Craft Sunday

I enjoyed last week's Craft Day so much that I decided to make it a regular thing. It really does me good to have a day off from the 'knitting empire' to do other creative stuff. It's made me realise how many unfinished projects I have lying around the house. Do you remember the snowball blocks that I finished hand piecing last week? Well, with the help of my Singer Featherweight Betty (she was made in Coronation year), they're now a fully fledged quilt top.

I only make small quilts, this one's about 25 x 20" 

A Featherweight machine is ideal for machine piecing as it sews a very accurate straight seam. Also, it's small (about half the size of a normal machine) and looks beautiful. Mine is about 65 years old and still going strong. Replacement parts can be bought if anything does wear out (the rubber feet deteriorate over the years); I've found this shop to be very good.

The next project I worked on was a small needlepoint sampler that I don't think I've touched for nearly a year. Things have come to a pretty pass when you have to dust your sewing! I bought some lovely variegated Caron threads at the Crown Needlework shop in Hungerford, added a few plain colours and am just making it up as I go along, trying lots of different textured stitches.

I was inspired to do this after enjoying working several kits by Sue Hawkins. The scissor keeper in the picture is one of hers; I bought the scissors from her too. Sue is often to be seen at needlework shows; do try her designs, she has a great eye for colour and her kits are fun to sew.

In the evening I did some wool needlepoint. This is a kit for a purse designed by Rico which I bought several years ago from Abakhan in Liverpool. My daughter was living just down the road from the shop at the time so, every time I visited her, we would spend ages looking round the shop. Sadly, there isn't an Abakhan near here and, somehow, online shopping isn't quite so exciting.

As you can see, this is an easy design to work, much like colouring in really. I suspect that putting it together will be trickier though; I'm not looking forward to attaching that clasp.

I did think of doing some more work on the teddy bear that's been sitting in a bag in pieces for years but by the time I'd sorted through the pieces and worked out what to do next, I didn't feel like it. 

I've actually only got the arms and ears to sew before it starts looking like a bear. I sew my bears by hand, using backstitch and quilting thread for strength. Here are a few I made earlier ...

Just to show that I do actually finish things sometimes, here's the scarf that I started weaving last Sunday.

That's Mr Bennet modelling it; he's very patient when I want to take his photo. I used a ball of glittery sock yarn for the scarf; I've lost the ball band so I can't remember which one. It was really an excuse to try out my new Ashford Fringe Twister which I bought from Scottish Fibres. It makes twisting cords so much easier and also served to entertain Tolly the kitten. I tried to get photos of him 'helping' but he's nowhere near as patient as Mr Bennet.

I wonder what I can find for next week. Does anyone else have craft days like this?