Boys
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♥Jun. 18th, 2016 // 06:06 pm♥
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This morning, we rode the boys. Mike went on GB, and I briefly lunged Bugs and then rode him as the vet instructed.
They both seemed fine. GB was a little reluctant to stay in the canter, but whether that was because he was sore or because he's lazy is hard to say. Mike reported that Bugs looked very good, and he didn't feel at all lame to ride, so fingers are crossed.
(Although, as I said to my riding instructor, and never mind what the vet says, my current plan is to work Bugs every day for a week so that next week I can go back to the vet and say "right, he's lame again, please will you come and see him when he's not just had a week off?")
One of the things that the vet was muttering about yesterday was sacroiliac, which is some variety of gubbins in the back - a nerve, maybe? It's not a terribly common problem. This vet has been in the area for about six or eight months. He also diagnosed it for The Horse Next Door (wrong) and for Not Very Next Door Neighbour's horse (has had the treatment and is now having the summer off, after which we'll see if it worked). This does rather make it seem as though it's his pet diagnosis.
Jo seems to be hobbling less today. Whether that's because of the laser treatment that the vet did or because we're trying to get her to rest it is a mystery. She's feeling enough better that she's doing that 'hang behind when the humans walk off so that I can run to catch up' thing that she does when walk-deprived.... |
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Quilt class
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♥Jun. 18th, 2016 // 06:07 pm♥
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Last weekend, I went to a quilt club class. It was about ways to cut fabric so that you get several identical pieces, which you can then make interesting mirror image or kaleidoscope patterns with.
The 'what to bring' instructions for the class were pretty mystifying, specifying that you should bring a fabric with a 24" pattern repeat, but also mentioning that it was possible to use an 8" one without any indication if of it was practical to use something in between. I found one 23" repeat fabric that didn't revolt me, but it was £18 a meter and I needed 4 so bugger that. In the end, I bought a nice duvet cover (with a 24" repeat, no less) in the Dunelm Mill sale. It was only when I took the fabric out at the class (having washed and cut it apart at home) that I realised that the two sides weren't the same: it was a pattern of branches with birds and butterflies, but they'd left the wildlife off on one side. Oops. I'm sure I'll find something I can do with it.
Fortunately, someone had brought a huge stack of fabric on the grounds that she couldn't find anything with a 24" repeat and would any of these do, so I bought a piece from her (13" repeat. Guess what? Perfectly fine. In retrospect, while everyone was muttering about how hard it was to find fabric with a 24 inch bloody repeat I should possibly have suggested to the woman running the course that she update her instructions).
It's not entirely revolting*, but it's certainly not a fabric I'd ever have bought myself and I really imagine using the left over length of it. It did, however, work really quite well for this class.
Anyway. The technique turned out to be pretty simple once it had been demonstrated, but it would have been bad form to go home terribly early so I just got on with it and made enough squares for a small quilt. This afternoon, I put it together with some more of the fabric (if I were doing it properly, I would probably have found a matching plain blue and used that in between the squares, but see above re: a use for the left-over fabric!)
I quit like the Moorish-tile effect that some of them have.
I'm in no rush to turn it into a quilt. In fact, unless someone sees it and falls in love I'm vaguely inclined to wait until I've something of the same sort of size as a result of a different class and just stick them back-to-back!
* "That fabric's obviously your colours," one of the women said, pointing out that they were very similar to the colours of the fabric I'd brought and that I was wearing matching trousers and t-shirt. |
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