A Trip Around The World

This is where I come every other week to my Patchwork group

with the wonderful Jane as our teacher and problem solver.

It is a collection of old barns which has been turned into

a collection of little shops housing all sorts of craft artisans such

as stained glass and pottery as well as a great patchwork shop

and workshops above. 

This photo was taken in the morning before the public 

where allowed in.

As well as the patchwork there are all sorts of other fabric

related workshops such as dyeing and free machine embroidery.

The class I did this week however was creating a quilt called

" A trip around the world"

I sure all you long time patchworkers are familiar with

this pattern but being fairly new to patchwork it

was new to me and I loved it.

We get a list of requirements before the day and in this case

the cutting instructions so some of the work was done before we

started.

It is made from 10 different fabrics which you cut into strips

stitch together then cut into strips across, it is very easy but you have to 

pay attention to make sure you get them in the right order.

An essential piece of equipment is a seam ripper.

The variety of fabrics and colours we had all chosen

was wonderful to see.  My friend Caroline went with

these wonderful zingy limes and lemons.

Next to her was a collection of marbled effect.

I went with blue and white, it's a colour combination

I have always loved and wanted to try it in a quilt top.

This was the first lady to finish

Closely followed by the marble effect fabrics.

I love this colour combination of turquoise  and white

and here is mine with just one strip left to put in

but I put it in up side down twice so decided I was

too jaded and left it there for the day.

I have finished the top now but need to layer and quilt it

I promise to show it to you when  finish.

Another thing I have had a go at this week is

natural dyes.  I started with onions skins which don't need a mordant 

to fix the colour. I have been reading  blogs about natural dyes

with incredibly talented ladies ( Here and Here) as well

as browsing pinterest to find out how to do it  and 

this was the general consensus of opinion. 

I have collected white onions skins for a while

and put them in a pan with water and boiled them for an hour.

then I drained the skins off making sure to keep the remaining dye fluid.

I'm one of those people who would have strained it over the sink

and then realised I had just thrown away the dye.

I then put some wet white linen, these were pieces of vintage

linen from my stash of damaged and stained tablecloths and napkins.

I left them in the dye for an hour and this was the result.

There are so many things you can use in natural dyeing.

I'm now saving red onions skins to try them.

The other thing I have done is turn this pretty pottery flower,

which was 50p from one of the open studios I went to,

into a pretty summer brooch.

Oh and I've signed up for a couple of swaps as well so a 

very crafty week.

Hope you have all had a good week and

have a great weekend.

 I'll see you all soon.

Gillxx

Early Morning Catch Up

It's the wee small hours of the morning and I'm wide awake,

So having had a read around blog land I've decided to do

a catch up on what I'm doing in this term Patchwork group.

Firstly, I have been doing a class in Baltimore quilt techniques.

I like doing this as it's something I can do 

while I sit and watch TV with Mr T in the evenings.

When he's not working that is.

It's obviously not expertly done but I'm pleased with the result

and I like the mixture of colours although I would use a different

background fabric next time as this one creases terribly.

These are the blocks I'm doing in my Patchwork group this term.

Jane, the tutor, gives us the blocks to do but how we finish them

and what we make is up to us.

We started with Grandmothers fan which I thought needed something 

to finish the edge so I did a couching stitch around with ordinary

embroidery silk and think it looks quite effective. 

One of the other ladies

had the same thought but she added some narrow lace which

looks very pretty.

I love doing this one which is foundation pieced on to Pattern ease.

It's a lot easier to work with than freezer paper  but not sure how it will 

be when it's all put together. I'm wondering weather it will give the quilt

and uneven feel as the bow tie and maple leaf blocks below 

aren't as thick and a lot more flimsy.

I have fussy cut the centres on this one and like the

finished framed picture effect, it is again foundation pieced. 

They will all be in rows of eight with sashing in between.

The last row of blocks

will be Dresden Plates but I have got a little behind with them

after my week away.

The colours have been picked to go in my spare room

and match up with this wall paper.

This is the biggest quilting project I have undertaking so far

so lets hope it continues to go as well as it is a the moment.

Well I suppose I might try and get some more sleep.

 See you again soon.

Gillxx

Inspiration

I am the lucky recipient of a giveaway hosted 

by the wonderful Barbara-Lillian  in France.

I love France and I love Lace so this was 

totally made for me.

 Thank you so much

Barbara.

There were some postcards and pictures from the area

in France where they were sent from.

These are now on my pin board.

Along with my beautiful lace there was some

Heart shaped beads , vintage coasters,

french sheet music, a bag of her own lavender to

keep it all smelling sweet

and an original paris vogue label.

Which I was very tempted to put into the new top I have made.

I have been inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee

to use those fabrics I have been meaning to make

up for ages.

I started with this lovely batik which I bought 

in the knitting and stitching show last year

(which I wrote about here).

The colour doesn't show up that well in this picture

 but it has turned out great. It is

very plain pattern but will be perfect 

for when the warmer weather gets here.

I have also made myself an infinity scarf.

I saw the tutorial on another blog and I wish I

could remember which one so I could give them

credit for the result but alas it escapes me.

I found the scarf in a charity shop and fell in love with 

the pale muted colours. 

It is a piece of cake to make.

Once you have stitched the two ends together

and added a pompom edging.

Et Voila.

I have also made myself a new skirt, just a very plain pencil skirt

with some vintage tweed from my mother-in-laws stash.

I have some maroon shoes which go perfectly with it.

So now I'm looking at the other fabrics I inherited from

her to decide what to make next, 

but first I'm off to Devon to stay with my daughter for a few days.

See you soon.

Gillxx

Frayed

There is so much I want to talk to you about at the moment

but I decided that this had to go to the top of the list.

The wonderful Mr T (my other half) and I went along the coast

 to Great Yarmouth

yesterday to the Time and Tide museum where there is an

exhibition being put on by the Norfolk Museum service. 

It's called Frayed and looks at work done by people who

have used Textiles as a form of  Occupational Therapy.

As this is something I have done I was really interested.

As you arrive the first thing you see is this four poster bed

completely covered in patchwork, not only the counterpane 

but the hangings as well are all hand stitched.

They were made by a lady called Anna Margaretta Brereton between 1801-1805.

This lady had 10 children, 4 of which died as infants but it was when 

her eldest son died suddenly, aged 14, that she immersed herself in her

stitching and created this beautiful work which survives to this day.

Next to it is a collection of samplers sewn by quite young girls.

They have the tiniest stitches I have ever seen. 

This looks like me in the mornings.

They also had a couple of pieces from the Fine Cell Works group.

These are men who have been taught to sew in prison

and then make pieces like the one below which 

are sold to the public so they can make more. 

There were a lot of other pieces there, even one by Tracey Emin

but the highlight of the exhibition for me was the

"letters" by Lorina Bulwer.

Watchers of the Antiques Roadshow would have seen one 

of these on there last year but this is the first time

both letters have been exhibited together.

They are about 3 metres long and I personally would call them journals

as they are the ramblings of a lady who was in a lunatic asylum

and stitched everything that went on around her and the names of everyone 

involved. Very little of it makes much sense but the care she has taken is incredible.

The colour of the thread changes so that it shows up on the different fabrics all of which

are the same width and bound down the sides.

They have been able to trace some of the named people 

through historical documents as well which I think is wonderful.

She even made pot holders and other items with

wonderful figures appliqued on them.

She was in the asylum for a number of years so 

there is quite possibly more of her work out there somewhere.

If you live within travelling distance then I throughly recommend it.

If you want to find out more then here is the link to the blog.

The rest of the museum is also really worth a visit as it 

one of the most child friendly museums I have ever been to.

with a mock up of an old street where you can go into each shop or house

to see what it was really like.

I love these wonderful stencils for the boxes.

The history of the fishing industry in the area

and how they smoked all the herring that was caught.

 The whole museum is

set up in an old smoke house

The women used to put about 8,000 fish a day

onto wooden sticks ready to be hung like this 

in the smoke rooms.

They even have a film of a fishing boat on a stormy sea

with a commentary of the captain in the headphones.

This was Mr T favourite part.

There is a lot more to see and it took us 2/3 hours to wander around

before having a very nice lunch in the cafe which

strangely enough was full of women talking about quilting.

Gillxx

Ally Pally Day Out

So who else has been down to Londons Alexandra Palace

 for the "Knitting and Stitching show?"

My friend and I went on a coach trip

yesterday and had a fantastic time.

Both of us were broke when we left

with all the bits and pieces we bought

but I have to say for me the best part

was the fabulous exhibitions by the textile graduates

and  artists.

Here are some of my photos.

I went to have a word with long time bloggy

friend Sue from @home who had a stall selling her 

badges and pocket mirrors. It was lovely to 

meet her after chatting on line and sharing each others lives 

for so long. It was a very quick chat as 

thankfully for her she was very busy.

Hope it carried on in the same vain honey and it was worth

all the hard work. Can't wait to read her post about the hotel

which apparently left a lot to be desired.

This was one of my favourites booths 

Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn

and came away with one of their books.

I'm totally inspired to do more embroidery and really wish

I could have afforded to buy one of their pieces.

There was artist from all over the world

Sorry about the glare on this one but I love the picture 

which was so different from the ones above.

  

Then as we left I saw this which has been knitted

 by a whole host of people based on the characters from

a new childrens book due out called"Save snarky spuddle and ramfeezled", 

unfortunately for them they were parked outside 

and not allowed a  gazebo. 

It was pouring when 

we left and I felt so sorry for them.

We hit dreadful traffic on the way home so it was

a very long day but very enjoyable.

I haven't taken a photo of the things I got so will do that this week

so see you soon and let me know what you thought of the show if you went.

Gillxx