Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Making Plans

I want to try and get more photos of my everyday world in Paris. Yesterday, Bryan and I met at the Gare du Nord train station to buy our tickets on the Eurostar for our London trip tomorrow. Since he is going on business, his ticket is paid for by the company, while mine is not. In order for us to sit next to each other it works best if we go to the actual ticket office to purchase our tickets instead of buying them online. So we did. A great excuse for a little outing and we also had lunch together.

 

There are five train platforms visible in this photo...with at least three more bays this size out of the camera's view. All the metro trains are underground so you can't see them either. An amazing amount of activity. Reminds me of an ant colony.

Yesterday was the first time I failed to see an armed military patrol walking through the station. I'm sure they were there...I just couldn't find them.

After a very chilly walk home from the Latin Quarter, where we had lunch at a Canadian Pub....remember...I was having lunch with hubby, it was a 45 minute brisk walk back to the apartment. Once home, I started working on my stocking kit. So gosh darn cute!


I've been making little changes to this kit...all thanks to suggestions from other Bucilla kit enthusiasts who share their ideas. My "And SewForth" Facebook page is mostly dedicated to these kits as I get questions now and then through the construction videos I have posted on You Tube. It's the easiest way for me to interact with people about these projects. And while it is a little extra work for me...I have gained so much from this interplay with others.

I've been adding backings to pieces that weren't originally backed in the kit. Some of the places I've added backing to are the bear's ears, the snowman's scarf and now I am backing the evergreen boughs and holly leaves. I just happen to have some dark green felt yardage in my Paris stash which was a good thing because there wasn't enough scrap felt for those pieces in the kit.


And I pulled out the Tide Pool Bali Pop and decided how to divide up the strips for this quilt. The Beach Bungalow pattern only requires 23 strips and there are 42 in a Bali Pop. Many of the strips in this Bali Pop are the same colorway...just a different pattern to the design. I pulled out four strips that were just too light for this design and set them aside for another day. I will use the entire length of the solid strips but I am going to use half strips of all the other pieces since they "read" as the same 8 colorways I've organized the strips into. I did a little of that in the purple version of this pattern. I'm going with the light background and the square print will be the setting triangles. It will look the opposite of my last version.


Tomorrow we make a quick trip to London...just two nights. I am planning to hit the Victoria and Albert Museum while Bryan is at his business conference. We won't have time for a show this visit. Hubby has to leave on Friday for another business trip. There aren't too many tourist attractions in London left for me to visit.

6 comments:

Ramona said...

Your Tide Pool Bali's are going to make a gorgeous quilt. Looking forward to seeing this one. I, too, have been adding backing to certain pieces while making the stockings. I like the more finished look and stability of the pieces. Your stocking is turning out so cute! Have fun in London!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

that is neat seeing the Paris train station and you get to see London again - have you been able to see any of the countryside while you are there or just the city? What a great experience for you to have been able to see as much as you have while living there.

CecileD said...

Trips...stitching the Bucilla kits...cutting another quilt....you're a busy lady !! ;)
Have fun in London !

LizA. said...

When you use precut batiks do you prewash? If not, how do you deal with bleeding, especially with a light background? I'm curious since I just finished a quilt with regular reds which were all pre-washed and they still ran.

carol fun said...

Oh the Christmas stocking is so cute! You handwork is exquisite - these will be heirlooms. Love those batiks, it will be another beautiful quilt. Have fun in London!

Sue Daurio said...

Love that stocking, so adorable. Looks like your having a great time!!