Slow going!

Everything at the moment seems to have come to an abrupt halt! Life is ticking by but all my little projects seem to have lost that dire important feel to them and now I have to force myself to pick up my camping blanket and do another few rows - or drag myself upstairs to quilt a few more blocks! But I know that when I find my mo-jo again there will be no stopping me! It always amazes me how my creative mind ebbs like the waxing and waning of the moon!

My book reading, which seldom wanes as much as everything else is also suffering. I had to give up on 'The Children's Book' even though I had navigated myself more than half way through. I figure that life is too short to struggle through books you don't enjoy. There are probably thousands of books I want to read in my life time and I should really get on with it!

'Treasure Island'  is my next book and I am trying to muster up the enthusiasium for pirates ( just keep thinking Jonny Depp!!) but like everything in my life at the moment, it too has lost all urgency.

May tomorrow be bright and sunny and perhaps my drive to accomplish my goals will return with zeal. 

My Secret Mission.....

I can't quite remember when this germ of an idea crept into my life but I can't seem to let a day go by without me thinking about the mechanics of how I am going to accomplish it!

This year, my eldest will be entering into her late childhood years and beginning her young adult years. She will be turning 13! I can't believe how quickly those years have flown by and I really wanted to give her something special to mark the occasion. Something she could treasure for years to come and when ever she happened to look upon this something she would remember being young with all those dreams and aspirations that hadn't yet materialised and also hopefully she would think of me too. (I know - selfish!!)

I have kept a heap of old clothes that belong to both my children that hold special memories for all of us and as I was sorting through them one day I suddenly alighted on the idea of a memory quilt. Although I knew I was going to make something with it all(otherwise I would have given it all away to charity), when suddenly a very clear image of a crazy style quilt popped into my head and I immediately knew that this would be the perfect, perfect gift.

I began by researching some crazy quilts on the internet and got some fabulous ideas from some 'crazy' bloggers and so my idea began to take hold and grow. I decided that I wanted to insert some quotes and inspirational messages so I managed to find some old remnant linen which I could add to the clothes so that when I start stitching, the lettering will be neat and uniform. I made a decision NOT to buy anything for this quilt and make it using only what I have already got while everything has to have a significant meaning to my daughter too. So I trawled through drawers where we kept our 'bits and bobs', like old beads from broken bracelets never mended and pieces of ribbon, labels of clothes, even embroidered shoes that the dog chewed were all collected ~ ready to be a part of her quilt.

I am desperately trying to keep it a secret so that it is a surprise when she receives it but as I am lazy and don't pack everything away in my work room when I am finished ~ I am afraid that she may already have an inkling of what is going on. Well I don't know how I am going to do all the embroidery without her seeing something as she does to tend to sit up and watch a bit of telly with us every now and then. Even though I have only made a few blocks I can see the overall quilt taking shape and am desperately looking forward to starting the embroidery and the embellishing of the quilt. 

I am excited to see how the embroidery enhances the look of the quilt ~ but for now I have to get cracking on the last 20 blocks!!!

Until the next time.......



Where does the time go?

Well I have been a busy girl; reading an absolutely fabulous book which believe it or not, doesn't belong on my reading list for 2011; crocheting and getting very excited at the prospect of introducing a new pattern in my camping blanket (it's the little things in life that get me excited, let me tell you!) ; designing, thinking, deliberating about a little project I call 'My Secret Mission'. I find I get so wrapped up with the decision making process with any new creative project that I sometimes even forget to feed myself! But I can report that as I am 99% certain about all the intricacies of my secret mission I feel much better about everything and am ready to re-join the world; eager to get it started.

I have a very long list of books that I set myself to read this year but could not refuse the opportunity to borrow a friend's book  ~ despite its mammoth size. I can gleefully report that I was not disappointed. The style of writing initially drove me potty but by the end I absolutely loved the way she weaved the story of  Thomas Cromwell with delicious descriptions of Tudor life - it made me feel like I was a spectator watching his life unfold over his shoulder. Absolutely brilliant book - can see why she won the Man Booker Prize.  

My camping blanket is growing but ever so slowly ~ perhaps that is due to the 300 chain stitches I started with ~ I wanted it big but I am beginning to wonder if it's too BIG. Can a blanket be too big??????

I love love the colours....... oooh I can't wait for summer!

Today is a beautiful spring day and it really does make me glad to be alive! The choir of birds; the milky sky; the barely warm sunshine; shooting and flowering bulbs; the emerald green grass, all make my heart sing 'Spring is here'. It has been a loooooong winter and finally the hope of summer has arrived. 

The view from our garden this morning.

I have run out of time, next time I will spill the beans on my Secret Mission.......

Decision made!

What a relief to be typing these words...... my dilemma is solved; I have made a decision and it's neither the hex nor the ripple............

.............. it is in fact the blanket that so inspired me in the first place and suddenly a light bulb switched on and it all became very clear that Lucy's stripy granny blanket would be a perfect summer camping blanket! Phew! And I am delighted with the result so far..... here's a peek

Righto!I am off to give the dog a good walkabout.

WiP's ~ Crochet thoughts

Today my thoughts are upside-down, tipsy-turvy and plain right confused! I had a great plan about my new work in progress ~ I firmly believe that the thought processes are the most important stages of any new project ~ I knew exactly what my new crochet project was so I ordered my new wool (inspired by Lucy at Attic 24 -  here ) and waited for all thirteen balls to arrive so that I could happily start my big granny ripple blanket for our camping trips this summer! But alas! as I was searching for my pattern that I used to make my little boy's blanket,



He chose the colours himself! They are even brighter than they appear in the photo! 

 I came across a pattern that I had downloaded quite a while ago but had completely forgotten about and now I am torn between a big granny hex blanket or a granny ripple.

I had the idea of making a bright, summery blanket so I chose colours similar to the ones I used in my daughters ripple blanket: 



It reminds me so much of icecream: raspberry ripple and mint choc chip, mmmmm.



But I just can't decide between them! here is the hex blanket I fell in love with over a year ago - argh decisions decisions.

I think the only thing for it is to go for a long walk to think it over...............................................................

Hopefully next time I'll have made a decision! 

List of Goals for 2011

Here is a list of all the things I would like to achieve in 2011, apart from keeping on top of the household chores and looking after myself and my family by eating healthily etc etc.

Books on my reading list:

1. All's well that ends well - Shakespeare
2. Miss Garnet's Angel - Salley Vickers
3. The Invention of Hugo Cabaret - Selznick
4. The Tar Man and
5. The Time Quake - Linda Buckley-Archer
6. Little Women - L.M. Alcott  *
7. Northern Lights* and
8. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
9. The Children's Book -AS Byatt
10. Treasure Island* - R.L. Stevenson
11. Mortal Engines* - Philip Reeve
12. Inkspell and
13. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
14. Apricots on the Nile - Colette Rossant
15. Voices in the Park* - A.Browne
16. Junk* - Melvin Burgess
17. The other side of truth *- Naidoo
18. Coram Boy* - Jamila Gavin
19. Swallows and Amazon* - Arthur Ransome (currently reading)
20. Roll of thunder hear my cry* - Taylor
21. Peter Pan* - J.M Barrie

* Books that belong to my next (and last) O.U course starting in October

My creative creations:

Quilts

1. My bedroom throw
2. My daughter's surprise birthday quilt (October)
3. A stripy quilt for camping in the summer
4. Place mats for the kitchen
5. My god-child's quilt for her bed

Crochet

1. A granny square throw for the lounge
2. A ripple blanket for camping in the summer
3. Brooches  - which if they turn out well can be Christmas presents for the mums and grand mums in the family

Pictures

1. A quartet of seasons.
2. Tree of dreams
3. Quotations
4. Scrapbook albums up to date

Family life (children)

1. Give the children happy, summery camping memories
2. Be more firm with chores and their general helping around the house
3. Focus on the positives rather than dwelling on the negatives
4. Encourage their interests and feed their imaginations

I am sure that there is a lot more that I want to achieve but this is what my heart desires at the moment. I want this year to be a quilting year as I have so many ideas that I feel I will burst  open if I don't actually do them this year. I am waiting (very impatiently) for my wadding and cotton to arrive so that I can get quilting my patchwork top that I have made for my bed. My sleep is interruped with quilting dreams and ideas which means that I have to plan and put the next project down in my notebook before it disappears to the deep -end of my mind.

My bookcase is full with books that I haven't read and my Kindle is slowly filling up with books too - so I really need to plough through them this year. It looks like 2011 will be the year of children's books which I think is just fantastic. I can't wait to share the best ones with my children.

I have my fingers crossed for a lovely summer, especially as this year I won't be studying through it and can concentrate solely on my family. We hope to go camping by the sea and hopefully we will be able to take some of the quilts and blankets that I am planning to make - fingers crossed!!

So my creative year looks like it's jam packed already and I am so looking forward to the creative journey of 2011. I hope to regulary up date the blog with my progress so that by this time next year I can reflect and maybe learn from the process.

Next time: Quilt top update

Quilt top update : finished.

Just before Christmas I had this insatiable urge to make a quick simple throw for our bedroom. So I (very uncharacteristically) ordered myself an early Christmas present in the form of some Moda pre-cut packs which I cut up into 5" blocks.

I slowly pieced them together; row by row and (again) quite uncharacteristically I pressed the seams open and made sure that when I stitched the rows together that they all laid flat.

I  was pleased with my quilt top and the wait for the wadding to arrive was torture. But it eventually did arrive and I motored on with the quilting and binding until I was finally finished my simple patchwork quilt which is now going to adorn the bottom of my bed. Will post up a finished photo soon.

It seems that this was a weekend for finishing things. Not only did I complete my quilt (only a wash and airing needed to really complete the task) but I also finished one of my books on my list: Swallows and Amazons. This was a great read for me as it has made me look forward to our summer of camping. I am not what my husband would call a 'natural' camper but if it doesn't rain I am generally an okay camper but if it is miserable and I am cold then I quickly become a very unhappy camper! We have been toying with the idea of a caravan - but can't quite commit ~ not yet. So to make my camping experience more cosy and warm I have two new projects which are specifically for our summer camping trips and my head is all of a spin of what to start first: the crochet blanket or the old, new quilt.........



Bobby just making sure it was soft enough.



Next time: My new WIP's