Something like this

Just pinned on. Not at all finished, but ... the little quilts will end up something like this.
Don't think they'll get a border, just a binding ... eventually :-)
But now one is ready for hand-work :-) and the other will be before I go to bed tonight.

Nice :-)

Playing with taupes

A selection of "ties" :-) or rather, of 2 ½" strips of most of my Japanese and Japanese-style taupes.
All for the purpose of making these two small quilts :








And these - in turn - will get a selection of candy applique'ed on them, probably in the soft and muted colours that are in that bowl of goodies, making it all into the colours of sticks and stones and the woods-by-the-sea in November colours. VERY unlike my usual palette ... but quite exiting to test the waters in this way. Making doll-quilts :-) (and the making of doll-quilts is all the "fault" of this picture, and this)
Besides, making very small quilts, solely for the joy of it is ... joyful :-) who'd have thunk :-)
And I can experiment without feeling too wasteful too :-)

Small steps

... or, as the saying is in this country : he who travels with oxen arrives too.
The front of the tiny purse is now quilted (such as it is) and joined. It is possibly the most fidgety knee-cap-protector I have ever made :-)
But it looks cute enough.

Now its on to the equally small pieces that go on the blocks on the back of this thing.

And the other picture ?
Well. Just because :-) and to remind me that life not only holds taupe, there's pink and the shimmer of raindrops in a lazy sun in there too.

Welcome to my yard

Coming in from the corner , the garden gate (sounds fancy, doesn't it)

And here's a picture of the deck, in all its shabby splendour

There are roses growing on the corner, and they have a lovely scent

And finally, another picture of the candy, only, now it's washed and getting ready to go into a doll-quilt ... when I've finished the purse !

Unexpected pleasures ...

Gift from a student :-) given in sheer happiness at an exam passed. And just for the record, he passed justly :-) and the professor (who is male) got half, but passed them on to me, seeing that he would not be home until tomorrow, so ... I had one of the (very rare) chances of bringing out my Aalto-vase, which needs about a gazillion flowers to be filled and look good. I never thought that the first time this year would be roses in the softest of pink / powder.
So, an unexpected pleasure now fills the air, both visually and scentedly :-)

Showing the shower

And why ?
Because fabric is stuck to the tiles in the shower :-) and looking good. v.g. (read your Bridget Jones if you don't know what that is.) ... and why fabric is stuck to the tiles of the shower ? well ... to dry :-) When I hand-wash small samples of fabric, or the odd F/4, I don't want to hang it, and I certainly don't want to tumble-dry it, so ... while wet, it gets stuck to the tiles, and it stays there until it is dry ... after which it just falls off on its own :-)

And the game-board - with its owl playing-pieces for a quick game of tic-tac-toe - is finished. Quilted and bound, and has been used already :-) Both kiddies have been licked by their old mama (aka : me) and the board, with owls, have taken up residence (temporary or permanent ... who can tell) at the dining-table, from which all life in this house takes it's departure and to which all life in this house returns :-)
This picture, however is taken on the (rather worn) deck.

The UFO-fairies

Well, I thought I had better bring this one into the public eye, rather than having it lying around on my hard-disk :-)
And please note, that in this post "UFO" refers to "Un Finished Object" of the needle-work sort, rather than other possible expansions of the abbreviation

UFO-fairies ... well ... UFO-fairies do exist !

What do you say ?
Didn't you know ?
The problem, however, is ....

Now ... we all know about the flower-fairies. Snowdrops and daisies, and roses and tulips, even brambles ! Each of these have their own pretty fairy .... but ...
Did you ever wonder about the look and the temperament of the fairie of the stinging-neetle ?
Not to speak of hemlock or poison-ivy ?

The UFO-fairies are closely related to the poison-ivy-type of fairies :-)
And know, clearly, without a doubt in your mind, that they are not nice. Besides, they see their duty clear ! They help the UFOs ... not you !

So, to trust in the UFO-faires means trusting that they will keep the UFOs hidden, until said UFOs have truly multiplied. And then they'll only let go of one or two of their charges, and will keep all the rest hidden from your eyes.
They will hide them at the back of closets and the bottom of drawers. They will stuff them into the recesses of your shelves and under your bed. In short, they will see to it, that there is, at all times, at least 5 different projects placed in ideal breeding-grounds.

Because, as we all know, UFOs do breed. And their favourite breeding-grounds are in the back of closets, and the bottom of drawers and ....
Knowing this, the UFO-fairies will do their utmost to keep you away from those places, so that their wonderful charges can grow and breed, undisturbed and unmolested by the dreadful "Finishers" !!!

Naturally, this entails hard work for the fairies at times. Work which includes taking out lots of stuff in your sewing-area, and spreading it in weird places. Hiding essential equipment, thus making it necessary for you to get another one (which will send you not only out of the
sewing-room, but out of the house ... or at least, in front of the computer, in which case your UFOs are "safe" anyway :-), spreading fabric around, and putting interesting and inspiring bits in there, which necessitates your starting another project ... and also necessitates your scrambling through your stash to find co-ordinates ... and yes, the UFO-fairies will help you to do that ... and will drop fabric absolutely everywhere to ensure that you don't get close to any
of the already exisiting UFOs, just as they will render you every possible service in your quest to create another UFO.

UFO-fairies are hard to evict from your sewing-space, once you have an infestation, but it can be done. What is more. Occasionally, one or more UFO-fairies have known to transform into a WIP-fairy, who will actually encourage you to finish things. The transition, however, is very tough for all parties involved, and can take years ! (WIP = Work In Progress)

But it is well worth it, when you see your stack of beautiful finishes :-) and you take the last of your UFO-fairies by their scrungy (and possibly quite dirty) ear, and toss it out along with its pets : the dust-rabbits.
BUT, the dust-rabbits is an entirely different story, and you won't get that one now :-)

More owls ....

As you can see, there now are no less than 6 small owls ... waiting. 3 blue ones and 3 red ones. They are the "useful" small owls :-) who will live (I hope) a long and satisfying life as play-pieces for a tic-tac-toe game.

The playing-board of which is now in the process of being quilted. Machine-pieced in an afternoon.
Nice :-)


...and next I dusted off my frame-on-a-stand to hand-quilt that one. First time in years (literally) with hand-quilting taking place in this house ... and you can tell from the stitches.
No, there is no close-up of any stitching here :-) But take my word for it. They are uneven in both size and precision. And frankly, I don't care one jot :-) If I continue to find my quilting unsatisfactory, I'll just call it Folk Art and be happy :-)