Go, Diego, Go!

Chook was test-riding a new riding school pony at the weekend. This is Diego, he's got a definite load of Cobb in him (he's a sturdy lad with a big feet and head) and hadn't been ridden much so she had him out on a hack and then in the arena to see what he could do.

He actually had a lovely light trot and a "wonderful" smooth canter so they decided to attempt some jumping - it was really an unknown if he would even know what to do! Well the first round he did not bad although he did cat-jump the first pole (think Pepe le Peu style all-four-hooves-off-the-ground-at-once!) But when they went round again? He took a real dislike to this second jump! #ouch

But I have to say I was a massive proud Mum. Despite twisting her ankle (and the bumped derrier) there was no tears and she dusted herself off, got a leg up and went round again. He got it this time!

She was pleased with him and is quietly hoping to have him as her ride next week, too. Although she fell off him while dismounting - he's a wee half hand higher than her usual mounts!

It's all about keeping your skills developing and not getting stuck in a rut with the same ponies week in and week out. I'm so happy she found riding, it's such a massive inspiration for her and is teaching her all these fabulous life skills of patience, perseverance, tolerance and just generally expanding her horizons and confidence. What more could you ask in your child's hobby? I could do without the horse stink, though. *grins*

more medallion progress

I have missed the linkie to link up with the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland this month (whoops) but don't know if I'll have the next border finished by their next meet up on the 26th so I'll share this now. I hope maye to have one side of border on but time will tell.

Anyways, more fun with numbers! I really am rubbish at the quilt maths since I always forget something. But things started okay. I did unpick the bottom specs border (it was wavy) and when I pinned and restitched I had an extra quarter inch at the end. No wonder it was frilly!! So my numbers worked out lovely for the small 4 patch checkerboard which I chain pieced while watching the remake of Footloose (don't bother - even the dialogue is the same. What was the point?!)

And then there was some debate over the next border. I seriously debated yellow so it wasn't another blue-toned border but when I asked the Muckhart Quilters their opinion between the yellow I had and the Flea Market Fancy posies the turquoise won. They were right, too, it needs a bit of weight after all the white in the checkerboard round. And then the lovely Claire suggested maybe a skinny border of a neutral after it. Well, I hunted high and low in my stash for a neutral that wasn't low volume cream or white and finally refound a half metre of a Hope Valley print in amongst the fat quarter bundle of the same range. (I'd nicked the original FQ for something else and replaced it with a bargain half metre) Perfect! I put the skinny on first and I'm glad I did it that way round but big kudos to Claire for the suggestion, it's a nice wee detail, I think, and keeps the design nicely contained and tight. And, yes you eagle eyed haters, that's brown cornerstones. To tie back to the big AMH corners in the geese round. A darker colour - and there IS brown in the FMF.

So where to next? Well at the last Muckhart Quilters meeting (them again!) we were making friendship stars and I thought that might be quite nice. Of course, I cocked up the border measurements but for a change it has worked in my favour! I forgot to add the border size to BOTH sides when calculating so it's ended up 2 inches wider than I thought. Which makes it 42 inches (finished) and a factor of 6 - bonus for 6 inch blocks!! I will try to have at least one side done for next week and try even harder to do the linkie to the Modern Irish blog but I'm in kitchen ceiling painting mode (joy!) so no promises!

two of the best!

Today is my parents' Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Forty years, folks! Now that's not to be sniffed at these days. This is them on that sunny but snowy day in 1974.

Aren't they darling? Dad is 19 and Mum hasn't turned 18 yet (but soon will) and this is Dad after a haircut. Heh heh. You can't tell but Mum's dress is turquoise, her bridesmaids were in the same colour with wee hand muffs. So cute!

So I had a notion last week to make them a pair of lovebirds. Mum loves birds in general and once I'd had the idea nothing was going to do but to make them. I followed this pattern from here and, yes, there may have been some small amount of swearing involved. Just a little bit.

I'm really happy how they turned out although even the photoshoot was not without its challenges. Damn nosey cat.

We really gifted them a tiny clear glass cube paperweight with a floating loveheart and "Love" engraving as their actual gift (you've not much of a marriage without it, right?) but couldn't resist some handmade making. And mum claims the secret to lasting so long? A great sense of humour! Here's to many more happy years George and Maggie!

Merry Christmas!!!

No, I haven't gone entirely mental, I've just finished my longest standing WIP and only real UFO. And it happens to be a Christmas quilt!  

Back in the summer of 2010 I was a member of "the Quick Christmas Bee" with Jo, Julie, Marguerite and organised by Maria. I sent out pretty bundles of Kate Spain's "12 Days of Christmas" and some Kona snow and asked for wonky stars. They all came home promptly (it was a QUICK bee after all) and I sashed them all together with a lovely grassy green. And then stalled over quilting it. I thought I wanted to hand quilt it and Jo even gave me a lesson a few months later. I even had the remaining layer cake squares pieced into a nice backing! But it took until last September to actually start quilting it. I was going round all the blocks with little stitches in Guterman quilting thread. I even got round 9 of the 12. And then I stalled again (I was NOT enjoying it) and it sat three quarters done until about 2 weeks ago. When I decided I was never going to finish it in its present state and promptly ripped out all the quilting. 

And a few nights later I machine quilted round all the blocks and, it has to be said, it is definitely the worst quilting I have ever done. I'm strictly a start-in-the-middle-all-over-quilting quilter and the free spaces inbetween the lines caused all sorts of shifting and bulges and general swearing. It also has to be said that my piecing of 3 years ago isn't as accurate as it is now!! But I got it done and even got the binding on! And then on Sunday night I started - I know, I know - more hand quilting. *facepalm* But this time in Perle cotton and it is SO lovely to use!

I really rather enjoyed myself. So much so that as of this afternoon it is finished! I went round every star and when the centres needed more stitches for stability I put a circle in the middle, too. The Frixion pen for marking worked a charm!

Here's my 3 colours I used. They are DMC Perles from Cindy and were an absolute dream to use. Smooth and vibrant but not too thick. I am a convert!

Here's the back that I pieced so long ago. I might prefer it to the front. Isn't it funny how your tastes change?

And a nice almost-spotty binding. It's from the Pop Posies range from the Village Haberdashery and is a nice not-tomato red.

I'm pleased it's finished AND is a tick on my Finish-Along list! (for the sake of Katy's questionable sanity my original list is here)

It does need a wash, however. That white and all those years hanging around, 2 months being hand quilted and another 4 being sat on by cats are not a great combination! But the unhelpful photo taking weather today has helped disguise the hair and fluff and dirty paw marks. So yay for too much sun! *blinks* I don't get to say that very often.

quilt deets :

pattern - good old wonky stars

fabrics - Kate Spain "12 Days of Christmas", Kona Snow and Sour Apple, Pop Posies "lots of Posies" in red. Backing is more 12 Days, Moda Bella Azalea and Jenean Morrison "In My Room."

size - 44 x 58in.

the life of Chookie

I don't remember much about my life as an 11 year old but I'm pretty sure it wasn't as awesome as my kid's.

Her mate was having a birthday sleepover at the weekend (although the irony of having "sleep" in the title is not lost on anyone!) and here's the only photographic evidence we have of the sweetie induced debauchery that ensued. Chook is obviously the un-doctored one in the middle - it's actually a decent picture of her!

A team of beauticians arrived to give them all facemasks, crimp their hair and paint their nails and then it was watching 6 DVD's, eating the EEC sugar mountain, chubby bunnies, truth or dare and see-who-could-stay-up-all-night. Ours made it til 7am before having a wee kip but was bouncing off the walls when we picked her up at 11. Of course, 5 minutes later this was the scene from the back seat. D'aaaw.

In other areas of the Life Chook, these are her new school shoes. Now, up til this moment she's always had Clarks shoes in boring old black leather for her day job. But there is a serious lack of good kids shoes in an adult size (she's a 4) so we totally went the other way and these TUK brothel creepers were chosen. They're technically a "sneaker creeper" since they have a soft trainer sole but it makes them super comfy, if not winter weather suitable. I suspect a plain black pair might be on the agenda for when she hits the Academy after the summer. And, yes, I am covetous.

And one last wee oddment in a trip down memory lane style. The P7's had their class photo taken last month and I couldn't resist comparing my rather grown-up girl with my cute-as-a-bug's-ear P1.

In that weird motherly way, it feels like only yesterday AND a million years ago that she was that wee timid creature. I do like the young lady she's turning into, though. So I'm not totally sad. Just a bit wistful.

*edited to add* Yeah. She's just in from school and has 2 new purchases.

20 Littlest Pet Shop chaps bought used from an Ebay seller in China and a book from the school book fair. A reimagining of Cinderella where our plucky heroine is a mechanic cyborg. What an odd age!

small beginnings

We've started work on our kitchen redo and honestly, all it seems to be highlighting is just how much work there is to do! But amongst our little jobs (like chipping off tiles and ordering the actual new cabinets) there's been a big job, too. We got our new window and French doors fitted! They're not finished inside yet (we're waiting to make a decision about flooring and window sills before the final trim goes on - and it's not like the room isn't like a building site!) but it's made such a difference already. It's so bright! 

Here's what it looked like before. It was a sliding door and weirdly although we've almost four times the trim now? It looks bigger and brighter. I think it's the white. I'm thrilled to absolute bits with them. Our biggest plan is to remove that awkward breakfast-bar-style-sticky-out bit you can just see on the left there. It's not an actual place you can sit - it's got the dishwasher in it just now and it just takes floor space! But our wooden flooring runs up to and not under it - so we'll need new flooring of some kind. Hence the delay with finishing the door trim. Then the final plan is to have our table in the area of the useless sticky-out bit and have a comfy chair at the back door there. Where the cat and quilt is. Sort of a reading/watching the birds/cat guarding while free-roaming nook. Which necessitates moving that radiator, too (Jones is sitting on the cover) so it's a lot of work. And obviously here's a whole kitchen to rip out and replace!

So I've been focusing on the pretty stuff!! Heh heh. Did you know Terry's Fabrics will send you free fabric swatches? Like, free postage and everything? Well they do. I was desperate for this duck and hens fabric for a new blind above the sink but wasn't sure I could make it work. I'm going for a darker-than-usual-Lynz colour on most of the walls (one will be powder blue - to match the fridge!) and I wasn't sure I could pull off the really dark background but now I see it with my tester paint patch I think it will be brilliant! Especially with the black glass splashback the spouse has his heart set on. Exciting stuff!

And in the name of skiving at work today I was playing with a mood board. None of these are final choices (except the fridge/freezer) but it was nice to see my ideas together to see if they gel. I like the slightly vintage/quirky feel to it. And if I can't get that light to work (it's quite long) I shall cry. 

And in amongst the dusty but necessary graft? I've got another border on my medallion quilt and haven't even looked at that poor Christmas quilt waiting for its binding to be handsewn on. Ach well, can't do everything, right?

(very) late February makes

I don't think I'm even going to link up with Fresh Sewing Day this month I'm so late! But here are my February makes.

I actually finished the machine quilting on another quilt (after ripping out the hand quilting I had done) and it's got its binding on now but I've no photos. And I have a plan for some hand Perle quilting on it still to do so that can be this month's finish. Otherwise we're in a mess of kitchen renovations and old people relocations so there's not an awful lot of sewing being done. And I'm getting new patio doors fitted today in anticipation of a seating nook once the new kitchen is fitted. AND the sun is out today. Yay!