The Farmer's Wife block addition continues.....

You could say that I obviously haven't had enough to do at this time of year when everyone else is rushing around preparing for the silly season!! My excuse is that is it really my fault that I haven't had much proper work and also had such a bad cold and cough that for a few days or so (!) all I really felt fit for was sewing and whatever silly film was on C5 in the afternoon.

So I have been amusing myself doing variations of the blocks we have already been given in class. I think I am up to about 42 blocks now, so there is definitely another monster in the making. Part of the inspiration is that Graham has taken to wanting to choose colour combinations with me. That means that I end up with blocks that I probably would not have chosen myself but it seems that the beauty of these little blocks is that none of them is so different that you can't find a home for it amongst the whole collection. I am also constantly surprised at how different the blocks look with some simple variations.

So here they are:

 

Notice that there is only one each of Geese and Corn and Beans - those are blocks that I won't be replicating!!

I found a block called Card Tricks which I liked because it has a 3D effect until I realised just how many triangles and squares it took. Then I found a simpler version of it called Card Games in an older book by Janet Kime called Quilts To Share that I discovered through Silve. This time the pattern needed scaling down but then, I realised that FW template 4 (a little square) was just the right size for the squares and all I needed to do was double it for the rectangles and half it for the triangles. The corner triangles I created as I needed them and then ..... a bit later ..... spotty Card Games was born!

 

I really like this one ... I suspect it will spawn some lookalikes in due course. In the meantime I have found some more inspiration from a traditional quilt referred to in one of the US blogs I follow. I have captured pictures of half a dozen of the blocks that look at though they will fit into the Farmer's Wife universe - and using the same templates. So in due course, off I will go again.................!!

Happy sewing!!

A finished project for a friend's January birthday

Way back in the summer my long time and lovely friend, Amanda, showed us the feature wallpaper in their newly decorated bedroom.

Called 'Cherry Blossom' by the PIP Design Studio, she had fallen in love with it before she realised how difficult it was going to be to tone with bedclothes and soft furnishings. We stood looking at a blank space on the wall above a chest of drawers that just cried out to have 'something'. We talked about how some small pieces of the paper could be framed and then I said, 'Give me a piece of the paper and we'll see......'

Move on to our trip to stay in Bromyard and I spent a good hour and more with the brilliant Ruth Doughty of Doughty's of Hereford, who helped me match/tone both the gold/yellow and the two shades of each of pink, blue and green that appear in the pattern. 

I looked at all the patterns I had for inspiration and decided that Checkerboard (Farmer's Wife) didn't look too complicated - little did I know that Debs would later classify it as one of the 'fiendish' blocks when we started the class. But Debs scaled the original up for me to a 12" block, which was still fiddly but more manageable and the result turned out to be quite pleasing. 

Graham, who is becoming a willing supporter of my patchwork addiction, took the patterns of the garland, butterfly and two sizes of flower and made me cardboard quilting templates and I hand quilted the surface all over randomly with the different patterns using variegated shades of Perle Cotton in pink, blue green and yellow. You'll probably need to enlarge the picture to see the quilt detail.

After a bit of discussion with those of my buddies who know better than me, I put a sleeve on the back through which a dowel rod will go in due course and after a bit of debate I hand wrote a label using a permanent pen in my usual trademark Mrs Everything a Little Bit Wonky Style!

Amanda's birthday isn't actually until the end of the month but I do hope she will like the finished hanging. She does know that there is 'something' in the pipeline because she caught me looking at the blank wall in the bedroom during one visit when I had supposedly gone up to use the bathroom!!

Happy sewing!!

Sue D's Christmas Quilts

Sue has finished a couple of projects prior to Christmas.

Note the hand quilted detail....

Also important news that Sue has finished her Simple Sampler quilt. Last week she came round to Towse's house - Carolyn joined us briefly - and in the spirit of the old time quilting bees we had a joint bind, fold, pin and slipstitch session and Hurrah, there it was done. I hope that Sue will share a photo with the blog in due course.

Happy sewing and compliments of the season!

A bit of an impromptu gathering/catch up

Mainly for those of us doing the Farmer's Wife class, Eleanor suggested a bit of an impromptu catch up session at her house. Eleanor has done a bit of travelling recently and we were all crucially aware that the next class is only a week away. That monthly class seems to come around so quickly and none of us want to fall behind if we can help it. So quite a lot of sewing was done (well there was a bit of chat and tea/coffee drinking as well and Eleanor did make some delicious chocolate cake) and Sue Mc took some photos to prove it!

As you will see I am cheating a bit by doing hand quilting for another project - because, class swot that I am, I am up to date with my FW blocks!

We will have to post some close ups of our blocks here very soon. It is fascinated to see all the colour combinations we have chose. Somehow they all seem to go together for this project, perhaps because the 6" blocks are so small.

I can resist anything except temptation

I had been promising for some time that I would take Sue D to Threads and Patches www.threadsandpatches.co.uk but somehow we had never managed a date. Then we realised that they were holding a one day flash sale on Saturday - decision made and off we went. Sue was able to get the fabric that she needed to be able to complete her Simple Sampler and for current projects. I was adamant that other than some binding fabric to complete my first EPP project, I had NO NEED FOR ANY MORE FABRIC!! At least that is what I had told several people, including the man of the house. We did, fortunately have a discussion about budget limits before I left home anyway......

The shop had turned its entire classroom into a sale area, with bolts of fabric perched sideways on trestle tables and two cutting tables. All the fabric was £6 per metre. There were other offers throughout the shop. What a selection! The bad news (well not bad at all really but it does mean that your spend does tend to mount up easily!) was that the minimum cut was 1m.

So this is what I bought..................................

Well there's only nine fabrics here, with a couple that were a bit more than a metre because it was the end of the bolt! What is interesting is that I am seeming to be drawn to the ditsy small patterns that are suitable for the smaller blocks of things like Farmers Wife. Whereas Broni, who also came with us, looks for fabrics that she would like as clothes - mind you, neither of us can make clothes, at least not anything that might fit. What is also interesting is to realise just how my choice of colour/tone matching has changed since last year with all the hassles of 'Monster' and fabrics not going together. It is always a delight for me to see the progression of learning in children that I have taught. It's equally interesting, and a compliment to my teacher (Debs), to see the same progression in my own work.

I can heartily recommend a trip to Threads and Patches. The staff, and Sally the owner, are always very friendly and helpful even under the busy circumstances of a one day sale. There is also the advantage of an upstairs tea room, where you can make yourself a hot drink and eat a chocolate bar when you have got exhausted and over stimulated from all the choices downstairs. Rejuvenated, you can then return to the fray. Yesterday was a short trip for us - we were only there just over two hours!

Don't stop me now - I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball!!

.... if a little obsessed perhaps

So we've now had the second session for Farmers Wife and it was rather lovely to see all our first blocks arranged together. It really did show that we needn't worry about colours as they all seemed to 'go' together however different they were. But what started the obsession was just how different a block could be with a little tweak on fabrics.

So then we got our next seven blocks and because I had some home alone time with nothing to do except sew, watch TV and remember to feed the dogs, I got all ultra-productive and very quickly produced all seven in about four days! Although I have to say that 'Home Maker' (top left) was a real challenge!

Now I've got some hand quilting to do, but my excuse for neglecting that has been that the daylight is a bit dark. (Well, truthfully I have been having some problems marking the pattern on the fabric so I can actually see it and am hesitating to have a go with my newly purchased water soluble pen!) So, having told the rest of the family about other people's blocks, Graham suggested that I do some more and ... wait for it ... he would like to choose the fabrics so they would be really different to what I might have done.

So I did these ....

And these ....

And then Graham and I were talking one morning about heraldry (for a project we might be doing at a rather prestigious castle next year - say no more in case I jinx it!) and I said that heraldic quartering was just like nine patch, etc. etc. So he said that perhaps there were some templates that I already had that I could experiment with a heraldic block ................ so, despite the fact that I keep putting their heads and wings on backwards, I made this .....

For my next trick I'm thinking about how the challenge that was set at the Fat Quarters sewing group could be adapted to my needs for Farmers Wife. If my idea actually works I will have a couple of more abstract contemporary blocks that will sit, hopefully happily, amongst the more traditional blocks. Now all I have to do is design the block, work out how to make templates for it and see what happens. That should keep me occupied for a while.

Roll on next Farmers Wife session and I just love the Wendover Sewing Bee too. In fact I love every opportunity I can get to chat and sew, sometimes even sew and chat!!

Going to the Threads and Patches one day sale on Saturday with Sue D and Sue Mc. Looking forward to being over stimulated by all the choices and am pretty sure that my resolution not to buy any more fabric for a while will be severely tested!!

Vintage clothes and Farmer's Wives!

Well, now Farmer's Wife with Debs has started and various of us have our first 7 blocks to do for next month. Here's mine.....

Don't panic, ladies, other than the one on the bottom right (which I started at the class) they are all just pinned - if you look closely you can see the little pin heads. Having some time on my hands alone dog-sitting in Bromyard, I sat down with template plastic and fabric and got to work. Yes, I did get rather absorbed - having started about 3 p.m. and only finishing when the phone rang at 8.45 p.m. - but I had remembered to feed all the dogs. It wasn't until the phone rang though that I realised I had quite forgotten my own tea! It certainly helps, as Debs suggested, to pin them out as even the simpler ones are actually quite fiddly and it is good to see how the little pieces fit together. I plan to sew them while I am off doing Roman workshops in Kent. I also have some hand quilting to do. Graham is going to help me personalise some templates for this.

While we were down in Bromyard Broni and Graham did a museum friend's event on the Jazz Greats of the 1930s-1950s. Thanks to Sue, Broni has a new dress...................

What happens when you take your husband to a quilt show

Graham expressed a willingness to accompany me to the Berkhamsted Quilters Show on Saturday 7th September. He likes looking at the colours and patterns. In fact he is invaluable for getting me out of some of my geometrical confusions. But if truth were told it was the lure of homemade cake that sold the deal. Before we left home I seem to remember a comment about not buying yet more fabric.

Good little show - lots of interesting things to look at and ponder on. I am always fascinated with other people's use of colours and patterns.

Graham is a wargamer - little metal men in their miniature terrain settings - so he was immediately taken with the Miniature Patchwork Shop, which was the subject of a silent auction. It was lovely!

We then fell into conversation with the very talented Mary Gamester www.mary-gamester.co.uk having noticed a little Celtic panel on her stand. Now I love Celtic design but have thought it far too complicated to undertake at this stage in my patchwork/craft journey. Say's Graham, 'Think we should buy a set of these transfer printing inks. I like the idea of experimenting with them and you can do the sewing afterwards.' So we did. I, on the other hand, only bought a box of curved safety pins, honest!

Graham was very happy with the cake selection and he also took a set of pictures of items that he particularly liked. So here they are.......

And on Wednesday afternoon...............

Towse had the opportunity to go up in a two seater Cessna. Fear of flying now definitely cured! Make sure you look at the patchwork on the ground said a couple of people (Eleanor and Sue I think). So here it is.....

I took various photos with my camera hand hanging out the open window, which I can show to anyone else interested.

With thanks to Jane

Sue, Towse, Sylve, Carolyn and Eleanor met at Jane's last Wednesday. Much chat, some cake and plenty of discussion about the colour scheme of Sue's quilt (no pictures of that). But I did take a close up (for Kath) of Carolyn's finished sampler quilt.

I particularly like this version of Drunkard's Path.

Next get together will be for those who can make it to the next Wendover Sewing Bee on the 10th September.
Not long now until various of us start the Farmer's Wife quilt class!!

 

'What Towse has mainly been doing'

You will recall that I have said many times that I have not used a sewing machine for over 20 years. Well, finally, the sewing machine has come down from its hiding place and taken up residence on the dining table (or the side in the kitchen or even on a fold out picnic table). It is an old Toyota and was second hand to us, so it has probably had a lot of use. Broni showed me how to thread it, which I promptly forgot! I then realised anyway that the thread she had used was totally wrong for anything I might want to try to sew so I unthreaded it and forgot about it for a few days. THEN, I got it out all on my own and worked out how to fill a bobbin and re-thread the machine. Success!! Have to say though that I don't understand tension. And the wheel didn't want to loosen so that I could wind the bobbin without the needle going up and down (at least I had unthreaded the needle) which was interesting. I was fine with straight stitching on scrap (although I have got used to the calm and quiet of hand sewing) but it did go rather strange when I attempted the bit in the manual on embroidery which involved taking off the foot and lowering the feed dogs - but I at least feel proud of the fact that I know what they both are and what effect the removal/lowering of them should have!

So, I thought, filled with joyful memories of trying out that super dooper quilting machine at the NEC, let's have a go at machine quilting. Most people I am talking to at shows and groups seem to think I am entirely eccentric not using a sewing machine, so how hard can it be?

Think of how productive I could be if I used a machine!

The 12" house scrap block I was experimenting with had to be the ideal candidate. Surely I couldn't go wrong with basic outlining - straight lines and geometric shapes!

 

Well actually, imho it's quite hard and quite scary the way the machine runs away with you and the three layers of fabric don't necessarily want to go under the foot at the same speed. But I did it, even if I think I will re-christen myself 'Mrs Everything Turns Out a Little Bit Wonky'.

 

I went to visit Judy in her shop in Thame yesterday - very nice stock there - and she told me that I should probably have started with some simple block piecing and that machine quilting is hard, especially on a domestic machine - let alone an old one. Now Judy speaks sense on these matters and has told me before that I am making life hard for myself. Perhaps I should listen sometimes!  

 

I made things similarly difficult with myself with this little coaster (mug rug). The centre block started life as tiny (1") samples from Strawberry Fayre which I got because they looked 'useful for something sometime'. They are meant to be sent back as swatches with your fabric order. I had seen someone do a little nine patch pin cushion, so gave it a try. You can imagine now small the finished squares are! Boy was it fiddly!

 

This is the detail from the length of fabric I got at the NEC from Doughty's. Somehow I reckon it's too pretty for backing fabric. Meanwhile it's gone into stash.

 

Talking of stash. Silve gave me an acronym today. SABLE. It stands for Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy. Here's my stash so far. Given that I only started this patchwork malarkey in September 2012 I seem to have accumulated quite a lot of fabric. Debs McGuire, you have a lot to answer for!!

 

My other half tells me that there is a 'folk belief' in the wargaming world that says that a chap's 'lead mountain' will end up proportional to his body weight and that if you ever end up with no figures to paint you will die! Seems rather a dramatic way of justifying adding to a chap's stash!

 

Meanwhile, Son of Son of Monster (the mini version) has now got to the state where I just need to catch down the binding.

 

The bigger version is double this size but will have to wait for completion because I don't have any more wadding or suitable backing fabric (honest!) and, more importantly, I have run out of the coffee coloured spotty fabric I have used in the squares and definitely need more for the binding. So there is the excuse for a little trip to Threads and Patches if anyone is interested?

 http://www.threadsandpatches.co.uk/acatalog/Fenny_Stratford.html

This mini version will be a birthday present for my good friend Caroline (not Caboline - it's a Celtic 'R' not a 'B') - who commented one day that she liked the pattern and the multi colours. It might end up as a lap quilt or a wall hanging because her new bungalow is all pale and magnolia and she would like some colour.

 

My next project, which is also a special birthday pressie, needs to be cut soon so that I can at least make a start before the Farmer's Wife Class starts in only a couple of weeks or so.

 

Next Sew 'n' Chat session will be Wednesday, 4th September at Eleanor's house. Back to usual times 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. Looking forward to catching up with people there.

 

 

Four go mad (and buy lots of stuff) at the NEC Festival of Quilts

So there we were; Eleanor, Claire, Jane and Towse; in a car park at Old Amersham at 8a.m. on a Friday morning, climbing onto a coach with a whole crowd of other women about to embark on a trip to the NEC Festival of Quilts. This was the first time for all four of us that we had ever experienced a show this big. We had no idea what to expect, but were just determined to make the most of it and see as much as we could. It was a fast, smooth journey and, fortified with a quick coffee, we were ready to go into the show almost as it opened at 10a.m.

 

The first few minutes were just spent in stunned, open-mouthed amazement and comments of Wow! It was huge, it was busy and we knew right away that we would only be able to scratch the surface of what was available to see and do. In fact the people we met who were doing workshops were generally those who were staying overnight, or for the entire duration of the show. There were coaches from all over the country and I also saw cars with Belgian and French number plates. Several stalls represented European traders, as well as several with Japanese fabrics and designs.

 

 

 

Really, we weren't sure where to start. We had been told not to buy immediately but to look around and then come back to buy. If we had done that though, I'm not sure we would have ever found stalls again. Towse wanted to introduce the gang to the friendly people of Doughtys of Hereford (http://www.doughtysonline.co.uk/) as they had been so helpful to her during the making of her first quilt. But on the way to their stand - or should I say stands because they had about 6! - Eleanor and Claire got sidetracked!

  

So the first purchases turned out to be from another 'local to us' shop, the rather amazing Antique Angel of Chalfont St Peter (http://www.antiqueangel.co.uk/about/). The excuse for buying these fabric bundles was that they needed them for the Farmer's Wife Quilt class that we are all starting with Deb in late September (http://www.plainstitch.blogspot.co.uk/p/autumn-2013.html) In fact that was the excuse for all of us really - thanks Deb for providing it!

 

But Eleanor needed wadding too. Thank you Doughtys!

 

 

Eleanor, Towse and Jane had a go on the most amazing quilting machine - we didn't even dare enquire about prices!

 

Eleanor did a rose

 

'Try writing your name' - Towse was told. If you look carefully, you can see it reads (somewhat wonkily) 'towse did this'

 

Jane continued with 'and ....

 

By 1pm, desperate for a drink and a sit down, we realised that we had only done about two aisles of just one of the three halls. But we had all bought fabric and bits and pieces along the way. Towse did really well from the 'Scrap Box' on the Linus Project stand (http://projectlinusuk.org.uk/) and we had also met, and purchased, just a few bits (honest!) from the lovely ladies at Patchwork Corner (http://www.patchworkcorner.co.uk/) again not far from us on the way to Hemel Hempstead.

 

So we decided that we had better look at some quilts. There were loads of competition categories. One was 'My First Quilt', which proved somewhat unnerving as they all looked far too good to have been done by beginners like us! This one, 'My Husband's Hobbies' was the winner. The quilt itself was in two parts, hence the two pix.

 

 

Aware of the passage of time, we needed to be back on the coach for 4p.m., we just wandered while I took somewhat random photos. Apologies for the wobbles on some of them, but I hope they give you a taste of just a few of the quilts we saw. Some were tiny - the hands are meant to give you a sense of scale. Some were huge. And they were all so impressive, and so imaginative. Check out David Tennant and the amazing quilted coracle!

 



 

This last one was an amazingly intricate optical illusion. Most of the pieces were tiny hexagons, probably no more than 1". It was an interesting exercise for the eyes to work out what you saw first, hexagons, diamonds or tumbling blocks.

 

We did manage to get back on the coach for 4p.m. We were back in Amersham for 6p.m. to our great surprise. Four very happy, but very exhausted people - with ideas afoot about how we ought to go for more than just one day next year!!

 

P.S. Sorry there's no many close ups, Kath. My camera is only basic and quilts are not easy to capture, especially with loads of people wandering around in limited aisle space