Check-In Post February 1st 2021

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


Today's Question: It's February, so do you have any Valentine craft plans?


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Comments

[badly_knitted]

Only managed a meagre 8 rows on the multicoloured arm warmers, but I also cut and prepared the fabric for a smallish Valentine cross stitch card design. Chose the threads as well, since I don't intend to use the ones the pattern suggests. Too pink.

[medievalrosalie]

Valentine cross stitch! ooooo!

[badly_knitted]

Hopefully I'll get it done, but I'm not leaving myself much time *wibbles*

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I finished another cross stitch for a Valentine's Day gift. small_hobbit told me about using peel & stick felt for the back, and I found some at the craft store and it worked very well.

Also, I forgot to mention earlier that all my cross stitch Christmas gifts arrived at their destinations. The final arrival took 5 weeks! But they all got there. So no effort wasted.

[badly_knitted]

Yay for another finished piece, and extra big YAY for the Christmas gifts arriving, even if some of them were rather late. Better late than never!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you!

[m_findlow]

Well done you! I'm sure they were all, well received!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks! I was worried they were completely lost in the post, so it is reassuring that they arrived eventually. One hates to do all that work for nothing.

[medievalrosalie]

Peel and stick felt, you say!?! Well done on finishing a thing. I'm side-tracked again.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Is it something you like? I'd never heard of it (adhesive felt) but they had some at the craft store (Michael's) in with the other kinds of felt. Not many colors to choose from. I got white and green. Hobbit sent me a cross stitch and the back looked so much neater than the one I sent her! So I asked. It worked like a charm.

[medievalrosalie]

Stick on felt, not usually a thing I'd use but I'm making a medieval circlet with jewelled flowers and after I put the flowers on, the pins which go through to the back will need some kind of lining to stop ruining the veils and my face, so I was thinking of glueing some felt on. Sticky stuff might be an idea to consider. I'd just not heard of it before.

[m_findlow]

Still dabbling in crafts at the moment. The art supplies shop was a total bust - they stock virtually no papercraft stuff now - but the two dollar shop had lots of not great, but okay for the price, bits and pieces. I bought six reels of ribbon and a few sticker sheets. I made three more cards on Sunday and two tonight.
Also working on my last cross stitch kit for the past few months. Most of the seashells are done, and after that there's a fairly basic background.

Cards (the light wasn't great at night to pick up the colours):


Cross stitch progress:

[medievalrosalie]

Those are so pretty!

[badly_knitted]

Too bad about the craft shop but at least now you know, and you did get a few bits without breaking the bank so that's good.

Your cards are gorgeous, as always, and I love the seashell cross stitch! So much neater than mine usually is. I can only do neat with one strand of thread.

[m_findlow]

Thank you! Neat stitches is just a whole lot of practice, and this one only has two colours that are mixed threads and the rest are single solid colours. Most kits I've done are about half and half. It's the mixed thread with the metallic fibres that drive me mad because they're a different thread and don't hold together or have the same tension as regular thread. This one only has metallic thread mixed into the background pattern which I'm leaving for last.

[badly_knitted]

My problem is, I'm impatient. I start something and I want it done so I can get on to the next thing, so I try to stich fast and the threads get twisted and then I get annoyed with myself. Working on high count fabric, 18 or 20 hpi, with only one strand of thread allows me to stitch fast without having to worry about keeping the two strands laying neatly together.

Metallic threads can be very tricky, and slippery.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Nice cards! Very neat cross stitch!

[m_findlow]

Better photo now attached!

[badly_knitted]

Lovelier than ever!

[medievalrosalie]

Sort of.. projects...

Since I'm a single lady with a cat (stereotype alert) I thought it would be fun to do a book giveaway for only the single ladies with cats. You have to post a selfie with your cat to win! haha!! I'm really enjoying the cat pictures. So editing the photos and stuff for that is sort of a craft, right?

I bought a tiny drill bit today to drill the holes for the jewelled flowers on the circlet but get distracted building a climbing frame for a new jasmine in my Covid garden. It's attached to the wire with string at this point, so I need to screw that together. Does crafting with wood count?

If anyone has advice on drilling holes in metal with a tiny drill bit, please offer help. Tape a good idea to stop it sliding off the metal?

[badly_knitted]

Heee! Cat and lady pictures sound awesome!

Photography, digital art, and woodwork all count as crafts here, so you've really done well with your varied projects!

I'd definitely try some sort of tape to keep the drill bit from slipping, but I'd also suggest something to hold the circlet firmly in place during the drilling process, a padded clamp of some kind maybe. The last thing you want is to have it shift when you're drilling.

[medievalrosalie]

I was definitely going to clamp in a vice to drill holes and use tape. If the drill bit skids, I'll have a hell of a time buffing the wrecked bits out. I'm thinking I should drill from the inside to the outside so if it DOES slip, I'm ruining the inside of the circlet which will be covered.

[badly_knitted]

That sounds like a sensible course of action.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Lots of crafting! You sound very busy. Hope you post pictures when it's done.

[medievalrosalie]

I sure will! I post pics everywhere on social media so the book blog doesn't get as many craft pics. I'll definitely share them here as I finish though. :)

[moth2fic]

No. Just a kind of OMG-is-it-February-already feeling. I'm up tp the eyes in a novel I'm writing and my Covid jab knocked me for six - just lethargy, no sore arm or fever. Anyway, I really ought to start thinking about all kinds of things but the main to-do item on my list is to do some back-ups on my external hard drive, so...

However, now you've drawn my attention to Valentine's Day I might get as far as making a card. I've also done some e-cards in the last month but they're on my f'locked journal so I'll try to remember to post them here.

[badly_knitted]

I know, where'd January go?

Good luck with the novel and I hope you've recovered from your jab.

Backing stuff up is so important. I've got everything important saved in a couple of places, just to be safe.

If you make a card I hope you'll let us see it. I just started the stitching for mine.

[medievalrosalie]

I know, right? February. Pft. I'm a hospital worker and really looking forward to getting my jab. I travel to and from work on public transport so always getting coughed and sneezed on and people in Emergency are often really sick. Hope you feel better soon.

[moth2fic]

I'm fine, thanks! The feeling of being pole-axed only lasted about 36 hours and didn't really worry me because I'd read the leaflet about possible side effects. No other effects, anyway! Hope you get your jab soon - round here they've prioritised hospital workers of all kinds which makes total sense.

[medievalrosalie]

Good to hear you're doing fine :)