HELLO

Have you wondered where I have been?
Actually I haven't been anywhere - unless you class 'round the bend' as some place!!!

My computer died, it gasped it's last breath and there was no way I could let you know. Annette said I could have used her computer, but I was so worried a nasty virus had got on mine that I refused her offer as I didn't want to pass it on to her computer. As it happens it wasn't a virus after all. Phew. Well, when I say it wasn't a virus at all, I mean it wasn't a nasty one, there was a minor one on here, which apparently was cleaned up and kicked out totally. The main problem can you believe, was my new printer!! Grrrr. It kept sending signals to my computer somehow, [don't ask me, I am not good on these technological doodahs, but the IT man, a NEW ONE by the way, my usual one ignored all my messages of help!!!! Thanks a lot buddy! ] well, suffice to say the NEW IT chappy sorted it all out PDQ for me and here I am, back in the land of Blogging.

Hooray.

I have resisted so far going onto Facebook. I get on there and those darn games call me over and over again and I get lost playing them. I am going to keep off at least until the end of this month and if I can do that, I will return to Facebook but leave the games alone. Sorry if you are one of my friends in the games I USED to play but I have so many things I should be doing instead of faffing about with the games. Help me drop the habit folks.

Whilst I have been unable to go on the computer I have been reading a lot and sewing a lot, I have nine items ready for their finishing touches, as soon as they are done, either tomorrow or certainly this week, I will get them on here for you to see. 

Meanwhile I can put up some piks of the MOLA I have been doing. Popular Patchwork Forum came up with the idea of making Journal size items of things which a lot of folk wish to have a go at. MOLA work is the first item. I had never done this as I really wasn't too fussed about it. I will probably never do it again either now that I have given it a go. I can appreciate the work that goes into these MOLA's but they are not for me I am afraid, I just feel it to be a dreadful waste of fabric. I started out with 5 layers, then you cut away stitch down, cut away, stitch down, etc etc until you reach the last layer, you do not cut into that at all. Then you do decorative stitching on it - if you so wish - I didn't wish to do that, I beaded instead. If that has made my MOLA a non-MOLA now, so be it. I was chatting to my friend Di about it the other night and said I couldn't think how to finish it off, she has given me a brilliant idea of what to do with it - I thought the nearest bin!!! - but I haven't got round to doing it yet. So you will have to be patient with me for the end result, meantime I can show you piks of what I have done to it so far. Hope you like it, remember I am not one of the Panamanian Indians who make the stunning MOLA's, I am just me.

Looking at these pictures now, I am not too sure I have them in the order I did the darn thing!!! These tracing papers are the 'roughs' for me to do the marking and cutting out onto the actual work, I am sure it is not done like this by the experts, but I found it worked for me...

 Here are the cut fabrics for the middle shape which is actually a leaf

NOT a tree as hubby would insist it was...

 See, a leaf...

 Nor was this a 'bit of seaweed' grrr...

 I have kept these shapes because I may find a use for them in something else, you never know...

 Just proving I had FIVE layers of fabric here folks...

 This is actually the back, probably letting you see I machined it all down - shock horror,

well come on, you didn't seriously think I was going to hand stitch it all did you?

You did....hahaha - in your dreams...

 I think !! this is the final tracing for the last layer to be cut away...

 Here it is then with the above final tracing laid on top for me to mark out with the white

pencil so I know what to cut away, what a nightmare that job was, remember this is

journal size, that's A4...

 Marked ready to cut out shapes...

 Before it was marked, see I knew they were out of order...

Just nipped off to load the rest of the pictures and edit them for you, here are the rest then, sorry if you are bored, not half as much as I was making the darn thing I bet.

A teaser picture of the beading I have done on it...

 The back of the work...

 Close up of the LEAF...

 Hmm the back again, sorry, but I do like the back...

 Just showing the FIVE layers to you - again...

TADA, at last, all done bar the edging and backing, it is very heavy now due to all the beads

I have sewn on, I did get a tad carried away with them... :-)

Can YOU work out what I was aiming at? When I explained to hubby what it was - or rather what I meant it to represent, he said ---'Don't leave the day job'   Gee, thanks. I have to say it is a picture I saw somewhere but unfortunately I cannot remember where, I am sure it was copyright free anyway.

THEN

as if I hadn't been Mola'd enough,

I made this for fun, I could not resist...

Bet after reading all that you are really pleased I am back to my Blogging???

hahahahahahaha

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