My Wishes for August

​Here we are in the next month already.  The last month of winter.  I really don’t know where this year is going.  Anyway, time to think about what I would like to get up to this month.

Let’s start with the stitching wishes.

MY MAIN MONTHLY WISH

As usual, I would like to use this to push myself to get something out of the way.  This time it is the Batik Fish Quilt.  I started this back at the start of 2024, so it is well and truly due to be completed.  I put the blocks out on the design curtain at the end of last month, so there is no excuse.  I really want to take this for show and tell at the end of the month.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The nominated colour this month is yellow.  Yay!  I have yellow blocks prepped. No colour substitution required this month.  Also, I only need to make one crumb block, as I already have two made.  

BETTY’S GROUP PROJECTS

I have the Rainbow Strip Quilt ready to quilt.  I hope to have that done soon.  I want to take this for show and tell as well.

There will also be a new block to make this month.

USING ELLY MAY

This will be the Rainbow Strip Quilt and hopefully the Batik Fish Quilt.  Any extras will be a bonus.

KNITTING AND CROCHET

I really need to get a wriggle on with my alpaca jumper.  This month I aim to have the front and back finished, including the neckline.  That will just leave the sleeves to finish.  It should be doable.

While I’m at my stitching days I will probably work on the C2C crochet squares.  They are a nice, no brain required project.  Ideal while chatting away.  I need 28 of these, so if I make four a month I’ll have them done in seven months.  I don’t really think it will take that long.

AN AUGUST ESCAPE RETREAT AT BARADINE

This smaller, shorter retreat is happening on the last weekend of the month, so I need to prep some projects to work on:

1. I have a jelly roll that is earmarked for a quilt, that requires no prepping beforehand.  

2. There is still some of the solid fat quarters that I used in a recent quilt, so I hope to prep a smaller donation quilt with those leftovers.

3. I have some novelty print that I want to use on a kid’s quilt, so need to find a pattern and get it cut out.

4. I will probably prep another kid’s quilt as well.  

I don’t expect to get them all done, but if they are prepped I have choices and they will be prepped to work on later at home.

15 MINUTES A DAY

This is also an aim.

NON STITCHING WISHES

1. Try a new recipe.  I have one earmarked and hope to try some others as well.  I seem to be on a roll.

2. Read or listen to a book.  We’ll see how I go with this wish.  I’m not doing so well.

3. Have a fun day out. I’m sure that will happen.

4. Use our caravan.  Yes, we are going to Baradine.

5. Catch up on my blog posts.  I still have to finish our Queensland trip from June and everything since.    However, now that I have discovered an app in which I can add my photos on my iPad it is much more likely to happen.

I look forward to checking back in at the end of the month.

Stitching Wrap Up for July

It’s amazing what you can achieve when you are not travelling all over the countryside, although I did have some fun days out.  Let’s see how I went.

Firstly, my Main Monthly Wish was to complete the Simply Serene Quilt.  I’m pleased that it was done well before the deadline.  

Then it was Rainbow Scrap Challenge time.  That too was achieved easily.

The other main thing was to complete the Corner to Corner Rug for Wrap With Love.  Another one ticked off the list.

Then it was time to play.

I did make some good progress with my knitted alpaca jumper and have exceeded my wish of having it knitted up to the armholes.  I’m well on my way up the back. It is knitting up quicker than I expected.  I just need to get back to it. Yes, it will look wonky until it gets blocked at the end.

At the Wrap With Love Knit In Day I started another C2C Rug, this time making 10 inch squares to sew together at the end.  I’m using lots of variagated yarn.  It works well with the C2C stitch, as there are no lines, just a nice all over mottled effect.  There will be plain blocks in the rug as well.  I have four blocks completed so far.  There is no time frame for this one and it is a nice and easy thing to take along to my stitching days.

Betty sent out her July block details for us to make.  It was a challenge, but the completed block has been posted back to her.

Meanwhile, the rainbow strips needed to be pieced together into a quilt top.  I took the very simple option of just adding black sashing between the strips.  Not terribly creative, but still effective.  It is now in the quilting queue.  I hope to have it completed before our Zoom get together next Saturday.  It should be quite achievable.

Finally, I quilted and bound the quilt for my friend in Queensland.  

Oh, and at the last minute on the 31st I pulled out the batik fish blocks ready to advance that project.  It is about time to get it finished.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I did rather well this month.

July = 28/31

Year to date = 171/212  = 80.66%

Not too bad.

As it turns out, most of my stitching has been donation projects, being the Simply Serene Quilt, both C2C rugs, the rainbow strip quilt, Betty’s block and probably the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts when they are completed.  That is a good feeling.

A Deceptively Difficult Block

This looks like a relatively simple block, doesn’t it.  Well, looks can be deceiving.  There are Y seams at each corner of the centre block that are a little very tricky to manage.

Susannah Twist was the block that Betty sent out for us to make this month.  The feature fabric is the one in the centre.

We were advised to make a test block first, so that is what I did.  Coincidentally, Brenda from Conquering Mount Scrapmore YouTube channel posted a tutorial for this block earlier in the month, so that did help a bit.  However, I still struggled.

The first decision to start with was what fabrics to use for the test block.  In the end that was easy.  I started tidying up my sewing room and recent scraps that had come my way when I came across this bright floral, which just happened to have the gold sitting next to it.  That worked.  Also, there were some orphan four patches in colours that matched, in the correct size.  Great, let’s unpick the centre seam and use them.  It was meant to be.

My first attempt was a dismal failure, due to me joining the corner sections without an overhang.  There was no way I was going to get points….unpick. 

Even after fixing that I still could not get points.  In the end, I drew the seam allowance on the back so I had reference points to match.  

Finally, a success.  I really like how it turned out.  Now I need to put my thinking cap on to find a way to use this pretty block.

OK, time to tackle the real block.  A hunt in the stash revealed suitable fabrics.  The same gold as in the test block worked well.  The brownish fabric is one of the first patchwork fabrics I ever bought and is featured in the wall hanging I made for my Dad that now hangs in my sewing room.  The blue for the corners came from who knows where.

This time I started out by marking all those seam allowances but still struggled with the centre points.  After only a couple of unpicking sessions, as opposed to about six, it is done, as good as I can get.  The sizing is just a tad under what it should be, but I’m sure it will be made to work.

Thanks Betty (I think…) for giving us a challenge and making our brains work.

My Wishes for July

Now that we are back home it is time to have a look at what I can achieve this month.

MY MAIN WISH

This has been a hard choice to make.  There are lots of things I want to work on, but where does one start?  I had one idea, but for what should be the cold, quiet time of the year, my calendar seems to be rather full, so I don’t want anything too time consuming.  As I type this I’m still trying to decide……..

…… OK, I’ve written the rest of the post, so time to make that decision ……. 

It will be to finish the Simply Serene Quilt.  That way it will be finished for Show and Tell when we return to Baradine in August.  So far, I have made and trimmed the HST and cut the plaid squares.  Time to play on the design curtain and then cut out the setting triangles, before stitching the rows together.  I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour selected this month is Aqua.  Well, as I used that colour last month I have to make another substitution.  I’ve decided to go with DARK BLUE.  That is sort of related and I don’t think it is a colour that will come up……I hope.

BETTY’S GROUP PROJECT

I haven’t made a start on piecing the rainbow strips together as yet.  I still have to come up with a plan.  Let’s keep the goal simple, by just coming up with a plan.  If I can get the quilt top together, that will be a bonus.

A new block pattern has been released by Betty, so that will be made and posted to her.

USING ELLY MAY

Poor Elly May has been under her cover since the middle of May.  There is no definite plan to for her at the moment, but I do hope to get her up and running this month . . . . . . . . . .Now that has changed, since I finally made my Main Wish decision.

CROCHET

The Corner to Corner rug should have been completed last month, but I got side tracked with my red scarf.  In theory, I just needed to do a couple more rounds of half trebles to have it done…….then I layed it out on the floor and could see that it was still too narrow for Wraps With Love, so a few more rounds are required.  It should be finished in the next couple of days, ready to donate at the Knit In in the middle of the month.

I will have to find something to work on at the Knit In, so will probably start another C2C rug.  This time I will make four 10 inch strips to the length of the rug, as it will be more portable, and then stitch the strips together.  That’s the plan anyway.

KNITTING

I NEED to get a wriggle on with my alpaca knitted jumper.  My wish is to have the body knitted up to the armholes by the end of the month.  Surely, I can knit a 100g ball of yarn a week?

STITCHING DAYS

Now that I have pretty much completed the C2C rug, I need to come up with a new project.  There is a fair chance that will be the alpaca jumper, but there may end up being something else.

SASHIKO

I am going to attend a Sashiko workshop on Sunday.  I have completed a few panels now, and have said I’m not going  to do more, but this little workshop is working from marking out the project on the fabric, rather than using preprinted panels, so should be interesting.  The plan in the back of my head is to make a little four sided bag with whatever I create.  Watch this space.

15 MINUTES A DAY

That’s the aim….

OTHER WISHES

1.    Try a new recipe

2.    Read (or listen to) a book.

3.    Have a fun day out - there are couple in the pipe line.

4.    Finish writing up our Queensland holiday.

It will be interesting to see what I manage.

October Stitching Update

As you can maybe imagine, I didn’t get a great deal of crafting done during October, seeing as we were busy doing other things.

Here is what I did manage.

I have previously mentioned the Sashiko Bag for the Chookshed Stitchers Challenge.  I was very happy to have that done and it meant that I did at least have one finished project for the month.

I had shared the block I completed early in the month for one of Betty’s group quilts.

Well, I made another one to send down to her for another quilt that has been planned.

In addition, I made two blocks for a group quilt that my Wednesday patchwork quilt are putting together.

While making the blocks I have been adding to the pile of my Bonnie Lass leader and ender blocks.  140 down out of 396.  It is time to get cutting some more.  This is a nice slow bonus project in the background that really is making itself.

I did manage to progress the Christmas redwork stitcheries a little.  They have been good to work on at my stitching mornings.  Nice and mindless.

Finally, I have been slowly working away on my knitted top.  It would have been much quicker if I had just followed the pattern and knitted it flat, but due to the stripes, I made it hard for myself by knitting part of it in the round.  It has also been compounded by me not using the prescribed yarn.  I think (hope) it will all work out.  Anyway, the back is completed and I now just have to knit the two sides of the front v-neck and the ribbing around the armholes and neckline.  It didn’t get completed in October as I’d hoped, but realistically, it shouldn’t take too long to get done.  It doesn’t look much at the moment, but a good blocking at the end should hopefully sort that.

My stats for 15 minutes a day for the last couple of months were:

September = 30/30 (the best for the year)

October = 20/31

Year to Date = 211/273 = 77.29%  

This is way down on last year, but better than nothing.