Athens time

Saturday 29 June 2013

Well hello again ! (and pudding in the fridge..)


Thank you everyone who pondered and responded to my previous blogpost. We are all being very good and rather than always having pudding first, are conscientious and doing at least some of the bad stuff first before letting ourselves have fun! Personally, I am quite strict with myself (lol, who would have thought it, finally your parents no longer tell you to eat your greens first, and now you are doing it yourself, and to yourself, ironic really :-) and consequently there hasn't been pudding for a long time. Which translates in no sewing (as I wouldn't let myself till all was done).

However I have seen the error of my ways and I have got some pudding waiting in the fridge!(so to speak :-) so watch this space!

The (FQ) powers that be have very thoughtfully provided a linky party for those of us who are hopefully going to meet up soon and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to say "Hi" to old friends and to introduce myself to new ones!

My name is Marguerite, aka Rafael's mum. Rafael is the dog and not a son! Although I have two of those as well.

 I live in Ramsgate by the sea,



 which is in Kent (UK) and about half an hours drive north of Dover which is the place where the English Channel is at its narrowest (connecting by ferry with Calais in France).



This is a photo taken last year with my friend Dee, who cannot come, but as she is on my blog, she is sort of part of it anyway. Hi Dee ! (It's me on the right with the glasses and Dee on the left.. she is from all over yonder the pond, Virginia, USA so I suppose she cannot come every year - what a shame!)

I have been quilting since 2009 and then also found the online community, but since then I have had a lot of pockets of great absences as my elderly mother (who is not in England) required more and more care and hence more and more of my time. It is clear that my "return" to blogging and sewing is also going to be patchy (mother is bound to need more time the older she gets as well as some other factors that demand my time) but I promise I will do my utmost best to keep in touch with dear old friends a little more and am looking forward to making lots of new ones!

I love snapping away with my camera and no doubt will bring it along and have it happily snapping away!  Don't worry, I always take millions of photos and the good thing about that is that you can happily discard the ones where someone is just yawning or scratching his/her head or the like :-)  If you feel strongly you don't want your photo on the blog or the FQ site (and as such in the public domain) please let me know and I will be happy to make sure I won't publish yours.


(This was last summer...what happened to this summer?  It must be postponed....)

Mmmmm, what else can I tell you...On the patchwork and quilting side I like to make big quilts (why I am always so attracted to those enormous ones? they take ages!! but then again they ARE lovely when they are done!).





 I also make little things, like play balls for babies. They are fantastic and parents who have bought them have said to me that that ball was the first thing their baby played with!



Are any of you interested in a pattern or a kit for these?

They do take a bit of time to put together but in principle it's an easy construction and quite satisfying when you finish one. Some people also use them as pincushions.

Lately I have been interested in FMQ (Free Motion Quilting) and am really excited to be able to learn the basics from Trudy (quilting prolifically) who knows all about that!

Still, I think my heart will always be with the big quilts...



Come and say hello when you see me and remind me of your name (my brain is like a sieve, honestly, I tell you now ! so don't take it personally when I look at you with that "omg, I know her, I know her, who is she again..." look in my eyes and please, just help me out of the dream!! :-)

Looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones !

Thursday 20 June 2013

Pudding First or Pudding After? (Or do you leave the best for last?)

Lately, as you have all noticed, I have not been blogging much.  This has several causes, family problems, health and last but not least the 'what should be done first'.

Do you all know this?  First your greens, then the pudding?  First the dreary stuff, then the lovely things as a reward.  This is how I have been raised.  And this is how I have continued in life.  You do the things you 'must' first to be then rewarded with the nice stuff.

However... I am noticing more and more that by the time you get to 'the nice stuff', there are more 'must do' things on the list.  As a friend I had not talked to for a while asked, I stopped and realized that I had effectively not sewn for years.  Even though it is what I want to do, even though it makes me happy.


(wouldn't you like to go surfing in the old VW bus?... I would! but that would be classified as 'pudding':-)

So when I saw this article this morning on Kim Werker's blog titled " How To Be Prolific: Guidelines For Getting It Done From Joss Whedon", my interest was peaked!  She refers to Joss (writer-producer-director)Whedon's interview HERE, in which he explains how he gets so much done.

And guess what?  He eats the pudding first!! (so to speak).  When he is really enthousiastic about something, he does it straight away.  Whilst the idea is still current, still exciting and he is still able to use that enthousiasm and drive to create the best work.  THEN he does the rest and knows that once he has dragged his way through the drudge, the end is near.

This is a revolutionary idea (well, to me anyhow).  As translating this to my quilting, it means that I have had lots of ideas I have been totally enthousiastic about. I can see how they could work... if only I had the time... and I don't have the time, as I spend all my time dragging my way through the drudge... and I won't sew till it's all done... Well guess what dear readers, it's dawning on me it will never get done... And however much I need the time to find work, clear up in the house, look after everyone etc, surely some time can be found to do something I love? (without having to feel quilty about it) And what's more, act on it when I get that spark of an idea and it is still fresh and exciting!

What's more... when I DO sew, it's for swaps and bees I have committed myself to (be it willingly :-). (btw, the charity blocks for the Siblings Together Quilt are rolling in, I will show you soon!) rather than the things I feel that instant spark for.  I STILL have the pattern and fabric for a couple of quilts I did not get to and was really enthousiastic about.  My son's quilt I promised him a year ago is still not done. I have so many ideas...

Maybe... just maybe I should do some more blogging?  reconnect with friends? sew on some of the ideas I have that I am wildly enthousiastic about but had to be shelved ? (whilst I see many of my friends actually carrying out these ideas, often ones I have had myself independently and am thinking... that could have been me...)

What do you all think.  Pudding first or Pudding after?

I am curious to what your opinions are!! Please comment!
I'll be waiting for you input whilst I am busy with the main meal :-)