I am so pleased that the top is complete – I did think about adding a border of flying geese but after putting it on the bed in the spare room I can see it is big enough as it is.
I have the batting ready and fabric to piece for the back then it is off to the longarmer to get it quilted. I haven’t decided on the pattern but not too fancy as this quilt is all about the colour
I had a lovely trip to the quaint village of Wickham Market, Suffolk so I could visit Quilter’s Haven. What a beautiful shop and now I know where it is, the lady who owns it is retiring! The shop is up for sale so I hope it is purchased and continues for many years. I bought backing and thread for my tumbler quilt, a couple of half metres that caught my eye and some Downton Abbey fat quarters that were on sale. All this while my other half was in Café 46
We had a lovely lunch in this vintage style, very relaxed café and the price was reasonable to – definitely recommended. Unfortunately the weather was not too good so we didn’t get to explore the village itself but what we saw was charming. Sorry for the lack of photos, but I didn’t take my camera as shopping was foremost in my mind!
Now the main part of the RSC15 is finished it is time to start on the RSC16!
I have actually finished all the alternate squares and can add them to the star blocks
This isn’t all of the blocks as I have already sewn three rows together so they are not included.
I also had a couple of great buys on EBay. First up, 501 Quilt Blocks is a lovely book with a lot of lovely blocks I hadn’t seen before. Some of the applique blocks are a bit twee and the alphabet letters are distinctly underwhelming but the rest are great. I will spend many hours perusing this book
The second book, American Patchwork and Quilting, has more in the way of patterns and instructions rather than blocks. It gives it’s age away by the use scissors rather than a rotary cutter but it is very informative despite that. There are some inspiring antique quilts that might be the starting point for my next scrap quilt
I will be linking up with So Scrappy with everyone else who has joined in this years rainbow scrap challenge, why not pop over and have a look for yourself – and maybe join in next year!
After all the terrible events that have been happening around the world in Paris, Beirut and Syria to name a few, I didn’t feel like posting anything about patchwork squares or crotchet as it seemed so trivial. So many lives lost and so many lives altered forever. But then I thought back to a few decades ago when the IRA had ceased bombing mainland Britain for a while so I booked and paid for a theatre trip for a large group of family and friends in London. Then the bombing started again. I thought nobody would want to go and phoned everyone. Not a single person refused to go.
The comments were along the lines of; ‘Hitler never stopped us by bombing ‘ (from someone who survived the Blitz), ‘When your times up, your times up wherever you are’, ‘Nobody is telling me what to do’ ‘Don’t let them win’ and so on. Nearly everyone had worked in London during other bombing campaigns so this was no different.
The moral really is ‘Keep calm and carry on’ (WWII poster). The objective of terrorism is to stop you living a normal life. The French Tricolour is flying at half-mast on our town hall to show solidarity with Paris and in honour of Nick Alexander a resident of Colchester who died in the Bataclan attack. Remember the dead and those affected by these terrible events.
But do not tar everyone with the same brush. Nobody attacked me as a catholic when the IRA killed innocent civilians and nobody should attack Muslims for this atrocity. That is what Daesh want, don’t play into their hands.
To carry on as normal then; swamp angel star completed
A few more alternative blocks and the top will be complete.
The applique fans are also nearly ready – just the inner circles to add once I have decided on the layout. For now I have been playing around with the composition, but might stick to the one in the ‘Quilting From Little Things’
The tumbler quilt top is nearly complete but still waiting for one more block for The Global Quilting Project. Four projects are nearing completion and my thoughts are already turning to the RSC16. What are you working on?
We are on to the last colour for the RSC15 sampler quilt and the colour is lime green. I am late posting as I fell asleep when I got in from work, but here it is
Ohio Star
I used to look at the central fabric and wonder what possessed me to buy it but it fits here perfectly
Crumpled Star!
This is what happens when you haven’t found a new place for your design wall so you use the bed instead. Every single block and the imprint of a cats paw on it but this was the chosen block for a nice snooze
Today is Remembrance Sunday when we remember the dead and all those who served in the Great War and those that came after – is a topic that deserves it’s own post for later.
Another set of alternate blocks completed and a second row finished. It departs a little from the RSC15 because I didn’t use brown or wrap around the colour from the other end. It was too rainy to take the photos outside so this is the best I could do!
As you can see it is wider than the bed so I don’t think I will be quilting it. Fortunately for me Janette Chilver of J Quilts who happens to be the winner of Best in Show at the Festival of Quilts 2015 in Birmingham, lives a few miles away. You can see her beautiful quilt here
So much piecing also means a lot more work was done on the Tumbler Leaders and Enders challenge. Everything is joined up in rows of eight at least and quite a few in sixteens. I think this quilt top will be finished at the same time as the RSC15, but being lap-size will be quilted by me. It will be my Autumn/Winter quilt for the settee and the Simply Colour one will be put away until Spring
Do you have different quilts for different seasons?
I finally got to grips with my alternate blocks and finished the first row. I didn’t have much in the way of brown but lots of mauve and lavender scraps which are good companions for purple so in they went!
I have made lots of four patches in orange, red, pink and yellow so it looks like I will be starting at the opposite end and eventually meet in the middle – only two more blocks to make. The other good thing is making so many little blocks I have also progressed very well on my Tumbler Challenge; all tumblers are in fours at least and some are now joined into eights. I don’t think it will take much longer to finish that quilt – so I should have two by the end of the year
What is it all about? I think when most of us saw it, we thought it would be a block swap on a grander scale than most block swaps. We signed up via Facebook and met Kim Andrews who was organising the project. She asked for examples of block names which we duly supplied. I wondered if these were the blocks we were going to make but I was wrong. More and more signed up and it seemed as though there was a new person and a new country to welcome to the group every day. Excitement and numbers grew until there were hundreds of potential participants
The block names; Balkan Puzzle, Bear Paw, Courthouse Steps and so on were to be the names of groups of twelve people from different countries – in the end all women. We would not be making these blocks at all! What happened next was exciting for some and a shock to others – we were to design and make our own unique block to be named after us! Some dropped out, not willing or maybe confident enough to take on the challenge. I thought it was great, but I have an arts (and science) background and even had the first part of the project hanging on the wall already – an inspiration board, covered in the things that inspire or intrigue me; pictures of friends and family, clippings from magazines of colourful things, postcards and fabric. This was to be our starting point and was posted on Facebook for all to see. Many took up the challenge and working in separate pages for each group or the main page we were able to get feedback, criticism and encouragement from everyone. Some were new to quilting and could learn from some very experienced members who were able to offer encouragement gained from years of teaching.
I won’t go into all the subsequent details, as the teaching program belongs to Kim Andrews, but suffice to say, it led those who had never designed anything like it before to a successful conclusion if they stayed the course. Some dropped out as they didn’t realise how long it would take and had to leave because of time or family issues, including bereavements. There was much support in the groups and new friendships were forged. Some have even managed to meet up and share their stories with the rest of us.
Groups were collapsed and consolidated to try and get them back to twelve in number or groups made their own decisions after discussing the best way to proceed. Poor Kim must have had a headache as she tried to do this all the while studying and working. My own group, Balkan Puzzle, decided to save her some work and some members said they would make two blocks to make up the numbers. I have most of them now and will show them off in another post. I showed four designs to my group and they chose this one and it is based on my love of colour and water. It is a river of colour flowing out from a single source in colours agreed by the group.
TGQP has created friendships around the World as well as many new quilt blocks. Parcels have been posted back and forth and soon the unique quilts will be made. Even if groups have the same blocks, the layout will be up to the individual. But it is more than that. The initial difficulties in attempting something new have been overcome and confidence has grown as a result.
The quilts will have individual labels for each block so that quilt historians will not have to write ‘maker unknown’! I am sure they will be treasured and kept for many years as the number old quilts from centuries past testifies. They are the very antithesis of our throw-away society where branding is the defining criteria for some to make their purchases. Quilts are often made with a particular person or event in mind. Most of mine have been for the birth of a new baby in the family, Christmas or birthdays. My Mum was adamant that her quilt should not go to the charity shop when she died as it was a family heirloom. I have that quilt now and will pass it on in time
This made me think about those women in ages past who made quilts sometimes from fabrics bought especially for one particular project or those who reused dresses, curtains, even sacking and old blankets to make something practical but still beautiful. My second block was more about our planet and how we can do our bit to re-use, recycle or re-purpose so the next block was improvised and used the scrap strips I keep from other projects. Consequently, each member will get a slightly different block. I balanced out the blue Earth with the yellow Sun – both are the same size, as to us they are equally important.
Even thread wasn’t wasted as in between each round I put together a few tumblers for my Leaders and Enders Challenge so that there was always something under the needle to continually chain piece. That particular quilt is made up of fabrics that had been in my stash for a while for various reasons as detailed here. The details of the challenge can be found over at Quiltville
There are two pieces sewn together under the needle right now from another project – the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015. Again using up all those little pieces so there is little waste The details of how to join in are at Super Scrappy
Years from now will anyone have the bottle of perfume or aftershave you gave them for Christmas? If you make them a gift chances are that they will not only remember it they will still have it.
Four more blocks completed and on the line – not far behind the rest of the group considering I started in August and not January. It was quite breezy but I managed to get a few shots in between gusts
I returned to the Whirling Geese block and used darker blues, as my mid-blue version was a bit too light. I used the inner block from the orange month to do a second mid-blue block too which is a Twirling Four Patch. It’s more like a pinwheel than the block that is called a pinwheel!
I finished the yellows too. Monkey Wrench is in the original list, however, the second paler block should have been Air Castle but I substituted this block whose name escapes me.
As you can see it is another lovely sunny day which is a welcome return after the last few days which have been cold and grey
Next job on the list was chain piecing the squares I had prepared earlier in the week for the alternate blocks
All the indigo, pink, red, yellow and orange are now in little four or two patches. The good thing about all this piecing is the amount of tumblers that were sewn together too. All are at the very least paired up and about half of those are now in fours. It’s surprising how quickly this Leaders and Enders project is going. It may even be finished at the same time as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! Now all I need to do is keep up with the Quilting From Little Things and they will all be wrapped up by the end of the year – nearly forgot the Global Quilting Project! Just waiting for one more block and then assembly can begin. Perhaps I will have three full-sized quilts for New Year
I am very honoured to accept this award – don’t worry no long speeches!
I was recently kindly nominated for a Leibster Blog Award by Eleonora from Coastal Crochet. It’s a lovely idea to nominate blogs you enjoy that have a small readership as they may have only been blogging a short time (me!) or have a niche topic.
The idea is to answer between 5 and 10 questions about yourself so others can get to know you and to nominate 5 or more other blogs that you enjoy
My questions
1 What is you favourite crafting tool?
I was tempted to say my brain ha ha but I think it is my sewing machine although I do love to sew by hand too. I have two machines; a Pfaff Ambition 1.0 and a Britannia Instyle16
2 What is your favourite craft book?
Difficult to answer but Quilting From Little Things by Sarah Fielke inspired me to challenge myself to make a quilt or a dolly quilt from each chapter in her book, which is why this blog started – to chart my progress and keep a record. It’s a lovely book and teaches a different technique each chapter. I only have three left to make
3 Do you have a project you have made time and time again?
No as I have too many ideas in my head to repeat things, although lap quilts are probably the size I make most. I like to crochet which I learnt about a year ago; knit which I learnt from my Mum about 40+ years ago, she also taught me embroidery. Plus I paint and draw too. In the past I have made jewellery and I would like to learn etching or lino print making but not in this room as they are too messy!
4 Where do you get your best ideas?
Anywhere really, which is why I always try to remember to take a notebook out with me. I should keep one next to the bed as I often wake up at night with ideas – which can be a bit inconvenient to say the least!
5 Where do you sit to do your creating? Is it possible to share a photo?
I have a sewing cupboard room upstairs. It is about a eighth of the size I had in Australia but at least I still have one. I have taken over an Ikea bookcase in the hall to use as a cutting table as there isn’t enough room in here and the light is better too. I am thinking of getting locking castors to make it a bit higher.
The three dolly quilts on the wall are all from Sarah’s book, the cats are a present from my youngest from a school trip to China, the dog and purple pot are from charity shops, the wizard and dragon bookends are a present from my best friend Julie who sadly passed away from a brain tumour last year (I still think about her everyday as she was such a big part of my life for more than thirty years)
I have squeezed in various drawers and little shelves to keep track of the many WIPS I have
Two projects for Quilting From Little Things; Star and Fanfare
On the left; RSC15 and a partially finished purse
I have actually finished the star and the purse – it pays to be organised! That partly answers the next question
6 How do you store your WIPs and what do you take projects out in?
I also have a bigger set of plastic drawers for bigger projects in my (mainly) sewing room and I take EPP projects out in an old iPad cover in zip lock bags. My crochet and knitting live downstairs in a free bag that came with a magazine and an old wicker picnic basket from a bootsale.
Don’t forget to visit Coastal Crochet too! Thank you for nominating me and happy blog hopping to you all.
Questions and instructions for nominees
What is your favourite crafting tool?
What is your favourite craft book
What is your all time favourite yarn, thread or silks.
Do you have a project that you have made time and time again?
Are you hoping to make gifts for Christmas this year and if so approximately how many?
What is your favourite handmade gift that you have received from somebody else?
Where do you get your best ideas?
Where do you sit to do your creating? If possible could you share a photo?
Have your creative hobbies changed over the years or do you stick to the same ones?
How do you store your WIPs and what do you take out projects in?
As an award winner you must:
Acknowledge and accept the Liebster Award by leaving a comment on the blog where you were nominated.
Copy and paste the Liebster Award medal (logo) onto your own blog.
Link back to the blogger who awarded you and give thanks.
Answer the questions put to you by the person who nominated you. This is a great way to get to know the people behind the blogs. The number of questions have vary from 5 to 11 depending on who is asking.
On your blog nominate and link to your 5 favourite blogs(or more) that you enjoy but have a small readership (the rules have varied from less than 200 to less than 3000 readers). It could be that they have only been blogging for a short time or have a niche interest but are worthy of gaining more attention in the wider blogging world. That means the blogs of large, commercial enterprises are not eligible for nomination; nor are blogs that are well publicised in a variety of media and established with tens of thousands of followers.
List your questions for your Liebster Award nominees on your blog.
Inform your nominees by leaving a comment on their blogs.
A very busy day on Friday. Finished four more blocks for the RSC15 and cut squares for the alternate blocks in yellow, orange and red. Posted my two tulip blocks for the Block Lotto and tidied the sewing room. Got a phone call to say that I am through to the second round of interviews for a job at Little Havens charity shop – fingers crossed!
My sewing room is too small so I am spreading out into the hall. It should be a bit more thread free as I made another fabric pot on Friday too, for all those little threads and clippings – my other one lives in the hall on an Ikea bookcase which has become my cutting table. It’s a bit low but I think adding castors (the locking kind) will raise it up high enough to save my back.
It might be October but the weather has been wonderful; warm and sunny with a slight mist this morning just to remind you that it is Autumn.
thecraftyyak 