While in Oxford I visited a lovely little shop called Darn it and Stitch which sells knitting and sewing paraphernalia. I always pop in and buy something small just to support them. This time I got a half metre remnant of Rodeo fabric (see below) which will make a very interesting small quilt, although it is so nice I probably will have trouble cutting into it!
Lastly in this 3 part blog, we have recently returned from a long weekend break in Oxford - the City of Dreaming Spires. It is one of my most favorite places in England. We arrived on a Friday just as the students were leaving the Examination Halls and we were engulfed in a sea of young students all in formal black gowns and suits all so relieved to have finished their papers. There was lots of confetti, flour, eggs and fizzy drinks being cast around and some less welcome additions such as treacle and chocolate sauce which must be a devil to remove from their suits!.
While in Oxford I visited a lovely little shop called Darn it and Stitch which sells knitting and sewing paraphernalia. I always pop in and buy something small just to support them. This time I got a half metre remnant of Rodeo fabric (see below) which will make a very interesting small quilt, although it is so nice I probably will have trouble cutting into it!
0 Comments
The day after our return from Ireland I was off to the WI college in Marsham (near Oxford) for a day course on making individual heirloom buttons called Dorset Buttons and Singleton Buttons. It was a fun day in a class of 11, two of whom were sewing buddies of mine so we had a catch-up as well as learning some new skills. There are some photos below of some of the buttons made by various members of the class. Next came a week or so at home catching up after being away and researching die cutters as something to add to my arsenal of quilting tools. I eventually plumped for the Sizzix big shot which arrived today (see below). I now need to wade through all the paper and on-line literature and work out which are the best dies for me to buy. Basically a die is a shaped blade, like a square or a triangle, which is embedded in a foam plate. The plate is passed through the machine below and the pressure of the machine exposes the blade and cuts through the paper or fabric placed on the foam plate. If you have no idea what I am talking about look up a lady called Ebony Love on YouTube as she has many demonstration videos. Advantages for this system of cutting are extreme accuracy and multiple layers cut at one time - 6-8 with this machine. An additional advantage is reducing wrist fatigue. This is important when some single or double quilts contain over 1000 pieces. So when next constructing a patchwork pattern this machine will greatly improve my accuracy at the cutting stage which is actually the most important stage. My next post will cover our weekend in Oxford
Wow I have been off line for a month - where has that time gone? There are lots of reasons for my absence, starting with a wonderful driving trip of nearly a 1000 miles around Ireland to visit relatives and to remember again so many childhood experiences. I am always struck at how evocative the sense of smell is when you revisit a place and some particular smell triggers so many thoughts and feelings. I was transported back in time so many times I was starting to feel travel sick! The views below are from Sligo, Mullaghmore and Creevykeel. While away I continued making my diamonds as mentioned in previous posts. I am now upto 1308. My next post will tell you about the Heirloom Buttons and Oxford.
I have just finished the Baa Baa Black Sheep Quilt that I have been working on (see my 22/4/14 post below) and I am very happy with the finished result. I think it looks so cute with all the woolly sheep playing in their individual fields with one sheep jumping the hedge between fields to play with her friend!
As with all photos of textiles, the images above cannot do real justice to the actual work. If you would like to own this little gem then please go to my Quilts for Sale page. Prince William and Catherine Middleton got married in 2012 about the time I was planning my new front garden. I wanted a traditional rose garden with box hedging to go with our traditional house.
I couldn't resist the rose created to celebrate the Royal Wedding, so it is the centre piece of the garden flanked on either side by deep red Munsted Wood roses. The garden was planted late 2013 and this is my first William and Catherine rose. You will notice its red outer leaves while in bud form and that had me worried for a while! The fully opened rose is pure white and glorious. I have wanted to create another handmade quilt for a while and inspired by one of my quilting buddies I started making the 2 inch paper pieced diamonds which are needed for a tumbling blocks quilt.
A double bed size needs about 2000 diamonds and I have just passed the 1100 mark this weekend - Hurray! Each diamond comprises a 2 inch paper diamond over which is tacked your chosen fabric. You can see my blue tacking stitches in the picture. Then the cubes or blocks are constructed using dark, medium and light diamonds for each block. To create the optical illusion of 3D blocks the dark, medium and light fabrics need to be in the same place in each block although the colours used can differ. I hope you can see the 3D effect in my picture. I still have a long way to go to reach 2000+ Had a jolly shopping trip today with two of my quilting buddies. One of them is planning a new baby quilt for a little boy due in the summer. The theme fabrics are little tedddies with blue shorts and the other is blue with colourful letters.
The quilt pattern will be windmills similar to my Little Lady Aster Quilt (see it in the Gallery). I am looking forward to seeing the finished item. Today I went to the British Museum to see the 'Vikings life and legend' exhibition. On the way there near Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross station (famous for Harry Potter) I ran into the lovely little fairy pictured above. She was a charming young lady waiting to begin a fashion shoot for a Japanese magazine. My photo does not do justice to her glorious pink and white apparel!
The Viking exhibition was certainly worth visiting and I particularly enjoyed the fabulous jewellery. It was so intricate and delicate. It is hard to believe it was made over 1000 years ago. I had a creative burst last night thinking about some Jelly Roll strips in the Aster Manor family of Moda fabrics. I was drawing out some patterns before I went to sleep and thought the rail fence pattern would work as the strips are long enough to showcase the amazing designs. The photo shows the fabrics being auditioned in pairs.
|