How Do You Eat an Elephant?

How do you eat an elephant? The answer is one mouthful at a time, and this has to be my mantra for the next week, month, or more.
I have returned from a wonderful holiday with my family in Cornwall. We had glorious weather and a great time.

We feasted on fresh locally caught fish at idyllic pubs. We sampled the local saffron bread. (I have acquired a recipe, and can't wait to try and re-create it) and relaxed on the wonderful beaches.
If you're wondering why we made a sand turtle, not a sandcastle, it's a Canadian thing apparently - it was a first for me, and just as much fun as a castle!

We were staying on the Lizard and the beaches and scenery were breathtaking. Top left is Lizard Point, the next two are Kynance Cove and the bottom right is Hendra beach. It never ceases to amaze me that if you are just prepared to walk a little way, you can virtually have a beach to yourselves. We swam and fished and generally relaxed, enjoying precious moments of family togetherness.

The villages were so pretty and I love the aqua, red and white splashes of colour in the harbours. And a boat as a flower tub?? I don't think it would have quite the same effect in the Midlands!

So now I'm back home, and my son and daughter-in-law have gone back to Canada. I have a love-hate relationship with airports. They're exciting, bubbly places if I'm there to meet them off an incoming flight, but places of tears and heartache if I'm saying goodbye, especially when I don't know when I'll see them again. But life has to go on, and at least in this day and age we have Skype  and FaceTime, so I should count my blessings.

Inevitably thoughts now turn to tasks that need to be done and works in progress that need to be progressed and that's where the elephant comes in:
I have soooooo many projects to finish, and even more in my head, jostling for first place on the starting line.
I have my Greenfields knitting projects to do....and I'm way behind with those. By my calculation we are 33 weeks into the year, so I should have 33 completed baby items.......I only have 29 and enthusiasm is waning.

Not the enthusiasm for the knitting, just for the yarn that I'm using. I'm left with drab or odd colours that don't make good baby clothes. The point of the exercise is to use up my stash, so I can't justify buying some really cheerful colours to add to it, well, not yet, anyway. I may have to if the finished items start to look really awful!
I have my Swoon quilt to complete - now I don't need any encouragement to work on this, just time.

I need to do a lot more work on my Farmer's Wife quilt. This is supposed to be a quiet moments project, not a "must get done" type, but it keeps getting pushed to the back of the pile.

I have the Rows Quilt Along from Bee in My Bonnet to finish that I started about this time last year, and haven't done any more to since. Ooops!!

I have at least 4 new knitting patterns at various stages of completion for the Etsy and Craftsy shops, and I need to get these done!! Some are so ridiculously close to being finished, I don't know why I haven't done them ages ago.

I have so many ideas for quilty things in my head that it's fit to burst, but I can't start them until I have completed a few of the WIPs, and finally (saving the best till last here) I have a ton of baby knitting, baby sewing and nursery sewing that I want to do because I recently heard that one of my nieces is expecting a baby in February!!! I shall be a great aunt! Yikes, that makes me feel so old!!! My niece is a great photographer too, so maybe, just maybe I shall have a new little model for some of my patterns as well.
I've told myself I can't start any happy, exciting, super special baby projects until some of the WIPs are completed, so in order to stop myself rushing frantically from one half finished project to another, picking them up, putting them down, and generally being in too much of a tizz to finish anything, I have to adopt the "one bite of the elephant at a time" policy and go steadily and methodically through the backlog,  and see if I can get caught up enough to unleash some of the new project ideas buzzing around in my head.
At least it means I don't have too much time to miss my family!
If you have any techniques to help get you through the unfinished projects in your life, please share them with me.

Bee in my Bonnet Row Along - Rows 2 and 3

Hurray! I've caught up with the Row Along Quilt over at Bee in my Bonnet at last!

Although there is only one row every two weeks, I missed Row 2 when I was holiday, and I really wanted to get up to date so I've spent the past couple of days doing rows 2 and 3.

I find it so relaxing just following instructions sitting with the laptop next to my sewing machine, but I have to admit I'm not used to working on such a small scale as these tiny blocks.

The squares for the easy triangles in both rows were just 1 1/2" square.

 

There were 44 of the little blighters to rotary cut and draw diagonal lines on for Row 2 and 48 for Row 3! To be honest I didn't mind the cutting and marking. It was the sewing that I found rather challenging. If your accuracy is not quite 100% on, say, 4" blocks, you can usually fudge the piecing and make them line up (or is it just me that does this?). But with really tiny blocks there is no room for fudging!
The seam ripper has been put to good use over the last few days... first, the butterfly row ended up too long! Lori told us to measure the completed blocks before joining them.... and I did! No, I hang my head in shame - I measured the first butterfly block I completed... I got too complacent after that, so it serves me right that I had to undo quite a few of them!

They did all fit second time round, and when they got their borders added and I placed the row next to row 1....

..... I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

I carried straight onto Row 3, feeling quietly confident as the tutorial said it was only a filler row - one that could be done in an afternoon. Well, yes, I did manage it in an afternoon - first time round! Again, accuracy was my problem. I've been very selective about which bit of the row I photographed here! - no, that's not cheating... it's just called saving face! I had to bring out the seam ripper again, and I know I'm not going to have an easy task when we come to put these rows together, because the top and bottom edges of this row are definitely not straight.
Once again, I've learned a lot by doing this Row Along. I've learned I need to slow down and sew more accurately when working small scale. I'm rising to the challenge though. I'm actually looking forward to row 4 already.

Bee in my Bonnet Row Along - Row 1

 

 There is very little that gives me more enjoyment and satisfaction in crafting than learning something new. Just following instructions, not knowing how it will turn out, but trusting that I will be satisfied with the results or spurred on to try again is such a relaxing way to spend an afternoon. And, that is exactly what I did yesterday.

I started the Row Along Quilt over on Bee in my Bonnet. I had seen this about a week previously, wondered about doing it and then forgot the idea. When I saw this week's post however, I knew I had to join. I was going to learn loads! The first row is just postage stamp size blocks, but I have never made blocks this way before, and it's brilliant!

I chose some fabrics from my stash, mainly fabrics picked up many years ago, or given to me from people who no longer quilt. 

 

Some are VERY vintage! Does anybody remember these? I forced myself to add the purple. I really don't like it at all, but I've quite a lot of it, and as we were working small scale I convinced myself this was a good opportunity to use up a bit. It also amused me whilst I was pressing and cutting this fabric to think about the person or people it once belonged to. I tried to imagine what their sewing areas looked like, why they bought these particular fabrics and what they did with them.

 

These pieces are 3" square, and it starts off in the normal way. You pair up the blocks and chain sew one seam.

 

Then without cutting the links, you sew the opposite seam

 

Then you cut them apart and cut them all in half.

 

Press them open.

And sew them together, end to end in one long string.



 

Now comes the really clever part. You cut the first block in half, discard the bit you have cut off and let the remaining half fall over onto the second block (these are in their unpressed state, so it naturally fallls into the right place. You then line your ruler up along the stitched seam and cut the first complete block away.

 

What I find so clever about this is that you have the chance to straighten up any less than perfect blocks each time you cut. See that little yellow overhang sticking out from under the ruler? It gets cut clean away aand I have as near as possible a perfect four-patch, which at this minute scale I could never have done normally

 

 

I know I was relaxed, taking my time, and just enjoying the process, but these are most definitely the most accurate four-patches I've ever made, and the completed size of each will be only 2" square!

Aren't they cute?

 

 

I then joined them all together to make the first row of the Row Along quilt.

I can't wait to see what next week's row is. If you are thinking of joining in, I totally recommend it. The instructions are clear, with lots of photos, and not knowing what the final outcome is going to be just adds to the fun. For more detailed instructions on this, or to find out more about the Row Along, hop over to Lori's blog and see for yourself.

Till next time............Julie