Hot, hotter...

Really warm day - by the time I had hung out a long line of washing, the first piece was almost dry..
So, lots of skeins of thread ready to rewind into cheeses and then into little skeins for sale

And a whole basket of fabrics ready to iron, weigh, pack, and  sell... This is just four washes

And I made my first indigo dyebath. And it worked! And I'm so happy...




Blue everywhere! here we go...

Alienz, part 4

Might be a baby....

Little and Large

One inch squares

 Sew in rows

 Press

 Arrange

 Sew the rows together

 Before pressing

 And after
Regular Fiskars for scale - note that i haven't sewn down the last two red pieces
This is a Granny Square, (see Heather's Blog for some more) except that I think it may be a great-great-great-great-granny square..

And here's another.. Start with 7-1/2 inch squares (these are from a Sapphire Oakshott fat-eighth pack, plus about 1 metre or so of batik).  It's about 50 inches wide and will make a nice lap-quilt. I've got some nice birdy IKEA for the back in black-white-and-green.

Pattern sooooon (and I've started quilting it, another image as soon as it's done

Thursday Night

 Another of my Accidental Faces Series - and yes, it's upside down. Interesting how the brain is attuned to the basic face idea

And this one is From The Wall, and Shadows, and Blue

Veldhoven Part 1

 Well, so far, so splendid.. Last night's Travelodge was hidden down a back lane marked "No Entry" and was fusty, but cheap.. Here I am at the NH Konigshof which is one of the better places I have stayed in my travels.. I have had a small sleep, a swim, and supper, and I'm happy.. My quilts are being hung by tall pretty Dutch ladies, and I have a bookbinding class tomorrow..
The grounds are delightful, wooded and not at all formal.. Blackbird above was exploring next to my car and not offended by the camera.

 Lily Of The Valley springs up and post wears down

















The journey down was marked by the most astounding trees, all misty and multi-coloured with new Spring growth.. Unfortunately, Belgian and Dutch motorways have very few stopping-places in the woods, so no pictures.

 The corridors have already some quilts hanging.. This is
Dochters Van Het Licht by Ellen Siemer

 And this is Rit Mein Blues by the same artist.  The wonderful intensity of the colour is hard to capture, and the hand-stitching is fabulous, see details below

 Finally, a Shadow on the floor in a deserted corridor.. So nice to see the sunlight..

More tomorrow and all through the Show

Catching up

 Saturday - Jubilee weekend starts with a world supply of nasty plastic bunting everywhere

So, this has been in progress for over a year. A canvas lid for a Garden Gazebo made from the most astounding Victorian pillars, big lumps of oak, and some astonishing precision digging and setting (all this not by me, of course).  There were all manner of problems, starting with the green fabric, which is MUCH heavier and MUCH narrower than the white, so hard to cut and harder to sew

 Then, I seriously underestimated the amount of strength needed to shovel this stuff around under the machine.  The 15 class Singer with leg-power will do it, but I'm getting older faster than I thought.. John did a lot of patient pushing and pulling, and I learned several new swear words
No more of these for me...


So, this evening, we went up to North Norfolk and put the thing on it's legs.  My prayers (that it not collapse, and be big enough) were answered.  John helped again, as did Rupert and Helen.  It was astoundingly peaceful and early-June-eveningish at the garden..

 All done












Looks like it has always been there...

 And here's a blue to rival the sky.  In Beccles the other day..

Off to Scotland soon, only about 12 days work to do this week...
Blessings to all, and sleep well...

Saturday, Day six: Blue and Boats

This is more like it!  I have been trying for ages to make a version of this boat image that would be teachable.  My original ideas, part of a series that I made for the Sea and Sky exhibition a couple of years ago, was too complex to teach, and too long-winded.  I was pleased with some aspects of the original, not least the time I spent choosing the quilting colours and matching each segment, so that the details were never obscured by the stitching, just added to in texture without any overlay. The quilt (below) is big, about 3 by 4 feet, and I do not expect it to sell quickly.  The smaller pieces I made for the same exhibition are long gone.

The technique I used to make this I call MAP piecing (Modified American Piecing), and starts by taking a piece of paper as big as the finished item and drawing all the segments on it.  I then cut this up and used it to mark out all the pieces, sewed them together on the marked lines and re-assembled the whole.  Laborious, accurate, and very satisfying.  But not for a Class.  Even a very small piece is more than a day's work and you need extreme accuracy (sadly lacking in most sewists, and not part of my Teaching Practice)
Anyway, I made four boats today, in two pairs.  I had all manner of thoughts about variations, and I have three nice pieces, two quilted and blocked, and one ready to layer.

Detail of the quilting

This one is called Two Boats, and here's a detail

Tomorrow is Indigo...

Oh, sorry, no lunch image.. No blue food and I didn't want to fake it...or perhaps I can...
Bless Photoshop!

Friday, sun comes out again

and the sky is the most heavenly blue...

Going Home..