The Maisy Quilt

Craft, my old friend, I'm back. Let's talk about quilts.

I once made a quilt, I was 17 and my sister was making one so I made one too. She paid attention to colour, style, and technique. I paid attention to none of those things. I used whatever fabrics we had at home so it turned out to be a hideous mixture of old school uniforms, 1980s taffeta bridesmaids fabric, and whatever else we had lurking around. It was ghastly, but it was a good lesson that can be summarized as follows:

"You can waste a lot of time seeing through a bad idea".

Skip almost 20 years and I've learned that lesson over and over, but lets not go there.

Anyhoo, some of my crafty mates have been making quilts lately, beautiful quilts that are all about the fabric and are quite easy. I was inspired to give quilts another go. This time I tried the approach commonly known as "see something you like and copy it", namely, Maisy's quilt:

"Hi Maisy, I like your quilt"

And here's my one:

I had fun choosing all new fabrics for this, it's not something I often do actually, being a bit of a junk shop junkie. I chose fabric that was more or less a block of each colour. My favourite, the matroyshka dolls.

The sewing was also fun because these are 10-inch blocks so it went together in half-a-second-less-than-no-time. And the quilting was just 6-mm from each seam so that was easy-squeezy too. I still need to finish off the binding, but that's all.

Have a lovely weekend!

Six billion minus one (subtitle; things that make me cry)

Hello! I'm back on planet blog, after what seems like an orflee long absence. Well, if you read Make it smirk, my sister's blog, you'll know that our dear old Dad just died, so we have been in Dunedin to say our final goodbyes.

This was him in December last year, just days after hearing that he had "days or weeks" left to live. He really was as cheerful as he looks- told us funny stories until we wept with laughter, stayed upbeat all the time. If we succumbed to tears he quickly jollied us out of it, saying "I've had my life, don't be sad." I can hardly see to type for crying now actually, I already miss him so much.

Six billion people in the world, now minus one of the really good ones. More about craft next post.

Things that make me laugh.

Here are some things that have cracked me up recently:

1. The way Americans in particular shorten Valentine's Day to VD. This is funny because to me, VD is venereal disease. So when people write "Happy VD" or "I love VD" it is a very amusing statement indeed.

2. This little picture and poem from a 1934 picture book. You might think "Ha ha it looks like this little scamp is about to shoot that bear!" but actually, that little pyscopath really IS about to blow away the bear, and the poem even says so! ("For bruin bear and tiger, too, my shot is steady, quick, and true.") Blimey. That's just disturbing.

3. My camera is still not fixed. I rang this morning and they told me they haven't fixed it yet. I love how they are so good at giving me fresh and useful information. Yay Dick Smith Electronics! Yay and double yay!

B is for Broken

B is for broken. Yes, my camera is still broken. Yes it has been a long time gone hasn't it! A month and no less! I rang the shop to ask about it the other day and they told me that they haven't even looked at it yet. Isn't that GREAT? I was delighted about that and we laughed and laughed, me and the salesperson. Oh yeah we're the best of friends now!

B is also for busy, because I've freed up some time during the week this term, what with one thing and another, and it's just so nice not being too busy. Now that I'm "not busy" I'm getting around to doing lots of fun things with Sylvie, like swimming and planting flowers in the garden and doing puzzles and stuff. Nothing earth-shattering, just fun bits and bobs. Please remind me now nice it is to be not busy before I volunteer for any more boards or voluntary positions.

Anyway I can't stop here chatting all day, I'm don't want to get too busy! Have a nice weekend!

Q is for quilt

I've seen lots of lovely quilts lately, not least of all in some of the books that we read at bedtime. How cute is this one? I've a good mind to copy it.

And Maisy's quilt is one that I've loved for aaaaages, and what's more I HAVE copied it. You'll have to wait till my camera is fixed to see my one, but in the mean time, here is Maisy just having a wee bedtime story with her lovely quilt on show.

I'm sure there's a robot quilt in me somewhere. Now there's a project worth thinking about.

Craft swap goes international

I've just done the coolest swap with someone a couple of continents away.

There are so many exciting things about doing a swap. First, you get to know someone out there in the blogosphere in a new way. Trading an email or two in getting the swap organized, deciding how you're gonna work it.

Then, a parcel in the mail that's come from somewhere very far away- that's almost the most exciting part. Opening it up is a thrilling adventure to see what's in there - seeing what their handwriting looks like, reading the card that they wrote especially for you, seeing the things that they made. I just love it! It's all the things I love doing, rolled into one.

Recently I was lucky enough to do a delicious international craft swap with Iris, who makes these Artist Trading Cards in all sorts of flavours. Iris is in snowy Maine, and I imagined her sitting inside in the warmth while she made these for me. I love them! Anyone who knows my housekeeping skills will laugh long and loud at the one that says "Marry a tidy man". Iris, how did you know?

And here are my two very favourites- one that has a robot (mmmm, happiness is a warm robot) and the other lovingly hand-stitched.

Thanks Iris! I will have so much fun having a go at these myself!

Resolution No. 2, and that lovely calendar goes to...

This year I decided that I would try to address one bad habit each month, rather than make a set of New Year's resolutions that I instantly flout. January's resolution was to stop eating leftovers off the kids' plates. That's been fairly successful, in that I do it a lot less than I used to. I only make exceptions when the leftovers are particularly delicious and I am really hungry.

February's resolution is to make my coffee breaks a little healthier. First, I drink too much coffee. Second, I don't drink enough water. To remedy both problems at once, I am going to make every second coffee break a water break instead. I reserve the right to have something delicious and fattening with my coffee if I feel like it. I don't want to go overboard, after all.

This was me having a coffee break in Paris six years ago. Ooh la la. C'est bon. Je veux et j'exige du jasmin and des jonquilles!

And this NZ wildlife calendar goes to...(random number generator in action)....All This Trouble. I'll email you for your postal address, Ms Trouble, and will get it in post to you.