Friday, October 04, 2013

I feel an addiction coming on...


 
Well, here's the thing. I have at last found a few days with no visitors or other major interruptions. (I've no idea why my life normally seems so full of things, but it does.) So I've got back to thinking about this very very simple patchwork thingie that I hope to make. Don't get excited - the photo above is simply a whole lot of squares laid on a bed. No sewing has so far taken place.
 
The story so far: the wonderful Thimbleanna very kindly gave me a cutting board, a rotary cutter and some (oh dear, haven't got the technical vocabulary in my head) - some charm squares and some jelly rolls? Anyway, some lovely bits of material with a Christmas theme. This was (ahem) August last year. However, my mum had just died and I was feeling a bit wobbly, so Christmas came and went and I hadn't done anything with them. In February, I got them out, saying to myself that this couldn't be that difficult, could it? - laid them in a pattern and decided that I didn't like quite so much red and green together so I'd get some plain green fabric to break up the patterned ones. So I bought some. I also decided not to include the very red bits at all but to set them aside to make (HAHAHAHAHAHA) a separate red quilt. Which of course meant that I'd need more material for the green one. So I put it all back in the cupboard and suddenly the end of September loomed and I thought, ah. Christmas. Yes.
 
So the other day, I decided that I would actually do some cutting. Actually, to my surprise, the cutting was good fun (though I did discover that you really need to stand up to cut or your cutter has a tendency to drift over to the right. Grrr.) And cutting out 197 squares is remarkably time-consuming. (I already had 24 squares from Anna's selection.)
 

At this stage, I'd like you to be Very Impressed, because after I'd finished cutting, this (above) was the amount of plain green material I had left from what I'd bought. And you thought arithmetic wasn't my strong point, didn't you? Well, there you are. (Bow.)

Anyway, I then decided that I needed some bits of patterned material with a wee bit of red in them, to make it all look more Christmassy, so I went up town and...

... oh dear...

got them but also rather fell in love with some entirely unChristmassy materials and bought bits of those.

So: I now need to: sew together the green (and greenish) squares, make something with the red bits, and do something else with the new bits.

ohdearohdearohdearwhatwasithinkingof?

I seem to have started a minor stash.

And - this is the really sinister bit - I've been thinking about material as I go to sleep; and the night before last I actually dreamed about bits of cloth.

However, let's look on the bright side: it's quite probable that I'll make such a pig's ear of actually sewing the squares together that I'll give up, donate all my materials to the nearest charity shop and go back to gardening. Watch this space.

13 comments:

  1. Okay, taking the last first, no you won't make a pig's ear of it, honestly! Am giggling at the slight note of horror in your voice, lol, as you admit to possibly having a stash! Join the club! And yes, terribly impressed with your mathematical skills as I can only spell not count!

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  2. Welcome to the dark side! Your fabrics look great together, and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

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  3. Anonymous3:36 am

    So good to read of your quilting thought processes. Is there a quilt club near you? Fellow quilters are very inspiring. A quilter needs a club as a Christian needs a church I decided after joining my first quilt club.

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  4. I am impressed! I'm sure it will be a wonderful quilt.

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  5. This is just how obsession starts! I knew I was lost the day I found myself buying onions and selected ones with good, drawable stems.

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  6. This is most impressive, and anyone who can cut fsbric straight (as well as arrange squares in aggreeable and artistic designs must be admired and applauded. Well done

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  7. This will be fun for you! I like the green of your quilt. Did you know you can buy fabric online? I probably should not have told you!

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  8. Very Impressive! It is an addiction and you do seem to have been bitten (mixed metaphors anyone?)I agree with Anonymous. You need a support group. There are loads of new friends at your local quilt guild just waiting to meet and encourage you!

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  9. mwhahahaha ... evil laugh. This is how it starts.

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  10. This is how I've become about knitting, I recognise the symptoms: stashing, thinking about it when you go to sleep...

    It is really lovely though, the green. Those plain, soft green squares work really well, and it's not so Christmassy now that you won't be able to look at it the rest of the year.

    Hooray for making things!

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  11. You're hooked. Join the club.

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  12. YES!!!! Yes. Yes. YES!!!!!

    I KNEW you could do it. And I HOPED it would happen LOL.

    I've been gone all weekend -- I can't wait to read the next installment. It looks wonderful all laid out. (Oh, and I should have told you that yes, it's best to cut standing. It's much less awkward and easier on your back too.)

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  13. That is exactly what happens to me when my mom comes to town! We stop into a cute quilt shop full of inspiring things-completed quilts, of course, and I become inspired, thinking of the patterns and fabrics... but I'm not good at sewing. I lack patience. I hope it goes smoothly for you! :)

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