Little Treasures Winner

Having chosen the nearest container which happened to be the lid of my travelling box of hexies my husband did the honours and picked a name out of the box.

The winner is Marina from Maisie and the boys blog. Congratulations Marina. Will pop them in the post as soon as i get your snail mail address.

Big congratulations to the new Royal Baby boy who made his arrival today weighing in at 8lb 6oz. My husband says his money is on the name Fred?!! I have chosen George.

Happy Stitching.

Love Shirley.

Little Treasures Giveaway

It seems a timely moment to announce a little giveaway following on from our lovely workshop with Barbara Chainey. Barbara very kindly donated a copy of Volume I and Volume II of her latest collection of patterns for me to give away to a lucky winner.

Inside you will find designs suitable for quilting and appliqué and designed to fit within a 9" square. You will be able to enlarge or reduce the designs as required and the pages slip out of the binder easily for ease of use. The pages are A4 sized.

Stitching has been a very slow progress this week due to a painful back. I often have aches and pains but this has been something else and I was told to cut back on the sewing to give things a rest. Feeling much better this morning I attempted to stitch the last small component of the Lotus Blossom block. I had to rest after each tiny seam as the pain is also bad in my hand. I did it and that is my lot for the day. Maybe tomorrow I can add another seam. Progress is progress no matter how small. During this week all those carefully arranged pieces stayed in one place and neither husband or budgie came to any harm.

Often when we stitch we just show off the front of the work. It is after all the bit we want to see. What I always want to know though is how do you press the seams and which way do they lie and what does it all look like at the back. Starting from now I will make the effort to show you what the back of my work looks like and I hope you won't be shy in showing me what yours looks like. This is the small section from the back. Nothing has been pressed other than the sections in the middle and only with pressure from my fingers. A word of warning here, those pieces are very stretchy and may not fit the next section if you are too eager to flatten it all out. Hand piecing also allows those seams to move freely too. I am no expert on this matter and any hints or tips or advice are always welcome.

All you have to do to win the patterns is leave me a comment, blogger or no blogger so long as I can contact you if you are the winner. First name out of a suitable receptacle will win on the 22nd July. You can leave me a comment even if you  don't wish to take part, I do like to hear from you.

Good luck.

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.

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.