Weekend musings

It's another wet Sunday in Sussex - very wet! I'd show you a photo, but it's just depressing, and I'm not sure that nearly everybody else in the UK hasn't got a similar view of unrelenting rain outside their window too.

We did manage a nice -  though chilly and muddy - walk up on the Ashdown Forest yesterday.

 Large flakes of snow started to fall as we headed back to the car. Thankfully it didn't last long and none settled. We headed back into the warmth and then the delights of heading out to buy new scout trousers. The just-turned-13-and is-taller-than-me boy has apparently outgrown all the child sizes. Unfortunately the smallest adult size is a 30in waist! That's quite a difference from the largest child size .  I foresee a bit of taking up and taking in in my future - not one of my favourite sewing tasks.

I got as far as cutting out the velveteen and voile for the first infinity scarf, only to discover that the plum coloured voile from Free Spirit that is supposed to be 54" wide, the same as the Anna Maria Horner Velveteens (and Voiles), is in fact about 2 - 3" narrower. Grrrr.

So - do I make the scarf 3" shorter or do I cut a section from the other 1/4 yard  scarf length to make it up? If I take the first option and it is too short to comfortably used, then I've wasted the velveteen by cutting it short. If I take the second option then I can only get one scarf out of the voile, not two.

So has anyone else made an infinity scarf with  9" wide, 50" long pieces of fabric? Did it work out OK?

On the plus side, I tried out Pippa's pancake recipe for pudding at Sunday lunch and they turned out brilliantly!

Thanks Pippa.

Progress

I finally completed two more Swoon blocks

 

Beautifully modelled by my able assistant!

My Friend and I also had a Sunday morning sewing session belatedly starting January's blocks for the Block of the Month we're following  - thought the advantage of following last year's course means that we might be able to get ahead of ourselves!

They need another press, and squaring up, but on the whole I'm pleased. We've set ourselves February's blocks as "homework" and are hoping to get together in March to do the next two blocks. It's fun and has re motivated my friend who hasn't really sewn anything for months. Actually, neither have I really.......

How to give your OH a severe shock

I was going to title this post "How to give your husband a heartattack" but then thought it sounded a bit too flippant about a very serious medical issue so thought better of it!

I've started the 2012 Craftsy Block of the Month with a friend (we decided we liked it better than the 2013!) and needed background fabric. So I ordered it from The Remnant House and told my husband.

So when this arrived :

You can imagine how much fabric he thought I had ordered - and how much it had cost!

I put him out of his misery and opened it up to reveal:

Two cushions, 1 metre of clear vinyl (I'm going to try using it like a supreme slider (only bigger, and cheaper)when I next try quilting) and 4 meters of Klona grey cotton. His colour came back and he headed off to work before he had any more unpleasant surprises.

I decided to order some fabric from the states before the postage went up - so it took a little of the sting out of the VAT charge on the order when it arrived

I'd ordered some of the Anna Maria Horner velveteen and voiles that were on sale at Hawthorn threads to make some infinity scarves following the tutorial at Fancy Tiger Crafts.
The voile feels amazing - I think the combination of the two is going to be really lovely - and should mean that I can stop wearing my great big knitted scarf in the office (it's really not an indoors type scarf at all). Er, yes a couple of other fabrics kind of snuck in too...

I haven't told him that I also ordered fabric from the Intrepid Thread too - so there may be more customs fees to pay.

2013 Finish-a-long

Having had an even busier end to the year than normal, nothing much other than daily life seems to have happened for some time. It wouldn't have made for interesting Blog posts!

Looking back last year, I really didn't get much made - or finished - so I am linking up to Leanne at she can quilt who is running the 2013 Finish A Long. I am hoping that this spurs me on to get behind the sewing machine and finish things. I really put off the quilting, so I'm hoping that I also start to come to grips with it this year - I'm never going to get any better unless I actually do some/practise it.

So here are my items for the First Quarter:

1. My Christmas Tree Skirt - started November 2011. I finally finished the quilting on it over the Christmas Break, So I only need to stay stitch and cut the openings, make some Bias Binding and bind it. If I don't do it know, it will be put away until Christmas 2013, and won't be finished in time to go round the tree - again!

2. A very simple quilt for my daughter - the "top" (a panel print that I surrounded with a border) - I already have the super soft fleece to use as the wadding/backing, so this only really needs quilting and binding.

3. My Busy Lizzie quilt - this is the first quilt I ever made, from a kit from The Quilt Room. It is so nearly finished - I just need to finish hand sewing the binding down - so quite why it has been lurking in my wardrobe for at least a year in this state, I don't know.

4. My City Lights quilt - the top is finished, I have the backing fabric and wadding, so it just needs to be turned into a finished quilt!

5. Continue My Swoon Quilt - I have stalled at two blocks - all my background fabric for the blocks is cut, and I have cut out the fabric for the next two blocks, so no reason not to make progress. Honestly? I know that this will not be a finished quilt by the end of the quarter, but I hope that I will have made some more progress.

Not sewing, but I really need to finish my Dad's socks

I am so nearly there - I am on the shaping of the toe on the second sock, so just need to finish this and then sew in the ends and block them.

My oldest UFO is also knitting :

This is a panelled jacket for my Mum which I started a few years ago (hangs head in shame) - I actually went to sew it all together at the start of December - and promptly discovered that two of the front panels are two small. I need to re knit those and then sew it together. It would feel really good to not have this one hanging around any longer.

I think I might be busy for a while.......

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:

I was very fortunate to recently win not one, but two giveaways.

The first was from Tactile Fabrics through Plum and June's blog - I got a beautiful bundle of delicious Art Gallery fabrics. These look as though they have a higher thread count than most quilting cottons and feel gorgeous.( I am a little worried though, as my daughter has been eying them up)

The Second giveaway was from Sarah of Pings and Needles - my comment on the Turkey Hat picture was her favourite ( I think she was being kind!) and Sarah sent me three lovely FQ's of chocolatey brown fabrics - yum - low calorie too.

The Bad:

It started when
1) My hairdryer died and had to be replaced,
2) Then the dining room light fitting fizzled and died too
3) Followed by our lovely (but rather expensive) coffee machine (hopefully due back from being (expensively) repaired next week)
4) But the final straw? (And I really rally hope it is the final)The washing machine died completely last week. The new one is being delivered today - anytime after 7 am....

And The Ugly?

See 4) above!

Constructive Destruction

We have the tree surgeons in today for much removal of old and battered conifirs and a dead juniper tree. This was the scene from the back door about an hour ago before they started:

It's not looking much like that now!

Half Term Visits

We had another flying visit up North during half term, and finally got round to taking the children to my all time favourite National Trust property - Cragside.

Despite being a very large house, it actually feels quite comfortable, and liveable in. There were lots of patchwork quilts on beds:

And I liked how all the needlework was left out in the (ladies) sitting room

The autumn colours outside were beautiful too - much more vibrant than we have seen at home. Cragside is in Northumbria and I suspect that it is just colder enough to bring out these colours as the leaves turn and fall.

I just wish we had had more time and could have done some of the walks through the Estate.