Here I go again...

I'm mulling over the notion of maps.  Like Cathy I don't make art quilts, so am thinking about how to go at the subject in a way that fits with my natural inclinations.  Fabric always help me think, so today I pulled this pile.

Three shirts (well, actually two shirts and something that may be a blouse or may be a dress; sometimes these days I honestly don't think there's a difference).  And a pile of things that seem to go with them.  Ideally I'd like more shirt in the mix so may go looking for another one, but I know I haven't got anything that fits the bill so that will be shopping rather than just digging in boxes.  This will do for now though.

Saturday photos #91

Prompted by my resolution to join in with Wandering Camera, I went into the garden.

Mostly it looks like this

but I managed to find some colour too.

Last but not least

This is the third lighthouse and I'll be stopping for now, though I've found making these smaller pieces much more enjoyable than I expected. 

It's not quite finished.  You can see that it's still in two pieces and  I will probably add one more strip at the bottom.  The lighthouse in this one is quite squat (based on South Foreland) so the balance isn't quite right at the moment, but I think that just that extra bit below the lighthouse will sort it out.

I've pieced the sky to try and stretch the bird fabric - there's barely a snippet of it left now, but it's done three lighthouses, which seems like pretty good going.

So two more seams then I'm off to contemplate maps.

AHIQ challenge day and a bit of an update

First things first: the new AHIQ challenge can now be found here and Ann's come up with something really interesting.  I would normally put up a post on the AHIQ blog too (this being the 4th Tuesday) but it seems more appropriate this time to let the challenge post to be the focus, so I will content myself with urging you to go and check it out.

While Ann has been dreaming up new vistas for to explore, I have been pootling along making my little lighthouses (and arguing, endlessly, with BT - for those of you in the UK).  It has occurred to me that if I sort out some wadding and backing these would be the perfect thing to roll up and stick in my holiday suitcase, since Mr SewSlowly tells me very firmly that I can't take a whole quilt with me (and we are flying, so I guess that's fair enough).

I have finished no. 2

 and made a start on a third.

In case you are wondering the strange state of my cutting mat is due to having stencilled on top of it without remembering to put down newspaper. 

This will be the last one for a while, as I want to take a run at the new challenge.

I am still quilting too, every day, with dogged determination.  Why is it that some quilts seem to be done surprisingly fast while others take forever.  I swear that after a week of quilting I have barely dented the amount still to be done.  Ho hum.  Nothing for it but to keep going.

Repeating myself

I liked making one little lighthouse enough that I am persuaded to go again...

I've just noticed, too, as I enlarged this photo, that all three of the little seagulls in the water are tilted at the same angle, which is funny given the random nature of my piecing.  I'm hoping to sneak enough time over the weekend to get the top on this.

One little lighthouse...

I had a play around with some alternative fabrics

but decided to stick with the Charley Harper for this one and this is how it went.

 I've ended up with this.  

Clearly it will need a back and possibly, though I don't much fancy doing it, a zip, but I am thinking I would also like to add a little bit of quilting.  Never having done this before I'd welcome any words of wisdom!

Detours

I'm not sure where the last week has gone, though I know there have been detours for duck fleas, tick bites. a dead starter motor and quite a lot of sport.  There's a detour too in the sewing.  I don't want to start something new before Ann issues the next AHIQ challenge at the end of the month, so have been giving some thought to undertaking a smaller project.  Yes, I know, I'm always saying I don't like making small stuff, but here I am, for the second time this year, doing just that.  I've been asked about the possibility of making a cushion-sized lighthouse piece so I'm giving it a go.  In fact, I'm giving it two goes, since it seemed to make sense to piece two lighthouses at the same time.  

A couple of pictures, then.  The first is lighthouse number one, the second shows pretty much where I got to by end of play. I've got two half-made lighthouses, some little HST-based sea bits and vague ideas about the sky.  Not much is cast in stone yet, but it's a start.

Taking Flight- done for now

On Tuesday I added the second side and bottom borders...

 and today, by the skin of my teeth, I got the blocks for the top edge done and sewn on.  It's funny, isn't it, how long it can take to make a few string blocks.  You'll see there are more small blocks in the top, because I was using my scraps, but in fact I had more left over than I expected.  Not enough to tempt me into another round though.

That's this one done for now, so the next task is to press on with the hand quilting and try to catch up a bit.  The World Cup is helping with this, the heat is not, though I'm not complaining about being warm.