In Love Again.....

With my sewing machine that is!
January is always an unproductive month for me. I don't know why, but each year starts off with lots to do and no enthusiasm to do it. But after chopping up all that stash and making the shorts, I pulled myself together and got on with things that need to be done.

This little chappie has become my new best friend . Have you used an "Add A Quarter" ruler? It certainly makes Foundation Piecing easier, and the "Add and Eighth" is even better if you are working on a miniature.

This month's Mini Mania Challenge is Pineapple Log Cabin. we are using the template from Little Mushroom Cap and the blocks finish at 3"

I have been printing these patterns onto tracing paper (just a pad from the local stationers) which goes through my printer without too much messing and I find much easier to work with when the pieces are soooo tiny!

The stitching perforates the papers, so then they are quite easy to rip out.

I also had another Foundation Pieced project on the back burner, so got that all printed and stitched while I was on a roll

The Add an Eighth does not work however, if you forget to fold your just added piece back before you cut!!

not the only time I did this!

 But by Sunday tea time all the sewing had been done and papers torn

 So two projects ready for finishing this week

And I made one of these!  Magic Custard Cake - it really is magic how you pour a very runny mixture into the pan and out comes a three layer cake?!?!?

 And - I have just one more round on my crochet blanket and that is another finish!!!

my lovely bag (gifted in a swap ) ready for Crochet Club last Friday

 And- We had a Project Linus Day at my local group today and I managed to get 4 quilts completed from start to finish!!

Not particularly challenging, but they are pretty!

So all in all - a good week I think.

Have you seen this quilt?  I have been downloading the patterns and have sorted fabric, so I may have given myself something else to keep me busy!

Off to get that blanket finished so I can start on this pattern. I have had a look, and can't seem to get it started properly so need a clear run I think!

 Oh - you remember the paint colour choices?

Well, we ( and when I say "we" I do mean Mr T!) have painted twice, and are off to get a third colour later in the week!

I'm not usually this fussy!!

Productive Ponderings *** EDITED***

*** Edited**** to add this photo of Ann's lovely February Mini which she has made into a cushion.   

another lovely sample

I have had quite a productive week, I did (eventually) get the elastic threaded through all of the 46 pairs of shorts for the Dress A Child Charity. They are now all ready to be handed over. I think it may have taken as long to thread them as did actually make them!!!

I didn't get the cardigan finished for Little Miss before we went to visit - I did try but it takes longer to finish off than you think doesn't it?

Anyway, that's done now, posted off and received, and it fits - Yay! 

Love a bit of white knitting!

 I have cast on a pair of socks in some bright yarn and on this tiny circular needle

 That is coming on nicely, and is knitting up quite different to what I had expected.

 Many years ago, my mother knitted socks for...... everyone. She was always knitting or sewing and when my two were little, I would say that I had bought a (whatever colour) pair of trousers or dress on a Thursday and by Saturday, they had a matching cardigan or jumper! She was quick.

After she passed, I had put all of her stash of yarn in my loft because I just didn't know what to do with it.  A couple of years ago, a good friend had started to make socks for a camping trip and I gifted her a rather large bag of lovely sock yarn, because I was NEVER going to make a pair of socks - I just didn't have the time !
Anyway, said friend used all of the bag including all the leftover bits. Which is good. But now I have more time I have started doing a bit more knitting and am learning to crochet too, so I am now purchasing some of the same yarns that I gave away!  "C'est La Vie "

 This is my first pair of socks, and we will see how they go.

On Sunday we had our Mini Mania reveal
We had 10 entries this month

mine 8 1/2" sqaure

Angie's

Karen's

Dee's (blogged here)

Becca's (blogged here)

Lynda's

Laney's  (blogged here)

Jo's (blogged here)

Janie's

Carol's (blogged here)

The brief was to make a minimum of 9 blocks and make a Sampler Quilt.

All so different

Didn't we do well?!!! 

February's Mini is Pineapple Log Cabin and we are using this tutorial  from Little Mushroom Cap.  All printed out ready - and you can join us too

all printed out onto tracing paper

We can make as many blocks as we wish, and the Mini Quilt must measure no more than 24" .   The blocks are printed at 3" finished but we can increase that to 4" if we wish
 One of our members has worked out how many pieces per block.

 I may be re-thinking the number that I make..........

 AND..... We have cleared out the garage - Hubby had a fit,  but did as I asked and now there is empty floorspace and tools put where they should be.

HeHeHe!  He won't be asking me for assistance again in a hurry!!

AND ---- Just how hard is it to decide on a paint colour for our hallway!!!

 We have picked one and I do like it, but not sure about the look of the room. 1960's hospital comes to mind..........

Might just go back to "beige"


  

Mini Mania January Reveal

 It's a good job that I cracked on with the December/January Mini Mania early on in December because since Christmas, my sewing mojo has deserted me. I have loads to do, just no motivation to get on with it.

I have spent many hours playing with beads and making Christmas baubles in all sorts of colours and patterns and I am sure there will be more where these came from

 It's not that I've been idle. I have made good progress with my crochet blanket and once a week I make myself sew all the ends in

There's a lot of ends......

But I think I only have a dozen or so rows to complete before I stitch a border and then done!

That has been put to one side as Little Miss needs a new white cardigan so that has taken priority. Hopefully I will get the last sleeve finished and the border knitted up before we see her next. If not it will go off in the post and we always have a "thank you" video so that is lovely. How that child is growing!

my lovely Yarn-bowl bought at Fibre East last year

Back to the Mini Mania

I had sorted out some fabrics for this challenge, but I had also sorted out some of the leftover half square triangles from previous Minis and thought that it would be a good idea to use these.  We are making a Sampler Quilt and I was planning on 3" blocks.

My first block went together well, but my calculations were a "bit" awry ! 

Duh!! finished size is one and a half inches!!

 But I have made one block, so I can't waste that can I?

You know when you sew a strip on the wrong side?  And then on the right side but the wrong way round?  Twice ?  Yup. That was me!

still not giving up!

 Well, I got nine blocks done and thought it best to cut my losses and leave it at that.

 Quilting commenced and binding added

but I don't like the binding .......

 So off came the binding and changed for a softer colour.

Nine blocks and a finished quilt size of 8 1/2"

I have given myself a bit of  a kick up the whatsit and pulled a load of fabrics that I have had for a while and am surely never going to use because I have more that I like better.

A few hours using the over-locker

and a few more on the sewing machine has

resulted in 46 pairs of shorts that will be sent off to the Dress a Child Charity 

Just need to finish threading the elastic through all those waistbands...

Oh! And I whizzed up 9 more knitting bags with those bits and now I have a whole empty drawer.

And a "need to think about this" project has begun. I had been given an old faux leather tub chair which I plan to re-cover (hate leather and faux leather even more)
 I have been wondering how best to take a pattern for this when Darling Daughter came to visit.........

One chair "uncovered" and old cover ready as pattern!

 Brilliant!!

A Trip to the Seaside

Great weekend last week. Trotted off to Essex to babysit whilst E&T went house hunting, then went off to have dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant before going to see what turned out to be a great show.

Let It Be  - the story of the Beatles music was on at the Cliffs Paviilion

They get lots of the newest shows there, often trying them out before they go to the West End.

The tickets were a Christmas gift and Mr T was really looking forward to it as he is a big Beatles fan. Me - I like some of the earlier stuff but thought they got a bit weird , but I'm always up for a night out.

It was GREAT.  Mr T - having seen the real thing ( cos he is old enough!) actually thought that it sounded better than the real thing on stage. We did laugh though, as I am sure there were far more bald heads there, than would have been at an original show!!

Sunday morning saw us walk the length of Southend Pier - 1.4 mile into the Thames estuary and the longest pleasure pier in the world! The wind had dropped and it was a really pleasant walk with the sun trying to peep through the haze.

Little Miss walked some of the way, and then wanted a carry and within minutes she had fallen asleep!  

This pic was taken whilst she was sitting on my lap, sparko, and whilst I indulged in a cup of hot chocolate with the obligatory marshmallows,

looks very grey, but it was lovely.

 You can see how calm the water was. I rather fancy having a go at this kayaking business, but it would need to be a bit warmer!

 There is a train that runs the length of the pier, so we hopped on board for the return journey , which was good as the sun had given up and the temperature had dropped considerably.

just woken up face!

It was our All Day session at Piecemakers so I set about using up some lovely Moda samples and made 6 knitting bags that will end up on some charity stall in the future

Not much sewing done other than that. I am trying my best to get that HUGE crochet blanket finished , so I can move onto the next idea. I do have a cardigan to knit in the meantime!

I have drawn up my pattern for my Piecemakers Challenge, and have sorted out the fabrics, but I can't show you just yet.

Its been so grey and miserable that's a bit how I feel, have finished the week with a grotty sore throat and even my eyeballs ache so i am off to huddle under that blanket. I feel a nap will commence before any stitching does!

Getting On With It

 Well, I've got to get on with SOMETHING!
December seemed to be full of interuptions, last minute requests that I can't say "No" to, and generally messing about.

So far January has not been much better - BUT - though I had planned a sewing day on Wednesday, Mr T decided that he was going to tidy the loft!
Now don't get me wrong, my man is a gem. Very laid back, helps out loads with the domestic stuff, and lets me get away with murder, but his idea of tidying will be to move stuff from one side to the other.

So off up into the loft I went with him and two hours later, it's almost done, and dear hubby looking like he had been hit by a wet fish!  One trip to the tip, and one to the Charity shop and we have cleared all of our ..... why do we keep stuff .. stuff.

A small section needs to be viewed by the "children" and then I can happily say that what is up there will be used again ( Christmas decs and Suitcases)

So now we are at Thursday and so I went straight into my little sewing room and started sorting fabrics (from my scraps - why do they never seem to diminish?)

 As I was about to get on with this months Mini Mania, I don't need much fabric, but I had sorted some half square triangles that had been left over from previous Mini makes so decided to go with them.  My maths brain was still obviously laying on my pillow, because I had anticipated the blocks finishing at 3"

 WRONG!  Finished One and a half inches!  But I had done 1 so 8 more couldn't be to hard?
 I whizzed up some 1/4 square triangles but sewed the last row onto the wrong side! Stupid! So unpick and re sew but this time the wrong way round. Unpick and re sew. WRONG AGAIN!!  Fourth time lucky

By bedtime the front was finished and Friday saw the whole thing quilted and bound.

 All will be revealed at the end of the month. We have a new member to our little group, and I know that she has started her so an extra one to see this time. Still time to join in if you are interested.

After the disappointment of how my first "swap" went ( people not generally joining in with the communication and then dropping out at the last minute so having been given a third partner my bag went off LAST in the group, though it had been finished for over 5 months) - well I was asked by a different Instagram friend, to join in the Totes Amaze-balls swap. So I have. 

 I have chosen my pattern, and found some Zombie type fabric ( so not my thing, but it seems my partner favours this theme) quite by chance so I felt that it was a "sign".
 I am using Noodlehead's Cross Body Bag pattern but wanted to increase the size a bit but when I went to my printer (that had worked perfectly the previous day) it would not print anything black!  6 hours later I was still messing about with it but it has died. Just one day after I had put £60 worth of new ink cartridges in it!  Long story later - I have a new (to me) printer that needs the same cartridges so was able to print of the pattern pieces 20% larger, and actually cut my fabric!

Our first "check in" is at the end of January, and I am hoping that my bag will be done by then.
I must remember to take some progress pics as we have two more "check ins" and the final bag is to be posted off in May.

On the crochet front, the blanket that I am making has grown significantly and is quite cosy to work on now that the evenings are feeling colder. I am over half way I think, and seem to be getting a bit quicker.

I must remember that Double crochet does not grow as quickly as Trebles, but it is for darling daughter, and she likes it.