The post may be running late, and infuriatingly randomly at the moment, but my goodness a whole lot of happiness arrived this morning.

Tanya Whelan's Dolce



Amy Butler's Daisy Chain



Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush



Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush




Sea from Cloud9 organic cotton

 Some of the above I got for Christmas, some of it I got in January pre-vat increase sales...
Something that didn't quite make the condensed 2011 list, but has remained in my mind, is to try and establish some good habits, in the sewing cupboard at least ;-)    A lot of quilt makers recommend you pre-wash all your fabric before you use it.  They also say that you should iron seams religiously.  I've been ironing all my seams for a few months now, and boy does it make a difference.  So much easier to continue joining sections when the seams are all beautifully flat and in the right direction!  So, pre-washing.  I thought it was about time I got stuck into following that advice too. 

I have to admit I was so nervous about colour run, I did a 30 degree wash, well 3 of them as I separated everything into lights and darks, and then inbetweens!  I also stuck in some colour catcher sheets.  A whole lot of "ruined fabric" scenarios occupied my naps...    Fortunately the colours looked fine!  Happy happy.  No runs, all the gorgeous bright beautiful patterns still gorgeously bright and beautiful.  But oh the threads, the threads, everywhere.  The fraying...  So sad, so horrible.  "Pre-wash to get shrinkage over and done with, so your finished quilt doesn't shrink much."  Sod fabric shrinkage, the only shrinkage I'm seeing is the terrible waste of fraying, brought on by pre-washing!

A little point of note, for anyone as dumb as me (I'm assuming most of you will know this so apologies for stating the obvious to clever folk) Never let your cotton fabric do a full cycle on tumble dry.  Have the brains to remember to stop the machine and take everything out before its completely dry.  Its not so important with most clothes these days, as most clothes these days have a certain degree of Lycra or polyester or some man made non natural substance to them, making them relatively ready to wear.  Given that I now have the memory of a gnat I almost always, well, actually just always to be honest, completely forget I've put a load in and it can sit in washing machine or dryer for days...  But back to the cotton.  Or at least what I know was cotton but now resembled the fabric equivalent of a car crushed into a wee metal cube.   Not so happy, happy. 



Sticking with my new "find the bright side" challenge, I got to use my lovely new ironing board cover for a good 11 hours.  (that's not including the frequent essential naps).  Here's a thought - Cath Kidston, so many pretty things, so girly, so cute, so moreish.  So expensive!  So I'm sure I'm not the only girl who couldn't resist the sale.  Might it then be an idea NOT to package the stuff in boxes with "Cath Kidston" boldly spread across every angle, might it be possible that more girls would be tempted if the packages arrived in unmarked boxes?  Or am I the only one who considers it a guilty pleasure?



No such thing as a sneaky Cath Kidston purchase...



Another little bright side (I'm getting the hang of this, i think) is that I think I have found the most delicious most delightful fabric softener on the market.  How good is this stuff?  It actually made me not HATE ironing!  Well, not HATE with the normal degree of intensity at least, which i think says a great deal.  Even when my will to live was flagging, a hot fresh waft of jasmine drifted up and reminded me so much of living in Lisbon, where some Jasmine grew up the side of the front door to just under my bedroom window.  Warm, scented Happy Happy Happy...

The sheer hell of a million brutal irrepressible creases over, I can store my beloved bundle bounty ready to use - albeit with the firm intention not to bother to pre-wash fat quarters, and for gods sake girl remember not to tumble dry the crap out of cotton ever again.  

Now you'd think after all that I'd be getting stuck right in to using one of those beauties.  Think again!  I am going to prolong the pleasure and keep them on display for a wee while, enjoying every minute of planning what to do with them!  In the mean time i have 3 jelly rolls from last year to enjoy!

  
First up will be Moda Pure Sweetwater range, used in this intriguing pattern from Crazy Mom Quilts on Bee Square Blog   A new pattern for me to try, one that looks like triangles but (thank god) ISN'T!    Well, one step at a time eh? 

 

End and Beginning

And finally, the last make of 2010 was Monkey Mark II.  A little something for my man to take with him for the host family of the New Year party I couldn't go to. 

Monkey Mark II

Monkeys!  Mark I and II together for one minute only...

Happy New Year to one and all!  I'm a bit late in posting again, I had a bit of a crash after new year.  Days of just having no energy at all, no will to move.  I'm feeling a lot better now, but my nights are still really pants so I'm getting headachey every day from prolonged lack of sleep.  For days now I've been getting about an hour or so when I go to bed, then an hour or so after breakfast.  The rest is just occasional dosing for a few minutes.  Lying awake all night feeling exhausted is no fun. 

However, I have been doing a lot of planning...  I don't do resolutions as such, but this year I do have goals.  Too many actually, I've tried to write this post a few times and it always ends up pages long!  So, doing my best to condense things, here's my 2011 plans.

In 2011, I will...

Make 12 Quilts, 12 Bags, and at least a few attempts at sewing something different!

Maybe, hopefully, sell something!

In getting to these goals there are a few things I'd like to have done on the way.

1.    Learn how to do free motion quilting
2.    Make a quilt out of something other than light/medium weight 100% cotton
3.    Make a large (Queen size) quilt.
4.    Make a quilt of my own design.
5.    Make a quilt using small scraps, ideally a spiderweb pattern. 
6.    Get over my fear of triangles!
7.    Have a go at dying and bleaching fabric to make my own  colourways for quilting.
8.    Make more effort to try new bag patterns.
9.    Use some nice wool fabric for a bag.
10.  Practice and improve my machine embroidery.
11.  Learn how to do piping.
12.  Practice and improve sewing zips into bags.
13.  Learn how to follow vintage patterns (one day my ass might be small enough to try making clothes!)

Some list eh?  And that's the condensed version!  Also, I'd really like to learn to accept Narcolepsy, in a kind of "this is my life, get used to it" kind of a way.  I really wish I could stop feeling so crappy and disappointed in myself with how little I feel I can do.  And at the same time, I've got to stop feeling guilty when i get a good day!  I know, I know, it sounds perverse, but ever since I became unfit for work its like i feel I'm not entitled to a good day, and when I get one I feel guilty and paranoid - like one of those candid cameras from the "benefit thieves" adverts is going to spot me that specific second and declare me a fraud...  (My brain may be missing valuable chemicals but it ain't short on imagination...)  Anyway.  Time to try and stop thinking about who I was, and get used to being who I am.  It ain't going away, there isn't a cure, but surely things will get better for me once I start accepting how things are and just getting on with it.

Talking of getting on with things, I'll post tomorrow with how I've been making a start.
   x  

Just call me Auntie (social)

Ah the Festive Season...  One time of the year my Narcolepsy doesn't stand out quite so much as everyone over 25 feels knackered and falls asleep in front of the telly after eating!  Just maybe not quite so often as I do... And most people probably manage to leave the dinner table first..
Apologies for not blogging last week, I was way too tired, I tried a few times but just kept on falling asleep in front of the laptop.  Always interesting when I wake up and check web history...  When the hell did I look at penis enlargement?  Lesson, don't try to check your junk box on email when you are sleepy...  Not always bad though, managed to click my way into entering a competition last summer, and I won!  That is to say I got an email saying I'd won something and I had to do a bit of research and history checking, and found I had indeed entered a competition in my sleep.  Now my man is constantly reminding me to go to national lottery page whenever I feel sleepy...

Anyway...  Just as a wee catch up here are the last of the pressies I got done before Christmas day.

Cushion covers - my first go at machine embroidery...  Great fun! 

Cushion covers part two

Another pleaty bag, this time with pocket and keys clip.

I also managed two purses and a notebook cover, but, dopey mare, forgot to take photos before packaging them up for posting...

At the moment I'm way too tired to even go into the sewing cupboard, so I'm just day dreaming about all the gorgeous fabric I have, all the gorgeous fabric I want, and all the gorgeous things I could attempt to replicate soon...  No particular project in mind to do first, though my handmade Christmas recipients have all insisted I do something just for me first!  Which would be kinda nice.  In the meantime I just have to ride out this tiredness which seems to be coming in big waves every half an hour or so...  One minute I'm thinking I'll go and do something, and I don't even get as far as standing up before all the energy has evaporated out of my arms and legs.  And by the time I get over it, it will be New Year... 

I have to admit, I don't like New Year.  Everything about it makes me feel so, I don't know, inadequate.  I cant do "going out".  I get invitations, and I feel horrible turning them down.  But I am just not up to it - I cant stay awake for hours, meeting and talking to people is exhausting, and of course I'm terribly shy so even without the Narcolepsy meeting and talking to people freaks me out.  So add on the Narcolepsy and the fact that stress and worry makes it worse...  Then the paranoia creeps in - I get tired very suddenly and that often comes across to a stranger as disinterest or boredom or rudeness.  I've been told before that I can come across as stuck up.  Knowing this doesn't help!  On the rare occasions I'm actually managing to talk to people I can zone out for a few seconds, which doesn't sound bad but it means I miss a few seconds of conversation, so I'm quietly struggling to follow whats being said.  Again, this looks like I'm bored and not paying attention... 
And as if all this wasn't crappy enough, I have cataplexy in the back of my mind.  When it actually happens I'm usually okay with it and don't care too much what observers may think.  For instance my mans dad told me something last week and it was so funny I collapsed in a heap on the floor of the local mini-market!  He picked me up, I started laughing again and fell over.  He picked me up and held on to me til I stopped laughing.  I don't know exactly how many people saw it, and I didn't stop to look round.  I didn't care really, it didn't bother me.  But being in a social situation where people are all having a good time it hangs in the back of my mind and I cant relax and enjoy myself because I don't want it to happen. 

Then there's the drinking.  I'm turning into such an old fart its unbelievable!  I don't have anything against drinking.  I'm not tee-total.  But as much as I cant stand being the only one not drinking, I know that there's a 60% chance a drink will completely knock me out asleep, and lately a 30% chance that a drink will give me a hangover within 30 mins of consumption (weird I know, but seems to happen a fair bit) so I don't want to risk drinking when I'm not at home. 
So.  Rather than being the sour faced cow in the corner wishing she was elsewhere, I'm staying at home.  Me and Ellie cat will be sitting by the fire toasting a happy new year to one and all, hope you all have a great night!

xxx

P.S.  I think I've managed to put 3 slide shows of this years sewing cupboard makes on my blog, have a nosey if you like!

Frank Lee Bag

Another present done!  Fortunately this one was quick and easy thanks to a lovely pattern & tutorial from Lisa Lam  my favourite bag designer. 

One evening spent cutting and folding fabric

One evening spent assembling bag and sewing on handles.

One rather nice, if I do say so myself, tote bag. 

I do love the fabric though, Gone with the Wind from Fabric Angels. 

Its been so nice to do a wee project again, just taking my time and not worrying too much about deadlines!  Last week was tough, every aspect of Narcolepsy in just a few days...  Constantly dozing off, sleep paralysis (that's when you know you are actually awake and you can hear everything, but your brain has paralysed your body thinking you were asleep, really nasty) hallucinations (fire seems to be a favourite of my subconscious, woke up and saw flames leaping up the walls in front of me)  cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle control usually brought on by rapid change in emotions - my fault, I watched the first few episodes of Miranda on i-player)  to name but a few... 

I've got a few more wee things to do for postage on Friday, but I might not blog them cos I'm keeping them a surprise...