January 2026

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

And it’s January ….

So here are my thoughts for the New Year.  This will be the year I clear a lot of projects, use as much as possible the resources that I have (ie fabrics, yarns, threads) potentially. I have bought or acquired a lot of crafting stuff that at times have threatened to overwhelm me and it’s time to put a stop to it.  I have a lot of finished items too that I have no room for and a need to clear space.  To that end I may do a table top sale or two locally or sell through Facebook Marketplace.

Another thing I’m doing and that’s shown in the pic above is to show the mini quilts that I made back in 2016 (yep, 10 years ago) as monthly markers and other small quilts here and on Instagram as a bit of a mini exhibition. This quilt above, I called Blue Monday and a quilt I made as part of the Contemporary Quilters Group monthly journal quilt challenge.  It’s 10” x 8” and raw edged strip piecing of blue fabrics onto wadding and with extra decorative machine stitching.  I made a larger wall hanging quilt in a workshop held the year before tutored by Kathryn Chambers (K3N) at Pauline’s Patchwork, when the shop was in Dorchester.  It is the only piece that has a label, none of the other quilts have and some just have the date. Fortunately I can refer back to my blog posts of 2016 and update with labels for them.

In my clearing out I found a quilt top which started out life as a Bonny Hunter mystery quilt from 2015, called the Grand Illusion quilt. I did have a go at that top last year and add some blocks around each side of this medallion style quilt, but I now want to add some length. I’ve gone a bit ‘off piste’ but using the colours already in the quilt to added top and bottom which will have larger and smaller squares, which will pick out the patched square in the middle.

You will have noticed in my last post that I’m using my stash yarn to make a shawl rather than buying new. I have a lot of Stylecraft Special DK yarns from making crochet blankets in the past, but whether that makes a dent in it remains to be seen.  This is how it looked on Monday 29 December. The rows are bigger and it’s taking a lot longer to get each one done. The Wild Wood Shawl is an Advent project by the Bakery Bears, of which I am subscribed to.

Another find in clearing out has been a cardigan for David which I left for ages in a plastic bag and not sure why. I haven’t got the pattern and everything looks ok with it but it needs the button bands knitted. That’s simple enough so I hope to crack on and get that done. I’ll get a better photo when it’s completed. 

So there is plenty to keep me busy and get finished.

Post Christmas

 I hadn’t posted anything before Christmas although I had a draft post worked out, I had been quite busy so my last post here as you will have seen was a Christmas greeting.

Anyway all over now and looking ahead to the New Year.  Unfortunately our Christmas was marred by David’s illness as just before the day he suffered a tummy upset which carried on past Christmas and is only just feeling better today (29th December). We visited our daughter and family but we weren’t able to catch up with our sons, which was disappointing. If it was a virus we would not have been thanked for passing it on, so staying at home was our only option.

On the run up to Christmas we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary on the 10th.  I looked after my granddaughter for a few days soon after and had the privilege of seeing her school play, which was lovely. A busy few days catching up with shopping, both present and food.

I managed to finish a few things in time.  Last month I went with some ladies from TG to a pottery painting session in Poole and painted a couple of decorations for the granddaughters - these Bambi style decorations. I was really pleased how they turned out.

I managed to finish off a cardigan for Cecily, in ‘Mermaid’ colours.  The pattern is King Cole 3902, the V neck version and knitted in Wool Warehouse’s Yarnsmiths Lagoon.  The yarn isn’t tightly spun so it have a tendency to go a bit thick or thin in some places, but it did looks lovely when finished.

Another 2 finishes were a couple of embroideries for my Mum and my sister.  They own Cavalier King Charles spaniels so I bought a pattern earlier this year to sew.  This is from an Etsy seller Em-Bea-roidery (as her name is Beatrice) which has several dog ‘heads’ included for the breed of dog.  The tops of the heads were not included in the design, but I got carried away and linked the top of the heads were not with the ears. These are the embroideries I made

This is what it should have looked like (with different dog ears shown here)

But then that difference is what makes it my interpretation of her design.

Quite a few ‘vloggers’ post videos each day before Christmas as part of Vlogmas.  I don’t know how they are able to do that on the run up to Christmas as it’s just to busy a time, but I’ve watched a couple. I pay a subscription to The Bakery Bears, which I’ve done for a few years now and enjoyed their Advent Vlogs. The project this time is a large shawl (which was too big to get done in advent, but a good relaxing knit to do over the holiday period and into New Year.  It’s called The Wild Wood Shawl, a triangular shawl which has 10 stripes (pattern uses 5 colours) followed by an eyelet stitch pattern.  As usual I am using what colours I have in stash as I have some larger remnants of yarn from several blanket makes and my choice of colours has an autumnal vibe.  

Above is at 14 December, below at 21 December (sorry, it was a bit dark)

I am now at stripe 8 and the stitches are now gathering up on the needle, but I have another circular needle that I can add when the stitches to get too much. You can see that it matches the blanket on the back of the settee.

There’s a thing on You Tube about the 12 Cast Ons of Christmas, casting on new Knitting and Crochet projects between Christmas and the end of January.  I think 12 is a bit much but it seems that I’ve got 3 already! One is a crochet scarf in granny stitch, the picture below was taken on Christmas Day. No pattern just making up as I go.

Another two I have sorted with a ‘Sophie’ style skinny scarf from the Power of Three pattern by Twinset and Purl.  I’ve used a hand dyed yarn from Demelza’s Delights.  I was going to add some kidsilk yarn but it was too much, and the finer yarn became tangled, so had to start again.

I’ve also cast on a pair of socks in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature yarn in Butterscotch.  They will be mushroom socks pattern by Stone Knits, which I’ve just cast on and knitted three rows to get started.

That’ll keep me going for a while.

Being at home due to (his) sickness meant I had some time to sew too. I only meant to get some pieced blocks together, but somehow I joined those blocks to the larger owl print ones, which then became rows and now a quilt top.  It’ll need a good iron but this is how it looks, draped over my desk chair. It’s a Project Linus kit that my friend collected for me earlier this month.

Blimey, this has been a longish post, must be making up for not posting much.  

I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a Very Happy New Year 🥳. Have a lovely time however you celebrate it.

Happy Christmas 2025

 From our house to yours, have a lovely time 🎄🥂

December and New Discoveries

 

It’s December it’ll be a busy month leading up to Christmas.  My monthly marker this month is a book folded Christmas tree that I made at my local Townswomen’s Guild Hotchpotch craft group. That was a really good morning of chatter while folding pages (over 120-ish of them) before decorating and adding a string of tiny lights.

Anyway as for new discoveries this week I have a pair of AirPods. Nothing new there, they’ve been around for some time but it’s a first for me.  After the heaviness of David’s wireless headphones to listen to podcasts while sewing then the frustration of wearing cheap ear pods that kept running out of power, bit the bullet and got these in a Black Friday sale. These are brilliant and wished I bought sooner. Recognised my phone straight away, the sound is clear and the charge lasts for a long time. Using while machine sewing the volume adjusts itself too. They aren’t noise cancelling so I still need to be aware of what’s around me, but they are just the job for listening to podcasts and maybe listening to music.

Another discovery I found are books on Readly.  I have subscribed to Readly for a number of years and it has UK as well as some other countries magazines, newspapers and this discovery is of Search Books, who publish craft and art books and they have a small selection of their books.  The advantage is that being on iPad the articles can be read by expanding out the page making the type easier to read. A couple of the books featured is Carolyn Forster’s Quilt as You Go.  I have the printed book but the type in the book is grey rather than black which can make it difficult to read, so I’m pleased it’s on Readly. There’s also a crocheted wreaths book by Anna Nikipirowicz which is good for crochet ideas for small items amongst others. There is another page with art books too. I hope there may be a few textile/embroidery books.No affiliation as I pay a subscription.

It shows you’re never too old to find new discoveries. Everyday is a school day.

Getting things finished

I started this post 2 weeks ago….

 I’ve been feeling overwhelmed recently, some due to David’s health and he’s getting much better now. Some of it has been due to having a lot of projects in progress and slowly these are getting completed.  I’ve had a large quilt ongoing since I picked up the quilt kit in August. Last month  I also picked up a couple of kits for Project Linus West Dorset. So let’s start with those.

I had a SCBU quilt, a small one given to those in the unit at Dorset County Hospital (I’m guessing some may go to Bournemouth Hospital too) and their size (about 30” square) makes then easy to put together and finish. Sweet, is it? It’s now been passed on to go to Dorchester this week.

Last week I put together a larger quilt and on Saturday layered up and quilted.  Adding the binding I stitched this down and it was also finished. So that can go too. I had to trim off top and bottom as the backing fabric was literally the size of the top (the pack did say to trim if needed). 

Both quilts have now gone to my friend who took them to Dorchester on my behalf, but I’m not getting another kit at present. So that’s 2 done and a quilt top put together and layered up.

I started knitting socks for David as he had difficulty to get normal socks on and had a few pairs of knitted socks which were easier to put on. I made the socks in just 5 days with just enough of the main yarn!

Like me he has small feet so I used the West Yorkshire Spinners self striping yarn that I’d used to make him some fingerless gloves. It’s called Brenda, a Yarndale exclusive wool named after one of the mascot sheep in 2024 and I combined with plain WYS yarn in Nutmeg for heels and toes.  I had just a tiny smidge of the yarn left.  I made a 64 stitch plain socks using 2.5mm needles (so a slightly larger needle than I would use for my socks) but I refer to one of the Bakery Bears patterns for heels and toes and toe shaping. 

Now today’s update…..

This week has been a busy one so not much chance of sewing, so knitting had been on the agenda as it’s easy to pick up.  I have been working on a cardigan for my youngest granddaughter. I’ve used a King Cole pattern but I’ve found that I made the back too short so I’ve made the fronts and undone the back to the armhole shaping.

I’m making progress on a Quilt for Care Leavers from a kit picked up back in August.  It is sandwiched together and I’ve started machine quilting.  Being bigger than the Linus Quilts I had to put the layers together working on one half of the quilt, then shifting along the table to work on the other half.  I use spring clamps to keep the layers taut while pinning together. This is how it looks at present. I’m hoping for a bit of time to get in with more quilting next week.

I’m pleased that I’m clearing things and a chance to ‘breathe’ and tidy up a bit.

Yesterday (Friday 28th) was my birthday and I am now 70 so officially old, though I don’t feel it. David reached the same milestone 2 weeks ago.  We have been spoiled with various events and look forward to a family get together this weekend.   David’s health is a lot better since his recent operation and is walking well, so all is good.

We now have the spectre that is Christmas approaching and made a start on that already. Have you? 

November Starts

Above is my monthly marker for November, which is a dahlia flower at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne. 

I recently did a Wool Warehouse order of yarn and started a cardigan for my youngest granddaughter using their Yarnsmiths Lagoon acrylic yarn in blues and purples. The pattern is by King Cole.  

The back has now been completed and I’ve made a start on the front.

I’m hoping it’s big enough for her as she’s grown quite a bit!

Unfortunately it’s the time of year for secret making on the run up to Christmas.  But one thing I can share now is the mystery gnome, Gnumpkin. Below is a photo of him sitting on the mantle piece. 

That’s him in pieces.

I love making the mystery gnomes but I can’t make each one, so I do have to dip out.  I enjoy the different knitting techniques used to make them, there’s always something new to learn.  The pattern is by Sarah Schira of Imagined Landscapes. There’s a Christmas one called Gnandad’s Adventure coming up, which I won’t take part in this time.

Last weekend I got out my Botanical journal and decorated a few pages.  

It’s an ongoing process that I can take my time over. I’ve painted some of the background pages, added old book pages and decorated with paper washi tape, taken pictures from old greetings cards and also done some stamping.  It’s something different to keep creating.

This week I got out a kit that I bought in Koblenz, Germany, earlier this year. It was one of the stops on the river cruise on the Rhine. I went into a fabric and yarn shop and bought this along with some yarn. The shop is called Die Tupfelchen. The instructions are in German, but having watched the demo on You Tube and with my knowledge of making pouches, it didn’t take long to put together. 

So that’s been the starts for November so far.

The end of October…

And a finish or two.  I finished off a cardigan, which I’m disappointed with and yet to make a decision to frog or not.  But a better finish was these pair of mitts for my granddaughter, using up leftover yarn from a couple of previous jumpers I made her. The mitten pattern is from Sirdar’s Accessories book.

I finished some fingerless mitts for myself.  The pattern is from The Wool Shed and design is Lewes. I’ve only shown one here, but believe me I have made a pair.  Lots of ends to sew in as you can imagine, but a lot of fun to make and good for using odds and ends of yarn.

I’ve taken part in a mystery gnome knitalong by Sarah Schira of Imagined Landscapes and this gnome is Gnumpkin, an autumal gnome.  I hoped I could share here as I don’t have many followers, but not for another week (sorry, I’ll have to keep you in suspense).  I enjoy the gnome patterns as they are not only fun to make but also there’s also something to learn too, so a real skill builder.

As for sewing in September and October saw me making a lot of quilt as you go squares to make pouches. The picture below shows them matched up with zips and below that one of the pouches completed.  They were sold at the local Townswomen’s Guild charity meeting along with other crafts.  Some were given to my friend for another charity sales table.

I’ve made a small 24” quilt from a kit suppled by West Dorset Project Linus group for Dorset County Hospital’s SCBU.  It’s a really sweet quilt with vehicles on it.  I’m now putting together a bigger quilt, which I hope will be ready in a couple of weeks. This will be a girly quilt with the main squares having handbags on it.

At Dorset Creative Embroiderers I made a purse from kit and instructions from Sarah of Sixty Four Packing Cases . She supplied the materials from which I made the purse, which is on a wool felt base with fabrics to free machine onto the base.  The following day I handstitched the purse frame with backstitch.

Another small bit of embroidery I’ve completed are these magnetic needle minders from a kit I purchased earlier this year at the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta by Sue Hawkins Needleworks. They have quite strong magnets in them and they’re only 1” square. A lovely accompaniment to my stitching.

I’ve also been doing some paper crafting, which makes a real change.  A couple of years ago I bought a journal kit from Janie’s Originals called The Botanist Sketchbook.  I made the book fairly quickly, but I’ve taken my time with collecting and putting in pictures, painting or gluing in backgrounds. When showing this to my friend week before last she gained me a number of floral picture cards to put into it, so I must get busy and find homes for the cards. Here’s a couple of pages, one painted and one with an old book page.

This was a page I made up with a background of paper from The Works (last year’s autumn pad) and washi tape stamps. 

I’ve also made and ATC for the TG online ATC swap and the theme this month is Green.  As I have offcuts of card and paper I sought out the green pieces and did some weaving with narrow strips. I painted over with Mod Podge, added the word Green and added a few green sticky gem stars. All on a green card back.

During this month I went to the Knit + Stich Show at Alexandra Palace, which I wrote about here so that made me more inspired.  The only trouble is that I need more time! 

So that was my October and it went quick.  November will see more knitting content as I’ve just today picked up my Wool Warehouse delivery and I’ll get cracking on a new cardigan for my other granddaughter.    Keeeeeep. Busy!!