BLOG 139

Happy Mothering Sunday to those lucky enough to qualify! I remember the days when Mothering Sunday (not Mother’s Day as it is now called by the companies that produce and sell the cards) was a church celebration on the 4^th Sunday in Lent. As Sunday school children, we honoured our mothers with small gifts of spring flowers, whilst being encouraged to compare this with Mother Church. That aside, I am just waiting for the family to arrive to share a special meal. I am so lucky they are local to me and that we can get together as often as we do. Family is the most important part of my life.

 

 

 

                  

 Now what have I been up to this week? I suppose most of my time has been spent preparing for my WE course at Alston Hall in Lancashire. It is the only course I teach now and it is by invitation of the lady who organises it all. I have been going there with this particular group for years and I love it. They have already been taught most of what I know and it is always a struggle coming up with something refreshing but I do try. The food is scrummy at Alston, the staff wonderful and the classrooms have all the facilities required for a successful course. And there is a bar … need I say more!

This year I am doing fusible piecing. There will be 3 different techniques for practical purposes and a demonstration of procedure for art quilts. There are no seams to sew, just shapes attached with a fusible or with Vilene. Speedy and great fun!

The 3 techniques are as follows:

 Square within a square

 

                                        Crazy patchwork

 

                             Patchwork and tonal sequences

 

 

I will show you more about these techniques through my blog after I have done the workshop.

In the meantime, I have been making the top of a tissue box (for myself this time surprisingly) and I am trying to do something just in stitch and sheers. I used to drive all the way to Willington, (near Oswestry, Shropshire) to Castle Court Quilters, to attend a machine embroidery course run by Suzette Smart. I really admire the quirky originality in her work and I loved the fact that I was able to sit all day and just concentrate of threads. I would never have been able to do that at home as I would have been constantly distracted by fabrics and the like. Google her name and follow the links if you are interested to see her work. Anyway my lid has been started using techniques I have picked up in her classes.

I started with a background fabric reinforced with a firm backing. On the background fabric I have defined with lines of stitches where the oval centre and outer edges will be. I have added sheers and started to draw with threads and a free-motion technique. This is what it looks like after about an hour of playing about with threads and there is much more work to do. Watch this space.

 

                                          Initial drawing

 

 

                                        Writing detail

We’re off to Centre Parcs for 2 nights this week, to join my daughter and family who are there all week. The weather forecast is horrendous with snow and plummeting temperatures. Wish us luck!!