Pay It Forward

I've signed up to Pay It Forward on Caity's blog, and now I pass it on.

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I can't say what that gift will be yet as planning it is half the fun, and you may not receive it in a flash... but I promise you it will arrive!

The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I await your comments.

As I haven't had a photo to show for a while, here is my first shirt I made in a workshop. More shirts are on my wish list but they have to wait their turn like every other idea.

So Much To Do; So Little Time

Ain't it the truth. As the time speeds round to start of work again, I have so many things to get done and no drive to do much at all. The weather remains damp which is excellent but I need my dose of sunshine to regenerate.

Thanks to a visit from a good friend, I have started machine quilting on my rainbow quilt. She came down for the day and brought her sewing machine so we both got a lot of sewing done as well as plenty of chatting.

I've also been at the bookwork playing catch up and have a big day in town coming up where I plan to fit in some patchwork shopping in between appointments. Then it's back into the swing of things for another year.

Hopefully I'll get some more sewing done over the weekend as now that I've started quilting, I'm keen to try a few new things. Also while browsing a patchwork magazine today I read a tip on saving thread when sewing so I'll be giving that a try out. Better do some more bookwork too. It's hard to find a balance sometimes.

Works In Progress

A work in progress sounds more promising than an unfinished object or item don't you think. I think so, and to keep myself on task, maybe, I've decided to add a WIP list on my side bar. Here I can keep track of the projects that are waiting to finished and there's less chance of them being forgotten about.



Of course this list will more than likely grow as I have a tendancy to start new things rather than finish off. I have to be in the right mind frame to get something completed. Perhaps my list will be sort of like a deadline without the pressure. We'll see.

Using Up Squares

I've been using the rainy weather as a good excuse to stay indoors and more precisely in the sewing room. Using up some 2.5" and 3.5" squares, I made up some 4 patch and 9 patch blocks and have alternated them with 6.5" squares. How fantastic was it to go to my containers of neatly cut squares and simply start sorting colour combinations.

All I need to do now is choose a fabric for a border and binding and this will be my first quilt top for 2008. Not necessarily the first quilt finished in 2008 because I am still progressing slowly with a couple of WIP.

Yesterday I basted a small sampler using a technique posted by Wanda as I've been having some trouble with fabric movement. It's looking more secure already. The sampler is for some machine quilting practice, can't wait. Thing is today is a nice sunny day and the grass is growing so much it means the mowers are coming out so sewing will have to wait.

A Tidy Start

A Happy and Healthy New Year to you all.

2008 has had a very windy start with the low off the east coast. I'm afraid I don't cope well in windy weather and can get quite cranky. So to ward off the grumps, I have kept myself busy in the sewing room. Pressing and cutting my way through my box of fabric bits and pieces until I now have tidy piles of squares and strips in various sizes. I also have a couple of ideas now on paper as to the use of atleast half and can't wait to get started.

Our New Year celebrations were very quiet. Everyone else in the family was too tired from work to stay up with me so we all just went to bed with the idea of getting up again at 11.30 ready to watch the fireworks on TV. Except when time came we were much too comfortable in our beds listening to the wind and rain outside. We did here the roar at midnight from the tavern down the road and some neighbours cheering in the New Year so our thoughts were in it.

Now the low has moved on and left us with hot sticky storm weather. We had a storm last night, another today about noon and it's building up for another one.

Maybe I'll get a start on those scrappy quilts tomorrow.