How many projects have you got on the go?

Anne107 will you post some photos of your watercolours, please?

During lockdown I started watercolour paints and am now addicted. So things I had promised myself I would do around the home has now been neglected. I am still waiting for the novelty of watercolour art to ease a little lol lol

www.youtube.com/watch?v=peWyQi9zThs

This is my new, non-knitting project - isn’t it lovely?
Just practising the first 2 bars at the mo. Apparently 70 repeats are enough to get it into your ‘muscle memory’, though whether that applies when you’ve already hit 70 I don’t know - maybe I’ll need to multiply by 2.....

I am just finishing an alpaca wool bolero. It was for wearing on a Mediterranean cruise this October. Since that has been cancelled I have been slow in finishing the bolero. I have just bought a pair of olive green cords for the winter so am thinking I might knit a nice warm oatmeal coloured jumper to go with them. Love knitting and feel lost if I haven’t something on the go

lovebeigecardigans1955

Sorry for the late reply. When I returned a couple of days later I couldn't find the thread and assumed it had been deleted....just noticed it again today.

I just work better completing each item before starting the next, having a small sewing room plays a big part too. Hey, if you prefer to have multiples on the go, there's nothing wrong with that....really no right, or wrong is there? LOL

Puzzler61
No, nothing I don't make....LOL, it's always been that way and something I don't think about, it just comes naturally. There is one thing in life that I simply loathe...and that is buying clothes! If I had to buy clothes I could quite easily resort to nudism and that wouldn't be a good look. But, I can spend all day in a fabric store and come out loaded with fabric.

My adoptive GM taught me a little sewing as a child but she was too impatient, however my bio DM used to make bridal gowns as her second job. She was head of the fashion dept of a huge store so it's in my genes. Unfortunately at school I was put into the languages stream which didn't allow me to do dressmaking, so when I finished school I put myself through technical college for 13 years to learn dressmaking. Still irks me to think about those wasted years at school where I could have been doing what I was more suited to, rather than subjects I've never used.

I have a passion for nice fabrics and immediately I see it as a completed garment so then it must go into my stash, sometimes it sits there for a short while and sometimes for many years, but the stash has been a lifesaver during Covid lockdown. I hate thinking about buying fabric online, tried it a few months ago and the piece arrived with oil and grease stains which couldn't be removed.

Might have to venture into the city for a fabric fix after lockdown, but my stash is not depleted ....yet!!

@Witzend, how about peg bags? You need child sized hangers though or your bags will be enormous. I bought sets of six wooden hangers from Ikea. To make them more durable use the curtain lining to line the peg bags. Mine had a back piece, a top front and a bottom front, all lined. The bottom front was bigger than the top front. Just start by making a pattern. Draw around the top of the hanger and straight down the sides to get a suitable length. The two fronts total the length of the back. My daughter was going to do a Christmas stall last year so I ended up making 34, but the stall never materialised so I am gradually giving them away to grateful friends and relatives.

Thanks for the encouraging words, Witzend. I think having an exam gives you something to work towards, a definite purpose. My (adult) son has been learning to play the piano for years but said from the start that he wasn't interested in grade exams. So, although he seems to enjoy his weekly lesson, he hasn't developed much of a repertoire of pieces. He always plays the same tunes. His piano teacher must roll her eyes when his lesson comes round!

It’s never too late, @lizzypopbottle. At the group piano class I used to go to, there was a woman probably in late 40s/early 50s who’d started just a few years previously, having never touched a piano before - she’d just passed her grade 3.

Having been far too chicken to even think about exams myself, I admired her enormously.

Keep up the good work, Witzend. You'll achieve your goal. I wish I'd learned an instrument but my parents couldn't afford for three of us to have music lessons so none of us did.

I now have a new, very long-term project, nothing to do with knitting for a change!

More than once during the past 5 or 6 years I set myself a goal of passing grade 5 piano, having taken it up again after retiring and having only ever passed grade 2 when I was about 10.

Twice I’ve been just about ready with the pieces, but the sheer, vast number of scales and arpeggios has defeated me and I’ve given up.

Now, glory be, I recently learned that ABRSM have modified the G5 syllabus so that there are far fewer scales. I sent for the new syllabus book and it looks manageable even for me. Plus, one of the alternative B pieces is Schumann’s lovely ‘Of strange Lands and Peoples’, which I‘ve worked on in the past.

You never know, I might actually do it this time! I have until then end of 2022 - if I haven’t dropped off my perch by then.

Absolutely not! DanniRae ? I won't go into detail but I have issues with that show and I don't think I could enjoy being under such pressure. I really enjoyed supplying masks to friends and family.

Wow lizzypopbottle not only exciting but complicated I think.
Will we be seeing you on "The Great British Sewing Bee" any time soon?

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Something with sleeves I suppose....

I also bought myself a present - an overlocker! It's very exciting!

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It's been a long time since I did much more than alterations on my sewing machine but, with the advent of lockdown, I started making masks. Then I made some fancy knickers for my baby granddaughter and, from the same pattern envelope, some rompers for her too. She's only three months old so not much romping as yet. ? Stuck for something else, I finally recovered my ancient sleeveboard in a vibrant red. Now I'm stuck again...

Oh, Lord, I’ve just thought of another, for Gdcs again - a Hallowe’en wreath, same nice easy wreath pattern as for my mini snowmen one, only done in orange/copper colours, with black bats and spiders etc. added.

I’ve just been scouring the web for bat and spider patterns (at least they’re only a couple of £ each) and more yarn needed, I’m nearly out of black, too - F****r C********’s boots used up most of my black stash.

At the moment I'm using offcuts of fabric for a few face masks. I do hope that long before this time next year we won't need them anymore.

I live in the downstairs Granny flat and have internal stairs coming from the main hallway down to my front door, they also lead to the store rooms for the other apartments and to the room with the meters etc.
They are just a scruffy mess, supposed to be landlords responsibility, SIL and DD.
So doing them myself !!!!!!!

Anything, I think felice
I keep thinking about painting the conservatory but that's as far as it gets.
The stairs would be beyond me!

Sorry I assumed it was all kind of projects, not just arts and crafts.

It's very pretty material, Witzend

We've covered headboards, it did take two of us but they are quite successful. I I daren't say that I need one re-done because it doesn't really go with the new bedroom curtains

Cloth shopping bags? They could make nice gifts; you could make a little bag for each one to fit into so they fit neatly into a handbag.

Rosalyn69

Three crochet blankets.
I must start the DIL’s Christmas blanket soon. Last Christmas I ran out of time. ?

I just finished another two (thank goodness).

DGS not the dog

Started painting the stairs first week of lockdown, March 13th, DD got full time job, DGS here all day plus dog. He goes back to school on the 1st of September,,,,,,, finish then I hope, not holding my breath !!

That’s an idea, thanks, @DanniRae. Dd is using washable nappies for no. 3 so there’s usually a line-ful of washing. I’ve just googled how to make one, too.
The knitting needle roll was the last of that material alas but my other leftovers are nice, too.

Hi Witzend - how about a peg bag? If successful you could make a few to give away.

Lovely material by the way