Thursday 19 September 2013

Knitting Season

Is it time for knitting season to start yet?  

There is a chill in the air and I am ignoring demands for the central heating to be put on.  And suddenly it is properly dark at 8 pm.  Could this be the year I will finish the second Sanquhar glove? And find the first one, knitted 6 years ago?

Knitting somehow belongs to Autumn and Winter, and sewing to Spring and Summer.  Sewing, at least with the machine, has to be done indoors.  In the winter it seems illogical to shut yourself away with the machine and the iron and the cutting board while the rest of the family is downstairs watching a film. 

But wait, what about hand sewing?  That can be portable.  This year I have seen so many little bags, boxes and ideas to organise portable patchwork. Here are some:





I can't promise that I won't be knitting this winter. But when the heating goes on, this little tin will be by my chair under the light, so I will always have some patchwork close at hand.




Thursday 12 September 2013

Gameboard Borders?


The gameboard quilt top is now finished...or does it need borders? What do you think?  It is not a very useful size - about 36 inches square at the moment.  I do like things I make to have some use.  The Minick & Simpson pattern it is based on is a wall hanging.  Not sure what I think about wall hangings.  I think I will leave it on the wall as it is while I think about it.  My next project will be something with a definite use.


If I add to this I will need to buy some more fabric!

Linking with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Liberty Hexagon Pincushion





It's finished!  Fuzz decided it was hers as soon as it was stuffed and started going at it with her claws:


Apols for blurry action shot.  Let me assure you that there were no pins in the cushion at this stage.

Here are a couple of progress pics.  The top and bottom were machine quilted.  If I made another one I would also quilt the sides as Liberty Lawn is so fine.  The tiny hexagon templates were printed out from this website.  I started in the middle and worked outwards until the piece was big enough (about 6 inches across - big enough not to get buried under fabric).  Here's the back with the paper templates still in. 
The back of the patchwork top.

After quilting and sewing together.  The side was a strip 2 inches wide.

This is the underside - the fabric is Speckle




The cushion is stuffed with leftover bits of batting at the moment as I have not yet got my hands on the crushed walnut shells.



Thanks once again to Frances at Fabadashery for the inspiration.