Catching up

The days are getting shorter but the things to fit into those precious daylight hours seem to be multiplying. I daren't write a 'to do' list for the garden as it would be too scary. The barn needs clearing out ready for the arrival of the hay and winter feed. Things need varnishing/painting/cleaning out/re-potting for their winter break. Oh my!

Crafting is busy too with things to be finished and new things just starting.

I've finished the front of my circles of the sun cushion cover now and I really like it. I had originally planned to join the squares using the brown to define them but then I decided I didn't want that effect and so I joined them invisibly using a method akin to mattress stitch which is used sometimes to join knitting. I bought this strange shaped needle recently and it's wonderful for this sort of stitching.

You just lace them together and when you pull gently on each end of the joining yarn the stitches just disappear.

Then of course there are loads of ends to weave in!

The weather has been glorious the last few days and so Tilly and I sat outside for a spot of tea and crochet.

In this photo you can see I've outlined the squares in brown.

I looked at the instructions for the final edging and decided I wanted something different as I wanted to retain the raised outline around the outside edge which was lost in the original pattern so I played around with a few ideas until the solution presented itself.

Too much brown

Better but not quite ticking all the boxes.

Then it came to me - I wanted 2 raised brown edges like a picture frame and 2 contrast colours within. This first attempt was using DCs (SCs in US terms)

The solution was to use half trebles (half DCs in US terms). That's the one that I want, Ooo, Ooo, Ooo honey!

As the back of it will not be seen I just carried the yarns across

The front

The back - interesting shapes and patterns

Buddying up with the cushion it will be next to on the chair

With that done it was time for a final light blocking. I just gave it some steam briefly and then pinned it out to dry.

As I'd got the sewing machine out to make the cushion cover I thought I may as well tackle the tapestry I bought in a charity shop at the same time. Out came my trusty set square (a silly name when it's a triangle!) and my tailor's chalk and I marked out the lines and cut it. 

Notice that I marked it on the wrong side as tailor's chalk does not always come off easily

Don't worry, the cut edges will be contained in the seams and will be perfectly fine. Now I need to rummage through my fabrics to find something to make a border for it and then make the backing and braid.

It's times like this that the dining table is rather useful!

So that's where I'm up to with my finishing and I've just started swatching for a pair of knitted mittens for Mike plus there are some crochet ideas buzzing around in my head as well. I need a rainy day now to make me stay indoors…….

My next 2 marathons, yes I did say marathons but one is in fact an ultra marathon (ie more then 26.2 miles), are not for a couple of weeks yet so my running is just ticking over at the moment. An added bonus of the lovely weather is that Mike's been out for a couple of decent walks with me and I've got loads of photos to share from them too. 

Tomorrow we are being upgraded to faster broadband but we've been warned that we might lose our connection for a while and then it could take up to "10 days to settle down" Why? Goodness knows but I'm mentally doing the 'face palm' thing (I've picked that expression up from one of my chums from across the pond)!!!