A flurry of finishes (and starts) from Frigid Frankston - aka Covid Craft Collection

Greetings this weekend from a frosty, frigid Frankston.

In the height of stage 4 lockdown, it is the perfect weather to hunker down and get well involved in the craft room.  This is why I chuckled at a group of pictures of lockdown Barbies – gardening, cooking, home-schooling etc..   and had to admit that I’m THIS Barbie!

Now onto Show and Tell.

I finished the simple and sweet Jardin Privé ‘Spirale’ and as I had been staring at it in my hoop, knew I had to finish it in the round.   This is the result and I’m really pleased with this little mat.  I revisited making proper bias binding for this, not just cutting 2 ½ inch strips for quilts.  I always like to try different techniques with each project.

My lovely high-low office desk has now been installed in my sewing nook and to celebrate (and try it out) decided last Saturday that I HAD to make something. 

I dived into my pile of 2 ½” squares and made a simple disappearing 9patch mini quilt, using up scraps for borders and binding.  A simple cross hatch quilting to finish it off and it was finished in one day  This will end up in the gift box for a random somebody this year.

On Sunday, I decided I needed another little fabric box to store my quilt clips –

so much nicer on my desk than a plastic bag.  I might make another for the quilting safety pins, but for the time being, they can live in their plastic bag – if I change it now, I’ll never find them!

Next on the project list was my SAL for this year, stitching the August section on both the lilac and blue fabric.  Now somewhere along the piece, I mis-counted the fabric on the blue fabric and the whole chart will not fit.  So I’ve made an adjustment and will stitch that in.  The lilac will continue as per the original chart. 

I’ll add these to the SAL page during the week, as those on my facebook group stitching along have now got the whole chart.

And onto the NEXT Project  …..   yes shutdown means a lot of production.

I saw the tutorial for this onJordan Fabrics last year and loved it – so bought the pattern and this has been sitting for nearly a year on the back burner.  Night Flight by Basic Grey.  I have so much Halloween fabric (or so I thought) that  this would be a simple project.   Well, it turns out I have not as much as I thought, and as I’m on a personal challenge to use up my stash and not buy more fabric (as if!) – decided to use some of my batiks to fill out the colour range – particularly the green. 

  I spent an afternoon reading the pattern and creating a small spreadsheet of colours/size cuts/distribution and determined that while the pattern is written to make 320 HST in 2 at a time method – I don’t really like this method and worked out that I would cut my fabric in order to use the 4 at a time method and spend the time to press and trim each one.    So yesterday, I spent 5-6 hours cutting all the fabric, using my lovely new hi-low desk set at (hopefully) the right height.    Today, after writing this to you, my fabric friends will be spent making the 320 HST required for this project.    I tend to leave my patchwork for weekends and stitch on weeknights, so there is no rush to finish all this in a weekend.

I leave you now to continue on my stitchy weekend.  Come back again to see the progress.

A week of WIP's - a stitching update from Frosty Frankston

 

HI all

It's winter in Melbourne, Australia - my fingers are defrosting.  We are lucky that we don't get snow here in our bayside suburb, but sometimes it is cold enough for sleet

Just a quick catchup today.  I have 3 WIP this week…

·     Let’s Sew by Ursula Andrews.

I have taken this to work and stitch this in the down times.  I am stitching on a mint green shiny aida out of my stash with one strand variegated purple floss – I think it is Threadworks floss.  Of course I will fix the error where I got carried away stitching two ‘O’s in the word Cross-Stitch.   Whoops…

·      

  Spirale from Jardin Prive.

I may or may not have gone batshit crazy ordering online from this french designer – in particular 4 charts which will all stitch together featuring Sheep.  This is my premium stitch for 2021 – The revisited Year of the Sheepie – but more of that another time.  This is a simple one colour floss on another scrap of linen from my stash -Picture this Plus Mint 28 count Lugana and using Victoria Sampler Shoppe overdyed Regal Purple.  I had a lot of trouble getting the outer circle to match up.  In several sections, I obviously did not count properly – either the chart or my stitching.  I got carried away with the rhythm of stitching several times and this resulted in re-stitching one part in particular – the bottom 4-5pm section – 5 times.  This is why I filled that part in first.  Now that it all matches up, it should be a simple task to fill this design in.

·      2020 Temperature SAL

This week’s rotation was to catch up on the design which will eventually record the maximum and minimum temperatures of Melbourne Australia for 2020.  I have now added the legend to the right and finished stitching July.  There are still spaces for random motifs and I have yet to decide what to put where.  I will be stitching a lock motif for both March and August to symbolise the two Covid-19 Lock-down of the community events.   In August, Melbourne was issued Stage 4 Restrictions, with most people restricted to their home, businesses closed and minimal travel during daylight hours only.      I am lucky to be still working, personally requested by the CEO to manage the corporate office logistics for the next 6 weeks – my hours have been reduced, but that means more quality stitching time for me.  My motto this year has become DON’T COUNT THE DAYS – MAKE EACH DAY COUNT!

This will be stitched on this weather sampler.

 

I hope to share a picture next weekend with you of my sewing nook with it’s new table and chair finally installed.  I have yet to determine just where to store the old kitchen table I’ve been using as a cutting bench, now that it is to be replaced with a high-low desk.    My space is coming together nicely.

Until next time – Happy Stitching!

July sails away with SOHRH and August shines in

Hello friends,

It is currently a sunny winters day outside my window.  I’ve composted last week’s flowers and preserved those that may become a dried floral arrangement later.  Spring is in the air, despite a further 4 weeks of winter…  the daffodils in my driveway are magnificent, so I’ve cut a bunch and am now looking at them on my desk…   They are sitting in a pink depression glass jug – the pattern is Pink Mayfair.  As it was Mum’s birthday last week, she is sharing the joy of the daffodils with me.

I have not yet decided what patchwork project to work on in daylight hours of this weekend, will possibly do a bit more sorting and scrap tidying.  I’ve managed to find a good supply of boxes which will store 2.5” strips, just a few more boxes than I currently have strips.  Next weekend sees the delivery of the last component of my sewing nook and I’m faintly excited to work with it – a Hi-Low desk with plenty of space to incorporate a pressing station.  I’ve invested in a wool pressing mat and a new ergonomic chair and my sewing nook will be complete.  It is a good feeling.  So yes, I think while the sun is shining, I will do a bit more sorting of old patterns and charts/kits.  My mind is more in that space right at the moment, than in a crafting space.  Of course, I will be in much danger of finding projects I want to do ‘right now’, but there is only so many hours in the day!  I am sure to have quite a few items to fill my givaway box – Shall we have a giveaway?  I’ll see what is in the box at the end of next week and let you know.

I am not making any more face-masks – have made enough for ourselves and friends and family who have asked for them.  I am not interested in selling them, as there are so many people who have lost their income and are now dependent on their cottage industry to bring in extra finances.

I have only realised I have not shared much of my progress on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow (SOHRH) and July was the first month it returned to my rotation for a week, rather than an anything goes weekend lucky dip.  I was gifted this chart and fabric too many months ago to remember and it pops out from time to time, but now, this year seems to be ripe to complete long-standing WIP’s.  This week I completed the wording, the dolphin and the hull of the ship for parts 6-7 – this gives me a solid placement guide for all the sails and gee-gaws that adorn this section.  This design has a LOT of sectional stitching of large blocks of colour – such a difference to band samplers and small motif designs.

Am eager to stitch next week’s rotation – a return to the temperature SAL, to see what colours and the range in July.  I’m guessing it will be a small range of about 4-6 colours through the whole month…daytime temperatures stayed about 14-15 degrees celcius all month.

I’ll leave you all right now – and get some work done while the sun shines and keeps me motivated..Leave a comment and a link to your blog…

Happy Stitching!