Edwina's Post

Hello, it's all pictures today! This post is for Edwina who has asked about the Sunflower Farm quilt several times. Edwina, I took some photo's outside this morning in full sunlight so they haven't come 0out terribly well, but have added some older ones of folded quilt and selected motifs. I hope you enjoy them!

                                           I wish I knew how to make photo mosaics!

The full length ones I took really did not come out very well in the sunshine, so have included these quarter shots with a bit more detail visible.

                                   There you go - don't say I never do anything for you!

The Wool Quilt

Hello again. I'm sitting in the dining room with the sun streaming through the window - though it is quite chilly outside. I hope you are warm and dry and not suffering from the flooding that has affected so may areas. I'm reminded that this time last year we were waiting to fly out to New Zealand and worrying that the airports would be closed with all the snow and ice!

Right I promised you a peep at the new book which has been inspiring my woollen quilt. It is by a woman called Sègolaine Schweitzer. It is called Voyage autour de la Laine - A Trip around the Wool. She uses her materials in a very loose, free way.

As you can see, Sègolaine uses raw-edge appliqué, and her applique is actually more like darning.

There are a few quilts to copy, and an exposition of her working methods. I would rather make my own designs, and so use the book as an inspirational jumping off point. The photographs are very visually tactile (if you understand what I mean!) and I gaze and gaze at them.

I think her quilts are mainly used as wall hangings, and mine are to be used, so although I do like her very rough and raw manner of working, I find I need to make mine neater. Not known much for my insistence on neatness in life, generally, I find I can't leave my work quite as 'unfinished' as Sègolaine.

Here are a few photo's of my throw so far.

And - Confession Alert! I still have not bound the Sunflower Farm quilt! I know, I know, what am I like!I promised I would do it for this blog-post. I have actually cut the strips, and pressed them in half and stitched them together, I just can't get round to pinning and machining the jolly things onto the quilt.

Anyway, here it is finished, just waiting for the binding.

I had intended to get the machine out to finish off this cushion cover and then do the binding.

But I decided to hand stitch the cushion instead, hence the machine didn't come out. This is sold, by the way, already!

Now then, here are a couple of shots of Victoria's SECOND huge quilt, all hand stitched. It looks and feels really gorgeous, and to think she had never touched a quilt before she met us! (Downhill all the way since then of course!) Victoria has used Liberty fabrics exclusively for the prints.

I put this shot of the garden in to show you how bright and cheerful the sun makes everything look. Even when the branches are bare, still lots of green grass and evergreen.

And I'll leave you with a close up of the lovely roses Victoria brought to Stitch and Bitch the other day.

....in with the New!

                                               Tree in dining room from unlit kitchen.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! We have no way of knowing what the future holds for us - fortunately, I think - but I would wish that we enjoy good health, sufficiency in wealth and goods, great riches in family and friends and wonderful and creative pastimes (and the time to indulge them) to nourish our spirits and souls.

I haven't done New Year Resolutions for years now, although I understand the natural drive towards new beginnings and self improvement; I think too many resolutions fall quickly by the wayside to get  excited about nailing my colours publicly to a mast! However, I do love the idea of Intentions. I read in Karen's blog Chelmarsh Chunterings, that she is drawing up some personal intentions, which somehow have less of a feeling of being written in stone, and therefore are more achievable.

Another activity we often indulge in at this time of year, is to review what we got up to over the past twelve months. This time last year, we were sitting on the edge of our seats watching the awful weather, and worrying that the airports would be closed just when we wanted to be flying off to New Zealand. We made it my the skin of our teeth!

I find I just haven't got the energy to even think about composing a 'year in pictures' post though the idea appeals, and I've read some lovely blog-posts this week doing just that.

Sooooo....I will just leave you with a couple of shots of my latest creative venture. It is a wool quilt - well, a throw, really, as I don't think - at the moment - that I am going to put wadding (batting) in it, but there will be quilting stitches. It is all hand work, using flannel and wool for the appliqué, and wool yarn for the stitching.

Yes, unusually for me, I'm using a hoop. I find the flannel and wool need to be kept taut while I am stitching the seams and free edges. This is one of two hexagon composite motifs.

 
This is a free-style log cabin block with the logs just laid down overlapping, and then over sewn with this beautiful hand-dyed wool. I feel the need to go over the outside stitching with some random wild stitches, as it looks a bit prissy to me at the moment!

I'm really liking the looks of this - making it up as I go along. The vibe feels a bit like darning with a nod towards the Japanese Boro textiles which I have blogged about at length earlier last year.

I can't tell you how many hours of stitching these three motifs have incurred! Much more than it would have taken me to needle-turn applique them, I promise you! Next post I'll tell you more about the inspiration for this quilt and hopefully be able to show you the completed Sunflower Farm quilt. I have cut and pressed the binding!!

I hope you are not in the path of the flood warnings, stay safe til we meet again!