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://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 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