Chookshed Challenge 2025

 I am so pleased that I joined in with the challenge this year as I have some great finishes that may still have been languishing in a drawer or cupboard! Many thanks to Deana for organising the challenge this year and I am looking forward to joining in again next year.

So here are my finishes for 2025.

And well the first one, January, was not a finish but good progress was made and I now have more blue fabric to continue putting together these yellow flowers next year.

February's challenge was to make a bag using my selvedge stash and this has been so useful for transporting quilts to my patchwork group sessions.

I had a few kits tucked away in a drawer and this was one I made up in March. A very simple lavender bag that I picked up in a charity shop.

In April I worked on another kit - Sue Hawkins this time and if you know me you know I love Sue Hawkins! This time a scissor point cover and matching needle magnet.

In May my challenge was to turn an orphan quilted applique block into a cushion. Another straight forward task which I could should have done years ago.

June and I was putting these Japanese folded squares together - another task that should have been done years ago.

In July I put together all my Stich Journal pages that I had worked on in 2024. I knew I wanted a zigzag book and I am pleased with how this turned out.

August was a project I had been looking forward to - making a cover for a little sketchbook I made many years ago.

September was another kit that had been lurking for a few years. Glad this one is finished but I can't say that I am overly enamoured with it!

Finally in October I worked on another Sue Hawkins kit which I picked up at Festival of Quilts. I had put a covered needle magnet on my original list so added to it this little thread cutter pocket.

Lovely to look back at 10 months of completed projects - next year I WILL remember to put the photographs of each months work into a separate folder as we go through the year!

October Chookshed Challenge - a finish!

 Yes, finished already, although I loved doing this so much it was hard to put down. So here it is - my Sue Hawkins Fritillary thread cutter pocket and matching magnets.

As anticipated there was plenty of thread left over from the cutter pocket for me to be able to make the magnet covers using the same design. Very very happy with these, the colours are so pretty - I may NEED to see what other kits are available in this range!

This is the last challenge of the year - many thanks to Deana for organising us and I am hoping we are going again next year because I have already started my list!

In other news. I emptied the last two dye jars that were lurking in the greenhouse and I am very pleased with the results of these.

Earlier I had used some dead hollyhock petals which I had picked up from the ground. Some were still soft, some dry but they all had a sort of pod attached to the base of them. Although the dye looked inky black the result was this green.

So I tried again using more petals but cutting away the pod. And this lovely blue is what I got.

In the other jar I had put the dead flowers from a deep purple buddleia and I got this lovely greeny brown.

I now have a bag full of threads and scraps which I am looking forward to using next year. 

Meanwhile, this years Stitch Journal continues on it's way - this week I have been playing with chain stitch variations.

My crochet is coming along nicely now - hopefully a picture of progress next week. I also have another challenge to work on and more about that too next time.

Have a lovely week.

Chookshed Challenge - the last for 2025

 And it is #1 and one I have been really looking forward to! On my list it was a needle magnet covered in canvas work embroidery. Having bought a lovely Sue Hawkins kit at Festival of Quilts I added that to my #1 and am planning to use the leftover threads - there are usually plenty - to make my magnet cover to match the kit.

This is the kit, a cover for a thread cutter.

Of course I was itching to start and so I did at the weekend. Here is my progress so far.

And I love it. For once these colours are pretty true to life, and just gorgeous. So some happy stitching ahead.

I case you missed it my post for the September challenge and finish is here.

Thank you Deana.

I will be back later in the week, in the meantime happy stitching. 

FNWFs September

 Many thanks once again to Cheryll for getting us together. Pop over here to see who else joined in.

A dry day after a week of showery weather - and much needed rain - so a day out was called for. We headed to Dunster Castle, one of our favourite places for a walk and some lunch. Although overcast it was a lovely warm day, perfect for walking and with an incredibly clear view across the channel to Wales. Sorry no pics. But some of the gardens. We took the riverside walk along to the water mill. Apart from hydrangeas there was very little in the way of flowers and the river was low but the bridges always fascinate me.

A walk through the water mill takes you out of the main castle grounds and to the Watermill Tea Rooms

where we spent a very pleasant hour in the garden eating lunch and listening to the birds and the running water.

Next we walked around the main road to another castle entrance and called into the Dream Garden which is always quiet and peaceful. This garden was very colourful as the borders were full of dahlia's and it was lovely to have a wander and a sit in the sunshine.

OK, so what did I sew? Well of course I worked on my stitch journal

Friday's contribution was the pink flowers in the pot/basket.

This week I have been concentrating on my Chookshed Challenge which is progressing nice and quickly. The stitching is all complete and on Friday I concentrated on cutting out the leaves. These are backed with something called Steam a Seam which I have not come across before and evidently just need to be ironed into place - no sewing necessary!

I think I will get them positioned and ironed down this afternoon. Then I just need to get the sewing machine out - again! - to get the backing and top and bottom borders in place. Should be a quick finish.

Also this week I finished off the first of my scrappy DK socks and am very happy with the result.

The second one is under way and with an evening of cricket ahead I should make good progress.

Have a good week every one. xx

Chookshed Challenge

 My August challenge #9 is now complete and I am very happy with how it has turned out. My little sketchbook now feels much more booklike and is lovely to hold. Here are the pictures.

Here is the link to how I made the little book back in 2017 and I am now going to make an effort to finish working into the unfinished pages. Very happy to have this finally done.

September's challenge is #3 and that is this sashiko project. I am not sure why I bought this kit, other than that it was on sale, and have been putting off making it up for a while. But I am going to get it done now and maybe it will come in handy as a Christmas present!

Good luck everyone with your #3's.

Thank you to Deana for organising our challenge - you can see what others are working on here.

My Fortnight!

 Having been struck down by some lurgy (popular opinion says covid) some 10 days or so ago, I have been having a quiet time here with lots of reading while I nurse a horrible cough. Feeling a bit more myself this week and am back to light duties interspersed with a bit of knitting and sewing. So what have I been up to. Well I managed to continue with my stitch journal all bar one day - marked with a cross! I had one of my Hundertwasser moments and traced out the main shapes of one of his paintings and have been filling the sections in with stitch.

For my Chookshed Challenge book cover, I had laid out a selection of my turquoise fabrics onto a backing and had them all stitched down ready to move onto the embellishment before I was ill.

I had a plan for adding a flower motif to the front panel and thought that I would paint the basic shape with gold paint and then embroider into it. 

Then I thought that the background stitching might not like that so I thought - gold fabric and bondaweb. When I felt well enough to go rummaging I couldn't find the right gold fabric - too bright or too dull and couldn't find the bondaweb. So I ordered bondaweb while I had a think. I am now moving back to my original gold paint idea - oh well, watch this space as they say.

I opened up two solar dye jars this week. This first one was black bean soaking water, slightly weaker than my previous experiment. The fabrics were just squashed in, in the hope of some nice random markings which is what I got.

We have a lovely 'black' hollyhock in the garden which is actually a really really deep red. There are masses of dry and semi dry flowers on the ground underneath and I wondered if they would make a good dye. Well the liquid was a beautiful deep ruby red but as you can see, my fabrics and threads are not!

Much like the red onion skins which also gave a lovely green.

I have been knitting and the Ryegrass socks have reached the heel turn and I am decreasing for the gusset.

I have lots of sock wool oddments and am always looking for ways to use them. I thought that I would have a go at working with a ball of plain 4ply yarn and some of my scraps to make a thicker boot sock to use with my walking shoes.

I am using the Winwick Mum DK basic sock pattern and am happy with how this is knitting up so far. I love how the addition of the plain colour subtly alters the colours of the scraps.

Right, I am off to sit in the garden with a glass of something nice - enjoy your weekend.