One down... and three added!

Final completion of one of my UFOs today was not by me, but by a local picture framer. I finished the embroidery several weeks ago and have now had it mounted - at an expense, of course, but I thought it would never get done if I had to do it myself. However, I don't think the framer knew that embroideries should be stretched over a block before mounting, as it doesn't seem to lie completely flat. It's still much better than being screwed up in a workbox though! The colours suit our French home better than the London one - but when it will get there I don't know; I won't risk it with Ryanair baggage handlers! It will have to wait until we make a journey there by car or by train.

Today I had a "clear out" day - crafting bits and pieces were all over the place in the home, and an initial search for something amongst the mess led me to decide to spend the day sorting. In the process I not only rationalised the storage of my sewing equipment, but also discovered more UFOs which had been lurking forgotten underneath other things. I have absolutely no recollection of even starting the log cabin work, and there's no indication of what it was destined to become! Perhaps one side of a large quilted bag? I do have a vague notion of what the other patchworks were to be - at least, what the designs were, if not the finished objects.

Finally, I've also added to my UFOs a tiny cross-stitch which I think my Mum had started - most of her sewing things came to me after she died, and I think this was amongst them. If I finish this off, it will be something else to remind me of her. I owe my interest in crafting to her anyway - she was the person who taught me to sew and knit in the first place.

Best-laid schemes

Less than a month into the New Year and I've already started several new projects despite the good intention to clear up the old ones. There's a good excuse for at least two of them - I always have a good excuse! Two days ago friends became parents for the first time - so something has to be made for the baby; yesterday I joined a crafting group at a local church - and couldn't join in without agreeing to take part in their current project. So, I'm crocheting a baby blanket and also having a go at appliqué using fusible interfacing. The baby blanket is straightforward - I've made the same design before, for another friend's first child. The appliqué is something I've never done before. So far the fabrics are all fused together but now the embroidery needs to be done - I'll leave that until the group meets again next Thursday.

I have finished something off this week - but it wasn't a UFO - it's a child's jumper which I only started last weekend. I knitted it as a favour to someone who asked on impossible.com for test knitters for her new pattern. I've completed it and sent her my comments - but not yet had her reaction back. Here it is - I really need to find a 4 year old to try it on for a better photo!

Meanwhile I've also begun work on something which I didn't list as a "UFO" as all I had done previously was buy the fabric - it's to make a box cushion to sit on the blanket chest in our bedroom. This evening I've made a cotton cover for the foam pad, and now need to get going on the cushion cover itself.

Also this week I used up all the leftover fabrics from my patchwork cushion covers to make a final one using the "Tour Around the World" design. The patchwork is done but I won't be able to complete the cushion cover until I go back to France next month. I'm quite pleased that I managed to stitch the 1" squares together neatly. Unfortunately it will always be an odd cushion as I've now used all these fabrics up; the other cushions in these fabrics are in pairs - two each of three designs.

More from the loft

Searching through the loft for something else entirely, I discovered several more items which hadn't made it to my original UFO list last year: 

The crochet cotton bags are left from a batch I made to sell on behalf of a local church restoration project. Four of these had been completed, but the remaining two weren't made up in time for the church sale, and have been left unfinished ever since. The patchwork is more recent - a second design started from the "Stack-n-Whack" book which has yet to be made up.

The canvas bag already had the embroidered flowers on when I bought it in a charity shop, but my intention was to decorate both sides with beads etc. Finally, the last item pictured was an idea I had to make a gathered skirt re-using old fabrics decorated with ribbon and lace. Some of the fabric and the lace had been hand dyed to toning colours but the pieces then were put aside. It's waiting for a zip to be bought... and one of the fabrics frays very easily - as I don't have an overlocker I'm thinking of binding the edge of that fabric but that might make it too thick on the gathers...

A round cushion

Some time ago, we were visiting friends and I admired a crocheted cushion on their sofa. Our friend had made it herself many years ago - so long ago that she could no longer remember how it was constructed. I searched Ravelry for something similar and came up with one described as a "pinwheel pillow" - it wasn't the same design as my friend's, but a similar idea was used, so I determined to have a go at it... got the crochet work done, then bought a secondhand round cushion to use as stuffing... and then forgot it for a while. Today I have finally got around to making a new inner (from the stuffing of the secondhand one and using some leftover curtain lining fabric) and adding a couple of buttons from my stash - so another UFO becomes a FO:

Three in one day!

Today's been a great "finishing" day... three items off my UFO list. Firstly, I completed the sixth of my set of patchwork cushions. I'd made five some time ago, then realised there were enough fabric strips left to make another; the patchwork had been done but not the making up. However, I'd forgotten the order in which they were put together so had to search out again the website from which I'd learned the techniques of piping and inserting a hidden zip.

The crochet beret started on my last journey has also been completed:

Finally, the odd square of patchwork which I'd put together from scraps and was using as a practice quilting piece has been quilted and bound to make a table mat:

Nothing else in my UFO collection will be quite so quick to finish off as these have been!

First completion

My first completion of the year and my first "proper" quilt... it's a large throw really - big enough for our futon but not for a bed. The design is from "Magic Stack-n-Whack Quilts" by Bethany S. Reynolds. The fabrics I used were picked up from a charity shop, so I only had to pay for the wadding and the thread.

On the knitting front

The jumper I started many years ago was evidently begun as a stash buster as I discovered it in a bag containing various different types of yarn, which I had started to work in an entrelacs pattern. However, despite a good search around my loft (where lots of my UFOs reside) I was unable to find the pattern I'd started with. Reluctant to pull it all to bits - there were two perfectly good sleeves already finished - I tried to find another pattern with a similar layout, so that I could make up a back and front to go with the sleeves. I undid the entrelacs work and started knitting up the back. By the time I'd finished this I'd come to the conclusion that one of the colours wasn't going to last the course, so the work went on hold once again. I carried around with me a sample of the yarn I needed (it was the red) and tried in various places to find a match; eventually I did, and work started again. In the last week I've made up the front - and the turquoise almost ran out too (in the photo the tiny ball at the top is all that was left) and knitted up the neck. I can't finish it off yet, though, as the sleeves are back in London whilst I am in France... next week, though, I hope to get them all together.

Morag's UFOs

No, I'm not blogging about unidentified flying objects... my UFOs are UNFINISHED OBJECTS, of which I have built up a wide selection over the years. This is a result of my passion for starting new crafts... then finding another interest before I've finished the work started on the previous one. In the middle of last year I started sorting out and photographing my UFOs, but there are still more hidden away in cupboards, wardrobes and loft which haven't even made it to the camera stage. I did manage to complete one or two towards the end of 2015; my resolution for 2016 is not to start any new craft without clearing up the projects I left unfinished. This blog will chart my progress. Just for starters, here are some of the UFO photos taken last year. Firstly, the embroideries:

The right hand one is, I believe, one of a pair - but I've not yet found the other one!

Next, the knitting:

The problem with several of these is that although I've found the work, the patterns seem to have vanished into thin air. There are at least two major knitting projects I recall but which haven't yet been photographed: a large knitted doll with all her clothes also knitted (project halted when I was unable to embroider a face - lack of artistic talent) and a bedspread of squares knitted in a variety of different stitches - halted when I couldn't decide how to put them together.

Next, the crochet:

Crochet being relatively quick to work, I get a lot more crochet pieces finished than any other craft. The beret, for example, is the current "travel companion" - I can usually complete one of these on any long journey. As I'll be flying in a week or two, I expect this to be the first UFO to be completed this year. The ripple scarf was one of the few which got completed in 2015 - having been left for months with just the ends to be sewn in!

Then, the plastic canvas work:

Enthusiasm for plastic canvas work was very fleeting! Maybe some of these will turn out to be useful one day...

Finally - the sewing:

Strictly speaking, the two block quilts aren't MY UFOs - they're a joint project with my U3A stitchery group, but as I'm the group co-ordinator I take responsibility for getting them finished.