Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Back to work tomorrow!

The two youngest and I return to school tomorrow - this marks the start of the hardest term of the year - winter but without the excitement of Christmas. For me it will also be another very steep learning curve as the new budgets for the next financial year will be put in place for April and with my Area Finance Officer's help this will be a totally new experience for me - I've never done anything quite like this before. However once they are set at least the next financial year will be less of a fog for me as I will know which pot things are to be paid from and when - no more muddling through treacle at least.

Sarah has another two days off for teacher training so returns on Friday - a very odd day to start back but she has quite a bit of coursework to get through first - that will keep her busy.

I've been in 'This is my last full day of stitching for a while' mode today and have stitched all of the other 18 blocks for my hearts and stars scrappy quilt. Here they are all laid out on the carpet with the completed half.

Next bit is all the sashing which is my least favourite especially as none of them are cut out yet but I'm going to set myself the task of sashing and joining at least one downward row of three blocks a day before I go to work - at least that way I will get them done over the next week or so and if I decide to do a little bit more each time then I'll get it done all the quicker in readiness for the borders.

I've decided to quilt it by close stippling the light areas leaving the dark star points, hearts and dark sashings standing proud. This will be great until I come to the borders as I can't really leave the 4" dark outer border unquilted, it will make the whole quilt totally unbalanced.

So I think I'll do free hand feathers along the 2" inner borders and close stipple round them and maybe applique scrappy floral vines along the dark outer borders and close stipple around them leaving them standing up and puffy

Mind you I do still have all that sashing to do first - running before I've even really got off the starting blocks here.

Right off to get some shut eye before work tomorrow.

15 comments:

Joyce said...

THe quilt is beautiful. I love the colours. You are very ambitious in your quilting plans. It should really make the stars stand out.

Libby said...

You'll have that sashing done in no time. Your quilting plan sounds just right for this quilt -- you want those stars and hearts to stand out.

Jeanne said...

Your quilt is wonderful! I ALWAYS love scrappy!
Happy New Year!
Hugs ~ Jeanne

Tazzie said...

I love love love your scrappy quilt. It's just gorgeous, well done!
*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)

Anonymous said...

I love this quilt and can't believe you've done so much so fast!

Helen in the UK said...

Good luck with your first day back at work. The quilt is coming along brilliantly - great job :)

Ali Honey said...

The quilt is still looking good. I hope you manage to enjoy going back to work....it makes us appreciate time off when we get it...I think you have used your quilting time well! Smiles and hugs from the other side of the world!

Lily Mulholland said...

I too return to work tomorrow so I share your pain Anne! Good luck with those pesky budgets :)

You are doing an amazing job on that quilt. Wow! I think your quilting plans sound fabulous - I didn't quilt the friendship stars on Romy's quilt and they look great, especially with the stipple quilting around them. Makes them look very ... starry!

YankeeQuilter said...

Your quilt is coming along great! Don't be intimidated by the budget...it's only numbers!

Doodlebug Gail said...

I love scrappy quilts and this one of yours is particularly lovely! Your progress reports are great to watch - you're always so speedy.

quiltpixie said...

great plan to get the sashing done -- those jobs we're not so fond of are much easier seperated into small time chunks...

Angie said...

My goodness, Anne, you got those blocks together FAST! Can you send me some of your piecing 'stamina'? LOL I do think I have ADD. ROFL It's going to be a gorgeous quilt!

The Calico Cat said...

Very pretty quilt - I am usually not a sashing gal (I like the secondary designs) but that one is perfect!

Sew Create It - Jane said...

I LOVE how the quilt your making is coming along. I was impressed with the first block and even more impressed how quickly you've sewn the rest of the blocks. I especially like the way you have the hearts pointing towards the centre...very clever! I would love to know how you managed to make all those blocks and still keep the family happy...good training I'm sure :)

meggie said...

That quilt is beautiful, just my kind of quilt! I love scrappy quilts.