Tinkering and Cherry Picking

I decided that my workshop is tidy enough for now which let me off the hook from The Big Cull so after completing 4 nice and easy customer quilts I was at a slightly loose end. There are plenty of worthwhile things I could have done but I went off on a bit of an exploration into which method I liked the best for making a curved-top zippy pouch. I have to say I have still not found the perfect construction method that pleases me aesthetically and for ease of construction. I like quilted fabric better than interfaced fabric because the pouches have more oomf and stand up better. I can confirm that I sewed plenty of pieces upside down or back to front! The quest is still on, rather like my mission to perfect the world’s best carrot cake. 

Because we have had the best summer in years, the wild cherry crop is amazing and even more impressive is that the trees have not been stripped bare by greedy birds before I could even grab a tupperware box. I was actually surprised to discover that I have red cherries as well as black ones. I easily picked over a kilo without having to get a ladder and brewed up some cordial that I will add to drinks, rather than make cherry vodka. I might put on surgical gloves to squish out the stones and make jam. I have to say there is something childish and satisfying about shoving a handful of cherries into my mouth then spitting out the stones.

Still avoiding my non-urgent admin tasks, I played with some magic foam to make stamps using 3-D objects. Obviously, I did not look up any instructions so I am not sure if I heated up the foam sufficiently. I found it tricky to make impressions of buttons because I did not have time to push all of the buttons in before the foam cooled but if I heated up the next small area the previous button stamp would disappear. I was quite impressed by the stamp made by swirling a glue gun over a piece of parchment paper. This reminded me that I had promised myself time to explore simple lino cutting in the summer hols. I had better get on with this since FOQ is coming up soon!