It tasted delicious. Very fruity with a crips crust. I made it with Granary flour and this made it quite crunchy. Yummy!
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Weeks go by so quickly!
Here it is Saturday again and I'm once more in the middle of dyeing. This time I'm trying to get pastels. I find it quite hard to keep the colours soft and hazy as I'm really a brights kinda person and my fabrics show this. But I need some soft lilacs and pinks and some sunset colours and misty dawn shades. I'll probably end up with wishy washy pieces because I've been too mean with the dyes. Oh well, I can always over-dye tomorrow. Any minute now I will have to go and rinse out and put into the washing machine. The moment of truth will then arrive when I take them out!
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I tried out the new foot and to begin with I thought it was a complete disaster. The cord refused to be caught down in all directions and especially when turning on curves. I followed the directions to a tee until I gave up in despair. I hate to be beaten so I asked for help from someone who had actually used it and produced an actual piece of work. In fact the same person who's work had inspired me to order the damn foot in the first place. She responded very quickly which was very good of her and gave me lots of tips which I religiously followed. But although I had better results they still weren't amazing. Then I tried moving the needle as far over to the left as the hole in the foot would allow and this made all the difference. It worked like a dream. The secret is to sew slowly especially when turning and to use a thick enough cord or yarn and not to sleazy a yarn either or it just mushes apart. The foot looked off centre to me so it could be that its a design fault that the needle wasn't in the right place to begin with. The only stitch possible to use is a straight stitch so the hole isn't large and there wasn't a lot of room but moving the needle as close as possible to the left where the thread comes out made the difference. I can see that it will need lots of experimentation with yarn/cord sizes and needle sizes and even sewing thread types. And possibly even the basic fabric that it is being couched onto. Nothing is simple!
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While the dye is out I need to make the Bara Brith loaf cake. So must go and get on or I'll still be cooking and washing at midnight! So what's new!
Friday, January 27, 2006
One step forward, two steps back!
Forward or back? OK forward it is. Good news first. Today my new foot that I bought for my 180 arrived. I can't wait to try it. Its foot no. 43 and is for free motion couching. Its foot print is huge and it will only do straight stitch but I can see loads of possibilities for this little foot. I love my machine feet. I've almost got the whole collection for my machine AND I do use them. Not all of them that often but some of them a lot and the others enough to make having them worthwhile. So I will go and play in a minute.
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Back! Where do I start? Well first off I've got toothache and it is killing me. It would be the weekend which means waiting until Monday to make an appointment. The judicious use of Nurofem Plus will enable me to survive. ..... I hope! I cracked a tooth at Christmas and it seemed to be OK and not worth a dental visit but obviously I was wrong! Coward that I am!
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Secondly I just lost the opportunity of renting a studio! A friend told me about it and I rushed down to get the phone number and then rushed back to phone them up but it had JUST gone. It is the just gone bit that is so peeve-making. Why couldn't the guy just have said that it had gone rather than JUST gone? I had such high hopes. Because with a studio I could organise more workshops/classes, get some of my junk out of the house and generally have more space. Oh well I'll just have to be more dedicated to looking for one. I think it could be a bit like looking for gold dust!
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And it has to be somewhere I can dye! The dyeing is taking off in a big way. I now have orders for dyed pieces and also one of my friends who runs a mobile shop and visits all the quilt guilds and workshops in Cornwall is going to sell it as well so I need to be able to do twice or even three times as much as I do now. The fact of coming so close will I think spur me on to make a greater effort in sourcing a studio/workshop.
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I was so busy yesterday that I just couldn't get to add an entry into the blog so for the first time -bar holidays- I missed an entry! I felt so bad. Just as I used to when I hadn't done my homework. Well for the first five minutes in both cases. Guilt and I don't last together for long!
I'm going to rush away now and play with my new foot. Oh what joy!
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
A Nothing Day!
Today was one of those days when no matter how hard you try it is impossible to get anything done. I haven't even looked in my workroom let alone worked on anything. I made the mistake of going shopping with Martin and this became a leisurely amble through Falmouth from one end to the other. I managed not to spend any money which was the best part of the morning! It was a lovely sunny day and it was nice to be out and about but I was very conscious of the fact that I had things to do, eggs to lay as that old song goes. So tonight I am rapidly trying to catch up and get handouts written and photos taken for Friday's class. This is unusually rushed for me as I am on the whole very organised when it comes to classes but tomorrow I will have no time at all as it is all taken with various activities. Roll on the weekend.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
A Productive Day.
This morning I was able to get started on my third leaf piece. In fact I got both the third and fourth pieces up and running and painted the leaves for the third piece. This was the most enjoyable part. Then I offered them up and played with their arrangement. They aren't fused yet just in case I change my mind as to how I want them. I will probably wait to fuse them until I've done another batch for the fourth and last piece and see how they work together. I haven't stitched the first two pieces yet as I wanted to see them all together before deciding on the type of stitchery I wanted.
This evening I took my car in for its MOT. For those who don't live here this is a Ministry of Transport test that one's car must undertake each year to prove that it is road worthy. I'm hoping mine will pass as the test has been tightened up this year. The problem yesterday was a duff battery which I will have to replace but having been on charge all night it started this morning. That was such a relief. And after dropping my car off Martin collected me and we went and did the weekly shopping which was a nightmare as they are building a new large B & Q opposite and the traffic problem is heinous! Single lane-three way traffic lights just as one exits a dual carriageway..... doesn't bear thinking about. But I was able to pick up the latest Mary Higgins Clark novel so I shall be a happy camper.
Monday, January 23, 2006
No news day!
Today has been a non day. I spent this morning discharging some pieces of dyed cotton and they are now over-dyed and washing out as I write. Then I found I couldn't start my car so had to beg a lift to work. And Martin, dear of him, came and brought me home. So nothing much to blog about but I have been sorting out my computer and saving things to a back up disk and have posted some pictures as I came across them. These are all things I've done in the past when for some unknown reason I seemed to have more time. Or is it just the illusion of looking backwards. So I shall now go and think of something delightful to eat for dinner.
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