Getting back to normal...

Ah, the end of half term, struggling to return to a normal routine. It takes the family nearly a week to get back into the rhythm, after a week of staying up later, sleeping in, fun day trips, fun stay-at-home pyjama days...and especially having Grandma here to spoil the girls silly!

My mother is on an airplane back to the States right now, and after I got Bunny to school on time, and Little Flower happily doodling at the kitchen table, I started clearing up the chaos. Toys, books, craft kits, clothes, fancy dress costumes to tidy up...and don’t get me started on how much vacuuming and scrubbing is waiting for me all week! Am I the only one who turns a blind eye to daily household chores during half term?

Ugh, all this talk is terribly dull – want to see what I did instead of laundry this weekend?

A *bit* of a ta-dah with my Happy Spring Quilt! The top is all sewn together! There is still a way to go, I know, but this is my very first quilt and I’m so excited to have pieced the top all together!

I am love love loving the colours, so very feminine and happy. I knew my first quilt would be a challenge, because I’m still rather new to sewing, so I wanted to make sure I worked with fabrics and colours that made *me* happy. Very self-indulgent, isn't it? But it keeps me interested and keeps me focused on the goal.

I’m learning a lot as I sew these lovely bits of fabric together. See the wonky edges? Two times I ripped out the seam of a long strip, because the strip came up a whole inch short at the end. I measured the fabrics, reassured myself that I hadn’t skimped on the length by accident, then re-sewed the strips on, but with a bit of tension/holding the fabric tight so it would stay flat and even. And they made it to the end, pretty much. What is that about?

Anyway, I didn’t let it get me down, I learned from the experience and everything seems ok. The edges will sort themselves out – I’m just glad the blocks all stayed even as I went along, because I learned with the first two rows how easy it is for them to be off, too! (Gosh, this quiltmaking stuff can be so tricky!)

These were moments that I was plenty glad to be working with girly pinks and florals, so I didn’t grit my teeth and rip seams with my bare hands...

Will it get easier with practice? I find that right now I only have the time and energy to sew at the weekend, because there is a lot of measuring, ironing and lining up and pinning seams to contend with – not the most relaxing of hobbies to do on a weeknight. At least not yet!

Next step, the quilt sandwich. Luckily, I have a friend down the road who is an accomplished quiltmaker, and she has promised to hold my hand during this process. And what pattern/technique will I use to quilt the whole thing when it’s together? Decisions, decisions! (Advice gladly accepted...)

One more photo to show you before I go fold some clothes and clean up dinner dishes (*yawn*). I managed to make a bit of progress with the Dr Seuss embroidery

The yellow fill stitches are taking a while, but it’s pleasant work, and like the quilting, this bit is rather new to me. I’m enjoying the process. I’ve not done this amount of fill stitching before; I’ve mainly done doodle stitching outlines and whatnot. So I’m learning as I go, how to manage long and short stitches, how to handle stitch direction...I’m just anxious to get him outlined in black and add the cartoony black shading lines! Then it’s on to those green eggs and ham...

Happy crafting!

Chrissie x