Friday 26 October 2012

Revisiting Wonky Stars

Having made my wonky star quilt about a year and a half ago, I haven't really revisited these lovely blocks since. But Emily was Miss October in the Modern Stitching Bee and she chose two wonky star blocks.

I made the blocks yesterday, which pleases me as it gets me back on track for almost being on schedule with my bee blocks. It took me ages to make these blocks though. Not because they were difficult. They were a joy to make. Only my brain wasn't in full functioning mode.

You see, I didn't much sleep the night before. I was restless and finally decided to come downstairs and have a little read and try to get to sleep again after that. It was all going well. I had my read, felt suitably sleepy and set my book aside in favour of slumber. Only as I was about to drift off in the dark of the sitting room, I heard a sound.

Flipping gerbils, thought I, I will have to move the cage. But as I lay there it occurred to me that the cages were in the dining room. It really irritated me that they could be so noisy that it was going to affect my ability to go back to sleep.

I turned on the light, registered the thought that indeed there were no gerbil cages in the room. And the sound came loud and clear again. WTF! It was in the sitting room! And it was a distinct gerbil sound! (I've looked it up to get you the proper description of the sound - "When alarmed or excited, gerbils will make a rhythmic thumping sound with their hind feet.")

I went round to the cages to ascertain just who the escapee was and discovered that one of my children had left the door open in Tips' cage. Oh yippee! I suppose it could have been worse as the other cage would have meant I had two gerbils to round up instead of one.

So there I was, shaking a little food bowl and calling to Tips like some demented fool at 3:30am. It took me a while to get hold of that little bugger. I was very wide awake after that. And I kept hearing Rhonda telling me to just hit it with a frying pan. (Don't ask!)

That, my friends, was why I was so tired making these blocks. Considering the above, I think they came out quite well.


Susan

31 comments:

  1. When you have children and pets, the fun never stops. Having lived with gerbils when my children were little, I'm glad I don't have them anymore. 2 senior cats is what we have now and the odd time, my son's little puppy comes over.
    I'm glad you found your escapee and I hope you got back to sleep OK.

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  2. The time will come with the "accidental" frying pan incident will happen!

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  3. Thanks for the laugh Susan - sorry it is at your expense!

    Think you should have woken up the kids and gone to bed yourself! Gerbils only live a few years - get the funeral service ready as they may be needing it sooner than they think!

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  4. Couldn't you have accidentally left the house door open too?? I have nothing good to say about those rodents or anyone who leaves the cage doors open. The blocks are wonderful, beautiful fabrics.

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  5. I'm with Nicky. The kids needed to help catch the little rodent. I am glad you found him though...there would have been very sad girls in the morning if he were still missing.

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  6. Oh my! What a night! Your blocks turned about beautifully inspite of it! We "lost" my son's pet snake once. That was not fun!

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  7. As it was the mister who said yes to the gerbils, I'd have woken the mister up to capture it!

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  8. You are such a super mama! Wonky stars make me think of you every time!

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  9. Oh blimey, you have just made me snort tea out of my nose! Lovely blocks.

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  10. I'm with Rhonda and the frying pan on the gerbil front. On the stars front - these zing! Woohoo!

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  11. Oh that takes me back: we had a hamster that escaped. My stepmum went downstairs in the middle of the night and actually spoke to the hamster as he was sitting on the TOP (outside) of the cage!! He crawled in to a speaker, which we had to dismantle to get the b###er out!
    Love your wonky stars

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  12. Whew girl! You had me thinking you got killed or kidnapped! Thank goodness it was just the gerbil!

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  13. Kids!! Gorgeous blocks - now get some rest.

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  14. I am most definately not laughing at you chasing a gerbil around with a frying pan ;-)
    Love the blocks, now have some wine and get an early night x

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  15. Some day I'll tell about chasing a mouse around our house in the middle of the night ... love the wonky stars blocks!

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  16. Well done susan, not just for the pretty blocks, but well done for finding the rodent before it decamped to under the floorboards, and well done for not accidentally standing on it... (dont, you dont want to see what eyeballs popping out looks like.)

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  17. really!! i know i have night's that i can't sleep and i am a mess the next day. love your 'storys'

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  18. Aren't pets great;) Having one baby still waking up 1-2 times at night and in addition a cat who mjaus outside our window at night to get in I am feeling your pain!

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  19. Emily is going to have such a fun quilt. As far as the gerbils go, I agree with Rhonda. Try having 23 snakes in your house and one gets loose! Let's just say those were not my happiest parenting years!

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  20. Oh dear, I hope the girls were suitably chastised this morning? Breakfast in bed tomorrow to make up for the mid-night alarm?!

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  21. Gorgeous blocks - but awful night! I would have been one super grumpy Mum all day. (Time to invest in a humane mouse trap - it captures them but doesn't harm them - would probably work with Gerbils?)

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  22. Beautiful blocks but as for Tips - nightmare! Di x

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  23. You shouldve got your husband out of bed to deal with it. He went out and bought the little b****r!

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  24. Great gerbil inspired blocks! It's great being caught up too! Sleepless nights are the norm for women of my age! Ugh!

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  25. Great blocks, and at least it was just a gerbil moving around, not a carpet snake like we had in our house when I was pregnant with the boys!

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  26. Great blocks; and no surprise I am with Rhonda x

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  27. I like Wendy's line of thinking, lol. Fair's fair!
    A pity your sleepless night hours don't coincide with my sleepless night hours.
    Great blocks.

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  28. See this is why I have cats. LOL
    Love the stars.

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  29. Very pretty blocks. I hope the children were suitably apologetic (ha) and you have now could up on sleep

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  30. I shouldn't laugh...but the thought of you tip toeing around at 3:30 looking for that gerbil is rather amusing :o)

    Love the blocks...they turned out well. I had a go at these wonky stars this week and found I ended up with chunking points, so I've unpicked them and will have to try again. I'm obviously doing something wrong.

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