Zoom and a Lucy Update.

 Yesterday I zoomed with Chooky and the girls. Of course I spent the time working on my Lucy quilt.  She is getting quite heavy now as I add the final pieces around the edges so I took some time to remove papers. I have been removing as I go and reusing, but always leave them two or three deep around the edges.

Hmm, blogger is being an RRRRs about formatting today, it won't do things the way I like them.

So, with extra and unwanted spacings I'll move on to what Tony was up to while we sewed and chatted. He spent some time up a ladder, moving his weather station on to an old TV aerial pole. He's been going to do it for a few years. 

And because blogger is still being an RRRRs, next we have an image of the yummy chocolate cake he made. He was a little worried as he used too much flour. The recipe called for self raising, which we don't have, but he knew to add baking powder and googled the amounts, then got all confused and added double the recipe. LOL  He need not have worried, it was just fine. Gooey but not dense and very chewy and tasty.

And just look how thick the icing is.

He also made beans on toast for lunch and a very delicious sausage and gnocchi dish for our tea. Then for his finale he baked the perfect loaf of bread which he showed off to the ladies on line when it came out of the oven.

While he was doing all of that I was sewing and chatting and sewing and listening and sewing some more.

I was pleased to add the third corner to the edge of Lucy and worked all the way along one long side and had the forth and final corner almost complete before my poor wrist and hand decided that almost twelve hours of stitching was quite enough thank you.

Then I poured myself a gin and soda and chatted some more.

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This morning Tony and I took Lucy outside for a photo shoot in the lovely sunshine. I know some of you folks in Australia would love to see weather like this and hopefully you will soon. It would certainly help to dry up all the flooding some of you are experiencing.

Anyway, back to Lucy.

The model was being uncooperative and insisted on holding Lucy sideways....

Then he said no, not under the tree...

Over by the flag pole would be better.

I disagreed, I thought the wind would blow it on to his legs.

But took some pictures anyway.

It's such a beautiful day I feel like I ought to be outside doing something.

But first a recent acquisition.

I spied the back of this cross stitch kit on a recent visit to the sewing centre, just some blue threads that caught my eye, when I turned it around I knew I had to have it. My lovely Mum loved badgers and it seems to have rubbed off on to me. 

I'm on a no spend at the moment until Tony finds another job, but as I had sold a couple of items at a recent guild meeting and had just the right amount in my purse, I decided it was meant to be and the badger came home with me.

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Oh and while we were chatting in zoom yesterday we discussed how I might finish my Lucy Blue...

After a little internet window shopping this morning and a conversation with Tony, I have purchased some wide fleece to back her with. It was on special at half price. I'm still undecided on bagging out or binding.......

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I'm off to play in the sun for a while.  Hope you're having a great weekend. 

Altruistic Aquisitions

But first, there is this.

I made another this way 'n' that quilt yesterday.  

An eye spy version this time, no two fabrics are the same. 

Now to quilt and bind it.

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I went out today to a crafters sale.

The local Altrusa society appeal each year for craft items to be donated then hold a craft bazaar to sell it all off. I went along with a friend and we both came home with some good finds.

I scored two pieces of fabric that will be great for quilt backs..

A bundle of foodie fat quarters.

At $10 for the bundle it was a great score, I've seen fat quarters for sale at $9.50 each recently.

There are also two chocolatey bundles.

They are mostly off cuts in varying sizes, but the piece with writing on it is almost a metre.

I also grabbed a bag of zips and a couple of raffle tickets.

So glad I went along.

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I'm off to hunt for a quilting design for my recent finishes. 

Hope you're having a great weekend. 

A quick squirrel project.

So yesterday I was playing about with my scrappy triangles, thinking I might make a few more then decide on a layout and make up a throw size top.  While I was fiddling about I noticed that two blocks appeared to be quite different in size.

No worry I thought as I had not trimmed them down yet, but when I turned them over trim them to the line, (they are foundation paper pieced) I noticed again that they are not all the same size.

The instructions printed on each page state that they should finish at 6 inches on the inner/sewing line.

Some are 6 inches, some are 5 15/16ths some are 6 3/16ths. 

Arg!

How did this happen?

Did I change something?

I printed a few more blocks, making no changes to the printer settings...

Aaaaand....

It's not anything I did, there is a variance in the sizes of the blocks.

I know it is a free pattern, but surely even free patterns should have all of the blocks at the same size.

In a huffy mood I put them all away for another day. Then began pulling out various projects and bundles of fabrics, and I'm not sure quite how I managed it but I found myself on Pinterest looking for another scrap project, then I saw something that might need the contents of the strips drawer.

It's been growing for a while, several years actually so it was way beyond time to do something constructive with the contents.

By now I had spent the whole afternoon messing about doing not a great deal, so I set too and sorted out some fabrics, quickly making up two blocks before tea.

And sorted some more fabrics in preparation for today.

It was Timaru Patchwork and quilters club meeting last night and even though I was asked several times if I would work an extra shift, I declined and attended the meeting. And I'm glad I did.

Any way, after the necessary chores were done this morning I sat down and managed to do some study, with only minimal interruption from Tony. So that after lunch I could play some more.

When Tony and his dad popped in to see what was going on I had a few more blocks made.

These blocks were pretty fast to make and speeded even more by the discovery of a bundle of perfectly sized pieces.

In what seemed like no time at all I decided there were enough blocks and I began to put them together, then added a border and.......

Tada!!!

One completed quilt top.

Yet another project that I can blame on that darned squirrel. And all made entirely from scraps, even the green with gold spots that I used for the sash strips and borders was in the strip drawer. It had been cut many years ago for a project that was abandoned and made its way in to the strip drawer. 

Once it is quilted and bound this one will be donated.

What to do tomorrow?

Maybe make another strippy quilt as this one made very little difference to the drawer, it is still full to the top.

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Two applications, but no job for Tony yet.

Please keep crossing your fingers and pins for him.

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I'd better go cook him some tea. 

 

I have Amazing Colleagues.

As I'm sure you remember, one of my colleagues has given me bundles of fabric scraps in the past.

Yesterday, a different colleague surprised me with another bundle.

They were squished in to a plastic bag and it was hard to see what was there.

I didn't take pictures of everything, but I'm sure you can see that these scraps are not small pieces.

there were lots of checks and stripes, some florals and a few pieces of home spun.

There were some half meter cuts, a few fat quarter sized off cuts and lots of Debbie Mumm.

There was even a pre made block.

Hmm, a churn dash..... LOL

These fabrics are not something I would go and purchase for myself/

But sorting through them was certainly inspiring.

Something may come of them.

One of the pieces of homespun is a perfect fit for a piece of fabric I purchased off a specials table last week.

It goes beautifully with this butterfly fabric I purchased to make another work top. 

Thank you to my lovely colleague. I'm sure she may have been able to use some of these fabrics herself as she is pretty handy with a needle.

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In other news. I have done very little in the way of sewing.

I did manage to put some of the back stitch in to my brothers regiment badge.

I've actually done more than this image shows. 

I'll be happy to get this one finished, I'm not enjoying it.

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Spring has arrived here in New Zealand, though we did have one last dance with winter. After a couple of days with temperatures in the high teens and even a twenty the Southern continent sent us one last taste of cold with snow and hailstones even down here at sea level. As usual here in Timaru we missed the worst of it, but some places were hit quite badly.

So, now that is over we have been busy in the garden and the green house. Everything has been tidied up and veges are planted.

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My studies have slowed down somewhat. It's difficult to concentrate with Tony home.

No, he has not yet secured another role.

That said we have had some very hopeful phone calls.

Keep your fingers and pins crossed for us.

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I've tried some new recipes and very much enjoyed them, maybe I'll remember to take some photos and tell you more about those in another post.

I've also been relaxing and doing some reading.

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Oh and the jury summons came to nothing. I was discharged before I even made it to the court house. LOL.

That is all of my news. I'm off to make some lunch.

A Lucy Boston Blue Update.

I last did an update on my Lucy quilt top a couple of weeks ago, on 11th September. There is a date that will live in infamy for a loooong time, so much in our world changed on that day.

Anyway, go have a look.

And here she is today. I thought rather than clambering about pegging or pinning her over the top of the quilt in my hallway, I would spread her out on top of our bed.

Please do excuse the mess, I have way more interesting things to do than housework!

Though you can't see it in the above photo, I have turned another corner. I took a corner photo last time, but it wasn't quite complete.

This is how a finished corner should look. This was done in the same way that Lucy Boston made her corners. As you can also see I have used the same filler shapes that Lucy used along the edges of the border blocks, so a nice straight edge to work to. I still did not decide if I will stop here as Lucy did, or if I will add a border or two, just to make it a little bigger.

And while I was photographing the edges, this block caught my eye.

Unlike some, I didn't do much in the way of fussy cutting, but I think I got this one just right.

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It's been a strange week, my poor Tony was made redundant again and has been home with me all week. It's been difficult to settle to anything, I've done no sewing and almost no study.

I did submit two completed papers and their completed observations, half of which is back and marked as complete and achieved.

Tony is spending a lot of time on the job search websites and talking to employment agencies. More news when we have it. Meanwhile my days are somewhat disrupted.

We have also spent some time in the garden , a little late this year, getting things cleaned up and planted.

I'm off work next week as I have been summoned for jury service again.

I hope I'm not selected and maybe, just maybe I'll get some sewing done.

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Oh yes!

A lot of my spare time has been spent on Pinterest.

I'm being bombarded with ideas for crochet temperature blankets.

Hmmmmm

Maybe.....

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