Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Life balance

Cleaning lady booked, life will start to look rosy again. Even though my lovely 18 yr old son stated on the recent census that the does up to 5 hrs unpaid work each week, his 5 hrs is not as good as a profesional cleaners 2!
Quilting almost finished in centre of quilt, have mail ordered thread for the border, hope it gets here soon. Almost ordered from USA, but the postage was huge and the time frame was 1-3 weeks, I need it before then.
I do have some thread, but always on the lookout for more. This is one of 3 boxes, plus theres more in a few more storage places.

This is the front of the quilt, just a small corner, I am so pleased its almost done, the batting is polyester, soft and lovely but a bit slippery under the machine, more suited to hand quilting OR a long arm - still dreaming about that.

A lovely quote I found on another blog :

Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we can control and find life, waiting there for us. ' Rachel Naomi Remen.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Work life balance or life unbalance?

The last few weeks have been hectic at the very least, an attempt at being social, trying to be creative (always in my head but almost never in reality on actual fabric), and going to work - which is extremely tiring especially with an extra shift and some overtime thrown in.
Oh and I am about to get a house cleaner again.
I did finish the birthday quilt, the recipient loves it, and I am very happy with the finished look. The border is the same fabric, fussy cut to get the flowers to flow round the quilt, and to get rid of the mustard part of fabric that just killled the quilt.
I am pleased with the quilting, it was a bit easy to do, didn't compete with the lovely fabrics on the front, but made the back look a bit fun.
Now to get on and finish the pieces for the Queensland Quilters October quilt show. some are already nearly finished, might have tome to start a (very)small piece if I am managing my time cleverly.
The problem of work life balance being out of kilter might be just because its the change in season and some unsettledness about the hot weather about to come or is because of my fast looming birthday - the last of my 40s?
Whatever it is I need to get a grip, call the cleaning agency, buy myself a birthday gift, and get quilting.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The average machine quilter

What does the average machine quilter look like? not me obviously.
I am not trying to justify myself, just to say we come in all shapes and sizes.
I got some strange looks yesterday when I chose the lime green back and the bobbin thread for my current quilt. I have just started to machine quilt it, these are the bobbin colours - I will use similar colours but variegated on the front, some of the bobbin will be green and some a fun purple thread.
Scruffy is helping quilt too - he is not very happy when I move him, then he just gets comfy again and sleeps. Maybe he likes the hum of the machine.
It is a cotton batt and is moving like warm butter across the machine, almost a bit too smooth and I am not using my Supreme Slider either!
It is a dream to quilt, I am doing a simple modified feather and swirl design, and yes the back will have these 2 colours and be fantastic.