On A Mission

To clear TWO drawers of ...... not actually scraps, but fabrics that have been used and lager pieces left.

This now takes up two drawers, and has got to the point where I can't find anything!


One drawer has been tipped onto the floor for sorting

 The other drawers is waiting patiently

 Some pressed ready for cutting

Lots cut into 8" and 4" Squares  and the leftovers into 2 ½ squares

 These will be sewn together to make a very scrappy quilt that I will give to my friend to raise money for charity. 

One drawer is now EMPTY ! YAY!!!  and the other one half done, with only a few favorite pieces left intact.

But now to finish (or even start!) my March Mini Mania Challenge!!

Happy Easter to you All

Pooped!!

 After the busyness of Bunny makes last week The stall at Crazy Hats Walk raised a fabulous £512 with the event raising £4665!!!

A Great Big Thank You 

to all my lovely ladies who helped make 158 items !!!

All sewing stopped whilst Little Miss came to stay for a few days.

 Some long walks

some playtime

 And some gardening

 As well as lots of laughing at her antics before returning her to her rightful owners.

She is NO bother at all. But it is EXHAUSTING!!!

So the only crafty thing that I have done is casting on this lovely soft yarn for a  
Waiting For Rain shawl from Soft Sweater

 Do any of you use Ravelry? I can spend hours perusing the lovely knitting and crochet patterns, some paid for and many free.  

Just a sneaky peak because I haven't done much!!!

"Time" to Reveal

 This week was the big reveal of Higham Piecemakers 2015 Christmas Challenge.
This year we were given a fat 1/4 and a clock mechanism. 

Off you go !
 We were given this Challenge in December and by January I had drawn up my design

 Printed onto tracing paper

 Made friends with my Add an Eighth ruler again

 And began to sew the panels

 Making some rookie errors when trimming!

 Then the panels sat for a while because I was worried that they might not actually fit together!

 But they did, and I am happy with the results. I even found a little mouse button to add. This will go in Little Miss' new bedroom when they have moved home next week.

 There are lots more clocks o see if you pop over to Piecemakers Blog here

 After all the rain that we had had last week, the weather had improved and on Sunday  we wandered down the Greenway to the lakes to see what the water levels were like.

The river very high but had gone down considerable since the day before

Fields still flooded

 The sunshine made for a very pleasant walk

the ducks didn't know where the field finished and the lake started!

 On Monday,  whilst waiting to give a lift home from the hospital, I managed to crochet two more beanie hats for the Shoe Box appeal

nice rainbow yarn

 And I have finished knitting my "Nurmilintu" shawl

 Which needs blocking but I am in love with this super soft squishy yarn

 I pulled these out of the knitting basket and have "turned a heel" and have got to the toe shaping so am cracking on with these.

  And then ......

Last week I had an email asking if I could make a cake for this stall 
There is a group of us in the village that make cakes for anyone who is having a stall, but I also got a request for any "tra la's" to pretty the stall up. On an Easter theme so Bunnies would be lovely.

All other projects were put to one side and a couple of simple patterns and pretty fabrics were found

30 of these

some Bunny Pails

 These are great for an Egg Hunt

10 of these

 I had also popped a note onto the Piecemakers Blog, asking if anyone had the time or the inclination to make a bunny or two I would be grateful. I was thinking if we got 10 -15 items that would be a nice selection to pretty up the stall.

When I got to Group on Monday...... Well they had done it again

So many bunnies!!!

 The Wednesday ladies added to the mix
 and the 10 - 15 items???

125!!!

 Yes - 125 bunny and chick items to be handed over with the cakes later to day.

Thank you so much ladies

 I owe you one !!!

Mini Mania # 12 Reveal

 Don't you just love the the cheer that a pot of tulips brings!!

 I am still trying to decide what to make with the two balls of Icelandic wool that DD bought me last week.

But have been busy sewing some Open Wide Zipper Pouches to store some ongoing projects in.
For this one I used Bosal interfacing.

This is a bonded facing and is quite thick. Too thick to make this a quick project. One of these bags would normally take about half an hour to whip up, but using the Bosal caused all sorts of problems.  I did soldier on and am quite happy with the results. For the rest of the pile I am making, I will use "normal" Hobbs 80/20 wadding.

 And so to the reveal.  The Mini Mania Challenge for February was to use
 this pattern to make 3" Pineapple Log Cabin blocks.
As many as you like, but the finished quilt was to be no more than 24" big.

Carol started off making her blocks "freehand" but I think she got her sums a bit wrong - so use the template for 4 blocks

Blogged here

 Lynda kept hers tiny with a finished quilt of 8"

 Jo had added a fancy border

Blogged here

 Angie had been quite taken by the fact that Paper Foundation piecing had at last "clicked" so she made lots of blocks

 My Pineapple Pineapple

 Karen had use a bunch of solids for her design

 Ann added a spotty border to hers

Janie had gone completely Dotty!

 Laney had used Jewel colours

Blogged here

 Dee read that you could make as many blocks as you like.........

Blogged here

The March Challenge is all to do with numbers - pop over if you fancy joining us.

I CAN'T WAIT to see what Dee comes up with for this one!!!

I may have popped over to Wool Warehouse to purchase some of their
 Drops Sock Yarn whilst it is on sale

Some gorgeous colours

Don't Worry - it's not all for me!!

I'm On A Roll!

After over a month of feeling a bit 'Blurgh" as regards to sewing. I have now finished three sewing projects and one huge crochet project this past week or so.

Today we are revealing our #12 Mini Mania Challenge - This month was Pineapple Log Cabin.  We popped over to Little Mushroom Cap for a template that would finish 3" .  I printed my foundation papers onto tracing paper, I find that it is so easy to use, especially on these tiny pieces and it tears out easily too - no fear of ripping your stitches! A pad of 40 sheets is only £3.99 from my local stationers .


I made a test block with fabric from my scrap bin

 Which I actually quite liked, so I used every last scrap of that yellow dotty and managed to get 5 blocks out of it

 So I rummaged in the scraps for some other fabric that would go with it and got 9 blocks made in quite a short time

 Then out came the papers!

 So I was just going to add a tiny border - and then ----- I had an idea!

 I thought that the blocks actually resembled a Pineapple ( because all pineapples have turquoise bits don't they?)  so I added a top!

 This was a fun challenge and I can't wait to see what the other ladies have done with theirs.

 We had a trip down to see Little Miss last week and after a rather horrid journey home (2 hour journey took 3½  hours!) I picked this up from the door mat!
I won this in a give-away over on Instagram. It came from the
 Fat Quarter Shop in America in less than a week!

took it to bed with a cuppa!

 I have (at last) finished Darling Daughter's crochet blanket. It is much bigger than I had planned (60" square)  But when you have done your foundation chain and the first two rows of 220 stitches, you aren't going to unpick it are you - just soldier on!

 She is pleased with it, so that's a win.  I worked out (WHY?) that this blanket took over 155,000 swishes of my hook!

 You know when you are on the last leg of moving all of your stuff from one room to another?  Well, it has taken a while, because the old room was not waiting for anything. But I opened a little box and found all these pieces cut out.

Oh My Goodness!  This was a duplicate (but in a different colour-way) to the first mini quilt that I made nearly 2 years ago!

April 2014

So a quick recap on the tutorial and I set to sewing them all together.

 Two afternoons and it was done.

The third sewing finish - I have added the finishing touches to my
Higham Piecemakers Christmas Challenge clock. The reveal will be at group in a couple of weeks so that will be kept under wraps until then.

 After finishing the crochet blanket, I thought I would tidy up all the scraps of yarn that were sitting in my basket, I used a simple free  Beanie Hat pattern and made these bright babies. They will be added to the Shoe Box appeal boxes

 I have had this skein of yarn ...... for a while and have been looking for the right shawl/scarf pattern to use it.

I have fallen in love with this one.

photo from Softsweater

But I would need two skeins so that will have to wait until I go to Yarndale in September

So this yarn will be made up into this pattern 

© Tiina Rammo

I have cast on and done a few rows but I will show this next time. The yarn is so soft, 50% silk and 50% baby camel. It's lovely

 Darling Daughter has had a little trip to Iceland, and brought me these two balls of Icelandic yarn. 

 So I need to find the right pattern for that.

And then Yesterday this little cutie made a surprise visit ! So all of my lovely family were at home together for lunch ( because you can always stretch a roastie to three extra mouths can't you?)  A few hours and the house looked like a bomb but who cares? 

such a cheeky grin