Pinguin quilt and other goals

And January is here, I don't have fancy lists of UFOs ... I have a notebook in which I scribble. Each year I copy from my previous list what is pending. At the moment I have 16 projects waiting to be finished or started, not only quilting related. And these exclude my recent ideas and projects. Last year I had 11 complete finishes ranging from socks to mini quilts to large quilts. I made 1 quilt top that awaits quilting and binding. So not too bad all in all. This year I do want to be a bit more productive and get some long standing projects out of the way.

My main goals for this month are:

1) Penguin quilt

In 2021 I bought the fabric and pattern and in October I cut the fabric. In 2022 I made the head units. In 2023, this quilt needs to be finalized, starting with the top in January.

2) Slow stitching

My EPP TP Sunrise quilt is making very slow progress, one block a month is more or less my current rhythm, I skipped one month, so somewhere this year will need to make two blocks. I enjoy the process and love working with the bright TP fabrics. Even my fingers are less sore - using a thimble has not been successful so far. Fabrics were cut last month, so mainly sewing this month.

3) Ross Blanket

Three units are waiting - three only - that is an easy goal - finishing the weaving in of all ends would be a huge achievements and nurtures the idea that maybe, maybe, this blanket will actually become a finish and used.

3) Undo a knitted top

I started knitting a top in 2021, finished one panel and is too small. So need to remeasure and frog what I have made so far. As is, the half done project is just lying around in a bag and not of much use.

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street quilts' January OMG

December finishes

This year went to fast. I did not see Christmas coming. I did buy a tree, my daughter decorated it on her own. And Christmas was there .... and went so quickly that I decided to have a Christmas diner the end of January. And now is the last day of the year and am much better prepared. We made oliebollen this afternoon (Dutch beignets we typically make the last day of the year and eat nothing else). The bird is cooking in the oven, the gravadlax is ready and the guests are coming around 7 PM.

Wishing everyone a "bon bout d'an" and an excellent 2023!!

1) Slow stitching

The fourth block of my TP Sunrise quilt is finished. Am getting better at EPP and still enjoying the slow pace of making blocks.This block looks a bit Christmassy so was a perfect December task

2) Penguin quilt

The head units of the Penguin quilt are done. I was quite frustrated with the little blocks - after some pressing they looked much better. And hey, in real life Penguins are not very symmetrical in any case.

3) Ross Blanket

The weaving in of ends not yet done - three blocks to go - so these should be done in January. 

Linking up with Patty's OMG December party over at Elm Street Quilts

December aims and November finishes

December is here, the Christmas tree is bought, ideas were running around .... and 7 days in to the month not sure where to start and what to finish. In October and November I managed to finish a third block of my TP Sunrise EPP quilt

 

as well as my mini quilt as part of the tqs-white elephants quilt swap, based on my railfence quilt I made in 2020 ...

So for December at least .....

1) Slow stitching

I cut the triangles for block 4 - 6 of my TP Sunrise quilt and at least one block will be done by the end of this month. I keep them in a little playmobil suitcase that is no longer used by my kids ...

2) Penguin quilt

Last year I bought the pattern for Elisabeth Hartman's penguin quilt. I cut the fabric - all little pieces and all ... and then never got around finishing the quilt as was sidetracked by other new projects .... Last month started sewing and managed to get the eye and beak sections done ... not that much progress. So the aim is to work on this quilt and at least get the head sections done ..... 

 3) Ross Blanket

In 2017 I started the Ross blanket and somewhere in 2019 finished all block ... and they all ended up in a project bag just waiting. In 2021 I started weaving in ends ... of a few blocks. A few weeks ago decided that if I would not finish this blanket I might as well throw all out ... which would be a real pity of all the work ... so now almost done with weaving in ends ... 5 left out of 40 ... so with a bit of effort and optimizing in-between-time and watching soccer championship .... these blocks might end up being ready for assembly in 2023 .....

Linking up with Patty's one monthly goal for December over at Elm Street Quilts

Ross blanket Block 5

Finally all the crocheting is done for my Ross blanket designed by Catherine Bligh. The yarn used is Stylecraft.

I finished the first block (8 little blocks) in August 2017 and last night finished crocheting block 5, existing of four rectangulars.

I had already done block 6, the middle square. On the Facebook group where the CAL was hosted, some first made block 6 and crocheted the four rectangulars directly on the large square. The advantage of being behind (and now very very behind) is the tips from others.

The next step: weave in 678 ends; maybe a little less as I did weave in some as I crocheted. Still many to tackle, 10 ends a day will take me over 60 days, too long as I will get bored (again) and I really want to finish this blanket.

So will time myself as I start weaving in ends to challenge myself and get this part done and over with.

And then on to learning a new skill: crocheting all parts together. So maybe in 2020 I will finish the blanket, ideally before August 2020.

Summer knitted cardigan

My sewing machine is (more or less)out of reach; because we are redoing my daughters bedroom and had to move her stuff to other places in our house. Also as part of redoing the floor in her room ... we thought that we might as well change the parquet in the hallway and Slava's room. We have been staring at the ugly parquet ever since we bought our house 15 years and this is one of the "still not changed things that we absolutely need to change as is it sooo ugly". Also the parquet is not real, it is some cheap synthetic something. So no sewing for a few weeks. I managed to finish the quilt for my niece just before moving (a lot) of furniture, books, games, ... temporarily in to "la chambre peche" or the peach coloured room. When we bought our house I painted each room in a different colour, giving a name to each room at the same time. The curtains have disappeared and the room is waiting to change colour ... one day .....

I still had access to my bond knitting machine. Have not used my bond a lot the lately, yarn in abundance of course. Before going on holidays I knitted a cardigan for Alesya. The yarn (Markoma 4 points mysterieux) I had bought last year in a little shop on sale, the owner was retiring and having a huge sale. So I ended up buying yarn and fabric, thinking that whatever she would sell to me, she would make more money than selling all to a someone who would buy the whole lot for one price. So now the challenge is to use all that I bought. I have no idea where this yarn is produced, a search on google did not produce any results, other than shops selling this same yarn or Nordic sock wool.

The yarn is not intended to be used on a knitting machine, however with some coaching and sweet talking I managed to knit the 5 parts (back two fronts and two sleeves) prior to going on holidays. The assembly I could do while away. The edges were finished with a matching spring green cotton yarn crochet border from my stash, as were the the buttons. My daughter loves the cardigan and will wear it happily this autumn all through spring.

Finish A Long 2019 quarter 2

There is something about making lists that I like, or should I say, striping something on my list as done gives me a feeling of progressing and finishing and hence a feeling of accomplishment. It is time to make my list for the Finish-A-Long 2019 Quarter 2. During the first quarter I managed to finish 4 out 5 projects, one of them was from last year and I still have this one project stalling and stalling. I did make some progress, not enough though.

So for the Q2 my plan is to finish seven projects.

1. Marzipan quilt in Pip colours
I started making the marzipan quilt for my niece in pip colours. When she visited me last year she choose the design (the same design I had planned for my youngest). The quilt had to be in blue. I decided to use blue as the background colour and work with different brighter colours Pip studio style. Pip is a dutch designer mixing blue with pink and greens and flowers and birds.

2. Shawl in Scheepjes yarn
In January my project on the go became this lovely shawl in Scheepjes yarn. I took this with me to India and Ethiopia. I am almost done now and will plan a few evenings to finish it as it is now too large to take in my handbag.

3. Blouse
The fabric is cut and pinned, so now it just needs some sewing and my summer blouse is ready.

4. Grey linen pants
The grey linen fabric matches the fabric of the blouse, the pattern is cut so just need to cut the fabric and sew it all together.

5. Ross blanket
Ross is progressing slowly. The advantage of keeping Ross on my list is that I have to work on it.

6. Lamp
Last quarter I finished the marzipan quilt in nautical colours for my youngest. I painted two walls in blue and the other two in white and all the woodwork in off white. The fabric of the lamp and curtains will need to be adapted now as well. They are still in African fabric matching the quilt of my eldest.

7. Curtains
The curtains in the blue bedroom will need to be changed to matching fabric with the nautical quilt and the lamp (project 6)

Linking up with the lovely group of bloggers hosting the FAL 2019.

Project 4 Block 6 Ross blanket

Block 6 is done, it went rather quick as I "dedicated" all my free time to finishing it. I wanted to do block 6 before block 5 , so I could crochet block t5 directly on to block 6. That is a lot of the word "block" in one sentence.

The link to the patterns is on the Stylecraft page.


Am getting closer to my finishing the blanket, hurray

10 January

Project 1 Block 4 Ross blanket

Somehow I only manage to work on Ross during holidays, maybe the fact that I have time to sit down and concentrate helps. My aim was to finish block 4 of the Ross blanket between Christmas and New Years' Eve, but no ... not enough time or maybe I crochet too slow.

In the end block 4 is the first project of the new year that I finished. It fits the requirements of being a WIP. Hurray, so far so good.

More information is on Stylecraft's website

Project 39 Ross part 3

Am making slowly progress. During the holidays made actually quite a lot of progress on part 3 of the Ross Blanket. Once back home ..... with the kids going back to school, evening school meetings and getting used to the new schedule ..... and no more time to crochet. The last four rounds took me several days .... if not more than a week. And now they are done. Am impressed with myself - never thought I could get this much crochet done, let alone all these new stitches. Well, the whole idea of course was to challenge myself and I did. Next goal: try to start part 4 before the end of the month and get it done in two weeks time ........

19 September

Project 34 Ross blanket squares 2

The kids are on holidays so need to occupy them. They love going to the playground. I love going there for other reasons obviously. I don't see myself hanging upside down from a pyramid or pirate boat. I sit in the shade and crochet (or knit depending on what I have at hand small enough to bring along). So part two - making 4 squares was accomplished.

24 August

Project 33 Ross blanket part 1

For a while I have been eyeing this lovely blanket. Last year during a call the Demelza blanket was done, and I loved the colours. I just did not have enough time to participate as I have so many projects to finish. And I thought that I would never be able to crochet something complicated. Well, I also said that for the Frida blanket and all the other lovely projects passing by.
No more time to be "afraid" - I ordered the package. I started the squares of week 1 and panicked, how on earth was I ever going to learn this. To complicate all - the videos use English terminology and I use US terminology. So I watched the videos a few times, US instructions next to me and yes - got it - I managed to finish the 16 little squares - of course by the time I finished them, the CAL was at week 4 ...... it didn't matter. I finished them.

17 August

Project 20 Infinity scarf

This project took soooo long, I started this in winter. A friend of mine was coming back to Geneva, after a few years in Africa. And the winters here can be cold. So I decided to quickly make an infinity scarf for her. I had made one years ago and it was done in no time. Only that one was done with hook 6mm and thick yarn. This green scarf was crocheted using a hook 4 mmm and Stylecraft yarn. It used up quite some yarn, which is OK as it is now one fluffy infinity scarf that should keep my friend warm next winter (28 May)