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.

City Lights Quilt

I've finally managed to finish my City Lights Quilt top -

and press ganged the 12 year old into displaying it in the garden for me. Sadly it doesn't do the fabric justice. I also realised half way through sewing it together that it might have been a bit easier if I had trimmed all the blocks, but fortunately it doesn't seem to have affected it much.

I also got some fabric through recently from Pink Castle Fabrics in the States (they've got a fantastic discount code at the moment until the end of the month)

Some lovely Tula Pink, some of Laurie Wisbrun's perfectly perched and some of Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley Pie Basket (I love this print) with a touch of Joel Dewberry to finish. It's going in the stash - for now.

MORE Happy Mail! (AKA a very happy byproduct of Christmas Shopping)

Okay - so I know it feels too early for Christmas Shopping, but I also have 6 birthdays of family and godsons between 30 November and 30 December so I need to get cracking!(For fear of cracking up completely).

Anyway a lovely parcel arrived from The Book People. And amongst all the Christmas presents I had treated myself to Mollie Makes Christmas. I hadn't been going to as I already have quite a lot of Christmas Books, but as it was cheaper than buying  a magazine, I decided to risk it.

I am so glad I did! It is lovely. The projects (19 of them) are very much in the style of the Mollie Makes magazine. There are a Festive Ideas and Christmas Inspiration sections with the blog and web addresses of crafters and makers (Looking forward to some new inspirational sites :-)  )

There are so many different types of projects -

Super cute Needle felted houses - I might finally have to succumb to the felting bug:

A cheeky amigurumi reindeer:

Lovely folded paper Christmas tree:

Fabulous purple felt wreath:

I'm seriously considering giving this one a go (even with the risk my daughter will want it as it's her favourite colour). I thought it might be a bit expensive as you need 1.5 metres of felt, but I discovered that would cost about £11.25 (plus postage and packing) from paper-and-string, which doesn't seem too bad.

There are also a couple of knitting projects, a lovely tote bag with a modern santa applique as well as some other sewing, crochet and papercraft items. My absolute favourite though is this:

Shame I don't have an i-pad (nor is that likely to change) but the direction say it is easy to scale down to fit other gadgets - so I think my i-pod touch may be getting a new cosy very soon.

Happy mail!

I got a new book through the post today, courtesy of Amazon UK. (I seem to do a frightening amount of purchasing through Amazon - is it just me, or does anybody else find that?) This time thanks to a gift voucher that I got for my birthday earlier in the year.

It is Pretty in Patchwork : Holidays by John Adams (also known as Quilt Dad). There are some lovely projects in it - the gift card holders that double up as Christmas Tree Ornaments, some gorgeous wine bottle gift bags (I'm not sure I could face giving those away - I might have to ask for them back in fear that they would get put in the bin, and that wouldn't be in the spirit of gift giving at all), table runners, quilts, pillow cases, I could go on and on.

But what really sold it to me were the polar bear and penguin cushion covers (and the polar bear decorative hoop!)