Crab & Winkle Meeting

I nearly missed this meeting and needed a reminder phone call as despite having got out various things to take I completely forgot perhaps because my thoughts were taken up by family news from another group of quilters I'd met with in the afternoon. Anyway I eventually got there and celebrated the other Mary's (I'm a Mary too) win with a sparkling drink. Marion played the Sandown photos from her camera on the TV which as I'd missed the show I very much appreciated and it was enjoyable to dissect them with the others. I took a picture of the TV with a proud Mary on the screen by her quilt and in the background Marion's cat quilt for which we all made blocks. Maggie showed us two  quilts and Marion the music quilt she'd machine quilted for Bea and her apple core top, all curved seams!
I will try to have some stuff of my own to show next week but I'm very preoccupied with Quay Quilters' upcoming show and can't settle to anything till it's over. Once up I shall enjoy it.

Mary on TV!

Maggie with baby quilt

Quilt for the garden

Marion's apple core quilt top

Bea's music stack and slash with Marion's machine quilting including treble clefs.

In these shoes!

I think Goody Two Shoes came to visit last weekend. She told her mum she had to bring ALL her shoes, mostly sandals in various permutations of pink but these dressing up shoes were the piece de resistance!

I know some grown ups who would like these.

Farmers Wives

This is the latest batch of Farmers wives (40-43) with Nancy's gift of a rosebud block bottom left though I can't get the camera to show the large triangles as definitely green rather than blue.

Usual Suspects Day

Quilt for a tiny baby

Another little baby quilt

Tracy with workshop blocks

We had our usual enjoyable day (and LUNCH and CUP CAKES!) with Show & Tell of blocks Tracy started in the Oast Carolyn Forster workshop, New York Beauties Belinda embarked on with Sue Sharp in France and little delicate quilts for hospice babies Judi is making to be sent to a dear friend in the US who has prompted this project.

Belinda's New York beauties

Yarn Sale

I have been selling my excess machine knitting yarns on eBay as cones amassed are out of sync with years remaining. It's good to have the wool rehoused and create some necessary space. De cluttering is a long term process. The task has been made easier because every wool is catalogued. A sample of each is threaded and numbered in my file and at the back the weight and characteristics of each noted as well as which bag it is in. I am working my way through one or two bags at a time and reducing each by at 50% and in some cases (industrial acrylic) 100%, some going to charity shops. I love addressing the parcels with far flung UK destinations .

Page once yarns deleted

Before weeding

Farmer's Wife

A Farmer's Wife Rosebud block arrived  from Nancy near Philadelphia http://nancynearphiladelphia.blogspot.com/ who is very appropriately amassing a whole herd of cows in block form. The fabrics are lovely and it will look good with the ones I'm making.

Nancy's block

Nature red in tooth & claw

We always have magpies, a bird I'm not too keen on as I think they predate on other nicer birds and today I saw a really vicious scene of one in a supine defensive position but definitely still able to lash out with his beak at his adversary who was soon joined by two others alternately onlookers and attackers. Fortunately my final camera click startled them and one flew off in one direction and three in the other though they soon wheeled round in pursuit.

On a more cheerful note the Usual Suspects met up to celebrate Valerie's lunch at the Wife of Bath  http://www.thewifeofbath.com/ and Judi just back from Pennsylvania had lots of goodies to distribute in lovely bags from Marshalls, a good size for workshop requirements. In mine were three bundles from the Old Country Store, http://www.theoldcountrystore.com/  two for Quilt Show prizes and one for me to choose for a thank you present for a special person. Lovely blue and yellow was the answer. All this and some novelties too which I collect. Also a lovely farmer's wife block from Nancy but this deserves a blog post all to itself!

Goodies

Book Cover

I have got Cathy's book cover technique down to a tee or so I believe. I didn't even look at the instructions for this one made from "cheater" schwe schwe fabric which covers a plain sheet notebook destined for our tombola table.

Top Done

This is my Portland quilt as that is where the fabrics were bought. When I put the top together keeping the orange pieces on the border as far as possible as they were so dominant I still felt I could balance it better by resewing one block. Can you see it??

Version One

Version Two

With final border added


The changed block is the middle bottom one; changing it meant the other pieces were balanced with equivalent fabrics diagonally across.
I like the finished quilt more than I thought I would. The asymmetry of it seems a bit Japanese to me and I'm pleased I chose some of my nicer fabrics. In the past I've tended to choose less favoured fabric for workshop quilts but I am now set on using it up!

Stack & Slash workshop

Stacked fabrics cut up and labelled ready to sew

Jean's

Saturday was an in house Oast workshop day led by Marion Fox which was very enjoyable and quick sewing starting with a pile of six different 18" squares which we then sliced and moved the top fabrics down to make different combinations which would result in six different crazy blocks.

I used Amy Butler type fabrics bought in Portland and as they were half yards decided to make two sets of blocks but others went on to border their quilts. Marion gave advice on settings, sashing, how to quilt and particularly binding showing how to mitre corners and a very nifty way of completing continuous binding which I hadn't come across before. I show various fellow participants' work as well as my own blocks in progress.

Sewn into rows ready to combine into a block

Crab & Winkle

Rocket with RicRac

Stars within stars

Marion's novelty medley

Crab & Winkle met at my house this evening and we showed and told - bag and covered notebook from me but I haven't taken a picture of the bag yet. Maggie has nearly finished the quilt for her great nephew and Marion has added more novelty squares.

Bag Construction

I'm still making two bags at a time and it seems to be a very long winded process.. However it's a pattern I like very much that has seemed quite quick and easy in the past. One thing I like which I often transfer to other patterns is the cutting out of a square from the bottom sides, then joining the side and bottom seams (I cover them which is one reason why the bagmaking is taking more time) and then lining up the bottom and side seams and flattening the opening and sewing across so avoiding that bulky triangle at the base of a bag.

More from the Janome Club

Margaret W's previously created fabric

 The theme was fabric creation and among several examples on Cathy's 'teaching table' were the book cover and cushion shown here. Margaret had already had some practice at a fabric creation technique and here are her examples. Meanwhile another member had made this snakes and ladders game complete with fabric oversize die for a lucky grandchild. She created it not with applique but machine embroidery.

Cathy's book cover

Cathy's cushion

Machine embroidery

Book Cover

Woven silk book cover

It was Janome Club on Sunday after a 2 month gap because of the Royal Wedding. This time Cathy who so generously helps and leads us showed various ways of creating fabric. I had a little packet of deliciously coloured silks from the Silk Route and after a decade decided it was time to pluck up courage and use them. After a quilting acquaintance died prematurely leaving her lovely stash to be used by others I am trying to be the who has used up the most fabric before I pass away.
I opted to weave my strips onto bondawebbed calico, iron to seal and laid pink organza on top to contain the raw edges and machine quilt. I make the book covers the way Cathy showed us one edge at a time and adding separate end covers making for a snug fit. Then additional satin stitching all the way round.
I have three more blank notebooks  and at the moment the plan is to donate them to the tombola. The book is on top of a cupboard inmy spare bedroom and when I approach from a distance it glows. I'm pleased as although I know others make much lovelier things, Cathy for one, I always assumed 3D was beyond me.

Local Quilt Show

The view in the Abbey Church

My Visitor's Choice

On Saturday I went to the Abbey Patchers biannual show in the ancient Abbey Church in Minster, Kent. There are always lots of lovely quilts but the interesting Attic Windows design here caught my eye.

Home again

Twelfth night is left, Bright Stars right.

I had a lovely time at Malvern spending a day at the Quilts UK. Lots of lovely quilts but I shall only show my two and a detail of friend Margaret's who made a beautiful Log Cabin in Liberty fabrics bordered with immaculate machine applique.
Of mine I prefer the one on the left, Twelfth Night, which I made second with friends. I needed to see them hanging side by side in order to decide. I would like to sell the other eventually but it will probably take some time.
I collected my quilts at the end of the show - they are given back in potato sacks and what with these heavy bags and another one containing my puchases it was hard work getting back to the car. I bought some fabric to make a quilt for my grandaughter. I was looking for fairies and/or princesses and I think I've got fairy princesses in pink of course.
We stayed in a lovely converted farm building (The Stable) in a quiet and remote spot afterwards http://www.holtfarmholidays.com/ and I washed and ironed my purchases but I have still to tidy away all my stuff as I've been off quilting since getting back on Thursday. Friday was Crab and Winkle Sewing day. Having bought more Three cats fabric at Malvern I was able to get on with my bags (will post later) while Marion combined lots of novelties to make I Spy quilt tops and Melanie and Pam worked on Melanie's quilt-as-you-go stenciled quilt. Yes the top row is off and was corrected later. They made quite a team with Melanie machining and Pam doing the hand sewing she loves. Maggie was making a starry space quilt for a soon to be born young relative.

This  braid quilt top made by Maggie's mother, a remarkable woman, was discovered recently. One for Maggie to finish.
I don't have any other pictures of our day - I must have been concentrating on my sewing but I expect I'll get a chance later. Next meeting my house next week. A cake to make!

uh, uh, uh, oh



Isn't this delicious??



The rest of the hoard

I used to envy those I read or heard about being gifted with fabric because someone knew "they sewed". Now it's starting to happen to me. Ann in my quilt group gave me a bag of perfectly nice things she was pruning from her stash partly because she knows I make charity quilts. However, I have to accept fabric on the basis that a particular piece might not find its way into a charity quilt though it very well might. Today I was asked to go the house of a neighbour I don't know very well as she has been clearing her loft. I was delighted as there were cottons and lots of viyella which is 50/50 cotton and wool and is soft and warm for quilt backs, especially lapquilts. I left the synthetics and some wonderful wool tweeds which I know I wouldn't use. I felt pleased she accepted money for them as otherwise I would have felt rather greedy. I added up what I should charge if they were on a stall. And the money will be donated to the Cathedral building fund for whch there is a £50 million target. Still every little helps. I included the curtain fabric in my purchases as I though it would be good for bags. Opened out when I got home it was lovely - a garden replete not just with flowers but cats, tortoises, rabbits and some very large mice. Hope they're not rats!
However I now think my last cupboard doesn't have very much room in it so no more for a little while. Oh no - I'm off to Quilts UK on Sunday.. .

New bed



24" quilt just fits!



When we converted our third bedroom into a sewing room (NOT a studio!) it meant we only had one spare room for guests. Now I have acquired a vintage 1920's bed for the sewing room. I wonder who will sleep in it. . . .