Bank holiday weekend

Yay, three day weekend and next week only a three day working week. The British weather is traditionally poor on BH weekends and has outdone itself today with thunder, lightning and heavy rain. It didn't bother me much because I was at my quilting day.  This time I took a break from the Indigo Bear's Paw quilt and instead I sewed up some Christmas presents. This is a scissors holder which holds three pairs of scissors. I made a prototype to test the instructions which were from one of the sewing magazines I got at the boot sale a few weeks ago.  The test run revealed several flaws in the instructions including that the template didn't actually produce the same shape as in the photos. So I tinkered with the pattern a bit and improved it.  I'm fairly pleased with the outcome. I used sewing and knitting themed fabric to make five holders. One will be for m-i-l and four for my bobbin lace friends.

The other project I worked on was the Whirligig quilt.  I finished sewing the rows together, which is when I discovered a rogue square twisted the wrong way.  I unpicked around it and sewed it back in correctly.

I had a look through my ageing stash for a border fabric but couldn't find anything I liked for a baby quilt. However I did find a floral border print which seemed to match all the right colours so I decided to go with that.  I cut out the border stripe and sewed four sides on, but only managed to miter three corners before it was time to go home.

One of the other quilters asked what I was making and I said I wasn't sure because it didn't look like a baby quilt any more. After consideration, the group decided it's a tablecloth so I guess that's what I've made, lol.  We have a little table in our hallway that it might look nice on.  I may not use wadding in that case, just some backing to finish it.

I finished knitting the pieces for the Que Sera cardigan  this week and finished knitting the Multiway Wrap and blocked them both.  The wrap dried pretty quickly but the spongey Shilasdair cotton on the cardigan is still drying.

The wrap has buttonholes across one short edge and ten buttons sewn on the other short edge to enable various effects.  You can button it behind you or criss-cross it across your body and button it. You can also button it into a very bulky cowl.  I'm not necessarily going to wear some of these styles but at least I have the options.

At dollshouse club this week they were beginning to plan the 2017 programme and there is some talk of them coming to my house next July to see my dollshouse room and houses. It would be nice to show my collection off to interested people but on the other hand that gives me a hard deadline to finish several projects. Or at the very least to declutter the houses full of junk and kits waiting to be built so that they look better.  This week I glued on some coffee stirrers all around the shed roof ready to support the first layer of shingles. I also glued on the Plastruct right angle moulding I bought in York to conceal the tower corner kebab sticks.

I haven't finished the Victorian porch yet. I did spray the cheap wirework furniture and a matching table in a blue enamel which has made them look better, and I've made some striped cushions. I think I need some throw pillows as well.

Tomorrow (if it isn't raining) we are going to build a raised bed for our strawberry patch, so that harvesting isn't such a backbreaking job next year. I'm planning to put the raised bed in the exactly same place, which means digging up all the strawberry plants first.  We will build a basic box out of gravel boards and then fill it with more dirt from the big hole we've dug where our future patio will be. Then I'll replant the strawberries and hope for the best.