Kahlil Gibran

"Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes."

as random as i get

It is impossible to be random!lord knows i try but its impossible. the human brain likes harmony. my human brain, likes harmony yet can neither achieve pattern perfection nor complete chaos!

blocks laid out ready to juggle or sew. i'm mulling it over.

I made this today.

Daisy made these.

now 3 weeks 3 days all 6 girls are doing well..

excuses excuses

I have not really been up to doing much of late, the seriously horrible cold and tummy issue coupled with overwhelming tiredness really put a crimp in my joie d'vive (is that how you spell that?) anyway I am looking forward to vast improvement now, thanks to thyroxine.

But before starting that I had tried to galvanise myself into some sort of action and in the process come across a very old friend. Lone is one talented lady, we were at school together and both had an artistic bias to almost everything we did. To my delight she was the tutor at a small sewing class predominantly patchwork and quilting based, a smattering of Scandinavian knitting took place also as an aside. Lone's Danish roots very much in the fore there!

It was very social, and enjoyable much like the get together at the vicarage, which I profoundly apologise for not having managed to drag myself to of late.

sewing was ensuing

I will be pottering along with my own WIP's for the foreseeable.

Its not easy getting old

and some times its not that easy being young!

2 generations sew

With Em's visit we got a bit of sewing done together.

there was two generations hiding behind that quilt !

A star and coffee

Can only mean one thing!

I end up scratching about for ways to describe which quilt top I am working on, when I talk to anyone about what I am doing. The rather witty and clever AJ came up with the name for this one. Well that is to say hinted so accurately that even I couldn't not see where his mind was going.

Voila starbucks quilt.

The sun light makes the red look much brighter than it is, Id suggest seeing an earlier picture of the carpenter square portion for more accurate colours. Unfortunately though winter sunshine is great for picture taking winter wind is not. Oh well you get the idea anyway.

(Edited to add: actually on my lap top the colours look closer to reality.)

I will soon be starting on a "not brown" quilt, in fact two. Two small quilts to go on white bed linen covered bunk beds. My first real quilt request/commission(?). Now there is a scary and exciting thought.

Purple and hand quilted, OK not expertly but still done!

Little apples and pretty purples

No officer I dont know how those browns snuck in there!

Oh okay if you want colour heres some

Baby Boom

Finally I have finished the hand quilting on the purple. Ironic eh one day to make the top and goodness knows how many months to do the quilting. It will be going to my new great nephew Noah! Not a really baby style quilt but hopefully it will be serviceable and enjoyed by him and his mum.

Of course I am itching to make a girly pink quilt now that the most beautiful girl in the world has arrived. Eloise, made her début Dec 7th, it was a joy and a privilege to be down there with William while poor parents were going through the painful part. Ice pink and white fabric with I love Grandma all over it? no? Just as well clever Em has steered me into more purples. Fabric for Christmas what more could a sewist want? OK apart from a new sewing machine! There's always next year.

Soon as I figure out how to upload pictures from the new camera on to my laptop I will, I will really I will! no really I will get to it!

Far as the hand quilting, I still haven't found and thimbles that really suit me, so sore finger ends tended to slow the whole business down. I think I maybe cheated too, since the fabric was so busy I quilted from the back, not very conventional of me I know, but I am not known for conventionality. I doodled really, trying out feathers and wreaths of feathers and hearts and circles and wiggly lines. The actual quilting took on an organic look which I dont think the pictures I have taken will show too well. The main thing though is that I did do it!!!! and while it isn't the biggest quilt in the world, I seem to have a natural size, it was a good way to develop my nascent technique.

The red, grey and cream top is still a WIP as are the hexies. so plenty to be going on with.

whats that button?

Im still working on the hand quilting of the stash and slash purple quilt. Its slow..I am slow..but its is happening gradually.

As an interlude my darling daughter asked me to take up some rather expensive PJamas for her..now short is a feature in my family, we reckon long as our legs reach the floor that's okay. These lovely Mama's and pappa's PJs were long! nice fabric so setting to cut a few inches off the bottoms and hem them was no real problem. Interesting little button down here says I as daughter models them with me scrabbling about on the floor..well at 7 month pregnant she isnt climbing on any tables to let me hem them..cant say I blame her tbh. coming to the conclusion that this pretty little button detail is nice but odd we proceed and turning a nice hem discover that nice little button had a nice hidden tab with button hole to roll up those long even by our diminutive size length legs.....long story short they look great but not as the designer intended ..OOOooopssssss.

The power of the password

There is nothing worse than being at the mercy of your password, especially when you forget that pass word!!!!!! aghhhhh
Took me a while but finally I have it!!!

The quilt show was great! Fat quarters for £1 and I filled my shopping bag! It was a rather tired but happy little band of assorted sewists that headed for home. I didnt take the camera but there were some stunning quilts on show, something for every taste I think.

Kate very kindly let me have her small old quilting frame so I am trying (oh how I am trying) to find the most comfortable way for me to work at it. I am sure there is some marvellous trick involved, but having a back that due to a past break, complains when I do too much of anything (thats my excuse and I am sticking to it) its all very slow.

I think finding your own style and method is something I strongly advocate, I know I am not at all technically above beginner.SO I plod along happily at my own pace.

I was delighted this morning to receive a beautifully hand carded and spun skein of wool. Thank you Ash, I do hope you enjoyed the fleece. The girls will be so chuffed when I tell them they have finally produced proper wool, now if I can just get someone to knit it into a hat for my grandson!!!

Speaking of the girls, do wish them luck, one or two of them plus tup lamb will be making their show debut at Masham this year, all things being equal, and they are not at all impressed at all the leg and face washing they are being subjected to!!!

I promise I will take pics soon!

pups and patterns

For a sewing tray it makes a neat little laptop. shame its not always well behaved.

Of course much of that is my fault!

gratuitous pic of puppies..

and it is grey AJ greyyyyyyy :P call yer' self computer guru!!! ~ducks~

Most of it so far is Moda Petite ecole. with a few additions thanks to Caroline and our trip to Embsay. I'm saving up now for Harrogate Sept 2nd. We country girls know how to have fun.

I must not eat toast over the laptop. I must not eat toast over the lap top..

twinkle twinkle

yes yes browns again!

Nothing more English

There is nothing quite so English sounding as afternoon tea with the Vicar. Unless of course it is afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches with the Vicar!

Of course the ulterior motive to all this delicious sandwich and yummy cheese cake scoffing was meant to be sewing. Being the obsessive compulsive fabric tidier that I can be (at times)I had a ball rooting through Caroline's scrap/fat quarter box. No NoI refuse to believe that was all scrap category. The very generous Caroline even donated a few bits my way, I got the real bargain cheese cake AND fabric! Thank you Caroline, of course they immediately got utilised in the carpenter star quilt I am growing.I say growing because the pattern is all in my head and very liable to change and grow rather organically.

my imperfect points I think may be due to my less than perfect pressing....I will have to experiment, but on the whole Im not too downhearted and the tiny hexes are organically growing too..handy to just do a few when I'm anxious.

I actually did some sewing!!! okay it was only a couple of hexes but hey its something and besides the rest of the time I was either stuffing my face or having fabric envy..(that is a sin you know!!)

more tea Vicar?

pups

These four are enough to keep anyone busy...

but having finally finished the quilting on the zigzag I needed to start something new,the stack n slash took one day,and reminded me that maths is my greatest failing.

Not sure I have enough lifetime left to make a hex quilt on this scale!!

"According to researchers at the University of Glasgow, quilting is “uniquely” good for us, offering, as it does, an outlet for creativity and bringing benefits that mere physical and outdoor pursuits can’t provide."

unravelling secrets

I keep returning to this song as one that moves me and sums up all I hope for my loved ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=favgoOn-U1I&feature=related

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

My fabric purchases, along with stuff already in my stash...my stash haha my little box of fabric..I should have enough to keep me going a while.

Fabric, patchwork chicks and an olde naked man

How's that for an attention grabbing tittle. More on a great day out will follow but for now suffice to say much fabric was admired and bought. The fabric section of the embsay leg of the tour grabbed my attention and good prices and for me a decent variety to choose from was refreshing. We discovered a dire shortage of solids and reds in particular.
After a light lunch we headed off again, adventurously sans map, until C stopped and bought a great bargain £2 map half price. Though it certainly wasn't needed as like a homing pigeon, the call of fabric and quilting ephemera called us on. arriving at patchwork chicks

You know what its like when no matter where you go you meet someone you know? C is one of those who always seems to bump into someone. By this time we weren't even in Yorkshire any more!!! Yours truly was having a moment of "over the rainbowness".

Still no reds to speak of.


Finally we headed back determined to find ice cream, a quest is a quest, and by now it was almost our duty to find ice cream yes? Yes that's what we thought too. Heading back into God's own County we found ice cream and a nice bench to sit and enjoy it on, and that is where the naked man comes in.Ye olde naked man
Directly across the street. Personally I still think he was wearing the wrought iron equivalent of 17C Y-fronts.