September Stitching

I can’t believe it is the end of September already. Time to share what I have been up to on the stitching front.

Where I left off at the start of the month, I had started another knitted lacy coat hanger.  It was finished in no time.  They are both now in use in my wardrobe.

So, what else did I get done?

ONE MONTHLY GOAL

My goal was to appliqué the EPP sections onto Border 4 of my Blue Quilt.  I took it to my stitching mornings and also did some in the sunshine in the back yard, as we had some gorgeous spring weather.

Happily, I can report that the border has been added, along with Border 5.  It’s really starting to take shape now.  Just another three borders to go.

Patty from Elm Street Quilts has hosted OMG for the last seven years and this is the final month that she will be hosting it.  I have been participating for the last six years.  For the last year she has been sharing the role with Anne-Marie from Stories From the Sewing Room and from next month Anne-Marie with be the sole host.   I’ll be linking up with them. Thanks Patty for all the work you have done to keep this little challenge going.  I know the accountability works really well to make me progress projects rather than putting them off until another day.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

Aqua was the colour for the month, so they came together quickly, once I got around to them.  I’ll be linking up over at So Scrappy.

KNITTING

After knitting the rust coloured beanie for Mick while away, I was keen to start another version of the pattern, with the cabled turn back.  I bought some wool on our travels and once we returned home made a start.  It has been a good project to pick up and do a few rows when I don’t feel like doing anything else.  It isn’t finished yet, but won’t take too long.  I’m really liking the tweedy texture of the yarn.  I think it suits the cables.

MY SEWING ROOM

My sewing room was big hot mess when we returned home!  So, I decided that I needed to do a little reorganising to make things more efficient, sort out some fabric and have a general tidy up.  Well, I started…..and then my back gave me some grief, which slowed me down. (My back is better now.)

It is still a big hot mess…..even messier that at the start of the month.  I’m at that stage where I don’t know where to start, so I don’t.   I do need to get it sorted, as it is rather overwhelming at the moment.  I will feel so much better when it is under control.

DIVERSIONARY TACTICS

With my sewing room looking like a bomb hit it and having a sore back, I decided that the best course of action was denial and started a new project using this fabric.  It deserves its own post, so that will be up shortly.  I couldn’t even cut it out in my sewing room, as the cutting table was buried in STUFF!  Not good.

MY SCREEN DOOR

On a more positive note, I now have a screen door in my sewing room.

You see, there is a door from my sewing room to a little side verandah.  However, as there has never been a screen door installed, I couldn’t have it open, as one little feline “Joey” would get out. (He is a full time indoor cat.). It would be so nice to have the door open on warm days to get some fresh air and more light.  We chatted about it last summer but didn’t do anything further.

We chatted about it again at breakfast one day during this week and it was bought and Mick had it installed by lunchtime.  How good was that.  We’ve only been in this house for seven and a half years.  You can’t rush things.

The funniest thing was that while I was taking a photo of the door open I didn’t hear Joey come into the room.  The first thing I knew was him running full pelt into the screen!  Oops!  Just as well the screen was there or he would be out on the street.  Naughty boy.  I think he is aware of it now.

It was nice warm weather today and will be for the next few days (before another cold snap), so I opened the door, and set Joey’s sewing room bed in front of it.  He didn’t run into the door, and before long, was settled in his bed, sleeping there most of the afternoon.  I think he will spend quite a bit of time in this spot.

DONATION PROJECT

I didn’t expect to get anything done during September, but as a lot of the fabric I was trying to sort out were ones suitable for kids’ quilts I did end up making one simple little quilt top.  I started this yesterday afternoon and added the borders today.  I had half a metre of the Cars fabric and it was just enough for this quilt with a three inch strip left over.  Rather happy with that.  I think it turned out rather well.

Before I added the borders Mick told me it needed checkered flag fabric for the border.  I don’t have any.  He suggested I go to Spotlight, which I didn’t want to do, so I added the striped border.  After thinking some more, I pieced the checked cornerstones on the border.  Mick was happy with that.  Just as well, as it was fiddly piecing checks that finish at just three quarters of an inch.  Now I will put it aside to quilt when Monique has been excavated.

As there was a mix of fabrics, I decided that it would be a good opportunity to use up some tiddly bits of thread on spools and bobbins.

I ended up using all the ones in the first photo, other than the lime green, and several more as well.  In total, 10 bobbins and 8 spools are finished.  I consider that to be a bit win.  I will try to use more random threads in colourful quilts going forward.

I have planned another couple of quilts when playing with my fabrics, so that was also some progress.

I have quite a few panels to use and a few are a size that really just need to be quilted as is, not requiring any borders, so with this little top added to that pile it will be a good incentive to excavate Monique and get them quilted.  A few finishes will make me feel better about things.

15 MINUTES A DAY

Despite my mess and procrastination, I managed to do something on all except one day this month.  To clarify, I have included sorting fabric and planning quilts in those figures, as it is all part of the process.

15 Minutes day/week = 7/7

15 Minutes day/September = 29/30

15 Minutes day/2023 = 258/272

Success rate = 94.85%

I’ll be linking up with Life in Pieces.

So even though my progress has slowed down since we came home I still have a bit to share. Now to look forward to a fun October on the stitching front.