Back Sewing!

Basement renovations started at the beginning of March, and now that normal activities are on COVID-19 hold, we decided to make the basement liveable. The new walls are up and some of the electric is done.

This is the start of my new sewing room! I am not unpacking everything, because there is still lots that needs to be done. I am so happy to have somewhere to sew again!

So far I sewed the first six blocks of a new mystery sew-along from Temecula Quilt Company, called Stay at Home Sampler (I think it is just on Instagram - link, and Facebook). These are 3" blocks, and the sew-along is for the month of April.

I made a new anti-predation collar cover for the cat.

She looks like she is ready for Halloween. I think I will make her a pink one next - it is very muddy outside and it is good to have a few collar covers. The bright collar covers seem to stop her catching birds, and she still catches plenty of rodents.

I also made a few masks (something I never thought I would have to make). The pattern is the Olson mask. It was very easy to make.

Photos from around-

We've seen a few different tracks around-

 Maybe skunk,

and Canada Goose (these ones are surprisingly big).

Going for a walk.

Today we had an assortment of weather - wind, rain, ice pellets, snow, sunshine, dark clouds... 

 The sky was amazing, and changed so fast. 

 By the end of the day we ended up with snow that stuck.

All the best!♥︎

Sewing and Knitting

I finished the Tiny Tree quilt from the Temecula Quilt Company blog.

 

For my home I thought it would work better as a Christmas cushion, so I added some pinwheel blocks to the side, and some filler strips to make a 16" square. The pinwheels were made with the same size squares as the one in the tree, but I didn't trim the half square triangles as small, so the blocks are a bit bigger.

The cushion goes really well with our Christmas quilt - which was the TQC mystery quilt from last Christmas (Secret Santa Sew Along).

I free motion quilted with 100 weight Invisafil thread.

This week I also sewed a coat for the puppy-

I used a couple of online resources to figure out how to make a coat - wikiHow for the basic shape, and this YouTube video for sewing.

This was my pattern (on 1" grid paper). After I made the first pattern I cut one out of a scrap of cotton fabric to see how it would fit, and made some adjustments to the final pattern.

Since Molly is just a puppy and has a lot of growing to do over the winter I added long strips of velcro so the coat can grow too. The outer fabric is a piece of leftover fleece from a top I had made my son when he was little (Molly is his dog), and the inner fabric is a piece of flannel leftover from a quilt backing.

We have had a cold snap this week so she is getting lots of use out of her new coat.

I finished knitting a pair of socks out of handspun yarn-

I had bought the fibre from the Manitoba Fibre Festival in September. It is Pyrocumulus Top from Cloud 9 Fiberworks, in the colour way Apocalyptic Sunset (a blend of SW Merino, Nylon and Stellina).

They are incredibly sparkly.

All the best!♥︎

A Couple Little Things

The Temecula Quilt Company is having another Christmas quilt along, this one is called Tiny Tree.

I have done the first seven blocks. They are 2+1/4" blocks - a great way to use up small bits of fabric.

We have a new addition to our family -

Apparently this little thing will grow up to be our guard dog (all the neighbours seem to have a German Shepard in their yards too). Molly is about 10 weeks old, and is doing so well. I am amazed how well behaved she is, and how much she has learned in the five days we have had her - and how much she has grown.

Maggie wasn't too happy to meet her new fur sister, but she is getting better.

Maggie is even coming for walks with us - she is the black dot at the top of the photo.

All the best!♥︎

Weekly Round-Up

Four quilt along blocks made this week. It has been fun just sewing the blocks I feel like with no specific plan.

The first one is from Antebellum Album from the Civil War Quilts Blog, a 12" block called Southern Cross.

These two are the 4" blocks from the Temecula Quilt Company 1880 Sampler Sew Along.

This is from the Moda Blockhead 2 quilt along, block #12, a 6" block.

Last week I dyed this Polwarth fibre,

and now it is yarn for a little sweater - it might be really little since there is just over 200g!

All the best!♥︎

Weekly Quilt Blocks

This past week's quilt along blocks.

This first one is block #11, Direction, from Moda Blockheads 2, a 6" block.

This one is from the 1880 Sampler Sew Along quilt along from the Temecula Quilt Company blog, a 4" block.

All the best!♥︎

Finished Shawl

This week's quilt along blocks - 

I can see this one needs to be pressed better -

It is the Sampler 1880 Sew Along block from the Temecula Quilt Company blog, a 4" block.

This one is the Moda Blockhead 2, block #10 'Ducks and Ducklings', a 12" block.

This week I finished knitting a shawl with some of my first handspun yarn.

The pattern is Campside by Alicia Plummer, a free pattern from Pom Pom Magazine.

Not only is the yarn from 2013 when I first started spinning, but it is also one of my first hand dyed yarns. It is a soft merino alpaca blend (one ply of each). I had started a couple other projects with this yarn, but they never seemed right. I am really happy with this.

I also finished weaving this little sample project using leftover handspun from the Granny Stripe blanket. I'll probably make a pillow with it.

All the best!♥︎

Quilt Blocks, Knitting and Sewing

This past week I caught up on some quilt along blocks.

This first on is the Antebellum Album block from the Civil War Quilts Blog - a 12" block.

This one is the Moda Blockhead block #7 (I decided I didn't want to make blocks 8 and 9) - this is a 6" block.

These ones are the 1880 Sampler Sew Along blocks from the Temecula Quilt Company for the past few weeks - 4"blocks (one is a smaller version of the Moda Blockhead block).

For knitting I finished this tiny bag - the Weightless Produce Bag (a free pattern from Simply Notable).

It was designed to reduce the use of single use plastic bags. I used #10 crochet cotton and it weighs just 9 grams. It was a quick knit, and amazing how much it stretches.

I also made a couple more Blackwood Cardigans (I have made 4 so far). This is such a simple pattern, that is so well drafted. The grey one is the second one I made with a slinky rayon (the first one went to my Mother), and the cream one is made from very stretchy 100% cotton (actually from a fitted sheet, when 't-shirt sheets' were popular, but I didn't like it - I was cleaning out the linen closet and was going to get rid of it, it is perfect for a light weight cardigan).

All the best!♥︎

Monday Update

Here are my two quilt along blocks for the week.

The Moda Blockhead block #6 - Path Through the Woods, a 12" block. This was much easier to sew than I thought it would be.

The 1880 Sampler Sew Along block from the Temecula Quilt Company, a 4" block.

Here are all the blocks I have so far. Last week's Blockhead block is really large and definitely needs some appliqué.

I do have a few hexagon flowers I could add....

These are all the blocks with the same beige background....

I have given myself until the end of the year to make blocks, or until I run out of the beige background fabric, then it will be interesting to see what kind of quilt I can make!

The first week of Tour de Fleece is over and this is my total yarn so far - 444g (almost 1 lb), 1447m (1,582 yds) of two ply yarn (averaging about fingering weight), all from the same raw fleece.

All the best!♥︎