Bom's Away!

Better late than never.    Should have posted my BOM progress on Monday but I seem to be working in a different time zone to the rest of the planet.

I've managed a little bit of progress on Vignette.    Like I started restitching Bird Block #2.....

Not a lot of progress but not bad considering I've been trying a new technique..... Zombie Stitching!

I'm cream crackered (knackered)(worn out) from gardening.   Don't know why I bother to call what I do 'gardening'.  The minds eye conjures up an image of a genteel lady pulling out the odd weed from a pristine flower bed or carrying a pretty trug and delicately deadheading roses. Oh... and doing all that while wearing a flattering straw hat and pretty clothes.  So not me!

I was so pleased when Chris and Sally came over on Monday.   Kept me out of the dirt for a few hours.  Got to sew the batch of Shoo Fly blocks for Vignette too.....

that's them on the right.   The design wall resembles my brain right now.... cluttered!

Before I forget..... I got a picture of all three Tailfeathers blocks that Kitty finished while she was here....

they are gorgeous!   I'm battling the urge to start mine right away.... what's the betting I loose.

Back to the land now...   how about this sparkling clean Greenhouse!

I emptied the whole thing out on Sunday... pruned the Grape Vine and the Kiwi then cleared out the Tomato bed and washed the place out floor to ceiling with Jeyes Fluid (strong disinfectant).  Disinfected myself into the bargain!    It seems there is no way to wash a roof and expect to stay dry underneath it.  Now I don't mind being wet but disinfected!!   It's killed off my hair!   Still it's good to know  that mould won't grow on me for a while.

Had a lovely surprise yesterday.......

TRIPLETS!   The first of this years lambs to arrive in the field out front.     They're part of the advance party.  There are three sheep in the field and each of them has a set of triplets.  So cute I could stand and watch them all day.    But I have to work......

From mid summer on last year torrents of rain on a daily basis made it impossible to get into the garden.  So.... the field next door moved in!     It's hard work trying to dig it out while looking for and trying to save the plants.

I'm good at digging but not good at keeping my clothes intact while doing it.   I've already split the entire crotch of my most disreputable gardening trousers (old faithfuls).   Looked a bit like a Cowgirl wearing Chaps.  Good job we don't have neighbours!   Guess I'll be stitching more than quilts this weekend.    Before you say anything....NO... I am not throwing them out!   They're my favourites. 

Tilly arrives tomorrow to spend a whole week.... yippee!    I've blackmailed her (just like I did Kitty) into gardening (little does she know) with me for an hour each morning and evening.   Well.... I need all the help I can get and I'm past caring how I get it!    Beauty of it for me is I'll get to sew!!! 

OK.... better get back to digging.   Think there's more dirt in my hair than on the land right now... a bath is going to be succulent when I'm done.... cleaning the mud out of the tub isn't.  Oh well....

Hope you are having a week of genteel stitching with a lot of fun thrown in.....

See ya soon.....

Hugs

Josie

One stitch forwards.....

two back!!

It's been one of those weeks when the only thing I've made is mistakes.    Things were going well up to the point that I finished this block......

  

believe it or not each little piece went together perfectly... first time.   Talk about being flushed with success.  I was positively glowing with pride.   Well you know what pride comes before......   ten tons of manure falling on you from a dizzy height! 

The stitching gremlins moved in on Friday night.... that's right.... FNSI Friday night!!  I'm beginning to think I'm jinxed.     I dived right in to a bit of high speed fabric cutting.... tracing and thread choosing for a new BOM block.   That had me in a total tizzy in no time at all... I don't do speed.    Eventually I flopped into my chair to stitch away what was left of my FNSI.   It wasn't long before I sensed a problem .......   I didn't like the threads I'd chosen.....

they just looked so insipid!   Goes to show.... choose threads in haste.... repent at leisure!  By the way that left hand bunny doesn't have designer stubble....  I'd started unpicking. 

I wasn't best pleased with myself I can tell you.   You see this BOM was going to kill two birds with one stone.    A FNSI project and a BOM to show on Bom's Away  link on Monday.     Needless to say I missed both deadlines!   

It did cross my mind not to show you what I did with the reject rabbits.   Thought I might just keep schtum for now and reveal all next Monday.   Guess I'm just not that sneaky.    So.....

here it is... Block 1 of   Sunshine Frolics by The Birdhouse.   Just a few more cross stitches in the flower centres and it's done.   I'm digging into my stash of Celebrate Spring by Sandy Gervais for this one. 

By the way....I decided it would take  too long to unpick the reject rabbits so I started the stitchery from scratch again.

Next I thought I'd make the Shoo Fly blocks then assemble Block 4 of Vignette.   Problem #2... spot the difference....

I'd only gone and stitched the bird on a white background when it should have been pink dot!!   What was I thinking.    Kitty is here  and her view was just leave it white and remember to stitch the opposite corner block on white two.  Then I'd have diagonal pink and white corner blocks.  Guess what.... I didn't like that idea.   No surprise that I'm stitching that block again then.

So.... what I'm doing right now is... correcting mistakes!   I really must learn to read instructions more carefully.

 Now... like I said Kitty arrived on Tuesday for a sewing/stitching break.   She's having a much better time of it.   She finished this note book cover.....

All those little flowers started out as roughly cut hexagons that Kitty stitched a flower on then trimmed the edges.   There's some lovely decorative metallic thread lines too.   It's so pretty.

Then she made me jealous by finishing off  the first block of her Tailfeathers BOM.   It's totally gorgeous.  She's doing it in Fig Tree Quilts Butterscotch and Roses fabric..... I have got to get some of that.  It's fabulous.   What do you think....

Gorgeous eh!

In between stitching sessions Kitty has been helping me do battle with this.....

Believe it or not that strip at the right hand side should be a flower border!    There's a stock fence which has collapsed in the winter storms  buried in there too.    I've been busy doing the strong arm stuff.... cutting barbed wire and hauling out fence posts while Kitty gave all the Hawthorns a lovely haircut.   Guess it's serious garden taming time again.

OK... I'd better get stitching that bird if I want to get this Vignette block finished anytime soon.

Hope you've all fared better than me this week and had loads of fun 'doing your stuff'!

On Sunday I'll finally have some time to blog hop.  I'm so looking forward to reading what you've all been up to......

See ya soon  (promise)
Hugs
Josie

Dear Jane.......

.... you can't scare me!! 

That's a turn up for the books considering the meltdown I had over (not so) Dear Jane's quilt last week.  I swear at one point I was ready to burn the book.  Thank goodness I didn't because now I'm really starting to have fun.

OK... I did decide to start the whole thing again but that wasn't so bad.... I'd only made 4 blocks and I didn't like two of them.   First off I made these two....

and you just wouldn't believe how calm and in control I was.   No freaking out at all.   Flushed with success I sewed these....

then these.....

followed by......

and tonight I'm working to finish this.

Hey Kit..... it's GREEN!! 

How about that.  Almost nine blocks in the bag and only 216 to go..... I can do this!   But I think  it's going to take a while.

Who'd have believed that one week could make such a difference.     I have Supergoof to thank for the turnaround.    You see the root of my problem was..... I wanted my Dear Jane to look exactly like hers.   Sound stupid to you.... it does to me...now!    The thing is I've loved her version of the quilt for years... yes years.   I look at it on her blog every week... more than once a week too.   Does that make me a Quilt Stalker?

So... when I decided to start my own DJ I was subconsciously stashing fabrics that I thought would recreate her gorgeous quilt.  Then when I finally started working on it everything went went downhill fast my brain shut down.    No matter how hard I tried I couldn't do it.   I couldn't 'see' her quilt in my fabric stash.

It took a while... some good advice from Ingrid and encouraging comments on my last post from some lovely quilters (you know who you are) for me to realise the error of my ways.

The penny dropped!    The reason I couldn't make Ingrid's quilt is..... I'm not her!  I'm ME!   I can only make MY quilt and obviously it will look different but I will love it because I made it.  Eureka!! 

There must be a moral here somewhere but I'm blowed if I can see it.   I'm glad I got all that off my chest.

Now I will show you how all MY blocks look together.....

I really am happy with them.... pretend the green one (for Kit) is finished .   Who knows what colours I'll put in the next block.  I don't.  I'm following recommendations and letting DJ take me where it wants to go.

OK.... before you start a collection to send me to a shrink I'll change the subject.

Look what the postman brought.....

Lynette Anderson's newest book.   I pre-ordered it months ago and it actually arrived ahead of the scheduled time.   Lovely surprise and gorgeous book.    Another 'must make every project in it' book if ever there was one.     Good job I think I'm beginning to sew faster. 

Now before I forget..... it's FNSI time again.    It's this coming Friday and this time I remembered to tell you about it.   As my last Friday Night Sew In sucked  (due to circumstances beyond my control) I'm determined to enjoy this one... to the full!!    Haven't decided what I'm going to do yet but I'm not short on choices.

Now guess what..... I'm going to make you look at yet another cat photo...

Baggy Puss kept me company all afternoon....... he had some great Karma going... Peace and Love to Quilters everywhere..... ahhhhhh

OK... I'm out of here.   I don't think I'll sleep tonight unless I get that green block finished........

Hope you all are having a fantastic week

See ya soon with my FNSI update...

Josie

If all else fails.....

go back to the beginning and have a re-think!

It wasn't what I intended when I got out of bed this morning but as the day went on I found myself doing this....

 

Auditioning fabrics for my Dear Jane.    That sounds a lot fancier than slapping fabrics up on the wall then tearing down any that glared at me... which is actually what I did.   I'm still not sure about them and I've already rejected two thirds of the fabrics I'd stashed for this quilt!

There is something else bugging me too.....

I don't like the forth block from the right up there.    It looks OK in the photo but the camera is playing tricks with that 'pink' in reality it has a brownish muddy look to it.  Not nice.   Looks like I'll have to make that dastardly block again!

Call me mad but as I've only made 4 blocks (thank goodness) I'm thinking of maybe starting over.  Maybe even ditching the red/cream colour plan.   Problem is I don't have any other colour scheme in mind.   Maybe I'll just throw every colour of the rainbow at it and hope for the best. 

I got myself in such a fankle with the whole thing I had to take a break.   Lucky for me I'd found this yesterday....

 Issue #1 of a brand new quilting magazine.     I'm really pleased to see a 'Modern' quilt magazine out there in print.     So what if I'm teetering on the edge of senility I like seeing what all the young quilting whippersnappers are up to... so there!   

I'm thinking I need one of these.....

or maybe two.   Heck... lets make it half a dozen.   I can never find my spec's case so a few of these scattered around the house would not only look decorative they would save me a lot of stomping around in a paddy turning the air blue. 

After a good perusing session with that magazine I still wasn't calm enough to get back to DJ so I gazed at these for a while..

How cute are they!     They're on the front cover of the latest Mollie Makes  magazine.   Totally irresistible.

Well.... all that magazine reading was very nice but it didn't help clear my mind.    I'm still at loggerheads with Dear Jane.    

I made the mistake of asking Mac to take a glance at the wall and give me his opinion....  I really should have known better.  

He huffed and he puffed and he blew my wall to bits!  It just wasn't 'working' for him.  Hs 'artistic self' just couldn't 'see' where it was going.    Well..... neither could mine but he could have sweetened the pill a little bit.  Or just plain lied.   Honestly that man doesn't know the meaning of the world diplomacy! 

So.... I'm right back where I started.    No clue how to go forward with this one.  Oh well..... reckon I'll just take a leaf out of Scarlet O'Hara's book.... I'll think about it tomorrow.

I'm off to find myself a friendly squirrel.   I could really do with one of these.......

Maybe a nice Gin and Orange would help too...

Have a great time doing what you're doing

See ya soon

Josie.

Sitching in Slow Motion.....

that's how it's felt to me this week.     I've worked my little hand knitted socks off but  I still seem to be getting nowhere fast.  Maybe I should change my name to Slow Mo!

I swear that this is some sort of diabolical torture.....

My fingers are red raw and bleeding (I kid you not) from stitching hexies this week.   A dozen more blooms finished and a row of white hexies attached not quite all around those I'd already stitched together.   Do you know how much you can age sewing one of these quilts!

Why do I do it?    Coz I love it.... that's why.  I only wish I could say the same about certain other jobs I've done this week.   Like last Sunday when I took to the road..... to fix it!

It all started when my  4x4 went into the body shop for repair.   The result of a slight altercation I had with some mud and the gatepost... but that's another story.   The repair centre gave me a really cute courtesy car.   A tiny Chevvy.   Boy did I feel girly and twenty years younger driving home.  Till I reached our driveway that is.  

Potholes!!  The road into here was full of them.  It's a winter thing.  Helga (my 4x4)  takes them in her stride but I just couldn't risk driving the Chevvy into one and appearing again in someones back garden in Australia.  So there was nothing for it but to fill them it.

So... I shovelled sub-base (for making roads) on and off the trailer most of the day.   It was exhausting work... but cheaper than a Gym membership!   I won't mention how stiff and sore I was come Monday... that would make me a wimp! 

OK... back to the whole point of this blog... stitching.

I stitched the little Birdie in this picture...

and finished up a few french knots and satin stitches on the flower borders.   I won't stitch the 'grass' till I've finished piecing the block.    Maybe I'll make a start on the border blocks tomorrow.... while Chris and Sally are here.

They came over last Monday too.    Sally brought her newest quilt top over to layer up.....

So... we rolled up the hearth rug and got down to business.   I helped her.....



while Chris appointed herself  'Offical Photographer'  a very dangerous profession considering how much Sally and I don't like being photographed!   All I can say is....after seeing this shot..... I'm on a diet! 

Is it just me or does creeping about on the floor hurt more the older you get?

I started this too.....

don't laugh!   I know it looks a bit swamped by the frame right now but.... I have a plan!

There is another pieced border to make for the block.  More applique bits to make for the centre too.  I think it'll work out well in the end.     Don't remind me I said that if it doesn't will you.  

I know the frame looks rectangular in the shot but I can assure you it is square.  Got it in Ikea on my way home from the Edinburgh quilt show last week.   It's really nice and not expensive... which I like even more.  I'm thinking of getting a picture mount to frame the block.   I'm wondering if it will look good under glass though.   Have any of you out there framed anything stitchy behind glass?  I'd appreciate your feedback. 

Well.... that's it for now.   I've got a hot date with the TV tonight.    I've recorded 'Meet the Sloths'.   Check out ....this clip..... I bet you can't watch the pair eating a bean without smiling.

Have a great week..... full of fun

Happy Hugs

Josie