Moving right along

 I finished the quilt. I have done the quilting - basic stitch in the ditch, which showed me that not all the ditches matched up! Then I put on the border. I had considered doing orange, as with the interior border, but decided to use the main fabric.

I sewed it on and then hand sewed the back. I am always amazed about how long hand sewing can take! 

It is not quite square but is approximately 1 metre.  A good size for a baby - I hope. 

Now to move on to another project - even if it is just coming up with ideas. I still have to finish my tapestry and it is occurring to me that I might like to do a small series related to the current piece. Time will tell if that is a good idea or not. 

Not sure I'll do this technique again

 I have made the quilt top, based on the Ricky Timms book. It took some thinking, which is hard to do in this hot weather, in the post Christmas, New Year and summer holiday time. 

I did manage to put the pieces together in the correct order. Most of the seams matched. But it only made a small piece, about 50cm square. I have added a border, using the same fabric. There were other examples in the book but I didn't have that much other suitable fabric, so just went with the obvious. And it would have taken too much thinking!

It is now about a metre square (very approximately). I think I'll give it to my god-daughter who is pregnant. Hope the baby likes bright colours!!

When I look at the photo, I think all the work in the centre is lost in the brightness but I am not going to change it now, Maybe, if I ever do another one, I'll do something more subtle. 

I've got random bits of leftover fabric, might use it on the back. That is tomorrow's decision, or even the day after. 

Distraction from tapestry

 Well, I thought I'd try something simpler, that requires less sitting still than the tapestry does. 

I have had a book by Ricky Timms for ages and got it out recently, thinking to have a play.

 I am not quite sure how big it will be or what I will do with it. I am hoping for a baby quilt size as there is a baby due in March that I could give it to. If it works out. 

I went out and bought some fabric a week or so before Christmas but haven't really looked at it. Today I did - decided that I don't think it will work, especially not for my first attempt. 

I found a couple of metres of dyed fabric that I must have bought a while ago, totally forgot that I have it. 

I read the instructions, had to read them two or three times, to get my head around them. I have cut the pieces for the first lot of sewing. 

I started sewing, then realised that I had done the first one right, the second one wrong! Aargh!! It is now pulled out and awaiting my return to the sewing machine. Seeing I haven't used it in quite a while, I will leave it for tomorrow, hope to get a good night's sleep and start afresh tomorrow. 

I shouldn't be surprised, I do have an issue, occasionally, with orientation of shapes. I remember one of the first quilts I made, going to regular classes, I  turned the shapes around and got them in the wrong orientations. I often have trouble with that sort of thing. So I'll try to be patient and start again tomorrow. 

Some progress made

 I have done a bit more of my tapestry. It is really getting to be a pick a colour as you go thing. I am telling myself a story about the deeper yellow on the left, and the lighter one on the right, trying to be the dominant colours but others keep getting in the way. Sometimes they just block them, other times they join together and battle it out. 

My back is really giving me grief at the moment though, so I didn't do any weaving today and probably won't for a couple of days. 

Maybe I'll be able to get half an hour done soon - but that half hour just disappears and, suddenly, I realise I have been there for an hour or an hour and a half. 

Maybe a new project will distract me - one that has less sitting down.

Note to self

 Just a brief reminder to myself - if you use mohair yarn in your weaving, don't try to pull it out!! It sticks to the warp.

I put in a bit - because I had it and it was in the colour-range I seem to be using - and then decided that I didn't like it there. But there it is staying as I had so much trouble pulling it out. 

Small progress

Despite the heat, I did manage to do an hour or so of my small tapestry. I have been keeping the blinds down in the room as it faces east and gets the morning sun. Once the sun (or the earth, I suppose) has moved enough, I open the blinds and try to do a little. 

Progress pics from the last few days. 

It is really rather unplanned, I am just playing around and making it up as I go, sort of. Not having had any colour on the cartoon, the outcome is nothing like I had imagined - if I bothered to imagine at all.

It is rather relaxing not even having a proper cartoon to work from! 

And ... I have just noticed that I see a cow's face emerging on the right. Definitely not planned. It may disappear as I progress, I suppose. I think this tendency is called face pareidolia - not that always see human faces!

Happy New Year

Well, it is 2023. I still remember all the angst about the turn of the century and how computers might stop working, planes might fall out of the sky, etc. Doesn't seem that long ago - but that was 23 years ago!! How time flies. Covid hasn't helped, time has changed, it seems to pass at a different rate these days.

Anyway, I hope 2023 is a good year for us all - despite the depressing news that indicates otherwise. Live each day as it comes, enjoy what we have.

Last night we went down the street to observe the fireworks over the city. It was warm and there was a small, happy crowd. It was hard to get photos and, really, I wasn't that bothered. But here is one that I took.

 Happy New Year, I hope you have an interesting, in a good way, year.