WIP Wednesday

How has your week been? Have you been making progress on your WIPs? I've been busy and very happy with the progress I have made on a number of fronts.

I unpicked the dog cushion that I had mentioned last week that I felt was over stuffed and removed some of the stuffing and it was then much more suitable for the dog to snuggle onto... he no longer looked like he was going to bounce straight off it. I got 2 more completed as well so Jack and Digby have new beds in the laundry where they sleep at night as well as 2 cushions in the rumpus room/sewing area. That is all that they need so future dog beds will be given away as they get stuffed.

I have finished off 2 more secret project quilt tops and have made the backings for them so I have somewhat of a quilting pile up....4 quilts and backs ready to be quilted and one more that I am making the backing for now.

Today at Patchwork I put the borders on A to Z Challenge Quilt.

 Its ended up much bigger than anticipated (90" square). adding 3 borders does that too a quilt! Sorry I have no photos of the completed quilt top... but its supposed to be a secret till A to Z blog challenge starts 1st April. This is the 3rd border fabric

I am working on the backing for it (as mentioned above) I have 3 blocks left over from the front to incorporate - the Z block plus the 2 blocks that got replaced on the front. I have a little of the border fabric left over to go on the back as well but I am going to have to work out what to do with the rest of it.

At Handmade With Love yesterday Peggy had cut out a couple of little dresses and some rompers. I am not big on clothes sewing, but its cutting things out that causes me the most angst. With them already cut and Peggy on hand to say what to sew when and where I was able to get stuck in and between us we got the 2 dresses made in the morning and they looked really lovely. I forgot to photograph them too (not doing too well here am I)

I have been busy with a some other HWL projects. One of my goals this month is to get 20 items sewn for the Comic Con stall I am having in September. Over the last 2 days I managed to sew 8 of the Teeny Tiny zipper pouches. (pattern is here on Sew So Easy)

 and one ear buds pouch. (no photo of it either... I forgot) So 9 things down and 11 to go!

I started working on a different Messenger bag tonight. I did a number of major stuff ups because instead of reading the instructions properly I made some assumptions and they were WRONG. I had a lot of unpicking to do.... I'd assumed that the big piece I cut was the front and back of the bag and the small piece I cut was the flap cause that is what they had been on the kids messenger bags I've been making. (despite them being called front and back) The big piece was actually the back and the flap. I had stitched the pockets on incorrectly and also when I'd cut the one way fabric in half and sewed it so that the pieces would be the right way when folded... yeah they were both upside down. I managed to get them all fixed up but have had to call it a night with only a little more stitching done. The pattern looks good though and works well. You can find it here on Crazy Little Projects.

I've also restarted my crotcheting. Last October I offered to make 12 water bottle carriers for a Kyros Outside walk that is being held in North Queensland (Its part of the Emmaus movement we belong to) I got 8 made pretty quickly but it has languished somewhat but I found the stuff a few days ago and have since made one more and nearly finished a second. I have a return car trip to Brisbane this coming weekend which is about 20 hours driving - only some of which I will be driving for so hopefully I will get a few done then.

Linking up with 

WIP Wednesday

Since last Friday night I have been at the meetings of the Uniting Church in Australia Queensland Synod. This is where representatives from all the UCA church congregations, presbyteries and agencies meet together to deal with the business of the church, share ideas, report on what has been going on, pray and worship and try to discern the will of God for us in the next 18 months and further into the future. Its been tiring, exhausting, at times frustrating and often exhilarating. And Busy. 

Meetings started with worship on Friday night... and amazing and exciting time as we were lead by choirs from 3 of our faith communities - Tongan, Korean and Sudanese, with representatives from our First Peoples as well. We continued on for the next 4 days, beginning at 8.30AM with bible study and continuining on all day till 9PM some nights and 6PM. Today finished at 3. (well its supposed to, We have left early)

It wasn't all sitting in our seats listening to reports or other people speaking. The worship sessions involved singing, clapping, even a little dancing. And the business sessions involved debates and opportunities to ask questions. There were visuals to look at too on the big screen. We also broke into smaller groups for discussions and discernment times and also had the opportunity at different times to go to self selected topics to learn about and discuss different things. It was very interesting and stimulating. We also had the opportunity to make a message board and have our photos taken with it to send a message of love and support to refugees coming to Australia

Anyway there was times of sitting and listening and since I sit and listen a lot better if I am doing something with my hands I organised craft projects. I didn't have any embroidery to do (as I have done some times) or other hand stitching but did have some crocheting... I bought wool when I visited the wool shop last week. I took 4 balls of wool with me and started on the infinity scarves I spoke of last week. 

My first attempt had been one where I crocheted a long chain, joined it and gone around and around but that wasn't really successful. I ran out of wool before I had completed it so unpulled it. 

The pattern I chose this time was the Bellflower Infinity scarf, a free pattern available here

    

In this pattern the scarf worked like a normal scarf (across the width rather than the length) and worked back and forth. Once long enough the two ends are joined together. I didn't get adventurous but worked all the scarves I made the same way. I wanted a pattern I was super familiar with which would enable me to work without concentrating on what I was doing, enabling me to listen to the discussion. 

By the end of the Synod I had made 5 scarves. I completed the last one minutes before the final session that we attended ended. (I only have photos of the first 3 I completed)

 I have started work on another one today which will keep me occupied whilst we drive home over the next two days. I went to Spotlight today and bought some more wool. I have a request for a rainbow striped one.

I did do some sewing on Thursday night before Synod and got a little zipper bag made but that has been the only sewing I have done this week. I thought I might sew something today but... just not feeling the vibe so haven't pulled anything out.

WIP Wednesday

Last Wednesday I bought some wool. It wasn’t fancy stuff – just a ball of variegated purple acrylic that I found in a supermarket. I got it and some crotchet hooks to give me something to work on in the car since I had finished all my handwork and wanted something to do. I also have 4 days of meetings coming up and wanted something to keep me occupied then as well.

On our car journey a few days later I started to make an infinity scarf. I had googled a free pattern and started away happily after a while I stopped following the pattern as I realised that the wool was too thick to show it properly and besides I knew I wasn’t going to have enough wool to complete the pattern.. I used up the ball of wool and was only 1/3 the way through with little hope of getting any more of the wool. I found a few more infinity scarves that I am looking at 

Aren't these gorgeous

On Saturday, whilst being lead astray by the Navman (GPS device) I bought myself 4 more balls of wool – thinner than the previous ball which will be enough to make a couple of scarves. I pulled out the stitching I had done.

Sewing wise I have been working on the back for my Onya Bike quilt. I am piecing scraps together in various strips – 10” wide, 6.5” and 5”. I’ve made some nine patches and fussy cut some bicycle fabric I got from Spoonflower. I have 3 metres of a mottled blue fabric to use on the back but even with that and the other scraps I have, I won’t have enough to complete the back so think I will leave it shortly to finish at home.

Having put the piano key border and a 3” orange border on My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes (MCLTHIB) I am still debating with myself whether to declare it finished (at 72” square) or to add another 5” pinwheel or perhaps a 4 patch border. My problem is that I have changed the destination of the quilt and trying to work out what sized quilt would be most useful to the new recipient.