Saturday 16 February 2013

Hello, how've you been? So lovely to see you!

Hello there! There will be waffling below, you have been warned!

Well I've been rubbish at blog related things, I need to catch up with reading my favourites, I have quite a backlog to read which I'm looking forward to, my blog reader is full to bursting!

The dreaded 'flu is pretty much gone just leaving us with a general 'bleugh' feeling - I'd like a £1 for every time I get a 'you look pasty' (this is my natural colouring!), 'are you tired?' or my personal favourite 'you're not yourself' (really?) comment, it would be quite a good charitable fundraiser! Unfortunately lots of friends and family now seem to have it (not caught from us, we pretty much put ourselves in quarantine), this includes my FiL so I'm hoping he makes a speedy recovery.

So there's been a lot of general catching up to do at work, and at home (honestly the place is a tip, the hoover needs dusting like the rest of the house!) that has meant crafty goodness has taken a bit of a back seat - most importantly we had a very belated birthday celebration for P, just a trip to the cinema and a meal, we've got neither the energy nor the inclination for a wild night out! I'd recommend 'Hitchcock' if you're thinking about seeing it, great acting and I was loving the clothes, I want Helen Mirren's red swimsuit, honestly she looks fab through the whole film.

My crafting has been mostly of the planning variety but here's where I'm at, and surprisingly there is some progress:

A's crochet blanket

Working on the granny square/flower row. I'm loving this blanket, it's a joy to be making it up as I go along. It's going to take a long time (330 stitches per row) but it's a pleasure. I have some idea of patterns I'm going to include but it's evolving - I think it needs some wiggly lines. Joy, joy, joy :D

F's & A's patchwork quilts

I might be a little bit obsessed with patchwork - just look at this pile of fabric, doesn't it make your heart skip a little bit?

I think these are my favourites

My SiL asked for 2 single quilts. A will be moving into a big girl's bed and the children share a room. The only direction I've had is that there must be some animals, F wants blues and greens, A loves 'lellow', orange and green. Basically I've got plenty of scope.

So I'm using this tutorial Katie's Quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Co

It's going to take longer as I didn't find suitable pre-cuts so am working with fabric from the bolt, lots of cutting. Given the size of the prints (especially for F) the 16 patches are being replaced by 4 patches so that the images can be seen better. And I need to change the size a bit.

I only need to cut 76 of each colour of the little squares!
This project is making me happy :D

Patchwork cushion for our bed

Nearly there, just need to make the back.



Patchwork bags

These are a practice exercise, and not yet finished, but I've sold 2 of them already! I offered to give them away but have been forcefully paid - very bizarre! I'm hanging on to the green one for myself.

J&C's Wedding stationery

  • Day Invitations done and sent out, bride & groom happy - phew!
  • Evening invitations - bits cut out, ready for assembly once Day RSVPs are in and I have final guest list

  • Confetti pouches, favour pouches, place cards, table names, order of service & seating plan - all planned, gathering supplies
All brides should be happy, I'm so pleased that J is all smiles

Cards

I seem to have a list but am back to enjoying papercrafting so that's good. Need to make 4 this weekend.

PLAN with Sam

Must get moving forward gain now my brain is back up and running. This is going to be exciting :)

New blouse - pink silk from India, gift from my brother Yoda

So I'm definitely using this fabric as I need a top to go under the feather cardigan and I think the colour is perfect, you can't tell from the photo but it perfectly matches one of the feathers. I love grey but, particularly in my current state, light shades can leave me looking a bit washed out. I think this pink will lift it a bit. I can't decide on the pattern, I just want something simple, mainly because I've never plucked up the courage to sew with silk before, do I just make a Sorbetto because it's a comfort pattern for me? Any suggestions gratefully received!

Skirt - UFO - McCalls M5934 blogged about in October for goodness sake!

I'm ashamed at how little is required to move this from UFO to Finished - totally disproportionate to how long Doris has been modelling it. It's become clear to me that if I put something to one side I loose all momentum, there's a lesson for me right there, I need to just do it!

Mending pile

None of this is mine! I have a tie for my brother (yeah, I know, still not done), a blouse for Y (we share an office) and a jumper for the husband of my boss! Every time someone brings me a mending job I make a clear disclaimer that I'm pants and it will take ages - and they still give them to me. The guilt is terrible!

Crochet Club

I made a Get Well card for a colleague and D, who I know vaguely, commented on it and Y (although what she's basing this on I don't know - I haven't fixed her blouse!) told her 'that's not all she makes'. By the time I got off the phone I'd apparently agreed to teach D to crochet. It has snowballed, I still haven't met everyone in the building where I'm now based and complete strangers have rocked up at my desk to ask when the club is happening so we're going for it. I'm hoping this is a good way to get to know people and a good stress buster for staff as it will encourage taking a lunch break at least once a week. I'm gathering up spare hooks, safety pins and leftover balls of yarn - I've set a 'no outlay' rule so anybody can have a go without spending a penny. We'll see how it goes, we start on Friday. I think I should take cake :)

Sewlutions Jar

Did you see Karen checked up on 3 contributors to The Jar? Good grief, the fear factor has kicked in - I need to at least start thinking about this in case Karen pops by for an audit inspection! I need to tackle my bust urgently!

Whew - I think I'd better crack on. Sorry for rambling, it feels so good to be back to 'normal'!

X



2 comments:

  1. So glad you're finally feeling better!

    What a lot to catch up on. The patchwork all looks as if it's going to be fab. I love the blue fabric with trees and is it blue squirrels? Whatever they are, they're very cute! And at first glance I thought the bear was the Gruffalo, who I'm slightly obsessed with!

    Had to laugh at your comment about the hoover needing dusting. I did actually have to dust our hoover this week - we've had the kitchen walls plastered and Des decided to sand them - making a layer of very fine white dust over the entire house. I had to dust the hoover before I could use it.

    OK, I think this reply as nearly as long as your post, I'll stop now. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Sam
    Yes they are indeed squirrels and F loves The Gruffalo too so, given your observation, I'm really confident the fabric was a good choice! I'm finding he repetitive nature of making blocks quite soothing, comfort sewing.

    Oh pastering makes a dreadful mess - we had to replace our hoover when we had building work done, it couldn't cope! At least you have good reason for a dusty hoover - I just had an untidy house! Oh, and A's been decorating her bedroom so all the sanding down, painting and wallpaper shenanigans has contributed I suppose!
    X

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment :)