Just getting on with it.

Well, I have started work on mum's quilt. Just got the lettering sorted out. Well, thats a start. The fabric I shall be using is all ready to be sorted out. Its all in a jumbled pile at the moment - correction, two piles. It was all in one pile and toppled over! Thats why it is still rather jumbled. Never mind, I shall get the board out for some theraputic ironing ready to start work on the calligraphy elements.


My page for March is also well on the way to being completed. This will be posted on the Traveling Pages site as soon as it arrives with Juliette. I did have a panicky moment when Felix decided to jump onto my newly painted fabric..... Poor dear, he ended up with his back paws in the bathroom sink being washed. I have never known him so quiet! I was forgiven at tea-time. He knows who feeds him................


The knitting is not going so well. I think the tunic pattern just isn't working for me in this yarn. It is time to rip it all back again. Don't misunderstand, I love the pattern and I love the Jaeger yarn. The cotton/silk mix just seems to be better suited to a more plain design, it is quite highly textured. I shall not be buying any more yarn for a while, so will have to start a different project instead.




For now, I am knitting a pair of Firestarter socks, so will get on with these for the time being.


The reading I mentioned in my last post is also going well, I am getting on with my magazines and am now up to date with them. "Quilting Arts" arrived last week and I am already half way through. It is a magazine I subscribe to and I really like to take my time reading, since there is usually rather a lot of ideas I want to have a go with. This edition is no exception. There is a really good article on screen printing. It is something I have really wanted to have a go at for some time. I already have a couple of screens and some fabric printing dyes. I just need to get my table top sorted. My dear husband has given me a lovely piece of board and I have the felt and old sheeting to cover it. So what is stopping me? I need something stable to rest my printing board on.............. I am reluctant to get any large-scale printing done in my workroom. I would much rather keep it nice and clean in here. So I must organise a space where I can be messy. The felt-making usually gets done in the garden, so that's probably where I shall do my printing. It does make sense, but it is rather frustrating the thought of not being able to do any printing except in the summer months. However, I could really get a lot of fabric ready for use in the colder months............... Perhaps it will work out after all.

Sorry there is only one photo this time. Blogger is not cooperating today................

Still prevaricating.

I have been doing far too much reading of websites, Blogs and the like just recently. There is so much fun to be found. Here is one I read regularly. RicRac. This is such a charming post from a really beautifully written Blog.

This last week, I have found it really difficult to get started on any new projects. There is just so much going round my head at the moment. I really don't know where to start!

Theres an admission!

Now that I have said it, I know what I need to do. As Alison Lee puts it so succinctly "Get your butt in the chair". Now she is one lady I really ought to listen to. After all she has so much experience in making beautiful things for a living.

Well, lets get down to what I really must get on with:

First, my page for the Traveling Pages. I haven't started March yet. Ooops! In my own defence, I do know exactly what I am doing for this, I just haven't got around to getting on with it. I am still not entirely sure what techniques to use................

Second, getting on with my knitted tunic top. Well, that at least is still moving. I got into a muddle with where I was on the front, so have abandoned that for the present and have started on the back. That may sound completely mad, but since the front and back are identical almost to the shoulder, I should be able to discover where I have gone wrong on the front.

Third, mum's quilt. I still have not started this. However, during my holiday I ended up getting some rather interesting ideas which I am slowly working on. No further information for the moment in case one of my daughters, or my mum just happens to read this...................

Fourth, altering a skirt I bought last week. Well, I may end up altering two skirts. I bought them in a sale and they are both rather too big around the waist and hips.

Fifth, reading. I am steadily reading my backlog of magazines. I have even finished reading two from this month! This makes a change, since I am usually at least three months behind. I also have a mountain of books waiting to be read. They are climbing the wall in my bedroom at the moment.

Talking of books, I bought two on Saturday. There was a sale in WH Smiths of certain titles. All the books were in a rummage box. Well, I could not resist. I found these two books there:

Simon Henry's "The Little Black Dress".

This book looks really interesting and should teach me all I need to know to make Liz's wedding dress. (My daughter is getting married in September next year.) It is written like a dressmaking course, but in book form. There is so much about dressmaking that I still don't fully understand. Hopefully the knowledge will help me to make a decent dress for Liz. I intend to get on and follow the exercises written up at the start of the book. Wish me luck, I may need it. Oh, and avoid my house while I'm doing this...................

"Katrin Cargill's Curtain Bible".

Now this is something I have been wishing for. I have made curtains in the past, but my ideas are the usual boring and straight-forward ones. This book has some rather nifty ideas which I can actually see myself using in this house. There is a rather awkward round window downstairs which I have never been able to do anything with. A nice bright blind could be rather nice..........

Why is it that whenever I give myself time to sit and think there are more projects I wish to get on with?

My younger daughter now has my beloved sewing machine so that she can get on with some projects she is intending to make for sale. I have my old sewing machine back. (Shown above.) It is good for sewing clothing, but I cannot do any Free Machine Embroidery on it. Shall I buy another machine? Rosie cannot afford to buy herself one.............. Now is this why I feel so lost?

Too many questions and far too much prevarication. I must take myself in hand and get something started. Felix has just jumped onto my shoulder, so I think he agrees. Either that, or he is warming his chilly paws.

Back again and raring to go!

I've been away on holiday for a couple of weeks. My workroom colleague - Felix, the furry fiend on the right - just won't leave me alone for long. He loves to sit on my shoulder while I am working. It makes for a noisy time, since he likes nothing better than to purr down my ear.....



On my return I had a lovely surprise - a package which had these lovely stamps on the front. It contained the February page from Johoanna. This is all part of the Traveling Pages project. For further details see the link at the side of this Blog.



Isn't this lovely? I feel so lucky to have this as my second page.



Talking of being lucky. This arrived in the post today. I am a member of Just Hands on TV, an internet community which has a really good series of quilting related videos. They have sent me a small bundle of the new Fusion Fabrics from Robert Kaufman. The fabrics are just as gorgeous as they look here.

Going into a local Supermarket today, I found this delightful not-so-little fold-up bag. So useful. Just fifteen inches tall and thirteen inches wide, it is six and a quarter inches deep.



It rolls up small into a package just six and a quarter inches wide and three and a half inches deep. Something I shall now start to carry around with me.



The crafter in me wonders whether I could use this idea to make a series of similar bags for myself. I shall of course be using much better fabrics - the only fault I find with this present bag. Rest assured that I shall not be copying this design - that would break copyright laws, I feel sure....

Oh, back to the title I have used. Coming home rested and relaxed I now find a multitude of ideas welling in the back of my mind. Watch this space for new proejcts as they start coming to life.

But first, has anyone got any good ideas for getting a cat, painlessly, off my shoulders?