Archie The Wonder Dog

On Friday, I knocked something else off my Finish-Along list and considering it's been on my list since Q3 2015, it didn't take long to finish.  Less than an hour, in fact *hangs head* Here's how it looked at the start of the quarter (it's item four on my list), when it was going to be turned into a pin cushion: I decided that I didn't really need another pin cushion where I had to be careful of where I'm putting pins.  In the end, I decided to stretch it in a hoop so it could be hung on my sewing room wall. I found a strip of turquoise solid that was almost but not quite wide enough to go behind it, so I pieced another bit on with a quarter inch seam and then top stitched it to make sure it would tolerate the stretching required.  I then stretched it over the hoop and secured the back. You can just make out some of the seam at the bottom of the hoop: I then did the same with the pulled thread work (after giving it a quick press), but used a pale pi...

In my quest to catch up with myself and my quarter three finishes, I'm now pretending it's the end of August... Another repeat visitor to my  Q3 FAL list  (although it's only been on since the start of this year, unlike many others on the list) was this panel which I started at an embroidery workshop based around the paisley shape and traditional patterns and which was designed on the go by yours truly: The embroidery was done on Irish linen with a fine lawn fusible interfacing on the back to provide some stability, and stitches used include split stitch, back stitch, chain stitch, French knots, trellis stitch, lazy daisy, long stitch, Turkey knots, and fly stitch - my embroidery stitches book came in very handy!  In addition, there are four (decreasing) layers of wadding behind the wings to create a slightly padded effect. The first decision was the zip colour: I went with purple in the end and then the lining fabric was chosen (I even remembered to cut...

Welcome to my final Summersville catch-up post!  It's been a while since I posted one of these so if you need a refresher about the blocks then you can  find the other posts in the series here:  blocks 1 - 4 ;  blocks 5 - 8 ;  blocks 9 - 12 ;  blocks 13 - 16 ;  blocks 17 - 20 ;  blocks 21- 24 ;  blocks 25 - 28 ;  blocks 29 - 32 ;  blocks 33 - 36 ;  blocks 37 - 41 ; blocks 42 - 46 .  I've also started a page for the Summersville block stories and intend to go back and add in the stories for the earlier blocks (when I didn't bother sharing the stories behind the blocks, partly because the posts were supposed to be short and simple.  I should have known I couldn't keep that up for long!) and I'll try to remember to let you know when new stories have been added. You probably won't remember, but back in the first of these posts I mentioned that the final three of these blocks hadn't been without their problems: I cut 4...

I have one final finish from my current FAL list .  At the start of the quarter, it looked like this: And now, after a very short stitching session (about an hour from start to finish), it looks like this: I love the bit of Liberty lawn round the edge!  I was supposed to do blanket stitch round the edge of the Liberty, but I couldn't get it to look how I wanted so I decided to go with some big running stitches instead.  (I tried smaller stitches, but they looked awful and as though I was trying to hide them.)  This tape measure now lives in my knitting 'bits and bobs' pouch (it was made by Jude and you can see it in this post ) where it has already come in handy! That's my final finish of this quarter (six in total, yippee!!!) so I'll be linking it up when I finish typing. If you haven't yet linked up your finishes, please make sure you visit the link and check how much time is left before it closes as I'd hate you miss out.  And pleas...

This is, I think, the penultimate 'I really must catch up with blogging about those Summersville blocks' posts.  I say 'think', because I might take a photo of all 49 blocks together and I don't know whether to do that for next weekend or the one after.   (It's probably just as well: the stories for each block are getting more far-fetched by the week!!) You can find the other posts in the series here:  blocks 1 - 4 ;  blocks 5 - 8 ;  blocks 9 - 12 ;  blocks 13 - 16 ;  blocks 17 - 20 ;  blocks 21- 24 ;  blocks 25 - 28 ;  blocks 29 - 32 ;  blocks 33 - 36 ; blocks 37 - 41 . The factory/mill in block 42 used similar colours  to the old customs house in block 40  as they were built around the same time.  The original owner was a canny fella and realised that if his factory was built near the customs house, then he could build up a good relationship with the customs officer who would perhaps expedite the paperwork for t...

When I started this project in 2012, it was destined to be my 'sitting on the settee and watching telly' sewing when I wasn't up to preparing anything else and as such, the embroidery was always going to be a long-term project.  However, I must admit that I'm quite surprised that it only took me three and a half years to embroider all the blocks as I was prepared for it to take at least five!  Of course, the project itself is far from complete: there are alternate blocks (nine patches is the plan) and background fabric to choose, cut and piece, but it feels like completing the embroidery might place me somewhere approaching the halfway point between starting and having a finished top.   You can find the other posts in the series here:  blocks 1 - 4 ;  blocks 5 - 8 ;  blocks 9 - 12 ;  blocks 13 - 16 ;  blocks 17 - 20 ;  blocks 21- 24 ;  blocks 25 - 28 ;  blocks 29 - 32 ; blocks 33 - 36 . The astute among you will have spotted tha...