Easter Catch Up

Hello out there!  How was your Easter?  I hope you all had some time to relax, breathe in deeply and maybe have some fun too.

My Easter looked a little like this ...

Sweaty men in Lycra - my men entered the JK International Orienteering Festival 2012 in Bonny Scotland.
Day 1 Racing - Urban Race in Livingston.

Day 1 Racing - Urban Race, Livingston.
I got to play cheerleader and chief photographer.

Day 2 Racing near Dunalastair Water.
I got to stand around on cold Scottish mountainsides for some considerable time.
This cheerleading lark isn't all glamour you know!

Since there was nobody to photograph for a LONG time, I snapped the scenery instead!
Somewhere in that forest my 10 year old was navigating his way to the finish
where I was freezing my bum off waiting for him.

Day 2 Racing - Then I got to be the proud Mum and official team photographer!
Nearly finished.  Yay!!!!

Day 3 Racing at  Craig o Barns, nr Dunkeld.
Proud of Hubs too,  even if this competition did test the theory
of "it's the taking part that counts".  Both of my boys like to WIN!

This was our first big Orienteering event as a family (please note, I play the support role only) and although the boys would like to have fared a little better I hope they enjoyed themselves.  It was really tough terrain and a much more testing standard that they are both used to.  I am so proud of my (not so) little one for buckling down and persevering through this really tough challenge, and though Hubs was frustrated by his own performance I'm proud of him too!

However, after three days in the Scottish outdoors I was desperate and itching to pick up a needle/touch some fabric/press my foot on a sewing machine peddle (yes, my name is Sarah and I am a sew-a-holic), so as soon as I could get the laundry loaded in the machine, the grocery shop in the cupboard and everybody fed and watered for lunch today I snuck back into the sewing room for a fix!

There is currently a huge list of 'To Dos' that must be done/caught up with but after ticking three small things off the list this afternoon I did a dangerous thing ...  yep, I started something new.  Totally unplanned and spontaneous, and probably stupid too!

Last summer I was gifted two mini jelly rolls like this one

and today I decided to play with one of them.  I have been wanting to make a little quilt top from them for Bee Blessed for some time but to be honest with you I have had my reservations about these fabrics.  One day I liked them, the next I wasn't so sure.  I wondered, too, if they were a little like that bit in the Sound of Music when Maria explains to the dashing Captain Von Trapp that when she entered the convent all her worldly clothes were given to the poor, and when he asks what about the ones she is currently wearing she has to admit that 'the poor didn't want these'.  If I'm not quite sure about the fabrics myself, would someone want them as a donated gift?

Anyway,  today I decided that it's not all of the fabrics I have concerns about, just two of them - so I set them aside -

See?  I think these could probably be categorised with the browns that get a lot of folks upset.  Anyway, be assured, I didn't use them.  Now the balance of colour has shifted significantly in favour of the aqua and stone colours and I'm a bit happier overall.

So, the plan is this:

With the remaining 16 strips from my mini-roll I stitched up 4 sets of 4 strips, like so

(there is a fourth set, it's just not in the picture) and tomorrow ('cos I have another day off work) I plan to do a little magic on them a la this video tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilting Company.







If the result is acceptable I will deploy the second mini jelly roll and go for it.  If not I shall just chalk it all up to experience!  I'll let you see how I get on.