Mini Archie’s January Furtle Around The Blogosphere

 

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

Before I start this post proper, I just wanted to remind you that the Fettle Those Finishes! 2025 end of year reports link will close tonight at 11pm and that the Fettle Those Finishes 2026 lists link is open until 28th February at 11pm. 

January has been a month with unexpected progress (thanks to yet another course of medication which gives me insomnia) and the project which I chose (or, more accurately, which leapt into my arms and begged to be worked on) was my Winterkist quilt. As a reminder, this is how it looked at the start of the year:

It has looked like this since December 2022

I decided in 2024 that it’s now too big and heavy (it’s got cotton fleece as a backing (no wadding, just a cotton bedsheet to provide stability to the fleece)) and that I also wasn’t going to be able to do the rest of the quilting myself. The plan had been that each gnome would be outlined in matching thread and that the bigger non-gnome pieces would get something like a diagonal cross (like a saltire). As it was going to have to go to a longarmer for further quilting, I also needed to ensure that there was enough backing for it to be attached to the rollers and, as it stood, there wasn’t. The easiest way to make it smaller and suitable for longarm quilting was to remove a row and a block at the beginning or end of the remaining rows. The bottom was the side with the least amount of backing spare so that was an easy choice and then I decided to remove the end blocks (can’t remember why but there was a reason it was that end and not the other). First of all, of course, I had to unpick all the quilting in those blocks - removing navy in-the-ditch quilting might not be everyone’s idea of a nice job to do in January in the northern hemisphere but I found it very satisfying indeed! I think that because the unpicking was actually a way to make progress on the quilt, it didn’t feel like a backwards step at all. Plus, of course, it had been over three years since I did the quilting so I’d forgotten all the work and time which had gone into doing it. 

Once the quilting was unpicked, I could start removing blocks. I started by removing the bottom row and rather than unpicking the quilting in the ditch on the “these blocks are staying” side of the sashing, I decided to unpick the stitches which attached the sashing to that row. I did that because the quilting would act as an anchor to keep the pieces in place and protect the row ends. As it has never been intended to be the outside edge of the quilt, it didn’t have any stay stitching on it which is required for long arming so keeping the quilting meant that I didn’t have to add stitching to that edge before posting it. 

Minus the bottom row - that bit was straightforward.

Then came the turn of the end blocks. At this point, I hadn’t really clocked that they were end blocks rather than a column but soon noticed when I came to the first cornerstone (despite the sashing all being the same, I did cornerstones (as I always do) as that means the sashing either side of the intersections lines up perfectly and doesn’t end up looking like the OXO part of an eye test when your eyes aren’t balanced and co-ordinated) and that one did not go as smoothly as it could (unpicking navy thread from navy fabric is quite the test and I did regret choosing a thread which matched so perfectly at a couple of points!). However, I improved my approach and got the other two removed without issue. 

Minus the end blocks (and some patience)

Above and below: I love how you can see the ghosts of the quilting which has been removed

That tacking is holding the seams in place from where the backing needed to be pieced and was removed before posting

In order to make sure the quilting was robust enough and wouldn’t unravel with washing and use, I had unpicked the quilting until I had both long enough ends to tie and bury a knot but also enough room to work so that I could repair the bit of seam I’d had to unpick to remove the cornerstone. 

Above and below: before repair

I tucked everything into place, pinned and then tacked it

Getting everything neatened up and ready to repair

My wee tray of notions needed to do the repair; I feel this justifies my habit of keeping good boxes as it’s actually the box from a selection of after dinner mints that I spotted in Mam’s house over Christmas 2024 and called dibs on. It’s also been used for sorting jigsaw pieces so is multi purpose, as all good boxes are. 

To repair the seam, I appliquéd the sashing to the block pieces (going just through them) which worked really well and then I quilted the end of the seam, picking up where the original fabric quilting had been unpicked to. 

I think this is the first time I’ve had the sewing machine out since I quilted this in 2022 

And then I sent it off to my friend Cath at Cumbrian Longarm Quilting (after checking she wanted to take it on!) and now it’s waiting to be at the front of the queue! This is the first time I’ve ever sent a quilt to a quilter and I’m quite excited and definitely very excited to see what Cath suggests. 

How much sewing or knitting have I done since then? Absolutely none! I have read some of my to-be-read queue, though, which is satisfying.

I hope you’re all had a safe month with some moments of calm and crafting?

What shall we choose next as your unpicking project? The top which needs blocks and pieces removed because it’s bof too big and you has goned off some of the fabrics or the blocks which is only sewed in sets of free but which needs some removing (and possibly all of them rearranging) because it’s also too big? <senses a feme>

Linking up to the January 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 10th February; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the January Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

This link won’t open until 11pm on 31st January as I already have two open until then (that keeps catching me out!), but it will be back to its usual 6am from next month. 
 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter