Stitching blocks together

After the relaxing weekend, the last two days have been slightly manic as I want to clear my email inbox and to do list before I finish work on Thursday evening. I'm then on holiday until 4th January. I did really well and so awarded myself some sewing time this evening after I finished work.  When I visited Midsommer Quilting on Saturday I purchased some fabric for the sashing, cornerstones and borders of the Austen Family Album quilt.  John and I decided that green would be a good colour for this. The patterned fabric is for the cornerstones and a stop border and the dark green for the sashing and main border. I can't decide if the photo is slightly out of focus or if it's my eyesight.

I cut all the cornerstones and enough sashing for row 1.  It took a little while to stitch the blocks together but I'm pleased with the result.

This is going to be a large quilt. There are 6 blocks across and the blocks are 12 inches square. There are also 6 rows. The quilt will be 96 inches square when finished. I'm hoping to get row 2 put together tomorrow evening. I might even be able to complete the top before Christmas.

On the way home on Sunday we stopped at the Fleet Air Arm Museum. This was a fascinating visit. It follows the history of how the Navy came to have planes and the development of boats to carry, launch and land planes. It had some of the original planes.

The information board explained that the aircraft wings were usually covered with fabric such as linen which was painted with dope, a special paint, that seals the fabric.

My older brother used to make model aircrafts from balsa wood and they were covered with tissue that was then painted with dope. At the time I never dreamed that the original planes were made in a similar way. I was also surprised to find that planes were often made so their wings could fold and so fit in the hangers.

There were several helicopters on display. This one is a Westland Dragonfly from 1949.

We spent about 3 hours at the museum but there was still a lot left to see. On the flight deck there was Concorde. This isn't part of the Navy but the plane is so large that it couldn't fit in other museums. It's on loan from the Science museum. Unfortunately it was too large to get it all in the photo. This museum is good value for money as we can use the tickets again during the next year.

From midnight tonight London has gone into the UK tier 3 because of the increase of covid 19 cases. We were lucky to be able to enjoy our weekend away as we won't be able to do that again until London moves back into tier 2. Come on folks, stop breaking the rules and we'll all be able to enjoy seeing family and friends in the future. Do you really need to meet up in large groups and ignore social distancing? 

Two more working days to go and then lots of sewing time. I have a few things to finalise for Christmas but that shouldn't take too long. It will be the four of us over Christmas and we will meet up with Katy and Olly for a walk in Richmond Park. Even though meeting up with family is allowed in doors over the holiday period we aren't going to. We will follow the rules of Tier 3 and have a celebration dinner all together once the number of cases have dropped. That will probably be well into next year as the weather warms up again. 

Take care

Lyndsey