Out and about

So, Monday dawned after a really hot weekend in the garden and on the allotment and off to the station to catch the train to London. Val and I were off to the V&A to see the quilt exhibition. London was hot, noisy and dirty, but it felt so good to be there after a long time away. Shame I forgot to take the AtoZ and wore the wrong shoes, but I managed to have a great time.

We got a sandwich and found a shady spot in Green Park to have a picnic. Then we set off to walk to the V&A, but it was so hot, and without the AtoZ I wasn't sure of the way, so we got a cab and arrived well in time for our start time of 2.30.

The exhibition was womderful. There was a good balance between the ancient and modern and we took our time going around. We had chosen a fairly quiet time, so we didn't have trouble getting close to the quilts. The old quilts were very impressive, especially considering that they were all done by hand. No photos allowed, but my favourites were King George reviewing the troops, the quilt made by prisoners in Wandsworth prison for Fine Cell Work and Pauline Burbridge's Applecross quilt. So then back out into the sunshine for a cup of tea in the courtyard in the company of a Black Backed gull and various small children cooling themselves in the fountain before we headed off to get something to eat and the train home.

The least said about the journey home the better, but we did get back at last,  an hour later than we should have done and feeling very jaded.

So then to Alwoodly quilter's on Tuesday morning where Sandra was showing us a technique she called shattered flowers. This invovled using a large floral print which was cut up and arranged on a grid. Keeping track of all the little pieces was tricky, but I managed to get the grid covered. Will I do anything with it? We'll see, but for now it's going on the WIP pile where no doubt it will gather quite a bit of dust!

Then in the afternoon, Sandra and I went up to the Quilt Museum in York to see a demonstration by Alicia Merritt. Alicia was showing us how to  use curved piecing techniques and creating wonderful blocks of coloured squares and rectangles. Sandra and I met up with her friend Julie who is also a blogger and very busy indeed. There was a lot to talk about, and another chance to look at the Breakthrough exhibition before we headed for home.

So, no photos, but today I'm recovering by doing a little gentle stitching and catching up on the Chelsea Flower Show!

Exciting times!

And so off to the Quilt Museum in York for a workshop with Hilary Gooding from the Contemporary Quilt Group making lacy scarves.

Hilary showed us some examples  and helped us choose the threads we were going to use and once she had dished out the water soluble fabric we were off. The museum provided sewing machines for us to use and I had forgotten how much I had come to rely on my Bernina, as I was using a Brother. Nice machine but rather fiddly to thread up and the least said about the bobbin winder the better!

So you start with a sheet of sticky water soluble fabric and lay on your threads and snippets of this and that as artistically, or not as you like! Then lay a sheet of thin water soluble fabric (non-sticky) over the top and press down well to make sure all the bits and pieces are well secured. Then to the machine. I chose to machine a grid using a variegated metallic thread in the needle with a black thread in the bobbin. I had chosen black and silver as my theme, but thought that little splashes of colour would add a little sparkle.

Hilary showed me how to make a fringe using free machine embroidery on a double layer of the thin soluble fabric stuck onto the end of my scarf. Scary stuff, especially as I was not familiar with the machine I was using and the fabric was a little wobbly. Had I been at home, I would have used a hoop for this. Anyway, I persevered and ended up with a more or less fringy addition to both ends!

Problems arose when dissolving the watersoluble fabric and in the areas where the threads or stitching were densest, little blobs of glue remained and are seemingly impossible to get rid of. I have now tried using really hot water and although this seems to have helped, some glue remains.

Anyway, I now have a little black and silver scarf to show off, and also the memory of a really fun day. Hilary is a very inspiring tutor and thanks to her encouragement, I've learned a lot.

So then to my Guild meeting on Saturday. Magie Relph was giving us a talk about indigo dyeing and after lunch we had an opportunity to dabble in an actual indigo vat made up to Magie's special recipe. So I came home  with a few pieces of indigo dyed cotton and blue fingernails, having forgotten to take the marigolds!!

The main business of the week was to get the embroidered duvet cover finished in time for Isobel's birthday and that's now done so back to my little batik quilt as the fabric for the edging has arrived!

How did I ever find time to go to work! and aren't I so glad I don't have to go anymore! Yippee!

A new challenge or two

When I visited Cowslip workshops recently, I was tempted by a batik jelly roll. Jelly roll quilt, must be a doddle or so I thought. Sadly, doddle it isn't, especially for someone like me who doesn't  do planning in advance! The fabrics, of course are lovely, made up of light, medium and darks, patterned and plain in lovely toning greens and purples. I thought it would be easy to sort the strips into the appropriate value pile, but I soon discovered that there were a few obvious lights, obvious darks, but the vast majority could have been either. Indeed, sorting fabric according to colour value very much depends on which ones you put next to which. What I find hard to believe is why I was surprised by this fact, given all the colour studies I've  done.

Anyway, I decided on using a nine patch pattern and combining the darks and lights in a random way so that, with luck, no two adjacent squares would be the same. Good plan as it went, but what I've ended up with is a quilt of many squares and my nine patch pattern is lost, because I didn't use borders around each block! BUT at least I managed to improve my sewing technique, matching the seams so most of the corners meet correctly! The quilt will not be finished for a while because none of the strips were long enough to make a binding that goes all the way round so I've had to send off for some more fabric for the sashing and binding.

So, what have I learned from this? Apart from yet again realising that I'm rubbish at planning! Well, first, all the strips in a jelly roll are not the same length; some are not cut as straight as you would wish and having every strip different means you have to buy more fabric for the sashing and binding for anything other than a small quilt. On the plus side, it's a wonderful opportunity to play with colour mixing and to practice piecing techniques. I was tempted to buy a book to help use up the jelly roll, but didn't because I'm supposed to be designing my own rather than doing projects designed by someone else!  After all, having been persuaded to join the contemporary quilters group, I must play the game!!!!

An email arrived from Creative Grids announcing that they now have online videos showing how to use their newest rulers designed for cutting trianlges from jelly roll strips, or cutting your own strips. The one that caught my eye was used to cut trapezoid shapes and in the video, these were put together to make a friendship braid. Looks simple enough, and I thought it would be a good way to use up the rest of my jelly roll. Well, like a lot of piecing techniques that look simple when someone else does them, this one wasn't at all simple when I tried it!! So a swift google search brought up three ot four different methods, all equally incomprehensible. Thank goodness for Chris at my quilting group on Tuesday, who showed me how in a much simpler version. So I now have a mini braided quilt just waiting the finishing touches and nearly all the jelly roll used up!!!

Chris  must have decided that I didn't have enough to do, so she invited me to join her latest challenge. This is to take a book, any one will do really. Turn to page 55, line 12 and use the text  as an inspiration for a quilt! My page 55 didn't have any text, so we chose page 25 line 6 which says "lines as shown". Yep, that's it! So I've accepted the challenge and as soon as I've finished Kay's postcard. I'll make a start.

Now I'm  off to play with my embroidery module embroidering a quilt top for Isobel's fifth birthday which is on the 1st of June! Tomorrow, it's of to the Quilting Museum in York for a workshop with Hilary Gooding making lacy scarves.

No pressure then!!!!