'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