Taking stock

I love reading Pip Lincolne's blog Meet Me At Mikes. Today she has written a lovely list called Taking Stock and offered a blank list for us to do the same.  Here's mine.

Making : At least 8 different quilts at once.
Cooking : Marion Grasby's Thai Chicken Curry in a box (so easy!)
Drinking : Water to try to flush away too much festive indulgence.
Reading : John Taylor's biography, Robert Hoge's biography ("Ugly") and "Gone Girl".
Wanting : More hours in the day.
Looking : At ways to rearrange my sewing room/office.
Playing : Minecraft with my boys on the PS3
Deciding : Whether it will be feasible to open a shop in 2014.
Wishing : For another baby in my life.
Enjoying : Clearing out the clutter and giving it away on Stuff Sharers.
Waiting : To hear from my accountant.
Liking : Quilt Bees! I'm in 3 and enjoying them immensely.
Wondering : What our lives would have been like if we'd stayed in England.
Loving : Summer holidays.
Pondering : Designing an applique quilt from scratch.
Considering : Blogger vs Facebook.
Watching : West Wing repeats with my husband, Sons of Anarchy on my own and Big Bang Theory with my boys.
Hoping : For fewer funerals to attend in 2014.
Marvelling : At the sky at night...never gets old.
Needing : To exercise more.
Smelling : The gorgeous roses Mark bought for me yesterday.

Wearing : PJs as far into the day as I can get away with.
Following : Pip Lincolne :-)
Noticing : It's time to dig up one of my veggie garden beds and empty the recycle bin.
Knowing : I should be doing my BAS instead of writing this list
Thinking : about joining a Theatre Company.
Feeling : a bit amazed at how much I love the T20 Big Bash summer league.
Admiring : The staff at my kids' school who are individually and collectively AWESOME.
Sorting : Kids' bedrooms, wardrobes, toys and bookshelves ready for another wonderful year
Buying : school uniforms
Getting : closer to March when I am Queen Bee and have to choose a block for everyone to make for me (yippee!)
Bookmarking : new craft blogs, patterns and pages every day.
Disliking : "Click to Like and we'll donate money" Facebook scams.
Opening : old photo albums and feeling nostalgic.
Giggling : at my dogs who still play like puppies.
Feeling : Content and ready to take on the challenges of a new year.

QCA Block Experiment

Twenty six weeks worth of Block Experiment blocks.

I'm really enjoying a little experiment that's running on Facebook.  Each week I post a blank block pattern and the group's members make the block with their own interpretation of where the light, medium and dark fabrics might go. 

The results are quite lovely with so much variety on a single block. 

To see our members' work click here.

Some choose to make the block in just 2 contrasting fabrics, some mix it up with more fabrics and some members are just watching.

Butterfly Dresden

Just finished appliqué ing the butterfly to the centre of this block. I adore Autumnal colours. This is just a whimsical block that I made to fill in time. No destination in mind, just sewing for love.

Simple joys

Have you ever framed your favourite piece of fabric? 

Yesterday I was given 3 large frames so I used them to show off a few of my favourite stash fabrics. 

Yes, that's last year's Bear's Paw in the background, just needs binding. Have a happy day. x

(One of) my current hand stitching projects

I really love hand stitching. Its portability and the soothing feeling of a beautiful creation coming together stitch by stitch. My flying geese colour wash centre is almost complete and last night I started working on the border. I wanted to make sure no fabric was wasted in this quilt, so all the cut off corners had to be rolled into the border somehow. 

Each border strip will be made from sixteen 9-patch units and the colour wash continues. 

 

I think I'll call this quilt "every feather".