FNSI...making blankets again...

In the last few days I've 'gone back' to joining donated squares into blankets for K4BN after having a break of a few months while I caught up on sewing projects for the Christmas swaps. I find using all the donated squares and creating something useful to be very satisfying.

I think I have the easy job...it's possible to have a completed blanket in just hours, not weeks, as it would be if I were to make blankets/throws/rugs 'from scratch'. A number of the ladies at Sisters of Stitch make squares for K4BN and last night I finished joining some squares from 2 of those ladies, to make a new blanket. One of the ladies takes the opportunity to try out some very effective looking designs...such as the one in the photo below...

 Most of the blocks are 'traditional' granny square blocks but there weren't enough to make a decent sized blanket...the 'fancy ones' are a lovely feature and have ensured a good size.

Joining these squares was my FNSI project. I started crocheting around the edges of the blanket but tiredness overtook my enthusiasm to be finished...

 One lady at SoS has been very generous and over the latter part of 2013 gave me dozens of crocheted squares. One blanket was finished last year but it's just in the last few days that I've been back joining squares. Glenda had set herself a goal of one square per day and each fortnight she would hand over 14 (sometimes 15) squares.

 These are the two blankets I completed Wednesday/Thursday this week; just need to neaten off some ends.

 And I still have one bag of Glenda's squares to join...the yellow/orange colour scheme.

So as you can see, there will be some beautiful blankets going into the K4BN stockpile thanks to the lovely ladies at Sisters of Stitch.

Don't forget the Giveaway; just leave a comment here before Sunday 6pm AEST and those bright fabrics could be yours!  ( non-Bloggers, remember you may also email me if you find it frustratingly difficult to leave a comment)

Fantazia Fabricland at South Tweed...and a Giveaway!!!

Since I discovered Fantazia Fabricland, no trip to the Gold Coast is complete without a detour to South Tweed. And so it was that last Monday, my friend Mary and I just happened to be in the vicinity of this fabrics/haberdashery warehouse...and we went in for a look around... :-)

We went into the doorway on the left as I wanted to look at the patchwork fabrics...in particular I wanted to see what fabric packs they had...some of these coordinated  fabrics packs made wonderful Christmas gifts last year...
And I was not disappointed by the range this time either...the hardest part was not picking up everyone I liked! lol

Then I noticed a lovely striped fabric which I thought could be handy for bindings...

Then my friend and I went into the other section of Fantazia as she was just checking out dressmaking fabrics...which she wasn't going to buy...but did! lol

And no wonder...look at just a small section that a customer has to choose from...

In this section I fell in love with some seersucker tablecloth fabric ...so I bought some...

I bought enough to make a tablecloth to cover our big table on the side veranda.

While I was waiting in the queue I noticed these...

So one came home with me...

Now the Giveaway...this pack of very bright quilting cottons (lots of green and gold) from Fantazia...

 The back...

If you would like to win this pack just leave a comment. Now I'm aware that if you are not a blogger, it can sometimes be difficult to leave a comment. In that case, use the email button on my profile page to send me a message that you would like to be included in the draw.

Giveaway closes on Sunday January 26 (Australia Day!) at 6 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. Good luck!

And tonight I will be joining others from all around the globe who have signed up for FNSI...

Should be fun! 

FNSI...

So what did I do for Friday Night Sew In?
I did some tracing...

I looked through my stash for 3 different yellow fabrics...

I did some fusing with Applifix ...

From the 3 yellow fabrics, I had to fuse and cut out 5 larger circles and 3 smaller ones...

I did some other fusing with some pellon...and finally my new project had had all that preparation done...I just have to sort out the embroidery threads I will use...

The design comes from Jenny Elefantz online magazine Issue 4

And yes, I also did some knitting...boring knitting I have to say, but important to say the least, for the completion of a project that was at a stand still (PASS) from 2011!!!...Val Laird used this term in her blog recently :-) I'm working on some border strips at the moment...in double moss stitch (known as seed stitch in some countries).

The project is a throw knitted in strips out of oddments/scraps of mohair yarns. The strips have been tacked at the 'intersections' and just needs the borders to stop the stocking stitch 'parts' from rolling up...but a border is great for framing something made with oddments. I've discovered that an old friend has been doing things tough in the last few years and has a health crisis at present...so suddenly this UFO needed to be finished.
Here are a few glimpses of some of the 'squares' in the strips...these are all slipstitch designs...

The 'square' below is one I tried for the first time. it is a type of slipstitch but the yarn is carried horizontally...it was fun and I will certainly use this one again.

Hopefully at the end of this coming week, I will be able to post a photo of a throw with all seams sewn up the borders finished and sewn on and then everything blocked. And then it will be off to its new home.

Many thanks to Wendy for once again organising FNSI. Why not visit her blog here, and use the links there to visit other blogs to see what wonderfully creative things were done last night. :-) There were 59 FNSI ers last night!

FNSI...

My original plans for Friday Night Sew In was to at very least, cut out some little girls' dresses in Christmas fabrics. I also had hoped to sew up at least one little dress.

I'm planning to use a few different Christmas fabrics in each dress...

You see our parish Twilight Fair is looming with 4 weeks to go! And I have a number of projects for that ,that I volunteered to do. However...

in the 'Seasons' Swap' that I've joined in with over at 'Gone Stitchin' ', posting date is August 31. Not much time left really! So last night I had a Friday Night Knit In, to work on my project for that swap. When I checked out my swap partner's blog I found that she is an accomplished quilter and that in the previous seasons' swaps I saw that she had received aprons, potholders, bags etc etc, so I decided to stick with what I do best...knit! The theme is Spring so I hope I've got the spring-like colours right, and I've used a light yarn. This person lives in a part of Australia that can still experience cold/cool weather well into spring, so a shawl will be useful methinks!! 

I've made it in a 'stole' style, a long skinny rectangle.

So that's what I did, (and didn't do) in FNSI. You can visit 'Craftyvegasmom' and see what the other 94 people did here ! :-)

FNSI...

Last night was once again, Friday night sew in and I worked on two projects.
Firstly I finished off a dog jacket to give to the 'Animal Angels Refuge'. I had planned to try to complete 3 of them but 8.30 arrived rather quickly. That meant I wanted to be in the lounge-room then so that I could watch an episode of 'Silent Witness' on TV :-). My sewing room (aka 3rd bedroom) is the furtherest room from the television.

The dog jacket sewn in polar fleece

So from 8.30 I moved on to a project that could be done in front of the TV. I tacked all the 'intersections' of some of the donated squares that I picked up last Tuesday and brought home to sew into blankets. I sew a few stitches at each end of the squares to join them, and continued until I had a column of 6 joined squares. Then I joined the columns; again just a few stitches at the intersections.

I sew a few stitches (tack) squares together in a long strip, then join the strips by tacking at the intersections

To make joining easier, I have done a row of double crochet (SC in US terms) in black around the squares. I had only crocheted around 26 squares so need to do another 4 to get another row of 6 to make a decent sized blanket. Later last night I started sewing the seams for real; with the tacking holding everything in place it's a quick and easy task. So far I've done 2 of the long vertical seams. Should have the extra row done and all the seams sewn up by next Wednesday's Knit and Natter. :-)

The 4 rows by 6 isn't quite big enough so I will add another  strip of 6 squares

FNSI...

For once, I was organised for Friday Night Sew In. And what a difference that can make! lol

A few weeks back a friend gave me a Size 2 tracksuit and a similar sized top which she had had in her cupboard. I washed them and last night I embroidered some flowers on both tops. These items have now been handed to Karen (from K4BN) to give to a family with a little girl who need a 'helping hand'. 

Last night I also used some of the Christmas fabric that the same friend had given me. I made a pillow case as a sample to show the other ladies in the sewing bee group that I attend 2 Wednesday nights per month. This group is working on items for our parish's Twilight Markets in September. I have been given lots of Christmas fabrics and pillowcases have the potential to  use lots of it (so I'm not storing it :-/)

The border fabric was in long thin strips; plenty to cut a 1/4 yard strip.

Then the last project I worked on last night was to continue making crocheted squares of 15 inches in indigenous colours. The knitting group I belong to received an SOS from a social worker asking for blankets in those colours for some of her 'clients'. The group has only just  distributed items at 2 events in the last few weeks and the 'cupboard' is quite bare. So a group of us have volunteered to knit or crochet these squares and 2 ladies have offered to sew these into blankets. Because I'm working on another largish project at the moment, I'm just aiming to get just 1 square done per day. The colours are red, yellow/gold and black. I'll work on the black ones in day time I think.

FNSI...

Last night was the February, Friday Night Sew In and despite my best intentions to start a sewing project, I worked on something that has been a WIP for the past week or so. I sewed another 2 rows on the blanket that I'm sewing up out of donated squares. Individuals and groups knit and crochet squares for the group, Knitting for Brisbane's Needy which distributes the sewn up blankets to needy people around the state.

Often the squares are varied in the sizing; some are loosely knitted, others are very tightly knitted/crocheted. So I've worked a row of double crochet in black around the squares and knitted some rectangles to fill in spaces . 

I think that this blanket will be ready to hand over at the next Knit and Natter that I'll go to in the last week of the month. That makes 2 blankets finished for this month! woot woot! The box of squares that I brought home last year is now under half full...the question is...do I offer to take another box, or concentrate on some of my own projects? I guess when winter hits, that'll help me make up my mind! lol

Now I just have to share this cartoon that a friend posted on K4BN's Facebook page:-

FNSI

The Friday Night Sew In was a bit of a fizzer for me this month. It's all because of this problem I have...despite not having a medical degree, I tend to self diagnose :-(. It all started 2 weeks ago. I had some sort of gastric disorder. Not to worry, just a bug, I'll drink lots of peppermint tea and water. I also took an anti diarrhoea tablet that we have for DH when we travel. Then I noticed that I had backache that seemed to get steadily worse. No worries it's just my scoliosis. Then after a week things seem to settle down last Monday.Good eh? By Wednesday I had quite sharp abdominal pains so I rested and took some paracetamol. On Thursday I had a commitment at 9-11 helping out at Mainly Music at church. Before I went to that I made an appointment with the doctor for 11.45. Yes! I had 'given in'!

The antibiotics made me sleepy but my 'nurse' kept an eye on me

Apparently I have an infection in my colon. My doctor sent me for a scan and luckily the Xray place fitted me in straight away as I couldn't start the antibiotics until that was done. I slept most of Friday and then, after dinner (takeway organised by DH) I went to work on my knitting project for FNSI as I hadn't been able to prepare what I needed for a sewing project I was going to do. It went like this...knit 4 slip 2, doze 5 mins...wake up...knit 4 etc  until eventually I fell fast asleep with knitting discarded!

Saturday morning I did manage to do some more knitting so I guess it's been Saturday Morning Sew In for me this month :-)

SMSI! lol

UFOs and FNSI...

Years ago my best friend worked for the Australian army  (6th brigade) as the Brigadier's secretary and she would drive me nuts when she 'spoke' in initials and acronyms but eventually even in my job we 'spoke' that way too, as in NAPLAN, QCAT, ACARA...but I digress...

Last night I joined in at Heidi's blog here for the monthly Friday Night Sew In (FNSI). I sewed, but my project was not with fabrics and cottons. I sewed the borders on an unfinished object (UFO) which had been languishing in my knitting bag for a while...oh all right...I confess...it's been lying idle and unfinished for a long time! Now why do some items become UFOs and not others? Not all UFOs are created equal for that matter. Sometimes it's boredom, sometimes something doesn't turn out as expected and there is no real joy at the thought of finishing it.
My UFO was a baby blanket for my daughter's god-daughter. DH remembers us driving up to Warwick for her baptism 9 years ago. The first stumbling block with it was that because I didn't do a tension swatch first, it became obvious that the blanket would be a bit wider than it needed to be. I solved that and saved myself lots of extra knitting, by turning the blankie so that the width became the length. Then I knitted the boring garter stitch borders to match the garter stitch 2rows which occur every six rows on the pattern. Occasionally my daughter would enquire about the baby blankie and I would assure her it would soon be completed but was still a Work in Progress (WIP). She's also still waiting for a knitted throw for her as the one she has already, was knitted by me for her when she was in her early teens. About 2 years ago I said that when I finished this baby rug, I would give it to her and she could give it to whom ever she chose.



Now that I'm retired...I thought I should make some sort of effort to finish this UFO and about 6 weeks ago decided I would finish it and take it for 'Show and Tell' to 'Sisters of Stitch' on the following Wednesday. I finished weaving in some loose ends and started sewing on one border. I divided the border into 4 and then the same with the side on the blanket. Tacked the border at these points and then started to sew the border on. I was just about finished one side when I realised there was some puckering...I started to unpick a few inches carefully to re-stitch and then a minor disaster occurred. I nicked some stitches...luckily this damage was done to the knitted border not the body of the blanket...that would have been a major disaster! lol



'Bubble' pattern 

 I couldn't mend the nick to my satisfaction so I started to unpick all the border. Let's just say that I had sewn it so that it wouldn't come apart...I won't go into details but suffice to say I ended up using scissors and ended up with lots of 'frogged' yarn. Then I calmly folded it all up and threw it in the knitting bag...until Tuesday this week. I knitted a new border and sewed it on last night... Joy of joys! It's all finished!! Hallelujah!!

Knit and Natter and FNSI...

This morning I headed off to a local yarn shop for a K4BN Knit and Natter. This is only the second time I've been to the monthly Saturday session; last month DH and I were helping out at a fete. There were a lot more ladies there this time, so lots of chatting, complimenting and sharing was going on! :-) I finished the knitting of the red/black and white throw I was making for K4BN, but still have some neatening off to do. I've decided not to put a fringe on it as this could be a nuisance for a homeless person. Photos later when all is finished.

Last night was my first Friday Night Sew In  (FNSI) here , and over the days since I signed up on Heidi's blog, I put a lot of thought into what I would actually do. I thought that maybe I could do one of the 2010 Quilt Aid blocks, none of which I've touched. Or maybe one of my Gifts of the month program, from 'Faeries in my Garden'? yet again, I thought vaguely about sewing a top to go with my selection of skirts. In the end I decided on the KISS principle...keep it simple stupid!

So I decided I would work on a project that I had intended to do the first week we arrived back from the US. Hmmm...that was late April...definitely overdue. I bought little items for my neighbour's grandson when we were travelling; items he could take to school for 'Show and tell'. But I had decided that I would make a drawstring bag to put all these items in. I had bought a number of pieces of US themed fabrics as well as a 'jellyroll' of patriotic type fabrics that I found in Walmart. The hold-up in giving these things to Jay was the bag!! So that was my project last night...but I had to finish it this afternoon.

Front of the bag

The back of the bag sewn with strips from the jellyroll

A line-up of the items I bought for Jay

Items put in ziplock bags with description of contents

All the items packed in the drawstring bag ready to give to Jay!

I'm really glad that I joined in the FNSI as I feel that I've achieved something; albeit small. I've just remembered I have some US coins and a One Dollar note to put in the bag as well...