Archie The Wonder Dog

Can you believe that it's already the end of Q1 of the 2016 FAL?!  I don't know about you, but I don't know where the last three months have gone; I'd love to be able to say that they've gone in a flurry of sewing, but that's not true (although the first month had more sewing in it than the other two combined!).  It's more like they've gone in a fug of exhaustion, accompanied by a very stiff and achy shoulder!  I have managed a few (mainly small) finishes, though, so I'll be linking up those with the rest of you. As we announced back in January, the 2016 FAL is now global and a community of bloggers across the world are jointly hosting the FAL. Our hosts are: Debbie - A Quilter's Table - USA Jess - Elven Garden Quilts - Australia Stacey - SLO Studio - Canada Jennie - Clover & Violet - USA Helen - Archie the Wonder Dog - UK Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow -UK Cindy - Fluffy Sheep Quilting - Ireland Rhonda - Rhonda's Ra...

This is, I think, the penultimate 'I really must catch up with blogging about those Summersville blocks' posts.  I say 'think', because I might take a photo of all 49 blocks together and I don't know whether to do that for next weekend or the one after.   (It's probably just as well: the stories for each block are getting more far-fetched by the week!!) You can find the other posts in the series here:  blocks 1 - 4 ;  blocks 5 - 8 ;  blocks 9 - 12 ;  blocks 13 - 16 ;  blocks 17 - 20 ;  blocks 21- 24 ;  blocks 25 - 28 ;  blocks 29 - 32 ;  blocks 33 - 36 ; blocks 37 - 41 . The factory/mill in block 42 used similar colours  to the old customs house in block 40  as they were built around the same time.  The original owner was a canny fella and realised that if his factory was built near the customs house, then he could build up a good relationship with the customs officer who would perhaps expedite the paperwork for t...

As stated on my current FAL list , the hat I knitted for Mam's Christmas present ( find the pattern here ) needed a little adjusting as the lazy wind kept creeping up the small gap round her ear lobes and making her chilly!  I had enough yarn left to extend the brim, but didn't want to pull the hat out and start again (all those cables!), so I decided that the best way would be to pick up around the brim (the original cast on edge) and add lengthen the rib on it - upside down, if you like. Here's how the hat looked at the start of the quarter (it's the one on the right): And here's how it looked after another 2.5" of rib had been added to the brim: I made sure to pick up the stitches going from the wrong side, so that the ridge was on the right side of the hat.  This was important because that ridge needed to be hidden in the fold of the brim, rather than pressed against Mam's forehead (which would have made her look like she'd had serious ...

When I started this project in 2012, it was destined to be my 'sitting on the settee and watching telly' sewing when I wasn't up to preparing anything else and as such, the embroidery was always going to be a long-term project.  However, I must admit that I'm quite surprised that it only took me three and a half years to embroider all the blocks as I was prepared for it to take at least five!  Of course, the project itself is far from complete: there are alternate blocks (nine patches is the plan) and background fabric to choose, cut and piece, but it feels like completing the embroidery might place me somewhere approaching the halfway point between starting and having a finished top.   You can find the other posts in the series here:  blocks 1 - 4 ;  blocks 5 - 8 ;  blocks 9 - 12 ;  blocks 13 - 16 ;  blocks 17 - 20 ;  blocks 21- 24 ;  blocks 25 - 28 ;  blocks 29 - 32 ; blocks 33 - 36 . The astute among you will have spotted tha...