Quilt Virgin part 1

Discombobulating.

Go on say it out loud. Dis-con-bob-u-la-ting.

I'm not so great with maths and counting and that. I find it very discombobulating. Makes my head go all fizzy and gets me all frustrated. Makes a sound like this in my ears eeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee whenever someone talks of figures, finance, economics and basic counting. Imagine my delight then when starting my first ever quilt I realise I have to do adding and that! Oh dear me. So it was jolly good I had my delightful husband on hand to do the tricky stuff wasn't it.

I worked out the size I wanted 50 inches by 70 inches. 2.5 inches binding all round the outside, 20 inches of gingham fabric at the top and 45 inch square of patchwork squares. This is for the girl so will fit on a single bed (or folded over her cot bed now). From my research most sites said for a beginners basic quilt make the squares 5 inches with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I don't trust myself to be precise so I decided to cut them 6 inches and have a 1/2 seam allowance so that they are 5 inches. MATHS!

I then had a good ole time looking through ebay for fat quarters of material that would go with the pink gingham I already had for the top. There's a shop called favouritefabrics which has a lovely selection. So I bought a pack and added it to another I already had and come up with this bundle of loveliness.

Except I took out the blue big flower one after I took this as it didn't go with the maths and that did it. The husband correctly told me that I would need nine squares from each fabric for the patchwork part. He is so very clever, especially at maths and knowing things and that.

So...I made a 6 inch template out of card and used my swish rotary cutter and board to cut each piece.

Nifty eh?

Then I laid them out in rows of nine in a pretty random fashion.

I numbered each row and gathered them up into a pile.

This took a looooooong time. I am told that you need to sew the pieces together with the grain of the fabric facing the correctly way... Wha'?

Wish me luck

XXXX

Monday musings

Ah the humble party ring. How I love thee.

There now, that's better. Its better to admit to these things isn't it. Before One gets bogged down by it all.

How are we all then? I write with the back door open and the sun just gone to bed with good hopes that tomorrow there will be SUN!!! Or definitely Wednesday. I've just got back from my slimming group I've been going for almost two years and have reached my "weight target" after losing 3.5 stone. I love meeting new people now and seeing their faces when I tell them I've lost that amount. Some, now close friends, despite passing me everyday swear blind I didn't live in my house two years ago as I look like a completely different person. I would say I am half the person I am but that would have made me 7 stone so that's just silly. Anyhoo. I like to still go along every now and then, so my love of the above party ringed biscuit, doughnut, sausage, chips etc (you get the picture, I am a glutton) don't bite me on the bum. I LOVE to listen to everyone's stories about their weight loss "journeys". Sometimes I do this in a emphatic, caring way. Other times (more frequently, now I am smug and don't have to pay anymore) I like to snigger at the menopausal women fanning themselves after a hot flush and try to make up an excuse for putting on 4lb when we all know it was because they had a kebab after a right jolly east end knees up on Saturday night. It is hard, I know how hard it is. But seriously, tonight was great. Three friends sitting together in a row eating"healthy" chocolate bars at the same time. Chewing in sequence like three slightly overweight, middle-aged synchronised swimmers concentrating very hard. I wish I could have taken a photo. These lovely ladies, (I mean that, they are lovely) sum weight loss up for me. Why have an apple when you can have a chocolate.

We have acquired some lovely, cute new croc type affaired shoes for the garden for the girl. LOOK, so CUTE! I want them. I really really do. She quite happily posed like this too...

I also made the usual weekend breakfast for the little ones of pancakes this weekend

Sometimes, I do wonder if I channel Nigella. The recipe for these are in her Express book and also here. If you are an American pancake fan, then make a jar of the mix and whip them up when your children/friends/strangers are wasting away on a Saturday morning. Nigella tells of how these make her feel like an American Supermom. She is right, but it makes me feel a little bit closer to Her Holiness Nige. Of course the recipe doesn't include making "ears", blueberry eyes or banana mouths. That would be ludicrous.

Last week I finished some bunting for the jubilee, which will be put in the Boy's room when the queen has finished having a right royal knees up (two uses of that phrase in this post!).

Hatty, my sewing machine (yes Hatty, I love that name and am unlikely to have another baby so used it to name the cow of a machine which often refuses to sew, the bint) and I fell out ALOT over this bunting. I've taught myself to sew, so maybe its time to be taught how to do it properly? The bunting is double sided so where ever you are in the garden enjoying a sausage roll you can see it.

Ending on a crafty note. I am embarking on my first patchwork quilt. I have done lots of online research and have painstakingly drawn charts and done maths and think I'm ready to begin. Its for the Girl, I want one for myself but thought I ought to start off small. I have a couple more fat quarters of fabric to buy and then I'm off. Will keep you updated on this and will edit out angsty swearing. Hatty may not survive

Ta Ta and happy Tuesday

SUN!!!!
x