A Furtle Through June and a New Chum

My crafting usually grinds to a bit of a halt during the summer months but furtling back through June has left me a tiny bit impressed at what I've achieved! However,  the most exciting thing that happened last month was the arrival of a new chum.

Meet mini Kippa, beautifully crafted by the amazing Betti Kogler of @bettis_stitches. I've always admired mini Archie and @budsmam's mini mini Bud, and decided join the club by asking for a replica of a past beloved collie of my own. But who? You may have noticed that I am just a tiny bit obsessed/addicted to mountains and so decided that our new companion should be Kippa, the nemesis of an awesome collie I used to belong to called Cally.  I honestly can't remember why or how we started to call Cally by the name of Kippa but it stuck! Cal was a constant companion on expeditions, although she was so clumsy, reckless and gung ho, and we got into so many scrapes together over the years. Mini Kippa arrived fully clothed with a rucksack, picnic blanket and climbing rope, and has already been adventuring with Boo and I. In fact, she has caused quite a stir on the summit of a couple of peaks so far with plenty more to come!

It was a huge relief to finally  post off  The Coo, and even more of a relief that my friend fell in love with it immediately! I was actually pleased with how it turned out, my main worry being over the shade of the mustard binding. Who knew there were so many shades of mustard! But apparently it was perfect so deep 'phews' all round.

Because of the size of the piece (36×36 inches) , I decided to use a heavier polar fleece instead of batting and stiff calico for the back as I though the extra weight would help it to hang nicely. I hand stamped the calico  as it was so boring, making me very grateful for the India Rubber Stamping workshop we'd had at our Edinburgh MQG a while ago.  My maxim now is ... 'if it stands still, stamp it!'

With the dispatch of the Highlander, I can at last get started on quilting my owl! I'm picking out the owl himself in straight sections which is giving me time to plan how to quilt the sky - oh, and the half mouse.  So far so good though.

And lastly, garment sewing! After proving that I could make something wearable from the 100 Acts of Sewing Shirt No 1 pattern,  I  launched into a second top. This time in lightweight poplin, I took the very roomy pattern down a size and increased the length and sleeves (get me!). As I  am now playing second fiddle to a Bike, I found some fab fabric with bikes all over it so at least I can think of my husband on the many occasions he abandons me for the open road!

I was a bit concerned about the drape of poplin but this has worked out well and is a lovely cool wear.

Buoyed up by success I then dug out an old New Look pattern I knew I had somewhere and launched into a bit of a swing skirt for summer. I had just 2 attempts at the back zip before I was reasonably happy and the rest came together quite easily. OK, I can't say that it only took me an hour to make, as promised on the envelope but it didn't eat into my time too much.

100 Acts of Sewing July 2019 has just been launched so I thought I'd pitch in with that since I'm on a roll at the moment . I'm planning another top, maybe a skirt and definitely a Dress No 3 which will no doubt stretch me a somewhat, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Watch this space!

And that's it on the creative side I think. Thanks to Tara Boss Horse staying in good health we were able to enjoy a week out in the Atlantic on the beautiful islands of Coll and Tiree, our first visit to them. I've always wanted to go to Coll and Tiree but as the holiday got closer I had lots of doubts as both are so FLAT! Perfect for cycling (and David cycled every single inch of public road on Coll and almost the same on Tiree) but I was worried about being bored. What a pointless worry too! Boo, mini Kippa and I  visited every trig point on the two islands and explored silver beaches for hours. If a beach had more than 4 people on it, including us, it was deemed "crowded". *deep sigh*

Oh, and the sunsets.....  *even deeper sigh*

We've also introduced mini Kippa to Hill of the Week and despite the heat this past weekend, we had a good day on 4 Cumbrian Peaks. We're aiming to climb all 214 of the so-called Wainwright Mountains and are now on 43. I was actually somewhere up around 185 but I SO WANT to do them all with Boo, I dropped myself down to zero! Crazy woman! Have you noticed this obsession..... ??!!

The ponies are all in fine fettle and Murphy is actually looking fairly toned and trim for a chunky monkey.  I feel I now know Murph well enough to trust him if he wants to gallop flat out so we've been having fun with that. Murph is a very strong lad and until I trusted him, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stop him if he tanked off with me and I used to get fed up playing that game with Tara Boss Horse! Then I figured that if Murph did do anything naughty, I'd just have to sit there until he ran out of steam - and he's such a chunk, it wouldn't take too long!! Yeeeeehi! Go, Murph!!!

Ps. Murphy turned into a teenager in June. The party was W I L D.....

Have a great July and thank you so much for reading my ramblings.

Sue (and Boo, of course)

@sue_and_boo