Archie The Wonder Dog

Hello!  I'd like to start by saying thank you very much for all the lovely comments you left on my previous post about Archie.  I'll be honest, I did intend replying individually to each and every one, but I just can't do it, so please consider this your reply.  Thank you xx I've finished quite a few things, both from my  Finish-Along lists  and not (oops!), and here's a sample: Mini Archie's hexy quilt Welly socks for Moo Socks for Sarah (Moo's mam) Socks for me A tunic ( Kate Dress ) for me A crocheted wreath, started before last Christmas and abandoned when it became clear it wouldn't be finished in time! A Fair Isle jumper for Mini Archie (my first ever Fair Isle and my first ever jumper, what a project to start with!) I finished my seaside embroidery (on my FAL since Q3 2015) and made it into a pouch A Lola pouch for a friend A Lola pouch for my sister-in-law Another wreath which...

Earlier in the year, I bought some lovely navy floral needlecord from a local fabric shop for about £6 a metre and from the outset it was destined to be a pinafore.  At that point, I hadn't even finished the toile of the Kate dress (pattern by Sew Me Something)  but I already knew that it was going to be a pattern that I would make and make again, with variations to make different dresses but with the same basic pattern. Once I'd made my toile ( see it here ) and established the changes I needed to make to the basic pattern to get the fit right, I traced it again (I'm a big fan of keeping the original pattern intact and tracing onto tissue paper - it's a bit of a faff, but I find it works for me) and altered it so that it became a pinafore.  Essentially, I lengthened the arm hole so that it came quite a bit lower, narrowed the shoulder a little at both the outside and inside edges, and created a softly curved v neck instead of the round neck.  I also drafted the ...

...but I don't know why it's been an odd week so I'm going to blame the clocks going back!  I also don't feel like I've got anything done, so let's see what I can pull out of the hat, eh? I reached a couple of milestones on the blue and white quilt's hand quilting.  Here's Mini Archie helping me celebrate the first one: Three quarters of the way there!!! And here's Archie wondering whether he'll get his tea before I reach the next milestone: I'm sure it's teatime.  Tell me it's teatime.   A while later, after Archie's tea, I hit the milestone! One hundred stars quilted!  (Just 27 to go!) I've even bought the binding fabric, as I had a discount code for Simply Solids and wanted to use it before it ran out.  It arrived yesterday and I think it's going to work well: I'm now aiming to get it finished for either Christmas, or Mam's birthday in early January.  I was doing two stars a day during ...

I've done it again!  Yes, two weeks on the trot see me sitting in front of my laptop with a pot of tea by my side, ready to think about what I've done in the week.  It must be a miracle! First up is my second finish from my Q4 FAL list (item 26) , socks for me: As you can see, they don't quite match.  I think I used a slightly tighter tension on the heel flap of the second sock and that's why they're off.  I'm going to ask Father C. for another set of dpns (and a matching set of a smaller size for 4ply yarn) so I can knit the next pair in tandem in the hope that I'll be better able to keep an eye on the colour matching.  I used Adriafil Knitcol in Kandinsky, which is a dk merino yarn.  I used the basic top down pattern which came free with Regia sock yarn many years ago (and probably still does!) with the addition of a reinforced heel (S1 K1 on the knit rows, rather than all knit).  When the time comes, I'll be linking up with the Finish-Along ...

Hello! I did it!!!  I've actually kept my promise to myself that I would blog at the weekend!  I'm going to try to write a post on either a Saturday or Sunday to try and keep up with myself.  I found that doing the Summersville posts (yes, I'm still adding stories to the page - there are 21 up at the moment ) each Saturday or Sunday really helped so I'm going to try going back to that way of thinking.  Wish me luck! This week has been one of mainly hand quilting the blue and white quilt (or the blue and white bu**er as I think of it) and, as of last night, I've quilted 58 stars (out of 127): This is not star number 58, but as they all look the same (or I hope they do), I thought I'd share one which has my supervisor in! I've also started putting together my pinafore version of the Kate dress ( pattern by Sew Me Something , I've adapted it to be a pinafore).  I've made the pockets: Next time, I'm going to make a cardboard template of ...

Hello!  Oh, the shame of neglecting my blog for so long!!  Still, I'm here now and ready to blame both the FAL and the garden for my absence. I started the quarter like an ageing, arthritic greyhound: straight out of the trap and full of enthusiasm, built up a little speed and then stopped for a long sniff and a nap about halfway through. This, combined with being busy in the garden, meant I just haven't had the energy to blog.  I have finished some things from my quarter three FAL list , though! I'm going to blog them in the order they were finished, so if you could just pretend that it's mid July, then I'd be ever so grateful! My Kate dress looked like this when I wrote my Q3 list : which meant it was (machine) tacked together to check the fit.  I'd added 1" to the armscye when tracing it and discovered that I needed to take 1/4" back out and then raise the bust dart by 1/2", which I then did on the pattern and then the fabric: Mak...