The Anonymous Blueberry Muffin Thief Sews...

Let's try and keep the momentum going, right? I'm messing around with machine photos for work, so I might as well write a blog post. This pretty much brings me up to speed with the backlog. I've got one cushion cover left from the FAL Q4 list that I haven't blogged, but I'm currently working on stock and some projects that still have a long way to go, so there might be a bit of a lull. This is the Familiar Shawl , the last of the six patterns from The Shawl Society II this year. And I've got to say, I think it might be my favourite. Although that might just be because it took me about a week to knit, and I've been wearing it ever since.

Another quick and dirty finish resulting in a quick and dirty post! This is my HST cushion cover, that was made from the offcuts of the hearts I made for the Quilts for Pulse drive last year.

The problem with blogging is having to write the blog posts. I never know what to write; I'm not witty enough to write long, rambling descriptions of my life (and my life isn't that interesting to be honest) Anyway, another quick post just to say I finished something. This is the other part of the mugs and monsters swap... A cute little bat embroidery hoop. I hate embroidery. I never know why I do it. It's slow, and it's fiddly and while the results usually look pretty good, I really don't have the patience for it. This took me weeks, and it still didn't come out how I'd planned, because I decided to leave it as line art rather than shade it (a. for time and b. because I love the fabric) The bat pattern is from Urban Threads , which is a dangerous website for someone who likes cute things, but hates embroidery. I own many patterns that I'm probably never going to stitch up. I'm just like that. The fabric is Cotton and Steel "Boo&

Really quick and dirty project here... A halloween themed mug for the Mugs and Monsters swap on Instagram. I know this has been delivered, but I've not seen if my partner has actually opened the parcel. Oh well. Large black mug from the local cookware shop, ceramic paint and a toothbrush (and a normal paint brush to do the text) I love doing silhouette mugs like this, I think they look really cool. I did a Deep Space 9 one a few years ago, and that looked awesome. Cut the pattern from paper, stick it to the mug using cheap and cheerful kiddie glue that doesn't actually stick very well. I mixed up some orange and some pale green paint, and used the toothbrush to splatter it on the mug. Wait for the paint to dry and peel off the template. Voila, a witch flying across the sky! I free-handed the text because I couldn't make a stencil small enough.  Bake it in the oven for half an hour to set the paint, and there you have it!

I've got a bunch of short posts of stuff wot I 'ave finished recently to post, that have been sat with the photos prepped and nothing else for a while. First off, is the Wishmaker Shawl , pattern number 5 from the Shawl Society season 2. This is the second of the shawls from this set that I've finished, and while I do like the pattern, I ruined it with poor yarn choices.

Beth's first ever custom order! A guy at work plays Pokemon, and wanted a dice bag... voila... pokemon themed dicebag in two evenings!

I had one whole finish in Quarter 3. It turns out walking 5 miles every day for 3 months (and extra on weekends) really takes a lot of time and energy. I made progress on things, but I also had a couple of swaps on the go, and ended up working on random bits and pieces. I also opened up BlueberryBits on etsy, which desperately needs more stock! I might add photos later, but I'm busy as fuck at the moment with work, so err, it's just a list... 1. Star Wars zip up tray pouch - oh my god I will do this! I swear! I mean I'll probably sell it, but I swear I will! 2. Teal ponte cardigan - it's been moved downstairs so I can actually cut it out. 3. Makers Tote - this is going to be an xmas gift so I REALLY need to get on with it! 4. Pink sparrow Heidi clutch - this is going on etsy, I just need to finish the bloody thing! 5. Hitchhiker take 2 - this is nearly done. It's just been shoved somewhere. 6. Unicorn embroidery pouch - this is pissing me off as the design

I've not had the photos for this sitting on my computer for about a month, honest. I really hate writing blog posts sometimes, but I've got nothing better to do at work today. These are the finished bits I made for my #seamonsterswap partner over on instagram. And a needle cosy I made because I had some scraps. After this there'll be a vague "this is how I made it" post that isn't really a tutorial, but some pictures and some swearing. Also apparently I didn't take a photo of the back of the miniquilt when it was finished. It wasn't very interesting so you're not really missing out much there. Portholes, tentacles and seahorses were the aims here, which I think this hits. Nothing massively "sea monster" but definitely deep sea and a bit weird. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do, and then had to work out if I had the skills to match! Thankfully, the issue of Quilt Now that came out around the time I was pl

These were originally on the FAL Q2 list, but unfortunately got done in that weird period between linking up my finishes and linking up the new quarter, so they didn't count for Q2 and they're not on the Q3 list. Hey ho. I don't appear to have photos of all of them either, which is a wee bit irksome. There's another fox with a darker blue background, and a Starfleet symbol on blue. The pi and the fox patterns are by Stars and Sunshine  and are both free patterns on her craftsy store. I love foxes, and I'm a math nerd, so of course I'm going to use them. I might put these up for sale, I'm not sure. They're quilted and stuffed with polyfil, which I'm not too fond of for pincushions, but is at least light, and easy to get hold of. They're a fun way to use up odd blocks I make here and there, so I suspect there will be more of them in the future.

Hi, my name's Beth and I have a very slightly ridiculous crush on Adam Driver. That's mostly irrelevant, because despite this yarn being called 'kylo ren' it is about as kylo ren-ish as a pumpkin. Mostly, it's pink. I mean it's black and pink, but that is very definitely pink, and not red. Who cares? Not me. Black and pink is an excellent combo, and it means when I turn up to the next fandom meet up I bother to show my face at, I'll have a silly hat.

Quarter 2 turned into a bit of a fail. I made progress on stuff, but I got caught up in new projects that weren't on the list, and let things slip. I also let my sewing room fall into a hideous state of chaos that I'm now (with the help of finally having more storage space) trying to fix. The sewing machine is away until there is permanent floor and surface space. I'm going to add photos later, because everything is in boxes, and I'm writing this at work while I try to convince my body to stop trying to kill me.

This err, wasn't on the Finish Along list. Actually, a lot of what I'm working on at the moment wasn't. Oops?

This is one of those projects that I don't have a huge amount to say about, because it was a pretty simple make, but it was one of those ones where I had zero enthusiasm to actually work on it, probably because it was simple. This was made for my swap partner's son, and I was told he liked Chewbacca, the Light Side and Stormtroopers. All the patterns she posted in her mosaic were from Quiet Play , and she didn't give a lot of info about fabric or anything else really, so I was working pretty blind. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out though, and it seemed to be fairly well received, which is always nice to know. (here modeled by R, who made the fatal mistake of being at my house when I needed to take some photos)

In my vague attempt to keep up with this whole blogging thing, and because I'm currently bored at work, here's a blog post. My Star Wars maythe4thsquiltswap package went off to it's new home on Saturday, although thanks to traffic and the bank holiday, it's not going to get there until tomorrow. I'm pleased with it, and when my partner has received it, I'll post it up here. In the mean time, this is my first attempt at the Zip Up Tray Pouch by Aneela Hoey. It's a great, clever pattern, and I think it would be perfect for tabletop gaming, as well as the obvious craft uses. It would be even better if I could read instructions properly.

There is no nudity in this post! Just sea slug awesomeness :D My first finish for the second quarter of the 2017 Finish-A-Long is my Nudibranch March Mini Madness shawl. Found here on Ravelry , this was an excellently quick and brainless knit, which I've managed to make obscenely colourful thanks to Mothy and the Squid's excellent nudibranch colourways. I'm trying to make an effort to have a bit more colour in my outfits, and this will brighten up anything I wear! It has a slight curvature where I bodged the tension adding the second mini skein of yarn, which I also added too early, but otherwise, a pleasing, lazy knit for lunchbreaks and evenings watching TV. I've been knitting a lot more recently; my sewing room is a mess and getting home in the evenings I just want to flake in front of trashy tv and not think too hard, rather than work around the piles of stuff lying around upstairs. I've spent a chunk of this bank holiday weekend trying to tidy up,

Life, being what it is, I never signed up for Quarter 1. I didn't have a huge number of projects on the go, and I was not in a great place. But things are looking up now. And up, and up, if you're looking at the stack of unfinished projects, so without further ago, I present the list of stuff I would like to finish this quarter...

I'm lazy. I just started writing a blog post and then realised that I'm going to have to check a couple of books for references. And work out how to reference IG posts without insulting people. And then realise that I don't think anyone actually cares about my opinions on the gender constructs in quilting... I'm sewing for gifts and swaps at the moment. And knitting a hat on my lunches. Wordy post to come when I can find the book I need.

I really don't know. As you will have realised, I'm shite at this. I only really blog at work, because that's the only time I'm usually at a computer and not being distracted by other stuff, and it can be a pain because it makes photo uploading difficult and I lose my train of thought halfway through a post when I have to go and deal with something. But, sometimes it's useful to have a place to vent. Or scream about Y-seams *shudder* or why I was consistently using the wrong type of interfacing for about 18 months (just... don't) I'm starting this year with no money, a massive list of stuff that needs doing to the house, and a lot of makes I want to make. And a job that is making me progressively more and more miserable as the weeks go on. I'm currently trying to avoid having to make curtains, but I have a massive window/door thing going on in my living room that makes it absolutely freezing. Dad and R have both said they might have stuff I can use