Sunday, October 28, 2007

I just knew it would lead to this..........

They always say, one good turn deserves another.


Having Nigel help with tidying my sewing area was bound to come at a price.


And indeed it did.........


I needed him to bring down each of my fabric boxes in turn for me to look for suitable 'I spy' fabrics - he agreed to do it as long as I sorted into colours the giant sized pile of folded fabric he'd cleared from the sewing room with a view to returning it to the said boxes.


Isn't there always a catch?


So we spent most of the middle of the day (after I'd braved the saturday morning supermarket melee and dropped DD1 off in town to meet the prospective new boyfriend James - incidentally they are now an item) sorting fabric on our bed and then receiving countless heavy boxes down out of the loft to rummage through and return the sorted fabric to.


It's always better to tackle this job with Sarah in the house as she is much stronger than me on the box-lifting front - but the desire to rummagewas too strong and DH's willingness to participate was too opportune to wait for her to return.


By the end of it, much to Nigel's disgust, I ended up with a pile of different fabrics almost as high as the original one - isn't that what recycling is all about - or was this just an operation in rotation instead?


Of course the time spent sorting fabric could have been far more productively used stitching but at least I have plenty of 'I spy' centres cut (I did this later in the afternoon) and a totally fresh selection of fabrics to spread liberally round the house.


I didn't have the heart to tell him that the cute kiddie prints could actually go back up once I'd a cut a 4.5" square from each.


So not much stitching done yesterday


Plenty of pressing and cutting, lots of humping boxes around - does that count as exercise too? and in the evening I drew up the designs for the other two stitchery basket liners - I'm already bored with the one you saw yesterday and I've not completed two of the four sections yet - low boredom threshold that's me! - so I'll stitch the two others with different designs in a vain attempt to keep the interest going long enough to finish them.


I did promise to show you the girls latest block - a friendship star with a four patch centre - sorry the picture's a little blurred


And here are all their blocks together. Megan made me smile as she laid her three blocks down her outstretched legs and made the comment that this would be the overall length of their quilt - good forward thinking there girl!


Finally - this photo is one that confirmed to DH his suspicion that I am seriously sad when he caught me taking it. These packs of buttons were some I picked up at a book and stationery store in town the other day for the princely sum of 99pence each (thats about 2$) and they include lots of tiny buttons in various bright colours - very useful imbellishments methinks. I know he thinks I'm crazy but I also knew you'd all love to share my bargain with me :o)

Just a little footnote here: For all you stitchers here in the UK I got them from a shop called The Works which seem to have branches spread liberally around the country you can check out the website store locator here and apologies to all of you I returned to the shop this morning and realised I'd told a porkie - they were actually £1.99 not 99p - but still a bargain!


Sarah has a rugby match this afternoon away from home north of Bristol (a good 50 miles away) so that means I shall be out of the house from about 11.30 til probably 5.30 with no chance of stitching and Nigel will be with Nick as he has a football match - so it will have to be an easy tea tonight, stuffed crust pizza and salad - sadly now we have Sunday sporting fixtures most weeks gone are the days of leisurely Sunday roasts.

Then I shall snuggle up in front of the tv for the evening and work some more on that stitchery.

15 comments:

Fiona said...

The girls' blocks are coming on beautifully. Did you get those buttons at 'The Works'? I might just have to look them up - I've got lots of white ones off shirts but not many nice colourful ones.

Tanya said...

It's always so fun to visit your blog because you've always got some new patchwork block or quilt or craft going. I can hardly keep up with you! So much variety it what you do!

Cathi said...

Poor husbands, they just don't understand... A sterile work environment is crushing to the creative soul! You can't have it completely cleaned and tidied away, that won't do!!!

loulee said...

The girls are really doing well. They seem to be more productive than you at the moment. ;-)
What I don't understand is why you leave everything in the loft? Why can't you keep it all down stairs? LOL

Libby said...

In order to avoid that 'all-knowing head shake' from Hubby, I try to avoid having him help me lift . . . then I really have a mess when I drop a box on my head and spill it all around. After the loud noises, he comes to see if I'm okay and I receive the 'all-knowing-head-shake' anyway *s*

sewkalico said...

You should've known!! It may seem like a waste of time sorting fabric, but hopefully at least now you know where everything is!!

Love the buttons, do the sell them up here, me wonders :O)

ForestJane said...

Oh, I DEFINITELY think that shifting fabric containers around qualifies for 'box aerobics' and you should tell him that he needs another workout putting the ones you've cut all back in there lol.

Sue Wild said...

The girls are doing well with their quilt blocks and the colours are really great. I hope they are much encouraged to carry on.

Sorting out is hopeless I often have a sort out but it doesn't get me any more space.

Yesterday I went to a Quilters Guild day in Branksome, near Poole and in spite of not needing more fabric another half metre of racing car fabric was purchased which I'm sure will come in useful for making something for my grandson Leo. Sometime...

Sue

Juliann in WA said...

Sounds like a lot of work - did you make a list of what was up there so you know where to look next time? Enjoy your evening of stitching, I hope to be doing that too.

meggie said...

The girls blocks are lovely- but then they have a great tutor!
I laughed about the pic of the buttons. Gom often says to me, 'what are you taking a picture of that for??'
When I say the blog, he snorts!

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Looking at all the comments the rest of us Brits would like to know where you got the buttons! (very good of you to include that picture and titbit in your post :o)
Love the blocks the girls are making. So colourful!!

YankeeQuilter said...

My husband is always suspicious of my fabric boxes...how can I make a quilt and still have a full box at the end? I try and explain it happens to all quilters but I don't think he believes me!!

Tracey @ozcountryquiltingmum said...

Must be the season, I am cleaning too, well, not cleaning, so much as findind all the stuff in my sewing room i thought was lost and then wanting to work on it!! Loved when DD found you taking a picture of buttons, my husband thinks i am insane carting the camera around all the time...little does he know!! Tracey

Kate North said...

Thanks for that Anne - I was just about to email asking where you'd got them. As it happens, there is apparently one in Sutton, near me. A trip may be in order (there's a 99p store in Sutton too - one of my fave places!)

Quilts And Pieces said...

Wow! My husband won't even touch my fabric!