Triangles

I've actually been doing some sewing. I seem to have a 'thing' about the sewing room at the moment, so I brought the sewing machine downstairs and put it on the end of the kitchen table and did some mindless chain piecing while watching the cricket.



As I have no pattern to go by, just a photograph which is on the ipad, I'm not sure how many blocks I'll need, but I guess I'll work it out as I go along. I had a look in the stash and found these 3 big pieces of fabric, so gave them an audition for the plain blocks in between the triangles. The original quilt has dark brown which is what I'm most likely going to use, but I thought I'd try the others.



This particular dark brown fabric I bought from ebay some years ago as a large piece for backings. I used it on the back of the couch quilt which has been washed many times, and when I hang it out I always hang it back to the sun to protect the front. The back has faded terribly, so I don't know if I should use it, but this quilt won't be getting the wear. One or two of the red and cream fabrics are a bit on the thin side as I sort of started it as an experiment and have used up some fabrics I wanted to get rid of. Don't know, will think about it.

Dash

I'm not usually into these things, but I was taken by the fact that I could be a colon like Tanya, whose blog I stole this off. I immediately thought I would be some part of the gastrointestinal tract, only realising that it was a punctuation thingy when I saw that the colon would get along best with a semicolon. Dissapointing. Is it obvious that I worked in Endoscopy for years?

I'm not sure that I'm a dash though.

You Are a Dash

Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly. You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well. You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.) You excel in: Anything to do with money You get along best with: the Exclamation Point

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

The couch quilt is done, well almost. It needs a little bit of extra quilting I think as there are some unquiltied areas that are a bit big.

I've been thinking about which UFO I will work on next, but really thinking I'd like to start something new. But there is a group building to work on the Civil War Diary quilt, so I'll join in there as I started it ages ago, but it stalled as I'm not too keen on the paper/foundation piecing. It will be good to see how others tackle it, which hopefully will inspire me.

The cricket is on today, so I'll get out the hexagons now and do a bit or work on them. We had a 4 hour blackout last night between 8.30pm and 12.30. What to do? No TV, computer, sewing machine or lights, and no-one to talk to. I sat at the table with the candle on thinking about women who sewed quilts by candle light years ago, and thought 'maybe I'll do a bit of Little House on the Prairie, and keep going on the binding". Hopeless. I did 3 stitches and gave up. How did they do it? So I went to bed with a book and a big torch.

Couch Quilt

Here is the Couch Quilt 'nearly' finished. Birgit did have to sleep under it with the binding flapping, but she managed ok. I still have to finish it, but I will do that today hopefully - I was hoping for some cricket on the TV , but not today. I also need to do a little bit more quilting on it before it gets washed.

We have beagles in the quilt photo in honour of Uno the Beagle's win at the Westminster Dog Show. What a little character, arooooo-ing all the way!

It's an overcast day today, so the photo without the flash is a bit dark, but it shows the colours a little more naturally. This is it on my bed which is queen size, so you can see how big it is.

My mind is already casting forward to what to work on next. I probably should get back onto the Zig Zag quilt, which didn't get too far. Or the hexagons. Maybe both at once?

I had a busy weekend geocaching. I organised a geocaching Event, which is basically a gathering of geocachers. I put out some new caches on the Islands here, and provided a lunch venue (at a picnic ground/beach area) on Karragarra Island. Quite a few people came (maybe 30 odd), and it turned out to be a fun day. It's nice to meet other cachers who you read about online, but rarely meet. The photo is of only part of the group, as people came at different times, then left to find more caches. Birgit stayed here on Saturday night as she lives in Toowoomba (about 2 1/2 hours drive away).

I've been reading a few blogs, but not my usual number. There are some lovely quilts being made. I am always amazed how quickly some people sew - I need a deadline to make that sort of pace. Better get off the computer and go and do that handsewing.

The Pressure's On

OK the pressure's on. I have a friend staying the night on Saturday, so I thought I'll use it as motivation to finish the quilt so she can have it on her bed. As there is no quilt or blanket in the house that isn't covered in dog hair (I think there is a dog hair dispenser in the washing machine), I thought this would be the way to go. Thanks for the comments on my binding post. Normally I just slap the binding on too, but I do it in the knowledge that my borders have taken out any extra fullness from the sides of the actual quilt.

I did a bit of a measure, and yes the sides of my top are a bit longer than the centre measurement, but at this stage I can't worry too much, so I did as suggested and pulled the binding taught as I sewed it on. That will have to do.

For the back I used a large piece of brown quilt fabric that I've had for ages, bought very cheaply off ebay for just this purpose. It is Thimbleberries, which isn't really something I ever buy, but it is non-descript and I have heaps left over, so I used it for the binding as well. The photo is a bit dark as I didn't use the flash, but you may be able to see it where I turned it up at the bottom. All the threads were sewn in last night, so all I have to do now is hand sew the binding down. I cut my binding 2 1/2 inches too Lily - don't ask why - "I've always done it that way".

As for the Polydown, I found it easy to work with as it is so light. I've not used it before, and I believe it is very popular for handquilting. Normally I use cotton or wool batting, but I do use poly for kids quilts that I think will get washed to death, but I've always used a denser more needled poly bat. This stuff I used has a little bit of loft which is nice, and it is light. It should dry quickly too.

Anyway, onto other things. I found a geocache today that has the most fantastic container that I had to take a photo. It is an Australian geocache, which just means that it is listed on the Aussie site, not the American site. On our caches we have some different categories, one of them being movable caches.

This one is called Trail of Death, and it is a movable cache that has to be moved from cemetery to cemetery, and placed near an interesting/famous gravesite. You then give a bit of a blurb on your log entry, so it ends up as a bit of a history lesson.

I went to look for it today, and as you can imagine the container has a sort of theme to it, so I knew I'd be looking for something that didn't look out of place. I thought maybe a fake flower, but after looking and looking, I saw a piece of stone that looked like it had fallen off a headstone, and I turned it over and 'voila!' How cool is that? I just wish I had my camera when I found it, as it looked just like it had been there for years. So I picked up this big piece of stone and I have brought it home. The other cool thing is that the log book isn't paper, it is a flash drive that you add your log to. What a great idea.

When I hide it tomorrow I'll take a photo to show it in its natural environment. Don't some people have great ideas?

The travel bugs are moving too. Mine is getting closer to Holly, and hers is on its way to Hawaii. Not far now.

Best dash off and do a bit of last minute cleaning and hang out the washing. Then I'll watch some TV and sew down the binding. I suppose Birgit wouldn't mind sleeping under it with a bit of the binding flapping, do you think?

Something to Show at Last

I've finally started the quilting on the Couch Quilt. I vowed I would not post again until I had started it. It's 3.30am, and I have been at it for 2 hours. Off to bed for me.

A quick beagle photo for you - this is Simon fast asleep on my bed. Or his bed I think he would say. A little bit of my string quilt may be visible in the background, but it's so hot and humid it's quilt over the feet only at the moment. It's much nicer to sew at 3am, but then you wake up in a sweat at 10am. Not very pleasant.

Oh and I used the Polydown.

Procrastinate? Who Me?

Kim left a comment on my last post asking "what's new on the quilt scene?", and the answer is not much at all. I'm stuck in that No Man's Land between finishing the Couch Quilt top, and layering and pinning it, as I don't want to do it. Then the rule is of course that I can't sew something else as I should be pinning the quilt, so I do nothing.

I think a great deal about which batting I'm going to use, as I have 3 possible options. I have a piece of Hobbs Polydown, but really that's something that I think is better for hand quilting than machine. I have a piece of batting that I think could be mainly wool, which would be better for machine quilting, but then it will get washed a fair bit so I should probably use polyester, right? Then I have a piece of black ?cotton that I have been saving for the Japanese quilt top, which could be used as well. All this thinking leads to no quilting, as there are far too many options to consider.

So after I go through the options again, I try to put it out of my mind as I don't want to face it, but I can't afford to send it out at the moment. I even had a fantasy about using the Polydown and hand quilting it, but that was indeed a fantasy, as (a) I've never hand quilted anything, and (b) it's so humid here that there is no way I'll be sitting under a quilt hand quilting it!

So that's what's new on the scene I'm afraid. I will admit however, to a small amount of hand sewing on the dreaded hexagons while watching the cricket. I can only do this work during the day though, as the eyes aren't the best, and I'm up to the dark section. I took a few photos of it the other day. It's hard to spread out as about half the papers are still in. The central part is done except for a few hexagons that need to be added along one side. The borders are mainly done, but I'll have to add a few hexagons here and there to join the sections up. It's a funny size though - it's the size it is because one day I just decided I'd had enough, so I just stopped then started to do the borders.

Lots of people are working on their hexagons at the moment, and I think I will be joining Libby in the Old Folks Home with hexagons still not finished...

Needle Case

Mum made this needle case for me for Christmas, but when I opened the present, I had to give it straight back to her, as it wasn't quite finished! Perhaps I could say my inability to finish anything is inherited?

But today Mum came over for the day for a visit and brought the finished needle case. Isn't it fantastic? It was shown on the cover of an Inspirations magazine ages ago, and I admired it. Mum remembered, and has been making it on and off for months. There were a few dry comments from Dad on Christmas Day about the frenzied last minute sewing trying to finish it in time, but Mum was inundated with Grandkids the few days before the 25th, who obviously sabotaged the last minute panic sewing!

I almost don't want to use it it's so lovely - I wish I could do embroidery like that, it's so fine. I don't think I have the patience. We had a good day looking at the computer at fabric sites and a few blogs, had lunch, sat out an afternoon storm, and drank coffee with the cricket on in the background. Plus there is always the added benefit of having a clean house, as the impending visit makes me rush around tidying up and washing the floor!

Talking about the cricket, Australia just beat India in a five day Test Match in the last 8 minutes of the game. How's that for close? Michael Clarke came on and bowled 3 of them out for something like 5 runs - incredible.

Simon and Chloe have been to the Vet recently, emptying the bank account. Chloe had started doing an occasional wee in the house, which was making me very annoyed. I'm thinking that she was trying to get me back for taking her to dog training, but someone suggested she may have a urinary tract infection. Simon was obviously feeling off colour too, as he whimpered one night when he was getting up, and he seemed to have a sore tummy. I thought "it's a sign", so on the 31st we headed for the Vet with a jar of urine, caught from Chloe with great difficulty, and tried to explain that I was really only there on the offchance that something might be wrong with one or the other. It turns out Chloe does have a UTI, and Simon has his usual mystery symptoms which can't be diagnosed after a battery of expensive tests. They both had a shot of an anti-inflammatory, Chloe also had some antibiotics, and I walked out with a special diet for Chloe, antibiotic tablets and minus over $300. Sigh...

Chloe is already obviously feeling better, despite the occasional accident (I think because she doesn't want to go out in the rain), and Simon is 'much' better, so he was obviously in pain. I've given him the same anti-inflammatory in a tablet form since the Vet visit, and he is much more active. So we will have to go back for a blood test, then expensive radiological investigations no doubt. Great.

In quilting news, I have the backing fabric and batting for the couch quilt, but I'm procrastinating about pinning it and quilting it, as it's my least favourite bit. I have 8 metres of a brown fabric I bought off ebay a few years ago, which will do for the back. Soon I promise, Girl Guide's Honour.

The Couch Quilt Top

Well, Christmas is over - quite a pleasant day it was too. Not too hot which was a blessing, especially in the kitchen. Not that we had much hot food - in fact baked potatoes were the only things cooked on the day. All the family was there, with no dramas.

Here is the finished quilt top for the Couch Quilt, as it has come to be known. This project has been notoriously difficult to photograph. The light is bad during the day as it is overcast with showers, and at night the flash makes it look lighter than it is. The flash picks up the lightest parts of each fabric and accentuates them. Also my camera is far from great. I did put in a few lighter blocks, but made them less obvious by putting red in the centre rather than a dark brown fabric.

The most worrying block is the greyish one with the brown diagonal lines on it, with the pink centre. It is the experimental block I made before I started the quilt, and although it is brownish, it stands out a bit, not just in the photo. I have two other blocks I could replace it with, but I'm not too keen on undoing that area to put another block in.

I have been watching/listening to the cricket today. The Boxing Day Test Match is always popular, and Australia is playing India this year. In India they say that there is only one sport, and that cricket rivals religion in that country. There has also been a lot of talk about Australia's domination of the game worldwide, and what should be done about it. All the other cricketing nations ought to train harder - that's what ought to be done about it! Poor losers. However, I must admit that things looked a bit grim after the first day's play, with India's bowlers making a meal of the Australian side. But, today, Australia returned the favour, and we are now over 100 runs ahead. I know Tracey will be as relieved as I am. She is also a "cricket tragic". Then there is the sailing to look at.

Quite a cornucopia of sport, luckily, to distract me from the fact that everything you could want to buy in the shops is on sale. In fact it was reported on the news tonight that so much is being spent, mainly on the plastic, that inflation is tipped to rise to 4%, which could trigger an interest rate rise in February. Amazing, isn't it? Only 8 weeks or so ago people were crying poor because interest rates had gone up 0.25%, and now we (Australians) are spending billions of dollars in the shops. Hard to come to grips with at times. Anyway, I'm not there. I'd rather spend my limited funds on fabric - I've got my priorities right!

Oh What a Night...

Oh what a night, all right. I was going to bed last night at about 1.30am, when I found an engorged paralysis tick on Simon's shoulder. Panic Stations! I tore downstairs for the tick brochure on the fridge, then the tweezers, and removed it trying not to squeeze the toxin into Simon. He yelped (I've had one and they are really painful to remove), and gave me the Death Stare. My mind did a fast rewind through the day looking for symptoms - breathing? Ok. Swallowing? Ok. Vomiting? Did I hear someone having a chuck outside about dinnertime?? Walking? Ok. I rang the 24hr Vet and they advised me to keep him as quiet as possible, and watch closely for symptoms over the next day. Also to check for another one - good advice as I found another one in his groin.

The level of co-operation to remove the second one was quite low, as he knew it was going to hurt, and at one stage I thought of waking the neighbours to help me, but after I wrapped a crepe bandage in a figure 8 around his neck and mouth, leaned on him and pulled it off, we were right. He let out another (muffled) yelp, and tried to take off. Luckily I had closed the door, and he was trapped, but I was thinking to myself that he was far from 'kept quiet' during that little procedure. I checked and checked him all over, checked Chloe a few times, then went to bed with the alarm set for every 2 hours through the night.

The bottom line is that we have been very very lucky, and all plans for the weekend have been cancelled so I can stay home and watch him. His normal daily routine consists of sleeping and following me from room to room, so if I leave the room for a quick dash downstairs I just shut the door so he can't follow me.

We have been able to have a big sleep in (awakened every 2 hours), so I am not too exhausted, but I still feel a bit anxious that symptoms could yet develop. What a drama. Made worse of course by the fact that it isn't just a 'jump in the car and off to the Vet' when you live on a small island, but wait til the first Waterbus (4.40 am on a Saturday, 6am on a Sunday) somehow getting 19kg (42lb) of dog down 2 flights of stairs, into the car, out of the car and onto the boat, walk to the car park to get into the other car, then a 15 min drive to the Vet, when he is supposed to be "kept quiet". There is another alternative, as a Vet lives on the next island who will pick you up in her private boat and take you to the Mainland, but it still is quite a carry-on.

So fingers crossed, and to all of you who have pets, anti-tick treatment is worth nothing - examination of the entire dog or cat every day is the only chance you have.

Onto quilting news. Inspired by my new couch and Diary of a Mad Fabriholic, I have started a new quilt. It is hard to get a photo of the couch as it is quite a dark brown, but it is a great improvement on the 40 year old hand-me-down I had, that was in poor repair.

It hasn't been easy to get a photo of these blocks either, as I havent' had them up on the wall yet. Thought some of you might enjoy the sight of a little bit of sunshine in photo 2.

I am using the brownest browns primarily from the Repro stash, with red, mauve and pink centres. I learnt my lesson from the blocks that have the fabric beside the coloured bit around the wrong way, and have since cut them out differently. The blocks are 10 inches finished, so hopefully it will go together quickly. This quilt is to sit on the new couch, providing something to sit on in the hot weather so the backs of the legs don't stick to the leather, to lie under in cold weather, and to keep dog toenails off it, as they will get up on it when my back is turned.

I am enjoying looking at all the blogs that have snow and 'proper Christmas' stuff to look at - it feels hard to get enthused about it in the heat. If you have children I expect it is entirely different. School is out for the summer as of yesterday, so I will have to go and visit my sister's house to get some Christmas Spirit. The family is going there for Christmas this year, so that lets me off the hook for another 12 months. I think my turn must be coming around again.

PS what is going on with my header I just don't know. Last week the frame had gone from around the photo. Now it's back. Then the last word jumped off the photo - now it's back up. Now the photo is to one side of the frame instead of being in the centre. It's not me...