The true meaning of Cinderella

The other day, I had set aside an afternoon with one purpose, and one purpose only : To get the binding for the big Passacaglia-quilt cut, and machined on.
And this is where the true meaning of Cinderella comes into play.
We all know that she went to the ball, met her prince, and lived happily ever after.
What we rarely consider is, that most of her time, until that moment, was spent cleaning, clearing and generally working her way through the daily house-keeping chores.
SO, before I could even begin to start on doing the 'real' task of the afternoon, I had to find my inner Cinderella, and do the chores.
Here are some 'before' and 'after pictures.

The  ironing-board

 Before















After












The cutting-table

Before

After












The table around my sewing-machine

Before

and Before

After













The Waste-basket


Before


















After


















The chair
... yes ... only one picture on this one. I didn't have it in me to disturb a sleeping kitty :-)

And then, just because I was at it anyway. The yarn-stash (with assorted tributaries):

Before

After.
Still stuffed to overflowing, but at least I can now see what is there!









(and yes, I'll show you picture/s of the completely finished Passacaglia. Eventually. Once the binding has been hand-sewn down. Until then, it looks more-or-less like it has done in previous pictures of the thing).

Sunflower # 22

Another attempt at a fussy-printed centre.
It looks good enough. The wonkyness  of the centre is due to the fabric (the flowers on this batik are not as symmetrical as they seem at first glance), not the method.

Harry Potter Shawl

As you, who read this blog know, I am currently doing a lot of knitting.
This is my most recent knitty project. A shawl for my DD. It is Harry Potter, done in Illusion-knitting, in as much as when you see it straight on, it is just red and yellow stripes.
However, magic happens, when you start looking at it sideways.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :



Neat, isn't it?
I'll keep you updated as I progress further :-)

A Finished Quilt !!!

Yes, dear Reader, I am proud to tell you, that I have FInally finished my TeaRoses.

Quilted by Sue Baddley of Summit Creek Quilts.
And as of a two days ago, it now also has a binding :-)

AND as of today, there's even pictures :-)

Front of the quilt

And the pieced backing, using remains of the collection I used for the flowers

A corner-view

Sort-of close-up of the quilting. I chose an all-over, because I don't like my quilts too stiff. A good custom-job would probably be extremely beautiful, but also make the quilt really stiff and unyieldy. I like it as it is.

January Leaves

I'm procrastinating on my quilty projects.
Big time.
And this means, I'm knitting.
Big time.

The 'I miss Evenstar' knit (in the remains of the yarn used for said Evenstar shawl), turned out to be a really fast and easy knit. I know it looks very filigree-like and thus also hard-to-make, but it went surprisingly easy ... and fast.
The pattern is called "Frozen Leaves" by Anusla, and is a free pattern over at Ravelry.

Sunflowers on the Design Wall

SO, I am stalling at 21 Sunflowers. Yes, yes, yes, I know there are only 19 in the picture, but that's because the two not in the picture are not on the design-wall right now :-)
And, as you can see, the Sunflowers are separated into two different groups.

The differences between the groups isn't as clear on the pictures as they are in real life, so you'll have to take my word for it, that the (so-far) smaller group is very ... clear cut, compared to the (so-far) larger group.
It isn't that one group is beautiful and the other is not, it is just that ... one (the larger) is much more ... fuzzy in the lines.

What I'm thinking right now is, that I'm looking at two small/ish quilts, both with 12 blocks. The ... clear-cut one to be made with a white/neutral background, the more fuzzy-around-the-edges one with the many-coloured green I bought for background for the Sunflowers.

After Evenstar

After the Evenstar shawl, I miss knitting, so ... another project has been cast on, and started, using the remnants of the gorgeous (but slippery) silk-yarn used for Evenstar.
Now, I know this picture doesn't look like much, but it will be a beautiful, small, shawl once it is finished. The pattern is Frozen Leaves by Anusla. I found it on Ravelry, but the directions are free! And don't be put off by the fact that she writes in Russian. If you can read a lace-chart, that is all you need to do.
I would recommend, however, that you go to Ravelry and download the free, emended charts made by love2stitch found there.

Hit and miss

Well. Sometimes I learn old things. Things I knew (if I stopped to think), things that I should have considered. With this block, the lesson that has been taught (again) is : when using small-ish bits to make a block, don't use fabrics with a large-ish pattern ... at least not if you want the bits to 'read' right.
I like the Sunflower proper here. I do not like the outermost triangles. They don't really work with the rest. After seeing it finished and on the design-wall, I actually considered frog-stitching the outermost row of triangles and setting something else in there, BUT, they stay. I don't mind that my quilts are not picture perfect, and that stupid choices and teaching-blocks are visible.
And let me tell you, it looks a lot less messy on the picture compared to real life.
The magic of photographs ...