It’s June

 And has been for the past week!  We went away on holiday last month and had a week of catching up since then.  I’ll do another post about the holiday next time.  Meanwhile I seem to be working on some ‘odds and sods’, using up bits and pieces.

I sometimes get small bundles of mini skeins from dyers when I’ve been to Yarndale or ordered.  I’ve wound them a while ago and keep them in a zipped pouch.  As a patron member of the Bakery Bears podcast I am following The Summer of Stitching which started this month.  There’s a knitting project and a sewing one to follow next month. There’s knitting project is a mitred square blanket, which comes in useful for the minis in making a mini sample.  It started with the purple square in the bottom right (there is a bulb pin in that square to remind me where I started). I don’t think I could make a big blanket in this method as much prefer to crochet, but a sample for the technique is useful as I’ve never made this before.

I like that the decreases go in different directions for a zigzag look. I have also tried a square in double knitting so maybe there’s a chance of using ‘odds and sods’ of DKyarn to make a blanket out of, who knows?

I’m also doing ‘odds and sods’ of embroidery projects.  At the monthly embroidery group there was a Catch Up Day this month and I finished off a Dorset Feather Stitch sample (on the left) to put in my sample book as well as the project last month called Faces so the face made was put into the sample book too (on the right). This was a project taught by Fay Maxwell.

There is also a needle case underway, which was entitled Moon Gazing Hare, even though there are spring flowers and not a moon in sight!! Still adding stitches but I’d like to get it out of the way. Excuse the hoop lines, it will all be ironed out after it’s finished.

I’ve taken to cutting out lots of squares, having been inspired by a a few pieces of Mr Men and Little Misses fabrics, which we part of one of those Hobbycraft fat quarters bundles from a few years ago. I had used some of the fabrics a couple of years ago in book bags for my youngest grand daughters. My thought is to offset each row so that I don’t have to match up the seams. This will become a Project Linus quilt. Starting to put the squares together it seems that the characters are creating their own mischief!

This year I’m taking part in UKQU Facebook group’s Mini Quilt Swap. I know who I’m swapping with so it’ll be a case of finding out clues before I start making.  There was a post asking about quilts made in previous swaps and these where what I received in 2015 from Mary Norman, who now runs a quilting shop in Bodmin called Patchwork Dreamer.

Another in 2017 from Helen Dickson, who very skilfully made a steam engine emerging from a railway tunnel.  I must have posted a lot of heritage railway photos that year! 

In 2017 I sent a quilt but it was the second attempt as it was the wrong size so I remade it and kept the original.

I’m hoping for some inspiration for this years swap and I know one set of colour choices matches mine so that’s a start.

End of May

It’s been quite a month to get things cleared before our holiday in the latter part of May (only came back on Tuesday).  There’s been knitting and sewing done and a bit more crochet progress too. Still keeping busy!!

Anyway, during April and into the beginning of May was the mystery Gnome knit along, Professor Fungi, by Sarah Schira of Imagined Landscapes. I’ve taken part in gnome knit alongs previously and really enjoyed making these, so much so that I’ve now succumbed to buying her book, The Gnomes of Grimblewood from World of Books.

There’s always some new techniques to learn from these little gnomes so they are a clever make.

I also knitted a pair of socks, the original Sockalong from Winwick Mum, who recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of this pattern. Finished but still not washed are these blue socks. A slightly crinkly appearance as I knitted them with previously knitted yarn.

I started on 4 and finished on 15 May and has to be the quickest pair of socks made!! The yarn is hand dyed but seconds so it has no name but contains speckles of purple, yellow, green. 

While away on holiday I took some small knitting with me, a pair of fingerless gloves for David in a West Yorkshire Spinners yarn made for Yarndale, which I bought last year.  It’s a pattern I’ve used a lot of times before, called Fingerless or Not.  I’m on the second glove but found an error with the first (which was not quite completed so no much to take back and rectify.

As for sewing I managed to finish off a cushion cover (the appliqué and border fabric was already on) with the quilting  and backing.

Took a quilt top and quilted and backed that for Project Linus. These were odd blocks in mainly blues and the fish themed backing fabric was just the right size.

And another. The blocks were made by my Mum and the green fabric was hers too. There was just enough of the backing fabric futon finish this off.

 

So that was May and I left the blog there.  It’s now 7 June as I post this and if my few readers here have been eagerly awaiting this my apologies!! 

Onwards to June