Centre complete

Oh yay the centre is now complete.

If there is one thing that I have learnt from this exercise that if I ever make another Dear Jane quilt I will do the sashing and joining as I go.

The only thing that kept me from going completely insane was the fact that I re-did a few of the blocks that did not measure up in the cold light of day. I know the thought is that it is better done than perfect, but, even at my best they are not perfect, and down right ugly should be re-done. I now will start stitching the borders together. I did about 3 inches on one of the triangles and could not find my rhythm as the triangles feel a whole lot different from stitching blocks. My fingers will just have to learn this new lesson.

Hope everyone is having an amazing Wednesday.

9 Blocks to go.

There are now only 9 blocks to go until the centre is done. Anticipation is high.

July is spinning by. The evenings here have been extremely crisp with two quilts being required to keep us toasty. It was freezing at 6 o'clock this morning but now at 4 o'clock in the afternoon it is an extremely pleasant 20 degrees Celsius. July is fun in as much as the extremes of the season are experienced.

The flowers in kitchen are flowering.  The perfume from the hyacinths are amazing!

Have a good one

Pizza Night and progress

Here is this weeks progress on my Dear Jane. I removed all of the inner papers on the remaining blocks and squared off the 9th row's blocks. I have not fully got over my sulk, but, slowly but surely my enthusiasm is returning.

 Last night we had a pizza evening and it was great fun making our own. We used brown flour to add to the concept that it was an excellently health repast.

I love to see how the dough doubles in size.   Next we divided half of the dough into 3 balls and that was for each of our pizzas. The remaining dough was created into a bread using all of the left over pizza making ingredients. We will have it as a lunch at some point.

We were not very good at
making the circles but that was part of the fun. I think we should have been a bit patient after having decorated our pizza tops and let the dough rise a bit more.

We popped them all in the oven at the same time. Yay for fan assisted ovens. Then it was time for eating.

Probably not the most elegant examples of pizza, but way fun to create and we did it as a family which makes it even more special.



Have a good one

July is here to stay...oh hip hip hooray

Half the year has come and gone and here we are starting the second half in July. I have always associate July with winter school holidays which is great if you are at school as then you can snuggle down and not get up at ridiculously early times.

The whole of June was spent doing sashing on my Dear Jane and I am currently so bored with fiddling and checking block sizes I could just pout and sulk. Seeing as I only do one quilt at a time I do realize that sulking with my quilt will just make it take longer to finish.

I think that most people doing this quilt go through periods where finishing it becomes a challenge. Some of the blocks are also really annoying to get right. I think the whole point is that we are trying to perfect a quilt that was done originally in an imperfect way. Possibly that is part of the charm. I am sure that Jane is looking down on us and having a mighty chuckle.

I have found with the lack of enthusiasm, I have found quite a few tasks to distract me. My sewing room will probably get even more attention. I have also found a few options for the backing which I have been using way too much time thinking about.

I have another 3 month contract signed. This is really annoying as in 3 months time I will need to justify my worth to the company again. I have now worked for them for 7 years. Oh well, I am please about being employed and if this is what is needed then I will just have to do what is required. I think this is what this time in history is all about. The fact that we do not have job security is something that most people can relate to. Where the staff of a company used to be their most worthwhile asset, I feel that now, employees are just an annoying expense. I feel for the people who have worked for decades and are now finding it difficult to get a job.

The weather is pretty chilly, but, the sun is starting to rise earlier. I don't know if it is just my imagination, but, it feels the once we are on our way to summer the rising of the sun just seems to be in a hurry to get back to its 3:30 rise and shine time. Our neighbour has silly chickens and these keep us informed as to what time dawn has occurred.

Happy Birthday on the 4th America. I hope you get to see some awesome fireworks. I hope the temperatures also behave themselves a bit better than I have heard on the news.

Have a good one.