Thursday 13 January 2011

To boldly go...

I've been making a start on the first quilt of the year, which I've been quite excited about.  Not that the quilt itself is particularly exciting, but I hope it will be quite nice.  I have to hold my hands up and say that this week I have actually crossed the line from planning into procrastination...  Which is why I haven't even got the quilt top done yet. 
I have been doing some planning (drawing out patterns and resizing and trying to figure out quantities etc) some research (trawling the net for free patterns and tutorials) and some learning (thanks Miss P...)  but if I'm honest I've also been doing a fair bit of, well, nothing...  In my defense we're into the last two weeks of having my man at home for a while, and I can sit up in the sewing cupboard alone most of the year.  So, I feel justified in my vegging, even if it was in front of (god help me) hours of Star Trek!  And not even the kitsch cool Spock ones...

I did get little bits done each day though.  Picked the strips to use from the jelly roll, cut the solids.


Sew the strips into pairs.  This was harder than it looks, for me anyway.  Too simple and monotonous for little ol' sleepy head.  Got me a little ol' sore head... One smack on the forehead as it hit the table, one smack on the jaw as it hit the top of the sewing machine...  No marks on my face though, yay! Iron the seams. 


Cut into 4 1/2" squares.


And this is how far I've gotten so far.


Hmmm, its looking kinda bigger than I expected, but then I suppose it'll get smaller once the seams are sewn. 
I have also decided to join in with the Craft Book Challenge too, make at least one item from each craft book you own.  Good idea, I think, and really it should fit in with my 2011 Goals anyway as most on my shelves are bag/quilt books anyway!  And I'm slowly coming round to the idea that I could maybe take up a shirt hem myself...  but not yet.  Used up my adventurousness for the week on Monday.  Went to the hairdressers for the day. 

Hate going to the hairdressers; its bad enough knowing I'm going to fall asleep in public, which could easily involve snoring and / or drooling (I'm a delightful sleeper!)  but I will also be forced to look at myself in full length mirrors.  Pass a bucket...  Then I get all depressed cos I cant exactly hang a sign around my neck saying "not an utterly miserable cow, honest, just tired". 

Aim of the day was to get most of my hair cut off, and the rest of it full of purple!  Well, if I'm living like a hermit who gives a flying **** what i look like!  Unfortunately it hasn't turned out quite as expected.  Don't get me wrong, the lass was brilliant, one of the nicest hairdressers I've met up here, she did a lovely job and made the afternoon as pleasant as possible.  But, what was meant to be "wow, I've got purple hair" is a bit more "I've got purple hair, seriously, keep looking, its in there somewhere!".  Four and a half hours, and must have been at least 60 foils, but can you see it?  Nope.  Cant I find it?  Well, yes, but only when I stand in front of a mirror raking my fingers through my head like I'm on some kind of nit mission...  A touch disappointing I'm afraid.  Oh well, I tried!

3 comments:

  1. Gees! I know you get tired but I didn't actually think you would just fall asleep like that & go THUD! I thought it was "eyes get heavy, head starts bobbing" kinda thing! Ouch! Hope you're ok!

    That's a neat trick with the sewing of the long strips then cutting them into paired squares. What about the securing of the stitches though? I always go over the start and end of a piece of stitching but if you were to cut it up the stitching is loose?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I get the eyes heavy head bobbing too, but sometimes muscle power just cuts out completely. And sometimes I'm too stubborn/dumb to stop what I'm doing ;-) As for the technique, just following what books and other bloggers say! I guess the theory is that the threads are tighter that way than just stopping, and you'll always be going over 1/4 inch before the ends when you join pieces up anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey there. Really liking this one. How the devil are you?
    Px

    ReplyDelete