Dilys The Quilt: BLOG 3

LBQ

Dilys Anne Fronks is an unusual name (more of this later) but wait till you hear what my maiden name was: OSMOTHERLEY! Few could spell the Welsh name of Dilys but just add Osmotherley to that and you can see what problems might arise. Responses varied from stunned silence to you’ve got to be joking and I’ve had to spell my name out most of my life. It has brought mixed blessings. It was instantly recognisable so once heard, never forgotten! I followed my sister, Gwyneth, and 2 brothers, Edward (Ted) and Owen, through life locally, always labelled as sister to one or the other.

Historically Osmotherley is a well documented name, derived from these earlier variations : Asmunderlauhe, c. 1240; Asmunderlaws, c. 1270; Asmunderlowe, 1299; Asmondrelaw, c. 1320. The de Asmunderlaws appear in Furness in the 12th century, and Asmunder was probably a Viking who originally owned the lea or meadow in the area.Both my brothers have 2 sons, (one with twin grandsons) so our branch of the family grows and flourishes well into the future.

My Coat of Arms

MY QUILTING JOURNEY

Whilst making my first quilt, The Appliqué Sampler, my teacher said that in order to get good flat results in appliqué, you had to keep your work as flat as possible. Being a non-sewer, I took her literally! I sewed with my right hand but kept all the fingers of my left hand on top of my work! When she caught me doing it that way, she said I was allowed to pick my work up but, when I did that way, the fingers underneath distorted the background fabric and gave poor results. Since then I have continued to sew on a flat surface and teach it as a tabletop method. It has served me well as a hand sewing technique for the last27 years.
And at the start, don’t we fret about the number and length of our quilting stitches per inch! I was told to aim for 12 per inch, but I only managed 4! (they are affectionately referred to as ‘toe catchers!’)
My first quilt has been so well used over the years, it is faded now, and the wadding (batting) is as thin as it can be. But I am as proud now of it as I was when I first finished it. This quilt opened the door to my quilting world.

QUILTING 2010

The quilt under my machine at the moment is a log cabin sampler quilt, sewn with a paper foundation method and using Liberty of London fabrics.
I made my first Logs in the Sampler in 1994 (Gallery 1 http://www.dilysfronks.com/) and always vowed that I would go back and visit the technique when I had more time. The traditional 12” sampler quilt blocks were made with a log cabin technique, using the light, medium and dark values of the fabrics.