Primrose Week

I have Wallace modelling Primrose week which was back at the end of February now. The primroses are beginning to sprout up everywhere as is the wild garlic (It is wild garlic this week) . Also magpie, fly and squirrel week have all flown by and although I have studied them and enjoyed learning about them, I have not blogged them. My photos when I blog take about half a day to upload so I have put off the blogging due to having an enormous catch up.

I definitely got carried away and joined in with several monthly 'clubs' Unfortunately I discovered them a bit late and so I have some catch up to do as well as progressing my own projects ..... and then the leftover wool and material is demanding to be made into additional projects as I HATE wasting anything!!

I I have joined a BOM which stands for block of the month - however in this case it is 4 blocks a month  the good news is it is on the sewing machine - the bad news is I didn't have a cutting mat or special ruler so making my first one with a pair of sewing scissors was not easy as the trimming is key - the ironing is also very important and I was jumping up and down from the sewing machine to the ironing board after every single seam - I do need the exercise but I brought the ironing board upstairs. I purchased a sleeve board in the end. I am also waiting for a cutting mat and ruler to arrive!

The BOM called Choc-a bloc is organised by Alice Caroline Fabrics - they have several clubs but the fact that this one includes a mystery chocolate bar each month PLUS one for joining clinched it for me! The chocolate bars eaten so far are gin and tonic and peppermint. Both lovely and apparently every bar sold a tree is planted - but enough about the chocolate - here is my first patch - 

although I have not added the edges yet and I intend to quilt as I go (I have watched some videos as although I have done patchwork before I have never quilted.) so I have ordered some batting and the quilt also includes some hand stitching- Sashiko style which I love. The technique is called paper piecing and you sew everything on top of a piece of pattern paper , the material is Liberty which is lovely to work with. Normally I don't like flowery prints but on this quilt there is tonnes of white so I'm ok with that. Also there is a lot of the fabric leftover that I can make some really sweet presents with Liberty prints - which apparently are a coveted thing (who knew) later on.

My second club is a dressmaking one and by the end of the year I should have a whole new wardrobe. This is run by Little Miss Sew and Sew and yesterday I received fabric choices for the dress which is this months pattern. Last month I made the Kimono Jacket and the material I chose is really whacky but the whole point of joining the club was to challenge my wardrobe which is looking rather skint! With some leftover fabric I am planning a headscarf / hairband and half way through making these teeny weeny hexagons for some matching earrings. 

My third and forth clubs I just caught up on yesterday and they came about when I contacted a lady on Instagram called Michelle May (who has the loveliest accent in her videos) at The Raspberry Rabbits to see if anyone in the UK stocked her kits , they didn't and a email conversation on the cost of posting and tax and handling fees etc has led her to offering her monthly clubs , An embroidered quilt block each month and the other is an embroidered heart pattern each month, as PDF - so the moment they became available I bought the January, February and then in March I bought March and by the end of the series I will have a lovely heart banner around my bed and a little topper quilt for my bedroom. 

I have chosen the DMC coloured floss to match my curtains and bedding so it should look lovely. See the photo below of the WIP so far... I am really enjoying embroidery and hand stitching patchwork I think I love the hands on stuff and its nice sitting in the chair by the window with Wallace after a walk and relaxing even when the weather is horrible outside. The roses on the bottom heart for March are a new stitch for me and I really enjoyed doing that one. 

I may also have told you about a mystery sock yarn club I have joined - this is just for the wool which I go onto the website and order each month from Pigment and Ply. 

I have no idea what it looks like until it arrives and I just loved February and made up my own pattern to make full use of the little skeins of wool that came with the main colour. in pink red and turquoise.

Februarys socks are completed along with a couple of ferret jumpers with the left over wool (my pattern making gone wrong!) and Januarys socks are completed below since I last blogged.  

I I used left over wool to knit a border on my pink hoodie that was a bit short. All now finished and March's mystery wool is not yet arrived but its exciting waiting for it!!

Another sock club I joined that started in March is 'Around the World in 8 socks'. It is being run by Mia from Knitting Expat and her first pattern called London was so nice Simon wanted me to knit his socks using Ironbridge  wool from Lay Family Yarn. using it too. 

His socks are now finished but mine (in the official London wool, which is absolutely gorgeous dyed by Fruitful Fusion, are only nearing the first toe but I am sure they will be finished before the end of the month as sock knitting takes over in the evenings while watching Netflix or catch up series on TV.  The patterns are very reasonable price - I got the early bird price of £20 for all 8 but there is also a 'pay what you can afford ' option which is fabulous if you are using up your stash of wool. The knitting on this pattern comes out lovely and makes a nice pair of squishy socks - I have learned a new way to do the heel also called German short row heel. I have ordered the next wool for the April pattern which is called Paris and it is yellow so quite a departure from my usual pinks . blues and purples!

The last club I am up to date with as the kits are generally posted quite late and the tutorials are near the end of the month are from the Stitchery and this monthly kit also available later on as an individual kit is going to make up a village called Stitchery Lane. I have finished the January(see below with some cards) and halfway through February - Wisteria Cottage which involved doing some watercolour painting on the fabric - mine went a bit outside the lines but Im not bothered as it adds to the messy charm of it! A very delicate embroidery series. It is lovely to stitch and I love the parcels coming through the door each month. The club aim is to make it into a book but I'm not really up for that after spending hours stitching - it is going somewhere I can see it every day - not sure whether to put on the wall or are cushions with it at the moment - its a landscape rectangle shape so it is a bit awkward I will have to have a think!! The January instalment did inspire me to make a little batch of bicycle card for March birthdays. I bought some card blanks in the kraft card from Hochander for a really good price , however when I started to use them they were cut all crooked so I had to even them up a bit before I could use them (that why they were a good price I guess!!)

The weather today is so lovely and warm and sunny after a weekend of hail and wind that I am planning to take Wallace for a really long walk and upload the photos while I am gone so when I get back then hopefully I can post this.

The great news is some men unwinding cables down the road were spotted last weaken our walk and it appears that Airband are putting in broadband outside our house so hopefully in around 3 months time we will have some decent internet and I can speed up the whole blogging process, lets face it spending hours blogging is not fun when you have a tonne of projects calling softly 'come and make me!! '

My plan at the end of March is to be completely caught up on everything and then I will do each project as it arrives in real time - I know it doesn't really matter when they are done but I actually like joining in with something while missing crafting over a cuppa with friends. Every morning I awake early, dying to get going on something and if you think the above clubs are crazy - you should see my own WIPs - however it will calm down after this catch up week as long as I am not tempted into any more!

The curtains were finished in the shower room and look great I have made a matching towel and lavender bags with leftover material. 

 I love flitting between projects and doing what draws me to it on the day!! I finished my daughters latest wedding anniversary heart and I made one for little Vans birth announcement to pop in there too. For 4th anniversary the traditional is Linen and the modern is appliances - needless to say I didn't do anything for the modern one!! But the heart was completed in linen. The third anniversary one is a bit late but I will post all together off to Canada.

I made 15 hexagon boxes for the WI meeting in March which was all about saving bumble bees and they contained flower bombs made by Karen in our group - you sort of thrown them and wild flowers grow in that patch. I used one of my stampin up dies for the hexagon box which is now retired and some of last years free bee paper. I made the rosettes using a scoreboard and a glue gun. The decorations are stamped and cut with matching dies. I am really into hexagons at the moment - I have seen a really nice crochet one I would like to try with left over wool stash!

This project (another slow stitch) is growing to become some craft room curtains - still quite a way to go even though they are only small curtains - or rather curtain as there will only be one as the window is against the wall. There are quite a few sock projects and a teddy lined up!! in future projects but as March is the month for catching up I really would like to finish a couple of my jumpers that have been on the go for quite a long time now. 

Im off to upload and walk . I will leave you with Wallace checking out the primroses!

Take care 

Jop x