Friday, January 6, 2012

It's like... random.

We harvested more storm-damaged vegetables today, trying to bring some sort of order into the shredded mess that was the "bastja" (not sure of the spelling, but it's Macedonian for vegetable garden).

Our heritage variety carrots are full of free-spirited personality and colour.  Not one of them looks like a carrot, but they taste GREAT.  And I think the smell of newly-harvested root vegetables is one of my favourite smells in the world (...that and night-scented jasmine.... I know, the two are quite different).

Storms and tomato-eating beasties permitting, we're looking forward to a bumper crop of tomatoes within the next week or two.  They survived the pummelling from the xmas-day hail better than the rest of the vegetables, and are destined for loads of tomato sandwiches and salads.
 Once the sun got too hot and high, the girl and I retreated to the shade of the lemon tree and splashed a bit of cheap PVA glue around with some scrap yarn.  I'm not quite sure what we're going to use this for, but it sounded like cheap entertainment.
Of course, the exercise involved a long argument about changing out of the new dress she donned for gardening and wearing something that didn't need ironing every time it was washed.  Things are never as simple as they appear in blog photos. 
 At some point in the afternoon, I announced that if I didn't escape to the studio to play with my new fabric, my head would explode. 

I'm prone to hyperbole.

A couple of hours at the sewing machine and I was feeling much more like my old (non-exploding) self.

 I wanted to see what the "quilt" will look like when the plain bitter-chocolate colour is added to the mix.  

Adding to the list of challenges to keep me interested in the project, I've decided that the layout has to be one with a variety of spacings between the blocks. 

I started sewing bits together.... only having laid out HALF of the blocks. Quilt chicken.  Let's see if I can make it come together in some sort of cohesive to-all-appearances-looks-like-I-thought-about-it design.

All you real quilters can look away now.... this is where I almost run out of pants-seat to fly by.

So... how was YOUR day?  Random...?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

The quilt is looking good. I love the mix of colours.

We have lots of tomatoes coming too.

willywagtail said...

I loved those button through pinnies on my daughters. Sounds like your Friday was relaxing, especially as you made it into contact with the beloved machine.
My day: Picking strawberries at an organic hydroponic farm. (Not sure that the two are really compatible with yummy tasting food though.) Desperately seeking fabric or trim or even buttons to match an old couple's newly painted walls. Eating tapas in Port Macquarie. One of those take what comes sort of days. Cherrie

Lynne said...

I am still a new quilter and often fly by the seat of my pants! Today was more random than I intended but DD and I finished two small projects and I completed the pieced backing for a large single bed quilt at 11:30pm!

Lindi said...

I ove doing my piecing by the seat of my pants. That way, you get something ubique that you might never have thought up if planned. I also to love to piece then attack with my blade and chop that figureout what to do next.... lol

Katherine said...

Your home grown veggies look fantastic, Nikki. I'm amazed that your tomatoes survived the hail after seeing the damage suffered elsewhere in your garden. Glad they are hardy enough to have made it. Nothing beats a fresh tomato sandwhich. Mmmmm....

Hey, your quilt is looking fantastic! No apologies for the "fly by the seat of the pants approach". ;o) I personally think this approach has it merits (having used it myself a time or two... ahem ;o)

Katy Cameron said...

Bwahahaha, love the idea of playing quilt chicken! Come to think of it I pretty much always play 'sew chicken'. Sure, it's very difficult to make a thing wrong unless it's something that's meant to be worn (because of fit issues)

A Peppermint Penguin said...

I don't think that was hyperbole. I'm sure you would have actually exploded without the sewing!

bitter chocolate... yum. on both the fabric and edible levels!

Random? Yes, a bit. 4 leaves so far today, had a fight with the printer over an amazon return label and confirmed that I did indeed fix my old PC by changing the battery on the motherboard (changing was with heavy lifting assist on Wed, confirmation of success was today).

and post was rubbish. No books, or yarn, or fabric or anything interesting at all!

Heather @ The Beating Hearth said...

I love when carrots look like that...They are guaranteed to taste delicious! you're making me wish it was summer here instead of the dead of winter!

seabreezequilts said...

I have quilted for 15+ years and there is still a lot of flying by the seat of my pants. The dark frame looks fabulous. Going to pick our first tomato today.... loving having a veggie patch.

Fer said...

I've been quilting for over 20 years now and I still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants!! But I always feel that 'organic' quilts are the best and yours is that to a T!

Love the purple carrots too. I got some seeds from Diggers Club one year, just for the fun of it!

indigo midge said...

I'm glad that my heirloom carrots aren't the only ones to have "personality"!