Progress report on my Winter Stitching List

Way back in October (was it really that long ago?!) I (along with many, many others!) linked up with Sarah @ Fairyface Designs to plan our winter stitching.  Now, at the time I thought I'd been fairly sensible and realistic with my plans but I somehow forgot that Christmas comes in the middle of the six months from October to March and that I'm always shattered for weeks after Christmas.  And, for those of you thinking 'what she's really saying is that she hasn't ticked many things off her list'...yes, you're completely right!  Let's just say that after a quick look a few days ago I've made myself a dunce's cap and you'll find me in the corner of the room for the foreseeable future!

So, let's get on with my update humiliation shall we?!

1&2.  Add backs (cord?  Velvet?) to my knitted and crocheted squares to turn them into cushion   covers.

I put them in a box, does that count?!  I also bought a striped fabric for the back of one of them but haven't quite got round to doing anything more than washing and ironing it.  (Actually, now I think about it I'm not sure I even did that!)   

3.  Finish sorting my scraps.

Done!!  My scraps now look like this

(neatly arranged IKEA boxes with coloured labels)

4.  Make my BQS Pillow Fight cushion for my secret partner (deadline = 21st November)
  
Done!!  I made this for Trudi

(Sea green/aqua/teal shoo-fly blocks with a white background)

 

5.  Make a cushion for a friend (deadline = as close to 21st November as possible!)

Done!!  Well, sort of!  The cushion is done (finished it last week - does that count as being close to 21st November?!) and I just have a couple of bits to finish make.  Posting day has been set for next Tuesday - wish me luck!

6.  Finish the Twelve Days of Christmas red work garland for my mam (deadline = Christmas day!)

Delayed...once I'd finished the Pillow Fight cushion I picked up the garland again and quickly realised two things - I wasn't going to get it finished for Christmas 2011 and I was sick of it and needed a break!  So I'm now aiming for Christmas 2012.  I did make her these instead...

(Three Suffolk Puff mini Christmas trees)

 7 .  Start the blue and white snowball and nine patch quilt for Mam and Dad's spare bedroom
Er...does washing, drying and ironing about a dozen metres of blue and white fabric count?

8.  Decide what size to make my Christmas quilt and firm up the design (embroidery or raw edge applique is the debate currently going on in my head!) PLUS create some (all?!) designs for the (multiple) embroidered panels.  

Ah...well, here's the thing.  I did design the quilt top and design two of the six embroidered panels.  And then I thought about whether I wanted a Christmas quilt with embroidered panels on my bed/settee and the answer was no.  I was really looking forward to doing the embroidery but I think one of the reasons I was having so much trouble pinning down my ideas for this quilt was because I wasn't entirely sure when I would use it.  So now I'm keeping my eyes open for a block that will work well with my Christmas fabrics - if you have any ideas please shout!   So, technically I did do what I set out to do, I just had a change of heart afterwards and created more work for myself!

9.  Make some more hexies - maybe another four dozen, which will almost take me to the halfway point.  (Not all of them have to be pieced as I need some whole hexies to balance out the completely scrappy look!) 

I've been more successful with this one.   I haven't made another 48 yet but I think I might be just over halfway there!  Not that I've shown you a lot of them yet (bad blogger!) so here are the ones you have seen before

 

and here are the new ones (not all of them though, I'm holding some in reserve, just in case I hit a slow slower patch!)

I'm really not sure sure about the one on the bottom right but I'll wait until I see it with the rest of them before deciding whether I need to commit hexicide!

See?  Dunce's cap required!   Even Archie's laughing at me...

Come on then, where's that Dunce's cap?  You're really going to suit it, I can't wait!

He soon sobered up when I mentioned that dogs who laugh at the afflicted don't get biscuits...

Gulp...really?

And he said sorry and promised not to do it again, well, not until next time!

If I apologise could I have that biscuit you mentioned?  

I'm really sorry and not just about the biscuit!

See you soon, I hope, when I'll be sharing some lovely parcels I've received this/last week!

P.S.  The children/scissors thing is going well so far and all of the 12 can now do running stitch and straight stitch and almost all can do blanket stitch - yippee!

P.P.S.  It's almost Archie's birthday - he'll be 12 on Saturday!  It's as accurate as I can be (as he's a rescue dog) but he seems quite happy with the arrangement!