Night Owls

I managed to photograph the new quilt in my conservatory as it is so large.  I had my DH helping me with holding it up one end on a chair...

I used some Japanese owl fabric in the small sashing squares and elsewhere hence the name.

So now it is finished I might be able to sit back and enjoy it, as it certainly took a long time to make.  It was an idea put forward during a meeting of a quilt group I go to in Penrith about two years ago.  So we all bought Lyn Edwards' book on Sampler Quilts version 2 and were supposed to make one block a month.  I left it for several months before I realised I had not made a single block and they were on about number seven.  So I switched up a gear and made some.  It's a mixture of hand and machine piecing which was a challenge at times.  Eventually I finished about twelve blocks and then had a look at the block choices remaining and did not like some of them. Luckily I did have a couple of Susan Briscoe books and turned to her Japanese blocks for inspiration.  I think they were 9 inch and I had to size them up on my HP printer to about 12 inch. Anyway, I chose all appliqué as I preferred those designs and thought I had done enough complicated piecing! So those of you with an eagle eye can see if you can spot which blocks are Susan's.  A clue; there are five.

At last the blocks are done

I started a sampler quilt with Cumbria Patchworkers some time in 2014 as they wanted to do a block a month.  This was challenging and not my usual way of working on a quilt which I prefer to start and finish.... However, I did persevere and now might be able to work it to a finish.  This has been a long haul for me as I prefer to work much faster and by machine not including a lot of hand piecing and foundation piecing too.  I am not complaining as I have learnt a lot but I also know some areas of quilting are not interesting enough to grab my attention for long.  So making a pineapple with fp looked like a no no way back in the autumn of 2014, however I did it.

The first block which sat around for months before it had the border added and the papers removed.

No room at the quilters

I did not think there would be enough room at the Cumbria Patchworkers workshop last week for 17 of us to make these convergence quilts, so I went it alone with some ideas I picked up from looking at photos on the internet and this is the result.  I seem to recall a similar way of adjusting pictures years ago in a basic design book by Maurice De Sausmarez. http://fineart.ac.uk/artists.php?idartlist=162

The idea was to cut the photo into strips and rearrange it in many different forms to give a different view. The same happens with this quilt, so it's not a new idea.

I made most of the fabric myself because I wanted a particular look. Basically, I had the black fabric with the sharply defined lines and I made the green, orange and yellow fabric by painting on white Egyptian cotton with silk paints, then heat setting it with an iron.

I am still working on the colourful quilt but have not had time to photograph it, but the corners worked out ok and so has the rest of it. I dug out another quilt too which had been around too long waiting to be quilted, its under my Bernina as I type.

Sashiko workshop - October 24th Cumbria Patchworkers

Sashiko workshop at Just Sew, Penrith

 We delved into this technique at our monthly meeting in October, but I must admit it was not for me.  I do like the idea behind the examples below but hated sewing the small white stitches onto the fabric by hand, it seemed to me that I unpicked more than I sewed. But not everyone likes the same obstacles in sewing, at least I gave it a go and I still have my square which might just become something in the future.  I also bought some of the fabric which was on sale downstairs in the shop; some pretty blue with little owls on it, I think it was also one of the fabrics in the design below.

Examples of Sashiko included in a work in progress

Threlkeld show continued

My wool wadding winter quilt, usually on my bed.....

I was pleased with the hanging arrangements at Threlkeld, especially with one of my quilts which they had hung infront of a window which gave it a jewel like quality.  I must admit I thought seeing the construction seams through it would have been a problem but no I quite like the effect.

Gloria's appliqué
quilt

Val Osborn

Maureen Rushton

Liz Beresford

A Baltimore by Gloria Walker - took over 3 years to make

I cannot find any information on these quilts at the moment because we did not produce a catalogue for the show which, with hindsight, is a shame.  It's always good to have a keepsake and it comes in handy for the typist when she is doing her blog update  .........

There are more quilts, embroideries and knitting to see at Threlkeld and tomorrow is the last day, so if this small display has wetted your appetite go along before it is too late. I think the show closes at 4pm.

Threlkeld in stitches

Today was day one of a three day show of quilts, embroidery and knitting at Threlkeld, a small village which nestles under the mighty hill Blencathra. As I arrived this morning the rain was falling but the forecast was good so I quickly attached my banner to the wall and made a dash for the dry hall.

 

The place is a typical village hall and the exhibition was organised to raise funds to keep it from falling into disrepair.  Like so many public buildings in Cumbria the local people have to do a lot of work to raise money if they want to keep their facilities going.  Threlkeld village hall is no exception to this rule and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm from a few had gone into organising and staging the exhibits.  Whilst I am on the subject, that means that the ladies have to ask their husbands to hang the quilts and to help with the lifting and carrying and in this case even taking the money on the door.  So before I forget, well done chaps! We could not do it without you.

Once inside it was not long before I too was given a few jobs to do, but it was all for a worthy cause so I was happy to oblige. There was a good atmosphere even though in the early stages we had to wait for the customers to appear. But by lunchtime the place was buzzing. One of the events organised by the ladies was to help make a Linus quilt and in the photo below you can just see the quilt pieces on the left pinned up prior to assembly.  Members of the public were invited to sew a square (quick cathedral window) and this was where they were placed ready for making into the finished quilt.





I was stewarding all morning and I am back again on Monday, if you are in the area, why don't you call into the exhibition, it is well staged and the exhibits are lovely.  I will show you some of them in my next posting hopefully tomorrow.

Cumbria Patchworkers Christmas do

My buffet sausage rolls

I made these last night and we had a couple of them warm and they were really good, I can't say that they ever taste as good once they are cold.  My fault, I should have asked our hostess to warm them up again and then they would have been at their best. I can post the recipe if you want it, just let me know.

Table decorations thanks to Gloria, wonderful

This was our magnificent spread for our lunch to be shared between 13 of us, but I am pleased to report that the plates were emptied.  Some of the cakes are off camera to the right. Just realised that quite a lot more plates of food were added after I took the photo, the table was packed.

A forest of trees

We sat and made these little trees from circles of fabric which diminished in size and were skewered on a bamboo stick which was stuck into an old cotton reel. The angels on the top came all the way from a little shop in Poland and were especially sought out by Marion, so thank you for going to the trouble and especially as you had a bad backache that day! We made more trees than this but they sneaked off somewhere.

We exchanged mug rugs

Lastly, our gift this year was a mug rug for our frequent sewing breaks.  To be honest they looked too good to put a mug down on leaving a nasty brown ring, so most of them had been given very colourful backs to take the stains....very thoughtful. They were supposed to be 6" x 9" but as you can see a certain amount of licence abounded amongst the creators.

We had a great day despite the appalling weather (sleet and snow) and thanks very much for all who attended and sorry that quite a few of you had to miss it.  I will be emailing out the photos but as I don't have an email for Liz our secretary I wonder if anyone can let me have it.  If I don't hear from you I shall send them onto Pat whose email I do have.

New mini quilt

Chairman's challenge mini quilt for Cumbria Patchworkers

Well this is how far I am along the way to completing this for Wednesday's meeting.  I have just pin basted it as its only 16½ x 24 inches.  I now need to quilt and bind it, adding a hanging sleeve too. Then sign and date it, phew not much then!  Better crack on......... Oh by the way the colours are supposed to be pale lemon, bright green and royal blue as those are the colours on our little badge.  Also I have picked out the design on the badge as the main theme with a slight change to make it easier to do as I didn't have time to make circles.

Our badge

Now for the hard part, the quilting, I haven't worked out what to do yet............

A rest day

Jamie Oliver's Lemon Drizzle Cake without the icing sugar topping.

I had a day off from toil with the Cumbria Patchworkers summer gathering.  Quite a jolly event held in a conservatory in Threlkeld. We had an enormous groaning table of goodies to tempt us at lunch time.  I made a carrot cake as a contribution and no the cake featured is not a carrot cake, you've seen photos of those before so this one is a Lemon Drizzle. http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/other-recipes/my-nan-s-lemon-drizzle-cake

We had to make something whilst we chatted away so the choice this year was a small drawstring bag which could contain a gift or perhaps some dried lavender in a mesh bag.

I am busy clearing my den today ready to hit the sewing machines and I have an idea for some new machine embroidery. Let's hope the sewing machine God's shine on me......

Wonderful day

Yesterday saw me snap Gloria's stocking above her Lakeland slate fireplace at our Cumbria Patchworker's party. We all had a great time and I made two new ornaments for the Christmas tree which sadly I took down last night and it's now outside waiting to be chopped up and put onto the wood burner.  The job of taking down the decorations took most of the evening and I had not been able to look at this blog all day with being in Penrith so I had a quick peek at about 10 pm. Imagine my surprise to see that I had won the wonderful giveaway from Sarah at Happiness is a bottomless button box.  So I will be a busy bee this month with some more goodies to play with. I have also a few projects to finish not least a quilt I started and had to put away before Christmas because I just did not have the time to settle down and give it my full attention. I have not forgotten it and I will be getting it out again once a couple of other sewing ideas have been completed. One of them is a bag for a dear friend who lost her husband last February and I want to make it special for her so I have been working on it this week. So I have plenty to do and never a dull moment, now if only I had time to tidy up the garden too life would be perfect. Speaking of the garden, those little Lesser Redpolls have been coming back every day and I counted 14 of them last Monday. I must go and top up their Nyjer seed, I think that is the correct spelling after getting it wrong before.......

Cumbria Patchworkers ~ December Workshop

I didn't dare show you this patchwork stocking we made before because as you can see it is stuffed full of pressies and it was just prior to being wrapped and sent to DD in California, so no way could I put it on the blog and spoil her surprise :-)   So it is with great relief that I can now show you what a superb workshop we had and how lovely the finished stockings were.

It was a shame we could not have our Christmas Party in December, but the snow and ice put paid to that idea....Anyway, we postponed it until this Wed  5th Jan, so we are going to have our party and our late Christmas presents then, I can't wait....