BACK TO NORMAL…………

Well it’s sort of back to normal now. I was suffering from cabin fever yesterday morning. So we all headed out to the garden centre for a nose around and a cup of coffee in the cafe. I certainly enjoyed the banter around the table at the cafe. I’ve had a really good time over the festive season. I’m not sure but I think I’m becoming eccentric. I have been singing and dancing and generally enjoying my time off. There have been times when my little family thought I was losing it.

 When we got back we all set off in different areas of the house to do some bit and pieces. I went into the sewing room, my Sarah headed up to her room to do some illustrating and hubby went out to his workshop to play with steam engines. I don’t know what progress the others made but I managed to finish piecing the blocks for my Japanese Woven Appliqué quilt. After trimming the appliqué blocks to size I will be ready to add the sashing. I will post photos when the sashing has been added. So on the second day of 2012 I have managed progress on two projects on my To-Do List. Of course for every finish I manage I will probably add one to the list! It was a good productive day. I hope for many more like it this year.

I have started planning the layout of my Ruth’s Stitchery quilt. I’ve decided to give it a random scrappy look. Well I guess it won’t be so scrappy because I have purchased fat quarters specifically for the job. In fact while I was finishing off the pieced blocks for the Japanese Woven Appliqué I found some more fabrics that will blend in beautifully with the fat quarters that I have purchased and the thread colours that I have used to stitch the stitcheries. I’m getting a bit excited about this project now but it will take me a while before I finish all the stitcheries.

Now today I participated in my weekly sewing session at Just Quilting this morning. I worked on my Red Hexagon Quilt and got a whole strip ready to add to the main quilt. Like me most of today’s ladies were just as happy to get back to normal as I was. We drank coffee and discussed all the nice things that happened over the festive holiday, all the while listening to the howling wind. The gusts were making the shutters rattle and the visitors who decided to brave the weather were being blown thru the door. One of the topics of discussion was what else I got for the twelve days of Christmas from hubby. Well for the fourth day of Christmas my hubby gave to me,  this lovely hallmarked silver needle holder.

Months ago I mentioned that I was looking for a wooden needle holder which I would like to do some decorative painting on. As hubby could not find a wooden one he went one better and got this one. It really is nice. I think I’ll attach a nice ribbon to it and keep it in one of my needlework cases. I’ll tell you about the fifth day of Christmas next time.

Well I have made my phone calls and organised next week’s longarm quilting work sorted leaving me the rest of this week to progress on the UFOs on my To-Do List. Who knows perhaps I will even have a chance to design a new Primitive Appliqué project which is also on my To-Do List. I have lots of fabrics to use up from my Japanese Woven collection which I’ve really been enjoying. I recently found out that there’s a new book out called Taupe Inspiration by Kylie Irvine. I really love her work as she uses a lot of Japanese Woven fabrics. I think this book will probably go on my list of Must-Haves.

I think it’s going to be a good year. I have plenty of ideas for new projects. I want to try fabric colours that I never would have used years ago. My preference for backgrounds fabrics tend to be on the light side but this year I will make a quilt using a black background. Black is so far out of my comfort zone and I’m sure I probably won’t enjoy working with it but I think the results will be quite striking. Anyone out there want to join me making something using a black background? There’s safety in numbers you know. If we all have a go perhaps we can start a different trend.

For this evening, this ambitious happy longarm quilter will probably be working on stitcheries. I think you should all be working on your UFOs like I have been doing. You wouldn’t believe how much satisfaction comes from finishing something that has been on the go for a while. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching.