Mine, all mine MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well, I bought it!

It was due to be delivered sometime today, so I planned my house tidying around it.

Luckily it came just before lunch so I had ALL AFTERNOON to play, and have been playing more tonight.

It's very fancy. It's very sensitive; my old machine was basic, but a workhorse, could handle most things with some low level grumbling and occasional outright refusals; this one takes negotiating skills and gentle handling, and paying attention to the instructions. (Would I be wrong to throw in some male/female comparisons here? Just saying...)

The range of stitches is astounding compared to my previous 22, and the feet! Oh the feet! I have no idea what some of them do, even after reading the manual. And boy, you have to read the manual, there's no getting around that. And it's programmable - I have to admit, so far I've skipped these pages, and gone straight for the buttonholes, stitches and basic tension wrangling. (reviews here and here)

I've got 30 days to return it if its not suitable, and I think I willl def need a few to get used to it, see if we get along. My pink/brown patchwork

is still on my design floor, so am putting the Husq through some simple piecing. I must admit the patchwork foot is a wee treasure - 1/4 inch lines marked on it and everything!

More later. Will keep you posted on the compatibility with the Fankle/Crabbit Quilter lifestyle :)

Irony

I've been busy in these days of radio silence. Clearing out the midden that was my sewing room, and finding some pleasant and some unpleasant surprises there, but glad to have done it. I will take some pictures of my deluxe attic pad when the light is better, and show off the new ironing board cover I made too.

I hate ironing. Surely one of the more tedious of all household chores. Standing there over a board sweating buckets and trying to find hangers to put the freshly flattened shirts on only to find them squashed into the wardrobe minutes later. All you have to show for it is a sore wrist and backache (or maybe I'm doing it wrong).

Quilting, on the other hand, requires much ironing, and I will happily spend a day running between sewing machine and iron, noting with great satisfaction the smoothed fabric and perfectly tucked away seams.

Wierd.

And while I was ironing my stash from the washing machine pile (it's only been sitting in a heap for 3 months, hardly any time at all, really) I found the perfect fabric to replace my grotty old unloved and unlovable ironing board cover. So I replaced it. Heh.

I love it; I love looking at it; it fits in perfectly with my tidy gorgeous sewing room, and it will not make ironing a shirt one iota more pleasant at all.

I am looking forward to pressing a few seams though...

Ever Late To The Party

Blogland is so busy! I've been reading for a few years now, and am so impressed with how busy and creative everyone is. I have followed and loved the Swoon craze,

Swoon from Jennifer at Twin Fibers

the Granny craze,

photo from SewCraftyJess

 the Scrappy Trip-a-long quilts....

Chopped Rhubarb from Crazy Mom Quilts

you guys are awesome!

I have a Swoon pattern waiting in the shadows, with fabric set aside all ready to go; I have read the tutorials for the Scrappy Trip along with delight (how clever!) and seen the plethora (good Scrabble word) of handmade bags and scarves which are in every corner of the web.

How much of it have I done?

Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Nothing,

To be fair, I have been busy on my own stuff, but have not managed to jump on any of the virtual quilt trips with you all. Not even the step-by-step Bee In My Bonnet row-a-long has been attempted, much as I love it. Those coffee cups, so cute!

photo from Bee In My Bonnet 

 

 

So.
I'm nearly finished my twin commission quilts, and will be done with them in a few days. And after that......?

I did harbour thoughts of  this wee beauty for my daughter,

but have none of the laminated fabric required. And if my hubby sees me buying ANY more fabric he will probably (and quite rightly) do his nut.

So then,
Any ideas for the next project?

Anyone?

x

My quilts

Hallo blog,
Am spending some time organising the quilts I have made into a separate page, so if you look to the right you can see the start of this - my own My Quilts page! Not very full at the mo, am finally crawling out from under the duvet and reacquainting myself with everyday life like housework (yawn) food shopping (yawn) and sewing (yay!).
I am almost finished the backing of the Arrows quilt, and am going to sew the last backing seam imminently :)
ie when I get my sorry ass off the floor and thrust the interweb to one side....
(I sit on the floor).

And I have finally cut out the templates for my Game of Thrones quilt, which is going to be awesome, assuming I can get what's in my head onto paper and then fabric.

So it's all picking up again! Hurray!

Have some picture joy :

Courtesy of the The Chive

Awesome, eh?

Washing day blue-greens

This is what I have been doing the last few days - washing the fabric stash. I have been meaning to do this for MONTHS and the lack of washing has been an issue in a quilt or two, so it had to be done. Rookie mistake, I know, but have been far too enthusiastic to get started on things before now.
This is the second last load to go on :-

Now imagine this in yellow, red, pink and purple, blue and green. Lot of green. More than I would ever have imagined or guessed. I seem to like green. Who Knew?!

It has been fantastic to see the garden filled with gorgeous colours, especially as the flowers are fading and the leaves starting to crisp. The yellow wash was particularly cheery, cant think why I never took a photo.

In other news, work is continuing on the mystery quilt, with some red and green (ha!) squares being cut ready for use. Still the yellows, and purple to go, though may be revising the palette yet, not decided. May be feeling indecisive and wobbly due to folding over 200 pieces of fabric.....

Shades of Grey

NOT the populist soft porn tosh 50 Shades of Grey, but the brilliant, thought-provoking, first-in-a-trilogy novel from Jasper Fforde.

Its a story about a young man in a future world where people's lives are dictated by what range of colour they can see, the politics of that world, the Grey underclass who are no better than skivvies to the Reds, Blues, Greens, etc. Its the little things I love about this book, the small throwaway details about coping with life, how they supply colour via pipes to the gardens, how if you don't pay for yellow you get grey custard, the moving Perpetualite is a revelation! but is just one part of the backdrop to the story.

The man is a genius.

Please, please Mr Fforde, write the next one!

In other news, there is cutting and slicing occurring on the cutting mat but the housework is sadly taking up too much of my time right now, and it does need to be done as we are wading knee deep in yuck in the sitting room rug. Gah. Hate housework. If it wasn't for my MP3 I would never get any of it done. Yay for music and fab comedy as we work! on the boring hellish housework (boo hiss).