November FNSI

A short report on my FNSI progress for this month due to a 50% success rate. 

I planned to start my FNSI early by quilting my second Xmas quilt on my Cotton Orchard frame. 

Unfortunately I instead found out what happens when you thread you machine slightly incorrectly and ignore the odd noise it's making instead. Lots of loopy thread on the back meant that my quilting afternoon changed into an unpicking afternoon. 

A break for dinner and then onto my second planned project (ignoring the remaining unpicked stitches in my Xmas quilt for a while). 

Second project was a quilt for my brother in law for Xmas. This has been causing me a few snags due to some inaccuracy early on. Luckily, except for having to reinforce some very skimpy seam allowances, this one behaved beautifully.

The blocks went from... 

to... 

I also got white borders on two other blocks and the green borders on the remaining 4 blocks. 
Pleasing for three hours work and no sign of a quick unpick! 

Thanks to Wendy for hosting, if you want to see what everyone else got up to visit her blog HERE

12 Things - October Update

It's odd I feel like I'm making good progress on my projects and the I do a monthly review and I don't seem to have got far. Not helped by working on some additional Xmas presents (probably shouldn't be) and my crafting time in October being limited by trips away and work events taking up a lot of my free time. 

Anyway enough of the excuses on with the progress. 

The second quadrant of the Hue Shift Afghan was completed. I really love the colours in this, I wasn't sure when I first got the kit but I've changed my mind. The third quarter is blues and greens so different again. 

Floozy almost has a second sleeve. Just the body to go, although as its all plain stocking stitch it may drag. 

The second Xmas quilt was loaded onto the frame. The first one just needs its binding hand stitched but I haven't managed to get a photo of it. 

The Frame

I don't know what's more amazing that I've finally used my Cotton Orchard quilting frame in anger (after having it well over a year) or that I'm actually blogging about it!

First challenge was to set it up. When I'd last taken it down I'd deconstructed everything, and those side panels were fiddly to put back together with no instructions (a sure sign they shouldn't be taken apart). 

Embarrassingly getting to the point where the quilt was loaded and ready to go took me all afternoon and into the evening. 

Nerves and a few failed test runs meant that it was then a few days before I got the courage to actually quilt. 

But with the right thread and a bit of care I was off. 

The actual quilting was quick, easier than wrangling the quilt through the sewing machine and satisfying. The end result is a little lumpy due to not always remembering where the limits of the quilting area was, but I'm happy. Just the binding to go. 

You'll be pleased to hear that loading the second quilt, including building the frame and pressing the backing, took less than two hours.