New year, new post

 First, the UFOs:
The only one I finished was the Fabric baby book. One of my colleagues was expecting a baby, so I finished it all except for the cover - and then we all started working from home before I could give it to him, and he's now left the company, so I guess it will keep for another baby! It's quite nice though

Once that was done, I made a rainbow blanket for my friends who were also expecting. It was made with rainbow yarn so I didn't need to keep switching colours, and it came out quite well, if a little bit longer than I meant it to.

 

I even made an easter chick from a kit!

By then lockdown/working from home was in full swing, so I didn't get much else done till later in the summer as work was busy. I did manage to make a "bumblebee costume" one evening thanks to a random request:

Once work quieted down a bit at the end of September, I had more free time in the evenings (bed times had also got a bit earlier I think). So I made quite a lot (well, quite a lot for someone only sewing two hours a day) of clothes for the small one - mainly leggings but also a dress. I also made some for a couple of her friends. And we managed to finish the hat to go with her red pinafore, she requested doll's clothes for her scary looking doll one day, last of all I made her a party crown for Christmas.

I did manage to make some things that weren't children's clothes, too - mainly presents, but hopefully I can make myself something in the new year!

The best thing I got all year (got it in January, which seems so long ago) was my zigzag attachment which means I can do zigzag seams with my Singer sewing machine - otherwise I couldn't sew all these lovely knit fabrics!

And this year I've signed up to the 52 week sewing challenge on Facebook, so who knows I might be able to post a few more blogs since I'm documenting it all there anyway.

UFO review post

Back in April, I posted about some of my unfinished projects. Most of these are still unfinished but I've done three:
Crochet shawl (which my friend no longer needed, but my daughter has claimed as her "green blanket")

The quilted square (still not quite sure what to do with this to be honest)

My mending pile 

Not done yet:
Dress - started May 2016. 75% complete

Fabric baby book - started 2007. 5% complete. I know a few people having babies in 2020 so I might get around to doing this eventually

Camp blanket - started 2000 ish. I might get around to this at some point as I could do with another blanket.

Kingfisher cross stitch - started 2003. 60% complete. I've just got back into cross stitch over Christmas so the next cross stitching I do will be this.

New UFOs:
Crochet hat - I was going to make my friends some hats, and I found a pattern, but somehow I gave up halfway through so I will probably just unravel it and use the wool for something else.
Bag - I was going to make a laptop bag for work but then I got a backpack for it instead so not sure what I'm going to do about this. 25% complete.

Next up is a dress that my mum got me from Clothkits which I need to make up before my daughter gets too big for it!

Finding pins: finishing things off

So a while I posted about my unfinished projects. One of them was this quilt square, which only needed the binding finishing around the edges. I’ve finally got around to stitching it! Shame the baby I was making it for is now five years old. Luckily I have a couple of friends expecting so I’ve got one new baby present sorted! Also, look how many pins I have now they’re not stuck in this project

Clothes worth wearing are worth repairing

The cobbler where I used to take me shoes to be re-heeled had a little line of text across the ticket he gave to the customer to keep track of the shoes “Shoes worth wearing are worth repairing”. You could say the same about clothes too. I’ve been a bit quiet on the crafty front lately, because I’ve been tackling the Dreaded Mending Pile.
Step 1: remember where I have hidden the mending pile
Step 2: make a list of what I need to buy to mend things with
Step 3: actually get around to mending things.

Some of the things to be mended were actually small five minute jobs, like replacing a button. I had a dress where I thought the zip had broken but actually it was only the but that you pull that was broken, so I just made a new tag instead of replacing the zip.
I had a top that needed the elastic replacing on the smocking, that was also a smaller job than I thought once I got hold of some shirring elastic. It looks as good as new.

 The biggest job was one of my summer dresses - it has four belt loops and they had all pulled out of the bodice, ripping the fabric. Now I like this dress so I didn’t want to throw it away, so I decided to strengthen the bit where the belt loops attach to with some interfacing, and then I sewed the loops back on by hand.
It may have been a nuisance to have to do mending, but I’m glad I actually did it because now I can start on a new shiny project with a clear conscience!

Where are all my pins? UFOs and the pile of shame

I'm sure many crafters have a similar problem to this: you go to start a new project, but your pins/crochet hook/ embroidery hoop are still being used for a previous project that's not quite finished yet. This year, I'm trying to finish off some of my UFOs (unfinished objects). So far I've completed three new projects and not finished any old ones! So here's a list of my current UFOs and how long it's been since I started them. At the end of the year I'll do a review post to see how many I managed. Crochet shawl - started Nov 2018 My friend was making shawls to give to a women's shelter near her, and I offered to help. However life got in the way and somehow this got abandoned. Hopefully I can finish it off before next winter. 40% complete.

Dress - started May 2016 After I finished my vampire cosplay, I was all enthusiastic about sewing and I found a pattern for a summer dress that I could do as part of a sew-along blog. I was most of the way along (though the instructions were a bit frustrating) and then I found out I was pregnant so it seemed kind of pointless trying to make a dress that might never actually fit me. I packed away my sewing machine into a cupboard as we needed that room for the nursery. However I'm now more or less the size I used to be, so I'm going to try to finish this off and adjust the size a bit if I need to. 75% complete

Quilted Square - started Feb 2014 I intended to make this for a friend's baby when it was born. The child is now five. I have the quilting all done, I even made a label but somehow I didn't manage to finish hand stitching the binding around the edges. 90% complete

Fabric baby book - started 2007 I got a kit to make a baby book with embroidery when my niece was born. She's eleven now and I still haven't done it! I would have made it for my daughter if I had remembered where it was. 5% complete

Camp blanket - started 2000 ish You could argue that a camp blanket is never finished as you keep collecting badges throughout your life. This is true, but I have quite a lot of badges to sew on in a bag somewhere. Priority low as I don't go camping any more! Kingfisher cross stitch - started 2003 This was a Christmas present from my sister as my name when I helped with Brownies was Kingfisher. The main part of the picture is done, but I have quite a lot of awkward stitches on their own to finish the picture. This has been packed away in a cupboard for about eight years. 60% complete.

Last but not least - the mending pile There are several things gathering dust on my mending pile. I should really get around to fixing them - if I could remember where I tidied it away to. I'm not going to bother listing the projects that I bought things for and never actually started. That would be too long of a list...