BLOG 91

Time is just flying by so I have had my head down this week,
working on my Jacobean positive/negative wall hanging which I featured a couple
of blogs ago. I felt I needed to get as much of it as possible under my machine
if I have any hope of completing it for exhibition/competition this year. I am
pleased with progress on the negative version which is now fully decorated with
stitches, and I have started quilting it with a simple grid. The reasoning here
is that there is so much stitchery on the coloured fabric that simple quilting
is the only option; I don’t want to go for over-kill!



Quilting Grid

Here is the backing fabric; I just love it!

Backing Fabric

Another project underway is a Memorabilia Box. I received one made
by Audrey Lee when I was 40, many, many moons ago, and now I make them as a
personal gift for a special occasion, for special people. At 10 ½” x 8 ½”, they
are big enough to store all the cards, banners and mementoes, that such an
occasion generates. I will be teaching this soon at Alston Hall for the
Shoreline Quilters at the beginning of April so I need to re-acquaint myself
with its construction and make workshop samples. As a spin off, I am also
teaching it at the Gresford group now that the log cabin bag has been
completed. Here is a sample made for my brother Owen and his wife Jean who will
celebrate their Ruby Wedding next month.

Memorabilia Box

Detail of Lid

The memorabilia box starts off with mount card, a near-plain lining
fabric and a busy outer fabric and threads that reflect the colours in the
fabric for the tassel.

Raw Materials

And now the reason I have had to get a wriggle on with my work
during February. Roger and I will be going away to Hawaii next Saturday for 3
weeks. I mentioned above that it was my brother’s Ruby Wedding. Well it is also
ours! We married nearly 40 years ago in what was then the Gilbert and Ellice
Islands Colony (now Kiribati and Tuvalu) and, because we knew our parents
wouldn’t make the journey to be with us, I chose the next best thing. We waited
for Owen and Jean to name their day, and then we chose the same date. This way,
I knew that my whole family would be gathering for a wedding and that they would
think of us and celebrate with us in spirit. We raised our glasses to each
other at our respective receptions. We went back to our island (Tarawa) for our
Silver Wedding Anniversary but it wasn’t the same without the people we had
known there. In Hawaii we will have our toes in the Pacific and be experiencing
island life again.

Wedding 1972

PS For Helen of Hobart; I didn't forget. Here's the picture of the 'Comparethequilts.com' wall

hanging of the Meerrkats that you requested.