top down all-in-one knitting project, so apart from the underarms and weaving in ends when starting new balls of yarn, there should be no sewing up.

I started a third page of my stitching book and decided on the colour green and use the sew and flip method to join the fabrics together. I’d also used selvedges to feature in this page.  There will be more embroidery and quilting in this block.  I still haven’t finished pages one and two but that’s ok, I can go back to those pages. 

I will do another post about the stitching book later this month.

I do have a finish 🎉

The black and orange quilt is now finished and I stitched the last stitch at the beginning of this month.

I'm pleased it'f finished and it looks really brilliant.  It's single bed size and it may go to a charity, possibly Siblings Together, not sure at this point.  I hope to tackle the black and pink quilt blocks next, but I'll have to get brain in gear for that one.

Last week I went to the West Country Embroiderers' Dorset Day, this year run by Sherborne group.  Their speaker was Michele Carragher, who is an embroidery artist and costume embroiderer for TV and film productions, most well known is Game of Thrones.  She had brought samples of her work, which was just so detailed and exquisite.  This is just three of the items, the first is a collar from one of the characters in Game of Thrones.  Do click on the photos and have a close look.  I love the moths in the second photo.

And I won the table prize.

I've made a card for a friend whose birthday was last weekend.  I'm not much of a card maker but I figured that if I made a postcard and attached it to coloured card with double sided tape it could be a picture to enjoy after.  I sewed a brass ring to the back of the postcard. 

As you can see I drew the daffodil in a vase and hand stitched with Kantha stitch.  The fabric was a cream linen look base with a variegated pale blue thread for the background.  I did think it looked a bit uneven, but its all my own work, and I am pleased how it turned out.

(Are you still here? ;o) )

Finally, yesterday I went to Poole West Country Embroiderers meeting where there wasn't any stitching, but they are things that can be interpreted in stitch.

Top left are two small fold up boxes (purses), the purple one is unfolded.  Top right are origami butterflies (I had an origami paper pad which is used for these). The bird picture at the bottom left is using paper serviettes or novelty tissues and separating the layers as a basis for cards or notebook covers.  I found that the two ply serviette I took had a paler version of the top layer so I used that as a background for the fussy cut birds on the top layer.  In spite of not stitching a thing it was a fun day.

A note for your diaries if you live in Dorset or coming to the county for your holidays in August....

Good to see that back again this year.