Time for Cogitations

I managed to cobble this together this afternoon - and I mean cobble.....I could say in the spirit of the improvisational technique I was using. Would you believe me if I did?

After being reminded to look at it in black and white .......(thanks CC)

I decided just to put my foot to the pedal and go for it.......

For now it will have to sit quietly on the design wall and cogitate on how it woud like to be quilted because I will be here for a couple of weeks.......

....................on this ...............

(Not mine - good friends with boat....)

I will be cogitating, too - as long as the seas are kind. It may be a different story - time will tell.........

Sue xxxx

When More is Less and Less is More

When is more, less and less, more? Let me explain the latest changes and the 'how' and 'why'......

There is LESS stuff in my sewing room after our trip to Melbourne. We managed to cram our car full of daughter's stuff and redeploy it at her new abode. Gone is 'Samantha' (the dressmaker's dummy) and a large box or two from under my sewing table. Gone are some boxes from the wardrobe which has freed up MORE storage space for me to pack away my machine bags and covers.......

I found a small bookcase in our storage area (I'm not exactly sure who it belonged to but since no-one has been looking for it - for years - I figured it was mine - until someone claims it....)

I have my quilting books right next to my machine now and the good news is there is plenty of room for MORE books - should they happen to turn up in the mail someday......

And with a bit LESS clutter I can see MORE of my design wall as well.

I can once again sit on the couch which was drowning in books, projects and fabric that had nowhere to live.

 All my technique and reference books can now be accommodated on the original bookshelf with spaces to squeeze a few MORE in here and there........should that become necessary........

All in all a good day's work!

Back on the design wall that I can now see so much MORE of (including all the stray threads) is a small experimental and improvisational piece practising using complementary colours (ie those opposite each other on the colour wheel). It was also an excuse to use the 12 step colour gradation I dyed earlier in the year. The idea was to see the effect of using pairs of complementary colours in reverse proportions and study the effect.

(Very) Rough sketch with Inktense pencils

 So now we come to layout - and this has been the stumbling block.

This was the original idea based on the reasoning for the project.

                                                                       OR???

Any comment / opinions gratefully received - though probably I should just dive in and stitch it up in the spirit of the original intention......... 

AND, I dusted, too! (Earlier pics here).

Sue xxxx

(I've also finally worked out how to link back to previous posts. You might like to test it out for me.)



Change

There hasn't been a great deal of sewing lately but things are changing around here, for instance........

Why would you settle for this, when you have little need for lawn.......

........when you could have this?

We'll start with a potato crop to help break up the soil......

We enjoy watching our veggies grow in the front yard over our morning coffee and as it is proving to be the better area to grow food crops it makes sense to us to utilise it.

He who gardens / the man of the house / the provider (call him what you will, but as my Grandfather used to say 'never late for dinner') is always looking for more space to increase our productive garden and I enjoy the reading, planning and discussions we have deciding what to grow......We both enjoy preparing (and of course eating) meals with produce just picked and experimenting with preserving the excess.

Chillis are flourishing and 'our' tangello tree is once more loaded and about to present us and the neighbourhood with ripe tangellos. (I say 'our' tree as our neighbour is quite happy to let the tree continue to grow in her yard, yet she doesn't use the fruit. We are more than happy to help her out so it has been a win-win situation so far.)

Our small lime tree (this one is really ours) has also been having a bumper year. We have frozen cubes of lime juice, used limes in cooking, made cocktails and today I've cooked a lime and raisin chutney - which at initial tasting seems like it will be a tasty side dish for a curry. (Tomorrow, possibly lime butter - just as tasty as lemon butter......)

Other things are set to change, too, so watch this space........

and this.............

................and this.......

Exciting times ahead for us - you're welcome to come along for the ride if you like as I'll be posting lots of pictures throughout.

We will also be taking a little pre-renovation detour or two before the building gets underway, but I'll tell you about those another day.

Sue xxxx