Travelling success

A long train journey gave me the opportunity to finish the second appliqué block for the London craft group - and the short return journey by plane saw another hat made for the winter sale. However, getting ready for the next journey I decided I was a bit bored with doing the hats, and chose to start a scarf instead - in a stitch I hadn't done for years (Tunisian crochet), adding a ripple effect (pattern from Ravelry) but in stripes of different shades whereas the pattern was in a single colour. Typical of me to make my first try at the pattern more difficult than the designer intended... There's a lot more work in the scarf than in the hats, too, so it would occupy several flights rather than the one-per-journey I've been doing with the berets.

More crochet... and another project underway

As usual when I'm travelling, my crochet hook travels with me. My latest journey included bus-train-bus-plane-bus-train-hotel-bus - so plenty of hooking opportunities. One striped beret was made, followed by a sparkly ripple pattern scarf - and then as there was yarn left, I decided to make another beret to match the scarf.

My travel bag was also full - with a new quilting book, and several fabrics brought from London to my French home, to be used in the latest project just started (I know, I know, I planned not to start another until I'd made more inroads into the UFOs - but that's me). The latest project is a sampler quilt and so far just two blocks have been pieced together - "Tumbling Blocks" (paper pieced and appliquéd) and "Spider's Web" (machined strip patchwork). Both of these are from Lynne Edwards "The Essential Sampler Quilt Book", as is the method of sashing used on each block. I only have a small sewing machine, so I found machine quilting a complete quilt was quite a challenge. This time I plan to quilt the blocks individually before joining them. However, although I have backing fabric, I haven't yet got the batting so can't start quilting them straightaway.

Having looked at all the quilts photographed in the book, I decided that my personal preference is not to mix straight lines and curves - so for this first sampler quilt I won't be tackling any of the latter designs. In fact the blocks which I like best are the ones with a 3D effect; I may search out some other ideas for 3D blocks to include. Maybe the curved designs can be tackled for another quilt later!!

I've not completely ignored my UFOs over the last few days - I've bought a cushion pad and added the sashing to my latest cushion patchwork (the "Tour Around the World" one) - piping, zip and finishing still to be done.

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.