I meant to post this yesterday, but got distracted, so I'm sat here on the sofa with a cuppa and a few minutes to spare. Well, it's April already and today is a fine, dry day. Yesterday was partly spent on the allotment. Planting spring onion and spinach seeds, plus moving self seeded foxgloves from the random spaces they'd grown into where I'd prefer them to be. The hyacinths are still blooming like crazy, providing welcome splashes of pink, white and vivid blue, and wonderful scent. The wallflowers are looking pretty too, just a little more demure than the showy-off hyacinths who're very much 'hey! look at me!'
Apart from that, I did a few hours of hand stitching, working on extra Chris English style scrappy blocks. Then sorted some fabric to back the Terry Rowland style Colourwash lap quilt I'm making. I was going to add a fleecy blanket backing to that, but not sure I've a piece of fleece large enough. So instead I'll probably add wadding and a regular backing fabric, and I'll use the method of tying to quilt the 'sandwich' together. Probably use buttons too as they'll disguise my slightly dodgy seams where I've not been 100% accurate in joining squares together.
I've come to the conclusion that it's beyond me to cut fabric precisely! Even using a ruler and rotary cutter I struggle with total accuracy. I think accuracy in piecing is easier when it's the English paper piecing method, and that's what I'm more familiar with. But practise makes perfect, so I'll persist.
This week, I've got an eBay delivery arriving in a couple of days. I did some late night browsing, buying a job lot of 22 mens ties. (I really need to stay off shopping sites in an evening! Too tempting.) I know some ties will be silk, others polyester and cotton. I'm thinking of washing them (obvs), then unpicking them and arranging them into a cushion cover. I already bought a couple of silk ties the other day, and unpicking those was interesting in terms of seeing how they're assembled. There's some nifty sewing in something as seemingly simple as a necktie.
What else can I tell you? Oh, I've made myself a small design board. It's simply an old poster clip frame that I'd kept after I'd accidentally broken the glass. I'd previously used the board for blocking needlepoint on. I'd stretch the completed piece of needlepoint on the board and use drawing pins to keep it in place, so the board's now peppered with little holes like it's got wormwood. Anyway, I stretched an offcut of fleece over the board, and simply used duct tape to secure it. Basic DIY design, but useful all the same.
Okay, the cup of tea's drunk and I need to complete some chores. Bed linen wants changing, so I'll be wrestling with an unruly duvet, trying to cram it into a duvet cover. Only slightly easier than trying to cram a bad tempered cat into a cat-carrier.
As sunlight's pouring through the windows, I can see every smear on them, so they need cleaning. Maybe at some point I'll get round to something crafty. This is a corner of my sitting room, lots of creative clutter awaiting my attention.
There're various bags and baskets lurking under the table, and on the shelves of a nearby bookcase. I've got several collars from shirts that I've cut up for the fabric. The collars are going to - if I can work out how - be sewn to the edge of a quilt. They're joined button to buttonhole to make what looks like bunting.
Also, waiting for future use are squares of denim, along with pockets from cut-up jeans. I like the shape of the pockets, also what seems like the shadow of the pocket once it's unpicked from its original position. I want to collect lots of pockets to assemble into something quirky. More trips to the charity shop are called for!
Okay, that's it for now. Have a good day.
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