Queen Beez get together

Queen Beez Mary and Maggie

 Last Thursday we managed to hold our long postponed Queen Beez meeting at Mary's, sitting outside under a vast umbrella in the morning and as a concession to the virus eating our own lunches then inside for shadier cooler sewing. I brought my bag of lockdown quilts to show. Mary was working on projects the school she works at had asked her to help with but had also sandwiched the houses top which her daughter likes. Maggie has completed a stunning summer quilt commission which I'll photograph when it's exhibited, a small piece for her workroom wall and a lovely modern quilt with lots of black and white background fabrics.

Maggie's baby quilt

Maggie's quilt top

Mary's very pretty houses quilt

Sewcial

Chairperson Liz in the crown she has made to celebrate Queen Ethelberga festivities.
The village church is named for this queen who was instrumental in spreading Christianity in her realm.

A small group, mostly local, met in Tayne Field, Lyminge, to sew and chat, It is so nice to meet in person and I wanted to quickly discuss dates with our group chair, secretary and vice chairperson who were all there. Much easier than email. There was a bit of Show & Tell too as we sat in the shade of an ancient oak.

Scarecrow spotted in Elham on the
way home

Assignment completed

 The Quay Quilters' raffle blocks proved very time consuming as I was at pains to be accurate with little margin for error. Because of the sharp navy/white contrast in the ditch quilting was done very slowly with an open toe walking foot on my Janome. They will be joined quilt-as-you-go.

The fronts

We had to supply our own fabric for the back, something to reflect on lockdown. I chose telephones for remote family communications, scissors for all the sewing and chicks/birds either for birdsong and the consolations of nature or for food and weight gain!

The reverse

Trip to Yorkshire

This is my first post since the new blogger. I am am just plunging in fingers crossed. I am just back from a trip to stay in a "bubble" with my husband's cousin in Ilkley. I took a quilt to sew the binding down but didn't do any stitching at all, too tired after a lot of fresh air and too busy talking. I can just offer up the "patchwork" tiles above.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the River Wharf. I took a picture from the bridge at Ilkley - various young lads were splashing about. We walked several miles along the river from Barden Bridge on the Duke of Devonshire's Bolton Abbey estate. One of the Duke's Cavendish ancestors must have done quite well out of the dissolution of the monasteries. And yes the Devonshire Duke's main estate, Chatsworth, is in Derbyshire, Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire and there's a castle in Ireland too.

Ilkley High Street with Sunday market selling specialist foods.

River at Ilkley seen from the bridge

Flower meadow at Harlow Carr RHS garden.

Dancing hares at Harlow Carr

On  the way to Grassington we stopped to take this picture of the lovely valley below.

On the way home we stopped at the American cemetery near Cambridge which commemorates nearly 9000 dead, some with graves and others with no known resting place with inscribed names. The chapel was so beautiful. It is so sad to think of those young lives cut short. The visitors' centre highlights many individual stories and research is being carried out to learn more about each individual as far as possible.

Each cross inscribed with a name

The chapel

Cover

Bonnie Quilters have been making sewing machine covers during lockdown but not me as I already had one and it's now covering my Janome which has the walking foot on after quilting two quilts in the last few days.

The other side

Flowers on top too.

My cover was made from pieces miscut for a quilt topped with applique machined through all layers.
Now I am working on my three Quayquilters raffle quilt blocks. We've been issued kits and instructions and I'm trying to be very accurate. All the blocks are HST's each one a different arrangement. I'm using my basic Bernina for this.

Ready to sew

More quilts at the Turner

The main reason why my posts have thinned out is because so much of my posting was about quilt events and quilty gatherings and sharing of other work than my own. Quiltmaking is a slow process so although we can share the process finishes are not so frequent. This weekend should be the Oast Showcase  now postponed till next year. The previous weekend should have been Oast weekend and the Region 2 Show and Lullingstone. Festival of Quilts at the NEC was scheduled for the first weekend of August.
In June my quilt retreat and the Sandown show did not happen. Fortnightly and monthly group and house group meetings are not happening. I know this is small beer compared to other disruptions but my own situation has made me aware of how deep and widespread are these small personal losses as well as the global and national economic implications.
So the reopening of the We Will Walk show albeit masked, sanitised and distanced was very welcome.

One side

The other side

This sort of quilt looks deceptively artless and simple but working in this way is difficult for most. I would love to be able to manage  large and disparate pieces of fabric so successfully.

I don't have the captions for these quilts laid out flat:

We Will Walk at the Turner Contemporary

Turner Contemporary Margate

We will walk is the title of a show of mainly folk art from the Deep South of the US. I was particularly interested because of the inclusion of many quilts especially those from Gees Bend. I knew that Boykin in Gees Bend had been increasingly isolated after the ferry service ceased. I didn't realise this was a deliberate step to stop black residents registering to vote or voting. Similar tactics operated elsewhere including victimising white employers who allowed their black workers to register or vote. There were many photographs of scenes from the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's.  . I learnt about Emmet Till and how his murderers escaped justice and wonder how long it will be before equality under the law is realised. I also learnt about yard art and how the human spirit seeks to express itself under the most arduous and limiting circumstances.
This was the quilt facing me as I entered and one of the most resonant.

And the quilt which caught the collector's eye is on the cover of this book.

Sandwiches

I took a whole day sandwiching my Lockdown Logs quilt as I tacked it. I prefer this method When I plan to hand quilt. I miss my previous quilting project. I work over a table as I think crawling over a large quilt on the floor is bound to cause puckers.
The other two, Roman Crosses quilts, I spray basted which was very quickly done. I'll machine quilt these.

Quilting in the ditch around the lockdown logs was the work of an afternoon though I still must go round along the inner edge of the border and in the border itself. Then I'll hand quilt the setting squares and bind it before going on to quilt inside the blocks. 

I plan to adapt the pattern of the slats on the back of my outdoor chairs for the design.

Add caption

Two more

blocks for my Siblings Together quilt.

From Nathalie

From Gillian

And yesterday, Saturday, Liz organised a very enjoyable "sewcial" in Tayne Field, Lyminge.

Liz's husband took this. Liz is in the hat and next to her quilt and I'm next to her in a long thingy.

Liz's quilts laid out.

Siblings Together July Block

This is my block contribution for July. Angela requested blocks in a single colour if possible.

In the post . .

. .another Bee block, this one from Margaret which fulfills the brief of bright modern colours.

Quilt for Belinda

Quilt for Belinda laid out on my bed. We used 1930's fabrics.

I have had a blog hiatus while making blocks to contribute for a friend who has been having a few health problems lately. Five of us were involved one of whom, Maggie, assembled and bordered the blocks, quilted it on her long arm machine and attached the binding and sleeve. I stitched down the binding and sleeve and attached Tracy's beautiful label. She added the stitched text to a vintage embroidered cloth. Yesterday I delivered the quilt though the recipient was out but she later posted a lovely picture with the quilt draped round her. She was very touched and happy.

Label stitched by Tracy

Detail of binding,backing and quilting design. I had bought the backing from Maggie's stash sale stall. Maggie chose a perfect binding fabric to go with the front and the back.

Postscript

Floral backing

Cream fabric

I could have made up a back for the cafe curtains mostly from the brown and sashing fabric but decided to use an interesting fabric I bought to back "something/anything". I opted for "anything" as I like the floral motif which contrasts with the geometrics on the front. (I can't make the floating "g" join up!)
And another Siblings together block arrived but I am short of what I expected: I thought being a monthly Bee member was an obligation not an option. I might discontinue after this year.

ST block from Sharon: I love it.

Frieda's Cafe Curtains

Looking at the small image on the upload page the optical illusion (cafe Walls) is very apparent not so much to the naked eye. The lines are straight but can appear wayward - try half closing your eyes. This is a Christa Quilts pattern. I was surprised at the size of the squares, 5 inches. I made mine to fit my bed, 82" wide and 77" long. I have a bed on legs and a small foot board so don't need very long quilts. I used Carolyn Friedlander fabrics hence the Frieda and curtains because this is fabric not wallpaper.

In the final stages of making I was fed up with this as a hopeless case visually but am warming to its simplicity. The fact the optical illusion doesn't work close up makes it quite restful. The pattern recommends interlocking circles quilting to "heighten the illusion" so it is going to be long arm quilted: Maggie has a suitable pattern.

This is my current project. After a slow start I am picking up more speed and plan to finish the top this week: the long 1" strips are a bit tedious to sew and I mark the seam junctures to keep everything aligned. It's a Christa Quilts  pattern based on the Cafe Walls optical illusion though the design seems boring and regular. Half close your eyes and see if the lines tend to sway in not so straight lines.
I haven't posted for a while as I have been working on a secret project: all will soon be revealed. Now I've got back to this,