More or Less

Profoundly speaking, I have been comparing the various mores and lesses of the week. The children were busy with holiday clubs and one afternoon there were 10 children here for a picnic. Although there was a lot going on, they were not bored therefore they were less difficult to manage. The whole family is making an effort to follow a healthier eating regime by eating food that is more wholesome and less processed. The children enjoyed choosing their ingredients at the supermarket, picking out local produce if possible. We have made bread, muesli bars, carrot cake, soup, salads, mayonnaise, cottage pie, marinaded chicken, yogurt, and pesto which is all very honourable but it definitely involves a lot more washing up!

I made myself several TO DO lists; somehow I will have to find a way of ploughing through each of the tasks. I find that the trouble with having limited time is that I want to fit more and more things in. It is annoying that I keep thinking of more overdue household jobs that I want to do that involve paint or major reorganising.

My Festival of Quilts entries are more and also less ready to go. So far I have not been able to borrow a Smart Car so it looks unlikely that the pink patchwork cover will make it to FOQ this year. I have been pestering the marketing team of Smart UK and even joined a Smart Car Owner's forum to appeal for a vehicle, or even a wreck. I sewed on 5 hanging sleeves by hand and have the holes in my fingers to prove it. I was a little lazy regarding the labels and simply attached them with Bondaweb. All that remains is to pack them all up and take them to the Post Office. I am sending 4 Yurt panels although there are 5 that are now "show ready" so I will reject one of them at the last minute.

I have finished cutting and dyeing all of the fabric for the roof of Yurt 2. There remain 6 more sections to quilt before I have to face the dreaded task of shaping and joining it all together. I quilted the Yurt panel that I completed in Katherine Guerrier's class at the QGBI Region 16 weekend retreat. The less complicated option would have been to stitch in the ditch or quilt a simple overall spiral. I could even have quilted lots of overlapping circles, but instead I chose a more time consuming combination of pebbles and spiky lines. The next panel to be quilted is a piece of African mudcloth with a subtle extension of shot cotton and gold lame squares that will also require intricate designs. I am determined to quilt at least 2 more tedious roof panels before I allow myself to finish it. I think there may be one (or possibly two) more Yurt panels left to piece. I have already been thinking ahead to a couple of future projects...