Go Apple

Well I'm a happy bunny, and quite unexpectedly so.
I've been having problems with my macbookpro's power cord.
It's been gradually seperating at the joint where the magnetic connection meets the cord.
There is a little collar that covers the area, but it didn't seem long enough to hold it securely, and when I looked on the Apple website sure enough there were a fair number of complaints about it, along with the info that it wasn't covered under warranty.

So when i walked into the Apple store in Bluewater , brandishing my burnt out cord [ yes it got that bad ] ...
See :(


... I didn't expect to get away without a dent of £59 in my bank balance.

But joy !
They've re-designed it

If you look carefully you can see that the collar is longer on the new one.

So they changed it under warranty.

*does a happy dance*

more on the quilting front

The quilting is progressing slowly and um, slowly.
Nothing sure about this baby.
I suppose that its only to be expected that I'll make mistakes, but as I'm the kind of person who really doesn't believe that, I get frustrated when I do.

So, here is a pictorial diary of my efforts.


The cutting out of these lining squares of flannel took me about 2 hours.


This is one of the layouts I considered using with a simple chequerboard pattern set in diagonals.


And a similar one but in lines.


Pinned ready for stitching


Change of mind re the pattern, and again pinned before stitching.


First strip completed.


First panel completed.

Not much to look at really, but this has so far taken me more hours than I can remember.
It should have taken far less, but I've ripped it back 3 times.
Once a whole panel had to go [ uneven stitching and the wrong direction for the pattern ]
I could have worked around it, but the more i looked at the mis-match on the seams, the more irritated i got, so it had to get taken apart.
Then I stitched a smaller panel with the stripes reversed.
It didn't show if you didn't know i had planned a patern to the stripes, but I DO know, so again, it had to go.
And finally i stitched the last 4 square to the wrong strip.
At that point i gave up, grabbed some coffee and did some housework.
[ and anyone who knows me realises reading that that I must have been REALLY in need of a break...housework+me=only when I have to ]

Hmmm, that makes me sound like a slob, but I really cant find it in myself to enjoy doing it.
Housework i mean.
Its a chore.
One to me made a simple and short as possible.
Its why I end up getting so annoyed at my family who seem incapable of taking stuff off and putting it in the right place.
Hell, i don't care if the place is messy, but it means that someone has to move whatever it is to the right place.
See...it has to be dealt with TWICE.
Not good.
Put it in the right place first time and it only has to be dealt with ONCE.
Ipso facto, less work, more time to have fun, less stress for me.

Anyway, i'm getting off the track.

So I had the coffee, sorted the laundry etc etc, and returned to the quilting.

And it went right.

Yay, go me!

4/15ths down, 11/15ths to go.
Unless i decide to give it a single colour edging ......

Quilting

I've been thinking about making a quilt for a while now.
Mainly as a way to use up some of the fabric that I've accumulated over the years admittedly, but I really like snuggling up under something soft and warm late at night, or having something a little more substantial than a blanket to sit /lie on in the garden or when I picnic.
So I thought that making a quilt would probably be the best way.
Especially since, while i still like many of the colours and patterns of my fabrics, they are not really what I'd use in my house anymore in their unadulterated form.

The thing that has put me off in the past has been the exact nature of the stitching...making sure that the seam allowance is spot on so that everything lines up.
I CAN sew like that, but I admit to finding it tedious, and the likely hood of me getting fed up with it and giving up with a partially made quilt seemed pretty high to me.

So when I found the rag quilt pattern a few weeks ago it seemed like the perfect solution.

i think i mentioned it in a past blog, but i lose track, so here is the example that got me thinking.



Pretty isn't it?

You can get the full details here:- http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/rag_quilt.htm

I don't think mine is going to have the large squares in, as i couldn't find a co-ordinating fabric that i liked , so its going to be a straightforwards checkerboard effect.

These are the fabrics I'm going to use.



One is buttermilk cream plain cotton, one is a striped blue/green/lilac and the third is a random leaf/floral motif in green and light blue.
Its not exactly what I would have chosen if i was shopping for fabric, but I think its not bad, and since this is really a trial quilt I didn't want to go spending extra cash if i didn't have to.

I still have to cut the flannel fabric that goes in between the other layers, but since i'm covered in fluff already, and I really need to iron the flannel before i cut it , I'm going to do that tomorrow.

If it works ok I'm going to get some of my other fabrics and sort them into colours and weights so i can make some more.

Of course, that may just be wishful thinking, but I'm feeling positive.
:D

Random stuff

Oh life is good!
The sun is warm,
The cherry blossom is painting the grass,
The bluebells are awash under the woods,
I have new specs,
Yay...did you hear that...NEW SPECS!!!! :D
[ I luuuuurve them glasses ]
[ I'll take some photos when I get them, but they are Lulu Guiness, black cats eyes with little white scrolls on the temporal edge and 'be a glamour girl' in twirly white script down the side, and I'm excited about them, ok ]
:D
Ahem, back to happy, happy things....
I had SUCH a great time last night, and I'm still awestruck by just how great Ocean sounded live.
[ I went to see the John Butler Trio at the Roundhouse ]
I think Matt may be back in Sevenoaks, so i may be able to get the Lilies on my back slightly more defined,
I tried the new Mars Planets, and they are totally scrummy *drools*
And I'm giggling over the poodle sheep scam.
:D :D
But I want to see the photos!
I mean....exactly how CLOSE did they look once they were clipped?

Tempus Fugit far too quickly

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging on here .
I have phases when I use one of my blogs over the others [ yeah, its sad , I have more than one ]
I'm trying to thin it down.
The trouble is I'm not sure if i use them to offload on or if they are for keeping in touch withpeople or letting them know wht I've been doing.
Maybe once I've decided that I'll be able to come up with some rationalisation.

However...

I'm going to play catch up a bit here.
Now as this involves digging deep into the aging memory banks and giving them the obligatory thump to get them moving I can't guarentee that the order will have any relation to the actual timespan.

So, what have I been up to?

Oh, as its still relatively fresh in my head, i took Emma to the Sit-Up tv studios yesterday to see what goes on.



This is the kind of stuff they film there.

One of our friends is a camera operator on the channel, and as she knows that its what Emma wants to do she asked if we wanted to go see.

It WAS interesting :D

What else?

Erm, I leaned to be a spy with Jo at the Science of spying exhibition at the science museum.


They had loads of fun stuff there.





This is getting too long to be manageable now, so I'll leave the work/awards/patchworking and anything else for next time.