Catching up

Today I had a few things I needed to sort out. Normally I like to wrap Christmas presents as I buy them but I didn't have any left over wrapping paper and I hadn't bought any yet this year. A trip to the shops was needed to buy paper and then I could sit and wrap the presents. Unfortunately I still have one I need to buy and then I'm finished. The wrapping didn't take too long and the ones for the family members sharing the house are now under the tree. Last year Missy and Twiglet didn't bother with the presents and haven't bothered with the tree since I put it up.  

Last week I needed to make the Christmas pudding I'd promised one of my work colleagues so on Sunday 14 December I soaked the dried fruit overnight in some brandy and orange juice. 

I'm using a different recipe this year. The recipe is one from Mary Berry and I've always enjoyed the tasty dishes her recipes create. By the end of Monday the pudding had been steamed for the required time and I Tuesday I took it into work and gave to my colleague.

Having got the Christmas pudding to the point of being steamed I moved on to the next task, making the binding and attaching it to the St Louis 16 patch quilt I've been making. I had hoped to have the binding stitched down by the end of the week but I still have 3 sides to stitch. Unfortunately there have been a lot of little but important tasks that took priority. I am now on holiday and so it will be finished before Christmas

We hadn't seen older daughter recently so when we did meet up she gave me my birthday present. She'd found this book and thought I might like it. 

It has patterns for several vintage samplers and a lot of block patterns. There are also some recipes and interesting snippets of history. 

On Thursday I finished work for the Christmas break. Recently there hasn't been a lot of time for visits locally so on Friday John and I decided to go into central London. John wanted to buy some more pages for his stamp album and I suggested that we could see the Christmas lights. The tube journey was good and once there the Stanley Gibbons shop was our first port of call. The lights were on along the Stand but it was still light so there was little point taking a photo. We decided we would have a look round the Portrait Gallery and also have afternoon tea in the cafe before walking to Oxford Street and Regents Street. The tree in the gallery entrance was pretty.

We had to pass through China Town on our way. It has been years since I've been there and I didn't recognise any of the restaurants. During the 70's and 80's this was one of my favourite areas. 

We walked to Oxford Street which was very crowded. It was very noisy with music playing  from the shops and also the tourist rickshaws. In fact the rickshaws were the noisiest. Although it was crowded people seemed to be paying attention as we didn't get jostled as we walked. I was underwhelmed by the lights in Oxford Street but they were pretty.

Walking past Liberty I had to take a couple of photos. The building is beautiful and I love having a look round the shop but we didn't go in as it was way too crowded for our liking.

Many of the bus drivers were getting annoyed with pedestrians just stepping out onto the road. There were horns sounding all the time. The lights along Regents Street were good and by now it was fully dark and so they had more impact.

One of the arcades off the street had pretty decorations.

The big tree in Trafalgar Square had lots of lights but did look a little light on branches in places.

and I took this last photo on the road back to Charing Cross station.

It was a fun outing and we enjoyed it. We were pleased to get back home and to a quieter environment but I was impressed with how polite and considerate people were to each other. We are planning to make more trips into central London over the next year as there are several museums and galleries we want to visit. 

For now I need to get on with stitching the binding down as John wants to gift this quilt before Christmas.

Take care

Lyndsey

   

sewing and more quilts.

Today seems to have involved  quite a bit of walking. Not an amazing amount but more than I have been doing recently. The day started, thankfully later than a work day, with taking our dogs out for their early morning walk. It had rained a little last night so they were enjoying the new smells but at the same time eager to get home for their breakfast. Our normal early morning walk is happens somewhere between 5:30 and 6:15 depending on my work schedule. Once home I got on with the quilting on the St Louis 16 patch quilt. I decided that since time was short to get this quilt finished I would quilt it using the walking foot and keep the quilting simple. I managed to get it all done. Here's how it looks.

Just as I finished the quilting I got a phone call from John telling me that the Christmas tree for the church had been delivered and would I be available to decorate it. I was pleased I'd finished the quilting and needed a rest or a change of activity before sorting out the binding. I walked up to the church (it is up quite a steep hill) with a strong cold wind to my back. I wasn't looking forward to being face into the wind on the way home. The tree is huge and very tall between 10 to 11 feet so we needed the long ladders. Between us we got the lights and the decorations up including the star on the top. Going up and down the ladders was quite scary. I was right to be concerned about the wind on the way home as it was blowing even colder and face on. Once home we warmed up with coffee. Thank goodness that job is done for another year but we will have to take it down after Christmas.

So I promised you some more quilts from the quilt show. The quilts were hung all round the shop so you had to keep your wits about you. I'd seen this first quilt in an earlier show.

Ecce Imaginem by Catherine Millar The fabrics were dyed and stitched by Catherine. The piece was designed and appliqued by Tim Millar.

This is their version of the last and lost panel of the Bayeux Tapestry. In their imagination the women who worked the embroidery are celebrated, only two women appear in the original tapestry but there are twelve in their panel. The Latin words mean ''. Here they are dyeing the wool and spinning, and they are making the picture. Behold the image

I love that there is a sewing machine, modern house and car in the border of this piece.

This piece is titled 'Congregation' Swallows over St Pauls by Angela Knapp. She wrote that swallows have featured in her work more than any other bird and they were pivotal for her work moving from a study of a bird to telling a story and experimenting with backgrounds. The building are stitched using free motion embroidery directly onto the backing fabric and wadding.

This quilt was used as the picture on the programme. This piece is called Tick tock and is by Peter Hayward. The organisers of the show did not expect this quilt to be exhibited as it was in a show in Houston, Texas but it was returned and arrived in time to be on display. Unfortunately there is no information in the programme about this quilt since it wasn't expected.

The next quilt is Desert Ghosts by Pat Archibald. It pictures three of the men she met on her travels through the desert of Rajasthan. The goat herd who needed a hip replacement, the street man waiting to be picked for labouring work that day and the man content to sit and daydream.

Quid Pro Quo by Peter Hayward. He states the that quilt marked a radical change in his style and virtually everything he has made since has been based on the 'false weaving' technique he came up with. The piece is quilted with a walking foot with the lines endeavouring to accentuate the different parts of the image. 

The Crumbs of Comfort by Katheryn Chambers is a memory quilt entirely hand stitched using her Dad's shirts and hankies following his passing in 2019. Some of the cloth was hand-dyed using natural dyes indigo, madder and walnut.

The Three Spring Hares by Dawn Cameron Dick. She uses her own reverse hand applique technique rather than traditional needle turn applique. The entire design was drawn onto white fabric, then tacked onto the directional growing grass fabric and tacked in place. Then she cut away and appliques the white to the green grass.

The next quilt is My Tree of Life by Trease Lane. Trease writes that playing with paint has become something she love.  A wash was applied to the fabric using acrylic paint, the design was done using stencils. The tree of life was cut from freezer paper and applied to the fabric and a white wash of paint was applied over the top. It was then stitched and embellished.

The next quilt is another by Catherine Millar and is titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This piece follows the story of Sir Gawain and his answer to the challenge from the Green knight. The fabric is dyed and stitched by Catherine Millar and designed and appliqued by Tim Millar. The piece was short listed for a prize at the Festival of Quilts in 2023 and received a Judges' Choice commendation at Quilts UK, Malvern 2023.

My Thai Monstera by Dawn Cameron Dick is a mixture of hand appliques, the top three lighter leaves are her reverse applique and the remaining darker leaves are traditional needle turn

This last quilt is such a fun idea. Scandinavian Jumpers by Gillian Travis won a second prize in the Art Quilt category at Festival of Quilts in 2015. It was inspired by a trip to Scandinavia where she photographed many traditional jumpers. Each of the small felt jumpers are set into the felt so they sit flat. She hand dyed the felt and decorated each jumper using automatic patterns found on her sewing machine.

A couple of close up pictures of some of the jumpers.

Those are all the photos I took of the quilts. I will ask John if he has any other quilt photos I can share with you. He had slightly more  time to take the photos as I spent some time with the sewing group.

Tomorrow I'm planning on sewing the binding onto the St Louis 16 patch quilt and then I can get the binding stitched down and the quilt will be ready to be gifted. I also have some things I need to get done for work, hopefully I can do that quite quickly so I can enjoy my day off. Only three working days this week and then I'm not in work again until 6th January. I have so many things I want to try and get done during the Christmas break. If I manage some of them I will be very happy.

Take care 

Lyndsey 

A fun weekend Part 3, More quilts.

Today John and I spent the day with older daughter and her son. Her second child's due date is 23 January and our grandson is very excited. He knows the baby is a boy and he is looking forward to being a big brother. We spent the day chatting with our daughter and playing with our grandson. In between playing I did some sewing on my Heavenly Host decorations. I've made one of the dolls and want to finish the other two in the next few days. I'll show you them when I've finished them

I promised you more quilts so let's get on with the photos. I love the horse's head. It's titled Shades of grey (horse) and is another quilt by Trease Lane. She said the horses head was an experimental piece using layers of organza.

Indian Pot by Gillian Travis. Gillian shared that this quilt was one of a series of interchange Applique quilts that she displayed in many venues around the world. She had developed the clever technique used and still enjoys teaching it almost 10 years later. The images for this quilt were inspired by photos she took whilst in India at the Utensil Museum. 

'On Manoeuvres' Hobby by Angela Knapp. She writes, ' Birds of prey are one of my favourite birds to create, there is such power and intent in their every move. This piece remains my favourite, combining a new technique of using text to tell the story of the bird's life in a very limited number of words - it is like a very tricky sudoku puzzle The bird and the words were free machine embroidered. The piece was part of the Thriving and Declining on the Somerset Levels exhibition in 2021.

Birds of Paradise by Lynn Quinn. She writes 'I spent ten very happy years teaching leisure classes at the Linneaus Study Room in the Bristol University's Botanic Gardens. One day the secretary brought these majestic Strelitzias to the room and I just wanted to capture the moment! Dye painted, appliques and quilted.

Three Indian Ladies by Gillian Travis. Gillian writes 'I photographed three ladies on their way back from the market whilst travelling in India in 2012. I then went on to make a much smaller version and produced hundreds of kits. I loved teaching this technique and I'm sure there are many versions on the walls of quilters houses. It is still a popular quilt and is featured in the Quilters Guild 2026 calendar.

Twenty-two Textured Twiddles by Jennie Rayment. This is a compilation of many different blocks from the fiddley fingers of Jennie Rayment. All blocks feature in her latest book of the same title. All created on a domestic sewing machine.

Three Wise Words by Claire Passmore. The aim of this poster is to remind people that there is still a vast amount of unnecessary plastic material which continues to fill space in landfill and in the world's oceans.

Left over leaves by Sheena Norquay. Unfortunately I am struggling to read the information attached to the quilt as this was a late addition and does not appear in the programme.

Once Upon a Time by Peter Hayward. He writes, 'I made this quilt along with my wife, Esther Tronchoni. We fell in love with the magic and mystery of Anne Stoke's picture and set out to recreate it as faithfully as possible in fabric. We combined our two very different fusing techniques, hoping that the delicate, gentle girl and the bewitched dragon would stand out from a rather dark and sinister background.

Estuary in Blue by Alice Merrett. The Salcombe-Kingbridge estuary in South Devon is unusual because there is no large river feeding it, only small streams. Twice a day seawater tides go up a drowned river valley or 'ria'. The low tides reveal mudflats and reed beds that are habitats to rare species.

I've still got some more quilts to show you but I have a few things I need to do before I go to bed. I'll continue in the morning. I find it interesting just how tired you are having spent time playing with a 3 and a half year old!

Take Care

Lyndsey

A fun weekend part 2 Quilts.

Whilst we are away in Somerset I like to visit my favourite quilt shop, whether I need any supplies or not. On this occasion I needed some backing fabric for the quilt John asked me to make for a disabled lady that he takes on walks. She uses an electric wheelchair to get around and he thought she might like a lap quilt for when she is out and about. What I had forgotten was that the shop was celebrating its 21st birthday and to celebrate they had asked the teachers who had done classes for them if they would share a quilt for the show.  Before I checked out the show quilts I popped into the classroom to see the group who meet there on a Sunday and to find out what they were making.

Liz had been busy with her embroidery machine, making blocks for a quilt.

Meanwhile Maggy had been working on her English Paper pieced hexagons. Each hexagon was half an inch. Some of the hexagons she had fussy cut. Maggy wasn't quite sure how big the piece would be when finished but she was enjoying the process.

A couple of the other ladies were knitting and two had just arrived and hadn't unpacked their projects. I wandered back into the main shop and decided to take some photos before I did my shopping.

I love this quilt 'Reflected love' Grebes by Angela Knapp.. This was part of her first solo exhibition 'Thriving and Declining on the Somerset Levels In Somerton in 2021. The birds were free machine embroidered separately using a hoop and it was the first time she featured two birds. The reflection incorporated very small pieces of fabric.

Stone Age Leaf by Catherine Millar was inspired by a real elm leaf exhibited in a collection of stone age items at the British Museum. The leaf had been discovered in Lancashire during a road widening project. It was preserved in the peat sub-soil and carbon dated to the stone age. The piece was designed and appliqued by Tim Millar and the fabric dyed and stitched by Catherine Millar.

Crazy by Ann Hibberd. She fell in love with Victorian Crazy Patchwork when taking her C&G Certificate with Lynne Quinn. It was several years later when she had the chance to make another piece. Materials used - hand pieced silk samples with hand stitching and just a few embellishments.

Looking back - Miss my cats by Sheena J Norquay. Unfortunately this one wasn't in the catalogue and I can't make the photo big enough to read the writing.

In the woods by Trease Lane.  This piece is inspired by the beautiful countryside where she lives in rural Monmouthshire. The techniques used in the piece is ice dyed fabric, decolourant this takes the colour out of the fabric, paint and applique.

Fiddling with Fabric by Jennie Rayment. The centre section consists of 24 sections with manipulated squares inserted into each seam. Tucked fans decorate each corner with rows of tucks and a row of continuous origami twists to add further interest. Quilt made of medium weight calico, free motion quilted on a domestic sewing machine.

Passion Flower Meets Peacock by Andrea Ashwell. Made as a challenge for Cabot Quilters this piece went on to achieve first in its category at the Great Northern Quilt Show

Ammonite by Dawn Cameron Dick. After visiting the Jurassic Coast she just had to design a spiral, which is her favourite shape. The design is drawn onto the background fabric , a square of Stonehenge fabric is fastened behind it and then cut away each piece and needle turning the edges to expose the fabric underneath.

My Millefiore by Nik Beaumont. De introduced her to Katja Marek's Millefiore Quiltalong.

Moon Gazing by Trease Lane. She loves mix media in her work. This piece has a painted moon that is printed on a piece of fabric and bonded to the background. The hills are layers of organza, with a bonded applique hare.

I'm going to show you the rest of the quilts tomorrow as I need to go and cook dinner. Before I go the Christmas quilt is a finish and it has been gifted.

This morning I sewed the St Louis 16 patch blocks together and got the quilt sandwiched. Tomorrow we are visiting older daughter so there won't be any quilting starting until Sunday. I don't have much of a border of wadding on this sandwich as I am using what I have. Hopefully it will work OK.

The backing fabric looks like this. I may use the same fabric for the binding but there is a lot to do before then.

Right I'm off to help cook dinner and I will finish the quilt pictures tomorrow.

Take care

Lyndsey