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!!