New to Me - Lakes and Challenges

It is the 25th of the month, so time to look to see if I have tried anything New to Me this month and to invite you to celebrate the highs and lows of trying something for the first time too.

My New to Me's are pretty thin on the ground this month, although I did manage to complete all three of my challenges for Jen's 100 Day Challenge. That was definitely a New to Me experience :)


Not only did I work out the problem but also managed to correct it when the neckline of my newly serged t-shirt for the gorgeous grandson went all wavy!

Differential feed settings on the overlocker were definitely New to Me :)

I also found a New to Me supplier of great organic cotton knits for more outfits for said gorgeous grandson - Jelly Fabrics

It would take more willpower than I have to resist fabrics like these wonderful whales :)

My final New to Me, was a new destination.

We travelled to the Lake District in the NW of England to meet up with that gorgeous grandson, his parents and our youngest son and his girlfriend for a few days over Easter. We were surrounded by green fields criss-crossed with miles of drystone walls.

Lots of sheep and lambs to get the boy all excited :)

Moss covered walls had me itching to replicate them in embroidery, so lots of photographs were taken in the hope that I might actually get around to it someday :)

Of course, we could hardly visit the Lake District without visiting a lake, now could we? This is the view from the harbour at Bowness on Windermere, on the shores of Lake Windermere, the largest natural lake in England.

We took a steamer from Bowness on Windermere to Ambleside at the top of the lake, another New to Me!

So, that's all my New to Me's now it is over to you. Link up and celebrate the trials and tribulations of trying something new and, of course, encourage and support your fellow bloggers who have moved out of their comfort zones this month too. As ever the link party will remain open until 23.59 GMT on April 30th, so if you are thinking of trying something new this month but haven't yet here is the nudge that you need. Grab the link party button and take the plunge! Check out the linkers and give them some blogger support for their endeavours too.

An InLinkz Link-up

100 Day Challenge - the final!

It is the final check in for Jen's 100 Day Challenge.

So time to find out if I managed to meet any the deadline for any of my challenge projects.

My three projects for the challenge were to

1. Master the shiny new serger sitting in my sewing room
2. Try out the New to Me technique of Boutis
3. Finish the long overdue Craftsy BOM quilt top

Well, to master the shiny new serger I wanted to make an outfit for the gorgeous grandson.

 One pair of leggings, done and dusted!

T-shirt to match

and several dribble bibs! I'd say that was done wouldn't you?

Next up, having a go at Boutis

Done and dusted too!

The final challenge was a bit more daunting. When I went to work on the 20 blocks from the Craftsy BOM I discovered that there was a couple of issues with the sizes. I suspect that is a big part of the reason why these blocks have been languishing so long in the cupboard!

I decided to pull 12 blocks from the pile and work with them and here is what I now have!

One completed quilt top! As it happened I only had enough of the navy solid to sash the 12 blocks anyway so it was obviously the right decision :) My original intention with this BOM had been to give the resulting quilt to my son and daughter-in-law, and I think that I will still do that but as I have blocks left over I hope to pair it with a smaller quilt for the gorgeous grandson too!

So, three challenges set and three completed!! That's a first.

Thanks Jen for setting the challenge again, I have really enjoyed working on these three very different projects, it was certainly the nudge that I needed :)

Waves

The second of my 100 Day Challenge projects is to make a complete outfit for the gorgeous grandson with my serger.

Having already made these leggings, next on the list was a t-shirt to match.

And here it is! I thought that a long-sleeved t-shirt might be too warm for the boy in the summer when this will hopefully fit him, so went for the short-sleeved option. I was a bit disappointed with how wavy the neckline was, so checked out my trusty Craftsy Serger Class and discovered that it was down to an incorrect setting of the differential feed (????). One simple adjustment later and the sides of the t-shirt were stitched without a wave in sight :)

Clearly practice is needed, and for practice I need fabric, so these lovely organic knits from Jelly Fabrics might just have turned up on my doorstep recently! Who could resist those whales and deer??