Sunday Update

I seem to do a lot of updating posts on Sunday afternoons.  I should be doing housework, the house is going under with all the amount of work that I have to do, so in my best traditions I'm ignoring it and hoping it all all go away.  It hasn't, sadly.  School holidays and housework and two little people do not go well together.

You may remember me mentioning my darling Pfaff went to the doctor because the spindley thingie was not connecting with the shuttle thingie and he sent it back and proudly pronounced it FIXED.  Hah.  Not in this house, things are not that easy.  It is NOT fixed, it is TWICE as bad as it ever was and I think it's just being miserable out of spite.  It's gone back to the doctor again. 

So until I can beg or borrow another machine, I'm back to doing handwork.  Which is no biggie really because, my lordy do I have some handwork in the box of UFO's.  My handwork of choice at the moment is my Josephs' Coat quilt.

Now, I gotta tell you when I signed up for the Joseph's Coat Quiltalong, I was kinda expecting the original blogger to actually finish hers, not leave me hanging mid way and actually having to work it out for myself.  So I haven't a clue how many of these arcs I need to do.  My brain tried to work it out and then it just went fizzzzzle and sparks came out and I gave up.  It seems other people also have had some trouble, because I couldn't find anywhere that actually mentioned how many of these you need, except for one website.  I found a lovely blog here who mentions that we need 637 of the arcs.  I only had 538 so now I have cut more of the little lovelies.  I'm taking her word for it.

When I cut my original ones, I had wayyy to many pink ones and little else left over, so I've taken the opportunity to cut into the holy stash of thirties prints.

Man oh man, do I love that box.  It's getting empty.  I need more.

So now, I have lots more different colours to add to my work box.  The quilt is 49 blocks big, plus extras on the side.  I figure this is week one of fifty two weeks, so if I aim right, I can do a block a week and get it done by Christmas time.  Hopefully it'll work out better and I'll get into it quicker.  And to add to my craziness, this is a quilt that screams out for handquilting.  I do love a bit of handquilting, but realistically, when do I get time to sit and do it? 

Each of the 49 main blocks needs 12 arcs, and so I've sorted them into groups, all bagged up and ready for me to work on when I have a spare minute.

So, that's it.  Now I just have to put the proverbial head down and bum up and as Dory says, just keep swimming!  And hopefully by this time next year, I'll have a fabulous quilt finished.

I'm not sure what the ettiquette of posting other people's quilts in your blog is, so I'll not do that.  But if you do a search on the images section of Google, using "Joseph's Coat Quilt Along" you'll come up with lots of wonderful pictures if this takes your fancy.

And hopefully mine soon will look a lot more like theirs.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Trying to keep up

I lead a busy life, and I overly complicate it by starting too many things, buying too much stuff, saying yes too often instead of no sometimes, not finishing what I start.  I don't think I'm alone in that.  I'm one step away from being shown on Hoarders.

We've had a few medical upheavals of late and it always reminds me that we leave behind all our stuff if we disappear for others to deal with.  If I were to suddenly not be here, I'd leave such a mess for my family to deal with.  It's something that really does trouble me and I'm trying to take baby steps to rectify the situation.

I've surfed a lot lately about being organised and I really think that my year for that will be 2012.  It sure has heck hasn't been 2011!  One of my organising ideas is to make a plan for this blog and stick to it.  We'll see how that goes.

I've been blessed with visitors this week that entertained the little people a lot, and so I spent a bit more time in the sewing room than I usually do.  

Part of my problem is that I see a technique, I decide I absolutely must do it, and then when I get a little into it, it bores me rigid and I don't want to finish.  Or it's too hard or it's not working or a million other reasons.  This box of hexagons is one of those techniques.

They do look quite nice put together, but not one single one turned out the same size and the whole thing was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I guess I could unpick them and start over, but doing that would require more work than just finishing the jolly things, so that is what I will do.  Finish it and see how it looks then.

I've also added a couple of rows to my apple core quilt.  Needs a good press, it does.  I've got about four rows to go.

And my lovely Joseph's Coat will look a lot like this when finished.  I think I have my head around how it's done, the finishing I mean.  

I'm finding making my points difficult.  Some I ace:

Some, I don't. 

But whilst I'm trying my very best to do it beautifully, I'm also remembering the mantra 'Finished is better than perfect!'.

So that's what I've been up to the last couple of days.  Hope you've had a productive time of it.

All the best, 

Suzie

Friday already??

I hate to say it, but it's Friday, and it's November, and last week it was January and I'm no closer to having my life in order than I was back then.  It's my perpetual battle - I'm doomed to feel out of control.  I'm a control freak with two little messy people and I don't think there will be much control until they are a little more under control. 

But they are little and I do love that they are little and loving and this messiness will pass, and I will miss it.  And you can only control two little independent minds so far. 

So here's something from the depths of the UFO cupboard:

It's the one solo Joseph's Coat block that I've basted, but not appliqued.

I've done loads of the preparation work, I've cut about a million petals, but haven't trimmed them yet.  It's a real multistep thing and I am enjoying it, but I have to admit that I'm so far out of my comfort zone it isn't funny.  The design came from Kelly of Don't Look Now, though I suspect she's put her version into her UFO cupboard because nothing has been mentioned of this quilt along for months. 

It's a long winded process, but I really do enjoy the preparation work.  First of all, you trace 2904847 petals onto Floriana Stitch and Fuse.

Then you iron them onto your fabrics.  Mine are on my delicious 30's fabrics.

Once they are nicely ironed on, you trim around each one.

Yes, my ironing board cover is hideously dirty.  Thanks for noticing!

(it shows it is much, much used).

Then, you get a little glue stick, and stick each side down.  This is an art.  The first few I did I made such a mess of, but once you get into the rhythm of it, it gets easier.

Not easy, mind you.  Just easier.  Oh that ironing board.

Eventually, you have lots of these little stuck thingies ready to be basted.

And when you lay them on your design board, they look smashing.

Now I just have to baste them, and hand stitch them, and then stitch each block together in a terrifically complicated way.  But I shall battle through!  I don't know why I start such challenging things, I really don't.

If you would like to see Kellie of Don't Look Now version, you can find her website here:

http://dontlooknow.typepad.com/dont_look_now/josephs-coat-quilt-along-.html

That's all for now. I'm off to visit first child's sports day.  Talk to you soon!

Suzie