Tuesday 12 August 2014

Cheating

Why "cheating"?  
It kinda feels like it...showing all these pretty pictures of quilts that were made months ago and were beautifully quilted by Emily.  Really all I've done lately is sew on binding!

Hardly done any sewing at all in the last 6 weeks.  Molly has started insisting on rising between 5am and 7am and I just cant handle days started that bloody early!  I'm mostly falling into bed the second her eyes shut for the night (between 7 - 8 pm).  Its not her fault, the teething is worse although still no sign of gnashers, and - big news - she grew too big for her crib and we had to get the cotbed.  She is a BIG girl.  Not sumo big (as we never call her...honest) but just BIG!  And heavy, oh my word she's heavy.  Our imminent house hunting is taking a bit of a brutal reality check for me as we're thinking we'll now have to try and look mostly at bungalows, which I've never liked, since I cant really carry Moo up stairs very well now, and she'll only get bigger and my hip will only get crapper.  Phooey.  

Anyway.  My man is home now, for a while anyway, and I hope that in between house viewing and selling and stressing I might get some decent sewing time.  Fingers crossed!

Meantime, back to the pretty pictures!







I consider this giant triangles quilt made with Koi and purple solids to be a lesson in less is more pattern wise.  The plan was for giant triangles floating on the purple background.  Then I had the brainfart of hiding two stars amoungst the triangles in solid.  I like the quilt fine, but I dont think my pattern really worked.  I think the two ideas together almost cancel each other out.  Something else too.... I absolutely love every print in Koi, but.... well.... to be honest I'm not that keen on them all as a collective whole.  I'm wishing I'd broken my bundle up and added it to stash to use seperately.  I mean, there's not one print there that I dont wish I had more of, but however much I look at it all together here, something doesnt feel right.  




I consider this beauty to be a lesson in "fast and simple piecing isnt always actually fast and simple"....  Its a great pattern (not mine) and the instructions were simple enough, but wowza.  It took aeons of cutting.  Got a bit monotonous to be honest!  It was done in a chain piecing method, which you'd think right away would make it easier than hunners of 2.5" squares, but after each stage of chaining there just seemed to be soooooo much trimming.  

And finally, this one here is almost done.  It was my challenge myself quilt.  I love Anna Maria Horners "Innocent Crush".  Love it.  I've stashed it away for so long.  However my bundle seemed to be taunting me as it languished unappreciated in a drawer for years.  I just couldnt for the life of me settle of a pattern to use it in.  Or a background to use with it...  In the end, I went with a Moda Grunge brown.  Yep, BROWN... As I said.  Challenging myself, by going with a massive bit of my least favourite colour.  That said, the grunge is probably the nicest brown I've seen, it has touches of red and slate in it, so has a wonderful texture.  

So.  Its almost done.  Quilted, as usual these days, by the lovely Emily.  Just waiting for me to bind it, then I'll do a full reveal.  If we ever get a dry day again this year...  Tomorrow we're off for the day to check out some places to live, and would you believe it, today they were hit by massive flash flooding from the tail end of Hurricane Bertha.  I actually saw a house we had been considering on the news with a river running past the front door...  Wont be checking that one out then.....






18 comments:

  1. Cheating or not (and it's not, by the way), your work is gorgeous!

    And I feel you with the little one - my nephew was 24lbs at six months and everyone made an audible oof! sound when lifting him... He's three and a half now and looks six, and stretched right out. He's going to be a tall one. Good luck with the house hunt!

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  2. They are lovely quilts, not cheating at all. Babies are heavy, and bungalows are my favourite with young kids. No stairs to carry up or for kids fall down and over a day the energy saving is tremendous. Good luck with the house hunting but stay away from areas that flood.

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  3. Oh I do wish I could meet Molly. She's probably taller than Em already! (Em slept in the Moses basket until nine months, when she wasn't insisting on sleeping with me.) seems you are getting more quilts made than me, no matter when you completed them, and they are all beautiful. Can't wait until the full reveal on the AMH. you've got such a good eye for fabric combinations.

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  4. Bungalows are fab - hubby's and my first house, after our flats was a bungalow and it was a godsend when O came along as well as when I was pregnant with the girls! No stairs for anyone to fall down!
    Great quilts, team-working with Emily seems to be going very well xxx

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  5. I adore the koi and think it really works! And oddly I like the brown with the AMH! A bungalow sounds like a good plan, my hips are fine and I still struggle carrying my heavy lump up the stairs. Good luck finding the perfect house!

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  6. Have to say teaching a toddler to go up and down the stairs is stressful and needs lots of vigilance - so much easier not to have any! Great quilts - not sure why you are not really happy with them but I'm sort of like that myself, with a few exceptions!

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  7. What gorgeous finishes: I can't remember the last thing I finished! You will find the perfect bungalow: you will walk in to it and just know its the perfect place for you

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  8. I love your latest quilts - it doesn't seem like cheating to blog about things months after they were finished as, after all, they're not finished until the binding is done!

    A bungalow sounds like a great idea as there'll be no stair carpet to hoover. Sounds like bliss! Hope you find a fabulous house that needs no work, is below your budget and doesn't have a river running in front/behind/through it when it rains! Take care, pet xxx

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  9. Not having to run up and downstairs would be good, but I know what you mean about some bungalows, although my granny and grandad had a great one in the Lake District, and it was huge! But yeah, that whole coast, especially around Elgin, does seem to have a bit of a water problem as I recall!

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  10. We moved Mia to the.cot bed yesterday! She also weighs a hefty amount! People keep recommending amber beads on am anklet to help with teething. We haven't started yet so can't say if it works... Beautiful quilts and not cheating at all. Good luck house hunting.

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  11. Teething sucks! I still remember my kids going through it! Hang in there, relief will come! Love your quilts, especially the BROWN one! Jxo

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  12. Could you be a bit harsher on yourself and your lovely quilts? what are you like? they are gorgeous! we looked at a bungalow when the girls were early teens - oldest didst like it, i thought she was worried about security, but no: "if you annoy me i won't be able to slam the door and stomp upstairs". my advice? Go bungalow *before* she learns how to be a teenager!!!!

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  13. lovely lovely quilts, and it's not cheating at all! Do I need to remind you that you did all the piecing and designing and thinking etc? Good luck with the house hunting :-)

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  14. Lovely quilts, especially the square in square one...worth all the trimming!

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  15. I didn't want to live in a bungalow either, but I am converted! They often have really big garden plots which is perfect with kids in tow. Love the quilts, but I think I know what you mean about the Koi collection, although I love your quilt. The purple goes really well and pulls it all together. Happy house hunting!

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  16. Agree that a nice garden may well be more important than an upstairs. Although Molly will surely be at least crawling upstairs (supervised) in a few months. Quilts all look great to me!

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  17. we are a dream team! Quilts look amazing hunny! x

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  18. Ooo, we watched the news of the weather from the safety of Elie and wondered what on earth was happening to our wee house. All well though. Useful to get the flood alert on that house you might have looked at though! So sorry not to have been able to get in touch about a meet up, and for not even getting back to you. Life has been so busy but I do think we're finally settling and I might be catching up with things. We ended up being away more of the summer than at home so everything still feels very new. We've not been here more than 10 days consecutively so far but will get past that milestone on Thursday! Lots of fab visitors too but not best timing!
    So, lovely to hear that Molly is growing. Hope she starts sleeping better soon. Can't offer any helpful advice, mine all did the same........I really felt they'd gone too far if the number on the clock had a 4 rather than 5! But they have all go past that and now get to at least 6am, usually. And the ones that can read clocks - everyone except Katie - are held to 6.30 weekdays and 7am weekends.........roll on teenage lie-ins!
    Hope the house hunting is going well. have you narrowed down your search area yet?! We're now in a bungalow which wouldn't at all have been my preference but is actually pretty good and very handy for many things.
    I do love your Koi quilt and think you are being far too hard on yourself about it. Juliex

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