Saturday Summary And Another Finish! (AKA Don't Start Thinking I'm Going To Manage A Finish A Week!)

I've done it again!  Yes, two weeks on the trot see me sitting in front of my laptop with a pot of tea by my side, ready to think about what I've done in the week.  It must be a miracle!

First up is my second finish from my Q4 FAL list (item 26), socks for me:

As you can see, they don't quite match.  I think I used a slightly tighter tension on the heel flap of the second sock and that's why they're off.  I'm going to ask Father C. for another set of dpns (and a matching set of a smaller size for 4ply yarn) so I can knit the next pair in tandem in the hope that I'll be better able to keep an eye on the colour matching.  I used Adriafil Knitcol in Kandinsky, which is a dk merino yarn.  I used the basic top down pattern which came free with Regia sock yarn many years ago (and probably still does!) with the addition of a reinforced heel (S1 K1 on the knit rows, rather than all knit).  When the time comes, I'll be linking up with the Finish-Along

Speaking of Fr. C., Lynz and I realised last year (earlier this year?) that we needed some Christmas cushions and decided we'd make them together.  And so, we've spent the entire year not making them, as you could have predicted!  In order that we have new cushions for this Christmas, we're starting an informal (very informal!) Christmas cushion-along on Instagram (see photos here).  There are two rules: try to have your plan ready by tomorrow (Sunday 23rd October), and then get sewing.  You can sew as fast or as slow as you want, you can start new cushions from scratch or you can finish a WIP, you can make as many (or as few) cushions as you wish.  See?  Very informal!

We started out with the pair of us, recruited Nicky (@nickyeglinton) and Sheila (@budsmam) and then a few more joined us.  We now have nineteen people in total, with a couple more dithering - I'm hoping they'll join us though!

I know not all of you are on instagram (find me here), but please don't let that stop you joining in if you wish to.  As I said, we're starting to sew any time from tomorrow/Monday and we're aiming to have the cushions finished for this Christmas.  If you fancy, you could leave a link to your plan in a comment and then I can see what you're up to!  (If you have Google+ comments enabled on your blog then I won't be able to comment, sorry about that!  Same goes if you have a Tumblr blog.)

Here are my plans:

The first cushion is going to hand pieced from 1" hexies and I'm going to fussy cut as many polar bears and snowflakes as I can.  The rest of the hexies will be made from white fabric (probably plain white, but the odd one may have a snowflake embroidered on it) and I'll then machine quilt it.  It'll end up somewhere around 20" square.

The second cushion will be made from fussy cut penguins which will have a white frame around them (and white corner triangles so that I don't have another penguin's hat peeping in) and then the other frames will have the other prints in them (I won't have enough penguins, I don't think, but a friend has some on standby, just in case).  Again, it will end up around 20" square.  I think I'm going to machine piece and quilt this one.

From the leftovers, I'm hoping to cobble together a table runner which will just be out for the relatively short time the tree is up (about 21st December through to around 3rd January).  It'll be made from strips and squares and, probably, the odd disembodied polar bear or penguin.

I've made progress on my pinafore dress and have attached the facings:

Since this photo was taken, I've graded and clipped the seams and it's now ready for pressing and understitching.  Maybe next week I'll have the shoulder seams joined as well?  I really fancy some thick woolly (although not actual wool!) tights to wear with this, preferably with a cable or something on them.  Any ideas where to look?!

It's starting to get tedious, but I've been plodding on with the stars on the blue and white quilt and passed the halfway mark on Monday, which I celebrated by taking an awful night-time photo:

Halfway!!!

Since then, I've managed my target of two stars a night (just), and am now (I think) on row ten of seventeen.  And believe you me, row seventeen seems further away than ever!!!

I decided to admire my progress in the week and no sooner put it on the floor than Eddie (who was visiting for the day) started rolling round on it.  Seeing this, Archie decided to stake his claim and show Eddie how well brought up dogs behave when a quilt is on the floor:

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What do you mean, we're not supposed to be on here?  We've all got clean paws!

Thanks for popping in!