And Finally A Start

The first installment of Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket 2012 (DA MB 2012) was sent out at the start of Jan, with 9 squares to knit and the arrival of the March package imminent I have finally made a start on the squares.

This is one of the easier ones, next I'm going to attempt some intarsia.  Debbie's designs are stunning and they definitely help you develop new skills (the festive mitts in my previous post are a Debbie Abrahams design).

First Finishes of 2012

I've finished off both the projects I worked on during the FNSI, which is a nice feeling.


Both finishes were destined for my sewing slave so she got fair recompense for her excellent prepping efforts (and her useful suggestions as to how I could comfortably spend longer pressing on my mini ironing board).

This was a trial run for a wonky star quilt I am planning to make and the first time I have ever sewn a cushion cover.

It is destined to eventually have a twin with a reverse colourway on the front and hopefully a slightly better fitting back.


The second finish was a pair of festive mitts, which knit up quickly and sew together slowly!

February FNSI Results

I had a very successful FNSI helped by my FNSI slave (otherwise known as my sister!) who cut...

And pressed...

Allowing me to knit...

And sew...

Don't feel too sorry for my 'slave' thought the sewing is destined to be a cushion cover for her and is the practice run for her starry quilt too.

It's that time of month again...

That's right February's Friday Night Sew In is happening on Feb 17 and you can find out more and sign up for the virtual sewing group at Heidi's Blog


I've got the whole day off work and a plasterer in (hopefully) repairing my wall so absolutely no excuse not to spend the whole day sewing.  I've also got my sister visiting so she'll probably have something to share too.  Plans are to put together a couple of cushion covers for said sister, make a serious dent in the batik quilt and perhaps try and teach my sister some sewing skills through the making of a mug rug or two (I've never made one either).  There's also one or two other new skills I want to try out but Friday is only 24 hours long!

More Winter

I had to leave home before 8am this morning to attend an Open University tutorial (the tutorial was actually at a reasonable hour it was just the bus to get there that wasn't).  I wasn't up as early as I'd planned to be and so didn't get time to dry my hair after my shower.  Normally this isn't really an issue, but we've had snow again here and the temperatures have dropped so after about 3 minutes outside my hair had begun to freeze!


This somewhat odd experience was overridden by the gorgeous views at that time in the morning with mist hovering over the remaining icy snow as the sun rose.

 My hair defrosted okay too.

Ramblings

- Its finally snowed here and has appeared to stuck.

Although I am quite pleased by the sound of dripping indicating some sort of melt as I need to drive south to work tonight, but it would give me an excuse for a day off.


- Found another two fairly local to me quilt shops, that makes four within a fairly close distance and they seem to all stock different ranges.  Considering I'd never even seen a quilt fabric shop until two years ago I'm impressed (my wallet isn't!). I was restrained and didn't buy any fabric, but one of the shops had an amazing range of books on sale and I couldn't resist a copy of Tonya Ricucci's Word Play Quilts.  Having to stay down south for a tutorial next weekend and am planning to visit another two quilt shops.


- Just seen an advert on TV for frozen ready to cook baked potatoes - apparently oven baked potatoes in just 5 minutes.  Think I'll stick to the fresh ones.


- And now I can no longer avoid the mega seam pressing session - 190 seams need to be pressed before I can get any further with my sister's quilt. 

Union Flag Cushion

I made this for my brother a couple of years ago at his request.  As, at the time I made this, I had no idea about using the sewing machine to piece patchwork it was made totally by hand.  It's not totally clear from the photo but the cream fabric was cord, the red velvet and the blue some fine, blue, shiny stuff that frayed like crazy I had to be stuck on fusible interfacing so I could sew it up.


I enjoyed making this cushion, I would like to get around to making another one using the sewing machine some time, or maybe create a quilt to go with (minus the sparkly blue fabric).

Bath Quilters Sewing Group

Took myself off to the Bath Quilters' sewing group tonight.  I have attended a different sewing group previously and found it very conducive to getting paper piecing done.  The Bath Quilters group seems very friendly, although it was flipping cold in the hall we were in (later discovered that the heaters had been slightly blocked by chairs). I'm definitely going to go again - I like being sociable whilst I sew.  I also got more done than I would have done at home (but maybe not quite as much as I hoped).

I am determined to finish the quilt top they are for this year.