Inspiration overload

It's official.  My brain is going to pop!

 

There are so many amazing sewy creations out there in blogland - I find myself staying up until the early hours reading post after post and getting so many ideas that I can't get to sleep!  Maybe taking my Kindle to bed with me is a bad idea.

It got to the point when I didn't think I could actually make anything because I just had too many projects whizzing round my mind, but I have managed to focus and although my hexie obsession is on the wane this week (because I think I overdid it a bit!) my passion for mini quilts and rainbow colours is still going strong and the children (mostly Dot) and I also made Aunty Mo a hexagon bag and card for her 80th birthday.

These are some more of the blogs I have been reading: the appropriately named My Quilt Infatuation (in the school holidays she makes a quilt a week and doesn't start a new project until that one is completely finished, bound and labelled - no startitis here), Simplify (and I have bought her most recent book and some pdf patterns too - they are lovely) and Mama Love Quilts (her colour wheel mini quilt is gorgeous).

I've been reading through lots of old posts on these blogs and a common theme seems to be fabric storage which has left me unsettled about the fabrics I have and the way they are sorted.

I have a lot of fabric.  At the moment it is sorted in (quite large) plastic boxes by colour and then there is a box for novelty fabric (and various other boxes too if I'm honest).

A lot of the fabrics were bought years ago when I made appliqued fleece blankets, so I have the perfect colour and pattern for a lion's mane or a sheep's fleece for example, but my tastes have moved on.  Then I had a phase of making wallets with novelty fabrics - but again, I have moved on. 

All these no longer loved fabrics were getting me down and making me feel guilty so on Saturday I had a massive colour by colour sort out and pulled out all the pieces that I could no longer see myself using.  It was very therapeutic - but the box of cast offs was pretty large. So I offered them to my sewing friends who chose the pieces they would like, then I plan to show two other friends as I think they would like some too - but what should I do with the rest of it?  My ultimate plan is to donate some to the children's school textiles department but do you have any suggestions first?

And how do you store your fabric?  My sewing room is out in the garage but having read all those inspirational blog posts about fancy storage, I would love to have the fabric stacked by colour on my shelves in the house (that's not going to happen though!) but maybe instead of having them stuffed in boxes I should iron and fold them and have the boxes facing outwards on the shelves so I can see the fabrics and be inspired.

Here's a final photo of a project I stitched before Christmas

Miss Maggie Rabbit from the design by Posie gets Cozy - she was fun to make :o)

My rainbow hexie obsession

Oh the pictures in this post make me so happy!

 

From the little piles on the side of the sofa

 

to the work in progress as I sit by the fire in the kitchen stitching while Mr Locket works on the computer

to the rainbow gloriousness of all the colours together

 

 

and the growing collection of flowers

 

This is such a happy project! Inspired by all the new blogs I have been reading from Crazy Mom Quilts to Quilt-it and Stitched in Color and Blue Elephant Stitches and specifically by this quilt here and also this one (although that's now another rainbow quilt I need to make!!)

a humble confession.......

.....all those years ago when I organised my great big mini quilt swap where everyone had a swap partner and I then set about to do individual swaps with a whole load of wonderful crafty peeps it all got a bit overwhelming.

And I have to confess that there were about three mini quilts that I didn't end up making :(

I had complex spread sheets about which person was getting which quilt etc but when it all fell apart I kind of (totally) hid my head in the sand and gave up. Since then I have had several computer crashes and wipes and no longer have those spread sheets to tell me who I owe mini quilts to - just massive guilt about defaulting on a promise.

So..........if you are still reading and you know I owe you a swap gift could you please let me know so I can make amends.

I would love to tentatively dip my foot in the water of swaps/quilting bees but really want to clear my debts first.

P.s I hope you are not too disappointed in me. X

Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding Quilt

Three and a half years ago I pieced my most complicated quilt top for my mum and dad's Golden Wedding anniversary...........and now I have finally had it professionally quilted, finally stitched the binding on and finally given it to them.

Fortunately they are very patient and now they - finally - have it, they absolutely love it!

P.s there's a Fred-sized body hiding in the first photo!

Scrap Happy!

I bought this fabulous book last Thursday and ever since have been dreaming patchwork and scrappy fabric creations!

My sewing mojo had well and truly disappeared months and months, maybe even a year ago. I'll have to look back on the blog to see because I really can't think of the last thing I sewed on my machine. It didn't help that the sewing room was a tip and I couldn't find my sewing machine cable anywhere - it turned out it was in a drawer in the kitchen!

Anyway, a trip to a new local quilting shop last week found me buying Sunday Morning Quilts - and oh what a gorgeous book it is! I have read it cover to cover and just love the projects in it. I have also been obsessively reading Crazy Mom Quilts' blog archives on my kindle late into the night!

Dot and I spent last Saturday afternoon sorting the sewing room (again! it tends to be where all the furniture and "stuff" goes when we try to tidy the house)

And now my head is totally bursting with colour combinations and ideas that I want to try and projects that need revisiting.

This morning Mr Locket suggested I made a list as there was just too much going on in my head and I couldn't think where to start.

So here it is:

• make a yellow and white log cabin quilt - I've been planning a yellow and white "some kind of quilt" for a while and have collected all the fabrics
• sew some scrappy hexagons
• finish my Spiderweb quilt - started in 2009 then abandoned.  I've actually been working on it this week and I love it all over again

• make a ticker tape mini quilt or canvas from the book

• make an up, up and away mini quilt - the pattern uses the tiny triangles you get when you trim the corners off binding strips! How fabulous is that?  I don't actually have any of those triangles but the concept is brilliant :o)

• bind my most clever quilt that has just been professionally machine quilted (I'm picking it up on Saturday afternoon, binding it on Saturday night and giving it as a Golden Wedding Anniversary present on Sunday morning - 3 ½ years late!) More details and photos next week 
• quilt and bind my seedling wall quilt

• sew a cushion with yellow hexies on a grey background

• quilt and bind my pinwheel quilt

• finish my Lucie Summers pinwheel

Today I went back to the new quilt shop for a sit and sew session and asked lots of advice on the quilting for my pinwheel and seedling quilts and had my first play at free motion quilting - golly, it's hard when you are first starting out but I hope I will improve with practice.  I have ordered the right foot for my machine and plan to keep trying.  I would like to free motion the seedling quilt but I will probably hand quilt the pinwheel.

And I couldn't help but buy some more strips of fabric to add to my scrappy collections........

 

It would have been rude not to buy them, honestly!

 

But now I need to do a friend a favour and knit the borders for a blanket she has been making for her mum's 80th birthday next week.

So much crafting to do - what a nuisance that I have to go to work tomorrow! ;o)

The next obsession is coming

Thank you all so much for the overwhelmingly lovely comments on my last post - I've been beaming from ear to ear!

I've found that since I have overcome the real OCD that was making me ill,  I am actually much more aware of the milder "obsessional" trends in my attitude to my hobbies.  When I get passionate about something it is really all I want to do and think about - whether it is running, or knitting, or sewing, or gardening (and very occasionally housework!)

I would love to be able to multi-task but it just doesn't seem to happen although I am managing to keep running while being obsessed with knitting although it is hard to drag myself outside in the cold when my instincts are to sit by the fire and knit! The two hobbies seem to be totally opposed!

Since the middle of last year I have been fascinated by fair isle knitting and have bought loads of books and patterns and have knitted a fair few projects too including three pairs of the same tortoise and hare mittens as Christmas presents which started getting a bit boring I have to admit!

I've found that I prefer traditional fair isle to picture colourwork as I like the rhythm of the stitches 2,3,2,4,2, etc rather than having to keep looking at the pattern to see what to do next.  So I don't mind that I am on the third pair of these mittens - especially as they are dk so much quicker to knit!


Even Dot has been converted to the new fair isle frenzy and has knitted herself and Daisy a pair of mittens too - I never cease to be amazed at how quickly she can pick up a new knitting technique with very little advice from me.

Dot's mitts for Daisy

My Christmas presents included the Jamieson and Smith Shetland wool to knit this hat by Kate Davies and also her kit for the Toatie Hottie mini hot water bottle (Mr Locket may have had some strong advice on present choosing here!)

But the family are always aware that my passions will change again and Dot teases me about what might come next.

After many months of doing no sewing at all a new book purchase last week seems to be having a big influence.................more details next time!

A very happy New Year

Happy New year everyone! I hope 2014 is a fabulous year for you.

I'm starting this new year in a very different place to previous years. So much has changed - and definitely for the better.

After over 18 years of living with debilitating OCD that totally dominated my life I am now completely free of it - which is something I had never dreamt possible - I thought I would be shackled to it for the rest of my life. I can now do anything I want and the sense of liberation is overwhelming. I am so buoyantly happy and can enjoy life with my lovely family without the tyranny of rules and rituals and constant anxiety.

It hasn't been a sudden change but has taken years of hard work as I have painstakingly unlearned all the OCD ways of being. To use a knitting analogy, I haven't been able to rip out rows and rows of flawed knitting in one fell swoop but instead have had to carefully unpick and reknit each faulty stitch one at a time.

Although I have mentioned my struggle with anxiety and depression on my blog I have never publicly admitted to having OCD - but now I am so proud to have beaten it that I am shouting it from the rooftops!

2013 was a good, good year with many fabulous family camping trips (unthinkable with OCD) and lots of running - including a half marathon!

And the running combined with Weight Watchers means I am starting 2014 five and a half stone lighter! It has taken over 3 years but I'm now at my goal weight (well, I was until Christmas!!) and I feel fantastic! Now my new year's resolutions don't have to start with 'lose weight' as they always have. Ideally I'd like to lose a little bit more - but I don't HAVE to which is brilliant.

So now I am fit in both body and mind, and thin for the first time in 20 years, the world is my oyster! 2014 here I come!!