Furtling in April

Taking a back step for now and posting about what I've been up to in April.  A lot of You Tube watching, a bit of this and a bit of that and generally pootling around.  These are strange times and even though there's plenty to do its still a case of 'what's next.'

Since the beginning of April I decided to get out a Wool Warehouse bag of yarns left over from previous blanket makes and make another blanket.  This is another Attic 24 pattern called Neat Ripple.  Quite a simple repetitive pattern to crochet which I mainly work at when watching tv of an evening.  I haven't thought about the placement of colours too much and it has used up yarn as I've played 'yarn chicken' a number of times, so as long as the yarn weighs at least 12g its going in the blanket.

After hibernating my latest sock knitting for a bit I suddenly got the urge to finish the first sock and am now of the second.  I've now got up to the heel on the second one.  The yarn I bought from Crafternoon Treats at Yarndale and the turquoise yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply.

I've made a postcard on the theme of butterflies and dragonflies and made this card with an appliqué butterfly and an organza one which I attached by Bondawebbing the body.  The two layers of organza were Bondawebbed together and held with some stitching to emphasise the wings.  The postcard was to be sent in an envelope (I used a clear envelope). It was sent week before last in a swap organised by UKQU postcard swaps.

I then had this lovely card from Jo in Norfolk.

I found that there was a small postcard sized piece of Kantha stitching with some threads so decided that I would finish that off.  Not sure what my thinking was behind that piece but its no longer a UFO now but not sure what to do with it now.

Another little project was to cover my sewing chair.  Its a boring typist chair so I decided to recover it.

The plastic base and seat back were flexible so it was a case of pushing the raw edges into them with a flat head screwdriver.  It only took an hour to do.  It's just standard patchwork cotton and perhaps it might be more substantial with upholstery fabric, but it does for now and brightens what is a pretty boring chair.

Something different that I did a couple of weeks ago is a Virtual Quilting Retreat.  I'd like to go on another retreat sometime, but they are either booked quickly, too far away or come at the wrong time so this was ideal.  No having to load the car with everything bar the kitchen sink and still having to wonder if you have enough or the right stuff.  Everything is to hand in the comfort of your own home, though it does get a little lonely not having the chatter of other people.  I wrote about it in this post here .   These are what I've made

I love the big project bag which now has some embroidery in it and I've yet to make something of the New York Beauty butterfly.  So a couple of things completely different.  There will be another retreat at the end of May so see what projects will be done in that.

Lastly I contacted a local coordinator for For the Love of Scrubs who has a group if people making scrub bags, masks and ear savers (so the elastic from masks don't go round the ears but around fabric with buttons attached). I had a go at the protectors, both sewn and crocheted

The sewn ones I made up myself as there didn't seem to be a pattern but later I found on Instagram that Wild Daffodil had some crochet instructions so I had a go.  It's on her blog here .

I've made some scrub bags too using up stash of large pieces that I know I won't use.  Sometimes extending some fabric by using calico on the back, but I've now only got little pieces.

And there was a call for child friendly masks for adults to wear for Special Needs pupils so I made a few masks, but there are some real mask making 'ninjas' out there that seem to get loads done, but I figure that lots of a few will make a lot of masks.  Lets see how this goes.

So that was my April and looking forward to May and hope for brighter things.  I will be blogging everyday in May so there will be another about blog post later today.  

Linking up with Little Archies Furtle Around the Blogosphere 

May 2020

 During this month I hope to do daily blog postings. I think there is a lot of challenges that come with trying to deal with the lockdown and the changes that will come about following this.

The May marker this month is the Neat Ripple blanket (or a portion of it) which I started on 1 April and is using bits and pieces from previous blankets that I've made.  The pic below is the unedited version, so please excuse my knees and feet!

I found that on Instagram one lady who I follow said that the French celebrate today, 1st May, as La Fete des Muguets (or Muguettes on some sites), or Lily of the Valley.  There are loads of this growing in the garden, almost weed-like and I get rid of some of the plants after flowering has finished, but even more come up the following year.  

They made a fabulous show this year and I picked a few along with a few sprigs of rosemary to put into a vase and enjoy for a few days.  

So maybe theres a lot to be thankful for with these little flowers.  Now that daffodils and soon tulips (note the lone tulip amongst the lily of the valley!) are passing we look forward to good things ahead for May.

Weekend Retreat at Home

Due to the lockdown the quilt show I was going to go to in Exeter was cancelled so when I read about a virtual quilt retreat a few weeks back the money I would have spent on entrance and coach fare went on joining the retreat instead. The retreat took place on Saturday and yesterday.

This was run by Jo Avery and Karen Lewis of The Thread House, who have run retreats near Bristol and in Yorkshire in addition to their own businesses.  This was the first virtual retreat they’ve done and was done via a private Facebook group with a mix of live and pre recorded videos

There were two projects to make over the weekend and like a normal retreat there was some preparation ahead of last weekend and requirements list.  There were a few videos in advance about getting ready.  The two projects were tendrils and leaves pouch on the Saturday and a foundation pieced butterfly/New York  Beauty block on Sunday.

Jo is well known for her use of tendrils in her work, seen on this storage pot tutorial here and with stage by stage videos helping along there were soon fabric leaves and bias strips appearing on prepared quilted pieces. Here’s my efforts below.  I decided for my quilted piece that I would strip piece and rejoin low volume and turquoise fabrics for a fresh look and used a dark blue Moda Grunge  fabric for my tendrils.

The afternoon was for making up the pouch by Karen, and there was a bit of confusion (then named ‘zippergate’) as her method for inserting the zip was different from Jo’s but that was quickly sorted and it did give participants the chance to follow one or the other instructions. So by the afternoon I had a large completed pouch.  This would comfortably hold a small quilt/embroidery project and I might use it for holding my Sew4thesoul project.

I had printed off the pattern for Sunday’s workshop for the foundation piecing,  I’m not a fan of this method of piecing,  but I following the video instructions from Karen and Jo it was easy to follow, with making up the New York Beauty blocks, which was the beginning of the Butterfly piece.

 By lunchtime I managed to get both the spiky panels done and the butterfly tail.

For some reason I managed to muddle up two sides of the head and antenna bit, my fault rather than the instructions and couldn’t match up the seams.  Fortunately I had a busy background fabric so it didn’t notice too much, so I didn’t go back and try again. So this was the end project.

I’m pleased with that and it was good to see other participants butterflies emerging too.

The good thing about the virtual retreat is that you haven’t got to pack fabrics, sewing stuff and machine and the ‘kitchen sink’ thinking whether you had enough of the right stuff and sewing in the comfort of familiar surroundings.  The only downside is the chatter and community spirit that you’d get at a workshop or retreat, but seeing as no one can go anywhere at the time being, we would not have that anyhow,

The workshops were well presented, seeing as it was the first time Jo and Karen had done a virtual retreat and apart from one or two glitches the processes we were well  explained. I’d definitely recommend this and would probably do another in the future.

Patchwork of the Crosses Mini Quilt

If you've been following my blog in recent months you may have come across pictures of the mini quilt in progress.  I've now finished the quilt top and layered up to quilt it, so here's the story so far.

I bought the quilt as a kit from The Bramble Patch at the Festival of Quilts in August last year.

Here it is on the bottom right of the picture.  I saw the mini quilt made up on the stand there and this was the last kit left so I had to have it.  It was a spare kit from a subscriber club that The Bramble Patch ran last year called Mini Treasures by Hand Mystery Club 2019.  As well as the instructions it contained the pack of (350!) honeycomb hexagons, squared card and 'house' shape pieces, cream fabric and a charm square pack, which was called Sweet Violet, designed by Jan Patek.  This kit's design is based on Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses.  It is a design that lends itself to fussy cutting, to use the best elements of the fabric design.

The pieces are small.  The honeycomb papers have ½" sides and are ¾" tall.  Here's a comparison with a standard 1" hexagon.

I started on this project soon after coming home from the Festival of Quilts and quickly realised that to work small you have to think small.  To help with the layout of the tiny pieces I made a small 6½" square layout board, which is a piece of mount board, with wadding and a small fabric border.  I then used binding clips to clip a piece of netting to help stop any small hexies disappearing.

So the piece slowly started to grow, starting with a flurry in August (the enthusiasm of a new project, of course!). The two pics below were taken on 6th and 10th August.

The two square soon became 4 squares

Then the little squares ½" were attached between the blocks and you can see just one purple 'house' shape in the middle. This was taken in mid October.

It was then adding the small squares around the edges and adding the half blocks so that the square shape above turned on point. The pic below was taken in January.

And more added

The finished top

So the top was finished on 11th April. Yes, it has jagged edges but they will be squared off after quilting and will measure 15.5” square.  It has been a really good pick up/put down project -albeit a small one.  I have now layered with wadding and backing fabric (Cream Moda Grunge fabric). I found fabric for the binding, which is a tonal violet William Morris patterned fabric which will go really well and in keeping with Sweet Violet design.

April’s Musings

A third into April and week 3 of lockdown and it’s the Easter holiday this weekend.  The weekend won’t feel much different from the weekdays, as people have to stay at home and only go out if it’s to work (if work can’t be carried out at home), shopping or for daily exercise.

We are lucky that the weather has been good to enjoy time in the garden. Not that I do a lot of gardening, but it is the outside space.

So I must be getting a lot of stuff done, well yes I have, but it’s all bits.

David and I have started Spring Cleaning.  Starting upstairs and the bedrooms, bathrooms and the office.  Cleared out packaging that’s been taking up space in the loft, so there’s been a lot of cardboard to go in the recycling bin.

When it can to cleaning my sewing room, I managed to tidy a lot of stuff but just don’t look in the wardrobe/storage cupboard! While cleaning I thought of another project.

 To give my sewing chair a makeover, from boring black

To bright.  After asking members of the UKQU Facebook group about how to cover I found this was easy.  It was a case of just pushing the fabric into the plastic base of the seat and backrest of the chair and it holds in place! No tools other than a flathead screwdriver to push the fabric in.  I used pins to mark where the black fabric goes into the plastic and cut a 2” margin around the pinned area.  A big difference made with not too much effort. Great.

Earlier this month I made a small present for a friend whose birthday was on Sunday. As she is isolation I can’t visit so it had to be posted (that’s part of my daily exercise- a walk to the local sorting office to post) so I made her a pouch and matching needlecase.

The ouch is the Lola pouch, designed by Svetlana Sotak and this the third one that I’ve made.  It’s a well explained pattern but I still find the binding round the zip a bit difficult but getting better at it.  I found a teapot button in the button box which went just right for the needlecase as kettle goes on when I go to visit her, so it seemed appropriate.

 UKQU postcard group posted a new theme of butterflies and dragonflies, so decided to make a butterfly from two layers of organza bonded together and stitched to make the wings.  Placed on a flower and sky background with another fabric butterfly.  This will be sent in an envelope so I am able to sent something with dimensional decoration.

Back onto the crochet and this is the latest tutorial from Lucy of Attic 24 (link in sidebar) of Polyanthus flowers and leaves. I had a go with some of the remaining yarn from the Dahlia blankets. A bit fiddly as they are small but fun to make and play around the with colours.

Have a happy Easter 🐣 however you enjoy it.  Stay safe, take care ❤️

March's Furtling

March started busy and ended up a bit blurgh as I can't seem to settle to anything. Doing a bit of this and that to keep my mind off things as much as I can.

In my last post there was a trip to Kent, which is here and a start of a new pair of socks, which is still first sock in progress - half way down the foot.  My standard go to pattern is Hermione's Everyday Sock by Erica Leuder although I may not necessary use the stitch pattern, but I like the Eye of Partridge heel turn on this.  I decided to do a rib pattern so its a skinnier sock than usual.  I used Crafternoon Treats yarn in Pistachio and my seemingly endless ball of West Yorkshire Spinners turquoise yarn for the cuff, heel and maybe toes (when I get there).

My cardigan, which I hoped to have finished has stalled as I try picking up the stitches for the front and keep getting the stitch count wrong, so that's pushed aside for the moment.

For sewing I made a Project Linus Quilt from a fabric pack I picked up to make a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt.  I bought the fleece just before the lockdown and it was end of a bolt too, so that was lucky.  This must be aimed at an older child as this was the biggest PL quilt I've sewn at 54" square.  Not sure when our local PL co-ordinators are going to get it, but it's packed in a bag ready.

I've made good progress on my mini quilt as there are now 7 half squares around the edge (though there are 6 in the photo below. Just the eighth to do now and a decision about how I 'square off' the quilt to to make into a mini quilt.  I had thought of not making it a quilt at all but to put into a square picture frame - any ideas??

One afternoon I got fed up with my knitting needles being in a utensil pot so I made a cover for it with strips of fabric from my scraps.  Fits like a glove and brightens up the yarn corner, see the before and after pics.

Another couple of small items I've made have been a small pouch from some hexies, so good to make something use out of them.  More about that here along with a fabric twine bowl that was also made this month.

I've been enjoying some embroidery recently, as I learnt about stump work, not as tricky as I thought, and made this little scissor case with seahorse at West Country Embroiderers.  I got in the groove and got the seahorse finished and scissor case done the next day!  One less UFO.  Perhaps small projects are the way to go at the moment.

Another bit of embroidery I've got into is #sew4thesoulhannemade which is a good pick up/put down project to do when I feel like it.  It is a long strip of wadding (I used a trimmed off piece from some quilting) and added fabrics pieces and stitches.

Some of the sewing last week was also taken up with plane spotting.  Apparently as main airports are closing Bournemouth Airport has become one of the local airports to park the planes that won't be going anywhere for a while.   Views from the sewing room window.

And below is a Jumbo Jet - I remember seeing those flying out from Heathrow Airport and looking as though they hung in the air back in the seventies.  They still look too heavy to go in the air, all these years later!  But I think there won't be any more planes coming in to land now, the skies are all quiet.

 So that was my March Furtle.  Joining in with Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere.