Work Hard.......Play Hard

I have certainly been working hard this week and I am pleased to report that I am finally turning the corner and getting my house back in order.  Some rooms are looking so shiny and new and I am hoping to keep them that way.  

Techie's bedroom now my Sewing and Storage room

The others will have to wait a few months but they in turn will get a new look too eventually.  I am gradually moving my sewing fabrics, and equipment upstairs to Techie's old room where they will be still on show but will not be in the dining room!  I haven't yet decided whether to move my worktable and machine upstairs too, I do enjoy watching the birds and enjoy the changing seasons in the garden from the diningroom window as I plan my sewing projects and do my cutting.  

I had an unexpected visit to Kaleidoscope yesterday, hubby had an appointment in Milngavie, just along the road from the quilt shop so I just tagged along for the ride.  We had a nice lunch and then went our separate ways.  I spent a good couple of hours choosing fabrics and chatting to Susan and Merrilyn. They were in 'show' mode making preparations for the up and coming quilting shows.  Ingliston Spring Festival is next weekend 17th - 19th February, I hope I might manage a visit.  I selected a few fabrics for the baby quilts and a background fabric for my Arcadia Avenue Whirligigs.  A phonecall just as I was paying let me know the driver had returned to the car park.  A very successful and  enjoyable day out.

I spent a busy morning today polishing all the stainless steel in the kitchen and I was suitably pleased with myself to allow me to play hard this cold, windy and snowy afternoon.  The background fabric was chopped and sliced and the sewing machine was humming along sewing all the chopped pieces back together again.  I think it all looks rather good now and I'm pleased with it, especially as the Whirligigs were all made from my scraps in the 'box under the table'.  Here are the Whirligigs on the design wall.  

On the Design Wall

I have really enjoyed the whole process of this project and delighted that I have finally and  successfully mastered Foundation Piecing without losing my temper or throwing the bits in the bin.  The only downside in the whole process was removing the paper foundation.  however by the time i had got to the fourth one I had it sussed and like everything else in life the more you do something the easier it becomes.  What do you think?

Completed Top measures 52 x 47inches

Have a fun weekend and a good week ahead whatever you might be doing.

I Think I Have Finally Mastered It

Foundation piecing is a technique I have been longing to master since embarking on my quilting journey.  I have tried more than a few times to master the art with varying degrees of success, most of the attempts have ended in the rubbish bin they were so bad.  My brain would just not comprehend the reverse/mirror image thing and sewing on the foundation side etc etc.  We even had a tutorial given at the class of a paper pieced Hunter's Star, which is a lovely block. It would have made a lovely Christmas Quilt but mine was doomed to failure - I think I eventually did make the block but I cheated and pieced it as normal not on a foundation.

Having spent a lot of last year making Charity Quilts and using simple blocks I was determined I would try something more challenging and a bit different for the start of the new year.  I save  images from various internet sites and browsing through them once again decided on 'the one' but was dismayed to discover it was all paper pieced.  I jumped in with both feet - I ordered the pattern which duly arrived and I have spent hours looking, admiring, pondering, looking for the right foundation paper and the fabrics. The instructions are well written and it even gives you the measurements to cut each piece of fabric.  I did chicken out though and decided against purchasing all the rainbow fabrics. My stash has plenty of fabrics calling.  These are the ones I chose, only because they have been hanging around on the shelf for a long time.

I decided to make just one segment of the pattern to see how I managed.  After much head scratching, and a few stitching lines unpicked the first one was complete - it was all a bit stressful.  

Perseverance and determination overtook the stress and I am pleased to say this one's a keeper!  

The segments have even made it to the design wall!

I am so enjoying this now I have mastered the concept, why did it take me so long to overcome this particular hurdle?  There is no going back I really don't think this quilt will be ending up in the UFO box.

Sometimes you just need to give yourself that little extra push to try something different and then you discover a whole new area to enjoy.  Enjoy whatever you will be making this week.