Working on the frog quilt.

This week has seen high temperatures of 36 degrees celsius in the UK. I know that isn't high compared with some of the temperatures folks across the world are coping with. Missy and Twiglet have got a little grumpy as by the time I'm free to take them out, the pavement is too hot for their paws. The weather forecast for tomorrow is showing lower temperatures so hopefully I can take them for a long walk. Today, we should have been on a trip to a nature reserve in Lincolnshire, however the organisers cancelled the trip because of the heat. The reserve is very open and there is limited shelter from the sun so the decision was very sensible. That meant I had nothing planned for the day.  I quickly decided I was going to try and complete the blocks for the frog quilt. I had two different blocks to make but each block is made in 2 sizes so I needed  4 blocks before I could sew the quilt top together.

The first two blcoks were already cut so I got my machine set up and I started work. It started well but as I started piecing the block I got very confused with what went where. I made a coffee and then spent some time staring at the picture on the pattern and rereading the instructions. It slowly started to make sense and I got the larger block made up. Making the second block was completed really quickly.

I needed to cut the fabric for the second set of blocks. the second set was easier to put together but the cutting out was tedious. I had to do quite a lot of unpicking with this block as I kept making silly mistakes. I was so happy to finish them.

I decided to quit whilst I was ahead. I was convinced I'd make major mistakes if i started to stitch the blocks together. I'm hoping to complete the top tomorrow. Here are the blocks I've got for the quilt. First the stitched blocks. These were a lot of fun to do. The pattern has them all stitched in green but I decided I wanted some additional colour on the blocks. I do need to rinse the blocks to remove my lines when I copied the pattern.

Here are the pieced blocks, two of each design. 

I also have some fun frog fabric. I will use the ribbet for the backing and possibly I'll use the other two as borders in the quilt.

At the moment I can't make up my mind whether to free motion quilt or to hand quilt. I've only hand quilted one quilt so far and it was rather slow but I really enjoyed the experience.  I'll make my final decision once I've got it all stitched together.

I've been doing some work on my goldwork seahorse. Progress is slow but I'm enjoying the process. I'll give an update in my next post.  For now I'm going to have an early night and try to catch up on some sleep. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have a thunderstorm as I really could do with some good solid sound sleep.

Take care

Lyndsey

Crochet, embroidery and gold work.

This week the weather has just been getting hotter and hotter. On Moday night there was a very long and loud thunderstorm. I heard thunder from a way off. At this point the sky was dark but very quickly the sky was bright with lightning and it continued for quite some time. That was then of sleep for the night. When the thunder and lightning eventually moved away its place was taken by the rain which was very heavy. There was a lot of flooded areas.

Today was over 36 degrees celsius and I was so happy that the a/c was working well at work. The car took time to cool down on the way home but once it did the a/c made it feel like I was in a freezer, fabulous! The high temperatures is expected to carry on into the weekend. John and I were going on a trip to a bird watching reserve in Lincolnshire on Saturday but it has been pulled. The coach journey would have taken about 3 and a half hours and thats a long time to be in a coach even with a/c and there is very little shade on the reserve. I'm happy with the day being cancelled as now I have some sewing time this weekend. I've been very short of time recently to get my sewing machine out.

Earlier in the week I made a start on the gold work sea horse. I'd read the instructions several times to make sure I'd got it right. I've done gold work before but it was over 25 years ago so I was a little nervous. The first stage if to apply Jap to make the outline. Jap or Japanese threads are round threads with a bright appearance.  To make them, a metallic strip or thead is wrapped around a fibre core. The cut ends can unravel easily so at the finish of the row the threads are plunged through the fabric to be fastened securely on the back of the work. The Jap is couched onto the front of the work. It took me a while to get round to starting but once going I got into the rthymn. The first bit was to outline the head. 

I then started adding the Jap to the main body. This has been a slow process and I'll show you  what I've done once I've got as far as the instructions tell me.

Over the last week or it could be two weeks I've been taking my crochet to work to do at lunch time. I'm trying to use up some of my left over yarn so I decided to make another crocheted blanket for donation. This time I decided to make hexagons, edge them all with white yarn and then I will sew them together using more white yarn. I can usually make two hexagons during lunch break.

My alternative lunch break is to go for a walk round the park that is opposite the work building.  I like checking in with the swans and their cygnets. Last year they raised 7 swans and this year the have 5. A walk round the lake is always good and I can check for other ducks and geese. On my last visit all 5 cygnets were doing well and to were off in the middle of the pond with their parent whilst three were still resting.

 There is also a wild flower area in the park and it was looking beautiful this week.

 

In May I was working on my embroidered table cloth. I had hoped to complete the whole side. As you can see I didn't manage to stitch the whole side. I'm enjoying stitching this piece and I do hope to have it finished before the end of the year.

On Saturday, as part of my sewing day I will finish the last blocks for the frog quilt. In addition to the stitched blocks and the pieced blocks there are some blocks just cut from appropriate fabric. It would be great to get the top stitched together but I'm not sure I will manage that in the day. I also need to finish the skirt I cut out.

With the heat I am very tired and I need to get to bed. Unfortunately we have no a/c in our house so we rely on fans to cool and move the air. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a good nights sleep.

Take care

Lyndsey

A visit to the American Museum in Bath UK.

Last Saturday, while we were away, John and I planned to visit the American Museum. We had been there before and enjoyed looking round their exhibits. On our previous visit we didn't walk around the gardens due to the rain but Saturday was dry and very warm. We decided to walk around the gardens first.

We looked back at the house before setting off down hill to visit the gardens. There were a lot of different coloured foxgloves but the white are native to the UK. I've grown some foxgloves from seed this year and they will be ready to flower next summer.

Walking down hill we came to the ampitheatre. It would be delightful to come to see a play and sit on the terraced grass, eating your picnic whilst watching the play.

We then moved on to the area called the Mount Vernon Garden. This area is a replica garden of George Washinton's Upper Garden in Virginia but it is about two thirds the size of the original. The design was based on the design of the original garden in the late 1950's Recently the staff had found that the design no longer reflected the garden design from when George Washington died in 1799. The gardeners in Virginia and at the Mount Vernon garden have now completely redesigned and replanted the gardens including Washington's fleur de lys tribute in the parterre to the Marquis de Lafayette whose contribution enabled the Continental Army to win the American War of Independence.

In the main part of this garden the flowers are planted round the edge  and the beds in the centre are used for vegetables. The information told me that George Washington hated any space to be wasted.

We walked around the vegetable garden and then went up some steps so we could look down on the Mount Vernon Garden. There were a lot of butterflies and bees flying around.

We took the path to the coach house which I was told, is now used as a conference centre.

Just past the coach house we found this little cobbled area and we had a short rest.

These steps , profuse with daisies took us down towards the entrance to the aboretum

We had a  good view across the local area.

At the bottom of the hill we found a lot of sheep all following the same path. They were all walking in a neat line and they all baaaed as they walked past us.

Near the bottom of the hill there was a small stream. The photo looks like there wasn't any water but it was flowing well.

As we returned to the gardens there were busts of people such as Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. We also stopped to take a photo across the valley.

before heading towards the house and the cafe. Following our walk we needed coffee and a cake.

Once refreshed we walked to the exhibition area. We had previously visited the main museum and on this occassion we were visiting the exhibition of quilts from Gees Bend. There was information about the women whose quilts were on display. I have uploaded the information of two of the women involved.

I am posting the information given on each quilt rather than putting it into my words.

We enjoyed our visit to the American Museum in Bath and it was great to see the quilts from Gee's Bend. There was a ten minute film about the women who had made the quilts. Many preferred to hand stitch the quilts together rather than use a machine. My own experience of hand piecing is that it takes me far too long so I have a lot of admiration for those women who do. 

Reading the information about these women and where they got the fabrics is inspiring and it also made me think back to my childhood in the 1950's when jumble sales were a thing. My mother and several of her friends would be there to buy old or 'pre loved' jumpers cardigans and clothes. They reworked the yarn into jumpers for the various children and the dresses and skirts were also used to refashion new items for themselves or children. Fabric that had gone too far to be reused for clothing was made into hearth mats. I expect some of the fabric also ended up in quilts that folks made. My mother wasn't a quilter so I never saw this as a craft until I was an adult.  Using preloved items as they came or reworked was a great way to recycle and the cost of the items from the sale raised some money for the church or a charity.

I have used old fabrics in a couple of quilts at the request of the people I was making them for. My older daughter wanted fabric from her favourite top she wore as a child. She'd kept it carefully and only gave it to me to use when I started the 'Votes for women' quilt I made her in 2013. 

This week has been a bit up and down with just too much to do but I have managed some sewing and therefore have things to share. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to write another post,

Take care

Lyndsey.