A needed pause…

I have given myself a break.

I needed it. Not sure why, but I was feeling a bit burned out. Things I normally enjoy had no savour, I was tired all the time, the sewing room wasn’t enticing me, that sort of thing. On top of that, we’ve once again had to cancel our trip south to see friends and family as the Rona is rife in our destination. This was a really big disappointment. I haven’t seen my sister for 2 years, and my friends for the same period. FaceTime or Duo calls are great, but they don’t replace hugs and face-to-face conversation. Oh, and there was a nasty migraine in there a few days ago, which always knocks me about a bit. So, yeah. It wasn’t depression, but it was close. I have stuck a smile and some lippy on my face, and away we go.

And now it’s time to pick up the reins again. A month off is plenty long enough to whip myself back into shape, I feel. I’ve had a rest, indulged my blah, and now, it’s time to get my big girl pants back on.

Next on the agenda is finishing the Hopscotch quilt. I have managed to complete quilting all the blocks in record time on Aretha, my beeeautiful new sewing machine (my word, that thing is a total pleasure to work on!). I’ve cut all the joining strips and have started assembly. I don’t love this quilt, it has always been just a way of using up scraps in a constructive way, and I don’t feel inspired by it or look forward to working on it, but it deserves to be finished.

What I AM looking forward to is getting on with a number of other projects. I have all the lovely blocks from the last F2F project waiting for me, and the other day I fetched them out and laid them out. After lots of rearranging, I think this is probably the layout I’ll go with. Any blocks not used in the quilt top will go on the back, probably.

I also have the Tyger quilt to start on, which is exciting me quite a lot; I haven’t worked with such a restricted colour palette in a long time and it’s going to be fun! I still have lots of Parterre blocks to make… So, plenty to keep me busy!

I told myself I wasn’t going to set a key word for this year. And I still think that, but Finish is starting to look like it would have been a good choice! Closely followed, of course, by Start!

Anyway, I’m back, and if I’m not quite firing on all cylinders yet, I do at least have the engine running and some colour back in my life 😊

F2F5: September round-up

That’s September done, only 2 more months to go!

One of these days, it will be safe once again to venture to the Post Office, and on that day, there will be a great rejoicing and mailing of F2F blocks! Meanwhile, let’s err on the side of caution just a little longer.

In the gallery, we have an almost full house for September, with two sets still to come. As always, once I have them, I’ll add them to the gallery as they come in.

August was Edith’s month. Her colours were tonals and prints in black & white, with primary and jewel colours, no pastels. If you’re interested, you can see her colour references on the Members & Their Colours page on the F²F blog, together with the block photos received to date in the gallery – they’re gorgeous! I had a lot of fun with those combinations, and it looks as if everyone else did too!

And now for October, Margaret’s month. Her colours are soft blues and creams with a touch of sand or taupe. Again, her colours are referenced on the Members  & Their Colours Page (link above). I’m not sure what I have in the sand/taupe department, so shopping may be required…

If you’re new to this blog and don’t know anything about F²F, do head over to the dedicated F²F blog and read all about it. The first ever session can be found on this blog, but for subsequent years I set F²F up with its own blog due to the image-heavy nature of the work. You’ll find a rich, varied and vibrant source of inspiration in all the blocks shown in the galleries for the various years. Enjoy 🙂

Let’s see what October has in store for us. I need to hustle, I’m away for most of the month!

Sugar sprinkles 3: finished pillows

All this waiting has been very good for my To Do pile….

I have reached the worktable surface! These two Sugar Sprinkles pillow cases were at the bottom, waiting for the backs to be attached and the binding sewn on.

And here they are. The Husband’s (left) has blue floral back and binding, and mine (right) has pink floral back and binding. It’s the same print, just different colourways.

They are housewife-style pillowcases, which I’ve made with a very deep tuck-over panel inside to ensure the pillow filling doesn’t creep out when it’s compressed.

So that’s it for Sugar Sprinkles until such time as I actually receive all my F2F blocks, which will form the two individual quilts I want for our armchairs. It could be months, so I thought getting these two ready was a way of keeping this project alive.

Until then, Sugar Sprinkles is some pretty eye-candy 🙂

F2F5: August round-up

And here we are, it’s September again.

Down Under, tomorrow is the first day of Spring. For the northern hemisphere, the days are getting shorter, the nights longer and winter is once again on the horizon.

In the gallery, we have most of this month’s blocks on show, with two sets still to come. As always, once I have them, I’ll add them to the gallery as they come in.

August was my month! I asked for blocks pale to mid grey, white, and a bright or mixture of a free choice brights except not yellow. If you’re interested, you can see my colour references if you go to the Members & Their Colours page on the F²F blog, together with the block photos received to date in the gallery – they’re gorgeous!

September is Edith’s month. Again, you can see her colour references on the Members & Their Colours page (link above). She’s asked for tonals and prints in black and white, with primary and jewel colours, no pastels. I’m pretty sure I still have plenty of colour to work with from my own month, but I’ll need to shop for black & white, I think…

If you’re new to this blog and don’t know anything about F²F, do head over to the dedicated F²F blog and read all about it. The first ever session can be found on this blog, but for subsequent years I set F²F up with its own blog due to the image-heavy nature of the work. You’ll find a rich, varied and vibrant source of inspiration in all the blocks shown in the galleries for the various years. Enjoy!

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I am potentially facing some health challenges in the coming months. I trust and hope these will not interfere with the smooth running of F²F, but in the event that I need a time out, I may ask one of the F²F members to take over monitoring progress and rounding up the month’s work. Either way, I do not propose that my issues should be allowed interfere with anyone else’s enjoyment of this block swap.

I’m looking forward to seeing the vivid blocks that Edith’s choices will produce.

Verité #3

Last one, I think.

I felt that a quieter block was also needed, and that I already had sufficient hot bright colours. This pale green, white and grey with just a bit of orange and blue seemed to fit the bill, and incidentally, the colours all came from scraps. I don’t know the ‘proper’ name for the block, as I drew it up from something I saw somewhere a while ago. If anyone knows, do let me know.

That’s six blocks for my F2F collection, and if they don’t provide enough direction for what I’m hoping for from the other F2F participants, I don’t know what will!

I’ll be putting all of them up in the gallery now. Today has been a bit trying and I’m going to give myself a day off sewing tomorrow. Time to have a mental health day, give the dog a long walk, read a new book, eat some more chocolate and encourage the hours to pass a little faster than they have just recently.

What do you to do make time pass quickly?

Verité #2

And here’s the next one.

This is the Arkansas Traveller block. I made the diamond centres first, and then used them as a single piece when I paper pieced the rest. I love how it turned out 🙂

Don’t you love how it looks like juicy orange segments? I think there may be one more, and then I’ll stop till it’s finally time for the whole F2F group to send out their blocks. Verité will sleep peacefully till then…

Meanwhile, I have other things on my mind. And chocolate to eat.

Wish me luck for tomorrow’s gadolinium injection and MRI 😦

Verité

I have a name now for this quilt-to-be.

“Le gris est la couleur de la Vérité“(Grey is the colour of Truth): Andre Gide

For me, it’s also the colour of order, good sense and moderation. It complements and controls all that lavish colour. There’s a lot of grey in the world, but thankfully for those of us addicted to colour, there’s also a lot of that. Both are necessary, just as sadness is necessary to show what joy looks like.

Today’s block is Circle of Geese, but I have turned it into a spinning windmill by using a different shade of grey in the centre. It’s one of my very favourite blocks, and is a perfect example of why I love foundation paper piecing!

Tomorrow, I hope to have my Arkansas Traveller block ready.

Silver (grey) linings…

I have a big grey cloud lurking in my life just now.

So displacement activity was required to stop me obsessing about it, well… obsessively. What better to occupy my mind than making some F²F blocks for myself, with flashes of gorgeous brilliant colour amidst the clouds of grey? Having said that, the grey fabrics are lovely too, and don’t deserve their synonymity with depressing dreariness. Grey is my second favourite neutral, and with very dark indigo, are so much less ‘dead’ than stark black or white.

So anyway, here are the fruits of my displacement. I’ll probably make even more, since not only is it successfully distracting me, but I’m absolutely loving the outcomes – and I still have plenty of grey of the non-cloud variety! You’re looking at Circle of Friends, Perkiomen Valley and Chain Link, in that order.

Next on the list: Arkansas Traveller, Circle of Geese and one other I haven’t chosen yet.

F2F5: July round-up

How did the end of July come round so quickly?

I guess being away on a trip for 10 days made a hole in my time to get sewing projects done.

Most of us managed to get our blocks finished on time, but I only just squeaked in under the wire, and a couple of other people have faced problems and delays and will need a few more days to complete. I’ll add them to the gallery as they come in.

July was Robin’s month. She asked for blocks in all shades of blue and yellow, with an optional white background. You can see her colour references if you go to the Members & Their Colours page on the F²F blog. The block photos I’ve already received are in the gallery, and they’re gorgeous!

August is my month!  I’m very excited to see what everyone will make for me. My colours are pale to mid grey, white, and a bright or mixture of brights of your choice except not yellow. Use your brightest fabrics – scraps are welcome! Again, I have colour references in the gallery (link above). You can also see what I made for myself in this post about a pair of pillowcases I made to go with my future quilt.

If you’re new to this blog and don’t know anything about F²F, do head over to the dedicated F2F blog and read all about it. The first ever session can be found on this blog, but for subsequent years I set F²F up with its own blog due to the image-heavy nature of the work. You’ll find a rich, varied and vibrant source of inspiration in all the blocks shown in the galleries for the various years. Enjoy!

August is going to be like a shower of brilliant colour on a rainy day.

 

F2F5: June round-up

It’s the end of the month again.

We’re halfway through this latest session of F²F, and as ever, the blocks are beautiful, colourful, and for the month’s member, a surprise (if they haven’t sneaked a peek).

It was Monike’s month, and we all made her blocks in indigo with golden yellow and accents of magenta (hot pink), with an optional white background. You can see her reference image if you go to the Members & Their Colours page on the F²F blog. The block photos are in the gallery, and they’re gorgeous!

July is Robin’s turn, with a fresh and summery palette of blues and yellows as an antidote to the chilly southern hemisphere winter where she lives. This is what she had to say:

“My colours for this year are blues and yellows with a white background if needed. All shades of blue from light to darkest navy. The yellow can be pale through to mustard and gold like sunflowers. Fabrics can have blue and yellow in the same fabric or be just blue, yellow or white.”

If you’re new to this blog and don’t know anything about F²F, do head over to the dedicated F2F blog and read all about it. The first ever session can be found on this blog, but for subsequent years I set F²F up with its own blog due to the image-heavy nature of the work. You’ll find a rich, varied and vibrant source of inspiration in all the blocks shown in the galleries for the various years. Enjoy!

July’s going to be a month of summer skies and sunflowers 🙂 …