This Weekend Belonged to Charlie

Behold...Charlie!

I would never, in a million years, have thought of myself as a tortoise person. But...within seconds of catching sight of him out of the corner of my eye positively powering along with watercress in his sights I was hooked.  His favourite thing, apart from watercress, is climbing and so when on the ground he would immediately set off for higher ground. He made it up to my neck and then fell asleep.

It is rather lovely to have a tortoise fall asleep on your neck. Pooch said he'd passed out because of the smell but I prefer to believe he liked the warmth and felt safe.

The main purpose of the weekend was not tortoise discovery but spending time with my pregnito sister and her husband. And how better to do this than with a visit to a Scrap Store.

These places are awesome. I'd never been to one for real but had seen them online. If you're not familiar with them they are essentially a genius combination of recycling and community action. Local businesses donate unwanted bits that would otherwise end up in landfill.

Maybe they made too many packaging pots, or the bits cut out of huge sheets of plastic/wood/card weren't needed or they had stuff left over. It comes here and then groups and families from the community can go along and fill a sack with what they want and pay a token amount for it. And I mean token. I got large scraps of felt, leather and card plus the item below and they would only charge me £4. I tried to insist it should be more but no. I had to just stick the rest in a donation jar. This was the gem:

You know those fabric sample books you get? Yep, a whole one! Well, a few reds are missing but there are still more than 40 colours. I had previously seen this bag on Pinterest...

Source: etsy.com via Alex on Pinterest

Oh yeah. I'm going to have a rainbow one. Yee ha!

While at my sister's I got to hand over all the baby goodies I've been stockpiling. Including this blanket.

This is the one I'll be writing the pattern up for soon. And speaking of which...

I am planning my entry for the Festival of Quilts competition. I'll be entering the miniature quilts section and doing tiny little paper pieced hexagons. I'm just deciding whether to go for a traditional pattern or something more pictorial.

Sister and hubby were on good form and she's all healthy and rounded at about 5 months but it is freakin weird to see your little sister with one in the oven. I felt the niece-in-progress kick and saw the nursery. All so exciting! Having decided not to have any of my own I'm going to take full advantage of the subversive aunty role.

70-20-10 and Me

I am a Learning Professional. Not a lot of people know this. Ten years ago it would have been Training instead of learning but we don't train people any more. We enable them to learn. It sounds ghastly but it is actually quite sensible. Research shows that 70% of what you learn comes from what you pick up on the job and from problem solving. A further 20% is from feedback from others and seeing good and bad examples of a topic an the last 10% comes from conventional courses and reading.

Now having said that people still have different ways they prefer to learn. Personally I favour the Kolb model which suggests people have one or a combination of two preferred styles from:

• Trial and Error (Active Experimentation)
• Getting stuck in (Concrete Experimentation)
• Watching others and copying (Reflective Observation)
• Thinking about it (Active Conceptualisation)

There is a free questionnaire here to help you work out your preference but usually it leaps to the eye. Think about what kind of knitter you are. For instance, if you never swatch and cast on straight away you're getting stuck in. I tend to be a combination of that and thinking about it - doodling charts and pondering decreases before just throwing those over my shoulder and casting on. For example:

My reasons for thinking about this are two-fold. Firstly work orientated: I have been to two events this week - Learning Technology at Olympia and Learning at Work at Excel - and attended several free seminars. I also read this article on Harvard Business Review called "Is It Time To Quit Your Job?". Secondly knitting orientated: I got an email suggesting I sign up for an online course on Norwegian Purling.

The work stuff made me realise it's time to move on. The knitting stuff made me realise I've been wanting to learn to knit continental style for years and that SkipNorth is coming up. I learnt Magic Loop in about 5 minutes when Nickerjac showed me how. Never looked back. I'm not assuming it'll be that quick to start continental knitting but hopefully there will be a chance for me to get started. 

Favourites

I am loving all these things at the moment.

In rows, from left to right...
1. top finished, 2. GreyQuiltHME, 3. Time to start sewing..., 4. 927 1" Hexies, 5. Sew Sew Modern Swap finished!, 6. quiltausstellung-schildow01, 7. sewing case, 8. New Year, Mixed Media "Slow it down", 9. Nope, 10. Advances, 11. Prendedor bordado/ embroidered pin, 12. Embroidered Necklace Pendants, 13. siblings, 14. Orange Trails, 15. Too funny . . ., 16. It's a girl

Dare to Dresden Bloghop! Day Four

Good day sunshine!This is my first appliqued circle, mentioned in yesterday's post. Not too shabby huh? I cut the circle and then tacked a 3mm hem before whip stitching it down and removing the tacking thread. And it is just the centre of my first ever dresden patchwork piece.

Yes - I dared to Dresden! Having been so subdued with my colour choices on the front I let loose on the back. I've had these buttons in stash for years. So cute!

They remind me of that line from The Mikado "three little maids are we..."

One last look at how my sofa now looks...

I was feeling pretty chuffed with my dresden but not particularly inspired to do any more when I saw this one from Quilting Lodge Blog from yesterday's day of the Hop.

Source: quiltinglodgeblog.com via Alex on Pinterest

Isn't it lovely? It's paper pieced and I adore the effect. I have pinned it to my Patchwork Board on Pinterest.

Last time I participated in a hop I was planning a Rainbow Charm Square Swap for the New Year but...only 12 people signed up. Not enough to make it worthwhile. So...how about a New Year RCSS in February?!

Guidance and sign up form here. If I get enough sign ups within the next week I'll go ahead with it.

Now please please please go and visit the others taking part in today's part of the Hop.

A Peach in Stitches

Nancy W @ “that Other Blog”

L3 Designs

Bungalow Bay Quilts

Quilted Delights

Quilt Crossing

A Quilting Sheep

Charlotte's Creations

Quilt-n-Queen
Domesticity and Other Ponderous Things

Sew Much 2 Luv

A Quilt and a Prayer

Amanda Murphy Design

Little Mushroom Cap
Kathy's Quilts

Sandra Kaye Design

I Appliqued a Circle and I Liked It

I didn't think I would enjoy applique, but I did. But, I'm not going to show you until tomorrow, when I take place in the Dresden bloghop! Until then the final preview of my Nancy Drew quilt before that bloghop takes place in March.

I'm really pleased with how it is coming out although I have suffered a set back. I ordered samples of an ideal flannel backing fabric on the 15th. They arrived on Friday. I went online to order a few metres of one last night and they're not on the website any more. The whole range has gone! I anxiously await a reply from them to my "Concerned of Mudchute" email.

I've put the finishing touches to two baby cardigans for my niece-in-progress. This one is a free pattern and keeps reminding me of the people in Pigeon Street.

Sister requested no pink but these buttons seem to go perfectly.

The next is sock yarn and I had intended to i-cord some frogging type buttonholes but then when I looked at it I thought cords would do nicely.

I've also finished casting off the blanket, so now that just needs blocking.

I'm going to write it up as a recipe type pattern as it really is the easiest thing to knit with whatever yarn you have handy to whatever size you desire. Apart from that, work continues on my cloud jumper which is now about halfway down the yolk.

Progress is slow but then I have been knitting either chunky or baby sized things for a while now and 4-ply does make a big difference.

I am trying not to buy any more yarn or fabric (flannel excepted) until SkipNorth (which is now full and about 7 weeks away). My last hoorah was half a metre of this.

I just couldn't resist. Gorgeous huh? In my opinion definitely the nicest from the Sew Retro collection. The lady at Liberty asked me what I was going to make with it.... How are you supposed to answer that kind of question?

How Long Do You Ponder For?

I first started thinking about this jumper in 2010. At least, that is when my earliest cloud photo that I thought worth keeping is from.

The first chart was in May 2011.

First swatch was in Kauni shortly afterwards - not enough contrast though.

Then came the yarn dyeing. A try out...

...followed by the real thing in January 2012.

Then this month (January 2013) another chart, some swatching and a few rips later:

There is another cloud jumper I have in mind - but that is more of a colour scheme thing. I've been thinking about that one for longer, but it clearly hasn't matured yet. Give it another year or two...

The Opposite of Scorchio

We've had snow!

This basically means that everything has shut down. Flights cancelled, tubes on go slow, events cancelled. London doesn't do cold weather very well. Which is unfortunate considering...

It does mean perfect crafting weather - just right for snuggling up with your knitting or your sewing machine. Knit-wise I've not much to report. Progress has been made on the baby blanket and I've cast on for my cloud jumper but there's nothing worth showing so far. With sewing though - the first hexagon for my Nancy Drew blanket is done.

I've also got a bit furtrher with my dresden cushion cover.

I don't like it. I am going to redo the middle as that thick blue line is not working. I wish now I'd invisible applique'd both the centre (which I can fix) and the whole to the backing (which I think will damage it too much to be worthwhile).

My parents are en route for the rest of the weekend so I've made Challah which is rising on the radiator. We're hopefully going to venture out for an Indian tonight with the Pooch, who has been on good form recently. He's discovered scandinavian murder mysteries and is longing for his own The Killing jumper. Which led me to find a whole website dedicated to that one jumper. Now that's dedication.

Thou Sweet and Lovely Wall

There is an opera (also a flute concerto) by JF Lampe which tells the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, as referenced in Midsummer Night's Dream. The opera includes an Air entitled "And Thou, Oh Wall" which itself contains the lyric I've used as a title and the following:

"Oh show me thy chink, that I may blink..."

I saw it at the Peacock Theatre very shortly after being released from the funny farm many years ago.If it ever comes to a town near you I would recommend it. The version I saw was hilarious with the show entirely stolen by the wall (shown above with Thisbe). And I mean that quite honestly. But this has nothing to do with blogging other than I am listening to it while typing.

I have managed to take a picture of one of the cardies I've made my niece-in-progress.

This one is going to have poppers since the mothering world seems divided on buttons vs poppers. Then there is a hat to match the first cardi.

Pom poms are going to feature more in my future baby creations. But I'll have to make them better than those scraggy looking ones. Beyond that, I have made progress on the baby blanket and finished my latest socks.

The pattern was Zig Zag Socks, free on Ravelry and very easy to do. I essentially used just the stitch count and stitch pattern, changing them to cuff down and adding my preferred heel and toe. And I had to rip back after the first came out too tight and add 2 repeats.

I am very pleased with them though and wearing them while typing (as well as listening to opera - kind of how I roll). There's no doubt colour changing yarn makes an all over pattern like this much more interesting. I'm always pushed to see how the next colour will look with the main colour - much like Jane with her blanket.

Work has been manic this week with the biggest event I'd organised to date on Thursday. 250 people all together, 26 sessions, 21 Speakers, breakfast, 4 coffee/cake breaks, lunch, evening wine buffet and a total of 375 cupcakes. I tried to get a photo of what that many cupcakes looked like but could only manage to get 8 dozen in frame.

The event went perfectly and I was delighted to see one of the Speakers ending his session with a lolcat.

Well it was about planning law - hard to make it entertaining but from the feedback he managed it.

There has also been a tiny amount of sewing. I made this Dresden for the blog hop and have this afternoon decided what to do with it.

The back is rather neat. I clipped the seams nearest the centre and when pressed all one way you get a 'nap' effect, like with velvet. Maybe.

I was actually pretty disappointed with it at first. I'd bought a jelly roll (see previous post for explanation) of polka dot fabric at the last year's Festival of Quilts and it looked *fanfrickingtastic* in the pack but then laid out they all looked a bit wishy washy. I am pairing it with a dark rosy grey though which brings out the colour and I think it will be ok. I've also been thinking more about my Nancy Drew quilt.

I'm thinking framed hexagons is the way to go. A hexagon with a 5" side is about 10" across, which is the size of my layer cake. Using this hexagon calculator I'll need 29 hex's for a single bed size quilt - or rather blanket. Anyone know where I can get 100% cotton flannel? I want to use that to back it and make it snuggly.

I leave you with some more lyrics, this time sung by a lion. The brackets denote that he is singing this sotto voce and there is a tendency for the audience to join in, also sotto voce and with much embarrassed exchanging of smiles.

Ladies don't fright you

(rah, rah rah)

I will delight you

(rah, rah, rah)

I will delight you

With gentle roar

My First Layer Cake

To clarify - fabric comes in metres (or sometimes yards). A fat quarter (FQ) is 18"x22" or an eighth of a yard. Jelly Rolls are a number of strips usually 2.5" wide by 44" long - which is the full width of the fabric. Charm Packs are squares of fabric, usually 5" square. Mini Charm Packs are 2.5" square. Layer Cakes are 10" square pieces of fabric. Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs and Layer Cakes are usually representative of a whole collection of fabric by a single designer. This is my first Layer Cake!

42 ten inch squares in 21 different designs and all of them awesome! Nancy Drew was my gateway to a life of crime addiction and I used to lap them up in my tender years before moving on to Agatha Christie.

When I heard there was a Nancy Drew fabric collection coming out I went full stalker and was not content until I had signed up for the Sew We Quilt bloghop (in my sidebar) and ordered my own Layer Cake. I also added an extra couple of half yards for binding what I am sure will be a full size quilt. Of course, since I was ordering from an american supplier (I emailed EVERY UK fabric shop I could find and none were planning to stock it) I added a few more fabrics to my basket.

The three on the left add to my craft themed fabric stash for a quilt I plan for later in the year and the Strawberry Shortcake on the right *had* to be mine as it is the *exact* design I had as a child except mine was in yellow. I freaking loved SS. Original, of course. The modern one is waaaay too cutesy.

I've actually done a lot of knitting this week but have failed to take proper pics of the two baby cardigans I have made for my sister so I'll save them for another day. I have done a little sewing though.

Finally made one of the little houses I've been ogling for months. The "Building Houses From Scaps" sew-a-long during 2012 has now concluded and you should go over there to see some of the finished ones. So amazing! I made this one using foundation paper but I think future ones will be pieced. I can't decide though whether to go for true scraps or a colour palette. While pondering that I put together a sheet of images to print on a sheet of magnetic stuff I found in a pound shop. 2 sheets for a pound in fact which seemed rather good.

You just put it in your normal printer. The wedding photo and baby scan are for my sister and mum but then I thought no gift is complete without a magnet with my fizzog on it. Should I ever go missing this is the photo I want on the posters.

I think it captures not just my face but also my essence. I had reflected deeply on this quote from my Nancy Drew fabric, and I think we can all agree it does do wonders for my complexion.