Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sewing and Sleeping

My internship is winding down but the last few weeks have been particularly intense.  Plus, the snow has arrived and the shifts in the weather have done a number on my noggin. ( I LOVE snow; I hate low barometric pressure and dramatic temperature swings.  :-)  I fell asleep so early on Friday night that it was still Friday.  Normally, I don't retire until the wee hours of morning.  Night was still well in control of the clock when I lost consciousness.   Then I had a terror-inducing nightmare involving a dragon-zombie apocalypse.  If you wanted to know what any of that meant, (and trust me, you don't) I could describe it in a staggering amount of detail.  Apparently, my dreamscape is the latest of things available in HD.  Once I got over the disturbing bits, I was strangely fascinated by it.  Always, the bright side.

Before I crashed early once again on Saturday, I managed to get some sewing done (two weekends in a row - what the heck???).  Family - if you are reading, I once again ask that you stop here.  In fact, let's just declare the blog off-limits until Dec 25th.  Please and thank you.

So far, I have sewn twelve of the squares inside of squares ( of 24) and 24 of the square in the corner blocks.  These are destined to become a lap quilt for Father.  

I started with a sketch.  I'd bought fabric a month or so ago and just couldn't pick a block style.  I wanted something masculine but everything I saw was just too fussy...  I came up with the design above, calculated how many of each piece I'd have to cut from how many strips and when rotary-cutter crazy.  Then I realized that *I* was crazy.  My piecing has been dodgy.  I have not been able to sew a scant 1/4" since, well.... ever.  And here I have several pieces that would end up with a 1/2" width.  Yeah, this ought to go well.

Then I thought, "Hmmm, based on my success with the Winter Woolies a couple of weeks ago, maybe I should paper-piece it..."  So I made a template and that's what I did.  Because I'd already cut the fabric, I am finding that it takes a bit of pinning to make sure that it ends up in the right place when you sew it.  I can't chain-piece and it is taking me a lot longer to sew but the results are so precise, it's entirely worth the extra effort.  Plus, this block combo is very forgiving when it comes to finished size.  If I find I'm running shy of 9.5", these can trim to 9.25" without ruining them.  Yay!
This photo turned out super-saturated for some reason.  Bad lighting + tomato red =  vintage 70s look?

Total finished this weekend:
-12 fiddly paper-pieced squares ( plus 24 easy blocks from last weekend)
-two quilt backs (one for the lap quilt, one for a top finished last weekend)
-couple of metres of double-fold bias binding in a particular shade of purple to match the fabrics I chose from Seester's gifts

Migraines: 
-1

Long-suffering, patient, neglected friends seen:
-none, but in my defence, I once again fell asleep at the dinner table on Friday.  Driving is never a wise decision when you've come ever-so-close to mashed potatoes up the nose.

Percentage of body and spirit restored:
-nearly 100%, ready for another week!

6 comments:

  1. Falling asleep on Fri while it's still Fri??? Unheard of.

    I think your blocks are turning out beautifully! But umm... no driving or sewing while sleepy, k? I don't want you up a tree or cutting your fingers off... either way it ain't pretty.

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  2. your work is beautiful !
    i really enjoy all your blog !
    thank you for sharing

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  3. I'm familiar with those sort of dreams--so real and vivid. I always think I could probably get some good books or movies out of my dreams if I could just piece them together right. :)


    I'm also familiar with the Winter sleepies. I've been going to be much too early lately. But it looks like you've been productive nonetheless!

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  4. Dragon zombie apocalypse! I had a dinosaur alien apocalypse dream once. It's a great story. We should get together and trade over lunch sometime. (Erm, no pressure).

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  5. LOVE seeing your quilty math and plans. One of my favorite parts of the process!

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  6. Ugh, sewing while sleepy. Creates grouchiness which induces swearing. Swearing and sewing are a bad combination.
    The other day it was 4:15 in the afternoon and DARK. Like midnight dark. I couldn't believe it. I was still at work and I wanted to curl up under my desk and go to sleep!

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