Archie The Wonder Dog

September has been a hand piecing month, combined with a spot of box packing and moving.  I've made three more scrappy trip blocks: And I've emptied half of the sewing room and all of the Cupboard Of Doom ready for its removal on Saturday (or perhaps before if the chaps are free). It will hopefully be rebuilt in a different, less doomy, form the following weekend but given that there's no plan drawn up (because until we see how much room the stair bulkhead takes up, we don't know how much room can be reclaimed into the room and how much needs to stay as cupboard), I'm feeling a little dubious about that.  The only thing I need to do before they arrive is cover everything left in there in dust sheets.  Well, fleece blankets as that's all I have - there are quite a few which were Archie's up in the loft so I'd best get up there. And that's it for me! I'm off to write the Fettle Those Finishes! post for tomorrow - I decided it would be easier to hav...

  Hello! I hope you're well? This month has been a hand piecing sort of month - it's amazing how much progress you can make on something when you actually get it out of the tin and work on it, isn't it?! I've finished the block I'd almost finished in the last post, which is the last of the July blocks: And I've made my four blocks for August: And on Saturday, I finished the first of the blocks for September (yes, while it's still August!!): I've done little else (definitely no housework, although I am getting to grips with the new blogger interface (a new page a day plus a page which is updated daily will do that)), but I do have a date for the extraction of The Cupboard Of Doom (the cupboard in the sewing room which houses the stair bulkhead and which is just over a metre deep, a metre wide, and 5'4" high (the mixed measurement systems are because my sister-in-law can stand in the cupboard and her head touches the ceiling and I know how tall sh...

Hello! Time is definitely returning to normal, I think. Although the afternoons and evenings (particularly the latter) seem to be travelling very quickly, so maybe normally-moving is a way off yet?! This month has been quite a busy month for sewing.  About halfway through it, I realised that there were six months left of the year (do I get a prize for that revelation?), that I have twenty-four low volume scrappy trip blocks left to make and that the first goes nicely into the second and I could have all the blocks made by the start of 2021 if I got a shift on. At that point, there were sixteen days left in July, so I had four days to make each block if I was going to stick to my newly-set target of four blocks a month. So far, I've managed three and am a good way through the fourth (I might have finished it before this post, but I've spent far too long wrestling with my elderly laptop and coaxing it into working) and here they are: At the start of the month (I...

Hello!  I feel like time is (sort of) returning to normal because June feels like it's been about the right length.  I wonder whether July will follow suit? I hope you've had a good month and are ready for a furtle? I haven't mentioned my first project at all until now, either here or on instagram, perhaps because I've been so caught up in the daily games of  #WheresMiniArchie that posting anything else seemed a chore? After last month's Furtle, I realised my furtling had not been thorough and I hadn't mentioned two things I'd done/started in May - I think I'm on the Bad Furtlers list! I knitted these socks for a friend (using my default cuff-down pattern from Regia, which comes free with Regia sock wool) and the yarn is Made By Penguins ' rainbow speckle sparkle yarn in a merino/nylon 4ply.  I'm afraid you can't get it now as Lisa-Lou does a special range of dyed-to-order rainbow yarns each year and this year's have a...

Hello!  I feel time may have just about returned to normal in May, it seems to have been about the right length?  Maybe a little longer than usual?  I mean obviously, the end of the month comes round quickly (or rather the day before the end of the month, which is when I generally write and schedule this post), but that's perfectly normal unless, of course, what the end of the month signifies is your pay packet arriving.  In that case, the end of the month arrives incredibly slowly because that's the rule. I think that's enough of my tenuous grasp of the concept of time, let's see what I've done in May. First up, I've finished the thirty-second LV scrappy trip block: And I was getting low on LV squares so I've spent quite a while printing (using quilt stamps ) and cutting out about twelve squares from each of the LV fabrics I've bought/been sent since I first cut out all the squares: And I've got all four narrow border s...

Hello! Hasn't April been an odd month?  It's been both fast and slow to pass and the days seem to have been simultaneously (and confusingly) long and short. This month I have finished a pair of socks in this gorgeous Oxidise colourway from Fine Fish Yarns : And I've made good progress on my Summersville quilt.  This month I've ironed both of the remaining fabrics (which have been languishing in the ironing basket for, well, let's just say quite a while and leave it at that (the LV block from last month even accompanied them on the trip to the iron!)) and I've cut the first lot of 3/4" strips for the 'window frames' for the embroidered blocks and I've got them ready to sew: There was a wee bit of a panic after I realised that I didn't like my planned 1/2" finished window frames.  I discovered this before I cut the dark grey strips, but after I'd trimmed the three 'two-part* blocks' to the sizes needed to hav...

What a month!!!  I can't believe that it's only been a month since I last wrote a Furtling post but also how the end of the month has snuck up on me once again... I'll be honest, I haven't done much at all in the last month apart from sorting the sewing room and taking photos of Mini Archie and a Tunnock's teacayk in various locations around the house and garden.  If you're wondering what the latter is about, click here ! I finished piecing an LV block but it's been waiting to be pressed for about three weeks now and shows no sign of taking itself to the ironing board so here it is as is: And I've made good progress on a pair of socks which I cast on at the start of the month: And apart from watching far too much news and spending time online when I should be resting, that's about it! How are you coping? As I said before, I've spent quite a lot of time taking photos of Mini Archie and his teacayk sidekick, here's one fr...

Hello!  I hope you haven't been blown away or had the beck perilously close to your front door this month? It's definitely been a bit wild out there at times... ...and you'd think that would mean loads of sewing, wouldn't you?  Not exactly! I've made another three LV blocks: And I've made progress on my jeans: I've cut out the legs and a makeshift yoke and waistband and pocket linings in canvas, tacked them all together, and have had a fitting session with a friend.  I'm now ready to undo all that, cut out the remaining pieces in denim and make a start on the front.  All of the adjustments seem to be on the back, so I'm going to make up the front and then tack the back back on to see if things like having a zip in (rather than being pinned into them) make any difference before I make any of the adjustments.  A bit more work, yes, but worth it to get a pair of jeans which fit!  Having said all that, when I was in them the other ...