Instant gratification and a slow burner

In an unusual turn of events I have achieved two sewing finishes this weekend.

The first was an Xmas Stocking which I started Friday late afternoon and had completely finished and pressed before midnight. 

I followed a tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew and it turned out really well; I did find that clipping the seams helped the stocking look more snooth. This could have been finished earlier in the evening but I also worked on a second stocking.

This one's taking a little longer for what is hopefully obvious reasons. I only have a fat quarter of each of the three fabrics which isn't quite enough for the size of stocking I want so this is the more time consuming solution I've come up with. 

Before starting the stockings I finished stitching the binding and sewing in the ends on a quilt that has been a WIP for about 8 years. 

Pattern is Sparkle Punch Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman. I couldn't even begin to say what the fabrics are, I think most of them were purchased from an online US store. 

I do know its backed in a Tula Pink extra wide backing fabric from Sew Hot. 

This quilt is destined for my, very patient, sister and her husband. 

Feeling the fear and doing it anyway...

...or maybe a more accurate title would be "Having to quilt the quilt on my frame because the central heating engineer needs space to work!".

The Sparkle Punch Quilt was attached to my quilting frame in late March.

In the normal course of things I would have started quilting it shortly after but whilst setting it up I found that, due to being clever when purchasing the fabric and the forgetting that I had been clever, the backing fabric was too short for the quilt. Loading up the frame had been quite an effort so I wasn't massively keen on starting again having bought new backing, likewise the alternative of makinvbthd top shorter also didn't fill me with joy.

This dilemma took me ages to resolve.

Eventually I decided that the better of the two options was to buy a new backing, which actually was quite easy to swap onto the frame. I actuallynalso prefer this second backing and I know the recipient does too.

A couple more weeks of procrastination passed, I enjoy using me frame and once I get going all is fine but this is a big quilt and the machine a use tends to play up a bit in the early stages requiring unpacking.

Eventually confirming that our central heating replacement was going to take place at the end of July spurred me into action as th frame takesmip a lot of space and would make lifting floorboards in the room tricky.

After all my procrastination the quilting went well, no unpicking required.  I also tried out glide thread which had been recommended in various places and it was brilliant and didn't break once. My free motion quilting it still a big wonky but overall I'm pleased with the effect and am thrilled that this quilt that's been on the go on and off since 2013 is almost finished.

12 Things in 2019 - End of Year Summary

At the beginning of the year I joined in a challenge to complete 12 craft projects in 2019.

My list of projects was as follows:

1. Highland cushions (sewing)
2. Xmas quilt 1 (sewing)
3. Xmas quilt 2 (sewing)
4. Hue Shift Afghan (knitting)
5. Colourwork stocking (knitting) 
6. CBTL (crochet)
7. Floozy cardigan (knitting)
8. Keep It Simple Shawl (knitting)
9. Hat (knitting)
10. Cat quilt (sewing)
11. Scheepjes Shrug (crochet)

12. Sparkle Punch Quilt (sewing)

It turns out it was quite an optimistic list. 
I completed 4 of the projects:

The Keep It Simple Shawl 

CBTL 

And Xmas quilts 1 and 2.

I also made progress on three other projects:

The Floozy cardigan, the Sparkle Punch Quilt and the Hue Shift Afghan (photo is my progress on the third quarter). 

Looking back to create this summary it's become clear that I didn't focus solely on the 12 Things. I've also finished a baby quilt, another CBTL, the Slam Dunk Quilt and a pair of socks this year and fiddled about with two EPP projects and made some tentative steps in clothes sewing. 

Do I have a favourite Thing? Nope, I'm the kind of person that my favourite thing is my current WIP or latest finish, often both. Having said that I'm enjoying the Hue Shift Afghan more than I expected to when I first received the kit. 

I've kind of enjoyed having a set list to work from, but I've also found myself feeling a bit pressured to complete more (12 Things feel like you should finish a project a month) . I think I will challenge myself to get things done next year, but not set myself a fixed number, more of that in another post. 

12 Things in 2019 - March Progress

I feel like I've made good progress with my 12 Things projects this month... 

The Keep It Simple Shawl is finally blocked. Now I just have to figure out how to wear it! 

The Sparkle Punch Quilt top is complete. I need to practise my intended quilting design on a baby quilt and then this will be the first quilt to go on my quilting frame (finally).

About 290 rows out of 450 of the CBTL are complete, although there is an increase on every other row so this may slow down as the rows get longer.

I have also almost chosen the designs I will use for my two Xmas quilts, I just need to check I have enough light and dark strips. Hopefully get these started very soon. 

The details of this challenge and the list of projects included in it can be found HERE

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? 

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. 

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.

A bit of this and that

A very productive Friday night, for once I didn't fall asleep while knitting ( I have actually knitted while asleep - not a great success). Unfortunately two of the items I worked on are to be gifts, so there are some obscure photos coming up.

Firstly I finally got the quilting done on what I'd planned to be a quick project.

I've used my "in the ditch" foot for the first time and it seems to have worked. (Bought it as I'm not great at following lines, then when looking for something else I found that I'd had one all the time I've had the machine). I also basted the quilt within an inch of its life, so hopefully no pleats.

I also machined the binding, hand stitching awaits.

Another block of the Sparkle Punch Quilt was constructed; another seven to go. This quilt is still really pleasing to put together and thanks to some inspiration from an upcoming baby quilt I now know how I want to quilt this (I think!).

And finally I even managed a bit of knitting while catching up with last week's TV.

Quilts are like buses...

...you wait ages and then three come along at once .

I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a month. A combination of a holiday, family stuff, DIY and not taking photos has led to the break. I have been knitting and sewing when I can though. Still working my way through the RBTL wrap, still enjoying it luckily.

I have also been sewing and failed miserably to keep my self imposed one project at a time rule.

The Sparkle Punch quilt is coming on well, Elizabeth Hartman's construction instructions limit the number of seams to be matched in one go (lucky asvseam matching is a skill I don't really have yet). Ordered some quite loud backing fabric for this from Quilt Sandwich in hopes of finishing it soon.

I have also been commissioned to make a baby quilt for my partner's great niece

Not the best photo but fortunately I had these blocks already lurking in my stash so this will be a quick finish, hopefully next weekend.

And finally if I hadn't got enough to do I decided I needed to make a jelly roll race quilt.

I can't say too much about this, as it's meant as a surprise gift. I was a bit optimistic about how long the top takes to construct and then panicked slightly just before the last join that the top was going to be a funny size, but all seems well so far.

We have quilt off...

To be more accurate I should probably say "we have flimsy off" but it doesn't seem to sound right.

Anyway...

I have finally started sewing together the Sparkle Punch squares

First row, lots of concentration and double checking and I still managed to sew the first square on the wrong way round!

After some unpicking, a lot more concentration and a near miss with my finger and the needle I have two sections complete...

First square now the right way round

I am really liking how this is coming together, it's a little fiddly but definitely worth it and so far it seems very forgiving of seams not lining up exactly.

Quilt in waiting

I've finally finished laying out the Sparkle Punch Quilt.

Took about 3 hours all in all and it's lucky we have a large living room.

The next step was to break it down into manageable sections for sewing up.

Plenty of photos were taken during the bagging up process so hopefully it should all go together the right way.

There is likely to be little sewing going on at my house for a few weeks due to a break out of social events, but as soon as I can I will get back to this quilt.

Snowy Sunday

Even though it was freezing cold and gently snowing last night I hadn't expected to wake up to this ...

Luckily we hadn't got any outdoor activities planned for the day (although some serious pruning and a little planting is on the list of garden jobs) so snow didn't stop play.

In fact it seemed to make us more productive. As well as helping to strip most of the wallpaper in the dining room I also managed to start the layout for the Sparkle Punch Quilt.

I managed to get a little more done by the end of the day but it does take a surprisingly long time and it's amazingly easy to put a square in the wrong way round. I am loving the way it's coming together though, I may even get chance to sew some of it together this week.

The end is in sight!

At least the end of the prep work is in sight.  I have less than 20 sets of squares (five per set but who's really counting) to press and square up (and a few to unpick a little and re-sew but let's brush over that) and then I can figure out the lay out and start sewing the squares together (all 480 ish of them).

I wouldn't say the end is particularly near but at least it's in sight and there's a chance that this quilt will be finished this year!

FNSI - Results for January

I really enjoyed sewing along with everyone yesterday and I feel like I had a very productive FNSI. 

Friday night is the ideal time to use my sewing machine as there is no one around to disturb. That being the case I continued working on the Sparkle Punch Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman.

This is how my evening started...

And this is how it ended...

You have to sew two HSTs onto each white square, trimming down and pressing the seams in between.  The big pile is a mixture of blocks in the various stages (not focused enough to work logically through the block stages). On the left are the blocks which just need final squaring up and towards the back is my too impatient pile where I sewed all the triangles on without trimming and pressing in between, these need some unpicking.

I'm really enjoying making up these blocks although I'm not too sure about the final stage of sewing together the 500+ squares!

I also managed to binge watch several episodes of Scandal while sewing, I'd forgotten how much I like that show.

If you want to see what everyone else got up to during FNSI pop over to our wonderful host Wendy's blog.

What have I achieved this week?

Quite a lot is the answer, which is surprising considering we were away until Tuesday and I didn't take any crafty stuff with me, and then this week has been busy with post Xmas return to normality.

Anyway, I've finished my first Xmas thing (although not sewn it up) and cast on the next ... don't worry I'm not going to post any more blurry photos!

I've finished the binding on my first table runner

which is lucky as I'd like to give it to my mum this weekend.

I've also completed another square of the blanket (47/49 probably).

And I've put a bit more of a dent in the blocks for my sister's quilt.

From this

to this

with another good few just needing squaring up.

The not so good news is the sizeable pile (just visible at the top of the photo above) I sewed together without reminding myself of the method (this became obvious when I found a pile of "in progress at various stages" blocks).
I need to have a good look at them but I'm hoping I'll only have to undo part of a seam, worse case is one whole seam but they shouldn't take too long to put back together.

Sunday Progress

A fair amount of progress to report this weekend.

Firstly a finish...

My magic loop socks are off the needles and on my feet.  The magic loop technique took a little getting used to but I'll definitely use it again, I didn't miss juggling multiple dpns.

Next, I've started binding the table runners...

I found the binding fabric in my stash, I was going to use plain black fabric but in reality it looked a bit harsh.  I'm glad I had a large enough piece of the spotty fabric, I still have enough of it for its original project too.

I've re-started my next sewing UFO; not a huge amount done but it's got me back in the groove.

And finally there's the Xmas things...

Enough said about that at the moment! (Although it does seem to be going a little better)