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. 

Totally hooked!

A cheesy title for a brief post expressing my new found love of crochet (not as tricky or loopy as it seemed on previous attempts) and re found love of Scheepjes (is it odd my autocorrect has Scheepjes as one of its options?) whirls.

As you know I knitted the RBTL shawl last year and during making that I decided to do a crochet version as it seemed suitable for a beginner and would give me a chance to play with whirl combinations again.

I've had red velvet sunrise and rosewater cocktail ready and waiting for me to be able to start CBTL.

I haven't got very far yet but I'm enjoying making this, and there's the added fun of waiting for the fuzz buzzes to appear.

When one project finishes...

Actually the KISS shawl isn't quite finished but I've completed all the knitting.

It now needs a good blocking, but as I'm working away from home during the week now that will have to wait until 1) I'm at home and 2) have some spare time.

The drawing to a close of a project is obviously the perfect time to start another project or two!

I couldn't decide whether to start a hand sewing project or a crochet project, both of which will be slow growers, so I decided to start both.

I made some very initial steps on the Christmas Stars Quilt from Millefiori Quilts Book 1. I've been collecting fabric for it for a while so my now quieter evenings seem the ideal time to try and get to grips with it.

There are definitely a few techniques to get figured out and I mistakenly thought the small diamonds would see together quickly...I definitely made the right choice excluding this from my 12 Things challenge!

The crochet project is on my 12 Things list and as it has the reputation of taking a while to complete I wanted to start it early in the year...forgot to say the project is the CBTL shawl.

First steps with this was to check I could still do the necessary stitches (I think I can) and try and figure out which size hook to achieve the necessary gauge (I think I know). Hopefully I'll have more of this done by the end of the month (which is actually next week so maybe not).

At least I won't be struggling for things to fill my time in the evenings!

12 Things in 2019 - January Progress

I'm pleased to be able to report some progress on two of my 12 Things projects.

Firstly No. 8, the Keep It Simple Shawl, after a somewhat tricky start due to unfamiliar terms and fiddliness I am now over half way through this and definitely on the home straight. It has taken me this long to figure out the method of the little lace section which means I can now knit without having to check the instructions every row. No idea why it's taken me this long but there you go.

It's going to need a good blocking but I like the way it's going.

I've also managed to do a bit more on No. 12, the Sparkle Punch Quilt.

This post is an update on the 12 Things in 2019 challenge started by Judy and Denise, full details and my list of 12 can be found HERE.

Got my sew-jo back!

I quite often have a Friday evening to myself for crafting but for the last few months I have only been knitting as I haven't been able to feel awake enough or raise much enthusiasm for my sewing even though I have a variety of projects to work on. This Friday I decided to start sewing earlier in the day to see if I could beat this and I'm pleased to say it worked.

I finished piecing the top of a baby quilt. I tried pressing the seams in alternating directions to butt the seams together rather than pin them and it worked, or at least well enough to satisfy me.

Then I worked on the Sparkle Punch quilt for a bit. And finally I got on with some knitting.

It was a very productive evening and I enjoyed sewing again.

Pondering

During the post Xmas sales I got hooked on fabrics with bird prints.

I'm not sure why as real life birds mostly scare me. Anyway the reason for the pondering is that I would like to make these into something quilted, fussy cutting to focus on the images but I can't decide on the design. I'm leaning towards EPP but I do have another EPP project, a millefiori quilt, ready to start. But other than a vague preference towards EPP and trying for a single bird on any pieces with birds on I'm still a little stumped. All suggestions gratefully received.

And while I continue pondering I might just have a look to see if there are anymore bird prints I like!

The Sewing Cabinet

We've changed the room I sew in into more of a living room and therefore my white IKEA desk and table no longer go.

Luckily this wasn't a spur of the moment change and thought was put into how my sewing stuff could still stay in the room.

Eventually we found a solid wood Horn cabinet on eBay close enough for us to collect.

Luckily it's fitted nicely into an alcove when not in use. The drawers give plenty of storage for all my WIPs including a knitting project.

And it opens out into a useful sewing station with all my notions to hand and space to spread out what I'm working on. All in all I think it's a good swap for the IKEA desk, all I have to do now is find a taller chair, or maybe invest in an insert so my machine is level with the table top, so my working height is correct.

Socks on a train - Complete

A little later than planned but the socks on a train (where they were knitted rather than the pattern name) are finished.

They were knitted in Fyberspates Coop Knits Sock Yeah DK following the afterthought heel technique by www.theknitgirllls.com with an honourable mention to Just One More Row for her YouTube video showing how to avoid a hole when knitting the heel.