May Round-Up

I am glad that I signed up for challenges at the beginning of the year - they are really motivating me.

For the May One Monthly Goal I wanted to finish two mini quilts, and I just got the second one finished today!

This is what I made with the Stay at Home Sampler blocks from the Temecula Quilt Company on Instagram. The quilt is 20"x30".

The other is this Thimble Quilt I talked about last time (14"x25").

Since we are still staying home because of COVID 19 I am choosing to do things that I really enjoy, so both of these quilts are finished the same - small inner border, large outer border, and the machine quilting is the same as well - meander in the centre, loops in the inner border and hooked feathers for the outer border - real comfort sewing for me.

Thanks for the motivation Patty!!

For the May OPAM I finished five projects!

The above two mini quilts, two pairs of handspun socks, and a little orphan block wall hanging.

Both pairs of socks are toe-up, two-at-a-time, 58 stitches, on a 2.75mm needle. I used up every bit of handspun for both pairs of socks. Dyeing the fibre, spinning the yarn and knitting simple socks are definitely some of my favourite things.

I spun up yarn for a couple more pairs of socks-

This one might be a bit thick for socks and work better for slippers.

This one is a rainbow gradient.

This little wallhanging was made with some of my orphan blocks (so I am counting it towards the WOOFA Challenge too). Our son was experimenting with making little hangers for embroidery with his new CNC plasma cutter, and I wanted to try one out (it works well, just needs some design tweaks). It is 5"x14".

Thanks Kris and Cheryll for the motivation too!!

I mentioned last time that our son had made a CNC machine for the plasma cutter, so lots of metal has been cut recently (he did have a week off while waiting for a replacement part to be delivered). His is selling some items -

Mainly little birds of his own design.

This is a velociraptor from a pattern he purchased (he is selling the cut pieces as a kit - permission to sell came with the pattern)

He has also cut out a few other things from pictures online

 This is my favourite - a design by Jack Willoughby, it just needs a red marble in its mouth.

It is 12" high and 23" wide.

 This is one I spray painted.

Even though I had to wear a wool hat this morning (just above freezing temperatures), summer has arrived and we have been gardening!!

The perennial garden is doing well.

The vegetable garden is planted, and things have started sprouting.

We put in a new little area at the back of the yard (our son made a Torii Gate last year and painted it orange last week).

The apple trees are blooming beautifully.

A Baltimore Oriole.

All the best!♥︎

More Thimbles

I finished the thimbles leader/ender project-

This was the last of the thimbles I cut years ago, and I made about 4 or 5 projects with. This one is 14"x26".

I put a couple of borders on this one for a change (all the others I just added binding).

Since I needed a new leader/ender project (and didn't want to go out and buy a new die) I cut more thimbles with different fabrics (for a change). The plan for these is to make a 'larger' (than table runner) quilt - I am sure that this will be years in the making too.

I finished spinning another skein of sock yarn.

It is knitting up lovely. I have been trying to step out of my colour comfort zone with dyeing for socks and it has been really fun to see what happens.

I am also experimenting with different dyeing techniques. I dyed up a couple more batches of sock blend fibre (some BFL/Nylon and a Merino/Nylon) - one is a rainbow gradient, one is spot dyed, and one is a four colour repeat of complimentary colours (blue and orange).

Photos from around-

Our oldest son has been working on a large project - a table for the plasma cutter.

It is a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine and involves lots of technical stuff that came from around the world (since it involves water the electronics are all housed in a plastic bin now).

Here is his first little project to try out the machine - it is from a CNC velociraptor skeleton pattern he bought online, his plan is to make a larger version with the body.

We had fog this week (very rare here) and it was rolling across the fields.

Goldfinches are back!

It is really amazing how many birds there are around, some days it is quite noisy.

All the best!♥︎

May Plans and Some Other Things

My May One Monthly Goal is to finish a couple of mini quilts.

The first is from Temecula Quilt Co on Instagram - the Stay at Home Sampler.

And this one is the end of my tub of little thimbles that have been leaders and enders for years (I have made about 4 different mini quilts so far - now I am debating about cutting more or getting a bit bigger template for a change).

Thanks Patty for hosting this challenge!

I finished a pair of socks using fibre that I dyed last month.

Finished yarn - about fingering to sport weight BFL/Nylon blend.

I used every bit of yarn, ran short for the last few stitches of the bind off, luckily since everything I dye seems to be the same colour - red - I found something to match. I knit these two at a time from both ends of one ball of yarn, because I knew I didn't have much yarn.

Yesterday I dyed up a couple more bundles of fibre to spin for more socks (look one isn't red!).

I have realized over this past winter that I need more pairs of thicker socks since I mainly wear boots when we go for walks with the dog.

I left our home for the first time in over a month on Monday and so made myself a mask. This one with fabric I had bought in Japan. The pattern is the Olson mask printed at 90%.

Here is a link to a funny video on how 'easy' it is to make face masks - worth watching!

I am still working on the linen/cotton sweater. This isn't my favourite thing to knit - the yarn is rough on my hands. The blue is a bit better since it has been washed a few times when I was dyeing it.

After stitching the Love and Hugs from Australia block last month I realized that I had some really nice tonal embroidery cotton that was calling to be used. I had a piece of leftover natural linen, and found a little sampler pattern in a Sajou book. This will probably be a cushion one day.

 Maggie had to test drive it as soon as I started organizing the project.

 Photos from around-

Swans!! 

We have seen lots this year (maybe we are just outside more).

Sometimes the flocks sparkle like a silver ribbon in the sky.

They sound very different from geese, and are easily recognizable long before seeing them.

They are Tundra Swans migrating, we have never seen any on the ground.

 Beautiful sky - one way,

 and the other.

The next photos were captured on the trail camera by the pond-

 A pair of Mallards.

 A pair of muskrats or maybe mink.

 Some kind of a shore bird - she has long yellow legs.

All the best!♥︎