Flosstube #6 is up. The format that I've stumbled upon that seems to work for me is blathering on for half an hour (or less) about what I've been making and other random crafty ramblings.  I aim for 20 minutes....then squirrel. lol

Bailey makes a cameo appearance.   He's rocking the Covid haircut.  I'm part way through cutting his hair, so there's parts of him trimmed and other parts not.  I'm getting better, though.  He's not bald this time.  That's a good thing, as it's starting to get chilly.

This sock was started in September last year and the pic shows where I was at on Saturday.  It's 80% wool, 10% cashmere and 10% whatever they put in to strengthen the yarn.  The colorway is Marilyn's Lips (shades of dark pink, not red like it looks in the pic).  Its Djinni by Dragonfly Fibers. 

It's going to be put to one side for a bit, as I'm not sure if I have enough yarn for the blue jumper.  I'm about 1/4 of the way through the first sleeve, so I need to get a wriggle on and get that finished.  Once it's done, I can weigh it and work out if I need to get more yarn.  If needed, I'll knit the yoke in a contrasting color.  If all goes well, it will be finished by the end of November.  Then back to the socks, two pairs of fingerless mitts and a hat.  That should keep me going until the end of the year.

I've been picking this up when I have a spare five minutes here and there, so it doesn't get neglected and I'd like to have it finished for THIS Christmas!

 

Do you remember when cram jar dying fabric was all the rage?  It's still my favorite way of dyeing when I want mottled fabric for quilting or cross stitch.  The dyes I used for this piece are indigo blue and dark grey.  I like it!  It just needs a little bath in a weak solution of grey dye, as the blues are a bit too bright.

Crescent Angel by The Primitive Needle has been a languishing FO since May, so it's time to get it finished.  It will live it's best life as a little wall hanging. There's no turning back now it's been cut out.   It'll be needle turn appliqued and echo quilted onto a piece of the dyed fabric.  I played about finding the perfect spot for it and snipped the edges of the fabric so I won't forget where to cut.  Found that one out from experience many years ago.  

Made a couple of pouches for cheater glasses from a couple of orphan blocks (Simple Pleasures by The Bird House) and a stash scrap of hand dyed fabric.  So, that's two more for the FFO pile.

I couldn't sleep last night, so the only sensible thing to do was more finishing.  The printer decided it was going to save on ink and print blank pages, which meant the stocking pattern for Stocking Of Love by La-D-Da (with a curly toe and wild curves) was changed for one I drew that didn't look like a left handed two year old had drawn it.  It's stitched on 32 count linen in DMC.  I can't remember the number.  It's 4 1/2 inches long.  The toe and back are in a dark green Civil War reproduction print.

The heel fo Winter Song by Blackbird Designs looked like a moon boot, so that had some surgery.  The stuffing opening is at the top....oops!  In a middle of the night "this is a good idea" mode ( it really wasn't) I decided to glue and hold the opening closed with a peg instead of sewing it with about four ladder stitches because middle of the night me decided that would take too long to do.  There's a peg mark at the top where the glue dried.  I'm calling it a design element.  lol  it's 1 3/4 inches on a scrap of coffee dyed 25 count evenweave.

I'm pretty sure all this happened because BEB was ignoring the buttons on Miss Mary Mack. I don't like sewing buttons on anything at the best of times and despise sewing those with shanks.  I need to put on my Big Girl Crafty Pants on, suck it up and get them sewn on!  lol

This is what the dining room table looked like about 2am.  lol  

This pattern has been pulled out, since I'm in a mood for winter crafting.  A set of penguin shelf sitters will be cute.  I don't particularly care for the hats and since I have no felt to make them with anyway, they'll be left off.

Now all the languishing FOs are finished, it's back to the string quilt.  Every April/May and September/October, I go through and reorganize the stash.  That's how all the strips ended up in the quilt fabric stash.  I may have been trying to hide them.  lol.  Part of that is trimming yardage that has chunks cut out of it.  Any trimmings will be feeding either the string quilt or the hexi/yoyo stash.  Same with anything that is smaller than a fat quarter.  Petting and refolding fabric is always fun, which is why it happens twice a year instead of once a decade.  Haha!

P.S.  Every single one of these projects was a squirrel.  It's what happens when I make a plan.  It was a BIG, fun plan to get 70 string blocks finished over two weeks.  Well, you see the results of my planning.....which is why I work on whatever I like, whenever I like.  lol. It was fun to have new starts and finishes.  Now, it's on to........

 

The string blocks are slowly growing....very slowly.  There's seven that have the two middle strips sewn and another nineteen pinned and ready to sew.  

All the pumpkins.  Some still need stalks.  It's windy today, so I'm sure there will be the perfect sticks lying on the ground in the next couple of days.

Played about in the dye pot.  I'd run out of ice blue dye powder, so messed about with a very weak solution of indigo instead.  They all spent different amounts of time in the pot.  The fabric is DMC 14 count aida.  The floss is a bonus and I'm really pleased with the color.

Got all geared up to get these finished....

.....then kitted up this one.....

.....and started it on a piece of the dyed fabric

Then made more grand plans to finish the projects up and started this instead.

Then started and finished stitching this ornament on a scrap of 16 count aida.  Which added another one to the finishing pile.  It needs buttons in the circles and will sit on the top of a round paper mache pot.

Then I squirreled again and Miss Mary Mack got some finishing love.  She is going to live her best life as a mini wall hanging.  There will be buttons on all four sides.  I was overenthusiastic about it and added the hanging sleeve before the buttons.  Fortunately, I noticed when I started the first one.  These have shanks, which is not my favorite kind of button to sew, but they look fab already.

Made this one into a needle case for darning needles.  Not that I plan on darning anything.  Darning needles are perfect for hand basting mini quilts. 

 

I couldn't sew a straight line to save myself today.  Care factor zero....it's done!  

  

 

While filing patterns the other day, a squirrel insisted I sew these.

The bunyip teapot approved.

Finished another of Melissa's cute designs.  Its Tommy Toe Snatcher.  Pinker 'n' Punkin Quilting is her blog and it's in my blogroll.

Grey and I made a set of skewers.

This is some of the details.  My job as Torch Lady (BEB has decided she is only going to answer to Torch Queen from now on) is to heat the metal where Grey twists it.  It's the final step before cleaning and seasoning.

I'm getting more confident using the torch.  It's heavy and cumbersome, as there's hoses attached to an oxygen tank and also an acetelyn tank.  This was the first time I didn't have the torch in a death grip which leaves dents in my hands.  lol. I'm pleased that I'm making progress.

A tin ceiling.  Can you see the orange peel quilt pattern?  Wouldn't that make a lovely quilting pattern in an orange peel quilt?