Here was the plan. Casey, who is always up early because she starts work at 7am most days and has a body clock that suits this, was going to drop my car off at our Grandfather's workshop at 8am, where his mechanic would take the muffler off before leaving for a job at 8.10. Mum would then pick Casey and the detached muffler up at 8.30 after she'd dropped Maddy off at school, bringing them home so Dad could weld a patch over the crack. then, later in the day, I would go in with Mum and the fixed muffler bits, we'd put it all back together and everything would be Hunky Dory, which, coincidentally, is also a rather nice fabric range from Moda.
Here's what happened. Casey was ready to leave at 5 to 8 when Dad finds out that Casey's taking BJ in, he randomly spits it and says I have to take it in, So I get woken at 2 to 8 and told that I have to take my car in, and that it needs to be there in the next two minutes.
For the record, legally, it's about a 12 minute drive. Today, so I could have a screaming hissy fit at Dad if I got done for speeding, I did it in about 9. This of course led Murphy's law to cause me to NOT get done for speeding, so it's kinda win/win.
I get there about quarter past 8, having not brushed my teeth, which made me cross. It takes Peter a bit longer than expected, and I hope whoever's tractor it was that he was going to fix wasn't in a hurry, because I don't think he left till about 9.30. But we went home, with the holey muffler, and I washed my hair, which I'd been putting off because I knew it would get all fluffy. It used to not matter, because I used to always wear it up, but Ive had it down since getting it cut, which has been nice, but, sure enough, nasty fluffy, and no time to straighten it because...
Since Dad has welded up the muffler, how about I clean his gutters for him so he can hook up his new water tank? This took 3 hours, in the freezing cold. I'm not kidding when I say that two of my fingers went numb and still are. The tips of the middle and ring ringers on my right hand. Actually, it's not really numb, it's kindof more like pins and needles without any pins or needles. But it's really really annoying.
Then it was time to reattachthe muffler, and then it was time to have a snack (KFC) and the it was time to go to the quilt night that I thought was last week.
To be honest, I think I preferred last week. The first quilt you see going in is a log cabin, which Helen and I discuss our dislike of on a regular basis. And moreover it was a Christmas log cabin... A pointlessly time consuming design of quilt in a theme that renders it unusable for 11 months of the year. And it was mainly middle aged women and what appeared to be their angry mother-in-laws, and they had sold out of the bamboo batting I'm liking at the moment, so I stocked up on cozy cotton off the roll instead, which was actually a bit cheaper, so that's good. And then I got out of there, and went to the pub for a little bit, because Casey and Steph had decided to go early, but when everyone else got there for dinner I realised I wasn't feeling it, mainly because I didn't know half the people who'd turned up, so I came home.
Where I did this.
Which, technically, is the back. The front being the much more boring:
Which was done yesterday, and which looks a bit nasty at that scale, but the fabric that looks a bit of a mustard green on the screen is actually a very nice blend of greens and purples, and I do still love the front. It's the back that really impresses though, in real life as well as photo size, which annoys me for quite a few reasons.
First, I had planned to quilt to the front. That worked great for the bubble and squeak quilt, which had it's random piecing at diagonals so the quilt grid intersected it. But the back of this one is roughly on the horisontal/vertical lines of the front, whihc means that the quilting will not only be wonky, but will feel, to my OCD eyes, to be a little unsafe, with it's 8cm empty bits. Meaning I might have to do it on the diagonal, or, if I still follow the front blocks, something more substantial than just either side of the seams.
Second, It took about twice as long as the front. The front was a string, iron, string, iron, string, iron, pin, etc job, but this was just whatever bit I was up to next. I did the medium sized bit of wonky piecing first, but it ended up tiny, so then I did the big bit, then there wasn't much fabric left. But I'd bought these fabrics both times I shopped on fabric.com, because the second time they were out for $2.50 per yard. Of the blue and pink, its only the bottom right blue corner and the top right crazy pieced corner that came from the second yards. Of the green, it's one strip, and then I plan on using that for the binding as well.
Third problem was, I find I struggle to sew strips. I don't know why, whether it's that if it's a long pieced bit I will pin it whereas with a single piece of fabric I wont... All I know is, there's some really shoddy sewing on the back of this thing. One of the crazy bits has a blue seam that I'm a bit worried about, and I was gunna put a bit of iron on sticky stuff under it, but then once I'd got it all smoothed out (because my split seams acted like little bitches on this thing, closing up as I tried to put it straight on the batting) I couldn't find where it was and, since it's been a long day, I gave up.
Finally, accurate cutting gets harder the bigger the piece gets. Following the cut lines makes my head hurt, especially over the hexagon design. Which doesn't point in a consistent direction either. Which is another annoyance. They all face the same way on the front.
But still, it's very nice, on both sides, and that back is probably the last interesting thing I get to do for a week or so, since now it's time to get started on Mama Jan's quilt. Thankfully it's pretty much all cut, as my rotary blade is very blunt, and I haven't made any progress on either cleaning my room or finding where my spare ones are.
