Busy but fun

Yesterday was a busy but fun day. I had one or two household chores to do and then I was able to focus on my sewing projects. I had several things I could work on but I decided to sort and cut the fabric for the rings quilt. I am always surprised how much fabric it takes to make a large quilt. Generally I buy fabric as I go along so buying all the fabric for the quilt meant quite a big pile. I needed to check which fabric was for which parts of the quilt. In the quilt shop I was making decisions as I went along and didn't write anything down. What I did have to help prompt my memory was the receipt which listed all the fabrics and also gave me information about the fabric in case I needed any more. It took me a little while to organise the fabrics and I labelled them carefully. There are 8 fabrics needed for this quilt. Next stage was to cut the fabrics into smaller parts. All of this involved width of fabric cuts. I ended up with a neat pile of cut fabrics and some bits left over.

I made one mistake in the cutting but I had enough fabric so there was nothing to worry about. By the time I had cut all this my wrist was hurting a little so I decided a rest was in order and I sat and read for a while. Most relaxing. Next I decided to cut some of the ring shapes and the smaller parts that go in between.

This meant I knew how many I would get out of a WOF and therefore how many I could use to practice sewing the curves. I have to admit I'm not great with curves but I think I will be by the end of this quilt. The instructions give a lot of hints and tips. My plan for today involves making up some of these units. I'm not going to cut any more pieces until I have mastered this technique. I'll let you know how it goes in my next post. 

I also did some knitting yesterday. My plan was to finish the second front of the cardigan this month. By the end of the day I had completed that and started the first sleeve.  Because of my completing that piece of knitting I didn't work on the embroidery but that is on the radar for this evening. I also want to finish the trousers I'm making so I will start with that today.

I also started some bread this morning and it is on it's first rise. Whilst I wait for that to finish I'll  catch up with my blog reading. I love seeing what everyone is making and the trips they have taken. At some point today my flower delivery will arrive and need arranging. Oops they have just arrived and the buzzer also went off for the bread!

OK bread and flowers sorted but while sorting them I remembered that I'd meant to post some photos of the Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens which John and I visited in early March.  This year the festival was showcasing orchids from Madagascar.  Here are some of the photos.

There are always some of the animals from the country depicted in the festival. The ring tailed lemurs were fun. Madagascar has nearly 60 kinds of lemurs.

Madagascar's biggest bird ever. The next photo gives you the information.

A chameleon, which Madagascar has several varieties of. Chameleons do not change colour to match their surroundings. The colour is used as a language to express emotions, defend territory and communicate with mates 

I can't remember what this one represents but he was cute amongst the orchids.

The orchids are displayed at different heights and different settings which means you have to constantly check all around or otherwise miss something special, including these two birds.

There were a few giant moths and butterflies on display to show the insect life in Madagascar. I'm pleased I didn't see any giant spiders.

I liked this orchid a lot as it reminded me of an orchid my mom had once nurtured.

The flowers on this one reminded me of a group of little mice busy checking out what was happening.

These ones looked like they might bite given a chance but they were very pretty.

These ones were wearing their sunglasses to make themselves look cool.

More animal life lurking amongst the orchids.

A couple of snakes joined the mix.

The orchids were beautiful and there was so much to see. We really enjoyed the festival and to round off our trip we treated ourselves to lunch in the orangery restaurant.

So I'm off to my sewing machine. I'm going to start by finishing the trousers. That should be nice and straightforward. The rings will follow later which may involve some head scratching and maybe some naughty words! Next time I'll tell you what happened.

Take care

Lyndsey