Mini Archie's July Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Hello! Time is definitely returning to normal, I think. Although the afternoons and evenings (particularly the latter) seem to be travelling very quickly, so maybe normally-moving is a way off yet?!

This month has been quite a busy month for sewing.  About halfway through it, I realised that there were six months left of the year (do I get a prize for that revelation?), that I have twenty-four low volume scrappy trip blocks left to make and that the first goes nicely into the second and I could have all the blocks made by the start of 2021 if I got a shift on. At that point, there were sixteen days left in July, so I had four days to make each block if I was going to stick to my newly-set target of four blocks a month. So far, I've managed three and am a good way through the fourth (I might have finished it before this post, but I've spent far too long wrestling with my elderly laptop and coaxing it into working) and here they are:

At the start of the month (I should probably swap this paragraph with the one above so I move through the month chronologically, but given my problems with photos and blogger last month, that's not a battle I'm prepared to fight today), I remembered that the end of quarter two of the Finish-Along was approaching, and although things seem to be on hold with that* I still like to aim for at least one finish a quarter.  I consulted my list and realised that the only thing I could possibly finish was the pin cushion.  I borrowed my friend's glue gun, got out my basket of pug pin cushion toiles, decided which fitted best, cut out some Oakshott, wished I had an extra hand, and made this little chap (who now lives with a pug-loving friend):

If anyone is interested, I worked out that you need a fabric circle 2.15 times the diameter of the egg cup - slightly larger is okay, slightly smaller is not.

(* I'm not sure what's happening with Finish-Along or whether it will be back once the pandemic settles down/burns out/a vaccine is found and distributed, but rest assured, Mini Archie (and Sheila Budsmam/Mindful Quilter have a plan to keep us in order if it doesn't return...)

Throughout this year, I've been slowly making progress on my Summersville quilt.  Last month, I was ready to attach the second pair of triangles to the nine patches and they're now on and pressed:

And I cut and attached the borders for the house blocks, too! It took about a week to cut the strips, about a week and a half to pin, sew and press the top and bottom strips, and another week and a half for the side strips. I'm really pleased with how the background looks with these blocks and how the thin border of dark grey accentuates the houses and looks like a window frame.

To try to make sure that I got a consistent narrow border which didn't get fatter and thinner as it went round the block, I sewed from the 'wrong' side: that is, I pinned the background strip on the underneath and sewed with the bulk of the block on the top. (I would usually have the piece I'm adding on the top when sewing.) This meant I could sew along the edge of the house-to-window-frame-seam allowance and so maintain a consistent line. I'm not sure that makes sense, but it does to me! If you're really curious, let me know and I'll take a picture.

I'm also pleased with how the three 'split' blocks have turned out and I took a photo of one of them so you could see:

All this means that I've hit a major milestone in this project: the blocks are all made!!  While I haven't had time to do any laying out, I couldn't resist a wee group photo:

I think I'll have to have the print in the nine patches pointing the other way as they look upside down to me in that photo, but other than that, I'm happy.  I think it's going to take a lot of work to get the blocks (all ninety-nine of them) laid out in an order I'm happy with and there are decisions to be made about whether all the nine patches point the same way and how to arrange the two different types of house block to name but two, but that's a problem for another month!  I'm hopeful that I might have a completed top by the end of the year.  (Hopeful, not confident!)

And that's it!  Quite a lot, it seems, but a lot of it (even the pug) is the result of work over the last few months (and years!) suddenly coming to fruition.


Mini Archie has, as ever, kept my nose to the grindstone:

You hasn't got time to be hanging around wif I, you has a list of eleven projects to finish and a destash to do so you can pay for mine new home and a new Cupboard Of Doom and a patio you keeps doing the splits on when it rains because it needs cleaning. Chip chop!

Linking up to the July 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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXDD7-BYr5nXJtGn7HIFUcDUZfLGBTpazWKP8TCUWdkA6zd2285lbJX4aoMug6QyKDdxtxA-njWnhvf0GugU-An4z5lTFcqmYnae0Gb68FR0ZmydWYETGSa2oF1NeQDMVNwZBnUHTpsD7/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 August; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the July Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter