Archie The Wonder Dog

  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...

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...

  Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello, and welcome to the final Furtle of the year! (How? How?! ) I finished the socks I started last month and they are now (although perhaps not literally) on the feet of their owner. These are they (socks not feet): There’s enough left over leftovers to  make her another pair so once I’ve finished my current pair, I’ll set to. This most recent pair takes my sock count for 2022 to sixteen. I also finished the top I’d started last month: And made another: which I temporarily turned into a Christmas top with the addition of some red seed beads: Those take my tops count for 2022 to fourteen (eleven short sleeved and three long sleeved). I did loads of quilting on my Winterkist quilt, loads more than I planned because the fleece behaved so well (about time too) that I quilted all the ditches and not just those running from one edge to the other. I’ve now got a plan for the rest of the quilting: I’m going to ...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! November feels like it’s lasted sixty days rather than thirty and, upon looking in my Furtling photo album (I add photos in across the month in an attempt to remember everything and make writing this post a little easier), I find I have squeezed in a lot of knitting and sewing so perhaps it really has been twice as long as usual? I finished the scrappy socks I started last month : Isn’t it amazing how you can take small balls of left over yarn  and turn them into a pair of socks which look deliberate?!  Speaking of deliberate, the fleece backing for my Winterkist quilt  continues to be deliberately (and impressively) obstreperous but I got it pieced into the right size and shape for the top towards the end of last month and then tacked down all the seams (so they didn’t flip over during layering) and have, with the help of the same friend who’s been helping me fleece wrestle throughout this ...