Moving Forward At A Snail's Pace

I don't have a lot to report on the crafting front. Saturday is not a day that lends itself to creating much. That's okay. I am lucky to get a good deal of time during the week to do my own thing. I can tell you that I have started on another of my PIF gifts. I actually followed a crochet pattern for this one! Now that is a first for me and was in fact easier than I thought it would be. I am about a third of the way into the project. This is what it looks like at the moment -

I have not been near my sewing machine all day. But I have had a little look around our garden, pulled a weed or two, continued with my quest to rid my herbs of the dandelion invasion and proudly taken a photo of our mini potato crop as it springs forth. We grew our own potatoes a few years ago and I was amazed at how much better a potato fresh from the ground could taste. I never equated potatoes with having a 'fresh' taste but I learned something by growing them. The last few  houses we have had have not had gardens that leant themselves to a veggie plot, but this year the girls came home from school with three seed potatoes to grow on.

We considered using grow bags for them but when I priced those up at the local garden centre I was astonished to find that they were selling them 3 for £10. John came up with a better solution. When we moved in here we found we had twice as many recycling boxes as required. They are a good size, have ready made drainage holes in the bottom and two of them were surplus to requirements. Not any more. They are proving to be very good potato plant homes.

I have told the girls to leave all that space from the top of the boxes so that we can add more soil as the plants grow to increase our little crop.

Last month, there abouts, I showed  you a photo of these Double Decker Brownies -

I had said that if anyone was interested in the recipe to let me know. Some well two of you expressed an interest, and in the theory of better late than never, here you go. Double Decker Brownies -

3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs - beaten
1/3 cup melted butter (this is about 3 ozs)
1/3 cup coconut
2 ozs melted dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 180C; 350F; Gas 4

Mix flour, b. powder and salt.

Beat sugar and eggs until pale, Blend in melted butter. Fold in flour mixture. remove 1/2 cup of the mixture to a smaller bowl and add the coconut.

Add the melted chocolate to the remaining batter. (Just for interest sake, I also added some cocoa powder - only about a tbsp - to give it more of a chocolate oomf.)

I used a 22cm square baking tin, lined with baking parchment for these brownies. Place chocolate batter in pan and then place spoonfuls of the coconut mixture randomly on top.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Susan

What A Difference A Day Makes

I can breath again! What a revelation. Oxygen returning to my brain has left me thinking this - 'What on earth was I doing telling all you lot that I dumped my dirty laundry in the loo?' Good lord, I will have no dignity left!

But I am on the mend. Which is a good thing because I was in imminent danger of self-diagnosing myself with the man flu. That would have been the end of dignity indeed. But I slept last night. Right through to 7am. Amazing! Testament to the fact that I slept - I didn't leave any inane comments on blogs at strange hours of the night.

I suppose the fact that I am on the mend means I can no longer ignore the necessary and will have to do stuff like shop for food. Actually the girls have fed remarkably well considering how I felt. Last night's beef with broccoli and assorted other veggies and noodles went down a storm. I made a huge amount thinking that John could have the leftovers tonight instead of Spag Bol as he isn't so keen on pasta. (Honestly, what person on the face of this earth could not be keen on pasta?!) Unfortunately for him the girls scoffed his lot as well as their own. I just looked on in amazed wonder because my appetite was not at its best so I was no competition for them at all.

The other thing that has amazed me is the positive reaction from my fellow Brit Swappers (is that a proper word?) to my little birdie sketch. I thought that they would take one look and move me down to the beginner level for the swap but they were all so positive. It has made me feel incredibly good. Sort of like how you felt when you were in school and the cool kids included  you in their play (unless you were one of the cool kids and then you have no idea what I am talking about).

In fact, it made me feel so positive about what I could achieve I set about piecing the background for the mini quilt. First there was the sky -

And then there was the landscaping to do -

Next I did something I have never, ever done before. I did a bit of curved piecing AND I only had to unpick the stitches once! I am so pleased with myself right now it is silly.

My little scooter girl just looks like she belongs on that slope. Glad I thought of her. There is a huge amount more work to get done on this little quilt but I do feel that I have made a good start.

Susan

Bees, Swaps and Fat Jacks

The first sign that I didn't sleep well last night was me hopping out of bed, taking the things I needed to put in the laundry hamper, managing to bypass it and dumping the lot into the toilet. Buggeration! Some days you should just stay in bed! Well, anything that happened after that brain freeze moment had to be an improvement.

Despite this cold draining the brain cells faster than is pretty, I've been working like a little trojan horse. I have. Really! Between getting distracted by other things that is. But I do have something to show for myself.

First, I finsihed my Brit Bee blocks. I have learned that with proper concentration and meticulous trimming I can work with HSTs. I have also learned that I have a new least favourite task in my world of quilting. Pinning quilt layers together drops one place to the number two spot and new at the top of the charts is squaring off half square triangles. Dear me that is a monotonously irritating task. No offence, Trudi (block recipient), because I do think that all the work turned out two brilliant blocks and that when you have all 24 together you are going to have one fantastic quilt.

I am very proud of my blocks because I went into the task convinced it was going to be a disaster. And it wasn't! Can't ask more than that. Oh, and I also learned that fabric pens don't write on fabric very easily. No flow. I sat there scratching away at my signature block and it looks like it was done by someone in kindergarten. Sorry! I shall only give you a peek at the very middle of the blocks because I am not allowed to show them in their entirety, yet -

After I finished the Bee blocks yesterday - which took me longer than anticipated - I dragged out my Pips quilt tops -

It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that after sitting there for so long I actually didn't have any fabric for backing them. I didn't want to use the solid grey again - which I was pleased with on my first Pips quilt but the idea underwhelmed me hugely this time around. So I got online and ordered some fabric. This would be the point of the day where I got distracted and lost a great deal of time. I couldn't help it! I started looking at the 'coming soon' section of the Fat Quarter Shop's site and that was that. Next time I looked at the clock I was shocked.

Moving on swiftly, I shall now say that I have a plan - sort of maybe - for my swap partner in the Brit Swap. It is very much still in the design faze and I am a little worried about whether or not I should do it because it does not resemble anything that is in my partner's design mosaic. I got the idea from stalking her blog and flickr photos. The idea is also completely outside of my comfort zone too. Well, that about seals the deal. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that crap. Might as well go for it and see what happens. I have over a month to complete the mini quilt so if it all goes drastically wrong I can quickly whip up a few more wonky stars and hope she likes them instead!

Here is some of what I had in mind. I am not showing all of it because I think the over all design might be a complete giveaway to the recipient that it is for her. Can't say more than that or it will be me giving the all too important clue away. So here is one third of the proposed design -

This drawing is a little embarassing having seen some of the design ideas posted on flickr -
but it is all I have.

I completed another sewing task that was on my mental list of things I wanted to do. You have heard me mention Lynne of Lily's Quilts before. She is singlehandedly changing quilting in the UK. She is doing this by uniting quilters with the Brit Quilt group, challenging them constantly with new tutorials and ideas, and stretching us by encouraging us to get involved, hence my joining the Brit Bee and Brit Swap. Lynne has a huge international blog following too, but it is her ability to bring people together that I want to take the time to appreciate today. Yesterday I tackled one of her tutorials. It was simple, and well written, and I would have been hard pressed to go wrong with her instructions. That says a lot because we all know my ability to make a pigs ear out of a silk purse.

So, without further ado, here is my Double Fat Jack -

I am sure that when Lynne said 'choose a neutral fabric' for the thin lines she included lime green in the options.

I knew we put the badminton net up for a reason!

I haven't been ignoring my Pay It Forward obligations either. Progress is slow - mostly due to a brain dead lack of oxygen and energy in the evenings because of this cold. But I have completed one of the gifts.

And I have a plan in place for the next one. Is it any wonder I am not getting any housework done? I have had to prioritise and you can see what I thought was more important!

Susan

How Much Can I Achieve In One Day?

I'm posting early today because I have a plan. The plan is get my head down and sew like a demon. Get some of these things that need doing done. Or at least moved forward at a noticeable pace. So I thought if I posted early and then just got on with it I might have a chance of managing this.

But first I want to talk about yesterday's post - or the post title to be specific. How on earth did I typo the title, for goodness sake? Actually, I think I have a good idea. I was in a drug induced haze. Before you shrink back in horror please be rest assured it was all legal and above board.

I am full of cold right now. It is progressing, as all colds do, from one stage to another with a rapid vehmence. That means it should be done and dusted soon enough. Meanwhile I am indulging in a good assortment of 'cold remedies'. I take these for one good reason - besides wanting to feel a little less crap. From the time I conceived Helen to finishing feeding Emily was a drug free zone. I am not holier than though about this stuff. It is just what I chose to do. It was a four year drug free zone.

Back then each and every time I had a cold or other illness someone helpfully offered to make  me a hot honey and lemon. As much as I knew this was soothing it did not provide the sleep inducing, symptom supressing help that I craved. On the less than stellar days I was not very polite about those offers of honey and lemon. Before pregnancies and breastfeeding I was quite brave about just putting up with colds and getting on with things.

Now I demand drugs as soon as symptoms kick in. So yesterday was a Day Nurse, Lemsip, ibuprofin feeding frenzy. And instead of blaming the typo in my title on my usual ineptitude today I am blaming it on drugs. Won't Trudi be pleased to hear that I made her blocks in this state. In fact those very drugs might be responsible for my points meeting better than they usually do!

And that brings us back to today. All necessary tasks are completed and everything else that is less pressing shall be ignored. A job lot of bolognaise sauce is simmering in the oven and I have a few short hours to devote to me, fabric and thread. So that is what I am going to do.

The carrot on the end of the stick is I had to use some red wine in the pasta sauce. Therefore, if I am a good, productive little quilter today I can reward myself later on. I am sure that red wine is very, very good for colds. It is, isn't it?

So I am off to partake of a few cold remedies and then take control of a sewing machine. Wish me luck.

Susan

Quilting Like Proper Quilter

Today I am going to prove, despite my usual laissez faire attitude towards the rules, that I can quilt by the book. And I am doing that because I finally got the chance to work on Trudi's blocks for the bee. (Won't she be relieved to hear that?!)

First block in my first bee! I was determined to get it right and to do that I had to be more precise that usual and read, and then reread, the instructions.

Step one was to take a photo of Trudi's block on flickr. I did this because my computer and sewing machine are in different rooms and I wanted an instant reference by my side for those many moments when I got confused.

Then I cut, and sorted, and marked, and pinned. Those half square triangles were not getting away from me!

And I started string piecing. I was so intent on doing everything correctly and concentrating in a way that my brain is not used to. Needless to say I made a mistake right away.

I had momentarily been so proud of myself for my precise following of that pencilled line I had drawn onto the squares - until it occurred to me a number of squares in that I wasn't supposed to be sewing on the line but 1/4" to either side of it.
Attempt number two occurred after some interesting language and name calling (I was by myself) while I picked out stitches.

Eventually I succeeded in sewing them correctly. Then came the pin removal, cutting into triangles and pressing them all. Oh, but the next step was tedious. Squaring all those triangles off. A first for me. I generally just hope for the best and then make the little buggers fit. But this isn't my quilt and I don't want to be the block in Trudi's quilt that people do that special smile over and quickly skip onto something more pleasing to the eye. So trim I did -

In theory I should now be showing you the completed block so you could tell me that I was no longer under special measures. But I can't because that's the rules. No showing of the blocks until Trudi has received them all. So all today was about was showing you that I can do what I am supposed to upon occasion. Amazing, isn't it?!

Susan