the steam car lovers quilt

I have finished the quilt for my friend's steam car loving husband:

and I'm pleased with it. I enjoyed the challenge of making something using a theme and colours I would never have chosen myself. 

It took a lot of internet searching to find fabric that featured pictures of steam cars, (thank you, Frumble!)
www.frumble.co.uk 
and I also used photographs of the car itself which I printed onto fabric by ironing the fabric on to freezer paper and putting it through the printer (with many crumpled pages and much swearing ).

Each nine inch square block is randomly pieced and then trimmed to size, and the machine quilting follows these seams, then I added hand stitching in perle 8 cotton.



The back is soft brushed cotton, with a panel of old cars from a vintage cushion cover.

I hope he has many happy hours of snoozing under it on the sofa!

pink ladies

My friend and I enjoyed joining in the Race for Life on Sunday in the beautiful grounds of Bath University. 

It was a great atmosphere despite the British drizzle and the cowpats, with lots of wild outfits. I really want one of those wigs next year!                                                          

I raised over £300 (some still to come in) for cancer research, thank you very much to everyone who sponsored me!

blue

I'm thinking about a quilt that is pale clear blue like the sea in Greece, like the softest old washed and washed linen....

... and made from my pile of old fabric recovered from sheets and shirts and battered old bits and pieces.. 

but does that bit of pink belong there too?

Also hoping for a dry day tomorrow for the Race for Life in Bath, in which I shall be participating at a leisurely pace, spurred on by the promise of a lovely lunch afterwards!

heritage hexagons- the Quilters Guild reply

I received a lovely detailed reply from the Quilter's Guild after sending pictures of the old quilt I found in a charity shop, and I am attaching it here in case anyone else is interested:

Hi Carol

Thank you for your email and the images you sent, it looks a very interesting and varied piece. I would say from the fabrics and style of patchwork that it dates from the late 19^th to early 20^thcentury. The colour combinations and patterns of print look very similar to some other items in our collection which have that date attributed to them, and mosaic patchwork was quite popular at that time. I have attached a couple for comparison – if you zoom in you will see some similarities in the fabrics, in their printed designs and colour palette. At this point velvets and silks were more fashionable and used for mosaic patchwork by those better off (or aspiring to copy them), and cotton fabrics were readily available and mass produced, making them cheaper and less desirable to the higher classes. The cottons used in patchwork which had dainty designs tended to be blouse, dress and shirting cottons, with some furnishings as well if the design is bolder and larger. The mixture of printed and hand written paper templates is also common in this period, and sometimes the printed text came from school text books, and handwritten text could be accounts, bills, old letters and handwriting practice.

It is a very lovely piece and it looks in fairly good condition as well, so it looks like a good chance find in the charity shop.

Heather Audin

Museum Curator

I think I'm going to back the quilt top with a vintage candy stripe sheet and actually use it on the bed. It seems a shame to lock it up in a cupboard, and maybe end up with my heirs sending it to a charity shop again in the fullness of time!

Links to the Quilter's Guild and Quilt Museum websites:

http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk/

http://www.quiltmuseum.org.uk/ 

The colours in this quilt make me think of the aquilegias which are all over my garden at the moment- so many subtly different shapes and colours, no two alike, and we didn't actually plant a single one of them!

pink is the colour

Pink is certainly the colour in the garden at the moment, I've never seen so much apple blossom on the trees! We had no apples at all last year after the horrible wet spring, so this year Mr P is looking forward even more than usual to his cider making. I am rather scared of his murky brew, so I am looking forward to lots of apple crumbles!

The countryside is bursting with stunning wildflowers too, we walked through the woods on Monday and the wild garlic was like a blanket of snow under the trees

and the bluebells have been wonderful too.

Pink will also be the colour of the moment on Sunday 16th June, when I will be joining in the Race For Life with a friend in Bath. As I and my sister have both recovered from breast cancer it will feel good to be able to help raise money for research into this horrible disease.

My friend will be bringing her mascot bear, so of course he needs his own Race for Life tee shirt:

... and after the race (or walk, in my case!) He can relax in his new cosy hoody!

Mr P wants to know why I am making clothes for bears when I could be making his new shirt! All in good time....

old man in a natty shirt

This week I went to my favourite place- the wonderful Eternal Maker fabric shop, 

http://www.eternalmaker.com/

mostly to buy some cuddly brushed cotton for the back of the steam car quilt:

(tick!)

...but unusually this time I was accompanied by Mr P who has got a bee in his bonnet about me making him a shirt, something I haven't done for many years. He has been seduced by all the beautiful new fabrics available now so he wanted to see them for himself.

Here's the fabric he chose after much deliberation:

(Oh, and I couldn't resist this print which will hopefully become a top for me, after the magnificent shirt of course!)

The Eternal Maker magic wove its spell over him and he had to be pushed out of the shop saying 'Oh, but that one's nice, and I didn't notice that one.... etc'.

I managed to find the aged shirt pattern I last used- dig that crazy 1980's moustache!

I'm making a trial shirt from an old sheet to check the fit, as shirts and indeed also Mr P have changed shape in the last 30 years. In Mr P's case he has probably shrunk a bit due not only to wear and tear, but also to many hours cycling up things. Its The Chilterns this weekend- I do like a weekend on my own with the cats, I can loosen my corsets and do lots of sewing whilst surviving on a diet of tea and toast and jam..

.. and carrying on the velvety black theme, I couldn't resist these beautiful petunias for the garden:

roll on summer!

catching up

Well its been quiet here for a while because I've had a week off from the day job and I seem to have been out every day..

Rummaging amongst the charity shops:

.. every home should have a blue lamb surrounded by fairy lights! 

I love to have time for some bread making:

This is Dan Lepard's Flash Loaf. It can be on your plate in 2 hours and its delicious! It has grated potato and vinegar in the mixture, which makes for a lovely moist loaf with an almost 'sourdough' taste when you don't have time to make true sourdough bread. 

I replaced the potato with beetroot in this one, which resulted in a ruby red loaf, and added some caraway seeds. Lovely warm with some tasty cheese.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/nov/21/flash-loaf-bread-baking-recipe

....and of course there's the garden, now that things are warming up:

too much to do out here, everything is suddenly green, green, green.

Meanwhile, indoors, I am trying to finish the quilt with steam cars on it for my friend's husband. Hopefully he will get it before the weather warms up- the top is nearly finished   

Its coming together quite well. The blocks are randomly pieced but each one will be trimmed to 9 inches square to give it an overall rhythm, and then I need  to decide how to quilt it. 
I know some people like to have a master plan before starting a project but I prefer to just jump in and see what happens. I find things seem to take on a life of their own.

Now I need a trip to the Eternal Maker shop (oh joy, oh joy!) to buy some backing fabric. I'm thinking of brushed cotton for extra snuggliness!

News on the antique (?) quilt: My friend has suggested sending photos to the Quilters Guild, so watch this space for news!                                                                                                     
        

If only every week could be so much fun, going out with lovely friends, baking, sewing and gardening- heaven!