Tornado Season Arrives

We had our first bout of violent weather here in Oklahoma last night.  A few tornadoes touched down and rain and hail abounded.  For my friends across the pond, you can read about tornadoes here.

Oklahoma seems to be a favorite spot  for tornadoes, as we often have warm air from the Gulf coast and cool air from the north collide.  This collision sets the perfect conditions for major thunderstorms, hailstorms, and tornadoes.  We have weather alerts to our phones and all towns have tornado sirens installed.  We like to joke, however, that good Oklahomans stand on the front porch and watch the skies rather than getting to shelter.  However, my son and I did go down into the tornado shelter for a few minutes last night.  We were lucky, just wind, hail, and a deluge.

Our neighbors about 10 miles away in the town of Moore were not so lucky, however.  Again.  Two years ago an incredible tornado hit Moore, it was a mile wide and was on the ground for an hour.  I was teaching school at the time and had my class in the bathroom of our classroom for over an hour. Schools were destroyed, homes and business lost, cars overturned, and lives lost.  The next day one of my sweet students asked if the tomato was going to come again. Cute, but in all reality, not a laughing matter.  Our storm/tornado season has arrived with gusto this year, so we'll keep our heads low for the next few months.




If you are thinking about moving to Moore, don't.  

UFO's, socks and sewing.

Good afternoon, from a very sunny spring Mid Wales. I have been bustling about this week...a little pottering in the garden getting ready for sewing seeds, little bit of baking and lots of crafting.

I love making things. I like all the processes and rituals; the choosing fabrics or yarns, the planning on Pintrest (or at least that's what I call it), that first nervous cut of the fabric, the hunting for the size 3 knitting needles you know you left in a draw somewhere, actually sitting down at your sewing machine with a cup of tea, the radio on and sun shining through your slightly grubby windows that , if you weren't so busy crafting you might have got round to cleaning...or not. 

I am a bit of an eclectic crafter, I like, pretty much all textile crafts and I like to have more than a few things on the go. By a few I mean more than five, less than twenty. From the outside I know this can seem a little crazy. Friends often tease with how many unfinished projects I have scattered around, but I like to remind them they are not true UFO's (un-finished objects) but continuing works in progress. The true UFO's are stashed in a box in my sewing room. Sometime I think I can hear them crying at night.

My current projects include; my POD quilt, sock knitting, some embroidery, a crewel work panel, two blouses and a lovely linen jacket that has spent the winter on a hanger waiting for its sleeves, a bag pattern I am designing while waiting for fabric to arrive...Oh and making a dress form so I can fit the two blouses but more about that next time.  

This morning I woke up wanting to sew. Obviously this did not mean doing anything from my current project list. Sometimes I relish a bit of sewing  that I know is going to push me. I love the feel of a new  pattern when you slip it from its sleeve, all smooth and crisp. There is something to be said for sitting with a talking book on, carefully following the little dotted lines, cutting out your size-or the closest too it; don't get me started on that one ! But sometime you just want to sew, to sit straight down at your machine and make something easy and that's what I did today. 

Tina Craig over at Seaside Stitches has a great little tutorial on making fabric boxes that I have been wanting to try. This is such a lovely idea, and a great way to use up bits of fabric you have lying around in your stash. Perfect Sunday morning sewing, the tutorial is really well laid out and Tina says the project will take an hour and an hour it did...even when I spent five minutes cleaning interface glue from the bottom of my iron - yuck!

Here's what I made.

 These would make super-cute little gifts for friends, maybe filled with sweeties, or a couple of bottles of nail varnish and a few nail files.  I will definitely be making more. 

I have had a really amazing talking book on the go this week:

Karen Maitland's Company of Liars. A story of travellers and plague in 12th Century England. Wanting to sit and listen I have been working on socks and embroidery. 

The socks are a gift for my good friend, on here, Michelle. This is a return to sock knitting for me and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. Again this is another fairly quick little project that can be picked up and put down with little fuss. A few Christmases back I decided to make everyone socks...Twelve pairs in fourteen weeks pretty much put me off turning heels for a while so it is good to be back . 

Here they are ...Michelle look away now.

    I will be posting them off pretty soon xx

Oooh and here is a quick peek at the embroidery I have been working on too. I found this cushion kit in a Charity shop ( I think you call them thrift stores, Michelle? ) in Aberystwyth. Minus any wool, it is linen with the little crosses printed on..Using wool from my stash it is coming along rather nicely. I like the primitve 70,s vibe it has going on...there is another one in kit. Someone had started a few rows, in  a vile acid yellow wool then gave up, creating their own UFO that is now my work in progress.  

So, what have you been working on this week? Are you like me with lots of things on the go or do you like to work on a project until it is finished before starting something new? 

Harry Potter Geektastic!

Well, it's Spring Break for the majority of American schools this week, and things have been slow at work.  It's overcast and rainy, and I'm ready for some sunshine!!  

Here are a couple of very cool posts I stumbled upon.  Go check them out!!  Harry Potter Miniatures and J. K. Rowling.

Enjoy!

Pi Day Question Answered!

Good Monday morning all!

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for the answer to the Pi Day math puzzle.  If it makes you feel any better, I didn't get it, either.

The numbers are arranged alphabetically.  Which I'm surprised I didn't get since I am a word nerd, but I was tricked by the fact that it is from a math book.  I don't think outside the box very well.

Have a great week!
~M

Pi Day of the Century

In honor of this historic day I have been reading From Zero to Infinity.  Here is a math puzzle for your pleasure.  
How are the following numbers arranged:  8 5 4 9 1 7 6 3 2 0

POD ....AFTER A FASHION

PROJECT OF DOOM or from now on POD (but still add the echo)is a Harry Potter bookcase quilt-along designed by Jennifer over at Fandom in Stitches. The quilt is amazing, and the designs simply magical...what every Harry Potter fan needs in their life. But that's just it...I am not a huge Harry Potter fan! I mean I don't hate it and have shared the books with my kids... but if I was going to get all giddy and fan-girl it would not be over a boy wizard and his friends. Now a man in a Blue box....that would be another thing. 

Being a breaker of rules but wanting to still have all fun of a shared quilt- along I  have decided to make a POD mash up quilt, all of the fandom's and obsessions both myself, and my kids, had when they were little...and quite a few from now. I love the structure of the bookcase but want to fill the shelves with  my memories and mementos. 

Nearly all of the patterns have come from the brilliant Fandom in Stitches site. I am amazed at the creativity of the designers and their generosity in posting up their patterns for free...truly the internet at its best. My real difficulty has been what to leave out rather than what to add. 

Here are a few of my blocks so far;

Loving all things Doctor Who!

Michelle's Project of Doom (DOOM, Doom, doom...)

Block 1-I have finished embroidering the names on this one:  Unfogging the Future and Xylomancy.

Dark Mark and the Deathly Hallows

Golden Snitch!

Venomous Tentacula

and Greetings from me

Hello my name is Maya and I am a crafter and a rule breaker! I live here is sunny mid-Wales and along with Michelle, I am attempting The PROJECT OF DOOM!!!!! (you should hear an echo every time you read that, just so you know) . We thought we would share our musings on various PROJECT OF DOOM (remember to add the echo) disasters and triumphs, as well as our general craftiness, foodiness, and all out busy lives on both sides of the ocean.

Prynhawn da and Howdy!

I'm Michelle, a crafter and recovering rule-follower currently living in Oklahoma. I follow a great paper-piecer/quilter Jennifer Ofenstein who started the Project of Doom 2015 based on her original Harry Potter Bookcase from 2011. We started a Facebook group for the project and I met Maya from Wales! For those of you in the States that's pronounced with a long first /a/ like the month of May. Although I have never met her :( Saving pennies for a trip to Wales though, if you'd like to contribute. 

We became fast friends, messaging, emailing and trading fabrics, pictures and other goodies. Since I am a devout Anglophile, I peppered her with al kinds of questions about the United Kingdom and Wales. THEN...she had the bright idea for us to blog together! So here we are. We hope you will find here ideas for crafting, laughter and other information to 'Bridge an Ocean'.     

<3, Michelle