2020 Wk 46 - What shall I show you today?

 Maybe you have forgotten that I sew Gingers?  Someone asked me the other day if I had counted them - maybe I should have done - but I'm not even due I'm prepared to count how many times I have ordered more 'ginger' felt as I'd run out!  So the latest have been some Yule Nissen (in Norwegian), aka Tomte (Swedish) and gnomes.  They are actually gingers under their boots and gloves and clothes and beards! 

I also stitched a ginger Nativity set.  This one isn't my design, I bought it from Memories in Thread.  I'm not convinced about some on the animals - the big sheet is HUGE and the camel looks lire like a lama, but the rest is quite cute.  Someone suggested stitching a stable (with some small buttons) and adding one character a day as an advent calendar - it might have to start in the middle of December rather than the first!!! (there is one more wise man who missed the photo shoot, and I guess a star, and the moon, and some more shepherds and farm animals could bulk it out - maybe a project for next year?)

My girls are (thankfully) too old for the Elf on the Shelf project but I have friends who prepare some brilliant escapades for their elves: I mentioned that M-I-T  has designed some costumes for elves and got talked into making this!!!!

Another friend sent me a link to a design like this on Pinterest.  It was fun to design and stitch but I'm not really sure what to do with it next . . .  so it's gone to her in the post  and can be here problem now!!

The triangle EPP quilt is growing: I'm not sure how big it will get: I'm sure it will tell me when it's big enough or I will tell it there are no more triangles!!!

But for now I still have plenty of tacked triangles and ready-to-be-tacked triangles to add

I haven't bought much fabric (felt doesn't count does it?)

But Jackie sent me a pic of this zippy pouch she's made, (and has promised to teach me when we can meet up) 

and about ten minutes later I saw this fabric for sale, so I kind of HAD to buy some as I think it will be perfect for the pouches!

Well I've actually had some orders for some Yule Nissen gingers so I'm going to go and do some "work"!  Have great weekend

2002 Wk 45 - Where does time go?

 I actually done some quilting!  I'm part of a FB hexi flower swap: we get a different theme each month.  I made six roughly the same, keep one and post the others out, and bu the end of the next month I should have 6 (including mine) Here are my November (poppies theme) ready to be posted)

And my October forget-me-not themed flowers that have arrived

I joined all the previous ones together into a flimsey and quilted it

And have now added the binding, so it's all ready for Linus Quilts

The vicar's wife sent me this message and photo!  It's so lovely to see quilts being used and loved after all these years!

Husband and I had a day out (just before lockdown 2) at Saville Gardens.  I didn't take many pics but I rather liked this installation which has water continuously cascading down the discs 

And we were rather taken with this too

I have been EPPing - triangles rather than hexies this time - it's growing

and I've had yet another attempt at my circular crochet - clearly I've just found yet another way to make a bowl rather than a flat circle!!!

Two friends came and sat socially distanced while we have a lovely "Crafternoon" thank you Lynne and Tara for your company and a lovely afternoon (as well as the cakes and scones!!!)

I decided to go large for a Remembrance Day ginger

And made this for friends who are moving out of the village.  I cant find a photo of all the house but here is part of it and my version.  They were delighted!

2020 Wk 44 - Gingers and Stuff!

I've been experimenting with some new Christmassy Gingers (one is an adaptation of Sue's (Memories in Thread) but the other two are my ideas

And I've made (and lost, but luckily husband then found) a set of Gingers for a friend for her colleagues

I meant to show this lovely Birthday card - I love the eclectic stitching!

A few easy jobs for Lizzie - Sky was given a jacket but it had the previous owner's name on it, so a quick patch was made and stitched on, and can be replaced when it gets handed down to the next one.

And Breeze's baby quilt never had her name added to it so I sort that out too.  I don't often get to see my quilts after they have been gifted and used almost every night since - I worry that they might not stand up to daily use, but Breeze is now 5 and the quilt is still standing up well to all the use and washing!!!

Not so good after washing was one of my much loved sewing themed t-shirts "Weekend forecast is sewing with a chance of wine").  I guess the sewing machine was hungry!

I added a piece of fabric behind, and a bit of random quilting to hold it all together - that'll give it a bit more life!

And Lisa is near the end of her crochet - isn't it awesome!!!!

Week 42 - More Gingers and other stuff

The sweatshirts to be embroidered still haven't been delivered, the sew-it-together-then-cut-it-up-and-sew-it-again quilt (aka Square Dance) has been, you guessed, cut up and sewing back together (now waiting for wadding and 505 spray)

The gorgeous baby brights have been stitched together, also waiting for wadding and spray

My poor crochet circle was looking OKish but then I folded it in half and realised no amount of blocking could cure this

so it has been frogged again, and started again - this time actually following a pattern but still isn't flat - groan!  

I  am amassing the world's largest collection of circular and kind-of-circular crochet patterns on Pinterest but not being able to read a crochet pattern is a minor hindrance!  If anyone wants to step in with instructions (or to tell me I clearly don't have the skills so go back to a square) I'm very happy to listen!

One of my favourites in the two villages was delighted to be made Head Prefect at the village school, and her little sister came out of school with "look mummy I got a badge too" (so cute!) so I wanted to make them both a ginger (can you tell, Lizzie was getting bored!)  

Their best friend (another favourite) is mad about owls  so I made her one too

Then a bit of doubling up - these two window Gingers for Halloween and Remembrance Day are 8" tall rather than the usual 4

Still no sweatshirts!  I like to have something to do with Lizzie as at least it gives me a short break from the computer and a chance to stretch my legs going round the workbench to do the next stage

The amazing Sue who sells embroidery designs at Memories in Threads launched a new design - I resisted for a short while but knew I'd give in in the end.  These are not evidence from a CSI crime scene (thank you Tara for that image) but rather the beginning of my Yule Nisse!

This is the next stage - this looks like Harry Houdini getting into a box (admittedly he had his head with him!)

So finally my Yule Nisse (Norwegian name for the Swedish Tomte that is everywhere this year) is finished

I had a bit of beard left over so thought I'd play at making 2D versions - they still need some design tweaking but they knock up much quicker than their 3D cousin - oh dear, I need to buy some more beard fur!!!!

I hope life is being kind to you xxx

2020 Wk 40 - One thing at a time???

 I really should work on one thing at a time . . .  but that's no challenge!!!

I've got a delivery of 80 sweatshirts due next week to embroider for my friend's pre-school so anything 'fun' that needs embroidering needs to be done now . . .

The Halloween quilt has been finished and delivered to a very happy aunty

There was febric left over, so now I've got a few Happy Halloween banners / flags on the go: so far I've forgotten to trim the ginger off the bottom half of one before adding the lettering, forgotten to change to orange thread for the pumpkin, put the black and the orange felt in the wrong place so there are missing bits, and run out of glow in the dark thread (the one I bought last week!) - that's going well LOL

Because they aren't stressful enough I'm also making a baby quilt from a hoard of fab brights (which only had 40 in the back not the 42 promised so I've added from stash)

And I ordered some Alison Glass sun prints fabric and spent ages auditioning them before I stitched them all together . . . wrong!  I have unpicked and re-sewn the dodgy blocks 

And I am now cutting them up to make a square dance / Lil twister quilt (like these) but forgot that I should add the border first (doh!) so am trying to that at the same time AND cope with questionable spatial awareness!

(just whisper it, but so far so good!)

Anyway, on the positive front, this insipid Trip Around the World (honest) is finished and in the Linus Quilt pile

The EPP triangles flimsy is growing

Lisa and Jim finally moved into their house (this was the stuff we couldn't find room for elsewhere!  I think this will be my favourite room when it's all cleared)

The Plus Quilt is also finished.  As it's hand pieced it's probably a bit fragile for a Linus Quilt, so it's waiting for a good home

I finally finished some little bowls that Jackie and I started years ago - they were possibly meant to have zipped tops but finished was better than perfect so no zip

And finally I've changed my Google profile picture . . . this sticker came with a McDonald's Happy Meal, and the whole family said it looks like me!!!!