On balance... UFOs increasing

Well, it's been a little while since I posted any progress here. I did finish the Tunisian crochet scarf I was making - and have since added another ripple effect scarf, this time knitting rather than crochet, using up some feather yarn left over from a previous project. I went on to purchase some Tunisian crochet hooks (bamboo with plastic extensions) and started a baby blanket using different stitches. However - since returning from a recent holiday I can't find it!!

However, I've also started several other things too. First I began knitting a chunky jacket - but it was too much to carry with me when I next went travelling. I didn't want to start anything on my travels which would require multiple yarns, so decided to have a go at a Sophie's Universe all in one colour - I had a cone of lovely olive green cotton. This toured round part of the U.S.A. with me, and over three weeks of travelling, this is how far it got. I do like the effect of doing it in a single colour; it brings out the texture really well.

I also took with me the box of hexagons I'd cut ages ago, and re-discovered during my clear-out in January. I got all of the cut hexagons on to paper and have started playing around with them to make a design.

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.

Equilibrium? no, more UFOs than before

Since my last post, I've completed two UFOs, started AND finished two more items... but added three...

Travelling gave me time to complete a scarf from the UFOs, and crochet another beret - this is the smallest one I've done so far and actually fits my small head, so I shall be keeping it instead of putting it in a church sale (that's where the scarf will go, though).

The finished block

The second UFO finished was the block I was making for the London craft group I belong to - but as we had just 8 blocks on the go and needed 9 for our project, I found myself volunteering to do another... sometimes I completely forget that I went on an "assertiveness" training course years ago - to learn how to say "no"! Not only did I not say "no", I actually volunteered to do it. I'm travelling from London to the south of France very soon by train, so that may give me chance to do the embroidery on the next one (I've got the appliqué pieces ready).

The other project started - and finished - over the last couple of weeks came about because I was browsing the "crochet along" site from which I made a blanket last year. There's a new CAL about to start on that page - which I'm NOT intending to do! - but as an intro a pattern was published for a "project bag" to hold all  the yarn for the new project. I repeat, I'm NOT going to do the new blanket - but the pattern for the bag looked so interesting I couldn't resist. I didn't buy a scrap to make it either, just used the nearest colours from my stash to those from the pattern, and recycled fabrics for the linings and inside pockets. It was designed to be made using chunky yarn - mine is a mixture of chunky yarn, aran, DK and 4-ply used together, 3 strands of 4-ply used together - you name it, I tried it! It all came together in the end - but the bag is so big I don't know what I will use it for now it's done.

Finally - the biggest mistake: I'm a bellringer, and last weekend I was in the Foundry Museum shop in Loughborough... there were two embroidery kits on sale there... "Bells of London" and "Ringers' Rules"... I bought them both!

One down today

This scarf has been hanging around for a couple of years... I made a lot of them when they first became popular, using a crochet method - which was so quick that I could do one in a couple of hours. When I tried the knitting method I found it so slow that an inch or two at a time was as much as I could bear. Now it's finally off the needles... and will be added to the pile for the next charity sale.

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.

Travel sewing kit

No UFO's finished recently... yet another new job started (and finished, though!): I wanted something to carry my sewing bits and pieces around with me. As I belong to craft groups in both UK and France, I needed one for each country. This is what I've produced, mainly following a free pattern found on the internet. Apart from the felt for the needle case, everything used was scrap material.

Another baby blanket

One of the new pieces started last week is now complete - I've crocheted through a couple of meetings, and on the bus, and my baby blanket is ready to be posted off to the new parents.

Work has also started on some soft furnishings for our bedroom in London; about a year ago I restored an old chair, and at the time bought enough of the upholstery fabric to make matching dust covers for my office equipment and a box cushion to sit on top of the blanket chest. A foam pad was bought for the blanket chest at about the same time... and has been sitting uncovered ever since, whilst the fabric lurked in a drawer in the living room. I've now started to make the cushion cover. I began by making a cover for the foam pad from curtain lining, and then started to tackle the plan for a zipped and piped cover. (In fact it was searching for the piping fabric which kicked off the clear out I tackled a couple of days ago.) I've investigated various ways of making the box cover, have decided on which one to adopt, and have made a start on construction by setting a zip into the back section of the boxing.