May Stitching Progress

It is time to have a look at all that I achieved on the crafting front during May.  You can pop back here to see what my grand wish list consisted of.

Firstly, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks were made.  Easy Peasy.

My Chookshed Challenge was completed.  Yay!

I have now joined in with Betty’s Rainbow Quilters and completed the nominated block for the month.  You received some feature fabric, in this case the batik centre piece and the small teal squares, and make the block following the pattern provided, in the colours requested and return it to Betty to be put into a quilt.  A bit of fun, but not too onerous.  This block is very effective and I look forward to seeing how the quilt comes together in the future.

During my short time at the sewing machine, I have managed to piece a further ten pairs towards the Bonnie Lass leader and ender quilt.  Only a squillion more to go.

I have made good progress on the crochet rug.  This is the first time I have seen it laid out.  As soon as I finish this ball of yarn, I will stop making it any longer and do the decrease rows to fill in the corner.  That will take a further two balls of yarn.  Following that, I will do a few rows of something around it as a simple border.  Watch this space.  I’m eager to get it finished, so Mick can use it and I can work on something else.  

I didn’t make a start on the hexagon panel and I have made no progress on any of the projects that I took to Scrub Stitchin’, and that doesn’t matter in the least. This is supposed to be fun. 

I managed to complete 15 minutes of crafting on 27/31 days.

119/151 days = 78.81%

I only managed to empty one thread spool. That is better than nothing.  I may have something to do with spending very little time at the sewing machine.  Who’d have thought.

Now to think about what to do in June.

Stitching Wishes for May

I’m starting to sound like a cracked record, as once again, I won’t have a great deal of stitching time. This time it is because we will be away for much of the month.  Let’s see what I hope to achieve.

First up is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month’s colour is green.  The split nine patches shouldn’t take too long.

Now, for the Chookshed Challenge…..

The number drawn is Number 8.  The goal for that number is to make a quilt from the split nine patches that I have been making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but I had already decided early in the year that I need another year’s worth of RSC blocks to get to a decent size.  Hence, it has to be late in the year that I work on this one.

Therefore, for the fourth time this year I need to swap things around.  Hand stitching will be the go.

The project I have settled on is the Tilly’s Tea Party table runner.  This was initially the project for February, but was swapped out then.  The delay was the stitchery on the centre hexies.  This is a kit from a stitching day that never ended up happening due to Covid.  When I opened it up earlier this year, the printed stitchery design has actually faded to a level that you can’t follow it and I can’t be bothered to retrace it.  It was suggested to me that I could possibly use vintage doiley embroideries for the centres.  Now, I liked that idea.

This afternoon I had a little hunt and found a piece that would work.  The motifs fit nicely and are a suitable colour.  It has quite a few small holes in it, so I have no hesitation in cutting it up.  None of the holes are anywhere that will affect the areas I plan to use.  It is currently soaking in some Oxyclean to get it all nice and fresh and hopefully remove a couple of marks.

One of the fabrics in the kit looked a bit wishy washy next to the embroidery, so I switched it out for the yellow.  Other than that, I think this will work.  It is something I can prep and then take away with me.  All I intend to get done is the EPP motifs.  The rest will have to wait till we return home, so I am not aiming to get it finished in May.  If that happens, it will be a super bonus.

The hexies that I basted last month are currently all packed up in a pile.  I think I will lay them out again, in a similar fashion to the above photo and stitch them into that shaped panel.  Then I plan to join it into a ring and make it into a panel around the base of a tote bag.  I’ll just need to add two more hexies.  I think I can manage that……all subject to change, of course.

Other than that, I just want to work on my crochet blanket. That will keep me out of trouble for quite a while……if I can find more of the yarn on our travels.

I really don’t anticipate that I will manage to complete all of these wishes, but I at least want to have them prepped and packed into my sewing basket that lives under the seat in the caravan.  There would be nothing worse than running out of projects…..as if.

I’m going to link up over at Deana’s.  Pop over and see what other Chookshed Challenge projects are going to be worked on this month. 

First Finish For the Year

I’m happy to report my first finish of the year, which ticks off the box for the Chookshed Stitchers Challenge and my One Monthly Goal.

This is such a cute bag. It will be perfect for taking my bits and bobs to stitching when I crochet a block or two.

Having taken the inspiration from Sue, I also quilted the sides to add more structure, using my favourite masking tape markings.

The fabric is so darned cute.  It wasn’t until I started that I discovered what beautiful fabrics were included in the kit.

Being quilted, the bag doesn’t gather quite as well, but it stands up nicely when opened.

The back and side view.  Did I say I love the fabrics?

The eagle eyed may notice that I didn’t end up using needle turn appliqué.  I did work on a practice piece, but I think that this was not the best project to start out on, what with those ears being under a quarter of an inch with really tight curves and the bunny tail being about a quarter of an inch.  I was not enjoying the process at all, and did not want to mess up this project.  Therefore, I returned to what I know and enjoy.  I may try needle turn at some stage in the future, but on something rather simpler.

Anyway, I really love the bag and can’t wait to use it and take it to Scrub Stitchin’ in April.  Gosh, that will be here before we know it.

As a bonus, there was a little strip of quilted fabric left over from the side panels. It was too pretty to throw out, so I added some of the linings and fabric to the back and ran a quick zig zag around the edges and have a bookmark for my diary.  A bit rough and ready, but it will do the job.