We have a finished flimsy. We don't have a finished flimsy. I unfortunately seem to be making a habit of this. Last week it was basically too cold to sew..... we had snow so no sew. The rest of the UK and much of N Ireland was under the Beast from the East and then Storm Emma hot on the Beast's tail. We had mostly cold and more cold, then as everybody got rid of their snow, our localised snow arrived. In Canada and USA the snow comes every year, for months at a time I believe. We get bad snow every couple of years and so the world comes to an end for a few days. Shops run out of bread and milk, transport all ceases and we all live like hobbits for a few days. My sister sent me this photo of her walk to work, the road all but submerged in the snow, it came to the top of her legs in places.
So, too cold to sew. I sat by the fire and knitted and in the evenings had a glass of red wine to keep up my fruit intake. Our children had a picture book they loved. It was about an old fat dog. The dog basically had the best seat in the house beside the fire. He lay there and slept and made noxious smells. Only left the settee to go to the toilet and eat. Last week folks, I was that dog. Just in case you are interested, the book was by Bob Graham but I can't find it online.
Saturday was warmer, and Sunday so I crawled off the settee and ventured to check out the Belfast Bulletin. I had previously pieced rows 1-4. I got the rest of the rows pieced 1-8 and effectively had a completed flimsy. Now .... remember I said previously I had 3 blocks over but was 3 blocks short? Well ...... Wben I sewed the rows all together, I had an extra block on 2 rows! I don't understand it. My maths isn't that bad. But there it was. I had 8 rows of 12 blocks, but two rows in the middle had 13 blocks. More about those blocks later.
The quilt fills the available floor space of my the part of my kitchen which has the biggest floor space. We have a big "lounging" area, our house is open plan, but the furniture takes up the photo opportunity space. Very inconvenient.
I have taken 3 photos of the left, medium and right to show the quilt closer up. You can just see the extra blocks trying to hide in photo 3.
Next I moved down to our bedroom to try and get a quilts in the wild photo. Again, our bedroom isn't big enough for me to get a proper photo, but you get the gist. I am more than happy with the overhang of the quilt now I have enlarged it to the 12 block width. I am however less happy with the length. One more row would make all the difference. Where have I heard that before? This is what happened with the last Coulter Wedding Quilt I made, The Behemoth. This way madness lies.
I ummed and ahhed, walked away, had another cup of coffee. Looked at the photo, thought a bit more and decided it needs another row. And lucky me, I have 2 more blocks all ready. I had a conversation with Lynne, @fairisleknitter on ig. We had both been concerned about some of the darker greens taking on a brown tone. So far so good, but I think I will try to incorporate more of the blues in this row. So a finish for Friday? A flimsy finish. I might be on this slippery slope again.
And some happy mail on Saturday. Sandra and I had swapped some fabrics for our Postcards from Sweden quilts.
Sandra's second parcel, the fabric we bought jointly then divided, arrived lickity spit. Her first parcel, of precious fabrics from her own stash, took, shall we say, a little longer. I think it travelled by canoe, then overland by camel, then the last bit attached to the back of a dolphin. Many of our recent conversations had been along the lines of "has it?" "no" "has it not?". Now it has. I had substituted as close as I could from my own stash and it had worked out ok. However, the point of this was to have some of each other's stash in our quilts, so I will substitute some of the substitutes and leave the rest. I would love to make a drunkard's path quilt one day, so trust me, they won't go to waste. I don't think you ever make all of the quilts.
So, here's to Friday and my flimsy finish. I will also, hopefully, have finished knitting a Portfolio shawl for my sister, and my V for Valentine socks for myself.
Helen x
linking up with Beth and Cooking Up Quilts and her Main Crush Monday
linking up with Molli Sparkles and Sunday Stash
So, too cold to sew. I sat by the fire and knitted and in the evenings had a glass of red wine to keep up my fruit intake. Our children had a picture book they loved. It was about an old fat dog. The dog basically had the best seat in the house beside the fire. He lay there and slept and made noxious smells. Only left the settee to go to the toilet and eat. Last week folks, I was that dog. Just in case you are interested, the book was by Bob Graham but I can't find it online.
Saturday was warmer, and Sunday so I crawled off the settee and ventured to check out the Belfast Bulletin. I had previously pieced rows 1-4. I got the rest of the rows pieced 1-8 and effectively had a completed flimsy. Now .... remember I said previously I had 3 blocks over but was 3 blocks short? Well ...... Wben I sewed the rows all together, I had an extra block on 2 rows! I don't understand it. My maths isn't that bad. But there it was. I had 8 rows of 12 blocks, but two rows in the middle had 13 blocks. More about those blocks later.
The quilt fills the available floor space of my the part of my kitchen which has the biggest floor space. We have a big "lounging" area, our house is open plan, but the furniture takes up the photo opportunity space. Very inconvenient.
I have taken 3 photos of the left, medium and right to show the quilt closer up. You can just see the extra blocks trying to hide in photo 3.
Next I moved down to our bedroom to try and get a quilts in the wild photo. Again, our bedroom isn't big enough for me to get a proper photo, but you get the gist. I am more than happy with the overhang of the quilt now I have enlarged it to the 12 block width. I am however less happy with the length. One more row would make all the difference. Where have I heard that before? This is what happened with the last Coulter Wedding Quilt I made, The Behemoth. This way madness lies.
I ummed and ahhed, walked away, had another cup of coffee. Looked at the photo, thought a bit more and decided it needs another row. And lucky me, I have 2 more blocks all ready. I had a conversation with Lynne, @fairisleknitter on ig. We had both been concerned about some of the darker greens taking on a brown tone. So far so good, but I think I will try to incorporate more of the blues in this row. So a finish for Friday? A flimsy finish. I might be on this slippery slope again.
And some happy mail on Saturday. Sandra and I had swapped some fabrics for our Postcards from Sweden quilts.
Sandra's second parcel, the fabric we bought jointly then divided, arrived lickity spit. Her first parcel, of precious fabrics from her own stash, took, shall we say, a little longer. I think it travelled by canoe, then overland by camel, then the last bit attached to the back of a dolphin. Many of our recent conversations had been along the lines of "has it?" "no" "has it not?". Now it has. I had substituted as close as I could from my own stash and it had worked out ok. However, the point of this was to have some of each other's stash in our quilts, so I will substitute some of the substitutes and leave the rest. I would love to make a drunkard's path quilt one day, so trust me, they won't go to waste. I don't think you ever make all of the quilts.
So, here's to Friday and my flimsy finish. I will also, hopefully, have finished knitting a Portfolio shawl for my sister, and my V for Valentine socks for myself.
Helen x
linking up with Beth and Cooking Up Quilts and her Main Crush Monday
linking up with Molli Sparkles and Sunday Stash
Yes here's to Friday! I don't think we ever make all the quilts either.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the Friday Finish comes together easily and nicely for you. I'm glad you stayed warm and cozy in the cold!
ReplyDeleteNot sure which is worse...snow and cold for months, or a big storm and everything shuts down. I hate winter, so I'm willing to give it a try LOL For some strange reason, we haven't had much snow this winter. Hope you figure out the flimsy.
ReplyDeleteLove your take on 5-a-day!! ;)
ReplyDeleteQuilt is looking good!
keeping up your fruit intake is a must! I don't like winter, well it's actually the cold and snow I don't like. Here in South western Ontario Canada we get snow it goes away, it comes again, it goes away. You get the picture.
ReplyDeleteThe extra blocks in your rows made me laugh! Not laughing at you, laughing with you (I hope! You ARE laughing, right?) And only a mother's love could make you sew on an extra row at this stage. I'd be looking into surgery to make the recipients' legs shorter instead. Maybe that's why I've never made a wedding quilt.
ReplyDeleteI hope things are warming up for you!
You have to live in the UK to understand how a whole country can close down when there is a week of snow. Alston about fifty miles from us had snowdrifts twelve feet high, and some places were cut off for well over a week. The Belfast Bulletin is looking great, I'm coming to you for advice with the wedding quilt for Kent, except I can probably manage my own counting thank you hehe!
ReplyDeleteToo cold to sew??? Well, I guess if you need to keep your hand in gloves, that is possible. Love all the blue greens and all the colors in between. A girl needs her fruit and sometimes wine is the only option :-)
ReplyDelete