Update of Quilting Bee - finished quilt!

The finished quilt - I'm delighted with the way it's turned out - masculine, geometric, urban....

If you want to see more pics of the making hop over to Friday's Child.

I decided to machine quilt it for speed and also because the fleece and wadding are quite hard on the finger joints!

A turquoise wadding compliments the colours in the main fabric.  It is very cosy. The quilting is simple to echo the shapes of the blocks and it is bound with the main fabric. (Only just enough - there are a couple of little squares left!)  It has been washed and I will give it a final steam before taking it up to High Street Quilting to stay for a few days and then to The Crafts House, hopefully this weekend. 

A big thank you again to everyone xxxxxxxx

One stitch at a time

We had five hours to make a quilt top.  Maybe the odd seam got ripped out and re-sewn but apart from that it all went very smoothly. Some stayed all day and some came for a couple of hours and added blocks to the quickly growing pile.

When I arrived at ten Karen and Eileen were already there with Hilary, pulling out various bolts of fabric to match to the African fabric (shown below under the tan and turquoise bolts) that Eileen kindly donated.  It was a lovely big print which we cut into 8.5" squares for the centre of the block.  Each was different and there was enough left for a border and binding. Hilary kindly donated the fabric to complete the blocks and borders.

Karen sorts the fabric and irons the centre blocks

 While Eileen gets the fabric ready to cut the block borders.

Some were hand sewn and some were done on the machine. Below are Jill and Karen who hand sewed.  

 Dorothy machine pieced individual blocks and then sewed blocks together.

 Two Karens and Jill piecing.

Hilary ironing - check the quilt out in front of Hilary - it's stunning, with hand made lace and tiny piecing.

Even a lady who only came in to get some binding for her quilt sewed some blocks together (thank you Susan and love the quilt)

Rhomboids not squares in lovely soft silvery greys, blues and light chocolates and taupes - so restful.

Eileen had a lovely 'show and tell quilt'.

We drank gallons of tea and coffee made by Karen B, Hilary and Rob and ate cakes:

It was so warm that the icing on the strawberry cakes started to melt. Maybe it was the heat of the iron!

There was a lot of ironing done.

By 3.30 though, we had a quilt top. A huge storm was just about to start and the shop had gone very dark so the vibrancy of the quilt is not evident from this photo.  I will post some more pictures when I have sewn the borders on.

Hilary cut some inner borders and binding from the remainder of the South African fabric and some green for an outer border. The top is everything I'd hoped it would be and more.

Everyone chipped in for the backing which I bought this morning. The remainder of the money will go to the charity. I'll be working on the quilt during the week and will take it to Sandra together with the donations as soon as it's done. I'll post the final pictures of course before it goes. 

It was a great day, thank you Karens, Eileen, Dorothy, Jill, Susan and Hilary for your great generosity. I am always humbled by people's willingness to give. Sandra says there are two sides to each quilt - the one who receives the quilt and the one who stitches it. It was a lovely day - we felt very Amish all working on the quilt - it was a good feeling.  We did agree that we would stick with the quilt making and leave the barn raising to someone else - what a relief!

Quilting Bee this Saturday

We would love you to see you there anytime between 10.30am to 3.30pm to be part of a quilting bee for this very special charity.

Let meatloaf night begin!

My camera went missing over the weekend - I took some pictures of the blueberry melting moments I made last Thursday and put my camera down. Actually I put it down on top of one of my storage baskets and put that away. It just came to light yesterday. So now I have some photos to show!

It was so hot I had to store them in the fridge because the icing kept melting. I'm having a bit of a thing about sideways pictures at the moment.

Golden crispy palmiers

Crochet flowers which I am making into a garland. These are some more:

I am addicted.

Talking about addictions:

Playing peepo with Mama - Daddy's strong arms make the impossible possible! He's into 'appearing' from behind things at the moment, apart from when he's watching Thomas the Tank Engine.

All curled up in my nest - he fits better than I do!

This week is sandwiched between two busy weekends. Last Saturday I spent the day in Buckingham - more to follow later and this weekend Hilary is hosting a Quilts for Comfort Day at High Street Quilting. I'll post more details tomorrow night - this is going to be a super day - all are welcome to share in making a quilt for a fabulous cause.

So for now I am going to put some peas on to cook to go with the turkey meatloaf which has just come out of the oven and is tempting me beyond measure - tender juicy turkey mince flavoured with chilli, sweet luscious tomato and lots of black pepper all wrapped up in crispy serrano ham. 

Let Meatloaf Night begin!

All downhill

Is that Good or Bad?  School broke up on Friday although we have 80 Year 6 pupils in for our Summer School Drama Class for the next two weeks. Our kitchen staff do not work during the holidays although two are coming in to help with the lunches thank goodness.  My assistant has been off for a month - the busiest month in the year and I've been pulling extra long shifts to cover some of her work. I have worked the traditional week before the end of Wednesdays since she's been off.  

I bought these at our school fair (reports on our stall later) I ate the lemon cake, Will had the Oreo cake and we shared the chocolate orange cake. Mmmmm. 

Our end of year drama productions (Bugsy Malone) took place last Thursday and Friday as well as a Glastonbury style music festival on Friday. I crawled into bed at 1am on Saturday morning after working 41 of the 48 previous hours.  (I'm too old for this!) I didn't get up until just after 8am which is very unusual for me.  I slept quite a lot this weekend!  The next few weeks will be much quieter of course without the rest of the school (and staff!) so I will be able to get on with some work with constant interruptions.

So there is not much to report of the craft front except this! My multi-coloured granny blanket is done - I put the finishing touches to it on Saturday whilst watching the F1 Qualifying.  I have to thank Margaret and Julie for re-introducing me to crochet.  I had done some a long time ago but couldn't remember how to do it.  Julie showed me how and this is the result!

I decided on the layout and then made ten little piles of ten squares.

I used a neutral grey thread and slipstitched the squares together.

I put the colours in order for the border - finishing with a bright red scallop edge

I pinned and blocked the whole thing but despite my careful efforts the centre medallion is tighter than the border which is quite wavy - lesson learnt for next time. I think I will join as I go. 

So this the the finished blanket - it measures about 40" and because it is pure cotton it is quite heavy. I love it even though it is just an ordinary granny blanket.  The bright colours just make me smile.

I'll be finishing at 4pm every day for the next fortnight - hooray! and then I'll be on holiday for a fortnight with the odd day here and there for the next week when I shall be making some spiders homeless, painting fences and perhaps squeezing in a little craft time.  I might even blog more than once a week (or in this case once a month).  Well I better go to the shops to get the bread buns and other bits for the lunches. Eek - just looked at the clock. Late again.

Mostly cushions today

Today I have been mainly making cushions. There are a few froo foos to add including buttons.  This is the first batch for the fair next week.

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours 'on the hill' for a little peaceful painting and chatting time. Lovely - just the ticket.

These are painted direct on the the fabric with acrylic paints diluted with some fabric medium. Steph is going to add the other elements and these will become the last two in this colourway.  She has some lovely blue floral and blue dotty fabric for some more cushions.

This morning I finished sewing and stuffing the little pink bunny. I love my little wooden pins - for reference they are about 3" long.

I had already started on the lacy edge of the dress.  This bit is knitted sideways,

and then the stitches are picked up to knit the main part of the little dress. I was very kindly given permission by Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits to use this pattern for a raffle, the proceeds of which will be going to 'Quilts for Comfort'

And here is Rosy Rabbit, dressed and ready.

John thought she was a pig - maybe I won't knit another pink one.  The book in the background is a present from Will.  It's about a lady who saved up, quit her job (she's American) and went to Europe. To help fund her trip she paints pictures and writes a letter once a month which she sells on subscription. She posts them to people all round the world - what a good idea! It's a latter day blog really. I've just started reading it and she is describing how she is saving enough money to be able to leave work for three months. Quite an eye-opener.

A few cakes from Thursday's quilt class.  I have loads of lovely pictures I took with my phone, of quilts that the ladies are making but, after a software update, I can't bluetooth across to the computer. Something's wrong somewhere because they haven't arrived in my Dropbox or Googledocs either.

Sunday breakfast is my leisurely eat of the week and I am taking advantage of the lovely summer fruits:

As the boys say -  'Nom nom'.  My brother says 'Num num'. Must be a regional thing. John chopped a big pile of onions for me this afternoon (very kindly sharpened my knives too). It relaxes him - don't ask me why. Whilst he made some meat sauce for tomorrow night's lasagne I knocked up a chilli pork meatloaf wrapped in serrano ham for tonight's supper with new potatoes and salad.  Into the oven went these and a chicken which will be for sandwiches, and an undecided supper dish before becoming a delicious stock for the freezer. There's lots of fresh vegetables and fruit waiting to be prepared to go with the meaty offerings. Maybe I'll be able to stay away from the bikkies if everything's ready. (Yeah, right). 

So I better go and iron some clothes before the pile topples over. Actually come to think of it I've already poured myself a stiff shandy so I'd better not operate machinery....

Have a good week - there should be plenty of pictures next week if I work out how to reset my phone. Technology - can't live with it, can't live without it.

A laugh a minute

Friday afternoon saw me rushing away from work on time.  A quick fill of diesel and straight out on to the A19 heading south. Yorkshire was a bit of a traffic jam - my father used to call it shock waves. There is just so much traffic that when one person speeds up too much, catches the car in front and then has to brake, it sets off a shock wave and all the cars behind start braking. Eventually the line of traffic comes to a stop. Really annoying. Nothing was going to spoil my fun though so I sang at the top of my voice to the radio all the way down to Doncaster where the traffic thinned out.  The M25 was free flowing by the time I got there and I arrived in Farnham just after ten. A little glass of wine, a bit of chatter a lot of giggling ......

Yesterday I woke early enough to watch the sun come up on the longest day of the year but then went back to bed! Love the rhythm of the seasons and the ancient festivals that connect us to the past but a girl needs her sleep.

The gorgeous scent of lavender wafted around us as we ate breakfast in Karin's small but gorgeous back garden. An aspirin cured the hangover. One glass of wine - what a wimp!

Can you see the tiny little bunch of grapes dead centre of the picture below? Believe it or not these will be edible by the end of September.

Armed with my trusty, hands free quilt show bag we made our way to Sandown Race course.

We had a good look round, an enormous cup of hot, very delicious coffee and then we set to on the stalls. 

Above is some beautiful linen which I am going to make into cushion covers. I'll sell some of them,  but will have to keep a couple because the design is so lovely. I might make some little guest hand towels too.

Some fabric from 'Worn and Washed' which will make a quilt about 50" x 60" and some pure white fat quarters to go into a little collection which will eventually become a little curtain for some shelves which are built into an alcove over the stairs. The interest will come from the different fabrics and embellishments rather than the colour of the quilt.

We decided we should make our own worn and washed collection from stuff we have already (old bed linen and shirts) as well as doing a bit of charity shop searching. Karin's son Michael very kindly donated a shirt he bought but was a bit small. I just hope Karin remembers to tell him he has donated it.

I got some heat transfer paint which I used for the first time at school a couple of weeks ago when our art student teacher did a workshop with my textiles class. Endless possibilities here. You just paint/stencil on to paper and then iron this on to the fabric. We used leaves and flowers to make positive/negative stencils. 

At Sandown we ate our lunch in the area that you have to pay £150 just to go in on a race day.  It was just the same as the area you can go into for free. We are funny old things us humans aren't we? 

We could see the London Eye in the distance and traffic going in and out of Heathrow (one plane every ninety seconds!), but we were in the midst of this huge area of green, watching some exquisitely coloured damsel flies and parakeets, clutching our precious fabrics. We were both careful to buy only things that we couldn't get at our local quilt shops because we really think we should support these fabulous places. Sometimes you get a bargain but mostly it's just the extra variety that sets the heart a-quiver. 

We had a spicy chilli with salad and garlic bread for supper and watched a really weird French film about someone who went to a psychotherapist about her marital problems and mistakenly went into a tax lawyers office to unburden herself.

Loaded with various cuttings from the garden I came home today to find that John and Steph had run the laundry through for me, vacuumed and dusted and left some flowers. Will has cleaned the hens and filled up the food and water.

I have lemon verbena, lavender and an aloe vera plant to go in my little patch. I popped down to see John and Steph to say thank you and am pleased to report that Ben is much better.  He was digging a patch of garden with his daddy.

Tonight will be an early night for this very contented quilter. It was a fab weekend, driving round the area I grew up in, seeing the places where Karin and I spent our teenage years but I'm glad to be in my little home with my precious family. Double glad that I have the means to revisit all those lovely places. Triple glad that I can honestly say we laugh until our sides ache about all the things we have shared for more than half a century. Scary isn't it?