Quaker squares and how to turn a blunder into an asset!

Ok, I have some photos of the finished squares for the Friends Meeting House in Keswick which was devastated by floods in November 2010. So hopefully these will be going up on the wall in the room we hire off them and another 10 sets of four squares from some of the other ladies too, all in different colours of the rainbow...............



Crazy patchwork with goldwork

So first up is one I was still working when I took the photo last night. I layed some sticky backed stabiliser down and just applied the fabric in sections until I was pleased with the result. The orangy coloured piece is actually some ribbon and then there was a piece of velvet and some brocade and silk with gold embellishments added. I worked a bit of free machine embroidery here and there and lastly of all you see my needle and gold thread as I attach a gold edge which I am carefully twisting with some Linton Tweed thread.



Machine embroidered flower with beadwork

This one was a lot of fun to do. I started with a background fabric which was beige so I overlaid it with a piece of brown gauze from an old scarf. It immediately turned the black flower design underneath to chocolate,  hmm just what I wanted.  I then picked out the central motif and did my silver thread machine embroidery on the top after I had placed the whole thing in a really tight embroidery hoop so I could drop the feed dogs.  I was after a passion flower look and wanted it kept simple. So I beaded the centre with yellow and red beads and then radiated out with silver long beads; then finally added the pinky red beads around the flower. I added the edge which was Linton Tweed thread again and stitched it down with the same silver thread I had used on the flower it's by Madeira and called Jewel.




Little applique hearts with buttons

Here we have a simple background which was stabilised with sticky stabiliser again and then I added the heart shapes and buttons. I did a bit of machine embroidery around the leaves which were part of the background silk fabric. I cut out some more and added them to balance the effect. Lastly I added the edge trim again using scraps of threads taken from Linton Tweed and stitched with Madeira Jewel in red.






My little trees

This photo won't enlarge unless it is huge so I am having to put up with it.......I really enjoyed making this square and I simply took some velvet and satin stitched the tree designs on. The little red one was part of the giveaway I won last month, I simply detached it from it's background embroidery and re used it...... Then added a gnarled stump from a bit of old jute string and twisted it a bit to look like a tree trunk. I added a few red beads to the first 2 trees so they looked as if they had berries on them and finished off with a lovely satin stitch border. Then I had a snag because the square had pulled out of shape a bit so I had the idea of disguising it with the edge which is taken from Linton Tweed again. Its a wonderful glittery sort of riot of sticky out bits of thread.....Take a closer look and you will see what I mean. This was the 2nd square I made and when I had added the edge I realised that it was a good idea to do the same on all subsequent squares. So that's why I had the idea, to disguise my very non square design,  hmmm.   Where there is a mistake always turn it to your advantage.

Flooded Keswick

This is the scene outside the Friends Meeting House at 1pm today where we should have been attending our Embroiderers' Guild workshop making bags. As you can see from the following photo it would have been more appropriate if I had been teaching them sailing.....

This photo is taken slightly to the right of the first one in Booths Supermarket carpark, which although impossible to cross to without wellies was still open and trading. Actually this was a couple of reporters I think judging by the huge cameras they had with them hitching a lift with the Firemen who had borrowed a Canadian canoe from the local marina.Some people just sploshed through regardless.

So a very wet Keswick it is today and the Police advise all people who have booked B & B's here to not come at all, because there is only one road open and it is essential that it is kept clear for emergency vehicles.

So if you know of anyone who was coming to Keswick please pass on the message.

Luckily, I am not in an area which has been evacuated but some of my friends are and my heart goes out to them because one friend was 10 months out of her home a couple of years back and now will be flooded again. The rain is not due to stop until sometime early tomorrow morning so it is going to get worse not better tonight as the fells (mountains) are soaked and the water is pouring off them down the valleys and into the rivers. I believe it is going to be a better day on Friday but the rain is due back for the weekend. I will stay inside and carry on with a log cabin quilt I have started, it's the best thing to do........