Sunday, July 31, 2011

I'm acting very irresponsibly in my sewing room, working on about five different projects for ten minutes at a time, and then being distracted and wanting to start even more ideas. I can't seem to stay focused at all, and my only consolation is that everything's gradually inching toward the finish line. But there's no one completed quilt to point to, yet.

I applaud Bonnie for deciding to stick with one thing and see it through, and even though I've given myself a stern talking to I'm still flitting here and there as the fancy takes me. I'm quite capable of making myself sew for hours on a less than favourite project, just to see it done, and some of my old UFO's have been conquered this way. But when I'm in this mood I get to a certain point and then feel almost nauseated at the thought of one more seam-ugh!

So the only thing to do is chop and change and not let myself get sick of anything, and after a while I'm able to carry one top through to completion.

I think this one will be put together first, I've got half the rows sewn together, and the rest will go together quickly. It's not as big as I thought it was going to be, but I'm happy with it, and I think it will have a border instead of the extra rows I was planning on.

I call it Woven geese, I don't know if it has a proper name.It's been a lovely pattern to sew,only two fabrics per block, great for scraps, it presses nicely and the rows all nest together, what's not to like?

These Feathered Square blocks are so very nearly a top, but this is one that I had to bribe myself to touch. I did bits here and there and walked off and left it many times in the course of the week it was on the design wall. There are only four main seams left to do, so I know that one evening's sewing will see it done. I have no ideas about borders, but I'm happy to let it sit and stew once it's in one piece. Another very old UFO inching closer to the bed instead of the cupboard...


I returned to these little spinning rails as Leader Enders and after a while I had a niggly feeling that something wasn't quite right. I went and checked the pile of completed blocks and yep! the new ones are spinning in the wrong direction. Sigh. These will have to go on the back or be corners in the borders or something, I'm not pulling them apart.
Last week we went to Wirraberra Forest with Matt and the dogs for a five kilometre hike and Pippi was beside herself with excitement. She and Dolly ran and ran, up hill and down, plunging through the long grass and following exciting trails through the trees. They waded through the creek and raced up the bank and down to cross it again. However it's much deeper and wider in this spot and there was no time to judge the take-off. Pippi gave a mighty leap, but it didn't end well and she landed smack in the middle, absolutely saturated. But it didn't slow her down and she floundered through ready to go again. Dolly was more sensible and splashed her way across without going under, as my silly dog did.

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Saturday, July 16, 2011

I love pressing all the bits I've sewn and lining them up in neat rows.I'm making piles and piles of flying geese and sewing them into rows of four, and while they were on the ironing board I played around and came up with some new setting ideas to try out. But not now; these pieces are going to become this block, which I saw in one of the Stashbusters photo albums.
I've been cutting up lots of scraps and have got about forty blocks made so far, and another twenty or so cut out. It was to have lasted me quite a while as a kit for in between other projects, but I became obsessed with it, as you do. Now I might just as well push ahead and finish it, sigh. I have good plans, but rarely follow them, I usually prefer to go with the flow and do what interests me at the time.
I also pressed some nine patches for the centre of my album variation,
and these three stars, which I was piecing at night while I watch the telly. Years ago I cut all my repro scraps into diamonds and I've sewn literally hundreds of these stars yet still have stacks of diamonds left in the container. After two hundred plus Lemoyne stars I've started another project using the diamonds and hopefully that will see a few more gone.

But strangely I'm also cutting more hand piecing bits to finish an old UFO. There seems to be no logic to this process- trying to get rid of one lot of diamonds, while creating another new pile of them at the same time, but what the heck. When my Sensible Self ventures to query my methods I just hiss "Don't Question Me!!" and keep on cutting.

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Sunday, July 03, 2011

I spent last night watching a dvd and sewing random pieces, and then saved all the pressing for this morning. A nice prospect; lazy Sunday morning, cup of coffee and seeing all the little seams laying down flat under the iron. Now I can arrange these units into blocks and set up my next sewing jag for when I can get to the machine.
Here are the red cross album blocks set together, awaiting corner triangles and a border idea. I think there will be a wide cream border on the outside to show up quilting, but there might be triangles or squares around the blocks. Something will occur to me.

The block in the corner of the design wall is Bonnie's Nifty Thrifty from Scraps and Shirtails- I didn't even realise it was there until I downloaded the photo. I think it's a great block and there will be some scraps cut up for a quilt soon.

Dolly and Pippi were sitting on the lounge looking so cute that I quietly got the camera out to take some photos. Keryn held up a biscuit to get their attention but it worked too well and resulted in this pose. Dolly is humming "Biiiscuts......mmmmm" and Pippi knows she has to "Sit" before she gets one- even if it's on top of her sister.
We had a customer and her grand-daughter come to pick up some quilts yesterday, and the girl had never seen Pippi before. She likes to visit because she was a fan of Dolly's but she fell in love with Pippi and spent ages patting both of them. Some people think because Pippi is bigger than Dolly she's her mother, but when Keryn remarked on this the little girl said "No, she still has puppy eyes". How astute of her.Ahh, puppy eyes..

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