BLOG 449

Blog 449

It was Gresford week last week, our 39^th exhibition. I was very proud to be a guest exhibitor this year and I think I talked solidly for four days, from 10.30am to 5pm!! I chose to demonstrate a scrap quilt project, something that was repetitive and simple, and I will detail that next week. This week’s blog belongs to Gresford and the pictures below show a multitude of crafts displayed in the mellow surroundings of an old church. Our themed exhibition was ‘The Seasons’.

 

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Another guest exhibitor was Terry Edmonds and I loved the colour and freedom of his work. He recycles objects and just gets on with it, without any planning or designing … a sort of ‘human spider doodling’!

 

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BLOG 448

Blog 448

I finished quilting ‘Sampler in the Cabin’ this week and it will be on display next week at Gresford (and it will look better than in the picture!). Hurrah!

             Sampler In the cabin

 

I decided that I needed another felted cushion for my display. I love the work of Moy Mackay and followed her procedure to create one.

          Inspiration

 

 

         Foundation

 

 

         Second layer and sky

 

 

           Foreground

 

 

            More colour

 

 

          Fabric surround

 

              Finished scene

 

               Netting

 

 

          Soap

                                 

           Wet felted

 

Everything went so well and I was very pleased with the result. Because of time constraints I needed to get on with the thread work so I decided to put it in the tumble dryer with a towel. I knew it would get a good pummelling, helping along the felting process. What I didn’t factor into this process was the heat aspect of it! Duh! What I ended up with was a very well felted picture but it was so much smaller and not suitable for the centre of a cushion! So I decided to forget about that and devote the rest of the time to preparing my quilts for the exhibition.

 

             Selection

 

 

         Cushions

 

  

             Organising

  

    Exhibits for Church

 

         Information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLOG 447

Blog 447

I am happy to say that I got down to quilting ‘Sampler in the Cabin’ this week. I started by sewing a stretch stitch on the ¼” borders around each 6” square to stabilise them. I have opted to do non-decorative stitching and just use the quilting process as a means of holding the three layers together. I don’t want the quilting to distract from the intricacy of the patchwork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Borders

After preparing a miniature cable stencil for the quilting motif in the lattices, I abandoned that idea straight away and decided just to sew a line of stitches ¼” from all the edges. This was quick and just the lift I needed to start quilting the squares. (Sometimes, I think you can be too cerebral about how to tackle the quilting and that was what was stopping me from making progress. I need to enjoy what I am doing or there is no point at all in doing it as in ‘Love what you do and do what you love’)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lattices

 

Once the lattices were sewn, I added the binding and sewed a line that was ¼” away from it before hand-sewing the binding on the back.

 

 

Line parallel to the binding

 And then I started to tackle the blocks themselves with in-the-ditch quilting. This necessitated leaving all the starting and finishing threads free so I could weave them in later.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished 9-patch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Threads on Clipper ship

 

Weaving the ends of the threads can be a bit of a chore but I have learned over the years to leave a long enough end to do it comfortably! Then a friend loaned me one of her easy-thread needles and my life was transformed! You can see from the picture below that this needle has a double eye. The top eye has a split in it and all you have to do is to pull the thread down vertically over the top of the needle and it slips into the eye. Brilliant! For short ends, you can push the needle into the fabric first and then do this simple manoeuvre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needles

 

I have decided to put my labels on display at the Gresford exhibition as I have a good and varied selection to date. I have been cutting up some of the sewing samples that I sometimes make before embarking on a larger project; it’s good to be using them with a purpose. I have also been threading the ones I have finished with different coloured baby ribbon. They look good and I can very much see this project developing in finesse and quantity over the years!

 

 

 

 

 

Labels

My latest label is in progress. I bought a sewing case at the Festival of Quilts a couple of years ago. It was for sale on the stall for the silk guild and it was exquisitely sewn and very cheap! A lot of the lines are sewn using a single thread and the detail is extraordinary. I decided to have a go as this is just the right sort of project to take to my local sewing group, where talking is probably more important than the craft! My repertoire of 4 stitches pales into insignificance beside the original but at least I can say that I had a go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hand embroidery

 

 

BLOG 446

Blog 446

 

I am still embarrassed to be showing the ‘Sampler in the Cabin’ quilt as I have still managed to avoid doing anything to it apart from move it when it gets in my way. Still, it is at the front of my mind now and I will crack it sometime soon (but don’t hold your breath)!! And just a reminder, it is a miniature quilt with the individual blocks measuring 6”.

         Sampler in the cabin

 

I have added a lot of textured stitching to the painterly background that I made last week. I love the colours I have used and the way they move throughout the piece. I decided to add subtle flowers, in this case free-cut primroses, over the top so as not to detract from the background. I made it into a cushion for my Gresford display.

            Textured background

 

 

          Detail

 

 

            Completed cushion

 

 

             Flower detail

 

 

While I was on a roll making cushions, I found 2 panels that I had made for workshops way back when. These translated well into art cushions.

 

        Clematis art cushion

 

 

              Cushion collection

 

 

               Panel

 

 

         

              Anemone art cushion

 

 

Yesterday I took part in the charity run ‘Gung-Ho 5km’ which took place on the Chester race course. It involved a course covering 5km (obviously!), interspersed with huge, slippery inflatable obstacles. I was with Tess, Richard and granddaughter Ella (9) and taking part was great fun. But at 70 I’m not as fit as I used to be so I largely went round on my own as the many others in our group disappeared in a blur into the distance. I adopted a ‘trot for 50 and walk for 50’ system (I’m not built to run!) and managed to get round …. Eventually!! Richard finished promptly and then came back and did the last 1/3 of the course again with me.  I was very touched. He helped me get over a fiendishly difficult climbing wall where someone was lying at the base awaiting an ambulance! The last obstacle included wading through a bubble bath but I slipped on the grass and ended up totally submerged and thoroughly disorientated with my glasses covered in foam; thankfully Ella came in to find me. So I survived but it took the rest of the day to recover. All in a good cause though.

 

Gung-Ho 5k Chester