My handsome son

He will hate me for this.
He will possibly never speak to me again if he finds out.
BUT, I just had to brag a bit :-)
Found pictures (at the school's home-page) from the junior-sort-of-prom he attended 2 weeks ago (I was not allowed to take pictures), so ... I lifted them from the school home-page, and here he is, my (to my eyes) handsome son (and no, he won't tell me about the girl apart from her being one of his class-mates ... but she looks quite cute too, wouldn't you say :-) :

The advantages of natural folly ...

Nothing much to say other than : here it is.
The finished top.
Picture taken in our tiny yard, which is why it seems 3D in places (mostly)
Trimming around the perimeter of the centre still needs to be done.
Backing needs to be sewn.
Arrangements for it to be quilted needs to be made.
BUT the top is finished.

This is scary !
But wonderful too.

Busy morning

Just wanted to share the first, preliminary mock-up of the sampler-quilt.
It now awaits the arrival of the sashing-fabric. All blocks will be sashed with dark blue and red corner-stones.
Once that is done, a couple of days will pass as I move blocks around, and get the right distribution.

BUT, there's still plenty of hand-work left on the QD to take me through until the sashing-fabric arrives. Maybe it will even take me through the period of determination on the sampler :-)

And it is a kick-donkey quilt, right ?
Right :-)

The centre is finished

I give you the centre of the QD-quilt.
Not a mock-up, the real deal :-) with no white design-wall batting showing through.

It almost feels like a finish.
Only ... it isn't.

Which is why I need to keep my focus, and get the borders ready to roll today. If I don't, I fear that I'll drop out of my habit of sitting on the couch in the evening, with a partial quilt-top wrapped around me, hand-sewing blocks and sashings together.

But I have incentive to keep at it :-) Remember the books I got ? They are calling my name. Loud and clear. So, that's my incentive :-)
Get the borders on this one, and then you can fool around with new fabrics and (at least) one new (small) project from one of the new books that have lately expanded your collection :-)

That will be great :-)

Ideas on how to not start new things ....

OK. Martha. Challenge taken :-)
Only ... I'm at the point where "A Project" is already sending out lots and lots of tempting lures. So here's my list, and it's not just 10 :-)
Tactics for not starting a new project :

1. Don't browse your shelves
2. Don't browse the on-line shops
3. Grit your teeth.
4. Finish something else
5. Pick up something, that you have already started.
6. Tell yourself that that "something" is as wonderful as that which you want to start (you might have to be quite strict and insistent with this one)
   
7. Look at the projects you already have in the house that are ready to roll (PIGs)
   
8. Start fondling your PIGs
9. Make a deal with yourself on when you may start "anything at all"
10. Keep the deal by not starting before that.
11. Make the deal keep-able and not along the lines of "when I have finished 20 UFOs" ... Making demands like that of you is not a deal, but a deal-breaker :-)
    
12. Know there will still be wonderful projects (and fabrics) out there next week
13. It is possible, bordering on probable, that there will be wonderful projects (and fabrics) out there next year
14. The production of cotton has not stopped yet, and there's no signs that it will within a foreseeable future
    
15. The production of gorgeous patterns seems to increase, year by year
16. If you don't already have it, get the pattern / book on the clear understanding that you have to wait another 3 months before you start browsing for fabric.
17. If you're at the "Browsing for fabric" stage, start by only shopping on your own shelves. Then put pattern (or book) and the fabric you have "bought" together, and put them in a bag. They are now officially a PIG, and therefore not nearly as exiting as you thought. (Check it out 3 months from "now" and see if it still shouts, or if it has subsided to a slight whimper)
    
18. Don't cut everything for a whole quilt the day (or week) where fancy grabs you and directs you to "try this out". If you're dreaming of making a quilt with many blocks (same or all different), make a block or two for BOB without expecting of yourself that you make the entire thing. You might not love it the way you thought you would, once you actually work on it. This is known as making test-blocks :-)
    
19. Finish your test-blocks as coasters, potholders or whatever, so that you have a small finish of the thing you're dreaming about, but FINISH something from it :-)
    
20. Finish an old project, same size as the one you want to start.
21. Grit your teeth.
    

Yes. I know. # 3 and 21 are the same, but really, they would be all the odd (or all the even) items on this list, if it was to be a true description of how I feel about not starting a new project the minute fancy grabs me :-)

Late April update

OK, been a while since I wrote, but I like having pictures on this blog, and frankly, none were taken.
Some are now :-) And right here I give you :
The little Pink Thing.
All finished.
Quilted-bound-signed
Draped over the fence, under the (almost) blossoming pear-tree.
Could it possibly be more romantic ? ... well... yes .. the cars in the background could be gone, but still ...
Looks good to me :-)

And today I finally got my order from the German shop.
No Chuck Nohara book, though, and I'm a bit miffed about that. She could have let me know it was not available when she first processed my order. It's not as if I didn't submit my e-mail along with the order. Had she done so, I wouldn't have gotten all exited about getting it, only to be let down.

BUT, the two books by Yoko Saito were there.
Nice.
So here's a picture of my most recent, non-Danish quilt-books acquisitions. Some were gifts (thank you), some were bought. All are wonderful. Elly Sienkiewitz, Karen Stone and 3 japanese books.
There's plenty of inspiration in there to either get me in or keep me out of trouble. Guess it all depends on how you define "trouble" :-)
These books (and a couple more in Danish), should keep me off street-corners for a wee while :-) ... once I have finished the tops I have going. (and thank you, yes, they are moving along nicely)

Guess that was it for today ... oh, no, one more picture :-)
This is our third cat. One you haven't seen on this blog before. She's a very shy lady, but she is a cat, so she likes quilts too.

We've had her for a little more than 4 years now, and this week-end was the first time EVER she jumped up on DHs lap and laid down to just cuddle.
She has never, ever done that before.
But then, she comes from a shelter, and you never know what rescued pets have been subject to before you got them.
Still .... year by year, teeny tiny step by step, she's becoming more of a pet and less of a bunch of part-agressive, part-panicky nerves.
She's still very vary of hands close to her face ... unless they hold good food (in which case she is completely fearless), but you can nuzzle her and talk to her, and she'll even come when you call ... occasionally :-)

Cats and Rabbits and Quilts ... oh my :-)

On your right, meet Miss Houdini, the rabbit :-)
She is here pictured on our deck, but yesterday she was let out on what once was something resembling a tiny lawn in our front-yard. She promptly dug her way out, hence the (temporary) name "Miss Houdini".

Today, DH is going to at least try to partially rabbit-proof the yard, which means that he is digging down yards and yards of chicken-wire, so that we have a chance of catching rabbit when she practices her Houdini-tricks.


On your left, you see the reason why there is a temporary lull in proceedings of the binding on the little pink thing. Pictured there is baby-cat, Josephine, taking the quilt into posession.
It is very comfortable, to lie down, close to a favourite human, and snuggle up. Well, this human does not have the ability to sew the binding on, with a cat lying on the relevant part. It is - unfortunately - outside of my capabilities.

She does look comfy, though, doesn't she :-)

Quilted soon to be bound ....

The little pink thing is home from the quilter.
And my dears, I kid you not, it is drop dead gorgeously quilted.
If I had a machine-quilter like that close by, believe me, I would never EVER hand-quilt again in my life (probably). Every choice she has made is good.
I am a very, very happy customer :-)
Thank you to everyone involved in making this happen.

I have laid it out flat, so that the transportation-creases can ease out a bit before I start measuring for the binding ... and so that I can enjoy the sight of it :-)

Next update on this one will be when it is finished ... which should be possible within the next week or two :-)