Quilt while you're ahead

Rome

2009-11-03T17:22:25+00:00

Rome is beautiful.

We were guests in a convent right next to the Colosseum and the Forum.

Right. Next. To.

See? Told you. I don't lie. Not in Rome... Too close to the Vatican.

The view from the other side of the garden was this:

Not bad either, me thinks.

The convent itself was 1900 years old. It was the palace of the emperor 'Domiziano' and it's been a Franciscan convent since the 1700. Big numbers always make me feel small.

One of the friars is a famous contemporary artist and he's got the most amazing 'atelier' on the top floor

But let's talk about my little brother and his most amazing day:

Actually, I don't know what to say. It was moving, and real, and surreal.

And humbling. (he's the one of the right, flashing his calf)

The boys are demanding their dinner now, I'll have to go, I'll just leave you with images of Rome...

and just for the fun of it...

Can you smell the lions from there?

all roads lead to...

2009-10-30T09:39:42+00:00

Rome.

I'm off to the eternal city for the weekend. My brother is becoming a 'professional' monk (in the words of No 2) and I want to be there with him...

I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

a rethorical question

2009-10-29T14:05:18+00:00

Have you ever started a project and subsequently abandoned it for whatever reason (including boredom, lazyness, life, stupidity etc.) and then when you started it again you finished in no time at all?

And wandered what was all the fuss (and boredom, lazyness, life, stupidity etc.) all about?

Today I finished covering my kitchen chairs cushions. All 4 of them. Yeah I know, huge number. Four.

I didn't have to make the cushions, cheap IKEA ones who were supposed to washable. Well they 'are' washable allright, the stains just didn't wash off... or maybe it's my children that produce particularly resiliant stains... either way, they were disgusting and needed covering.

Enter lovely-piece-of-bark cloth-which-looks-perfect-against-the-wall found at the local car boot sale... in May. Yes, May.

One chair got covered fairly swiftly, still drunk with excitment and enthusiam.

As I said before the last one was done this morning. In 15 minutes (don't look too closely and the craftmanship). One five.

Doh.

Guess who feels like a wally.

half term

2009-10-28T08:51:24+00:00

So... how are you filling your half term days?

we're enjoying the crazy colours

and the woolly socks come out to play (grazie mamma!)

we're playing football in the park till the light fades

we've discovered the pleasure of card games and absolutely love throwing pigs around...

and you?

a week away

2009-10-25T09:00:25+00:00

and now we're back.

The boys had a week off school and so we took a little family holiday in Tuscany to see my parents.

Relax was the name of the day and nothing much was done.

We walked a little

in the cold Autumn air

We, well I, shopped

and went to a concert with my sister

We discovered a wonderful restaurant

(and if my camera hadn't died I would have shown you the food.... oh how glorious... sigh)

We spent time together, we laughed, we played, we saw long lost friends.

We woke up and smelt (or smelled?) the roses...

baktus - modified

2009-10-14T18:25:23+01:00

It goes without saying.

New winter = new scarf.

in shades of blue (Colinette, 1 skein from the stash)

stockinette stitch with regularly spaces purl rows

like the sea.

A shallow triangle

or a vase

???

small things

2009-10-11T15:24:03+01:00

football, tennis, cinema, walking

Autumn leaves

in a jug

eating, washing, laughing, playing, sleeping

quilting

rugby, partying, reading, homework,

raining

Beauty in the small things.

there are no shortcuts

2009-10-08T18:15:18+01:00

Quilting is a lot like life.

For example, the old adagio: 'measure twice, cut once' ... what it basically means is think before you act. Agreed? Good.

Now reflect on this for a second and admire the only remaining branch of my beloved Japanese maple (victim of an anonymous stray rugby ball... the case is still open)

So today, when I found myself with some precious time to spare I sat down at my desk and started cutting fabric and sewing fabric and .... aaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh

In my haste to tackle the UFO - now upgraded to WIP - of my previous post I completely ignored any measurement and elementary mathematical functions and basically made a huge/enormous/gigantic mess.

Take a moment, like I did, to mourn the loss of precious fabric and the temporary and hormonal loss of any rational mental faculty with a delicious (and posthumously regretted) chocolate biscuit

This brings me to my next point of simili: there are no shortcut. I wanted to finish this project quickly and what I did achieve instead is a big fat juicy waste of time. Doh. I wanted to ignore the little voice in my head pointing me to the right direction because it meant slow progress and fiddly sewing.

How many times has this happened in real life too?

So, no shortcuts is my new mantra.

Even if this means endless rows of little borders...

I'll get there in the end.

And I'll smell the flowers

mariner's compass

2009-10-05T18:03:00+01:00

This is not a UFO... it's more like a fossil. It precedes any grey hair I might have. It is older than two of my children. A relict from the days when I had only one child to look after and thought I had no free time at all - the charming ignorance of youth...

Anyway, I 've been trying to de-clutter. And honestly, is there anything more poisoning than a great big pile of UFOs staring at you with their mean/sad/why-don't-you-love-me-anymore beady eyes? Right, we all know the answer to that one.

So I exhumed the oldest and probably the biggest of these monsters and tried to re-kindle the old flame.

I must have been mad, this quilt was most likely designed in a daze of sleep depravation and baby love (do you remember those days... when you spent all night awake with a screaming baby and all day awake looking adoringly at your sleeping baby?... doh.)

Anyway, it's not my style really... but I can't just let it languish in a box forever so I'm thinking perhaps if I can ignore the fact that not all the point touch the outer circle (it's painful) I might be able to make a medallion quilt out of thise one? Help?

I don't have much in terms of the original fabric (mostly Kaffe Fasset) but I do have four badly assembled blocks called, according to my notes, 'Martha Washington's squares'. But that is not necessarily the correct name...

Should I use them? how? where? in the corners? in the middle of the sides?

(And yes, I'm standing on the table... don't tell the boys)

'therapy'

2009-10-02T18:30:07+01:00

It's been a challenging week around here. One of those weeks that makes you question your ability as a mother. One of those weeks that makes you questions your decisions, your words, your actions.

Nothing major happened. Just boys being boys, children being children. Just a long chain of small incidents that collectively, in one short week aquired the strenght of an hurrican and that have left me drained and breathless and full of self doubt.

It'll be fine. We'll be fine. We are fine, better already.

We welcome the weekend with open arms and a full teapot...

because my new china tea cups are waiting.

Today in between 'incidents' I treated myself to some shallow retail therapy at the local charity shop.

Two small china cups beautifully shaped, delicately painted and...

perfectly balanceable on a gorgeous tower of new books.

'Therapy' at its best.

there's something magical about yellow and grey

2009-10-01T17:38:35+01:00

I've joined a gym - applause please.

I've been going to classes twice a week for three weeks - standing ovation please.

The gym is less than a mile from my home and so I don't bother showering there anymore. I've been carrying less and less each time. I'm down to a bottle of water, car keys and phone, and the membership card.

Card that I'm terrified of losing by the way. Because I lose things. It's what I do best.

Enter Mr Grey Wool and Miss Yellow Scrap,

joint in perfect bliss to form a little 'pouchette' for that pesky card and the ridiculously small and thin booking slips.

Will I ever tire of that combination? Not in the foreseable future.

whirlwind (2)

2009-09-30T09:56:59+01:00

The day after the (karaoke)night before we got taken to a famous - locally famous/not tourist famous - restaurant.

I wonder if the chef left his heart there... or ever visited with flowers in his hair..

apparences can be deceiving

very, extremely, totally, completely and utterly deceiving

Phew, eh?

We sat down and our gracious host washed?warmed? the tea cups for us.

And we were away.

The food was gorgeous.

Spicy

mysterious

exotic

We were well and truly stuffed.

It was a great ending to our stay in this lovely country full of the nicest people and the most contradicting images...

from this

to this

We'll be back again. I have no doubt.

whirlwind (1)

2009-09-29T13:20:23+01:00

Mr M and I abandoned our children to kind family members and got on a plane to Malaysia

just the two of us (well, plus a wedding and a few business meetings...)

It was great to have breakfast in solitude (one prepared by others and one I didn't have to clear away afterwards)

relaxing, taking in th view from the 13th floor (I'm not superstitious, we got married on the 13th..)

We had the most wonderful food

and drank the juice of a dragon(fruit)

We visited Mr M's new business venture

which had the cutest temple in the courtyard (what's with the drinks bottles?)

The wedding was a grand affair

with an interesting menu

The bride changed outfit three times (from white to red to yellow), we watched a movie of the happy couple... and we rounded the night away at a karaoke club till three in the morning. Mr M and I sang 'Let it be'... and let's just say that although they politely clapped ... we weren't offered the microphone a second time.

The memory of that experience is too painful. I must retire for a while.

mitts from the stash

2009-09-22T09:34:26+01:00

free pattern found on Ravelry: "Susies Reading Mitts"

Knitted using 4mm bamboo double pointed needles and Jaeger extra fine merino dk, shade 942

One down, and one almost there...

I'm almost looking forward to the cold weather.

Almost.

2009-09-19T17:56:58+01:00

Not long after I wrote my last post the phone rang. It was the boys' school: No 1 had forgotten his recorder and was wondering if I might be able to drop it off to him so he wouldn't get into trouble with his teacher. The following went through my mind:

thought a) I'm not going to do it, he deserves a lesson in keeping his stuff organised.

thought b) Of course I'll do it, he's only young,

thought c) typical, I've got a list of things as long as my arm I don't need anything else.

thought d) If I were in his place I'd be so worried and I don't want him to be worried.

thought e) He's a lucky boy I'd just cleaned under the sofa in the playroom and found his recorder.

thought f) It was obviously a sign, I must go.

And so I went, because I'm a push-over and don't want my boys to be upset even if I asked a million times 'have-you-got-everything-for-school' and I got a million yes back. I went running out of the door but I grabbed the dog too so whilst I was waiting for school to finish I had time to take the hound for a long walk on the hills behind the school. (another item on my list...)

Now, the boys have been attending this school for the last three years. I've had this ferocious beast for two. The hills have been here for considerable time... and I'd never even looked at them before.

Scandalous.

They're full of berries,

and the view is amazing!

Not to mention the bizarre objects found in remote gardens...

(a boat???? we're miles from any water... cool boat though)

I had a wonderful time. My spirit was lifted and was a much nicer mum to the boys than I would have been otherwise. Serendipity? Perhaps. Carpe Diem? A little bit.

But the thing that gets me the most is discovering this amazing 'new' place. I've lived here for almost 20 years and I'm still discovering new places. It's almost embarassing.

pulled

2009-09-17T12:23:06+01:00

This is how it feels sometimes.

Standing alone, pulled in many direction by obligations and jobs and people. Some self-inflicted (let's be honest here), some dumped on by others. Ready to fall taking everything and everyone with me.

I know it goes 'with the job'. But still...

... hoovering the house/washing washing and washing/dig the garden/plant the garden/organise holiday/type notes to quilting course/take rubbish to the dum/we need more garden bags/vet appt for the do/paint the hallway/phone a friend/No 1's bike isn't working/bake cookies/work on WIPs (note the plural and the choice of verb... I didn't say 'finish'... just work on)/iron/find babysitter for Saturday/and then there's homework and dinner and bath time and... and... and...

Breath. Don't forget to breath.

Maybe I should follow the advice of this guy here: http://mnmlist.com/

It makes you stop and think. I don't want a new 'job'. I need a new modus operandi.

crochet bag

2009-09-15T12:28:34+01:00

This was the pattern that made me buy the book* .

I'm not sure what the recommended yarn was and at the beginning there was a lot of frogging and terrible language.

But we got there in the end.

I used yarn from my stash. Rowan pure wool aran for the flower petals. Noro silk garden for the flower centres. Artesano alpaca Inca Cloud for the connecting motifs. Sublime organic cotton dk for the handles. And is lined with what used to be a dark khaki linen top.

The result completely surpassed my expectations.

Now if you'll excuse me, me and my new bag must go shopping...

*(it's japanese, isbn: 9784579111138)

which one...

2009-09-11T17:29:46+01:00

do...

you...

like...

best?

If any?

feeling blue

2009-09-09T16:43:05+01:00

I blame Alice.

I was looking for a red one. Bright red. Shiny.

But than this one called my name. So I had to take it home. Sometimes a teapot chooses you and there's nothing you can do about it.

Except drinking lots of tea whilst working on a project.

T

2009-09-06T12:18:44+01:00

'T' is for tomatoes (the only ones that survived the wet summer and various bugs)

'T' is for tyding up (my window sill has never looked prettier)

'T' is for typewriter (found for almost nothing in a charity shop - the boys love it)

'T' is for time and trends and teeth and trousers and tank tops (I must have been about 8yrs old... and I was already crafting away.... check out the dodgy needlepoint, it was a chicken and I remember it very well...)

Till next time...