Stash building

At the Trentham show Dennis subscribed to British Patchwork and Quilting for me for this year and we got a free project bag. This is how it looked when we got it.

This is how it looked half way through the show after I had been to Magie Relph’s stall. Its a little more than it looks because there are several bundles of FQs in there. Then a bit later when I had been to the Out of Africa stall and put a second layer in (The top left two are more of Magie's . The rolls are colections of 10 hand-dyed FQs from Durban.


Then later on when I had been to Midsomer Quilting.

As you can see most of the fabric is African but there is some in there for a Japanese quilt I designed when I was in Bath which I intend to make for the Butterflies and Blooms theme competition at the Great Northern Quilts Show in Harrogate in September. I didn't bother photgraphing the the plains.

Of course A japanese quilt requires Sashiko so I bought this from this quilt shop in Bath. ( Another class mate at MidsomerQ snatched it from the shelf in front of me else I would have bought it there.

Dennis also got me this one which I had previously seen on the Internet. The quilts are very simple – not that that is necessarily a bad thing, especially with such busy fabrics. I was fascinated with the little logos at the beginning of each chapter though which spurned a quilt design of my own which is now in my journal awaiting time. I certainly have the fabric for it! Although if any of my Australian readers want to recommend a good web based store for Australiana fabrics I would be interested in expanding my stash yet further around the globe.)

What was I saying? (Written in Bath on 13/4/07)

I think my brain has been foundation pieced – it certainly seems like it has lots of perforation holes in at the moment. This all happened within 24 hours when I was in Bath:

I left my loyalty card at Midsomer Quilting. Then I realised that I had lost my quilting journal which is a hard back notebook with all my sketched designs in, swatches, records of spending, list of books to put on my birthday list, notes from classes, entry forms and even the official label for my entry to Malvern and entry tickets for the show. I was going nuts until I traced it to Woods Stationery store.

I had gone in to buy isometic graph paper designing a quilt a la Kitty Pippen and also these plastic folders which are such a good storage ideas for cut quilt top pieces.


I had realised that the journal was one which the assistant might think I was buying, so I put it down on a ledge by the counter, told her that it was already mine so she didn’t think I was stealing it, paid for my goods and then…. walked out without it. I mean, I was talking about it just 10 seconds before I forgot it!!

Then I went to do some other shopping and realised when I was back at the flat that I was minus the Marks and Spencers chilled food I had bought for our (good quality but still very lazy) tea. That I left at the checkout at Waitrose supermarket when I called in for some of their unrivalled pain rustica. That was embarrassing when I had to phone them to ask them to put it in their chiller until I could get back for it. Plus, when I first tried to ring, I could not find my mobile phone. Fortunately ten minutes or so into the frantic search (cushions tossed off the sofa, handbag upended on the floor…) Dennis, who had gone to Bristol for the day, sent me a text and I heard my fat quarter bag beeping….

There are two theories. There is mine. (Bear in mind I am a natural hypochondriac who has just finished a very good book about a brain surgeon’s daily work life called Life in the Frontal Lobe) I think I have a tumour ( benign, but very rare and medically interesting, of course) pressing on the part of the frontal lobe which controls short term memory ( and also controls the urge to buy fabric and shoes and books for which there is really no need).

And then there is Den’s. He says I just have a head too full of quilts to concentrate properly. That’s his explanation for the forgetfulness. He doesn’t know that there is an issue with shoes/ fabric and books for which he needs an explanation…. Oh damn, I forgot – he reads this. See what I mean…?

Midsomer correction

Ok, Turns out I was a bad 'journalist' amd forgot to check my facts about Midsomer Q in my last post. It turns out that the shop is now soley in De's name and Chris was flattered but apparently 'elevated' to be called a co-owner. Ooops. He and Birgitta now work there - get this- as a a hobby!

Now it never occurred to me that anywhere in the world was anyone lucky enough to have a hobby that involved looking at fabric and quilts and stroking the fabric and arranging it in pretty piles .... and not ever having to buy the stuff to do it! ( I gather that Birgitta does actually buy some - I'm not sure about Chris!) How cool is that?

But it got me thinking. How about if the quilters in an area all thought, as I do that some part time working in a quilt shop wouldn't feel like work at all. And if at least one or two of those quilters had professional experience - or the abilty to learn - so that they were competant to run a business sucessfully. And if the people who worked there were all volunteers co-ordinated by someone who could maintain some order. ... (I don't do committees well!)

Surely then the overheads of the busienss would fall - no staff costs, just rent and utilities, accountants fees etc ( although see above: volunteers/ experience). So the fabric and notions could be sold without making a profit over overheads... kind of like a co-op...... and that could even be done on line - perhaps with a yearly membership fee to cover some basic costs, so that we could all benefit....

Now I'll take it as written that De will think that a VERY bad idea! But what do you consumers think? A good dream or shall I go and get a cold compress now?!

My favourite shop - Midsomer Q

Let me take you on a little day out to my favourite quilting shop. It says a lot that I hold a loyalty card for this store as it is about 4 hours drive from my house. Well, actually that’s cheating a bit because I only go when I am in Bath on holiday when it is half an hour’s drive up out of the valley in which Bath lies and out into the countryside.

Midsomer Quilting is in these stone buildings on land shared with a garden centre and a craft shop. The shop is L shaped with one ‘wing’ being a very pleasant workshop area where spent Easter Saturday being educated on threads and needles with Dawn Cameron Dick. More of that in a subsequent post.

There are several reasons that this shop is my very favourite of all the ones I have tried (and my husband got very worried when I said that I was ‘ collecting shops’). Firstly they give you chocolate digestives and tea. (In my case tasty Roiboos and Vanilla tea at that.). Now it’s not just that I can be bribed with cocoa solids (although I can) but my point is that you are positively encouraged to just hang out there a bit. There is even a seating area right in the middle of the retail area for you to sit and relax.

And a very pleasant place to hang it is too. It is neat. Fabric goes on the shelf not in piles of bolts slithering all over the floor. (In my house it slithers right down the stairs and through the house but I like shops neat!) Apart from a good range of fabrics ( I didn’t photograph them but they stock about 65 African style fabrics in just one small area of the shop). It is also developing. I went back this Friday after the class and was shown new shelving and a whole new display of thread racks.

It has beguiling shelves and windowsills with quilting gifts on. Not knick knacks. (Knick knacks set my teeth on edge – the same feeling as tearing masking tape with them. Ugh). No, quality gifts – jewellery, jigsaws, coasters, stationery and the like all with quilting motifs. I also love their Amish dolls you can see sitting on this shelf. They have little African girl doll kits too. They don’t sell fabrics on line but some of these gifts are available mail order from their website. Plus lots of books – this photo shows just half of the display that runs either side of an archway.

They are also just really nice people. I went in April 2006. When I rang this March to book the Easter Saturday class I was remembered by Chris. When I went back last Friday his wife remembered what I had been shopping for over a year ago. Chris had even taken the time to google me after the class to find out more about me. (It turns out there is a scary amount of information about me on the Net if you know where to look!!)

(And in case this photo made you wonder - no Chris does not have 2 wives .... at least I don' think so! One is the co-owner of the shop, De)
They open Friday – Monday but put their personal phone numbers on the door so if you were just passing you can call and they come and open up just for you.

I know for most readers this shop is not one you can visit readily, but perhaps if you are looking for a present for a quilting friend you will consider (just as a favour to me) sending off for one of their gift items. Or treat yourself – after all, you deserve it!

Are you a dedicated quilter

Which part of the quilting process do you least like and what do you do to motivate yourself through it?

For me, basting is both boring and usually painful – either I end up kneeling on dodgy knees as I crawl around the floor or I end up stooping over tables too low. Either can be dealt with by breaks and a couple of judicious yoga poses but that still leaves the tedium which I deal with my listening to quilting podcasts on my MP3. Nothing fires me up for quilting than listening to someone else passionate about their projects.

Which is how I came to be in a rather dreary basement workshop room putting almost 400 safety pins into the African ladies quilt .... with a little bit of initial help from Dennis before he went off to more interesting things.. Once he went I started to listen to Alex Anderson’s The Quilting Connection. There were two separate episodes I wanted to mention.

The first was the one where she says for her the binding is the worst part and her version of binding is to whip out her cheque book and get someone else to do it. Which made me wonder why I didn’t just send my quilt over to Chris Marriage and get her to baste on her long arm machine!

But, even as I was bleeding from having stuck a pin under the nail of my forefinger, I was captivated by some statistics Alex was passing on from the 2006 Quilts Inc survey.

Part of that survey is of ‘dedicated’ quilters which they define as someone who spends over US$600 a year on quilting. Hey, that’s me! Is it you? Here are the vital stats [with my response in square brackets]. I’d love you to comment and let me know how much like or not like you this is.

Apparently the average US dedicated quilter is:

Female. [check!]

59. [I am 36 and have always found that whatever I do I seem to be the youngest person doing it, so no change there.]

72% are collage educated. [I have been to 4 universities and 1 college of law for my sins!]

She has been quilting for 13.5 years. [ I notch up 15 months. And that would make them 45 when they started so I am still young!]

She spends an average of $2,300 a year on quilting. [I probably should not admit this on line but I reckon I beat that figure in sterling which has twice the value – although fabric is about twice the price here so perhaps it means I end up at around that figure]

83% have their own quilting space. [Technically the dining room is shared apace but as you can’t see the table for fabric…..]

Their stash contains $3,000 worth of fabric. [Umm – without checking I’d estimate mine has about £1,000 ( lots of it bought on sale)- but give me 13.5 years and I bet I beat that figure by miles].

She owns 2.6 sewing machines. [Nope – just one good one. Although if it makes me normal I guess I could get one with a stitch regulator on as well.]

She bought 98 yards of fabric last year. [Yeah – and the rest – I bought 35 this fortnight , 43.25 at the Craftsandquilts January sale and 34 metres at the Nantwich January sale….. and I have not exactly been abstinent on my Penrith trips in between.]

She has 4.2 quilting magazine subscriptions per year. [ I get 6 but I cut them up, toss the adverts and file the articles so perhaps I only keep 4.2]

She buys 5 books a year. [Pause while I hold my side in laughter. I think I managed 60 odd last year. I bought 2 this week alone. Well, no actually Dennis bought one because I pleaded poverty… with justification given the above information don’t you think?

So what is your verdict? Am I dedicated or just in need of a 12 step programme?

And how do you compare?

Back home

Hi, I am back home from self-imposed blog exile in Bath with lots to tell you. I wrote a few posts while I was away and will post them daily for the next few days. They may be a bit longer than usual as I had plenty of time to write so bear with me. I hope you enjoy them.

From Bath

We are having a good time in Bath. We came down via the quilt show in Trentham In my view the quilts on display were very disappointing compared to last year - fewer and lesser quality. ( I still have my photos on the laptop from 2006 and viewed them when we got here to make sure it wasn't just the haze of my first show that was influencing that opinion!) However I still enjoyed the day - not least because I bumped into people I knew ( last year I didn't know any other local quilters!) and spent a large amount of money on gorgeous fabrics from Magie Relph's stall.

On Easter Saturday I went out to Midsomer Quilting and did a class called Thread Play with Dawn Cameron Dick where we got to make little samples with a wide selection of threads. The idea was that we never play at home becuase we are focused on making and completing things so this was a day just to doodle Plus the information she gave us on needles and threads and tension issues was worth the price alone. I have pages of notes! I would highly recomend her as a teacher.

In the next couple of dayas I am going to avail myself of the room at Bath's Country Threads to baste the African ladies quilt which is now sporting borders from Magies stall. In the eveings I am quite happily working on other blocks.... and yes, I am also enjoying eating and clothes shopping and reading and just enjoying the easter sun in the park here.

Travel trauma

For one who travels so much -both for business and leisure - I am very bad at one aspect of it: packing. I don't mean the mechanics of packing. I am a world beater at that - I can roll and stuff and cram into a case for England. I mean choosing what to take.

How do I know what the weather will be like next Thursday?
How do I know whether I will be in casual or dress up mood?
How do I know whether I will or will not spill chicken tikka masala sauce over one outfit and need a spare?

And for our upcoming trip to Bath the decision get worse. We are going by car for a fortnight in a flat we know well. So no airline luggage limits but I do have a very large car boot. Basically I have a fortnight of creativity and relaxation.


Some decisions are easy. The sewing machine has to come becuase I am doing a thread play class at Midsomer Quilting when I am down there. Which means the thread box comes too. And my still in edit novel has to come because if I don't crack it soon the only chance of publication will be a posthumous one. (And my friend Sharon will start to nag. In a very nice way. And with justification. But still....)

But thereafter I hit dilemma time.

How many books shall I take given that I don't want to run out but in any event am within 5 mins walk of two good bookshops?

And what about quilting? The sewing machine has to go becuase I am doing a thread play workshop at Midsomer Quiting when I am down there. So the whole thread storage box goes too. And the gift quilt I am painstakingly hand appliqueing and paper piecing comes too or else the lack of progress will worry me and spoil the relaxation. But should I pack somthing else and if so what?

The Afican ladies will be ready for basting (There are just two seams left to sew and a border to put on) but there is no space in the flat to baste it but I might be able to wangle workshop space in one of the shops down there. Which begs the question - do I just put a plain backing on it or shall I use the spare strips leftover to piece some kind of back?. Or are they best used in another top ( Im thinking a kids one with animal foot prints inbetween scrap blocks). Or should I finish one of the others in progess before I start another? The crazy blocks I was making with other scraps? Or the silk wall hanging that is ready for quilting? Or should I give into temptation because I'm in holiday and see if I can start and finish one while I am away - a Japanese one perhaps? Or should I let myself hack into that collection of black and red Asian fabrics I have been itching to get my hands on in my stash? Or perhaps I shouldn't take anything given that I am going via the traders at Trentham Gardens and have access to three fabric shops and a haberdashers down there.....

Or perhaps I should just squeeze it all into the car and decide when I get there?

Help!

Excitement

I have now booked tickets for the Festival of Quilts in August and am very excited to be able to do a full days Quilt Academy class with Kaffe Fasset. I extended the trip to three days at the show when I saw that so I don't lose out on any viewing or shopping time. This will be my first Festival of Quilts and I intend to do it in style! Lesley is also coming and we will share aroom to increase spending power at the traders stall and we are even going to the salsa evening... I do worry that after a day at the show my feet might not be up to that but there is Latin American food so I can always just sit and replenish energy stores!

African ladies and more

The African quilt progresses....

It was worked on with Lesley at Morceau, the quilting school I go to once a month in Penrith. Two design walls, the beginnings of two twin quilts

The day was spent starting to make extra connector blocks, removing blocks that seemed a good idea but didn't work so well, and auditioning extra fabric needed for that all important 'zing factor'. I don't normally pose with my blocks but it seems that there is the possiblity of an article on the process of these quilts so we are pre-illustrating as we go along!

This is my co-maker Lesley.

The common verdict for that zing fabrics was a touch of black, which was the best of all options, but I wasn't ever really convinced. Then I came home and remembered this genuine african fabric in the stash from Maggie Relph's online shop. Perfect. And what good justification for the existence of a stash!

I have decided on an irregular setting with a partial plain black inner border ( well, I can't ignore all the advice!). I need fabric for an outer border which is the perfect excuse to do some shopping at the show at Trentham Gardens on Saturday. This is it so far. You have no idea how many times I have rearranged the blocks to make them look casually placed!

And this is my dining room. I always mean to be neat and tidy as I work......

I also picked up my maple leaf quit from the long arm quilter.It looks great hanging here temporarily at the workshop room at Morceau ( she says modestly) and this maple syrup pantograph was perfect for it. The next big one I have ready I am going to learn how to longarm quilt myself.

Future plans

Purple Missus commented on my last post asking why I didn't just do the writing and quilting full time and make the the rest a hobby. Well....

(a) I spent today ( and will spend tomorrow) embroiled in a divorce case with 5 family members and a friend involved, one of whom may not be competant to make her own decisions, one has been disciplined in their own profession for what I shall simply call dodgy dealings and appears not to have learned their lesson. An expensive property has been disposed of for a tiny sum, there are dubious financial transactions all over the place and when at 4pm we were finally able to tell the Judge that it was all agreed one person decided that actually he didn't agree after all and so we start again tomorrow. I love it!!

No really. I wouldn't want not to be doing any law.

(b) Law pays for the stash. I doubt that my earnings quilt teaching would get me anywhere near what I earn now. And before anyone tells me that there is more to life than momey yes I know but
(1) see (a) above and
(2) I do work less now so that I can quilt at least some of the time and
(3) Money might not necessarily bring happiness but I do suspect that poverty brings misery!

However, this is not to say never.
It is in the back of my mind nearer retirement (and that's a long way off- i'm only 36!) if I keep stuffing my pension I may be able then to move through law to somthing more quilt related perhaps on a 50-50 basis and then through 100% quilting as a business to full retirement.

And I have also thought about just teaching the odd evening or weekend class for fun well before then - one reason I want to get the City and Guilds qualifications that I have embarked on.

I've even had mad moments about putting money into a quilt shop and employing someone to work in it most of the time.... which was why I smiled when Pam on her second lesson said ' You could open a shop..." Little did she know she was the employee I had in mind..... we will see ... oooh look, flying pigs!

Finally I will now be away a few days (part work part quilting trip) so no blog until at least Sunday unless I find a free Internet spot. See you then.

Quilting excitement doubled

My Sunday afternoon plans have just been wrecked in the nicest possible way ever.

Pam, who has worked for us as an amazing cleaner and who can find anything I have lost around the house has been showing an increasing interest in all things quilting. This may be because she spends so much of her time hoovering up threads and taking stray fat quarters out of the bathroom and putting then back where they belong. On Friday she was dusting and pointed out to be a fabric tucked away in a basket that she liked, so I invited her to take all the baskets out of the cupboard and have a good look. When I saw her stroking the african fabrics I suspected she might be suseptible to the charms of quilting. She asked how seams worked and so I acquired my first student.

She wanted to start with a simple quilt just with squares and so we learned how to do a fourpatch and she was dispatched home with some precut sqaures to try handstitching and my rotary cutter etc to have a play with. She arrived unannounced about three hours ago, bag in hand asking for lesson number two.

It was such a delight. She used my design wall and designed her own quilt. OK Its a very small one for her dog to lie on but it was fascinating to see her design using sashing and cornerposts when she had never actually heard those words. She just wanted to know if she could 'put a strip there' or 'move that square there'. When she realised she could do whatever she wanted and if she didn't know how I could show her, she was away!

Once all the pieces were cut we took mugs of tea up to the room where I keep my fabric and books and she immediately spotted things she wanted to make. She loves the African ladies I did and a quilt with houses on. So I suggested we make a one with African ladies outside their huts to her own design. (Which is a really good idea I should have thought of on my own but didn't)Then she spotted a bag with seams on the outside and frayed and a clutch bag to make. I left her with the books to make more tea and came back and she was poring over African American art quilts, and said

" Its so exciting. I've got about 20 ideas already!And the colours...."

I don't know who is the most excited - me or her! I love teaching trainee solictors law but teaching quilting - well how much better is that?! I do hope she stays excited. I am pretty sure she is hooked though as already in just three days she is taking ideas for several pictured quilts and combining them into new ideas. I can see her moving as I did from wanting to replicate Amish fourpatch quilts through to what is my own instinctive style but she seems to be doing it even quicker.

Plus she is going to the US in May and has decided to shop for fabric there. Now that is SO unfair that she gets to do that and I can't!!

Dennis having surveyed the fabric and books spread out around us is a litle concerned that she will be making more mess than she cleans in the future and when he made some good natured crack about that she replied that she will be requiring a pay rise to cover her quilting costs..... I may be needing to make this one of those blogs that asks for donations for its upkeep. You'd all understand wouldn't you?!

Swap a goat

Can I tell all of you who swap on Swap-bot ( as well as those who don't yet but might) about a charity swap I have set up called Swap a Goat.

Obviously this does not involve posting an actual goat but is not far off and you'll have to check out the link at http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/2645 to see what its all about.

Let me just say its my little attempt to use the internet and the alternative gift schemes that many charities now run, to get some money directed to those who don't have food never mind broadband and all the other things we take for granted.

Back on track

Seems to me that blogging is like dieting or exercise in that you miss one day and suddenly a week has gone by. How on earth did that happen?

Well part of the time I was in Birmingham with no easy internet access. And other days I was working on blocks to swap/keep for the collaborative African quilt. This what I have so far. There is no attempt to balance the positioning of blocks as I will acquire some of Lesley's and lose some of these on Saturday - I can't wait to see what she has for me and to spend a whole day with her making more.

Finally I am very excited today because I have managed to get tickets to Placido Domingo's only UK tour date in Manchester in May and I get to fullfil one of my Mum's lifetime dreams by taking her as well.

Quick post then off

Very quick post then I am off to Birmingham to try and avoid the worse of the M6 rush hour.I am teaching there for a couple of days. It's that time of year where my blog starts to get erratic as I dash about , wheeled and overpacked suitcase in tow

First, to answer Flibbertygibbet's question about what I got in the first package to arrive in her swap.... all this, in a cardboard box. The long narrow thing at top right is a magnetic notepad. There are several ginger teabags which I love and even the tissue paper is reusable and very colourful. There was a very interesting letter as well.




Got time to work on the African ladies blocks on Sunday pm but got distracted - the sample block ended up in the bag below! The ladies did get done although I realised belatedly that on one block I had used the reverse side of the centre block material in error. I emailed my collaboration partner Lesley to confess and she had done the same thing.. I guess this partnership is meant to be!

Back home

I see my blog was hijacked while I was away - and in a very well written way too. I will have to watch my back or my readers will be defecting. But Helen's comment is right - he is a sweetie. And the house is indeed all sparkly and pin free ( in part because the cleaner also came this morning so it was a team effort - he tends to tidy up before she arrives whereas I pay her extra hours when my mess is especially bad. ) But, I have been in all of ten minutes and already there is fabric draped over the armchair.. there was a fabric swap package waiting for me and a good one at that.

Annie Smith's podcast had a while back an eposide dealing with 'You know you are a diehard quilter when....' This sprung to mind on this trip to London. First of all I was frantically packing (or trying to, because I seemed to have lost half my work shirts and the other half were unironed) when I found, right in the middle of the back of the one clean, ironed, and as it happend rather expensive shirt..... one hole. An undarnable, undisguisable hole. Did I cry? Did I scream? No I examined the care label and said, "Oh at least its 100% cotton. I can always quilt with it."

Then, when in Marks and Spencers in Oxford Street shopping for replacement shirts, I spotted , at twenty paces, an absolutely perfect fabric and was well on the way across the store to the rack where it hung before I realised. Indeed it was perfect fabric.... for the African style quilt I am making. Even when I realised I briefly considered buying it for that purpose but it was crinkled synthetic and I am not a complete masochist so I didn't!

Dennis Takes Revenge

"Do you think I need to take some quilting stuff? Do you think I should add some more clothes? What if it's cold? What happens if...?" So it continued until I finally packed Helen and her bags off for her (work) trip to London.

At last: the house to myself. A night of partying with friends? An evening drinking? Sport on TV? No, out came the Dyson and the cleaning began in every room. Threads removed from carpet, chairs, cushions, books(!?), pieces of fabric (my definition of "scraps" is different from Helen's.) from below the sofa, beads from underneath cushions and paint wiped from the kitchen work-top. Almost done; just one more thing. Shoes and socks off; walk across carpet in bare feet-only three needles/pins found this time. Not too painful!

Finished at last; a tidy house- no more quilting for three whole days. Peace reigns. Husband surveys the result of his handiwork......and guess what? I miss her already!

Am I the only one?

I just wondered - does anyone else out there like to say goodnight to their fabric or am I the only one? I mean, I don't actually tuck it in and read it Goldilocks or anything, its just that quite frequently the last thing I will do before I snuggle down is nip into the back bedroom and have a quick peek at my fabric. I just like to remind myself of what is in there so that I can go to sleep with the colours in mind and drift off with various possible designs in my mind. I supose its the nearest I can get to eliminating the frustration that comes from knowing I'd get so much more made if only I didn't have to sleep.

This is today's bag. In theory its for a swap but I don't know... I like it and I have time to make another for the swap.......

As for the two suggestions I got about what is to go in the beaded swap bag. Erica, I see where you are coming from with the chocolate but it turns out when I read the recipent's profile that she doesn't eat anything with wheat, dairy, sugar, gluten or anything that is non-organic.... way too much hard work for me! But she is a quilter and I did see beautiful little pens and mechanical pencils at Paperchase at Euston station last week that I didn't need but really wanted to buy so I guess I'll combine the other two suggestions - pencil and fabric.

Fusing Fabrics

I'm not sure where the days have gone since my last post save that on Saturday I was at a workshop in Warrington based on Margaret Beale's book Fusing Fabrics. In essence you get to bond/ mark/ burn synthetic sheer fabrics with a soldering iron. To a pyromaniac like me this requires a lot of self-control to get a design rather than wonderful flames.

(Actually I can tell you - by accident - that if you apply too much pressure for too long you don't get flames but a melted blob of fabric and acrid smoke. This is why furntiture needs to be upholstered in stuff that wouldn't work for this technique.)

Simply by cutting the shapes from fabric with the iron on glass then bonding then togther with a tiny dab of the iron you can make 3d flower and all kinds. Stitching can then be added to make the most amazing pieces of art that I still only aspire to. I am definately getting the book to learn more but the above pictures are some I made earlier.... I went for bookmarks because I had to make four for a swap I was in. The two below are in fact paper as I didn't want to give away all my fused ones!

Little bag

Tonight I made this little bag. It is the first beading I have ever done and did it without buying a beading book ( usually I have a book for everythng) so I don't know if I did it right but the beads don't fall off so it can't be that wrong! It has a magnetic clasp inside and is the right size to be used as a rotary cutter or dressmaking scissors pouch. However, as it is for a swap I don't know what it will ultimately be used for. I think I may have to make myself one though!

For the swap I also have to put some little gifts in the bag. What would you like to have in it if it were coming to you?

Blocks and blockheads

These photos show the product of a nice relaxing night last night. I lowered the ironing board and used it as a worktable by the sofa as I vegged out on front of TV ( taped episode of New Street Law, Channel 4 News, Relocation Relocation and a programme about a barking mad man who took a crumbling castle, a listed ancient monument- part of which later fell down- and made it into a beautiful house, of which I would be very jealous of, if the narrator hadn't helpfully told us that they had more than doubled their intended mortgage and had to make it interest only to achieve it. How will his wife afford her fabric stash now?!)

The ladies, to answer Diana's question, are raw edged machine appliqued. Or at least they will be - these six are just bondawebbed at the moment. I am thinking that having enlarged the centre oblong frome the sample they might now take a beaded inner border... but I will see what it looks like when the connector blocks are made and what Lesley, who is making this with me, thinks.

This block ( made partly on a train to London on Tuesday) is very different to my usual style and is my first hand applique. It is for my gift quilt.

And finally, just for Brenda and all others who love consumer tales......

I discovered, last Friday, hidden under a pile of papers, £28 worth of rail vouchers. Inevitably they ran out that very day. I decided that we had to book a journey - to anywhere. At Easter we go to Bath and I am working one day so I asked Dennis if he wanted a free day trip to London. Of course he did. We checked online - singles could be had for just £9. Yeah. Enough left over to get two returns Bath to Bristol. (Cricket for him, shops for me)

The snag is that the vouchers need to be used at a ticket office so I dispatched him to the station. He was told that the single back from London would be £13.50. He said, no its £9 I saw it on the website and was told to go and buy it on line! When he explained why he couldn't and asked for an explanation as to why he was being charged a different price he was told that he would not be served if he was abusive. So the manager was called and Dennis explained that asking, without a single swear word, threat or raised voice for a price explanation was not abuse. It was customer service. The man asked what the problem was and then suggested he went and bought the tickets on line.

He gave up and paid £13.50 ( its not the money, its the principle.....). He then got one Bristol return, total £28.10 and the woman told him she could not accept a mixture of cash and vouchers. He told her that he was not entering into a discussion because that was patently ridiculous and that she could either take the mix or charge him £28. The manager was called again who decided to take the £0.10.

Dennis then said that when asked to fill in the back of the vouchers with his journey details he put in the wrong date and wrote that he was to travel from Southhampton to Inverness....... its the rebellious little boy in him, but I do think that they deserved it. Not, of course that the noticed.....

Swaps and applique

First - swaps - I am really into Swap-bot at the moment - like Blogs its a great way to connect with people but by real mail with real items for a change. I love email but I still bound downstairs when the post drops onto the door mat and hate it when its all work or bills or for Dennis.

So, some swap news first

My ATCs got potsed on another blog by the recipent in Germany. Her blog is all about swaps so take a look and see if you fancy joining in.
2. I have four new swaps I started on Swap-bot if you fancy trying it out. They are all letter ones for cheapness.

(a) Know How - we all know things and that's what makes us interesting . So this one requires a letter including a fact you learned from work, a little something you can teach your partner to do (Eg a recipie, a craft tip, a dance step) and a funny or interesting general knowledge factoid

(b) 24 hours in the life of. ... what seems every day to one person is a really fascinating 'other life' to someone else. Plus when we stop to observe what we have around us and do we often are amazed by what we take for granted. In this letterwe will give details of our life and routine for a 24 hour period

(c) In case of fire.... If the house was on fire and your family and pets were safe and it was safe for you to get 10 things out what would they be and why are they so important to you?

(d) Ready Steady Cook. Post six ingredients you love or want to know how to cook. Your parnter will send you at least three recipies each of which will use at least one of your ingredients.

As for quilting. I started working on an appliqued block in Jacobean style today - tulips and leaves on a green stem swirl on cream background. The exact opposite of the precision doesn't matter routine of yesterday. Its for a a gift quilt - hence a different style to my usual quilting. Its very slow butI enjoyed handsewing whilst watching a film. Only trouble is I have a thread emergency - I forgot to buy the green silk thread I need. Thank goodness for Hazel at Just Sew who I know will post it tomorrow and open a tab for me!

My kind of quilting

I had a fun time in Penrith yesterday with Lesley designing our collaborative quilts. We started with the premise that this was a quilt where precision ( not our strong point) was not going to matter. So 'Freedom log cabins' seemed a good start, as in cut a load of strips - in this case from African or African style fabrics in greens and browns- in random widths and attach them in random order and don't worry about the block size - that trims!

We agreed to swap stash fabric and then do ten starter blocks. The idea is to do two quilts so we both get one but we will probably join them up differently with different connector blocks. The stash share was funny as Lesley's was about a dozen fabrics and half of mine filled a suitcase! She had quality fabric from Maggie Relph though so it evened out!

I had a full afternoon to quilt today so got the basic blocks started:

They won't all be togther like that in the end and eventually the centre oblongs will be filled with appliqued african ladies in different styles from the book Quilt Africa. Like this sample block.

I also thought I'd show you some mugs I found on sale in Penrith that I really liked. I got two of each. I rang home and tried to describe the pink ones but all I could think of was 'They look like Amy Butler fabric' ... not helpful to my husband!

Finally, I ended my last post with a flip comment about travelling up by train. In fact had I done so I would probably have been on the train that crashed. I can't really say 'There for the grace of God...' because it was only a fleeting consideration to be environmentally friendly to go by train but it does make you think about making the most of life and appreciating family.

Travelin' heavy

Tonight I go back up to my parents for a quilting class tomorrow. This is my luggage for the single overnight stop and that does not include my handbag. Nor my extension table which I might forgo in the name of travelling light. The black bag to the left is in fact empty but will be a change of clothes and toiletries.

The suitcase then?

Fabric!! (It doesn't quite shut).

The plan for Saturday is to finalise a design for a part foundation pieced, part appliqued pink and cream quilt with curved inner and outer borders for a gift. ( Saying no more in case the receipient is listening). It started out designed with papercuts done with needleturn but that plan is going to be abandoned partly for speed, partly becuase machining is easier on my hands, and partly because the dusky pink fabric I chose resisted any attempt to mark it in a way I can see!

I also plan to work with a friend on a new design for a collaborative, african style, quilt combining freedom log cabins and applique. We have both agreed to make one sample block and to take our African stashes to compare /combine - actually I have cheated - the suitcase containes only half my African stash, together with all the pink/cream fabric... and this class is above a shop....

By the way, the government seem to think that I can do this trip by public transport which would involves a total of two trains and six buses (or taxis). Yeah right.

New books

A very special book arrived today. It is a book of poetry by Mandy Haggith. I've only read a little bit so far but I loved this image in a section of poems dealing with the Scottish loch where the poet lives:

Foam

"all washed up

after a wild night

Guinness froth

on a seaweed moustache."

However the real reason the book is so special it it is the first one from new publishers Two Ravens Press founded by my special friend Sharon Blackie. I'm not on a commssion but I'd love it if you just checked out the website and had a browse at the books they have coming out shortly.

First ever ATCs

I have just made my first ever ATCs. They are Fabric ( but of course) with Vilene in the middle. I need to get the stitching around the edging a bit better than it is at the moment but all in all I'm quite chuffed with them. It is the first time I have embellished anything with beads as well. (Although I fear not the last time I will spill tube of said, very tiny beads over the table/ floor!) The motivation to make them was a swap on Swap-bot specifically for people new to making ATCs, so I am looking forward to seeing what I get back in return.

Little and Large

Thank you to all who responded to my quilting dilemma. As you can see from this photo...

I was following some of the advice already. Buried under the quilt is an extension table. The advantage of using the dining room table ( there are many dis-advantages!) is that there is plenty of table to the left and to the back and I use a chair back to support even more of the weight.

I have slowed down and speeded up. But still the back has those 'taggy' stiches and the thread breaks. I do beleive the answer lies in adjusting the bobin case but I can't because it requires the minutest of Phillips screwdrivers which didn't come with the machine and I don't posess otherwise.

So for now the quilt is to be rolled up and placed on the naughty step until it learns to behave becuase I just can't be bothered with it anymore. I have decided to avoid this repetition of the problem in two ways:

(a) tonight I shall be wrapping up my first quilt to go to a Long arm quilter which is quite exciting to see how it comes back. I am being very lazy and getting her to do the binding too

(b) I am going to play with ATC's tonight. Now 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches shouldn't give me quilting problems. (If you think otherwise let me know now before I get very annoyed indeed!) I just have to think of an idea for somthing that small.

I have signed up for a beginner's swap on Swap-bot which requires me just to make 2 of them so I thought I'd have a go. I have also signed up to swap a tote bag and a smaller handmade bag so I am hoping that those should be relatively stress free!

Yesterday I made this paper design for my City and Guilds Shape portfolio (sorry about the flash - it's shiny card and reflects but without it the card came out blue!)and this bookmark to swap out of the same card.

I'm back!

Sorry for my unannounced absence. I went to Penrith for a sewing break and the catching of a nasty head cold left me feeling hot and stuffed up and generally unfit to fight with my parent's incredibly slow dial-up connection.

I had taken an optimistic amount of sewing with me for the three days I had booked open classes at Morceau. I did more or less finish a black shift dress ( just one hem to go) but spent much of the time huddled up against the radiator sniffling and making the quilting comfort food equivalent - tote bags. Here are two I made with linen I snagged in the sale at just £3 per meter.

On Valentines day my tissues, my husband and I went to Sedbergh just into Yorkshire for the sole purpose of going to Westwood books where Dennis bought me these three books.

Now I am back I am sticking bits of paper togther for the shape portfolio of the city and guilds. To be honest I am getting a bit fed up of the design elements - mostly becuase we are not allowed to sew, so any great idaes you get have to be put on the back burner which is annoying.

Quilting problem

I have started quilting this king size quilt - it's reallt hard work to move it !I planned on really big swirls but that's impossible as I cant move that much of the quilt at once. But these smaller ones are OK. This is just a quick practice quilt made with sale fabric so I don't mind that they are not perfect.

So I have two questions for you if you don't mind....

Firstly, do any of you use those plastic machine quilting hoops with the hand grips and if so are they better than the gloves with the plastic stipples on that I am using?

Secondly, I have a problem which I suspect is all about tension but I don't know how to fix it. If I have the top tension at less than 5 I get this on the back - stitching lines perpendicular to the sewing line.

However set at around 5 the top thread keeps breaking.

What doI do to fix this?

Studio loss / button space

Tonight we have invited our GP and his wife to dinner. I was really looking forward to it until I realised that unless I was going to serve three courses and coffee on trays infront of the TV I needed to dismantle my sewing room becuase I sew on the dining room table

So now everything is stuffed into a cupboard :

Well actually there is also quite a lot of overspill all around the cupboard too. It is really annoying me that I can't find one sensible controlled storage system for my quilting. I am by nature an untidy person but even for me this is too much!

In fact this is not too traumatic as on Sunday I am going up to Cumbria for a few days as Yvonne at Morceau has kindly organised her teaching list so thatI can have a little sewing holiday. I plan to do dressmaking for most of the time then when I start flagging switch to some small fun projects. Like more storage bags perhaps.....

Finally - remember the button storage teaser I posed... which none of you answered. (Gee thanks, folks). Well I was waiting for a very long time indeed to go in and do a very simple matter before a Judge at Runcorn County Court. I and the other barrister had resorted from sheer boredom of lounging around the waiting room and reading gossip magazines and talking rubbish. I was still trying to work it out and my colleague was struggling too. The usher - who I hadn't realised was listening suddenly said,

"Easy. One inch diameter buttons need one inch square space. If they are one eight of an inch you get eight in a cubic inch. Eighty thousand buttons need 10,000 cubic inches. A cubic foot is 1728 inches ..." I frowned at that point. "Twelve by twelve by twelve." Oh yeah. "So you need 10,000 divided by 1728 to get your cubic feet. That's about 5.78 cubic feet."

Right. That's me told.

Trouble is I can't get in my head what 5.78 cubic feet looks like. So I emailed Rachelly Rogell whose quilts started all this off. She said it takes a whole wall.

So there. Now I think I should get on with some work!!

Snow snark

Today I was to travel to Watford by train. My cushy first class pre-booked tickets were carefully timed to get me there just in time to speak for an hour at a conference then step back in the waiting taxi and go back for the train home. Easy day.. until it snowed.

At seven thirty I started the media search. Virgin rail's web site said that there was a'revised timetable' but failed to provide it. The link to National Rail did not work. Typing in the website for National Rail led to a crashed website. I tried Ceefax on TV. Virgin rail are running a revised service. Check their website. I tried again. Same same.

I rang. Their recorded message told me that it was snowing so they were busy and I should ring back, then cut me off. I listened to the radio. It told me there was a revised service and I should check the website. I did. Still nothing. I rang again and got cut off.

I sent a text to the conference organiser who was already at the hotel in Watford.

He rang back and said, "I'm looking out of the window and its all white. Don't come."

So I didn't.

At lunch time Dennis came up to the study, where I was busy being very grateful for a spare day to catch up on a pile of lecture notes that needed writing, to tell me that Virgin Rail were on the TV news. Their press statement was that I should travel tomorrow instead.

Is it just me?

Button teaser

Last night I was in bed reading Creative Quilting: the Journal Quilt Project and in particlar a piece about Israeli quilter Rachel Roggel who claims ( I am sure it is a true claim) to have collected 80,000 buttons over 10 years. I wanted to know how much space that took but neither Dennis nor I could work it out. I blamed it on the lateness of the hour but today I still can't quite get my head around it. I did consider signing up for a Quilt University course on Maths for Quilters and Dennis told me I didn't need it. Wrong! (Mind you I am not sure it would have covered storeage estimates. Although that's probably a real issue for most quilters.)

So saying that each button averages an inch in diameter and is one eighth of an inch thick (such estimate being based on the dimension of pyjama buttons) and saying that they were kept stacked up in drawers the size of our bedroom ones, which are about 3 feet by 1.5 feet, how many of those drawers would it take to store 80,000 buttons?

Answers on a comment post please.
Really - I have a strange nagging desire to know. I don't know why.


Also Rachel's website has some great art quilts with buttons on - check out the link on her name above. They make me want to collect buttons..... perhaps that's why I have that strange desire to know the storage required....!

Join my swap!

Today I got to start my very own swaps on www.swap-bot.com and I am hoping that all my readers will join in!

I have set up two.

The first is a Fabric Swap with a difference. We will be swapping a fat quarter or the equivalent in charms or strips of one colour group, together with some pictures from magazines or the like which show that colour being used to good effect with others. The idea is to give you a 'free' bit of material to experiment with and to stretch you to put it with colours you would not normally have chosen.

(Readers who have done the colour portfolio of the City and Guilds certificate may recognise my inspiration!)

The second will be even lighter on postage being a fun Know How swap. All it requires is a letter telling your partner
(a) instructions on how to do somethng you know how to do eg. a craft project or a recepie or dance step - anything
(b) an interesting fact relating to your job or if you do not work outside the home, home or child related fact
(c) a funny or intriguing general knowledge fact

Then send a small light gift like a postcard or bookmark with some relevance to one of the facts. That gift can be homemade or store bought.

If you do join my swap because you read this can you let me know with a comment either here or on the comment facilty on the swap page.

For readers who have not yet found Swap-bot it is a forum for all kinds of swaps, is free to join and allows you contact with people all over the world (which I assume you like if you are reading blogs!). You pick which swaps you get involved in and they include things like pen pal letters, chocolate, magazines, ATCs , teas etc. A ratings system operates to weed out bad swappers to give you confidence in joining in. Check it out!

Quliting break

Juts a quick post before I dash off to Manchester to teach trainee solicitors how to be an advocate. I feel the abence if I leave my blog for a few days as I have just done and hope that someone out there misses me!

So I just want to say thank you to all of you who contacted me about my hands either via comment or privately ( dnomder yes I would love you to send me your dietary guidelines - my email is available on my profile).

The night before yesterday I had spent all day at court sneakily rubbing massasge oil with lavander and black pepper aromatherapy oil into my thumbs. I think I smelled like an old lady ( apologies to old ladies world over!). I came home and thought: Right what am I going to make tonight? I logged on first and found a newletter from Yoga Journal had arrived with a link to this article about violence to the self. I read it and thought - you know what, it's not necessarily a waste of my time If I just lie on the sofa for one night and watch bad TV. So I did.

Then last night I spent it all dealing with various swaps I have signed up for at swap-bot. and sending some beatles stuff to a child of a quilter I met on line at the chat facilty of The Quilt Show. But I am back quilting today- I got three lines of quilting on a bag done whilst the crumpets were in the toaster for breakfast just now!

But time to battle rush hour on the motorway....