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Friday 25 July 2014

P.O.E.T.S. DAY. when greed won.

Most of you who are still working will know that the title is Push Of Early Tomorrow,s Saturday. I no longer have to worry about this, but this week it is sort of relevant.
 I have put my crafting away and will be blitzing through a bit later. I want need to vacuum through as the floors are festooned with threads and some sliver trimmings. I am off to Cardigan at crack of dawnish tomorrow, I aim to be at Jame,s house at 9:00 at the latest and will not be leaving much before 8:00 in the evening. This is partly to avoid the traffic now that we are in the high holiday season and partly to avoid driving when it is very hot. I do have air conditioning but when the outside temperature hits the high 20's it struggles, also it dries my eyes out if I have it running all the time.

I am looking forward to spending the day with the children, a new paddling pool may or may not be in their near future. I would love to take them to Poppit Sands but there is the traffic to consider.

I have finished items number 13 and 14.


I had intended to use both of these panels on one cushion, but greed took over. The pink will go to Francesca and I will be keeping the blue. Once I had sewn all those little squares together, and sweated gallons while steam pressing all those tiny seams flat, I knew that it was mine and mine alone.
I am going to look hard at the new cabinet and decide what colours I want to use next week, I also need to tip out one of the scrap boxes, I have 3 all full to the brim. I hope that by the end of September 2 of them will be empty.

I love the process of picking through fabrics, balancing colours and patterns and then seeing what they want to become and what blocks to use to show them off. I love cutting, sewing and pressing and can barely wait to see what comes of all the work. 
Then comes my Nemesis, layering and quilting. I even love binding finished quilts so I am not sure why I have this stumbling block when it comes to getting the things together. 
I have watched tutorials, I have read them and I have books with step by step instructions complete with line drawings and pictures.

I feel that it may be due to the sheer amount of time that the whole process takes, this can not be hurried. I remember reading somewhere that you need to realise that the quilting foot is called a Walking Foot for good reason. Just as it takes time to smooth out and layer Backing, Wadding and Top and get them fastened together. I would love to take a quilting class but have not found one in the past. What I have learned along the way has been almost accidental. 
As a bit of a control freak this does not sit easily with me, I need to get it dealt with and move on.
I am going to search and ask around to see if there are any classes held in the area. I do not even know if there is a quilting group any where close. I will be talking to Hilary next week, if anyone knows it should be her.

There are shed loads of gadgets and gizmos to help the quilter and recently I found one that is helping to save my sanity.


These snips hang round my neck when I am sewing or cutting, they are wonderfully sharp and the point is contained in a soft plastic sheath. When I sew I like to trim threads as I go, there are always threads and when a project is finished I hate having to go over it inch by inch thread cutting. The trouble was that my snips and scissors were constantly hiding away from me, now they can not go walkabout. Heaven.

Ben has been back to the vet, he is on a short course of antibiotics and steroids to clear up the last lingering flaky and red patches. Fingers crossed this will do the job.

I have to phone the surgery Monday to check if my Xray results are back, I am filled with trepidation but equally I want to know what the problem with my left hip and leg is, and get it sorted.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  Dare I say it again.....Sun filled days.

2.  Another relatively pain free day.

3.  2 more items crossed off my list.

4. A new cushion for my sofa.

5.  A whole day with the grands tomorrow.

I am assuming that the hot weather is helping what ever my hip problem is, or it may be that I am not doing as much walking because it is too hot for Ben. Having said that I have moved him out of the full sun 3 times today. It could be that I have spent time sitting at the sewing machine, but I have been standing to cut and do the pressing. What ever the cause I am very very grateful.

Ben is due a bath with his special shampoo and I am off to do that now, a little walk in the sun and he will be dry in  no time. I noticed this morning that his coat is growing very fast, goodness knows why, perhaps all the pampering his coat and skin is getting.

                        TTFN                                               Pam











18 comments:

  1. Love the cushions, well done for making two. Glad to hear the pain is better & hope the news from the surgery is good. The snippers look very useful, a quick trawl of the internet & I couldn't see any simlilar ones with enclosed points, what make are they please? Have a great day with the grands, Vee x

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    1. I do not remember who makes them but as I got them in Crosshands I can find out and let you know.

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    2. Thankyou for going to the trouble of finding out, Vee x

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    3. The maker is a small English company, I have a set for you, email me your snail mail address and I will send them off.

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  2. Have a lovely day tomorrow. I'd have been tempted to keep the blue cushion myself too! What size are the little squares?

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    1. I just love it, the squares finish at 2", I do have several left, some are lafger some will trim to 2" and finish at 1 1/2". None will be wasted, I use every scrap that I can, it is a bit obsessive but I have to blame Bonnie Hunter. I found her when I first started reading blogs and she uses the tiny bits that others throw away.

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  3. I love the colours of the pink cushion best , enjoy your day out.
    I've been meaning to ask how you are getting on with your plans for a static caravan?

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    1. I stopped looking when my hip started playing up, there are a lot to choose from and I will eventually buy one at the site near Poppit Sands. It is close to Cardigan and will be lovely for the children, it is very well run and has just enough amenities.

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  4. Know what you mean about the cushions. I just started a cushion for an old friend's son who is geting married next week and it is taking longer than I estimated. What with pinwheels and sashing, then basting and stitch in the ditch machine quilting, a piped binding, embroidery on the back for the happy couple, invisible zip, it is a lot of work. But ....... so satisfying when it all comes together.

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    1. I do have one job less than you, when I make cushiond for James and Cerys I make an envelope back because Kaitlyn has zipped her fingers on more than one occasion.

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  5. I can sympathise with the traffic problem. It is the silly season here in Cornwall, yesterday we were stuck in traffic before we even got 5 miles from home!

    I love the cushion with the little triangles, I don't think I could get my line so accurate. My least favourite part of making a quilt is trying to get the layers wrinkle free. It drives me mad, I think it's alright, then a damn wrinkle appears from nowhere!

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    1. basting the quilt is my least liked part of the job, but it has to be done. I have some fusible fleece to try out on my next large quilt.

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  6. Oh fingers crossed for your hip, Pam, and hope you are soon thinking of caravans again. Know what you mean about driving in the heat - it is blistering over here at times - not that I am complaining! My little Ford Ka doesn't have brilliant air-con but I am very grateful for it.

    Love the cushions, and heck - why not keep one back for yourself - you deserve it!! And I agree, I love stitching the banding- though the machine bit is a bit of a faff(No pun intended, I have a Bernina!) but I love the slow, contemplative process which is hand stitching the other side of the binding, I don't machine both sides.

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    1. When I make a quilt for a toddler I sometimes machine both sides so that it will stand up to more wear and tear. When it comes to baby quilts I like to quilt by hand as well for a softer finish.

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  7. Hope you're having a lovely day today. The weather's been grand again here so I hope it has where you are too. The cushions are lovely, I don't blame you keeping one for yourself, I think I would have done too. Good luck for your results on Monday, I hope you get some good news or at least manage to get the problem sorted out. Hope Ben enjoyed his bath, Archie loves water and just stands and enjoys being shampooed, I can imagine it being fun and games if they don't like baths.

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    1. Ben loves his bath but was taken aback at the sea, he watched a pair of retrievers with absolute disbelief on his face.

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  8. I prefer the pink cushion but they are both lovely. Only one of my dogs don't like to be bathed so we're pretty lucky. Most of them are quite small to so that helps!

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    1. Ben loves his bath, thank goodness, I like both cushions but could not part with those tiny blocks, they are not perfect but they are cute.

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