Archie The Wonder Dog

Well, it’s that time of year. Although, as someone who went through (and then worked in) the English education system, this is completely the wrong time of year to be getting or writing an end of year report* but I’ve always thought it made sense to tie the academic year to the calendar year so I’m embracing it.  *Fortunately, we don’t have to participate in sports day/end of year plays/school discos but there can be Toy Day and Big Toy Day if you fancy. Don’t bring anything with lots of small parts or which is very expensive or very new. You are entirely responsible for making sure you have all the correct toys and all the component parts with you at home time. I’ve been trying to decide how to write my report and have decided that I will stick with pictures, for the main. It’s at this point that I am making a note to 2023 me not to delete photos of finished objects until I’ve written my Fettle Those Finishes Report. In this instance, tidying as you go does not make life easier. S...

Long, long (long) ago, I started a hand piecing project that I knew would be a long-term project. I had no idea just how long it would actually take. It started when I saw a blog post by Lynne of Lily’s Quilts of her new block and I fell in love with it. Her blog is undergoing some renovation, so this follow up post to the initial one is only post I can find . And on that post, I left this comment: Notice the date - such optimism! I started (not long after Lynne’s post) by making a test block (It was made into a  mini quilt in June 2015 ) I bought background fabric and furtled through my fabric boxes to find suitable prints and plains (and a lovely friend  bought me some bright tone on tone fabrics at FOQ (or maybe the first Fat Quarterly retreat?) to supplement what I had) and by April 2013, I had this: And by the start of June, I had my first block: It took me eighteen months to finish the next block (isn’t it amazing how long things take to make when you’re not working on t...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! This month I’ve made what feels like a giant leap towards finishing ET: I’ve finished the quilting! (Turns out that actually picking it up and doing some quilting makes quite the difference to how quickly you can hand quilt. See also: not allowing yourself to do any other sewing/knitting until said quilting is complete. Who knew?!) Not only that, but I’ve trimmed it, cut and joined the binding strips and there’s just a short pressing session and then a longer machine sewing session standing between me and watching a film while sewing the binding to the back. And as well as all that quilting, writing my Fettling List  and sorting out the link up in case anyone else wants to join in , I’ve knitted a sock. Which I was absolutely allowed to start because I was between stages in the ET finishing (and none of those stages were sitting on the settee watching telly stages), I just won’t be allowed to touch it on...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! ET has led me on a merry dance this month (there was a very brief moment where I wondered whether I should just set fire to it, such was the feeling) but I think we’ve come to an understanding. More of that in a moment. I finished the soft-as-a-cloud socks for my friend Trudi  and they fit, which is always a bit of relief. Particularly with a sock yarn with such a different row gauge from my usual sock yarns. She wanted double length cuffs so she could fold them over, which is why they look so much longer than other cuffs. Yarn is a 4ply alpaca, silk and cashmere from  Coastal Colours I made another pair, this time for me, and had a bit of a needle disaster mid round: Yarn is seaglass tonal (high twist) from  Mothy & The Squid And started some for presents (I have four pairs to knit, two of which need to be finished by the end of the year) Yarn is Opal Rainforest 17 colour way 11095 ‘Referee’...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! It’s been a busy month and, for once, the busy hasn’t all been knitting. There has been some knitting, though. I finished the socks I’d started last month: Yarn is one of the gobstopper range by  Easy Knits  which I bought in a destash I knitted a pair for a friend: Yarn is  Purple Nimbus by Made By Penguins  and the pattern is the  soon-to-be released Chestnut Bark Socks by  Mrs Moog And started another pair for a different friend: Yarn is an alpaca, silk and cashmere mix from  Coastal Colours And I quilted (and quilted and quilted) ET, under the watchful eye of Mini Archie (who soon moved once I pressed the foot pedal!) But, although it looks fine on the front (just how I hoped, actually), I’m not happy with how the corners look on the back. I quilted three of them using the quilting bar on my walking foot and the third one had nineteen lines rather than eighteen so a tiny ...