rubykittyruby

  When you've a stack of single bed size or lap size patchwork quilts that'd been patchworked but not quilted, all of 'em waiting for you to finish them and put them to use or give as presents, it's immensely satisfying to make these teeny-tiny pieces of patchwork.  Not even a full day's stitching and you've something completed.  Of course, these mini quilts aren't going to keep you warm at night, but they do have a practical purpose.  Kind of.   This one measures roughly around 2 and 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches long.  It has a calico base, then scraps of material sewn on, sewn over, stitched and re-stitched.  I was going for a boro style.   The back's reasonably neat.  What I found was that the more I stitched into the mini quilt, the nicer it became to push the needle in and out of.  The different layers of material become like one, and I liked the way the horizontal running stitch and vertical running stitch went over and u...

The last of the binding has been attached and I finally get to call this improv quilt finished.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but making it taught me a lot about making curves in patchwork, and about applique.  Also, about being brave / reckless and being prepared to do something drastic if a quilt just isn't 'working'.  In this case I literally chopped the thing up and rearranged it as I wasn't satisfied with how I'd put it together.  Rearranging the pieces left me with a smaller quilt than I'd originally planned, but a better quilt, for all its faults.   The material I chose for the backing fabric was a wee bit too small, so had to be patched up to make it fit. The extra section in a similar grey isn't so noticeable, but the bright green is!  I like the randomness of adding that little square.   When I wasn't occupied with sewing I managed an hour on the allotment, collecting raspberries and deadheading the calendula,...

  Having finished my '31 days in May' fabric challenge, I was pondering on what to do next in order to keep my mind ticking over.  Then I recalled this book, Clemency Burton Hill's 'Year of Wonder'.  I bought it ages ago, and every late December I pull it off the bookshelf and decide to include it as part of my New Year resolutions.  Cue failure.  Don't most resolutions peter out way before the end of that long, dark, dreary month?  All grey skies and freezing cold, no cash after Christmas and expanding waistlines from too many festive treats.  New Year resolutions disappear, along with the last of the wrapping paper and boxes of chocolates.   If you've not come across 'Year of Wonder' it's an introduction to the mysterious world of classical music, and the author picks a short piece to listen to each day of the year, along with a few paragraphs or a page of explanation/introduction/history of the composer.  The music's easily accessible...