Tip - Stamp more fabric for a 'scrappy' quilt

The scrappy quilt which really is made from all sorts of bits and pieces lying about has begun to look better than I could have imagined. This goes to show that sometimes you need to experiment and not be too particular. Anyway, it is also expanding to more than a throw... so its going to be a double bed quilt, I hope. But in order to fulfill that role it needs to be a touch bigger, not easy when your using scraps and you seem to have exhausted the supply. But wait a minute; some of those scraps were stamped with purple, green and yellow silk paint. So I found some more plain cream fabric and stamped some more! The result is above. I know it looks nothing at the moment, but trust me, once it is cut up and mixed up with other patterns it brings a new life to the design.  I now have enough free fabric to continue and who knows what the final result will be, not me that is for sure.

I am really enjoying this freestyle way of working and it harps back to the original idea for making quilts which was to be thrifty and use up precious and pretty fabrics of all types left over from previous projects to make a warm useful bed cover. Sometimes I think we lose track of that concept and go over the top buying too many fabrics for our stash and then don't know what to do with them except admire them in the closet. But, of course; once this quilt is made I won't have any scraps left so will be forced to buy more!!!! How convenient.

Quilt progress

Today was designated a holiday and one of the best days for doing work on the garden and greenhouse, so I was occupied most of the day. I took half an hour out after lunch to sneak some time making patches for my 'scrappy quilt'. I laid the semi finished quilt top on my sofa to take a look at it and then went off to do some more gardening. When I returned this little brown bottom had snuggled down onto it. Aha, I thought so she likes this one does she? There is nothing like praise from one's admirers.

Easter Break

It was a good Easter as far as I was concerned though not one where I had any chance to pick up a needle in any shape or form. So I decided to rummage around the house until I found something you had not seen before which I made ages ago.  We once went to a fancy dress party and my DH was supposed to be Indiana Jones, and this was his hat. I made the spider's legs with pipe cleaners, and its eyes are red buttons.

Moving swiftly on, as they say, we did enjoy meeting up with an old friend of ours and his new partner, as his wife and he had divorced. It seems to me that quite a few of the couples we used to know are no longer together, that's modern life I suppose. He was as hilarious as usual especially when we swopped anecdotes from the past like the time we were kept waiting for a meal in an Italian Restaurant in Folkestone for well over an hour for our soup course.....Then when it came (despite the fact that the place had filled up with starving expectant customers) the only waiter insisted on ladling each portion out 'silver service style' from a tureen brought to the table. Of course the joke was that by this stage of the proceedings we had drunk all the wine and ordered more so were beyond caring what the soup came in or tasted like. The main course was just a blur in our minds too......But we roared with laughter once we left the place especially as so many customers were still sans dinner!

We also managed to make some new acquaintances of a different culture, namely from Singapore. What an interesting set of people they were with so much to teach us about their lifestyle and habits. I was unaware that they kept the English in such esteem but it was once our colony. Our few days in their company were thought provoking and made me realise how lucky we are to have produced some great Lakeland poets  who are admired around the globe. We also saw something of the new Wordsworth Museum at Grasmere and have vowed to go back and spend some more time there. Is it only when someone else enthuses about our locality that we realise how much we take for granted?

I also found some time to read my latest book acquisition, 'Jane Austen's Letters' edited by R.W. Chapman and published by the Oxford University Press. Some fascinating details about her life are revealed by her letters mainly to her elder sister Cassandra. I have been reading this book for about 3 weeks now but not rushing it as it has to be studied to make sense. I am about half way through it so far. I have been intrigued by her continuous references to fashion and dress of the time and cannot fathom out what she means when she refers to "pink persian". Does anyone know what that was? She mentions that she has just spent all of her money on some as well as some new white gloves.