Espritpatch

 Finished! This one has been such a long coming... I saw this picture on IG during the summer of 2017 (!) and duly bought fabric and pattern to make the same. Well said fabric and pattern was stashed away until last summer, when I finally got it out and cut the skirt. Before stashing it away again... until this month. Thankfully I had noted down the size and version I had cut last year so it wasn't too difficult to pick it up again. The skirt is not too difficult to make but it is very long and with 8 panels so it does take a little time. My fabric is quite thin so I decided to French seams between all the panels, so of course that double my sewing effort! And to finish it off, there were those 11 buttonholes that I was terrified off and the 11 buttons to sew on of course. All in all, I think I didn't do too bad!  I like the look of it, perfect colour for Autumn I guess and it is so long that I can wear thick tights or legging underneath to keep warm. I am so happy that I have...

 With just 3 white squares missing, it wasn't difficult to get the last block finished for the snowflake quilt, that was done this week (it took me longer to iron and cut the fabric than to finish the block I think.  And with the last piece of puzzle available, I have completed the quilt top All ready for quilting now, which I hope will happen this year. I ordered some baking fabric for it and it turned up this morning so all good to go... whenever I get some free time that is... Watch this space!  Linking to    Monday Design Wall ,  Monday Making ,  Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers ,  Needle and Thread Thursday Celine

And it's finished! And I love it 😍 The outside fabric is fabulous tweed that I bought from Fabworks . I joined this sew along on FB in my last free week before I started my new job to make the Persephone purse by Christine Davies . The sew along was just for a week or less with a few steps everyday. I started it towards the end of that week and make the exterior panel  as well as the interior faux leather pockets.  But when I added the rivets, I messed up and ended up with rivets that were neither aligned nor centered 😭 which of course I couldn't live with...  so the rivets came off and the flap went in the bin. At that point I paused and moved on. My motivation for the project had taken quite a knock. (And of course I had a few other projects I could work on 😂) Christine was running a competition in the FB group and deadline to post our finished purse was today, nothing better to focus the mind, right? So I picked it up again earlier this week, making the zip pockets...

The weather was OK on Sunday, i.e. it didn't rain so we took the opportunity to go on a walk in our local RSPB wood. It is only down the road but I must admit I had only been once! While we were walking, we saw lots of fungi/mushrooms including these beautiful but dangerous ones I remember seeing pictures of those on a poster my mum had from our local chemist warning that it was a dangerous species of mushroom but I had never, until now, seen one in reality. There were so many on our walks and some perfectly picturesque ones. Those cute fly amanita are nonetheless very toxic so we observed them but didn't touch them! It was all the more fitting that I finished my red mushroom for the Super Mario quilt this week. Linking to   Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers Celine

We're so close to finishing now! Only 5 more blocks to have a quilt top. The assignement for last week was just 2 blocks, which I completed but didn't post until now!  Block 16  and block 17 While I was making those 2 blocks, I thought I might as well finish all the blocks since I was so close! So off I went and  completed block 18 and block 19 I was nearly there with block 20 until I realised that I hadn't counted my squares accurately when I cut my fabric. I am missing 3 white squares but have some extra blue ones, ah well, I need to get back to my cutting mat...  Hoping that this one will be finished soon so that I can assemble the top before the end of the month.  Linking to   Monday Design Wall ,  Monday Making Celine

Finish along is on a pause at the minute but thankfully we can still Fettle Those Finishes with Archie the Wonder Dog . So instead of posting the laundry list, like I usually do with my quaterly FAL list, I have tried to really focus on what I might be able to / need to / would really like to finish or even make between now and the end of the year. Some are intended as Christmas presents so it would be very good to cross those off the list! And of course, depending on what happens at Christmas, whether we are able to cross the Channel or not, I will have more or less sewing time... Quilts: 1. Super Mario quilt  2. Threadology quilt -  needs binding 3. Baby Bear Rug - NEW (Christmas present?) 4. Snowflake Quilt-Along 5. Tinsel Tree Quilt-Along 6. Retro Tetro Quilt-Along 7. Halo quilt 8. Harry Potter quilt  Bags, accessories: 1.  Moonwake handbag 2. Persephone x 3  3.  Handy bags  4. Kuori phone pouch   5. Little Mynta wallet  6. Infinity...

The Finish-Along is paused for the moment but if it was still running, it would be time to post Q3 makes. So I thought I would reflect on what I have finished from my long list in the last quarter, which has been such a roller-coaster, what with the self-isolation "holidays", finishing my job, starting a new home etc. I am happy that I am crossing a few of these projects off the list (don't worry though, I have plenty to add for next quarter!!) Quilts: 1.  Modern HST triangles - 1 block missing to have enough for a quilt top but very little background fabric -  no progress  2. Project 48 quilt with a few Solstice challenge blocks (all blocks done, might need a few more???) -    no progress  3. Farmer's Wife (not half way yet....)  -    no progress  4.  Farmer's Wife 1930 - only 24 blocks done -   no progress  5. Gipsy Wife -   no progress  6. Enchanted Stars -   no progress  7. Underground railway - mos...