musings of the unoccupied mind
Today I am a bit low. Dunno why.
BUT tomorrow I can have a whole day at home with my favourite chickens! They never fail to cheer me up with their ridiculous antics and inquisitive faces.
I am also going to have a good long sewing session. I am halfway through a new quilt for our bed and I lost momentum on it about a month ago. (too busy with my website.) It is going to be lovely when I get it done but double beds quilts are so massive it takes yonks to sew all the blocks, let alone assemble and then quilt it.
I have taken the technique I used on Margaretha's quilt a bit further, using more layers of double cutting, and using pieced layers to create more complex results. I love this technique because you never quite know what you will get when the strips are sewn back together again. Sometimes the blocks are so beautiful I wish I could recreate it, but it's impossible to do the same thing twice. The blocks in Margarethas quilt are arranged in a very regular and ordered fashion, but my new quilt is much more fluid, with the blocks joined so that you can't really see where one starts and another ends.
Margaretha's quilt
When we were in New York I went to this amazing quilting shop. The Americans are really keen on patchwork and quilting, and I got some really unusual fabrics. Half of the american fabrics I bought are in my current project, which is such a nice reminder of our trip. There are also a couple of Nick's old shirts in it, and some fabric my middle sister bought me, so it's very personal. There is something very special about looking at a quilt and knowing a stroy about the different pieces in it.
I also bought some beautiful hand dyed fabric bundles in New York that are the more stunning subtle colours. I keep them stacked where I can see them, imagining all the things I could do with them. Whenever I decide, I end up changing my mind because I worry I might waste it. It's a silly way to think - it would be far better just to leap in and actually use them. The real waste would be if they sat on my shelf for years and never got turning into something special.
For my birthday Nick bought me three books in the Elm Creek Quilt series. Boys, you won't like them. Girls who like sewing and gossiping and family intriuge will love them. They are very gentle and the stories revolve around a group of friends who run a quilting school in Pennsylvania. The life stories are sort of mirrored in the quilts they sew - it's all very relaxing and calming. (Nick also bought me a Dick Francis and another action thriller novel, so don't go thinking I just read about sewing. Nothing beats a bit of kidnapping)
BUT tomorrow I can have a whole day at home with my favourite chickens! They never fail to cheer me up with their ridiculous antics and inquisitive faces.
I am also going to have a good long sewing session. I am halfway through a new quilt for our bed and I lost momentum on it about a month ago. (too busy with my website.) It is going to be lovely when I get it done but double beds quilts are so massive it takes yonks to sew all the blocks, let alone assemble and then quilt it.
I have taken the technique I used on Margaretha's quilt a bit further, using more layers of double cutting, and using pieced layers to create more complex results. I love this technique because you never quite know what you will get when the strips are sewn back together again. Sometimes the blocks are so beautiful I wish I could recreate it, but it's impossible to do the same thing twice. The blocks in Margarethas quilt are arranged in a very regular and ordered fashion, but my new quilt is much more fluid, with the blocks joined so that you can't really see where one starts and another ends.
Margaretha's quiltWhen we were in New York I went to this amazing quilting shop. The Americans are really keen on patchwork and quilting, and I got some really unusual fabrics. Half of the american fabrics I bought are in my current project, which is such a nice reminder of our trip. There are also a couple of Nick's old shirts in it, and some fabric my middle sister bought me, so it's very personal. There is something very special about looking at a quilt and knowing a stroy about the different pieces in it.
I also bought some beautiful hand dyed fabric bundles in New York that are the more stunning subtle colours. I keep them stacked where I can see them, imagining all the things I could do with them. Whenever I decide, I end up changing my mind because I worry I might waste it. It's a silly way to think - it would be far better just to leap in and actually use them. The real waste would be if they sat on my shelf for years and never got turning into something special.
For my birthday Nick bought me three books in the Elm Creek Quilt series. Boys, you won't like them. Girls who like sewing and gossiping and family intriuge will love them. They are very gentle and the stories revolve around a group of friends who run a quilting school in Pennsylvania. The life stories are sort of mirrored in the quilts they sew - it's all very relaxing and calming. (Nick also bought me a Dick Francis and another action thriller novel, so don't go thinking I just read about sewing. Nothing beats a bit of kidnapping)
posted by Rach at 13:18
2 Comments:
I know how you feel, I get days like that too, especially when things are going tits up in the sewing room!
It never ceases to amaze me how our feathered friends can be such a great tonic for chearing up, I think it's all down to their innocence and only really seeing you as the provider of food and stupid chat! Enjoy your day of sewing, I'm starting to get a bit sick of it, probably due to the fact that I HAVE to do it under pressure at the moment!
I'm off to the dreaded hairdressers tomorrow, I haven't been for almost 9 months and I've plucked up the courage to go to one up here rather than my regular in Stirling that I've gone to for the last 10 years! All a bit scary really! Hope I don't end up like Britney.
L x
That's always a worry. I had a brilliant hairdresser in Sheffield who I knew would always make me look my best. It has taken me nearly 3 years of bad hair-dos to find one I like in Edinburgh. (dare not try any in Linlithgow until I need a perm, blue rinse and set)
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