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What a day I had yesterday at Thornton Hough! I had a dreadful stomach pains the night before and was violently sick a few minutes before my departure. As I left, I didn’t even know whether I could manage my talk or run the workshop with the waves of nausea that I was experiencing. But all I could think of was the 50+ quilters who were making their way to the village hall. In what I can only describe as a feat of human endurance, I just about managed. Once I started to show my quilts, I just rattled on with enthusiasm. After a bit of fresh air in the late November sunshine, I returned to run the workshop. It was so well received that my job as a teacher was made much easier and I managed to quell the waves of nausea throughout. When I got home, all weak and feeble, I wrapped myself in a quilt and cuddled in front of a log fire for the rest of the evening. Marginally better today and on the mend. Here is the workshop.  (If you want a pattern, email me at dilys.fronks@btinternet.com)

CHRISTMAS WALL HANGING 6 ½” x 22”

REQUIREMENTS

Fusible: 6” x 16” (eg Bondaweb) Mark the vertical and horizontal centre lines with a suitable marker.

Foundation: 6 ½” x 16” (eg calico, you must be able to see through it to trace a pattern line)

Black cotton fabric: 6 ½” x 22” Mark the vertical and horizontal centre lines on to WS with a suitable marker

Candle: 2 ½” x 8 ½” Xmas red

Words: 2 ½” x 9 ½“ Xmas white

Holly: 6 ½” x 6 ½“Xmas green

Flame: 2” x 2 ½” of gold

 

METHOD Press the fabrics ready to start.

1 Trace the pattern centrally onto the WS of the calico and onto the paper side of the fusible. Add centre lines onto the fusible.

Trace the pattern onto calico and fusible

 

2 Centre and press the fusible onto the WS of the black fabric. Allow it to cool.

              Stick the fusible

 

3 Cut out the shapes on the line, remembering to keep the centre of the ‘O’’.

              Cut out the shapes

  Place the Xmas white for the letters, RS uppermost, onto the RS (unmarked) of the calico. Move it to lie over the tracing of the letters on the WS. (TIP: Hold it up to the light to check the position of the fabric against the pattern lines.). Pin at the 4 corners on the RS and sew around the outside of the marked lines on the WS. Sew about ¼” from the lines, to hold the fabrics together.

 

                         Sew outside the lines

 

5 On the RS, trim the excess fabric on the outside of the stitched line. Repeat for the candle, flame and letters.

 

               Trim excess fabric
 

6 Peel the paper from the WS of the black fabric and place it over the prepared calico strip. Move it about to make sure that there are no tacking lines visible before ironing the layers together.

                           Iron the layers together

To be continued …. And a Happy December 1^st … for the ones who requested it ….

                                                      Robin