For today

JUNE 24th 2009

Outside my window... The birds are sitting in the tree eyeing up the old bread that we put out for them to eat

I am thinking... I really should be working on my blocks for my Geese in the Forest quilt instead of working on things for the hospital on my day off

I am thankful for... The sun streaming in my window after a super frosty and cold start to the day

From the kitchen... I'm on cooking duty on Saturday, any suggestions on what to make?

I am wearing... New jeans & my fav Hoodie with the New Zealand map made out of "N's" and "Z's"

I am creating...A photo quilt for my friend with leukemia, my picfolio album with my childhood photos, Geese in the forest quilt plus some other UFO's, oh yeah and a care pathway for kids with fractured forearm/elbow

I am going... To go to bed on time tonight so I can get a good start to the week

I am reading...Devil Bones Kathy Reichs, brought with a gift voucher from the student nurse I had for the past five weeks

I am hoping... That summer will be here really soon, we are past the shortest day but that usually means the weather is worse before it gets better

I am hearing... A lawn mover, who mows their lawn at 3.30pm on a Wednesday when it is the middle of winter?

Around the house... Is a contrast to my neat tidy room

One of my favorite things... My new duvet cover and 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets

A few plans for the rest of the week...Going out tonight, Work for the next two days, Saturday off, planning to do some scrapbooking, work on Sunday.

A picture to share...

My neatly folded, sorted and colour co-ordinated fabric stash

More Blocks

Although I have been sick for the past week I managed to find some motivation yesterday and completed eight blocks for my geese in the forest. It only took about five hours of serious hard work and a sore pinky from all the rotary cutting, but now all the blocks for last month are completed. I have done 60 out of 100 blocks but there are still 28 to do for this month so not much time for resting. I have also been doing lots of scrapbooking with a friend. We have both purchased Creative Memories Picfolios and it is so much faster but still gives you space to play around and be really creative. I have one album with all my childhood photos and another with more recent and "arty" pictures. It is getting really cold and dark now in the early evenings which makes it harder to get motivated with doing crafty things instead of sitting in front of the fire in my bean bag reading a good book. Hope where ever you are you are warm and well...

Progress

I have set a goal to do at least two Geese in the Forest blocks every day except Sunday and so far it is working. It is easy to do two blocks or more before heading off for an afternoon shift but it is much harder to get going after coming home from a morning shift.

So far I have completed all 6 "Goose Bumps" blocks, 27 "Friendly Flock" blocks and 2 Triple Tree" blocks, so now I only have to do 25 more blocks by the end of the month and I am all caught up.

I love all the really bright batiki colours but it is harder to incorporate the paler yellow, orange and green colours. I have two rolls and still have lots left of the first roll so not too stressed about it at the moment but I don't want to get to the end and only have pale colours left to choose from.

I don't have a dedicated sewing space so my dresser has turned into my ironing board, an old atlas inside a folded woollen blanket is the perfect size for pressing the blocks. My cutting mat fits perfectly on top of my small desk so I trim all the seams there and the sewing machine lives on the dining room table so I get my exercise walking back and forth.

I changed the pdf pattern file to a word document using this free webpage and the cut lengths of the freezer paper so it measured the width of an A4 page(21cm), the freezer paper width(38cm) is a bit longer than an A4 page but neatly fits two block patterns underneath each other. I can then print two blocks at a time with my printer by setting the page size to custom (21cm x 38cm). Saves on the freezer paper and time.

I printed all the blocks and then cut them out using my scrapbook paper trimmer and scored all the lines using the back of my unpicker, then I had all the freezer paper blocks ready to go. I also cut out lots of white fabric pieces at one time so I didn't have to keep stopping and starting.

Geese in the Forest BOM

I think I have finally convinced myself to start the Geese in the Forest block of the month. It looks like lots of work but the Over The River BOM that I have signed up for won't start until August or September, by which time the last block of the GITF should be out. This BOM uses 100 freezer paper foundation pieced blocks of triangles to make a 60" x 60" quilt.

I have decided to do the coloured version with a white background. I have brought and washed the white fabric for the quilt and have ordered this fabric for the triangles. I'm already 3 months behind, that's 33 blocks to catch up on... oh yeah and I have never done paper piecing.

I have had the past three days off work prior to working 5 days over Easter. Have been busy making whirlygig quilt for my niece. The top is pieced except for the borders, and I have found the perfect co-ordinating flannel for the backing.

It is getting cold now and the autumn leaves are everywhere, but it's nice sitting in front of the fire quilting...