Patchwork Crazy

I've gone a little bit crazy buying patchwork/quilting books - these two are on my latest Amazon order (I might well be keeping the printed book market alive, single-handed):

As always, my choices were in large part based on Amazon reviews and their Look Inside feature.  (Does anyone else rely on these when choosing books, too?)

I'd like to make a couple of quilts for the new apartment, but my focus on patchwork now has a deadline - a friend of ours is having a baby at the end of the summer, and I'd like to give them a baby quilt for the newborn.  I've also, rather foolishly, asked them if they would like one ... they loved the idea, and so now I'm bound to it - failure is not an option! 

Personally, I'm not a big fan of 'pink for girls and blue for boys', plus they don't yet know the sex of the new addition, so I'm going for one of my favourite colour combos, which is also gender-neutral: red, white and blue.  Even better, the father used to be in the navy, so the nautical theme is rather apt!  I also bought a darning foot, so I'd like to put the baby's name (when it's decided) on the quilt using free machine embroidery.

In other news - in March, I've been mostly moving and unpacking (mostly sorted!), playing Mass Effect 3 and marking exams (it's that time of year!).  I had to wait for ages to unpack my desk ad sewing area as we had a leak coming through the ceiling and I didn't want to risk unpacking my belongings in case it came back.  Fingers crossed, things look OK and I've started organising my space - pictures to come soon! 

International Women's Day!

My home is full of boxes, but I wanted to write a quick post to mark International Women's Day to share one of my favourite historical women:

Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni.  When her husband died, the Romans refused to accept her husband naming her as his co-heir and confiscated the Iceni's lands, took many as slaves and, so the story goes, raped Boudicca's daughters and flogged the Iceni Queen.  Unfortunately, women still end up being treated this way in conflicts even now, almost 2000 years later. 

Boudicca refused to stand for that treatment, however, and led her people, along with many other tribes, in an uprising that swept through Roman cities, including Londinium.  Although it was ultimately a doomed revolution, I've always felt inspired by the attempt, by her refusal to accept the life the Romans dictated she should have as a woman, and a 'native' woman at that. 

So that's why Boudicca's one of my favourite women of history.  Who's yours?