Mini Archie’s December Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something

Hello! Where did December go?! Honestly, one minute it was all ahead of me, the next it's behind and it's time to write my final furtle post of the year. Let me show you what I managed this month:

I hand pieced the final four blocks for my LV scrappy trip quilt:

It feels like a while since a backside picture, so here's the final block:

I also machine pieced the rest of the tomte blocks:

The note says 'Mind my ear!'

And then spent what felt like hours finding an arrangement which works:

And got the blocks joined into rows:

I've decided that I'm not going to have sashing round the edges (I'll bind it in the navy so the binding will look like the sashing does here) so I have a bit of unpicking to do before I can join the rows to either side of the sashing strips - just the strips either end of each row, fortunately, so it won't take long.

Once I'd finished all the scrappy trip blocks, I was lacking in a settee project (I can't join the blocks together until I've sorted an arrangement and I need to wait until the Christmas tree is down to do that) so I started a pair of socks for Mam:

I wish I'd made them for myself now!

As this is the final furtle of the year, I thought I'd do a wee round up of the year.  I looked at last year's post and I made mosaics for this bit, but, quite frankly, I couldn't face doing this this year so a list will have to suffice:

This year, I've hand pieced thirty-three scrappy trip blocks, machine pieced fifty nine-patch-on-point blocks, added the frames to forty-nine embroidered Summersville blocks, knitted two pairs of socks (and am well on the way with another), pieced one quilt back, machine pieced twenty Winterkist tomte blocks and made one pin cushion. How about you?!

Needless to say, I'm not going to be allowed to slow down any until my list is considerably shorter:

I notices you hasn't mentioned your Fettling List. Let I fink why that might be... *stern stare*

Linking up to the December Furtle 

If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and set yourself another one - I find this particularly handy if I'm in the midst of a big project and finding the making of hundreds of blocks to be interminable), anything crafty you'd like to share. This isn't just for sewing or quilting, but is for all crafts so if you knit, make lace, make clothes, do anything which could come under the heading of 'craft', then please link up. Please visit the link immediately before and after you and leave an encouraging comment, and more if you can manage it - we all know that comments create joy, so let's spread some around. Also, please treat all the linked posts and their authors with respect - I want this to be an inclusive space for all crafters and crafts and all are welcome. If you're not sure if you're welcome or you belong, you do - this is by no means a closed space and if you want to join, then you are most welcome. If you need help linking up, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help. Please add the Furtling button to your blog post: copy the code below and paste it into your blog post - it should then magically appear when you publish your blog post (I'll do my best to help if you have any problems) and it will help people find the Furtling page with all the details of the link up.

<p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com/p/furtling.html"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fJ7oo6tyMM0/XFF5HxcQW1I/AAAAAAAAEJU/BZnZPfse8k0BXwjt6KAOJIMwySjnfDHbQCLcBGAs/s200/textgram_1548790799.png" alt="Archie The Wonder Dog" /></a></p>

To link up, go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on 'link up' (it's a blue button) and then add your link (website URL), a title (this could be your blog name but could also be something interesting to draw people to it (keep it clean!) if you prefer), and your email. This last one doesn't appear on the link (I will have access to it - I won't use it unless there's a problem and I need to contact you) so don't worry that you're about to share your email address with the world (or the handful of people who find this link), you're not! The link will remain open until 17th January; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the December Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mini Archie's November Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something

Hello! November has turned out to be quite a productive month, which is a good job as I'd fallen a bit behind in October with my scrappy trip blocks. I finished off the last block from October (it did get finished while it was still October, but not in time to take its picture for the Furtle):

Once that was done, I decided to prep the final eight blocks for the top rather than just the four for November while I was in the mood for stamping and had something to watch on telly:

And I've made the four blocks for November:

But, as you can see, none of them have taken themselves to the iron.  In fact, the three blocks from the last post haven't done so, either.  I may as well wait until I've pieced the final four blocks and press twelve at once. Won't that be fun?!

I'm well on the way with the first December block and am hoping to have that finished in the next day or two, depending on how long it takes me to get this post ready for publishing.

In addition to all this hand sewing, I've finally started (machine) sewing my Winterkist quilt (for the StickyProdAlong2020 - feel free to join in on Instagram!) from my Fettling List (and my Finish-Along list), after it waiting for about three and a half years. I worked out the cutting instructions and cut the navy strips which separate each piece:

and over about two and a half weeks, I cut the pieces for each block, laid it all out, took a picture to refer back to (to save having to measure each piece when it was time to sew that block) and placed each set in a bag with the block diagram. I found it easiest to do a little bit each time I went upstairs.  Sometimes I just chose one piece for a block, other times I chose more; once all the pieces were chosen, I would cut a piece or two each time I was upstairs - it's a good way, for me, of splitting up a task and building pacing into the activity. Here's all the blocks ready to sew:

And, in the past few days, I've started piecing all the blocks, again following the 'every time I'm upstairs' rule: 

They're big blocks (16" finished) with (mainly) big pieces so they're very quick to sew up. And, after my sewing room sort out and reorganisation (next step: the decorating, which won't be done by me!), I have room for the ironing board and me in the room at the same time without me having to crawl under/past it to get out. It's made a huge difference to how much energy I have after piecing a few seams, which is good.

Here's how the blocks look together:

I've got the next block laid out (another good 'every time I'm upstairs' job) on the block roll I made for an Oakshott blog hop a while back - it's the first time it's been used as a block roll (although I'm not rolling it up, just using it as a block board on my table) rather than as its other purpose as a mini quilt on the wall and I'm thrilled to say that it's carrying out its duty marvellously:

You can find the tutorial (possibly the longest tutorial there ever was, you have been warned!) here.  

Just in case you want to see the other, mini quilt, side and can't be bothered to follow the link to the tutorial, I flipped it over for you:

I might need this week off!!  Chance would be a fine thing:

I is just checking you is keeping it tidy and making notes for my cartographic trip into The Cupboard Of Possibilites next year.
Why is you in here? Shouldn't you be sewing a gnome seam or free and then going back downstairs to sew some more scrappy trip block?

Linking up to the November Furtle 

If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and set yourself another one - I find this particularly handy if I'm in the midst of a big project and finding the making of hundreds of blocks to be interminable), anything crafty you'd like to share. This isn't just for sewing or quilting, but is for all crafts so if you knit, make lace, make clothes, do anything which could come under the heading of 'craft', then please link up. Please visit the link immediately before and after you and leave an encouraging comment, and more if you can manage it - we all know that comments create joy, so let's spread some around. Also, please treat all the linked posts and their authors with respect - I want this to be an inclusive space for all crafters and crafts and all are welcome. If you're not sure if you're welcome or you belong, you do - this is by no means a closed space and if you want to join, then you are most welcome. If you need help linking up, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help. Please add the Furtling button to your blog post: copy the code below and paste it into your blog post - it should then magically appear when you publish your blog post (I'll do my best to help if you have any problems) and it will help people find the Furtling page with all the details of the link up.

<p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com/p/furtling.html"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fJ7oo6tyMM0/XFF5HxcQW1I/AAAAAAAAEJU/BZnZPfse8k0BXwjt6KAOJIMwySjnfDHbQCLcBGAs/s200/textgram_1548790799.png" alt="Archie The Wonder Dog" /></a></p>

To link up, go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on 'link up' (it's a blue button) and then add your link (website URL), a title (this could be your blog name but could also be something interesting to draw people to it (keep it clean!) if you prefer), and your email. This last one doesn't appear on the link (I will have access to it - I won't use it unless there's a problem and I need to contact you) so don't worry that you're about to share your email address with the world (or the handful of people who find this link), you're not! The link will remain open until 17th December; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the November Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mini Archie's October Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Hello! I don't know how the end of the month has snuck up on me so quickly, but it has! This month has been another hand piecing month, with three blocks finished (none have taken themselves to the iron) and the fourth well on its way - it should be finished by the time the month ends so I'm still on track to have all fifty-six blocks made by the end of the year.  Here are the three blocks I've finished:

I think I've almost finished filling the new cupboard in the sewing room (yes, it got built and yes, I love it! I can also get an awful lot more in there, which is good.  I'll take pictures once I've got everything in and labelled and a map drawn to help me locate, say, the cocktail sticks!) and am mainly left with all the faffy bits which don't have a natural home. The urge to shove them all in a box and call it done is growing, but I shall stay strong.  Apart from anything else, there's a certain someone looking for an excuse, any excuse, to give me a firm prod in the bahoukie:

Yes, I is out here in the rain checking the boundaries.  What's your excuse? Why isn't you inside putting fings in the cupboard? 

I think my Fettle List was wildly ambitious, though.  Oops! Oh well, there's always the first quarter of the 2021 Finish-Along to pin my hopes on...

Linking up to the October Furtle 

If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and set yourself another one - I find this particularly handy if I'm in the midst of a big project and finding the making of hundreds of blocks to be interminable), anything crafty you'd like to share. This isn't just for sewing or quilting, but is for all crafts so if you knit, make lace, make clothes, do anything which could come under the heading of 'craft', then please link up. Please visit the link immediately before and after you and leave an encouraging comment, and more if you can manage it - we all know that comments create joy, so let's spread some around. Also, please treat all the linked posts and their authors with respect - I want this to be an inclusive space for all crafters and crafts and all are welcome. If you're not sure if you're welcome or you belong, you do - this is by no means a closed space and if you want to join, then you are most welcome. If you need help linking up, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help. Please add the Furtling button to your blog post: copy the code below and paste it into your blog post - it should then magically appear when you publish your blog post (I'll do my best to help if you have any problems) and it will help people find the Furtling page with all the details of the link up.

<p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com/p/furtling.html"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fJ7oo6tyMM0/XFF5HxcQW1I/AAAAAAAAEJU/BZnZPfse8k0BXwjt6KAOJIMwySjnfDHbQCLcBGAs/s200/textgram_1548790799.png" alt="Archie The Wonder Dog" /></a></p>

To link up, go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on 'link up' (it's a blue button) and then add your link (website URL), a title (this could be your blog name but could also be something interesting to draw people to it (keep it clean!) if you prefer), and your email. This last one doesn't appear on the link (I will have access to it - I won't use it unless there's a problem and I need to contact you) so don't worry that you're about to share your email address with the world (or the handful of people who find this link), you're not! The link will remain open until 17th November; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the October Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Fettle Those Finishes!

Welcome to Fettle Those Finishes! For those of you wondering what on earth 'fettle' means, it's one of those words which can mean different things. You can be in fine fettle (good health and feeling perky), you can fettle clay before firing (less of a dialect word, more of a technical one, that) and you can sort out/mend something or get it ready.  You might 'fettle that cupboard once and for all' (give it a good sort out), you might 'fettle the tension on that sewing machine' (fix it) or you might 'give it a fettle' (get it ready). For this, I'm using the 'sort out' definition as we're going to give our project list a good sort out and hopefully get some things crossed off. Flummoxed?  I do hope not!

As the Finish-Along is returning in 2021, this is just to tide us over until the end of the year. I'm going to concentrate on the things I stand a chance of finishing/making good progress on between now and then:

1. Scrappy trip blocks.  I've finished forty-four of them and have another twelve to go.  If I stick to my target of four blocks a month, that will be manageable.

2. Winterkist. This has been sitting on my FAL list since 2017. I've cut out the gnomes, designed the blocks and made an initial fabric pull. (In other words, I've done more in four weeks than I have in two and half years.) I'm not going to get this quilt (or even the top) finished by the end of the year, but I'm hoping to get some (if not all) of the cutting done.  It depends how long it takes me to move everything back into the sewing room.

3.  Jeans. I'm almost ready to start sewing these.  The initial rough fit has been done and I'm almost finished taking apart the tacking. Then I can do things like make the back pockets and insert the fly and sew the legs together. 

4.  ET Phone Home.  I'd like to get this layered and pinned, but, again, it depends on how long it takes me to sort the sewing room and cupboard once the work is finished as I can only layer and pin on my sewing table and that's currently under a pile of boxes. 

5. If I don't get back into my sewing room by the back end of the month, I might get the Summersville blocks out and see if I can lay them out and make a map.

As always, Mini Archie is keeping me on the straight and narrow:

What's that you says? A sensible lenf Fettling List? *puts paw to head* Is you feeling peely-wally?

Now it's your turn! Have a think about what you'd like to make/finish/make progress on between now and the end of the year - you could do what I've done and select the most likely candidates from your Finish-Along list, you could look at your Christmas present list and see what needs making, you could choose just one project to finally fettle once and for all; it's up to you! The link will close on 18th October and, if you could, it would be nice to visit some of the links (that's assuming there's more than one!) and leave an encouraging comment. Have fun choosing!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I’ve added a new link up for those of you who missed the first one but fancy joining in. It’s open until 2nd November:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter