Squares and flowers

Well, I did do some quilting, but I didn't get round to working on the older projects I dragged out of the cupboard because I worked a bit on newer ones instead. I actually finished a block from the Farmer's Wife quilt, so that's two new ones and a total of 21 so far.

I have got another block almost done, but I've lost a piece of fabric and need to replace it or unpick. And another two blocks I want to redo completely as I don't like one of the fabrics at all.

And I stitched a little more on my Teresa Wentzler. It's slow but effective.

What shall I do this weekend?

There's a long weekend coming up, and it looks as if it's going to be nice, which is a pretty unusual event in Britain! I thought I might dig out some old projects and see what I could get done.

This is my Antique Flower Garden quilt. I couldn't remember when I last worked on it, so I checked and it was summer 2009! In fact, looking at my old blog posts reminded me that the last time I did anything on this was the day Lulu came back after she went missing. I was sitting in the garden stitching when she reappeared. It's hard to believe that was almost 4 years ago and it's 9 months since she died. We miss her still.

I need to get this done - I think I only have a couple of flower blocks to do.

The plain blocks are machine stitched and this was back when I didn't know what I was doing. Some of the blocks aren't so great but I do love the fabrics and I'm sure it'll look passable when it's all together. I even have the wadding and backing, so there's no excuse!

And I also found my Leanne's House quilt. I got this in NZ, so it's even older. I started it on the machine, switched to hand piecing and then went back to the machine. I need to measure the blocks I've done and see if anything needs picking apart - I really didn't have a clue on this one and some stuff definitely isn't lining up properly!

Nic - I know I should be working on Farmer's Wife too. I've done a little. Will hopefully post a photo later this weekend :)

A restart

Once upon a time, in a far away land (New Zealand), I got a kit of Teresa Wentzler's first Fruit and Floral Wreath and started stitching. I got about a quarter of the way through the wreath before I decided that I really, really didn't like the plain evenweave that had come in the kit. So in the bin it went. In the meantime I had also got hold of the booklet with both Floral Wreaths and I realised I wanted both to be on the same fabric.

Fast forward several years and I feel the need to start this over again. I dug through the stash and found some Lakeside Linens 32ct in Exemplar. Luckily, a fat quarter seems plenty to do both wreaths, so I cut it in half and here we go again...

Nic and Anne - this is mainly your faults for digging out your TWs!

Fragile hearts and tools

So, what else was I doing over the last month or so? Well, I got some other knitting and quilting done as well. I'll be taking my quilting to my Tuesday afternoon craft group today, so I'll do an updated photo later this week, but here's the latest knitting finish.

It's called Fragile Heart and it's knitted in Old Maiden Aunt merino in the colourway Greige.

And speaking of fragile things, I decided to widen the flower bed last week and dig up and divide the hardy geraniums that were taking over. And the garden spade that has barely been used and is only a year old decided to snap right in two!

It wasn't until later that I realised how lucky I'd been. I obviously was putting a lot of pressure on it when it snapped and I fell into the flower bed. If I'd fallen onto the broken end I could have impaled myself. Thankfully no damage was done!

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Lots of puffy hexagons

Remember the Beekeeper's quilt I started way back? About 18 months ago? Well, I'm still going and thought it was time I did an update photo. So here's the current collection. Only about 125 puffs but they look pretty.

They're all Old Maiden Aunt yarns and I just do a few whenever I get the urge. They're not sewn together yet - I'll wait to do that when I have about 400. Or whenever I get bored. Or run out of leftover yarn. Whichever comes first.

Trevor approves of crafting

Oops, it's been longer than I realised! Oh well.

I have been crafting but March was a pretty rubbish month and I just didn't feel like being sociable - even online. March is always a low time for me - a combo of my birthday (which always brings on an adoption-related bout of depression and often sees me with minor illnesses like colds and stomach bugs) and seasonal blues. I've learned to expect it and take measures against it, but the long cold winter this year was hard.

But you didn't come here to read about that, so I'll move on and say spring is finally here and I feel more myself again. I've found a new crafting group in the town and am really enjoying my Tuesday afternoons with new friends, and I have quite a few things to show for a month or two of sitting indoors trying to keep warm!

First is progress on Napoleon. He's been put aside for a few weeks now but I'll probably pick him back up next month. Knitting is less appealing as it gets warmer!

He's looking good - I'm pleased and so is Martin!

Trevor needed to get in on the action too...

And that wasn't the only thing he was interested in. A few weeks ago I finished my Sky Ladder blanket late at night (I got the rest of the yarn I needed as payment for helping on a yarn stall in mid February). I left it on the sofa and look what I found the next morning...

He's not stupid. It was cold and that blanket is warm!

 It's seen a fair bit of use the last month or so, but hopefully I won't need it now until next winter.

Lots more to share but I'll save some for another day.

A little stitching takes a long time

I dug this out last week. It's Martin's Napoleon picture that has been about 7 years on the go, on and off (rather more off than on I have to admit). Every year I seem to get it out, do another page or two and put it away again. He made a plaintive request the other day, so out it's come again. After several days I have a fraction more done.

You can see the start of an arm now but it is, oh, so slow! The sky was much faster - fewer colours. It's all looking very green but he doesn't seem to mind, so I will keep going for a while longer. Maybe this year I can get a good bit of it done.

I have been knitting too, and the good news is that I now have enough yarn to finish the blanket I showed you a few weeks ago. I helped a friend out on her yarn stall on Friday and I got paid in yarn. I love that sort of job. Shame it doesn't pay the bills!

And I got this last week too - gorgeous cashmere fingering weight yarn as a late Christmas/early birthday pressie. It's begging to be turned into a cardigan.

Fastest socks ever

Remember the new stash I showed you a couple of weeks ago? Well, one of those skeins has been turned into a pair of socks already.

The pattern was Kai-Mei by CookieA and it really was the fastest pair of socks I've ever made. Very simple but, oh, so effective and pretty too.

You can see the colour a little better in this photo. The socks are for a gift, so a bit big for me, and it's very hard taking a decent pic of your own feet!

I love CookieA socks. I think she's the best. They fit, look great and the patterns are so easy to follow.

More new mitts

Gosh, where do the days go? It can't have been a couple of weeks since my last post can it?

A little more crafting has been done. I finished a a pair of socks for a friend (will save photos of those for another day) and I whipped up these mitts with leftover yarn.

They are my second pair of Veyla mitts, this time in Malabrigo Finito. I used the rest of it to make a shawl last year. I would show you a photo of that too but a whole bunch of photos seem to have got mislaid. Oh well. Here's another mitt picture instead!