Sewing curves.

This week has been a little bit manic between work and home. At work it's the run up to the end of this academic year and the preparation for the new academic year starting in September. This means there is a lot of preparation e.g. timetables, room booking, updating teaching materials and of course interviewing potential students. At home there is always housework and the garden needs a lot of attention. In the middle of this Twiglet managed to get a sting or bitten, by some marauding insects, on his back. Being a dog he licked and bit at the area and a visit to the vet was needed. The vet shaved the area and local anibiotics have helped deal with the problem but he has needed to wear a cone and is very annoyed by it. 

Earlier this week I was working from home and as a result I had some spare time. No need to drive into work so I had some time before work and I also didn't have to drive home so I gained personal time both ends of the day. That additional time gave me a chance to continue cutting the fabric needed for the double wedding ring quilt. However cutting fabric isn't an easy job and after a while my wrist was hurting so I needed to change activities. Instead of cutting I decided I needed to start putting some of the pieces together. I am not very good with sewing curves so I reread the instructions on how to sew them. I took a deep breath and got stuck in. I stitched several pieces together, pressed them and sat back to admire my handy work. I was pleasantly surprised that I'd made a reasonable job. Yes I agree there is plenty of room for improvement but I need to make 160 of these pieces so I'll get lots of practice.

I'm really happy with how these pieces worked. None of them are perfect but they really aren't that bad either. With so many to make I can only get better at making them. I am planning to do some more sewing on this project this afternoon.

Over the week, in small pockets of time I have been stitching on my embroidered table cloth. I wanted to finish the side by the end of the weekend. I am counting this as complete. Later when I have my slow stitching time I'll finish off the flowers and then turn the corner. It is difficult to say which flowers in the middle area belong to which side. Anyway I now have one more side to stitch and it will be finished. I will be taking this everywhere with me as my take along project in an effort to get it finished.

Yesterday I had time to work on the quilting of the frog quilt. I'd spent some time thinking about the quilting and in the end I decided to guilt the individual blocks using the walking foot and following the shapes.

There are two versions of each block, one large one small and I'm quilting them the same. I still haven't made up my mind how to quilt the stitched blocks but they need to be quilted especially the large blocks. I'm sure I'll have a good idea pop into my head at some point. 

Today I'm hoping to sew some more curves and also to finish the quilting on the pieced blocks. I also need to go through my stash to find a suitable fabric to use as the binding. I'm not sure I have anything appropriate but not to worry as I'm going to the Festival of Quilts at the end of July so I will be able to find something suitable.

The weather here in London has gone cooler for the moment but we are told the heat will be back. At the moment we are all hoping for some rain as the ground certainly needs it. Later this afternoon I have some gardening I need to do. For now I'm going to set up the machine and try and finish the quilting.

Take care.

Lyndsey