Nancy Drew is a Clue

So frustrating. My Nancy Drew quilt is making me uber happy as it all starts to come together but I said at the end of January that I wouldn't be showing it again until it was finished. What to do....

Side on doesn't count right? Like side boobs don't count. I also made a start on my purchase from the Scrap Store last weekend.

I'm deliberately playing with having the stripes running different ways to play with the texture. The fabric is thicker than the cord used in the original (picture in this blog post) and my y-seam skills are poor so it's not exactly perfectly flat.

But still, it's an interesting experiment.

I feel I ought to mention in passing this bizarre situation that is going on in Europe about horse meat. Personally I have avoided Findus since they saw fit to retire the creamy bacon crispy pancake and can't remember the last time I bought burgers, but it seems increasingly likely all of us red meat eaters have been eating not-so-thoroughbreds for some time now. The big question in my mind is - where is all this horse meat coming from? It's not like the plains of Texas are covered in horses.

Well said Ma'am.

Books 2013 #1 #3

#1 Have Mercy on us All
by Fred Vargas

That Fred - she's good. In the first two books I grew to rather like her detective Adamsberg. In this book he is still likeable but then he does something SO stupid. So. Stupid. But that is just a side plot. The main plot involves a conspiracy to bring Black Death back to Paris. The story weaves in and out of the refurbishment of the police department and the life of an old sailor discovering a new role for himself. The book is very well written and although you just want to kick Adamsberg I'll definitely be reading the next. In fact I already have a copy and am holding off as I don;t want to finish the series too soon. 

#2 Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol

by Gyles Brandreth

 

Having gone off the boil a bit with these books this one comes right back up to standard. It deals with the period during which Oscar is actually in prison and the way he is treated and lives during that time. It's rather unsettling - even non-history-buffs can take a guess at what the prison system was like back then - but not too weighty and the deaths are approached in an interesting way since Oscar is clearly not at liberty to investigate as he usually would. Some authors want to show off how much research they've done and cram it all in regardless. Not here. The characters of the mainly male cast are well developed and brought to life and the story avoids getting bogged down in historical detail.

#3 The Day Aberystwyth Stood Still

by Malcolm Pryce

I've loved this series all the way through. This is what I was reading when I met up with KnittingontheGreen and we discussed them as she's not partial. I think having read Dashiel Hammet and Raymond Chandler in my formative years I can admire how well Pryce writes the hard-boiled detective genre, set in a town in Wales with a caravan park, philosophical ice cream seller and machiavellian mayor. Not afraid to bring in the surreal and super-natural, this book includes much talk of aliens but Louie is so sceptical and hard-bitten about everything that it doesn't matter whether you believe in such things or not. You become so enthralled that by the time the story reaches the point at which the mayoral elections are decided by human cannonball you barely notice anything odd is going on. I adore these books - of which this is the sixth - but if you can't stomach silly or hard-boiled you may not want to read a second. 

On my reading list for the next few weeks is a non-fiction about success, another magical mystery by Clayton Rawson and maybe, just maybe, the next Fred Vargas. Any recommendations?

Reading is Good For You

I love reading. You find out sooooo much. Even reading fiction - large parts of my vocabulary and behaviour are based on PG Wodehouse and Margery Allingham. Last week KnittingOnTheGreen and I met up to got to the "A-Z of Crime Fiction" exhibition at the British Library.

It's only a small exhibition but really hit the spot. KotG combines a vast experience of the genre with a great memory so was able to help when my side of the conversation dissolved into "oh you know that author, I think it began with a V, like Poirot but modern times, or was it Campion?" We had a great time discussing current and past favourites and I came away with eight new titles on my reading list.

I've also started a new Coursera course this week called "E-Learning and Digital Culture". Lots of reading needed for that and I started thinking again about the whole Kindle question. To e-read or not to e-read is something I've been debating for quite a while. I kept telling myself that I got a lot of books secondhand so it wasn't worth it, but in fact I get a lot from the Library, who also lend e-books. Plus all my study reading is online. Mmmmmm....maybe.....

Yeah, so I bought a Kindle. I'm waiting until the case arrives before I get stuck in properly but so far I'm quite impressed. I've naturally already explored how to work around the way the manufacturer would like you to use it and look forward to getting more acquainted over the next week.

This Weekend Belonged to Charlie

Behold...Charlie!

I would never, in a million years, have thought of myself as a tortoise person. But...within seconds of catching sight of him out of the corner of my eye positively powering along with watercress in his sights I was hooked.  His favourite thing, apart from watercress, is climbing and so when on the ground he would immediately set off for higher ground. He made it up to my neck and then fell asleep.

It is rather lovely to have a tortoise fall asleep on your neck. Pooch said he'd passed out because of the smell but I prefer to believe he liked the warmth and felt safe.

The main purpose of the weekend was not tortoise discovery but spending time with my pregnito sister and her husband. And how better to do this than with a visit to a Scrap Store.

These places are awesome. I'd never been to one for real but had seen them online. If you're not familiar with them they are essentially a genius combination of recycling and community action. Local businesses donate unwanted bits that would otherwise end up in landfill.

Maybe they made too many packaging pots, or the bits cut out of huge sheets of plastic/wood/card weren't needed or they had stuff left over. It comes here and then groups and families from the community can go along and fill a sack with what they want and pay a token amount for it. And I mean token. I got large scraps of felt, leather and card plus the item below and they would only charge me £4. I tried to insist it should be more but no. I had to just stick the rest in a donation jar. This was the gem:

You know those fabric sample books you get? Yep, a whole one! Well, a few reds are missing but there are still more than 40 colours. I had previously seen this bag on Pinterest...

Source: etsy.com via Alex on Pinterest

Oh yeah. I'm going to have a rainbow one. Yee ha!

While at my sister's I got to hand over all the baby goodies I've been stockpiling. Including this blanket.

This is the one I'll be writing the pattern up for soon. And speaking of which...

I am planning my entry for the Festival of Quilts competition. I'll be entering the miniature quilts section and doing tiny little paper pieced hexagons. I'm just deciding whether to go for a traditional pattern or something more pictorial.

Sister and hubby were on good form and she's all healthy and rounded at about 5 months but it is freakin weird to see your little sister with one in the oven. I felt the niece-in-progress kick and saw the nursery. All so exciting! Having decided not to have any of my own I'm going to take full advantage of the subversive aunty role.

70-20-10 and Me

I am a Learning Professional. Not a lot of people know this. Ten years ago it would have been Training instead of learning but we don't train people any more. We enable them to learn. It sounds ghastly but it is actually quite sensible. Research shows that 70% of what you learn comes from what you pick up on the job and from problem solving. A further 20% is from feedback from others and seeing good and bad examples of a topic an the last 10% comes from conventional courses and reading.

Now having said that people still have different ways they prefer to learn. Personally I favour the Kolb model which suggests people have one or a combination of two preferred styles from:

• Trial and Error (Active Experimentation)
• Getting stuck in (Concrete Experimentation)
• Watching others and copying (Reflective Observation)
• Thinking about it (Active Conceptualisation)

There is a free questionnaire here to help you work out your preference but usually it leaps to the eye. Think about what kind of knitter you are. For instance, if you never swatch and cast on straight away you're getting stuck in. I tend to be a combination of that and thinking about it - doodling charts and pondering decreases before just throwing those over my shoulder and casting on. For example:

My reasons for thinking about this are two-fold. Firstly work orientated: I have been to two events this week - Learning Technology at Olympia and Learning at Work at Excel - and attended several free seminars. I also read this article on Harvard Business Review called "Is It Time To Quit Your Job?". Secondly knitting orientated: I got an email suggesting I sign up for an online course on Norwegian Purling.

The work stuff made me realise it's time to move on. The knitting stuff made me realise I've been wanting to learn to knit continental style for years and that SkipNorth is coming up. I learnt Magic Loop in about 5 minutes when Nickerjac showed me how. Never looked back. I'm not assuming it'll be that quick to start continental knitting but hopefully there will be a chance for me to get started. 

Favourites

I am loving all these things at the moment.

In rows, from left to right...
1. top finished, 2. GreyQuiltHME, 3. Time to start sewing..., 4. 927 1" Hexies, 5. Sew Sew Modern Swap finished!, 6. quiltausstellung-schildow01, 7. sewing case, 8. New Year, Mixed Media "Slow it down", 9. Nope, 10. Advances, 11. Prendedor bordado/ embroidered pin, 12. Embroidered Necklace Pendants, 13. siblings, 14. Orange Trails, 15. Too funny . . ., 16. It's a girl

Dare to Dresden Bloghop! Day Four

Good day sunshine!This is my first appliqued circle, mentioned in yesterday's post. Not too shabby huh? I cut the circle and then tacked a 3mm hem before whip stitching it down and removing the tacking thread. And it is just the centre of my first ever dresden patchwork piece.

Yes - I dared to Dresden! Having been so subdued with my colour choices on the front I let loose on the back. I've had these buttons in stash for years. So cute!

They remind me of that line from The Mikado "three little maids are we..."

One last look at how my sofa now looks...

I was feeling pretty chuffed with my dresden but not particularly inspired to do any more when I saw this one from Quilting Lodge Blog from yesterday's day of the Hop.

Source: quiltinglodgeblog.com via Alex on Pinterest

Isn't it lovely? It's paper pieced and I adore the effect. I have pinned it to my Patchwork Board on Pinterest.

Last time I participated in a hop I was planning a Rainbow Charm Square Swap for the New Year but...only 12 people signed up. Not enough to make it worthwhile. So...how about a New Year RCSS in February?!

Guidance and sign up form here. If I get enough sign ups within the next week I'll go ahead with it.

Now please please please go and visit the others taking part in today's part of the Hop.

A Peach in Stitches

Nancy W @ “that Other Blog”

L3 Designs

Bungalow Bay Quilts

Quilted Delights

Quilt Crossing

A Quilting Sheep

Charlotte's Creations

Quilt-n-Queen
Domesticity and Other Ponderous Things

Sew Much 2 Luv

A Quilt and a Prayer

Amanda Murphy Design

Little Mushroom Cap
Kathy's Quilts

Sandra Kaye Design

I Appliqued a Circle and I Liked It

I didn't think I would enjoy applique, but I did. But, I'm not going to show you until tomorrow, when I take place in the Dresden bloghop! Until then the final preview of my Nancy Drew quilt before that bloghop takes place in March.

I'm really pleased with how it is coming out although I have suffered a set back. I ordered samples of an ideal flannel backing fabric on the 15th. They arrived on Friday. I went online to order a few metres of one last night and they're not on the website any more. The whole range has gone! I anxiously await a reply from them to my "Concerned of Mudchute" email.

I've put the finishing touches to two baby cardigans for my niece-in-progress. This one is a free pattern and keeps reminding me of the people in Pigeon Street.

Sister requested no pink but these buttons seem to go perfectly.

The next is sock yarn and I had intended to i-cord some frogging type buttonholes but then when I looked at it I thought cords would do nicely.

I've also finished casting off the blanket, so now that just needs blocking.

I'm going to write it up as a recipe type pattern as it really is the easiest thing to knit with whatever yarn you have handy to whatever size you desire. Apart from that, work continues on my cloud jumper which is now about halfway down the yolk.

Progress is slow but then I have been knitting either chunky or baby sized things for a while now and 4-ply does make a big difference.

I am trying not to buy any more yarn or fabric (flannel excepted) until SkipNorth (which is now full and about 7 weeks away). My last hoorah was half a metre of this.

I just couldn't resist. Gorgeous huh? In my opinion definitely the nicest from the Sew Retro collection. The lady at Liberty asked me what I was going to make with it.... How are you supposed to answer that kind of question?

How Long Do You Ponder For?

I first started thinking about this jumper in 2010. At least, that is when my earliest cloud photo that I thought worth keeping is from.

The first chart was in May 2011.

First swatch was in Kauni shortly afterwards - not enough contrast though.

Then came the yarn dyeing. A try out...

...followed by the real thing in January 2012.

Then this month (January 2013) another chart, some swatching and a few rips later:

There is another cloud jumper I have in mind - but that is more of a colour scheme thing. I've been thinking about that one for longer, but it clearly hasn't matured yet. Give it another year or two...

The Opposite of Scorchio

We've had snow!

This basically means that everything has shut down. Flights cancelled, tubes on go slow, events cancelled. London doesn't do cold weather very well. Which is unfortunate considering...

It does mean perfect crafting weather - just right for snuggling up with your knitting or your sewing machine. Knit-wise I've not much to report. Progress has been made on the baby blanket and I've cast on for my cloud jumper but there's nothing worth showing so far. With sewing though - the first hexagon for my Nancy Drew blanket is done.

I've also got a bit furtrher with my dresden cushion cover.

I don't like it. I am going to redo the middle as that thick blue line is not working. I wish now I'd invisible applique'd both the centre (which I can fix) and the whole to the backing (which I think will damage it too much to be worthwhile).

My parents are en route for the rest of the weekend so I've made Challah which is rising on the radiator. We're hopefully going to venture out for an Indian tonight with the Pooch, who has been on good form recently. He's discovered scandinavian murder mysteries and is longing for his own The Killing jumper. Which led me to find a whole website dedicated to that one jumper. Now that's dedication.