Saturday, February 19, 2011

Friday Night Sew In

Last night was FNSI  for February.  Hosted by Bobbi at Crafty Vegas Mom this is a fun monthly sewalong because it means I can legitimately tell my family to leave me alone for the night. I had big plans to sew the long languishing snowball quilt top. I even laid it all out on my bed yesterday afternoon so I didn't waste time on block placement when I could have been sewing.  If you're visiting from FNSI - welcome. My FNSI attempts are always full of drama.

The night did not start well. My planned 7 pm start was pushed back to 7.50pm. This would be because everyone else's arms at the Castle Pyjamas (Since I am now a Queen we live in a castle ) appear to be broken and they can't chuck meatballs in a frypan. Perhaps I should have written instructions as I was prepping the entire dinner earlier in the day to make it easier for them.

Miss P was here for the afternoon yesterday (after our uber fabulous op shopping afternoon ) which naturally stretched into dinner. At about the same time I was about to finally settle for FNSI she announced she wanted to alter the hem , neckline and ruffle on a dress. Heads up here : Miss P does not sew. That means she wanted me to alter the hem , neckline and ruffle on a dress.


Further information I'm chucking in for free - I don't sew or alter clothes. I can - I just choose not to. I didn't even bother to break this unfortunate piece of news to Miss P gently. Instead I sat with her working on binding my Lounging Around quilt while Miss P attempted to hem something for the first time in her life while I gave her verbal instructions on how to do it. I have to say she did a pretty decent job but balked at changing the neckline of the dress and making a new ruffle. She decided pretty quickly as I explained what she needed to do that the dress didn't need further embellishment.

So my achievements for last night included : Finishing the binding on Lounging Around and then scorching the label beyond redemption (fortunately before I put it on ). I've just made another one and will sew that on without the aid of heat bond when it dries.  


I started to sew the snowball rows together and decided after 28 blocks of 168 that I wasn't feeling the love and neither was my machine.  I moved on because I'm a mature adult (plus I had run out of swear words to say )


I switched to sewing the blocks together in rows for Little P's Alphabet Quilt and I got them all done. 


Emboldened by my apparent success  I  decided to give hand sewing a crack. After agonising over font and colours and unpicking some false starts  I finished this...


For my first ever hand stitching attempt I'm pretty happy with it .  And yes that's  Little P's real name for the first time ever on my blog. 

So all in all, it was a productive night even if I didn't get my snowballs finished. And perhaps today the snowballs and I will reach an understanding about who is the boss ....

Hope your Friday night was craftilicious and you didn't have any snowball-esque moments!

Check out what other crafty FNSI- ers have been up to here .

P.S. There is weirdness going on with my font today. Spooky! 

21 comments:

melissa said...

Oooh yeah i hate altering clothes and usually refuse too! Little P's quilt is coming along beautifully and im sure you were telling me just the other day you could not embroider because you had neither skill or patience for it!? Well look at that it seems you DO and you HAVE, AND it looks FANTASTIC!

Paulette said...

I think Little P's quilt is going to be one of my favorite ones you've done yet, with Lounging Around a close second. That is, until your next new quilt comes along.

Kate said...

Congratulations on a productive FNSI. Wonderful projects all of them!

Sandra :) said...

Heehee your posts always make me laugh! My family has contracted broken arm syndrome a few times as well - I generally find that getting "this would be a good time to go shopping with friends"-itis is an effective remedy to that malady ;)

Your sewing and embroidery projects are lovely - I need to tackle learning embroidery as well - I don't know why it scares me, but it does!

My FNSI was quite productive (although not as eventful as yours!) - I'm looking forward to the next one, and to seeing what other people have completed!

thea said...

Sorry, the night didn't go as planned, it looks like you did fairly well. Great idea for the clothing altering -- I always get that (Mom, fix my boots, my shirt, etc.). I even bought #1 daughter a sewing machine ... which is fortunate because I use it as my back up now.

Looks like you made good progress on the snowball quilt and Little P's is looking great.

thea said...

and the embroidery looks great!

Shruti said...

That embroidery is NEAT! Wow... At least you got to sew! DH had to go out yesterday and DS was in no mood to let me sew... So all I could do was finish my sponsored quilt... I'll be photographing it later today so that I can post pics on my blog at the end of next week! I'm going to do a FNSI next week instead!

Mistea said...

so glad there was some success at the quilting castle. Snowballs will learn their place!
Lovely work on Little P's quilt, nice personalisation with the handstitched name.

Lorraine said...

Hey Your Majesty....you still got a fair bit done even though you didn't start 'til late. I have been hand stitching a pressie for someone every night this week.....while you were busy becoming the queen of quilting - finished it off today so that's one finish for this week! go me!
have a great weekend....L

Donnie said...

I don't quilt...yet...but sure do get a lot of inspiration from your blog. Warts and all I still might start when we get back up north in April. I love what you showed us so far.

Anonymous said...

I love Little P's quilt. I can't wait to see the finished product!

AnnieO said...

I don't like to alter clothes either. I used to do it for co-workers but they were awfully cheap about paying me--I had a $5 minimum for ANYTHING they wanted me to do. However, DD's fiance does get altering done for free...

You're doing so great on your projects! I've had a stagnant sewing week so am jealous. Really must follow your lead and just sew whether I am tired or not.

Hi Ethan! Love your name, Little P!

A Plain Path said...

Handstitching is still something I need a good bit of work on. Great first job for you! I think it's lovely.

Char said...

I know what you mean about altering clothing. I'm short I did it all my life until I was pregnant with my daughter and bought a petite maternity dress and said never again!

Great job on the hand stitching on Little P's quilt.

I'm embarrassed to say I only have 10 Snowball blocks made. I'm such a slacker!

Impera Magna said...

Funny how people "decide" that something really doesn't need altering when they don't have free labor... *lol*

I love the embroidered name block... gorgeous... and so very special!

Leanne said...

Full marks on the hand sewing every quilt should have a hand sewn label. I have a family of dwarfs so I am constantly altering clothes I HATE it. I must buy a panel of the alphabet from the shop. Every time I see it I love it.

Marg said...

Love the embroidery, that is such a great idea, and it looks fabulous. His quilt is going to look awesome.
I hate doing clothing alterations.
I hope you are going to show the label on the quilt when it's finished.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that doesn't feel the love of snowballs.

Angie said...

Fantastic! Great handwork and I too can't stand to do snowballs for any long period of time, so tell them who's boss!

Angie said...

Very productive FNSI. Cute alphabet quilt and snowballs.

The 4 Bushel Farmgal said...

For a rough start, you sure did get a LOT accomplished on FNSI! I love your alphabet quilt. It will be a treasured :)

Jody Herbert said...

Wow - what a successful FNSI! See you at the next one!