Week 11 of 2026

This week I made a couple of things that had been planned for a while -

This is a liner for a project basket (I recently learned that the latest term is "analogue bag").

I was given the basket recently and it is perfect for my projects, but the knitting needles kept poking out, and yarn was catching (perfect because it fits under a side table next to the couch and the cats aren't able to get in to sleep).

It is made with all kinds of scraps of mainly linen, also some cotton. The pieced band is stitched on a strip of white cotton for stability. I machine sewed the whole bag (except the hem) before embellishing - crazy quilting, slow stitching, surface embroidery (so many names). I added beads, shisha mirrors, an old piece of tatting that hadn't gone to plan, and a collection of flattened pennies my son had from a trip when he was little (just drilled holes in the ends to stitch them on). The embroidery is mainly with perle cotton, some rayon thread, and a bit of silk buttonhole twist.

After all the embroidery was finished I hand stitched the hem to form a casing for a cotton twill tape and a cord lock to keep it tight (I find elastic gives out over time). I did machine stitch a button hole along the edge before, to be able to insert the twill tape.

I finally got around to sewing a pillow with the needlepoint I finished in January. I had wet blocked it and was worried it would bounce back to the angled state it had when it first came off the stitching frame (it didn't!). The green velveteen was something I inherited and it goes perfectly. I added a zipper on the back as the closer for the first time (usually I use buttons but the fabric was too thick).

Photos from Around (really the cats!) -

GingerSnap decided to bury himself in the pillows on my bed.

Such a sound sleeper!

A cat bunkbed.

All the best!♥︎

Week 10 of 2026

I finished a couple of things this week -

This crochet scarf I started in December. I made it with some handspun from years ago (it is BFL that I dyed a gradient, it was previously a cowl that I didn't wear - probably will be a crochet scarf that I don't wear but it was fun to make). The pattern is Hot Chili by Carmen Heffernan - it is a free pattern on her website.

I finished weaving some little utility cloths I started in January.

All hemmed - they are roughly 10" squares. Made from thick cotton - for under hot plates, potholders etc.

More details can be found on my Ravelry project page.

For one I used dark grey cotton to match an old scale we use as a fruit bowl.

This one was a quick project I made yesterday in about an hour (all machine sewn).

A "quilted, divided cup" - a great, well explained, free pattern from Alamosa Quilter (link here).

Perfect for scissors and rotary cutters.

I just pressed the points down on mine.

Photos from Around - 

Best friends - GingerSnap! follows Molly around everywhere, he waits for her to get out of her crate in the morning, or to come in from outside during the day.

My little helper when I was blocking the crochet scarf this week - Miss Maggie didn't even seem to mind the pins.

All the best!♥︎

Week 9 of 2026

This week I made a couple of table mats -

Made from 3.5" squares that I cut a few years ago to make a quilt I work on at a monthly quilt group. I decided to make the quilt smaller than originally planned, so I have lots of leftover squares.

This first one I used different brown squares.

Machine quilted with parallel lines. 12" x 16".

For this one I made half squares triangles with the 3.5" squares (four pieced together for a 5" block).

Machine quilted with an overall meander, with two layers of batting. 20" x 45".

Photos from Around -

More storms this week - lots of hard packed snow drifts.

It's pretty easy to tell what Miss Maggie thinks of GingerSnap!.

All the best!♥︎