UFO's, socks and sewing.

Good afternoon, from a very sunny spring Mid Wales. I have been bustling about this week...a little pottering in the garden getting ready for sewing seeds, little bit of baking and lots of crafting.

I love making things. I like all the processes and rituals; the choosing fabrics or yarns, the planning on Pintrest (or at least that's what I call it), that first nervous cut of the fabric, the hunting for the size 3 knitting needles you know you left in a draw somewhere, actually sitting down at your sewing machine with a cup of tea, the radio on and sun shining through your slightly grubby windows that , if you weren't so busy crafting you might have got round to cleaning...or not. 

I am a bit of an eclectic crafter, I like, pretty much all textile crafts and I like to have more than a few things on the go. By a few I mean more than five, less than twenty. From the outside I know this can seem a little crazy. Friends often tease with how many unfinished projects I have scattered around, but I like to remind them they are not true UFO's (un-finished objects) but continuing works in progress. The true UFO's are stashed in a box in my sewing room. Sometime I think I can hear them crying at night.

My current projects include; my POD quilt, sock knitting, some embroidery, a crewel work panel, two blouses and a lovely linen jacket that has spent the winter on a hanger waiting for its sleeves, a bag pattern I am designing while waiting for fabric to arrive...Oh and making a dress form so I can fit the two blouses but more about that next time.  

This morning I woke up wanting to sew. Obviously this did not mean doing anything from my current project list. Sometimes I relish a bit of sewing  that I know is going to push me. I love the feel of a new  pattern when you slip it from its sleeve, all smooth and crisp. There is something to be said for sitting with a talking book on, carefully following the little dotted lines, cutting out your size-or the closest too it; don't get me started on that one ! But sometime you just want to sew, to sit straight down at your machine and make something easy and that's what I did today. 

Tina Craig over at Seaside Stitches has a great little tutorial on making fabric boxes that I have been wanting to try. This is such a lovely idea, and a great way to use up bits of fabric you have lying around in your stash. Perfect Sunday morning sewing, the tutorial is really well laid out and Tina says the project will take an hour and an hour it did...even when I spent five minutes cleaning interface glue from the bottom of my iron - yuck!

Here's what I made.

 These would make super-cute little gifts for friends, maybe filled with sweeties, or a couple of bottles of nail varnish and a few nail files.  I will definitely be making more. 

I have had a really amazing talking book on the go this week:

Karen Maitland's Company of Liars. A story of travellers and plague in 12th Century England. Wanting to sit and listen I have been working on socks and embroidery. 

The socks are a gift for my good friend, on here, Michelle. This is a return to sock knitting for me and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. Again this is another fairly quick little project that can be picked up and put down with little fuss. A few Christmases back I decided to make everyone socks...Twelve pairs in fourteen weeks pretty much put me off turning heels for a while so it is good to be back . 

Here they are ...Michelle look away now.

    I will be posting them off pretty soon xx

Oooh and here is a quick peek at the embroidery I have been working on too. I found this cushion kit in a Charity shop ( I think you call them thrift stores, Michelle? ) in Aberystwyth. Minus any wool, it is linen with the little crosses printed on..Using wool from my stash it is coming along rather nicely. I like the primitve 70,s vibe it has going on...there is another one in kit. Someone had started a few rows, in  a vile acid yellow wool then gave up, creating their own UFO that is now my work in progress.  

So, what have you been working on this week? Are you like me with lots of things on the go or do you like to work on a project until it is finished before starting something new?