Busy Week

I've taken all this week off as holiday from work, it was only meant to be Wednesday (my day off) through to Friday, but we had my sister and her husband to stay with us while house hunting in Bournemouth.  They have got a buyer for their house in Burnham, near Slough, but need confirmation that their buyer will have a mortgage offer, so watch this space.   It was lovely to have them stay with us for a few days.

David and I are getting ready for a trip to Birmingham as it's the Festival of Quilts time.  I will be there on Friday and will be stewarding for the first time.  I will also be there on Saturday but as a visitor.  We also wanted to go into the city centre so we'll be travelling tomorrow and spending time in the city.  After a break from the Festival last year I'm really looking forward to going.

Not much on the creative front has been happening - a bit of secret knitting for Christmas, catching up with the Vintage Sweetheart Crochet A Long.  Here's a few blocks

I have done a few more since then, but these were the last of the blocks from the third part of this CAL.

David likes driving so I'm happy to be in the passenger seat and doing some knitting and this is what I'm taking with me - a bit of sock knitting.

This is Hermione's Everyday socks, a pattern by Eric Lueder, on Ravelry here. It has a deeper cuff than I'm used to but I'm sure once there is a bit more length to the sock it won't look too bad.  Its knitted in Stylecraft Head Over Heels sock yarn in Olympus in shades of pink, orange and beige. I keep my sock knitting in a little Japanese bag so this is nice and compact of a long journey.

One Month, Two Exhibitions

Earlier this month I wanted to go to Romsey Quilters' exhibition, but the cold/flu virus stopped me from travelling out to Romsey with a friend, so when I felt better I went with David and it was worth going to.  Knitters got involved by yarn bombing the bollards in the streets around the town, like this.

Really colourful additions to the town.

The exhibition was held in Romsey Abbey, a large imposing church in the town and when we arrived there was a lunchtime music concert with a violinist and pianist playing.

I love to take photos taking in the architecture around the Abbey along with the quilts.

Above are just a few of my favourites.

Just last weekend was Quarterjack Quilters' exhibition at Merley House near Wimborne, almost literally up the road from where I live.  Saturdays in my neck of the woods here in Dorset are usually busy traffic wise this time of year with holidaymakers coming to/going from their destinations, but managed to get there relatively easily.  A nice small exhibition and as I used to belong to Quarterjack Quilts some years ago it was nice to catch up with some people too.  They do quite a few group projects and workshops from these door themed mini block which hung from the ends of the quilt hangers

To the stitch and cut pieces

Some workshop painted and quilted pieces made at a workshop

And one of several Turning Twenty quilts

So that was two exhibitions last month and of course this month sees Festival of Quilts.  I will be going there this year (I didn't last year) on Friday and Saturday.  Really looking forward to that.

Another Catch Up Post

I've recently got a new iPad so have come up to date with the latest operating system (ios10) on which the Google Blogger app has refused to work.  It turns out that Blogger no longer has an app compatible with iPads so I can no longer post from this, so I am having to make time to type up from the desktop computer instead.

So what have I been up to recently?  The first thing I can show is something that I made for my daughter in law Carly's birthday back in June but only gave to her a couple of weeks back.  We bought her a new sewing machine as she sews fancy dress and outfits for photo shoots.  It came with a bag for storage but it now stores fabrics.  I made her a sewing machine cover and a small pouch to go with it.

This has been modelled by my own workshop machine as its the same size

I've even managed to use a facing for the hole for the handle, the pic below shows the underside.  I'm well pleased with how that went, not too bad a job.

and heres the small pouch

Carly was really delighted with the cover and pouch and she loves cats so fitted the bill well.

Ive also completed my socks (last post only showed one, now I have a pair!). Really pleased with the magic loop technique instead of double pointed needles.  So pleased I'm considering making another pair.  But here we are a "sockfie"

I had a problem with the toe decrease and it didn't quite match up with the first sock, but undid and knitted up again.  All sorted.  Just have to wash and block, but will wait until I have a decent bit of time to do it.

I'm continuing on with the Vintage Sweethearts CAL in Crochet Now and working on the third part of the series.  Here's a pic of one of the blocks, which I worked on Saturday evening and posted onto Instagram

So that's what I've been up to lately.

If anyone can suggest another blog writing app that I can use I'll try it out.  

In Other News...

I'm typing this while I'm suffering a cold, which in the hot weather is not a lot of fun. I've stayed off work because it wouldn't be fair to pass onto others and I'm really tired but can't sleep, urghh.

Anyway my daughter and her fiancé have moved into their new (brand new) house. It's taken a while as the sale of the flat fell through and another buyer had to be found and there is a short gap now between the purchase and the sale, but the advantage is they haven't had to move everything all in one day.  It's in a village just outside Dorchester, so whereas they were living in the town they now have to commute but there is lovely countryside around. 

The photo above was taken by my daughter which she shared on Facebook It's lovely inside too but of course full of boxes and lots of bits and pieces with no homes yet. We went yesterday to load the last few bits from the flat over to the house.

Before setting off for Dorchester I had to get myself weighed and found I've lost in total half a stone and have the certificate to prove it.

That was a real boost to my dieting efforts so far at the end of 5 weeks and it spurs me on to keep going. I'm now under 12 stone and next target will be 11.5 stone.

In my effort to knit socks on circulars, the short circular needles have been very tight and not knitted to the correct tension.  The size I used was 2.25mm and with the tight tension they were smaller than they should be.  I also have 2.5mm longer circulars 80 cm long, I think, so now knitting on those instead. With the short needles I had intended getting the 2.5mm but made an error on the online ordering so really couldn't compare like types in the same size.  So longer needles and magic loop method, which is ok but does look a little untidy on the back on front row end but does knit up to the correct tension and feels a lot better too.  I think I also prefer the metal over the wooden needles as the stitches slide easier when moving the front and back stitches along.

While I'm in this nasal state I can pick up and put down this sock knitting at will. 

I'm hoping to go to Romsey if I feel a lot better as there's a quilt exhibition at The Abbey which is always brilliant and also a chance to go to King Johns House, opposite with the lovely garden there.

Finish A Long Quarter 3

My list contains 3 items, but there is more besides, but some won't qualify in this quarter and one will be ongoing.

1. Frivols quilt.  I must progress this, having not touched it in the last quarter.

2  Hexies.  The hexes are joined together and now having bought an alternative background fabric, some grey grunge, I've pinned this ready to appliqué.

3. Sock knitting.  This is a new item, started last weekend using short circular needles and the West Yorkshire Spinners yarn that I bought last Christmas.

The item that's ongoing is the Crochet Now Crochet A Long, Vintage Sweethearts.  The third part is out with the latest magazine. Here are parts 1 (bottom) and 2 on top of the magazine with part 3.

There is also a new (but secret) item for Christmas coming.  A knitting project which I can't reveal here and doesn't qualify for the Finish A Long as I have the yarn but haven't started yet!

At this point I will link my WIP's to the Finish A Long

Finish-A-Long Quarter 2

The proposed finishes for this quarter were as follows:

      Dress Up Quilt

      Frivols Quilt

      Hexies
      Cosy Crochet Blanket

Progress so far- the Dress Up Quilt is done

The Cosy crochet blanket is done

Frivols quilt is still is progress, unfortunately I haven't progressed this further so will go into the next quarter.

Hexies have been sewn together so there is progress there. This will also go into the next quarter as I applique the hexies onto the background fabric and quilt it.

.

But there have also been starts and finishes in this quarter too. A couple of practical items like the crochet tea cosy

  

And a peg bag

Also a couple of cushions too

At last after a very long time the cross stitch picture started by me back in 1999 and finished by my Mum at the end of last year has been framed and is now hanging our living room.

So now I will link this post with Finish a Long finishes and have a think about what I will get finished for next quarter.

Losing It, Finding It and Losing It Again

I'm not being careless about my projects, don't think so anyway, but this is about weight.  Six and a bit years ago when moving back to Poole from Yorkshire I can back quite a bit heavier than I should be and started at a Rosemary Conley class in Bournemouth at 12st 12.5lbs.  Over the year and a half I got down to 10st 3lb.  That was 2012.

Five years on the weight I lost found me again and when I asked David for a photo to use for my Quilter's Guild member page this is what he forwarded to me.

Oh dear.  This was taken at the RHS Spring show in Malvern last month. I think drastic action had to be taken before Sarah's wedding in September.

I started going to a Slimming World class locally on Canford Heath, as Rosemary Conley slimming clubs  are no longer around.  I weighed in there at 12st 5.5 lbs, not as bad as before that bad enough.  After 3 weeks I've lost 4.5lbs and my clothes are starting to fit me better. I hope to lose a stone by the time of the wedding.  I'm getting used to a different kind of diet, but seems to be working, see how I go.

Some Finishes This Month

Sorry I've not blogged for a while but I've not had much to show for a while. This weekend, in spite of the heat (June has hotted up this last week) I've managed to get quite a bit done.  

On my Finish a Long List is hexagons.  One of The Bramble Patch subscription boxes contained 2 packs of 2.5" squares and a background fabric with instructions to make a table runner.  This was going to be a slow project so wasn't fussed about getting the hexies joined together, but with going to Bourne Quilter's last week and Sewing Saturday yesterday afternoon followed by watching some You Tube videos this morning (Sew Sweet Violet podcast and Simply in Stitches sock tutorial) I got more stitching done than I thought.

The Bramble Patch instructions were for 3 long rows but I didn't want a lengthy runner so it'll be 5 short rows. I've used one pack of the squares, but will have to break into the second pack.  The pack of papers were also supplied, they are 1" hexies and the good thing about the project is that the fabrics can just be wrapped around the papers and tacked, easy! I'm finding the sewing together surprisingly relaxing, so potentially this could be a finished project? Wait and see.

We've needed a new peg bag as the fabric on the one I've had for years has started to rot. They were furnishing fabric samples that were used with a coat hanger inserted and I don't know how many years ago I made that! So unpicking the pieces and using them as templates I used 2 teatowels from a pack of three from Primark, the third is being used as a tea towel, which were really bright and colourful.  I cut the pieces out yesterday and sewn this afternoon.

Just a tad bright, should cheer up any washday!  In spite of using the old fabric as a guide for cutting out I ended up with a shorter piece for the back. No problem, I just inserted a piece of the pink fabric in the middle and it actually looked a lot better for it.  The tea towel fabric was a breeze to stitch through and at £3 for a pack of 3 it was a bargain make too.

Another finish is the beach hut cushion cover which was in progress in my last post.  Here it is

And here again with the first cushion cover I made last month

Got a better pic than that...

And here are the backs

The envelope backs are a different orientation due to the cut of the fabrics, but they don't look too bad and I'm p,eased how they turned out.  Only thing is I've borrowed the pads from other cushions to take the pics, so you can guess what my next task is! 

Flaming June

Edit to post: I typed this on 4th June and saved in draft and didn't publish on the blog! 

Well it could be, but sometimes it gets a bit chilly too.  Here we are 4th of June and May seems to have flashed by.

I was pleased to have a finish in my last post and to have 2 of four proposed finishes done for this quarter with 26 days of June to go.  I've got another start and finish which I can't show just yet, not until later this month as its a birthday present, 

Also on the go is Crochet A Long (CAL) in Crochet Now magazine called Vintage Sweethearts, designed by Sandra Paul, aka Cherry Heart. She blogs and also does a video podcast on You Tube. This CAL uses yarn with a soft coloured vintage style palette for this design and I bought a yarn pack of Scheepjes Colour Crafter from the Wool Warehouse.

I was hoping that the last issue would arrive before we went on holiday but didn't so I didn't start on this until after I got back home.  So here are the first blocks.  They have all been blocked to the same size and there is a layout to stitch together but I haven't go around to that yet.

I subscribe to Crochet Now and got the latest issue early. David was out until late yesterday evening so I made another block

Followed by 2 tiny blocks

Yesterday also saw me sewing another seaside cushion cover, I really must get some cushion pads!

As you can see I'm part way through quilting this but I also have the backs done already.

These are the remains of the kit that I had from the Bramble Patch club earlier this year. In the top pic the fabrics on the top and bottom strips were those I already had in my stash, but they were from earlier Makower seaside collections and toned in well with what I had left in the kit from making the first cushion cover.

I'm still keeping busy!