MAKING PROGRESS

 

At long last I feel like I am making progress with my UFOs. The autumnal applique is finished apart from putting eyes on the ravens. The top will be cut down so it won't look as bare but I still need to decide what to make it into. I am thinking perhaps a wallhanging ? 

After my 2nd failed attempt to machine quilt this UFO I started  to hand quilt it with Perle 12 thread. I try to do a bit each day if my arthritic fingers are not too bad. Unfortunately, even sized stitches are difficult for me to do these days . I have unpulled many stitches along the way but can't worry about it too much if I am going to get the quilt finished.

I finished reading another book last night. It is a UK midwife's experiences in South Sudan and Bangladesh during her time with Doctors Without Borders. It is an enlightening account of what these brave medical people endure and how it changes them forever. PTSD is often the result. Some parts of the book are quite distressing but it is an honest and open account of what happens to birthing women in these poorer and war torn areas. 

The sun is shining today which is a nice change. The first load of washing has just finished so I had better go and put the 2nd load on. I hope you are enjoying some stitching time. 

 

BOOKS AND APPLIQUE

 

My applique is coming along nicely with all the pumpkins, 2 leaves and a raven done. Just one more oak leaf, the other raven and a decision to be made on whether to use teeny buttons for the eyes or to stitch them. I must say that stitching black on black was almost like stitching without looking because I couldn't see much at all despite using my Daylight lamp. I was going to complete it today but too much appliquing has created a bit of pain in my fingers so I shall probably put it aside until tomorrow.

2 more books have been read since my last post. I only had a couple of chapters left to read of Victoria Purman's book and the other one was a quick read. I personally think The Nurses' War is her best one. My apologies for the blurry pic. I took it without my glasses on.

I haven't read this next author's books before but she was suggested for those who read Victoria Purman. A similar genre but not as enjoyable for me.

It is a very cold and wet day here today. I am waiting for the rain to stop so I can put the compost out and put some rubbish in the bin without having to put my parka on.

Thanks for stopping by .

APPLIQUE AND CROCHET

 

At long last I seem to be getting some stitching done . I have been making progress on my UFO autumnal applique with 4 pumpkins and one oak leaf finished. 

I completed the first crocheted headwarmer and have given it to my daughter. The dark blue one, for me, was finished last night but it doesn't really suit me. 

My attempt to enlarge the dark blue headwarmer pic has failed 4 attempts so maybe my sewing gremlins have decided to focus on my blog instead. 

Sorry I missed Zoom again this morning. I didn't get up until after 10am. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.

THIS AND THAT

 

It has been another slow project week deciding what UFOs to pick up in fear of mucking them up like the others I have tried to do. I wish the planets would realign properly for me. 

A  few weeks ago I bought some wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills online because I couldn't find any 10 ply yarn locally. I needed it to crochet a couple of Boho Bobble headwarmers I saw online and purchased the pdf pattern for. It was a few weeks ago and I received emails from the mills saying there would be a delay with my order. I forgot about it until the wool arrived this week so I started to crochet the first one for my eldest daughter, mother of my grand children.

The dark blue wool is for me as I couldn't find any purple. This took me 5 attempts to get right. I tried different sized hooks and added more stitches until I finally decided to use the listed size hook (5) and add quite a few more stitches. I noted on the website that a few people had experienced difficulty like myself which helped me feel better. Then when watching her video I noted she did some stitches differently to what she stated and described how to do on the pattern. Weird! So, once again, things have gone awry. Lol. 

I also decided to get back to this UFO applique which has been waiting for years and had been picked up as a UFO once before.  I really need to persevere and not put it away again. The pic is only part of the applique.

My mum recently gave me a book she thought I would like and she was absolutely right. I loved it. It is based on a real library that was set up in the underground railway to replace the one that was bombed during WW11. At the end of the book the author has written about the actual library  and quotes people she interviewed who used the library and lived underground as children. Truly an amazing story.

Needless to say, I have given it to mum to read now. I am fortunate that mum and I love most of the same books.

I am sorry I couldn't attend the zoom sessions yesterday but look forward to another one whenever it happens.

ANOTHER HICCUP

 

My sewing days are jinxed. Every time I pickup a UFO or new project something goes wrong. Last week I basted a quilt ready to do some straight lined machine quilting. I am not good at machine quilting but I have quilted straight lines before. So, I took ages fumbling around trying to attach the walking foot properly , put a quilting needle in and set the stitch length ready to go. Before starting I did a test run on  2 pieces of fabric with the batting in the middle and it was perfect. However, when I was quilting the actual quilt the stitches were teeny so I had to work out what was wrong. Needless to say, I put it aside in disgust. Last night I unpicked the quilting I had done and I am seriously contemplating hand quilting it instead . I may try again after Sue ( kiwi kid) suggested something when I sought her help but I need to get in the right frame of mind again.

The only thing I achieved is a bookmark which I gave to my mum. I showed you the stitching I was doing last post from Jennifer's blog and completed it during the week. Somehow I even managed to make that a bit wonky. 

Ah well. Maybe this coming week will see me stitching properly. 

NOT MUCH DONE

 

My dear hubby gave me a present a few days ago....his cold. It was the gift that kept on giving . I am almost over it now but I lost my voice for a day, had a massive migraine the next and there was no way I could achieve much stitching while one eye was swollen closed and my nose was constantly running. However, before I came down with the cold and after Little Lucy wouldn't play nicely and I put her aside again, I was determined to pin baste another UFO. 

(Apologies for the ugly toes )

I prepared everything I need to do some machine quilting but haven't started yet. 

I did start a little stitchery for a bookmark. It is a free design from Jennifer Reynold's blog. ( Jenny of Elefantz). Sorry, I still haven't worked out how to add a link. Jennifer has been creating free monthly bookmark designs this year and they are all really sweet.

The book that Chooky recommended was hard to put down. It is a true crime story here in Australia which is about a woman who is a very interesting but dangerous person. A really good read.

It has been difficult to sneak into my sewing room because we have a furry house guest for 2 weeks. Freya is my daughter's cat who is staying here for 2 weeks while her family are away with their caravan. She has settled in quite quickly and is getting used to a much quieter household without 2 noisy little boys running around. She has been trying to sit on my lap and was washing my hand while I was typing this. 

It is another miserable winter's day, but no rain. I am happy to have Freya sitting on my lap or stretched out on my legs to keep me warm. Stay safe.

NAUGHTY LUCY

 

It's Saturday. Housework is done, 2nd load of washing is in the dryer, what better time to get back to Lucy? I have to get it finished sometime so today was the day....note I said 'was'. I spread it out on the floor with the floor rug behind me and managed to get a carpet burn on top of my foot from constantly moving backwards and forwards aligning and pinning the borders. I finally pinned the corners of the borders straight, not mitred, folding the fabric about 7/8ths inch for the neat join. I then ironed the fold before machine stitching the first border along the join. After searching for a bandaid for my pricked finger after realising blood was on the fabric I finally sat at the sewing machine and sewed. Oh dear! It didn't join as planned so I unpicked it all, put the sewing machine away and put Lucy back where I found her.

I sewed along the crease but that was a silly idea. It didn't catch the other border. Dah! I cannot work out how to attach the borders corners despite searching You Tube. Look like Little Lucy is staying unbordered a while longer.

           I enjoyed this light humourous read last week.

Well, I think that is my sewing day gone kaput so I shall attend to hubby who has a cold, open the bottle of sparkling rose I bought yesterday and binge some Coronation Street.

Keep warm and safe.