Tuesday

Not really tidbits today as not an awful lot of interesting stuff has been happening at Chez Sunshine, but as I posted Pyjama Party Sunday so early, I wasn't able to show you what I actually did on Sunday.

Thanks to everyone who has been linking to Pyjama Party Sunday.

I stayed in my pj's all day, yay.

It was so nice not to have to go out. I made myself a really yummy haloumi salad for lunch (sorry no pics) and sat out on the verandah in the sun enjoying the sunshine. It really was Sunshine Paradise.

So Sunday and yesterday I did a bit of this and a bit of that.  I have too many things on the go at once, I'm pretty sure I have crafting ADD and have the attention span of a gnat.

I finished trimming all the pinwheels, there are 30 all together, it's just going to be a small quilt.

I then applied Steam A Seam 2 and cut out all the pieces for the appliques (plural) that are a part of the pinwheel quilt.  I took ages attaching each piece with a tiny bit of glue as a temporary measure.  I didn't want to lose them before I was ready to attach them permanently to the backing as I still needed to press the bias binding properly and attach that before the final pressing. 

One teeny tiny problem, 

I forgot

and as soon as I finished glueing them

I pressed the whole thing BEFORE placing the bias binding which was going to be the flower stalks.  

Plan B:  Thanks to a very clever suggestion from one of the girls at Patchwork Angel today. I'm now going to embroider the stalks. It was way too hard to try and peel off the applique pieces, this time I did a really good job of making sure they were attached after my misadventures with applique attachment in Adelaide.

A very crappy pic of some of the pinwheels.

Do you think I'm ever going to get through a project from beginning to end without making a reasonably big mistake?

At least it makes life interesting and proves that I am quite good at adapting and open to alternate ideas.

On Sunday I also went with Plan D (or was it E?) on the Spice Boxes quilt and started machine quilting. Not exactly what I was hoping for originally, but I think it will look good when it's all finished. I used Gutermann Top Stitch thread and it worked really well in the machine, just a little bit of playing around with the tension to get it right. My stitching still has a couple of wobbles here and there, but then the above photo is an extreme close up!

I'm finding at the moment that sometimes my skill level isn't as good as it needs to be to produce what is in my head.  I did think about putting the quilt away until I had practiced enough to be able to hand quilt the design I was planning, but I don't absolutely love the quilt and I was afraid that if I put it aside I might never get back to it, and I like it enough that I want to finish it.

Last night I sat down and spent a lovely evening sewing these together.

My very first hexie flower. 

I LOVE IT.

I think I'm hooked. For someone who really doesn't like hand sewing, I find these very easy, relaxing  and therapeutic. I can understand why English paper piecing is becoming so popular again.

You may also notice that my blog has changed again. I spent way too long playing around with it. 

See how long the current style lasts. 

I also made myself a little Award Free Blog button, it's up there on the right hand side, just above the Pyjama Party Sunday button and the clock which tells you what time it is here at Chez Sunshine. It's lovely to receive awards, and I don't mind telling you 101 things that you don't know about me, but I really don't enjoy having to "pick" x number of people to send them on to.  It makes me uncomfortable, who do I choose, who don't I choose who would like it, who would be really annoyed that they have been given one.  To make my life easier and less anxiety filled, I have decided to make my blog an Award Free blog. I love comments and they mean so much more to me than an award, as that means that you are reading my blog and interacting with me and enjoying what I write and the pics I show, and occasionally you may just think, and comment that I'm stark raving bonkers. Either way, a comment letting me know that you read and (hopefully) enjoy my blog or the things I create, means the world to me.