Monday 2 May 2011

Activity at Stitcherydo HQ

Come and take a peep at what is happening behind the door.



Daughter no.2 finally removed her furniture and her bedroom became my sewing room. A luxury I know, but it still has to function as an occasional bedroom. It has been painted and has new furniture. I have made a bold statement with the deep red wall and soon a sofa bed will join it all and it will be a pleasant place to sit and sew. This room has beautiful views towards the Quantock Hills. It isn't quite finished yet and still a work in progress but definitely on the list for a finish this month. In my capacity as Ribbon Cutter Extraordinaire I may invite a few guests and declare it open.



Blocks 3 and 4 almost complete and I am thinking about block 5. These blocks take some thinking about. Colour, how and where to best use it, plus which way to sew a seam and the direction in which it will lie so that it will lie flat, taking care not to stretch all those bias edges. As I am making these blocks I am stitching little bits of my friends into them. The blue/green stripe fabric points in block 3 are scraps from Pat's husbands shirt (scraps destined for the doggy cushions and rescued), the green fabric given to me from Val. A memory quilt of sorts.



You may remember me showing a little bit of this hexagon quilt last year. Well, after 40 years in progress Pat (with the pearl earring) has finally finished it. Well done Pat for such perseverence. There are a few Pat's in our Tuesday group and to distinguish them Pat with the pearl earring came about from a self portrait mini quilt where she depicted herself with said earring.



Congratulations to Mary (Tuesday sewing group)for winning this wonderful raffle quilt at a Quilters Guild sewing Day. It is beautifully made and I hope that clicking on a close up shows the detail.



Finally, I would like to show you this wonderful piece of work that stands outside the Art Department at the Somerset College of Art and Technology. It is by a very talented young man named Ben Plaw, aged 18. Ben is now at Bath University studying Fine Art. It is made from pieces of stainless steel and has been treated to get the rusty look. The brief was to make something to represent overcoming struggles and is partly inspired by The Angel of the North. It is meant to represent braving and battling the elements. I love it and I am thrilled at seeing it everytime I pass the College.


Happy Stitching everyone.

Love Shirley.

p.s. Now didn't the Middleton's do well with the marriage of their daughter Kate to Prince William? The whole day was just a brilliant spectacle and a happy and joyous occasion. It was a much needed escape from all the doom and gloom and destruction that assaults us. One thing our Royals do well is to put on such pageantry and they didn't disappoint. A perfect day.

15 comments:

  1. Hi Shirley,
    Your sewing room looks lovely. Having a place dedicated to sewing is so important! I wish you many happy hours there. The quilts were all lovely (wish I could have won that terrific raffle quilt!) I agree 100% on the royal wedding. I TiVo'd the whole thing and compressed 6 hours of TV into 3 hours and it was wonderful. I wish them every happiness. 8)

    Happy stitching,
    Susan in Texas

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  2. Your new space look fabulous, I'm sure you are going to love every minute in there.

    And the sculpture is wonderful! Many moons ago we used to have a young man called Michael Turner pop in to our factory and we punched metal for him. It was fabulous seeing his beautiful creations made out of our rather uninspiring metal! I'm sure Ben will go a long way too if he's already making things that good.

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  3. Having a dedicated sewing space will make machine work so much easier and I love your pink wall. What a beautiful raffle quilt and Mary was a very lucky girl - the colours in the quilt are just lovely. Great artwork and it wouldn't look out of place in my town particularly with Ben's theme. Take care.

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  4. Glad to see you didn't let us down with the colour of the wall (PINK)well dark pink.

    Your blocks are coming on fantastically .
    Lovely raffle quilt I would be pleased to have one that .

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  5. Great to have a sewing room to be able to close the door, leave your work to come back to later.. and what a gorgeous quilt Mary won.
    Wish I was game enough to paint a wall red...I keep going back to boring cream!
    Julia ♥

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  6. Happy sttiching in your new sewing space Shirley. It's lovely. The raffle quilt was just gorgeous. Congrats to Mary.
    The young man who sculpted that wonderful Angel has talent in spades. I love it.
    Blessings Michelle

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  7. The wedding was wonderful and on during the day here so it was great to not have to get up in the middle of the night. What an amazing art piece by such a young person, thank you for sharing that.
    Your blocks are looking gorgeous! What a lovely sewing space you're getting, love the red wall.

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  8. Congratulations on finally taken possession of your sewing room. It looks like a wonderful space and all yours, even if you have to occasionally share it. That bold colouring is your signature wall and you will spend many creative hours surrounded by those walls. Love the new Camelot blocks. I am in the sewing doldrums at the moment and hoping that will change soon.

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  9. Wonderful post Shirley! First off, the art piece took my breath away...such talent young Ben Plaw has...Wow!

    Your new sewing room looks like an amazing comfy, safe place...very cozy...enjoy your time in there.

    The Camelot blocks are lovely and will be so fun with the memories sewn in.

    Pat (with the pearl earring) deserves a big pat, haha, on the back for finishing her quilt and it's very pretty.

    And isn't Mary the lucky one?! Good job!

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  10. I am so pleased that you have had your whip out! Lol! Your sewing space looks so lovely!
    Lisa

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  11. The wedding was fantastic Kate didn't look nervous at all considering the world was watching. I am impressed with you sewing room. Mine looks like a bomb went off in it.

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  12. Hello Shirley, I found your blog throught Stina, I loved peeking behind the door into your new sewing space. Lovely and bright. Thanks for sharing those great quilts. And Yes while on vacation I took the time to watch the royal wedding and I even got up at 0445. VBg Lovely Blog Hugs Judy

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  13. Hi Shirley, Love love love the sewing room with the red wall and your office chair. Congratulations to Pat on finishing such a beautiful quilt and love the sculpture.

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  14. I love the wall colour and your very tidy sewing space. More great Camelot blocks too. The sculpture is fantastic - looks like it is having a real battle to overcome struggles of any kind. Would love to see this one for real.

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  15. Love the choice of colour for your stitching room a.shirl. So exciting your own room full of everything i enjoy....most definetly jelous! xx

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