A little EPP

It's a good thing I'm not aiming to make my Christmas Stars quilt to any deadline, I'd correctly remembered how long hand sewing patches takes. Although I did think little pieces would be quicker.

It has been surprising how little they are. 

This is the little work table near my chair. It was a relatively cheap purchase from IKEA but does its job perfectly, I even have my tablet propped up In the corner providing background noise or a way to watch the Great British Sewing Bee and Masterchef whilst crafting. I think all I need now is some form of lamp to light my work better and the corner will be perfect. 

And here's my progress to date. I darent even look how many star I actually need! 

Getting on with it

It's amazinzing what you can achieve with some focused sewing time... 

We spent about 8 hours in totalseeing over the weekend and in that time I finally managed to get the top done for the Sparkle Punch Quilt. A bit of time was spent calculating this weekend and I reckon that this project has been in progress for 5 years off and on; 2019 is definitely the year I finish it. Even though there is a queue for quilting! 

FNSI Results - January

This month's FNSI was set to be really enjoyable as my sister (Crafting Ramble) is staying with me for a girls weekend. Unfortunately due to post work and post travel tiredness (and an inclination to chat) we had to delay our FNSI to Saturday afternoon... hopefully this still counts in some way.

It definitely paid off for us as we got a heap done in the time we sewed. I was making a real effort to move on the top of the Sparkle Punch Quilt (probably something to do with the fact its for my sister!), it's also starting to feel close to done. To make this top I sew the previously made squares into short rows, these rows then make 16 blocks which get sewn together to make the top.

So first step, squares into strips...

Then a bit of pressing and figuring which way the seams need to go so the butt up against each other, then onto the blocks...

I just have one more to make and then I can construct the bottom half of the top (the top half was finished last year). It's really great that I'm getting on with this as, at a rough guess, this quilt has been a WIP for five years!

What did everyone else get up to for FNSI? 

Crochet Between the Lines - Three weeks on

I've now been working on my first ever crochet project for the last three weeks and I'm pleased to say that I have completed 200 rows.

Unfortunately that isn't as great as it sounds as there are more than 200 rows to go and they increase by one stitch on every other row. Fortunately I'm really enjoying crocheting. 

Not enjoying so much unpicking the regular "yarn barfs" due to working both whirls from the centre. 

Two Tunnels - a race without jelly rolls

The subject of this post hasn't made an appearance on this blog for a long while...for once not crafting but running. 

Last weekend I took part in the Two Tunnels 10k, my first running race in forever, well at least four years. 

The damp weather made for an interesting start and finish in a playing field on a hill above the main route, but once we'd escaped from the field the rim was great.  The Two Tunnels route follows an old railway line (possibly something to do with Isambard Kingdom Brunel - a lot of them are round that area!) which has been nicely resurfaced for pedestrians and cyclists. It gets its name, unsurprisingly from the fact it passes through two railway tunnels, the second one being a mile long. It's a route I know well as I used to live nearby and run on it regularly.

I finished in a decent time for me and enjoyed being out there. I definitely think I shouldn't wait another four years to do my next race.

12 Things in 2019 - February Progress

Pleased to report that there has been some progress with my 12 Things in 2019 projects. 

The KISS shawl is finished, although not yet blocked (hopefully next weekend). It's been an enjoyable and quick knit once I'd got the initial set up done.

I've made an enthusiastic start to the CBTL. I've never crocheted anything before so am finding this a fun challenge. That being said it requires a lot of crocheting to finish it so my enthusiasm may wane a little!

And finally, but without any photographic evidence, I've done a small quantity of work on the Sparkle Punch quilt. Hopefully more will be done on that this month. There's a slim chance of a finished top by the end of March.