A new crochet project....

I was pleased with myself when I remembered to join in with Friday Night Sew In on Friday, and equally displeased with  myself when I forgot to do a blogpost about it before the end of the weekend!!

On Friday night I snuggled into my comfy chair and continued on with the the Quinn Blanket I started a few weeks ago when we were on a road trip.

I made a good start and was part way through another one when wee Tammy woke up and decided that the crochet she had (mostly) ignored previously looked very tempting after all.......

After a bit of untangling I was able to continue!

I've amounted a good number of them but still need a lot more if I want a decent sized blanket!

These will be crocheted together so we leave a long tail to do that (meaning there are messy threads everywhere just at the moment!).

And here are the half hexagons for evening out the edges -

I'm really enjoying making these, as long as Tammy keeps her paws to herself!!

To see what others got up to on Friday night, please visit *here*. Thank  you Wendy for hosting us :-)

'til next time,

Happy stitches,
Raewyn

January's FNSI

Gosh, the weekend has really flown by and I'd best get myself organised to write a post... I signed up to take part in Friday Night Sew In with Wendy of Sugarlane Designs...and part of the deal is, you write a post by the end of the weekend. There's also a Facebook option but, although I have FB, I'm not really active there and rarely post anything. So it's the (less instant) blog option for me!

Last post I mentioned that I was stitching a wee scissor keep set. So I continued on with that on Friday night —

I suspect I should have used a single thread for my Xs but I'm not changing that now! 

These are the pin keep stitcheries. The thread isn't as washed out looking in real life.

I'll make these two items up and then stitch the third, the scissor fob.

Thank you Wendy for hosting us. Please visiting her blog *here* to see who else joined in.

I realise I haven't shown the Hugs and Kisses stitcheries I was doing earlier in the month. It was suggested we stitch one-a-day during December but that didn't happen!

This was what I had done last time I shared.

And this is where I am up to. I'll pick this up again when I've finished the blue stitcheries.

In the same post I showed you the Loon that Mum was stitching while she was here. It was very fiddly as she was using a tiny weave, and there are lots of similar shades of colour use, plus lots of 3/4 stitches. However she made good progress and when she went home she'd done this much —

Yesterday three of us had an extra day at work; it was sort of a sew day but turned into more of a planning day. I took, and set up, my machine but didn't sew a stitch! We had fabrics piled from one end of the work room to the other.

 It's always hard work going through shelves of fabric and dreaming of sewing, but it was a fun day! I came home with a new pile of fabric to sew, but that will have to wait for another post.

It had been a busy week with two days of work, two days of children, and visitors for a day. So this morning I was quite happy to potter and catch up on washing, tidying, cleaning etc. I cooked up some plums, and some courgette marrow so felt quite happy with all that.

I wondered where wee Miss Tammy kitten had gotten to while I was busy and discovered her when I sat down after lunch to do the farm accounts —

Hmm shame she didn't pay them for me while she was there!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Raewyn

First FNSI of 2023

Friday night marked the first Friday Night Sew In of 2023...thank you Wendy of Sugarlane Designs for continuing on with this fun little sew along. It's always nice to connect with other crafters through the link up.

Friday nights are a push for me; after work (away from home) for the day, a visit to two 4 year olds and then a quick supermarket shop, I was more than happy to relax in my comfy chair and catch up with a little handwork. I work on Life Is Beautiful by Hugs n Kisses from time to time and just had the running stitch to do around the outside.

This is my previously completed block. I have a few lined up where I have done the applique element and they are waiting for the stitchery.

Once I completed that block, I continued on with this Christmas stitchery; it's a repeat block from the set I shared about *here*...I bought a second one of this design as I thought it would make a nice gift for someone one day —

A little progress —

And then I realised that I didn't stitch the flower in the corner of the sheep/kiwi block so I will do that before I forget about it again!!!

The rest of the weekend flew by (which is why I am posting this on Monday morning and not Friday/Saturday or Sunday as would be ideal!). On Saturday us 'girls' who work at The Country Yard went for a road trip down to our main wholesaler to top up on fabrics for our new projects for the year...we are currently trying to stitch up a storm for our upcoming New Year's Launch.

On Sunday we had family visiting - I did do a spot of sewing - YD had me do some remedial stitching on some new togs to improve their fit. Can't have them falling off in the pool —

It looks like another busy week is heading our way....

'til next time

Happy stitches,

Friday Night

I haven't been able to join in with Friday sewing events for a while so I was pleased when the stars lined up last night, and I could take part in Wendy's Friday Night Sew In this month.

Friday's a busy day for me, it's the day I work at the quiltshop then I race home for farm chores - at the moment there are lots of hungry calves needing feeding. But I was relatively organised with dinner and by the time it was dark, I was happily ensconced in my stitching chair ♥

First of all, I finished sewing the last of my hexie-flowers onto background fabric —

Here is the little team of hexies I have made for my 2022 quilt —

Next I started a stitchery I have had my eye on for the last few weeks but hadn't got to.

It's a sweet stitchery gifted in the Tilda Lovers Group (FB). I have a rough idea what I would like to do with it, but I am hoping that a firmer plan will form as I stitch! As you can see, I didn't get very far but I'm pleased I made a start.

(To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. Such a sweet sentiment.)

On Saturday morning I was able to sew a few last seams on my latest churndashes. August has been a slow month in the land of Chrundashes but I'm hoping to dedicate a bit of time to them in the coming week to get my tally up. I need 39 of this size (6") for the quilt I am doing and I am up to 31 so that's not bad!

Thank you very much Wendy, for hosting Friday Night Sew In. To see who else took part, you can visit her Sugarlane Designs blog *here*.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Friday Night and Saturday night Sew In

Friday night this week was Friday Night Sew In  - I was happy to join in and spend the evening with like minded crafters from around the globe.
It had been a busy week and I hadn't had a chance to prep anything for my evenings in my comfy chair so I've been knitting some more dishclothes. I had made some last year from cotton yarn that had been sitting around for a while. I wanted to keep knitting until I used it all up.

They don't look too bad......in this photo —

Nor in this photo —

But in this photo you see that I have created probably the ugliest dishcloth ever created 😔

Haha as I ran out of one cotton I added another and just kept on knitting until the end.

Definitely not one for the gift box, however I am sure my kitchen bench is not going to mind being wiped down by an ugly cloth!

On the positive side, this is all I have left from four skeins of the cotton yarn.

I knitted all of these cloths with two strands of yarn using *this pattern* which I found in Ravelry.

On Saturday I made sure I did some preparation so that I had something to do in the evening! 
I'm back to working on the Sip Tea and EPP mystery project that was run on Instagram in January. No longer a mystery, it's a lovely little sewing folder. 

This was how far I'd got —

After machine sewing it together yesterday afternoon, last night I sewed the opening up and attached the rosette.

There are a few more decorative features to add so I will continue on with it tonight.
(This was a free sewalong designed by @stitchingnotes and @nordiccrafter (on Instagram). They now have a detailed pattern available which I ended up purchasing to save back and forthing between all the posts. It's available *here* or *here*.)

Thank you Wendy for hosting us this weekend ♥

I have a bit of time left this afternoon before the evening rolls in so I hope to cut some Bear and Popstar blocks for the week's sewing. 

We have had a heavy rain warning for today/tonight but so far no rain has come although there has been a lot of wind. We really need a decent rain so we are hoping something will happen.
I've been starting my dinner prep a bit early so that I can cook up a pot of apples while the meal cooks. A bottle of stewed fruit a night keeps up with the windfalls and makes it less of a task for me.

So with all that in mind,

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Stitching away

Friday Night Sew-In saw me settled in my comfy chair with a bit of hand sewing.

I've started another block for my Wings and Pretty Things quilt; there's not much to show yet but it is a good little start!

I finished the flower but needed to do a little prep work before I could continue, so I pulled out my current stitchery project, Memory Lane, to work on instead —

Since I last shared this project, I've finished a couple more blocks so I am nearly done with month 3 - still very behind though!

This weekend I'm trying to get the requested Barbie clothes done so I can put all the 'doll-making' bits away. 

Pyjamas are on the cutting board at the moment and here is a pair I completed yesterday —

(NO, I didn't do tiny little buttonholes, there's Velcro tape sewn on the underside and the buttons are for decoration only!)

Well I'd best get back to those fiddly seams, thank you Wendy for hosting FNSI!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Chrissy pudding and baskets

I am making a little headway with The Santa, The Tree, The Turkey and Me, a block of the month by Anni Downs.

I recently got block five finished —

and have sewn it to the previous block —

On Friday evening during Friday Night Sew In I continued on with block six. This is a small piece that will be appliqued to the rest of the block.

I finished all that I had prepped —

The photo below shows the final berries that needed sewing down; I've since done that so I can now start on the main part of the block.

But for the rest of the evening (and again on Saturday night) I pulled out a basket block to stitch.

Michelle shared this pattern with us during lockdown last year. Something to do to help prevent us all becoming basket cases (!). I was initially going to add a round of them to my lockdown quilt but I think I may be tempted to keep making them and create a whole quilt of them. They're a nice little block to do when you haven't got anything else close by, and a great use of scraps!

I'm not sure what's going to happen with my lockdown quilt....I may end up pulling it apart and doing other things with the blocks. That's something to think about on another day!

A big thank you to Wendy for hosting Friday Night Sew In again this month. And I'm sending hugs and Birthday wishes your way, Wendy, I hope your day was special.

'til next time,
happy stitches,