Monday, August 04, 2008

Finishing off those UFOs

I've decided to work hard this week on completing things.

The knitted mystery blanket is continuing. In fact I have now completed the border and am steadily filling in those holes. I managed to get rid of the lacey centres I was not happy with - almost without incident. I did manage to drop rather a few stitches ripping out one - but then was able to repair the mess. A bit of a heart-stopping moment.


However, I find myself aided and abetted by a new visitor. Seb belongs to my younger daughter and he has been sharing my workroom for some days now. My dear daughter tells me he is too noisy to share her bedroom, so he is here with me. I seem to have taken over cleaning duties, since I cannot bear to have unpleasant smells around me. Hot iron - yes, smelly rat - no!



Seb's cage after he has rearranged it. He always does this after I have cleaned it for him. He has moved monkey, a small toy, into the box and made a nest.

In return for the daily tidying, Seb keeps me entertained - I keep hiding things in his cage for him to find. He entertains the cats too. Coco, however is unimpressed. She is disgusted - but then she's the effective hunter and sees rats a prey. Felix is fascinated - he seems to be convinced that the cage is a new cat TV!
In case you are wondering, Felix's idea of a good hunt is a visit to a nearby barbecue after everyone has left. He brought back a sausage from his last expedition. I didn't have the heart to remove it from him.
I only found out about this exploit because Felix was so proud of himself. I heard a series of loud cat shouts and went to investigate. I was so relieved that it was just Felix with his "find".
Needless to say, when the cats are around, Seb is confined to his cage. I refuse to deny the cats access to my workroom, since they are used to keeping me company when the mood takes them. However, the door is firmly shut when I am not in here - just in case................


The second UFO I am currently working on is for the local Hospice. This photo shows three of the four strips completed by other members of Hartford Quilters. The pieces of fabric top to the left of the picture were being auditioned for my own addition.
I have completed my section (extreme left) and now just need to sew all the pieces together and quilt it. Each of the strips above will be seperated by a stripe of plain cream. The backing is a cosy cream coloured piece of polyester fleece. I'm intending to use a form of quilt-as-you-go, stitching each piece to the backing fleece and not just to each other. I'll let you know how I get on. The whole piece doesn't need much in the way of quilting.
Only two UFOs? Well, to be honest, there are many more. I felt if I limited myself to just finishing two I might just be able to reward myself by starting something new.

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