Fabrics and rabbits and cats

.... oh my.
On your right, first prototype rabbit. I like the look of this one well enough, BUT, I don't like the fact, that you really do have to like curved piecing or the way I've set the ears. The ears, I could work on, the curved piecing ... no.
So I had to come up with another way of doing this particular kind of critter, and fortunatly I remembered Ellen's webshots of all her gorgeous Chuck Nohara applique-blocks, and there it was, the prototype for the second attempt at a rabbit
Oh, you want to see it ? OK :-) Go here ... and while you're there, look through her entire album of appliques. The blocks are 4½" finished size !!
ANYways, I then tried to make a rabbit a wee bit like the one of the applique, and the result is the blue and yellow critter. Only 2 pattern-pieces. Nice :-)

And the owls have eyes ! and are slowly turning into quite a family of owls.
As you can see, I have now made a smaller version, and I actually like this format better. One is finished, 5 more are ready to stuff, embroider beaks, put eyes on and close at the bottom. 3 blues and 2 more reds ... enough to make play-pieces for a tic-tac-toe game :-) ... and then I guess that I'll just *have* to make a board as well ... quilted, naturally :-)

The final picture for today is of some of the results of my S.E.X. yesterday. No, it is not a naughty word, it is an acronym. Please note the full stops.
It means "Stash Enhancment eXpedition". So there :-)
A series of neutrals with linedrawings or almost line-drawings (by Carol Endres), two Kaffe Fasset ikat-stripes, two batiks and some soft, rose/brown fabrics. To me, it's a pleasing combination, and they will be made into something ... preferably on the machine ... preferably using BIG pieces (i.e : more than 1/4" square, finished size).

An owl's nest ...

Another colloquial, translated literally :-) The colloquial means really messed-up hair. Quite a bit like DDs at times :-) But this is perhaps rather the beginning of a nest of owls. They have no usefulness, what-so-ever, apart from being cute and rather fun to make :-)
They are presented, with the first one at the back, then one for DH with birch-trees, a home-spun one and a japanese one with daiwabo and japanese indigo.
I think I need to find some buttons so they can get eyes :-)

Owls in the bog ....

Well, sorry, but that's a colloquial Danish expression, meaning that one has a suspicion that whatever is going on is not as it should be. This, however, is not an owl in a bog :-) It is a stuffed owl on my deck.
I first saw owls like this over at Moonstitches's blog. Unfortunately, she didn't make the pattern so she cannot sell or give it away. It's from a japanese book, that I frankly don't have the courage to try and order, even if she does link to Amazon-Japan. So I looked at her owls and was ... envious.
Then she made a tutowlrial and I decided to try and construct a useable pattern myself, and the owl here is the first result. I didn't use cardboard for it's bottom, but a seriously big washer, and I did wrap the washer in a wee bit of batting, to make it softer to the touch and easier to manipulate the fabric for the joining of the top and the bottom part ... but I have made my first owl. Yes. First. I do foresee more in a near future as I tweak the pattern to fit my needs and desires and wishes :-)

And the house is progressing more or less according to plan. What is next on the agenda is to come up with a way I can mark these tinies on the front, without risking it to show once the bag is joined ... I think perhaps a small running-stitch just outside of the seam-line might do the trick ? Then I can get the three of them quilted separately. That needs to happen before I join them.

I got candy !!!

See what the mail-man brought me.

Fabric-candy :-)

And its not fattening at all !! rather the opposite. At least the wallet has a risk of going on a crash-diet :-)
Aren't they gorgeous ? They look even better in real life :-) and what you cannot see is, that they shimmer slightly. Not gaudily. Just enough to change the hue a bit, depending on the direction you have the light coming from, and the angle from which you see it.

I see a doll-quilt in the near future :-)

And the yard for the house is in progress.
One tree sewn, one prepared, 3 more to prep. and sew.

Yes. It will be very cute :-)

... even if my long suffering DH doubts my sanity more than he usually does. Or rather, he doesn't :-) This one settles the issue once and for all.

... naw. He doesn't really understand my need to fidget with tiny bits of fabric, but he likes the results, and he enjoys my enjoyment. Which is good :-)

Moving in ...

And here is the first part of the tiny purse. Only 5 more "blocks" to make ... and then the joining, and quilting and ....
The block is all of 6" tall ... unfinished as it is. Looks rather cute, me thinks :-) And even if I question my own sanity when I make things like this, I do enjoy it too.

Decisions, decisions ....

On your left, the composite parts of the first tiny block for the very small purse I'm pursuing :-)
Yes. It is a 6" ruler to the left of the bits.

Do not sneeze !
Some of these bits are going to finish at 1/8" wide !!!
... when I finish it.
I will keep you posted :-)

And then to the title of this post.

Decisions.

The major decision I'm about to embark on, is exactly what I'm going to do with the small applique-blocks.
Will I finish them, just "with themselves" so to speak ? As on the picture here, or will I combine them with the Baltimore medallion ?

The reason the medallion is back in the equation is, that I want to use it. And if I'm searching deep down into my soul, I know that the probability of my making another 12 or 18 Baltimore-style blocks is not very high. At least not while I still have so many other quilts I want to do and styles, techniques, combinations, colours that I want to play with.
So, I've actually trimmed the medallion, and have now put it up on the wall, along with the small blocks.
Set like this, I need to make 4 blocks that finish at 12" ... and they would very probably be paper-cut style. Either Elly S' or my own ... but I would use all of the small blocks, and with a 6" border (well quilted) it will still be as big as my Dear Jane, and that's big enough to cover a queen-size bed.

The thing is, that I really want this medallion to be a thing not "only" of beauty but also of usefulness, and if the latter is going to happen within a foreseeable future, it needs to be part of something that is not a complete Baltimore-album, 'cause frankly, that's not going to happen any time soon.

And yes. I know. There is some clashing of style there. Formal and informal. "Real" Baltimore and folk-art. All mixed up with each other ... but then ... that's not a bad image of what I am. I can dress up to the nines for a gala-premiere. I can move about in a power-suit and make people think I belong in the executive corridors of a corporation. I can scoop my grey hair up into a pony-tail and dabble around with bare feet in my sandals and a worn t-shirt over a pair of well-washed jeans.
I'm all of that :-)
And frankly, I think it would not be a bad thing to make a quilt that shows this :-)
... And I guess there's no harm done in just starting some 12" paper-cut blocks ... I can always use them for something else, if the above layout is not the one I decide to work with in the end :-)

... on with the new !

A finished trundle-bed for my doll from Gail Wilson
The quilt is not the 9-patch the directions directed me to make, seeing that I really disliked making a 9-patch quilt for the real bed earlier this year
So it turned into a 4-patch quilt, set on point and rather than sashing-strips, it was alternate plain squares. I like that setting a lot, and in spite of my not following directions, I still think it looks cute :-)
Oh, and the colour on the bed is not as directed either :-) I'm getting slightly fed up with the green that goes with just about anything in her kits. Good thing that paint is available for money in shops :-)

And then : on with the new !
Today, I'll start a project from this book (on your left: Yoko Saito "Houses, houses, houses" ISBN 4-14-031131-2)
It will be a small purse of some sort. Which one will be decided when I check out what sizes (and colours) of zippers are available in my hidden storage areas :-)

I hope for a 12 cm zipper in a neutral colour, 'cause I would really looove to make THIS one (on the right), and I wouldn't want to have to go out in the damp, slightly cold streets just to feed my need to make it :-)
BUT if that's what it takes, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it.

And I'm very happy that I don't have to buy a metric quilt-ruler just for this ... I bought it more than a year ago to have it ready for when I felt I could, with a good conscience, start on some of the many wonderful projects I have in my (growing) collection of japanese patterns and books :-)
Yes, sometimes the squirrel-tendencies are quite useful :-)
So that's what's happening here.
Things are finished.
New things are started :-)
v.g.

No more all alone

The wall is no longer alone and afraid.
It now keeps company with all the small applique-blocks I have accumulated during the past 4 years. Yes. It's been that long since I started the first DearJane Applique Sewciety blocks.
Over time, DJAS changed to Heart-and-Hand, courtesy of Diane Rode Schneck, Dear Hannah-blocks have been added, and a few of my own and of DDs design.
So it really is a quilt with all sorts of designs, motivs and colours ... which is why the preliminary title is "All-Sorts"
(and in case you wonder, yes, I love Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts)

It will not become the huge quilt I originally envisaged, but it will be finished as a "Not quite twin- but slightly too big to be a lap-size"-quilt.

Yes. Just rolls off your tongue, doesn't it :-D

And then a wee bit of eye-candy. The view from our bed-room door.
And in case you wondered, the house you see is not our house, but looks is exactly like it, just mirror-image :-)

Please note the gorgeous pink-flowered pergola on the right side of the picture :-) It looks soooo beautiful right now :-)

You can even forget that immediate cross-the-road neighbour has dug up his entire front-yard right now, and it looks as messy as ours used to do :-)

The wall !!!

I have a downright naked wall in my sewing-room. Look at this !!!

It's the design-wall, and it feels cold, naked and alone in the world ! Ne'er a block to keep it warm and cheerful. Just white batting and a few, stray threads clinging to the surface.

Oh, well. The reason this wall is in such a pitiful condition is actually quite good. At least it is to me. The sampler-top is FINISHED ! Lookeee :

And I started the first block on September 15th of 2006.
Amazing what progress can be made on a project if you actually work on it :-)

And this means, that I now only have one, single project going !
What is more, I'm denying myself the pleasure of starting a new one until the 4 tops I have finished during the past 3 weeks have been sent off to their respective quilters. How's that for incentive to get my act together and go to the post-office :-)

Happy Mother's Day

On your right, the revised version of DD's quilt.
I like this one better :-)
Much better in fact.
Perhaps I have an abhorrence of too much white ! too many clear spaces ! too much space even ??? Naw :-) I could - as I'm sure most of the rest of you - use another 2000 square feet of house ... preferably more ... as long as I don't have to clean them :-)
Yeah, right :-)


And here, on your left, meet Adora Belle.

Gift from DD to me.

On her t-shirt (the Bear's t-shirt, that is, not DDs ... who is not shown on any of these pictures) is the legend : The Beary Best Mom (in Danish, naturally, seeing that this bear was bought in this country).

Just thought you might enjoy it.

And thus, two very pink pictures on a rather pink blog :-) celebrating Mother's Day :-)
... oh, and in case you don't have a pink ribbon in the house, perhaps today would be a good day to go to The Breast Cancer site and press a button there. Someone's mum might be saved that way :-)

Progressing in Copenhagen

DFreind's quilt-top is now finished. Her first attempt :-) But I took over the second half of getting the borders on, after she had taken a year not to get it done ... it then took me more than a year to get it done, but ... at least they are on now :-)

And shortly, it will be going across the pond for quilting

The Sampler is progressing too.
I decided to do the star-corner, and now I'm getting cold feet.
With sashings thrown into the equation, getting just remotely fancy stuff in the border is only really feasible if it's applique'ed, so ... that idea has been tossed ... even though I liked it :-)


BUT, this is where I am right now.
Picture of DD's re-bordered quilt will come when it's finished :-)

That's what quilts are for

As you can see on picture (not a very good one, but it is there) :

This is what quilts are for.

Recipe :

Put a quilt or two down on the floor.
Add one child.
Pile a quilt on top of the bundle.
Lovely :-)

Life goes on ...

Well. It does.
There *is* a life after finishing a QD top :-)

And seeing that the sashing-fabric has arrived, been washed and is in the process of being cut, the sampler is now the thing progressing.
DH could see that this does have quite a punch. Not in the intense way the QD does, rather ... in a very loud sort of voice :-)

It is my priority-project until the top is finished and on it's way to the quilter.
But I'm .... dithering.
Should I do a plain edge, or should I fool around, and make a (visible) star in just one corner ??? (this is a mock-up on the design-wall, nothing more, so don't despair at the bad sewing ... it isn't sewn ... which might explain some things .... :)


Sashings and corner-stones of the upper right corner has been sewn.
Partly at least :-)
I had to see if the plan works as I would like it to ... and it seems that it does :-) Oh, and yes, there is progress on the small applique blocks.
No less than 5 blocks have been finished since I finished the QD-top :-) Not ironed, and not a good picture ... but the blocks are sewn ... which is good :-)

So ... life goes on, and "new" projects progress :-)

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 :-)

Last day of March status

March has been very productive.
DDs quilt-top is finished.
Backing is acquired (but not yet pieced)
And the QD is getting a work-out.
... as can be seen on the picture. If you don't remember what it looked like on the first of the month, you can see the picture here.

A month ago, only one and a half rows were joined, and very little was pressed-and-trimmed beyond that.
Now, more than half has been joined, and the pressing-and-trimming of the individual blocks are that wee bit ahead of the sewing necessary for my enjoyment :-)
What is more, the brown setting-fabric (a lovely "solid" batik, Hoffmann # 1895 "Havana") makes the blocks "glow" ... well ... at least I think so :-)

I am not, however, joining the rows yet. I need to press and trim them individually, getting rid of the rabbit-ears and too-much fabric in the seams that I can, so that when I have the entire top joined, the amount of pressing-and-trimming still to be done will be minimal.

And that was the March-status ... and part of my Lent status.
I have fallen through - miserably or gloriously, as you feel inclined - on my "no shopping" ... but I have actually kept myself in line with the "no starts" :-)
And the result is - with one more week of lent to go - a finished top, and major progress on the next one.
Nice :-)

Falling off the wagon

Many things can be said about me. And I don't doubt that many things are :-)
What cannot be said is, that I can't do things in the grand manner :-)
Like falling off the fabric-diet wagon.

Well, the story is long, but to cut it short : DH was going to a meeting at a place very close to the best quilt-shop in this country (which is in the middle of nowhere). I need bacing for the QD-quilt, and the fabric for that particular quilt was bought at that shop. I wanted him to go there and see if they had more of the butterfly fabric that is used in some of the blocks. (sorry, no pictures, DH has taken MY camera to HIS job and have not taken it back home with him).
To see if it is at all possible, I go on-line to check their opening hours, and find out that ....
THEY ARE CLOSING !!!
AND they have a half-prize sale, starting Monday of this week.
DHs meeting is Tuesday.
I don't have a schedule for Tuesday.

As Oscar Wilde said : I can resist anything but temptation.

So, after a bit of fidgeting, and a good deal more of feeling bad for not keeping my promises to myself, I went. DHs parting shot as he set me down at the shop was "And I won't hear one single whine about how much money you spent. Either you get it and enjoy it, or you don't get it, but don't moan about what you spend."

So ... I got it :-) Yes. You may say that. I definitely got it :-)
And what I got ?
All the sensible things, naturally :-)

Backing for DD's quilt. (Oh, mom, that's HOT)
Backing for the QD quilt. (Green, and I had planned brown or sand-coloured)
Dark-blue Fossil-fern for Back-ground for a collection of Rawkos-fabric from New Zealand
2 spools of hand-piecing thread
2 spools of machine-thread
A new 15" ruler (yes !! DD broke the old one a while back)
A new 6" ruler (yes !! the one I had was worn out)

Wasn't I being the sensible one ?

I didn't stay sensible :-) because wishes and dreams and the general headiness of being in a very well-stocked quilt-shop with a half-prize sale got me, and then I got :
4 Danish books
1 Japanese book
16 cuts of daiwabo-fabric (japanese taupes, you can see the general style here )
8 cuts of batiks.

NEVER let it be said that I fall lightly when I fall :-)

Apart from a lingering feeling of ... slight dismay about not keeping the diet, I am happy with my buys, and I am back on the wagon again :-) Somewhat bruised from the tumble, but ... happy :-)

A March almost finish

And here it is
The finished top for DD's quilt. The hands you see at each side of the top belongs to DH :-)
And yes, when seen through the lense of a camera, it isn't too bland. Nothing that a 1" binding with colours same as the quilt will not fix.
So that's one (almost) down.

It will stay on my WIP-list until it - eventually - comes home from a LongArm quilter, and have the binding on. In my book, a project is not finished until it is :
Quilted.
Bound.
Signed.
AND
Ready to gift-wrap :-)

But it's a great feeling to have it be a finished Top. And in less than 4 months too ! First block was started on November 30th 2006, so ... it is possible to finish a twin-size top in less than a year ... and it is all hand-work :-)
It has now moved away from it's priority-project position, and the QD has moved into that particular slot.

What's in a name ....

Just a fairly short and fairly silly one, and just because DD asked me, what names I knew that "means something".
So here are some, from the top of my head.
Thomas means "twin", and Andrew, Andreas and Anders means "man" / "human being" (and comes from the greek). That's why "Neo Anderson" of the Matrix films is the flimsiest of hidden "clue" as to who he is in that picture "The new son of man".
Adam means either "man" or "human" or - very plainly - earthling. Not earth as in the planet, but as in "soil", seeing that it derives from the noun adamah which does mean soil. Eve on the other hand is a deriviate of a word which means "life".
Sara is "princess", a feminine of the hebrew sar which means "prince" (as in ruler), and Abraham means "father of many".
Christopher means "bearer of Christ" (from the greek, christo foros), Benedict or the female form Benedicta means "blessed", Beata or the male form Beat means "beautiful", both come from the latin. Peter means "rock", and Joshua is actually the hebrew form of a name many of us knows better in the graeco-latin version of Jesus, both means "Jo (= Yahweh = God) saves". Immanuel means "God with us" and Ursula means "little she-bear". Bjørn, is straight out "bear", and other Danish names that are straight out animals are Ravn (raven), Ulf (wolf) and Lærke (lark).
DD gave up long before I got this far :-)
My name ?
Tilde derives from "Matilde" which again derives from ancient German Mechthildis : mighty in strife.
So there :-)

March progress

Yes. We have progress in Copenhagen this March :-)

DD's quilt now has it's centre in one piece and has straight edges.
Nice.

It does look a bit wobbly at the edges, but that is due to not being ironed fully yet ... and the fact, that whereas each block presses easily and prettily, the setting messes things up, so every other seam (or so) has to be "turned" in the middle, if the points meeting has to lie flat.

Oh, well.

A certain amount of creative "violence" with a good, and judiciously used steam-iron will take care of that :-)

It now needs to become a proper rectangle, and will ... probably (hopefully) some time during the coming week-end.
I'll keep you posted :-)

Friday evening hello

Well, I'm still on planet earth ... sort of :-) but fairly busy with working. Got myself another part-time job, so that's two of them now. Should make for a full job, but ... the reality is, that it's more than that, so ... much work and little sewing.
And since I haven't got any major progress on any of my big projects (yet, but it will be there, and you will be informed, never fret), I thought I would entertain you with pictures of two of my cats.
The black gentleman is our alpha "male" (brackets because he is, technically, only able to become an uncle, seeing that he was neutralized before turning "really" male), Pushkin, named for the russian poet, AND because he is a puss :-) not quite in boots but still ... he is also the tail-less one.
The grey and white lady is my baby-cat (or Christmas-cat) who was rescued on December 23rd, 2003. She had been found, hungry and scared, and barely more than 8-10 weeks old, in a summer-cottage area, and the vet felt she had to be put away.
I couldn't let that happen, so it didn't :-)
Her name is Josephine, because the television advent-calender that year had a female (girl) lead by that name.
And that was that.
Updates on sewing and life will follow ...
... eventually :-)
Have a lovely week-end.