Whig's Defeated

On Friday we had the greatest luck to have a workshop with Barbara Chainey who was going to put us through our paces and show us how to make the Whig's Defeat block. It was a lovely sunny day, very warm, not what we have been used to but with the ceiling fans going full blast, all doors wide open we enjoyed a most informative day. Lots of tips and advice given throughout the day and fortified with tea and freshly picked strawberries saw Barbara's energy levels maintained. She left deepest Middle England at 5.00am to make it in good time for us at 9.30am.

Here is Barbara showing sections of the block. Talking us through the sections of what goes where.

This is the same block but with a different placement of colours. Very different effects can be achieved with colour placement.

This is Jacqui's block looking very bold and adventurous.

Janet from the previous post used very soft shades of  fabric with a deep purple. Thank you for all your wonderful comments regarding Janet's Race Track Quilt.

Ann's block taking shape and the pretty feet belong to Ann's daughter Emma.

 

Kathryn hiding behind her block and blending in beautifully.

Marie's block looking very pretty. I say that because I have some of those fabrics and I was drooling over them. Marie's summery dress was very pretty too and she was lucky to go home with it intact.

Emma's version is on the table and you can see it in the foreground. It would work fabulously with the décor of the hall.

Much discussion on what goes where.

Diane's version.

I had to try something a little different. Still Whig's Defeat but based around a hexagon. What else would you expect from me? I can tell you there was a lot of muttering going on from where I was sitting and if only you place the small pieces the right way round then it all becomes quite simple. The pattern is very much a trial piece as it is based on an old quilt found on Pinterest.  The pattern was drafted by Barbara's partner in crime Chris Frances. That really will teach me not to send a Pinterest link to a friend who has a friend who is an expert in drafting patterns. I am using fabrics that were hand dyed by my friend Wendy. This version is called Lotus Blossom, the block is 20 inches and I think it is beautiful.

Back home and all the little pieces cut and placed in order. My husband is under strict instruction DO NOT TOUCH the table OR ELSE! Just hope now that the budgie doesn't swoop over them and scatter them on a downdraught.

All set out on the floor and apologies for the table leg and the plastic bag in the way. It did take me ALL day to do that one small section of points but once I got some sense of order the next piece went together in a very short time. My plan is to have the circle completed by the end of the week. Oh! A pig just flew over.

Outside of the Orangery is a magnificent Tulip Tree and it was in full bloom. We should never be stuck for ideas on how to put colours together, just look what nature does. Smelled lovely too.

 







We thoroughly enjoyed our day and have now defeated The Whig's. Easy when you know how. Barbara enjoyed it too as she had a personal guided tour around the beautiful old church and I wonder how soon we shall see some drawings inspired by her visit.

 

Thank You Barbara on behalf of everyone at Apple County Quilters.

 

Happy Stitching.

 

Shirley

Boy Variety

These little shoes don't take long to make but it takes me a long time to just get on with it.

Same pattern. Omitted the straps and top stitched the seams together, added a felt star and the buttons rescued from a condemned shirt.

My good friend Janet Daniels is the maker of this fabulous quilt based on a drunkard's path block. I think any child would love to race their cars on this track spying on the colourful fabrics as they go.

Lucky find for the backing.

Have you changed over to save your followers? The changes come into operation on July 1st and you will not be able to see your followers in google reader. At least that is how I understand it. I have no idea how it is all going to work or if all my followers will remain or those that I follow but, you will be able to follow me on Bloglovin. I hope to see you there too.

Happy stitching.

Shirley

New Shoes

From this........

To these........

Tiny new shoes.

Ha!  Now to make a pair for the boy variety.


If you want to make a pair, the pattern I used is May Blossom by Simone Gooding. I used a layer of   fabric  and appliqued it to the felt shape. It would have been much easier to use the two layers of felt and much quicker.  Worked quite well though. The felt is the palest lemon shade. Also covered an ordinary button with the same fabric for a designer look. Saves trying to match up a button. I fancied putting a large bow on them but changed my mind and went for simple chic.

Fabric - in my room by Jenean Morrison for Free Spirit. Available at Dotty Dolly.

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.

Aligning Stars

This last weekend the stars were in alignment and I actually made it down to Cowslip Workshops in Cornwall. There have been many classes that I have wanted to join in with but for a variety of reasons it just hasn't happened but I so wanted to do this one. A whole weekend with Petra Prins from Holland and a workshop on Mariner's Compass all in the delightful setting that is at Cowslip. I urge anyone coming to the UK for a trip to put it on the agenda and go and see it for yourself. It is such a peaceful place, it calms your soul but nurtures the creative energies at the same time. You will get the friendliest greeting from Jo and her staff. The shop is well stocked and the food is great.

First task was to choose fabrics and as you may guess mine had to have some pink. Then came the cutting out. This was to be a hand piecing project and all the pieces were speedily cut out using a rotary cutter and the specialist plastic templates that were non slip. They were easy to see through too for fussy cutting. The templates had little holes for marking the seam lines and matching up points crucial to making a piece of patchwork that would lie flat.  Petra did say that it could be machine pieced too but not for us this weekend. ( Guess who got to sit at the pink cutting board?).

Stitching all the components wasn't difficult so long as you got things in the right order. We were all eager to see how it was  going to look and every single one looked great. You can see more on Petra's blog.

 

The weather was glorious and so Marie my travelling companion and I set off to the coast at Bude for a fish and chip supper which we ate overlooking the sea. Back at our delightful B&B we opened a bottle of wine and carried on stitching. My main task was to get all my pieces in order and pinned to my pressing mat so that the following day I could chain piece. This lovely little quilt was on the wall in my room.

 

On the Sunday we carried on stitching and by the end of the afternoon the circle was complete. Choosing fabrics I find is the hardest part of the process. Petra was very helpful and I came away with lots of ideas and more fabric. I stuck with my original choice for the background. It is a tricky one but I think it will be worth it. I would love more of the pink stripe that I have used in the narrow border, if only I could remember where I had it from. The setting in of the inner and outer circles were done at home. The little stripe is not yet sewn down. I am taking time now to live with it before I decide the next move.

This is Petra signing her new book. It is a must have book called Promenade dans un jardin Hollandais, co written with An Moonen. It is a Quiltmania book with text and instructions in French and English.

Hanging up in the workshop were some of the quilts from the new book and I can tell you they are even better up close and personal. I just love the centre of this quilt and it has now gone onto the list of quilts to make.

No blog post of mine would ever be complete without a hexagon sneaking in and I would happily have taken this one home. It is beautiful and with some surprising fussy cutting of fabrics that you would not expect.

This was a little quilt but exquisite and I think we all adored this one.

 

We were well looked after, plenty of tea/ coffee and cake in the afternoon. This was called Hummingbird cake and topped with crystallised flowers, pansies in this case. It looked far too pretty but in the end it got eaten.

In the shop there are quilts everywhere and this one high up in the rafters looked pretty good.

I wish I took better photographs as these two quilts were very pretty.

All too soon the day came to an end and time to go home. I had the most wonderful two days, good food, great company and I hope I can repeat it again and soon. Looking forward to Petra coming back again.

Happy stitching.

Shirley

Stokie Girl

I was born in Stoke on Trent, home of the finest tableware ever produced and occasionally I get the urge to go back to my roots. We did the Staffordshire Moorlands bit for my husband and so it was my turn to do my heritage trail.

First stop was Wedgwoods. Coincidentally, there was a programme on TV whilst we were staying there all about master potter Josiah Wedgwood, the most famous potter and he certainly gave his all to producing the fine china for which he gave his name to. He practiced and practiced over and over until he had the perfect product, carefully documenting each process.

This is he stood outside the entrance to the shop and museum. Apologies for the darkness of these pics but hopefully you will be able to click and enlarge and see them a bit better.

There is much to see in the museum from beautiful crockery to jewellery with lots of video links. Wedgwood is probably most noted for it's Jasper Ware that has little white images in relief on a coloured background. In the museum is a handy computer generated gadget that can take a photo and portray your image as it would look on a piece of Jasper Ware.

This is me.

This bruiser is my husband.

 

We found a snatched hour to meet up for a cuppa in the cafe with Barbara Chainey. Another fellow Stokie.


At the end of the week we had a visit to the Burleigh Pottery. Currently it is my favourite everyday tableware and the factory shop is a must place to visit. Click on the link to read about this wonderful piece of our heritage and also follow the link to see Prince Charles on You Tube. Ha! Love that Stokie accent.

The entrance to the pottery works looking above at the beautiful tiles, notice all those clamshells.

This is called a bottle oven and at one time they dominated the area belting out smoke as they fired and cooked the pottery inside. The area was known as Smoke on Trent. Now there are only a few and this is the only one left standing at Burleigh. Burleigh and the area surrounding is being regenerated by a grant from Prince Charles and his Trust. In my opinion they are doing a great job and a good deal of the terraced housing is being revamped into smart looking homes. Anything which helps to save this wonderful heritage of ours has to be a good thing. This is one of a few Pot Banks left that makes everything from start to finish.

 

This week, on the sewing front the perfect fabric presented itself to me for the scalloped border for the centre of Hertfordshire. Already in my stash. It needed a bit of re jigging and drawing to get the scallops in the right place and hopefully you can see how I did it. I made a little template out of tracing paper and drew the outline of the flower motif so that it could be centred over each one along the line. I marked it with a General white charcoal pencil.

It was placed on the background, pinned in place and tacked down ready for appliqué. Nearly there with it and I am pleased.

Not sure where I go from here with this. Will just sit and stare at it for a while I think.


Happy Stitching.

Shirley.

2nd Attempt

Last week we went on a little holiday to our home place of Cheddleton in the Staffordshire Moorlands. We stayed in a lovely little bungalow with this great view of the rolling hills of the Churnet Valley that were my husband's childhood stomping ground. The only downside was not having a wifi signal.

The weather was trying to be kind to us and we had a little walk down to the steam railway. No coat I might add. The railway was closed for the day as it had a private function and the lucky guests were having a trip with some fine dining, silver service no less and it looked rather nice. If you so wished you could even get married on said train.

 

Opposite the railway is The Boat pub. It once made an appearance in Coronation Street when several of the male variety went off on a little canal and fishing jaunt. Below it the canal is having some maintenance work and new footpaths are being laid.

The River Churnet.

On the Sunday we went for Sunday lunch and on a sample menu it said Sun Baked Cheddleton Pork. Perhaps this is what they meant. Basking in the sunshine at the farm opposite the railway.

As you know I never leave home without some sewing and I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to get the centre of the Hertfordshire quilt stitched. I really tried but the first attempt was such rubbish that I almost gave up and binned it. Common sense prevailed and once back home I unpicked the the outer circle and the middle. The actual points were ok. Spray starch became my best friend and it stopped it from stretching. I also re cut new outer borders and in a different direction to how I had it before. Careful pinning and stitching and I am now pleased that it lies flat. Now I have to think about what happens next and find suitable fabrics for the scalloped border.

On the way home I managed a quick whizz round the Uttoxeter Quilt Show and a spot of retail therapy. I literally did have one hour and a little bit so didn't take it all in properly but these came home with me. I didn't even have time to take any photo's.

I also came away with a book that is new on the market and I feel a little personal challenge coming on. More on that another time.

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.x

Missing....

A few people have shown concern that I have not been blogging and I have no excuse other than I just haven't. I have been doing lots of reading and following. Very early this morning I was wide awake, something like 5.00am and so decided that I will show you that I am not really missing and I have actually been doing something.

Firstly. Most of you know that I save scraps of ridiculous sizes and the box(es) are overflowing so, I decided that I would have a little play. I cut several strips of a plain cream fabric 3/4" wide. Then  I picked up the scraps and just sewed them to a cream strip  and just kept adding randomly until I had created a big enough piece. I like the crazy paved feel of this little piece.

All trimmed and bound, measuring 9" x 12". My intention now is to send it on a little adventure and donate it to the Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative in the USA. (AAQI). Anyone who doesn't know what this is it is a wonderful thing where you can make and donate and buy online mini quilted treasures in memory of a loved one who has or is suffering from Alzheimers. All proceeds from the online auction go to the research for a cure of this terrible disease. I am simply calling this "Elsie" in memory of my mum.

I machine quilted it in the middle of each cream line. Just need to register it now before I can send it.

Having started the Scrappy Trip Around The World quilt I needed an action plan to get going with making more blocks so, my plan was to cut out all the remaining strips ready for some serious sewing. I needed 147 fabrics if I was to make the 72" square version. Hopefully my maths is correct and I have cut enough to finish what I started. This was no mean feat. It meant raiding the stash and digging deep to find 147 fabrics without repeating any. I think I have done it but not too sure that the odd one hasn't crept in. Anyway, mission accomplished and all strips ready for action.

A little progress has been made on Noughts and Crosses. Lizzie at broderie blog said that one of her sewing friends bought this pattern from her and then turned up 3 weeks later with all 42 blocks completed, all hand sewn. Phew! I am in awe. This is my humble offering but I am pleased with it so far. Maybe progress would be quicker on this one if I cut out the blocks en masse.

Had to have a little play at some fabric origami to try out this little hexagon. There was a very pretty bag on Pinterest made from these delightful fancies and it gave a link to a great tutorial so, i had to have a go. Cut from a 5" charm square you will get a hexagon with  2.5" sides, when sewn up it measures 1.25". The button hides the stitching that keeps the points in place.

It feels like it has taken me an eaternity to choose suitable fabrics for the centre of the Hertfordshire Quilt. Having found the bird fabric in my stash I then wondered how I was going to stop this from looking a dark and sombre quilt. I cut out the first row of points and that is where I got stuck. Hmm. I think at this point it was helpful to know what background the circle would sit in and I found the perfect fabric at a quilt show, a very soft peachy pink with a soft grey stripe. Now I think I am getting somewhere. The dotty fabrics were both from my stash and the white fabric has livened it up. Just have to stitch it all now. The mitred pieces are just glued down at the edge. I am sure I have given myself a big headache when it comes to deciding on what comes next but I will think about that when I get there. I really have no idea where this is going next.

 

Well, it is now 7.20am and time to get up, except that I have already been awake for over 2 hours and I need another cup of tea. I promise not to leave it so long next time.

 

Happy Stitching.

 

Love Shirley.

 

p.s. Please go and pay a visit to my lovely friend Stina and wish her a happy belated birthday as she shows her celebrations.