Sunday, June 30, 2013

Tour de France . . . Fibre . . . Fleece . . . .


 How many of you watch the Tour de France?  It was four or five years ago that I first started watching so I could see the beautiful countryside as the riders "toured".  Much to my surprise I also got wrapped up in the race too, and have been watching it ever since.  If you watch, who is your favorite rider?


Then there is the Tour de Fleece.  Hosted on Ravelry, a fabulous website for knitters, crocheters and spinners, the Tour de Fleece provides many challenges for hand spinners, who make yarn while watching the race.  Last year I participated on 12 different Tour de Fleece teams and spun over 8 pounds of fiber while watching.  It was great fun!




Then there is the "Tour de Fibre", hosted by Hanne and May.  Their only requirement is a daily blog post, but the idea is to work on quilting projects while watching the tour.  Easy enough to do!

Yesterday's race was unusual to say the least, with a team bus getting stuck under the finish line banner  15 minutes before the race end, and a huge collision about 2 km before the finish line which took out the sprint favorites.  The first three days this year are on the island of Corsica - what an incredibly beautiful place!

I did a bit of cleaning and straightening in the sewing room while watching, but spent most of the day hand quilting a Jo's Little Women top I made earlier this year.  I can easily finish the center today, and hopefully by that time the border will have told me how it wants to be quilted.  I know I've said it before, but I just can't get over how very much I'm enjoying all this hand quilting.  And, thankfully, my hands are holding up well with no pain, even after several hours.  I should be able to finish most if not all the quilting today.


Thankfully, yesterday wasn't as muggy as the day before and the sewing room was relatively cool compared to much of the house.  Gave me a great excuse to spend the day there.  The forcast for the next few days has changed from the high 90's to the low 90's, also better. 

The recording of today's race has finished, so I think it's time to get back to quilting!

2 comments:

Sandy said...

Your quilt is gorgeous, and your quilting is very nice. I envy you, being able to spend serious time hand quilting, having hand issues myself. Do you have any tips to pass on, in that regard?

Linda said...

Your quilting is beautiful. I would love to see a video of your hand quilting!