Tuesday 20 March 2012

Finish off February...?? some goodbyes and, a wonderful surprise...

Where on earth did February go... and half of March?? One minute it was here and the next gone. Life, or rather work, has been pretty busy - and this month was supposed to be a "down" time for me, so I can catch up!

I said good-bye to another cohort of students.

The class of F'09 Occupational Therapy students

They all look pretty happy to have survived the last three years, and, whilst there were some highs and lows, they were a very good bunch with three 1sts and a very high number of 2:1's, so they are high achievers and I look forward to hearing their progress in the years to come.

Incomplete blocks roll call
Well, not many of my blocks have been completed. My students often groan when I talk about setting SMART objectives for themselves and with their clients, maybe I should have taken a leaf out of my own book, just how SMART was I? Achievable? Realistic within the timeframe? Hmmm..., maybe I was being just a little too ambitious. But, over the last three weeks, I have finished three more blocks... and started a new quilt!

I have also been working on one of the Beyond the Cherry Tree blocks and a Baltimore Album block, so I am going to continue the theme to the end of March but, at this rate, I will most probably still be trying to get the roll call down well into April!

My roll call now stands at:-
1 Maltaville Quilt block
3 Beyond the Cherry Tree blocks
2 Everything old is new again blocks
3 DAR Baltimore Album blocks
2 Sundial blocks

So here are the finished Maltaville Blocks...

Block A2

Block E3
This block was signed by Mrs Lucy Waterbury. She was the wife of a woollen manufacturer living in Malta Hills.

Block F4
This block came with me on my trip around the USA, but it just didn't get started. I did the first leaf over Christmas, but soon got bored with it - only one fabric, so this block tried my patience!

A surprise...!
I have been collecting the patterns for the Just Takes 2 project which Brenda Papadakis and Gay Bomer have been collaborating on since the start of the year. I am not though a keen fan of red and white quilts, but instead I had plans to do the project in blue and white.

Look what the postman brought to my door three weeks ago?



My wonderful friend Brenda sent me some of her blue fabric all the way from Texas. I am so overwhelmed and sooo lucky to have such a wonderful and generous friend!  Its a lovely blue background with a light blue dot, so it is not too harsh on the eye.

So, I have made a start on this quilt but this project is going to be quite challenging for me. As many of my friends know only too well... I loathe piecing! It never goes right for me and so I get frustrated and fed up. I have tried and tried to get to grips with piecing, but over the years my dismal attempts have resulted in a number of pieced UFO's which have been stuffed into various bags and hidden in drawers and cupboards upstairs in my back bedroom, ne'er to be seen again!

Whilst I had promised myself that I would not start anything new until after I finished my  block roll call, what with all of this wonderful fabric well... I just had to dabble and visited my LQS and bought some white background - Markower Spectrum. It is a good white but not too stark so that the light blue spots blend in well. 

And... ta dah! I have finished my first block - yes, I know it is applique, but as soon as I can clear a space on my dining-room table(!) I'll set up my sewing machine and try to work slowly and pin well whilst piecing my first block!!

Block 6

I have just noticed that the bottom right heart needs some tidying up, so I'll get that done and then it is finished!

Have a good stitching week!