September Furtling

Autumn has arrived and October is here.

The picture above is of a toadstool embroidery from last autumn's Craftpod box which I've used as this month's monthly marker.  

Not much done and a lot of works in progress in September as the chance to socialise and enjoy the last gasp of summer, which turned suddenly autumnal and colder in the past few days.  Groups have started meeting up again and making the most of getting out and about while we can.

During last month I actually went to the theatre! Last year in May a group of us were due to go to The Lighthouse in Poole to see Pam Ayres, which of course was postponed and took place at the beginning of September.  She was very entertaining speaking about her trips, tours and family with her verses too and a refreshing change to go for an evening out with friends.

Right, now onto the makes in progress, so not many finishes here (boooo).

I have made progress on the kaleidoscope blocks, which have gone from 5 to 8 and now the difficult decision of how to arrange the blocks, or make into a 9 patch with a small square of the original pink fabric.  I've got quite a bit of this pink, with the square holes cut out, but not a lot of the black, so another fabric may have to be worked into this.

I sometimes make quilts for our local Project Linus group and quite often the ladies make up fabric packs to sew together.  Because they haven't been able to fundraise there hasn't been any fleece backing to go with the quilt tops, so I've been buying fleece from Fabric Land to go with them.  I've finished one quilt and just finishing off the other one.

Quite interesting fabrics for the large squares and the four patches.  The tops didn't take long to sew up, nice and simple.  

The West Country Embroidery group had an in-house workshop for the first time this year.  It was Italian corded quilting. Here's my sample worked on dyed blue fabric.  Not sure at this stage if it will be incorporated in anything.

As for the knitting and crochet I am working on two projects at the nearly finished stage. One is another bobble cardigan, like the one in last month's Furtle that I made for Cecily, here. This time a larger size for Flo, as she started pre-school and will need layers of clothing. I like this pattern although the knitting is tight when joining the sleeves to the body until a few rows are worked for the yoke.

This is knitted in Stylecraft Special DK in Sage with Cornish Blue bobbles.  The rows with bobbles on the yoke will be in the blue plus a couple of other colours from stash.  The Cornish Blue will make a second cardigan. 

I am almost finished my Summerdown top, which I've knitted in King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK in Denim.  I've just got to seam the underarms and knit the rib cuff on the sleeves.  I enjoyed the pattern but not the yarn.  It's drapey, but it also splits and slips off the needles easily.  I'm hoping it might wash and block well.  The pattern is by The Woolly Badger . 

September also saw the release of the latest crochet blanket pattern by Lucy of Attic 24 and I succumbed. An order put into Wool Warehouse on the day of release, it arrived in the post the next day!  Its the Yuletide blanket, in warm, festive colours. 

And this is how far I've got, row 19 of 78 rows (plus there will be 7 rows of border.

It hasn't got a home yet, as I like the blankets to have a home to go to, otherwise ours would be taken over by crochet blankets.  I enjoyed Lucy's posts about the progress and the colour choices in the design of this blanket.  As it grows it will be lovely and warm to work on in the evenings.

I've recently taken up paper crafting and making Artist Trading Cards as part of an online swap.  The latest was memories and I made this.  I had a small piece of the flowery paper and added a few elements of a die cut decoupage set on top.  The butterfly was supposed to be on top of the lily but it looked better being on the bottom corner.

In that swap I was send this by Pam 

It was appropriate that the post mark on the envelope said "Send a Card, Deliver a Smile for Thinking of You Week.  20th - 26th September 2021.

So that was September.  I'm linking with Archie the Wonder Dog with Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere 

Some Pictures From Spectrum of Stitch

 Last Saturday I was one of the stewards at Spectrum of Stitch which showcased the work of members of the Dorset groups of the West Country Embroiderers.  I took the opportunity of taking photos which I’m sharing as the exhibition finished on Monday.

The exhibition was held in the Gallery Upstairs (it is above a cafe) at Upton Country Park which is a light airy space.  There is a competition table with small 3d items, of which I had 2 but neither won. Never mind.

There were group pieces, some fishes (not sure which group made this)

6” square seasonal pieces by Purbeck group, some of these were double sided

Poole group made butterflies, but I didn’t take part in this

As mentioned, a competition table.  This was for a 3D item not larger than 8” x 10”. Some interesting items, including a patchwork sewing machine!

Then there were various pictures and hangings in the gallery. Below are just a few of the pictures I took.

A Little Book

Welcome to September

 And seems that summer is returning.  I think a last few summery days before autumn is upon us.

On Monday I took a mini workshop via Zoom, hosted by Jan from the TG internet group to make a small brag book.  This is made from 3 different sizes of card, same depth, differing widths so they folded neatly, together with card front and back, which were 10cm square. This is the book closed..

And opened out fully becomes a star shape from above and you can see the layers of card.

From the goody bag of paper pieces , mainly decoupage and stickers I decorated the book pages 

I added some of my own printed papers with stamped images.

Added some outline stickers with some of the decoupage images

These were stickers with flowers

The left page (below) was a picture frame sticker and to the right another hand decorated paper with a stamped flower in in a bottle.

And finally, the back left, and the front.  The front used another part of the decoupage set and the back another sticker.

I enjoyed the making so much that after the morning’s Zoom I got this finished in the afternoon.  

Now that I have the idea to make this, there may be another soon.  We’ll see.

Furtling in August

 Time for my August round up of project done, in progress and new stuff started.  Keeping busy as usual.

So for finishes in August I’ve finished and given Cecily’s cardigan, which was a pattern from Hobbycraft (In the shop, it’s not a aisle online). It’s a pattern which has the body knitted in one piece, then the sleeves and all joined together at the armhole shaping to do the raglan decreases and bobbles on the yoke.  I bought buttons last week so it’s completely finished!

The yarn in Stylecraft Bambino print and I used the green and pink out of yarn in my stash.  Although I was unsure how the print looked with this pattern, it turned out really well and the yarn is lovely and soft and easily washable,

Another finish was a pair of double knit socks good for keeping feet warm in the colder autumn/winter evenings (my feet get very cold and can get cramp) and these seemed just right.  The pattern is part of my Patreon subscription to the Bakery Bears, whose podcasts I watch and there is a Knitting University they run as part of the subscription.  I used some Scheepjes Colour Crafter DK that I had in my stash in Peach and Grey which is a lovely soft squishy yarn and instead of bobbles (like in the cardigan) there are knots.  A lovely pattern and a pair of socks were made in no time at all, being DK and larger needles. 

I also finished off another pair of socks that have been lingering a bit, which is some West Yorkshire Spinners yarn in the special Yarndale colourway called Barbara. Love the coloured stripes.

I had a quilting finish this month too.  This was not on my finishing radar, but I purchased a new sewing machine (below) which was a result of needing to have my Juki machine serviced and my manual machine frustrating my sewing progress.  The Second machine was used in part exchange for the new machine, a Janome, so after 10 years it was a bit sad to say goodbye, but time to move on.

So I wanted to discover what the new Janome does and I got out a quilting samples that I had from going to a quilt retreat 3 years ago.  It has been lingering in my cupboard so I got it out and started sewing and it quickly became a finished item.

It didn’t have the appliqué hearts, but I added those on with the small amount of the blue fabric I had left.  It’s now gone to the local Project Linus as a baby quilt as it’s just 36” square.  I like how the nine patch pattern looks and I might make another.

There’s been some fabric and yarn purchases this month, when a stop off on our break in Derbyshire at the beginning of August meant a mooch around the Bramble Patch and fabric packs.

The after Crafternoon Treats podcast a few weeks back I went to Kathryn’s Etsy shop and these fell in my basket. All 4 ply yarn, a 100g skein of red wine colour and some 20g mini skeins.  I want to make a shawl with the red, not sure of my plans for the minis, I’ll just enjoy squishing them.

And last week a purchase from Wool Warehouse, some King Cole Bamboo Cotton yarn to make a top, along with some circular needles and something I’ve been wanting to get for a while, a tube for my knitting darning needles (from Clover). I find a tube like this is better to keep in my knitting accessory pouch than a needle case.  A ball of some Head Over Heels yarn made its way into my basket to make up the value to get free postage (but it was half price!)

As you can see below I have a new cast on, which I wanted the Bamboo Cotton for, which is this usual top (which I don’t know if I’ll get to wear this year) called the Summerdown top, which starts with two lace panels, which run along the sleeves from shoulder to end of the sleeve from which stitches are picked up and knitted down.  This’ll be an adventure, so we’ll see how it goes.

And a bit of secret crochet, so just a sneaky peek, lots of legs,  but it’s not an octopus 🐙! 

A discovery this month, which I wrote about last week of the kaleidoscope block cut out and ready to sew which I found in my cupboard. I’ll get the other 3 blocks done along with the 5 already made and see how I arrange those.

I think I’ve surprised myself with what I’ve managed to get done this month.

I’m linking up with Mini Archie’s monthly Furtle around the Blogosphere here. 

And lastly, just to let you know if you’re in the area that Spectrum of Stitch is taking place at the Gallery Upstairs at Upton Country Park from 2 - 13 September.  I’ve got 4 items in the exhibition and hope to have a look next week. 

A New Old Project

 Amongst all the bits and bobs taking up room in my wardrobe store was a bag with black and pink fabric. The pink fabric was already cut in pieces, ready to be matched with the black fabric which had yet to be cut out.  It’s been hanging about for a few years, but not sure how many, hence why I call this a new old project.  I dug this out on Saturday and started on Sunday and this is the block.

I believe it’s a kaleidoscope block, or it could be stack and whack. I remember that my friend worked on a few of these quilt tops after being inspired by a magazine article and a few of the ladies from Bourne Quilters made quilts of this design. 

From the space left in the pink fabric two large square of four layers at the same point in the fabric where cut out and from that cut lengthways, crossways and diagonally to make the wedges.  I measured out the size of half square triangles that I needed for four of the wedges and the strips I would need for the other four to make this first block.  It’s ended up being 13.5” square.

I cut out more half square triangles and strips to make the other 7 and sewn 4 more blocks yesterday.

So now I’ve got 3 more to piece together.  How I’m going to arrange them, I’m not sure at this point.  I have got a lot of the black fabric left, but a lot of what remains of the pink fabric, so there may have to be a third fabric to make a top, but we’ll see. 

Here’s how hole-y the pink fabric is

So another quilt top in the making.

Granny Square Day

 On Instagram this week have been posts about Granny Square Day, which is today, 15August, and is promoted by Simply Crochet Magazine.  On the link there are several free crochet Granny Square patterns if you scroll down to page.  To explain what a Granny square is it is traditionally clusters of 3 treble sitiches, worked in the round.  There can be several joined together to make a larger piece or can be just one large square and have been made to use up scraps of yarn, usually wool, cotton or acrylic.  They can be made with one colour or several. There are now a plethora of designs based on the humble Granny Square, which Simply Crochet demonstrates.

I chose the one below to make, which is called Granny Florence (no. 21, from the above link).

It seems appropriate to me as my Great Grandmother was called Florence, and one of my granddaughters is Florence too.  I crocheted this square from some Ricorumi cotton yarn in my stash and didn’t take long to do.

 But sometimes I’ve just seen something and have to have a go and from this I have several Grannies in different yarns, colours and a few different shapes.

Just look at those, I’ve not even finished the ends!

Last year I made the Aria blanket, designed by Lucy of Attic 24, which I really loved making and gave to my Mum for her birthday last year.  Making this did make me think of my own Granny (or Nan, as I called her), who used to make a lot of Granny Square blankets, usually a large square and to me it was lovely to have that connection. 

From the yarn that was left I made my own smaller Aria, as there is always a lot of yarn left in the pack but had to substitute a few colours as the yarn started to run out but it was fun putting together the colour combinations from what I had left! It now sits over the back of the sofa in the living room and the co,ours are just lovely.  The kit and the pattern are in a pack from Wool Warehouse.  This September there will be a new design and yarn pack designed by Lucy in Christmas colours of which there has been sneak peeks of the project, which looks really lovely, so I think I might have to have a go at that when it’s released.

If you want to have a go at a Granny Square there is a tutorial here, grab some yarn and a hook.  

Spending, like….

 After lockdowns and not spending very much I think I am making up for lost time.  I’ve bought shoes (sale prices, so I’ve got 2 pairs of trainers and a pair of sandals), yarn and a sewing machine.

I cannot manage without a sewing machine and it was my fault that I haven’t got it serviced over the 4/5 years I’ve had it.  In fairness it never seemed the right time and I would have had to take it over to Salisbury.  I have another very basic machine, but it is mechanical and noisy so time to think about changing things.  I’ve become so used to the automatic functions on a machine so something had to change.

To this end I’m getting my Juki machine serviced locally now and I have replace my mechanical machine with a new computerised one for my second machine and here she is.

It’s a Janome 360DC.  It is light and small enough to take to workshops and social sewing events and sews really well.  There are a few decorative stitches as I like using some of those to effect and going forward I will probably swap between to two machines, than leave the second machine put to one side. The only downside is that not many of the decorative stitches on this machine can change in width/length, but that’s ok because that’s what the Juki does well.

Oh and the yarn? I bought some hand dyed from Kathryn of Crafternoon Treats, whose yarn I’ve bought before and not only bought this lovely ruby red, but also some mini skeins called Midsummer Madness.  

Perhaps I am suffering some madness with this spending.  I can’t take it with me, as they say.

But there is something free to me that I've started and that has been some socks, which I started yesterday. Ok, so I pay for a Patreon subscription, but the Knitty U course is part of that and the yarn in free because I'm using from stash, which is some Scheepjes Colour Crafter in Peach.  These are the Cosy Reading Socks by the Bakery Bears.  

As I've just finished the Bobble cardigan I seem to have a thing about bobbles.

There is something else yarny that I've also spent money on, but that's going towards Christmas (gasp!) so a sneak peak in my next post.