October 2026 - Craft Escape

Hello and welcome to this month's roundup.  Hope you've had a good October

I didn't do much making at home but had a whole week booked in the middle of October: I took over the studio at the village hall and invited crafters to join me.  The take-up wasn't huge - six people - but we had plenty of space, lots of encouragement, chat and coffee!I took along 3 big ikea bags of things to work on!

I did some hand quilting on the Mandelightful quilt

I moved two I-Spy quilts along so they just need trimming and binding

 

Made a big lined project bag 

basted and quilted an EPP flower garden, now it just needs binding

trimmed 70 or so log cabin blocks and decided how to arrange them

Cut a LOT of small pieces to a tilda instruction sheet some as small as 3/4" square! . . .

and made this!

I had a charity shop hoodie but with an Adidas logo so I covered the logo . . .

then bound the hood and the pouch openings to make it looked as if the added fabric belonged

I've made one bootie for gorgeous grandson, just need to try it on his foot before I make the next one

I started on a jelly roll quilt: I didn't have fabric but amazingly Lisa had some spare fabric that  worked brilliantly with the bits I had - this is half of it

I also managed to take up some dresses and make them into tunics, and lengthened a short pinafore dress

A few photos of other creations too ...

Once home again I did some embroidery for a friend,

And I may have bought some wool!  A friend and I went to a local fabric shop (Lady Sew and Sew in Henley) and I'd forgotten they sold wool too.  We have this blanket on our bed: I love it but it doesn't have the calming vibe I want

there is a Janet Claire quilt hanging on the fireplace as a head board, and I *love* the colours so this was my inspiration.  I had the matching wools in an online wool shop basket on my phone but it was great to be able to see the colours in real life 

So here is my wool selection . . .

and here is the start of my new blanket

This was the Chertsey Museum's group making applique coasters  (thanks for the idea Plum)

September 2026

Hi, welcome to my corner of blogland.

Gingers have been acting as #Craftivism ambassadors: reminding people about Talk like a pirate day, sewing month, prostate cancer awareness month and honey month amongst others

September was a hand sewing month for me - due to nearly half the month we were in Norway.  This was our home for some of that time.

Fabulous to be able to sit and admire the view and sew!

Even an on-board iron so I could press seams!

Luckily I brought another project too!

And some embroidery too, since made into zippy pouches for friends' birthdays

I loved this reflection of the shop in an office window

We saw SO many small red boathouses, this was my favourite

There were amazing waterfalls too

Soon after we returned it was my birthday.  I got this lovely sashiko set from Plum

And this beautiful elegant pot for lavender from Lisa and Jim

And now apparently it's October already - although the weather is still perfect!

August 2026

 At last the crazy heat seems to be behind us, and now we head into September

But first here is photo furtle evidence of my August

Jackie and I had a lovely weekend making Liberty twisted zippy pouches 

I did some more Kitchen Sink blocks

I made a Hoose Wif (well that's how its pronounced) based on a soldiers WW1 sewing kit

And replanted one of my Sallix plants in a lovely (but huge) pot from Niki

Chertsey ladies made chickens

and my sewing machine  graunched to a stop so had a major overhaul

yuck!

We had a weekend in Tavistock and did lots of walking

and I spent the car time starting this i-Spy quilt

Gorgeous grandson in now 9 months old, and is more fun every day

Our monthly craft group, previously known as Crafty Church hasn't been based in the church since before COVID so we though it might be time for a more appropriate name: Ladies and Gentlemen may I introduce you to Mingle and Make

A photo of a baby who received his i-Spy quilt a few months ago . . .

and another of two quilts being delivered this afternoon

And that's a wrap!