Lazy Sunday afternoon

 

Walked into town and back today, so I've earned a lazy Sunday afternoon.  The walk was lovely.  We had rainfall last night, so everything was green and lush, all the cow parsley coming into flower, lots of bluebells.  I particularly liked a honeysuckle that was flowing over and down a fence, an escapee from a back garden.  Note to self: buy a honeysuckle plant! 

I didn't post Saturday's fabric piece for my May challenge, so here it is.  

I'd seen a picture of a quilt on Instagram, made with sumptuously coloured velvets and corduroy.  It prompted me to dig through my basket of scraps and cobble this together.  A little bit of black velvet from a charity shop skirt, the cranberry coloured velvet from Monsoon skirt that I loved but was a tad too tight for me.  Bright pink material from a scarf I loved, but never wore because it just wasn't quite long enough.  There's upcycled dotty fabric for the binding too.  That was from a men's shirt.  

Making this 'postcard' made me remember a winter quilt I'd gathered together material for.  I dug the bundle out and arranged sections, sewed them together, wielded the rotary cutter and finally came up with this.  

And in the next photo it's folded up, ready to go back in its basket as I've not enough suitable fabric to finish piecing together the patchwork top.  I need something tweedy.  This will necessitate more delving among the rails of the local charity shops.  There'll be an A line skirt or a jacket out there somewhere, ready to be chopped up and given a new purpose.  

Before heading into town today, I finished my Sunday '31 days in May' postcard.  This was all about skinny lines.  

I sewed alternate lines of calico and scraps of patterned/coloured material, all done quickly and not fussing about accuracy.  Added a few lines of machine quilting.  But the result was not very interesting.  So, out came the rotary cutter and I spliced it down the middle, adding a bit of black velvet for a contrast in texture.  

I added more fabric top and bottom.  

And some backing fabric.  A few speedy quilting lines, though my sewing machine was acting up.  Not happy because I was using a cheap thread, so it kept skipping stitches here and there, as a form of protest.

And here it is, all done and dusted.  

I like the insertion of the bold black line.  It's kind of like a punctuation mark, or a thick black line of ink, censoring something you're not meant to see.  It'd be fun to make a patchwork where the background's all curves and soft edges.  Pretty pastels, Liberty style florals and ditsy prints.  But seemingly imposed over that serene background are moody blocks of a contrasting material.  Dark and sombre, all lines and angles, like scaffolding in front of a building.  

Well, that's an idea for another day.  I'm going to kick back now and relax with a cuppa and a good film on the telly or a good book, whatever takes my fancy.  Hope you enjoy your day.