Mother Nature Can Be Cruel

After waiting all weekend for snow, the girls awoke to a white world this morning. Not enough white to have school cancelled though. As Emily said, 'So not fair!' They squeezed some time outdoors in before the school run. It wasn't even really light yet!

There was a reprieve for one of them though. The snow continued to fall and the primary school caved in and closed. Emily got half a snow day, which she declared better than no snow day.

My North American friends need to try and not laugh here when they see how much snow got school cancelled. Things work different here. And we get so little snow that, quite frankly, I am happy for the extra playtime the school closing gave Em.

I just want to know why she is using my kitchen broom
to sweep the driveway.

While the snow fell I pinned and sewed. I got Salt Air basted. And as I have a very poor success rate keeping the backing flat while basting I tried something new this time. I pinned the bugger to the carpet, and it worked. I don't have a non-carpet floor big enough for basting so taping it down is  not an alternative. I was quite pleased that the pinning worked.

I then did a big loop-the-loop stipple all over the HSTs of the quilt, and some FMQ words around the border. Now all I have to do is trim, sew the binding on the front and hand sew the back of the binding down.

I may have my first quilt of 2013 finished tomorrow. Maybe.

Susan

If You Can't Beat Them...

... join them.

It is a stunningly beautiful day here, and as those have been few and far between for so long it would have been wrong not to have gone out and enjoyed it. We were too relaxed to venture out on an expedition. Instead we just went for a wander around our village. Explored some new nooks and crannies including some paths through the woods that we haven't tried before.

It is good to stop and look around and realise that we live in a beautiful place.

After spending years in this part of the country I never grow tired of the architecture. Maybe it is the Canadian in me just revelling in the age of some of the buildings. Or maybe I just know lovely buildings when I see them.

Taking the time to walk we get to see the finer details that are missed when in the car. Like that wee round window over the sundial. That is just so cool.

On our way back from the walk I finally got round to doing something I have intended to do for ages. There is a small library in the village which regularly has its books rotated from the county library system. The girls are proud owners of their own library cards. As voracious readers this was heaven for them. You should see how many books they came home with.

I think blue skies and library cards make up for no snow. That and eating candies at my computer. Sometimes you just have to do it.

Susan

Singing the Blues

No, I'm not in a mood or anything like that, despite the title of this post. Singing the Blues is what I am considering naming my next quilt. Because it is mostly blues. Bit obvious that really.

I laid out the fabric I have cut so far and had a look. It isn't going to be a very big quilt, but I do plan on lots of white around it. I am not going to have my blues going right to the edge. This is what I have so far.

I am already mulling over hand quilting ideas for this one, so it not being a big quilt might be a good thing. The layout above is just a trial one. I need the floor space back so I can baste Salt Air. Standing and looking at the layout creates constant change. I've already moved things round about a dozen times just to come to this arrangement. And the more I look the more my brain changes them. This will be one of those quilts that has more pondering time than piecing time put into it.

Unfortunately the weatherman was completely wrong and we only got enough snowflakes today to get the girls' (and my) hopes up. Therefore I could not ignore all responsibility and routine. Shame. Dance classes and grocery shopping does tend to eat into sewing time.

I do have a lovely stack of fabric to show you though. I never told you that I won something in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day. I thought I would wait until you could see what my prize was. It's a good one, and the label on the stack says it very well indeed.

This gorgeous win of Stof Pure fabrics came from Erin - Billy Button Design. If you haven't visited her blog you should do. Erin is lovely, been part of the wonderful group that makes Mouthy Stitches such a success and makes fab things. What's not to like?

Susan

Inevitably...

... there will come a day when you come to see what I have been up to and you find me in a quivering heap in the corner. The latter part of 2012 was not exactly stellar. We got through it. Onwards and upwards, and all that stuff.

So imagine my face when I received not one, but two emails from the school today. One to inform parents that head lice have made a come back. Oh joy! Always a fun nightly ritual to see if any critters have landed in unwelcome territory. But to make it even more fun, the second email informed parents that ringworm had also been diagnosed in a pupil. Really? Really! No one, absolutely no one, warns you about this stuff when you decide to become a parent. I dearly hope that for once in their lives my children manage to avoid getting whatever is going round.

Meanwhile, I did housework today. Please try not to faint in shock. Even I have to give in eventually. As a reward I allowed myself to do a little fabric cutting.

Photo taken in artificial light.
Colours shown in no way relate to the actual colours of the fabrics.

Curious what I am up to? Maybe I will get it laid out this weekend and be able to show you. Maybe I will be outside playing in snow. We will find out if the weatherman is correct in the next 24 hours.

Susan

Bee-ing a Good Girl

Today I concentrated on catching up on a couple more bee commitments. Happily I can tick two more boxes.

First up was Hadley's massive 24" block for Brit Bee. As she used her Sissix to cut the HSTs there was no trimming required so this block was not nearly as much work as you might think. I love her choice of greys and blacks paired with pinks and oranges.

This was followed by two Quatrefoil blocks from the Modern Blocks quilting book. These were fun and easy as well, as I did most of it string piecing and they went together a treat. These are for Jennie - Clover and Violet - and she asked for a white background with bright fabrics. Definitely something you can find a bit of in my stash.

Next, I need to move on to my Stitch Tease blocks and work on these more. These are the blocks that we are not allowed to show until the final reveal in April. They are massive blocks, and many of them involve lots of inspirational thought and planning. Love a good challenge I do!

Susan