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So where to start?

I've now spent far too many hours working out how to load the photos up. Part of the problem was the fact that the manual was electronic.

Call me old-fashioned - but I like to be able to read a manual - and by that I mean carry it about with me, read in bed, flick backwards and forward through it when I feel like it - not after I've turned on the PC, booted it up, and then looked at a flickering screen.

Would it more economical to have a print version? Possibly not to make - but certainly to use....

Now, if I update you with everything that I've been doing - this post will last for several days - so best to pick out a few highlights, I think...

Firstly - today. I went to a workshop on stack and whack. The tutor provided us with some fabulous fabrics - okay, they may not have been to everyone's taste, but the idea was that you went from this:

to this...

These aren't the same fabrics, BTW - but you get the idea of what is supposed to be going on here.

I'm so unhappy with my final blocks that there is, at present, no picture to show you.

All was going really well, and I was getting quite carried away - until we came to sew it together, and the pieces just wouldn't fit smoothly. No way. Even with pinning, resewing, and pressing. So time to re-think, I feel...

I'm determined to get this one cracked - I KNOW I can do this - I just need to work out where it was all going wrong. I sneaked a peak at the book that the tutor was referring to - and the book seemed to indicate that some triangles should be cut 1/4" larger than the diamonds in the pattern. I'm going to scout about a bit more in my own books here at home (because I seem to have rather a lot - so hopefully there will be something in one of them) and then try again with a slightly larger piece.

Last weekend was Grannie's 94th birthday party, which she held in the Cotswolds. Well, my aunt and cousins orgainsed it, and those of use from the frozen North drove down for the day.

To be fair, I do often argue with people that Yorkshire isn't the north - to me, the North of England starts at Newcastle - but I think it's really a matter of perspective. I grew up in North Yorkshire, in a small market town between York and Scarborough, but had to move away for university and then for work. I was very pleased to be able to move to Sheffield, as at last I felt that I was getting closer to home - it's Yorkshire, albeit it South.

But I digress.

Grannie had a fabulous time - lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren there.

I'm hoping that grannie won't mind me posting a picture of her blowing the candles out on her cake, ably assisted by small children:

And finally - here's my contribution to the BQL perpertual calendar challenge for March:



I read about this in P and Q magazine, and thought it looked interesting - so signed up.

I have to say - it really has been a challenge for me - but hey, I got something finished for once - it's 12" square - but at least it's a project completed!!!

No posts now for about 10 days - I leave for Stuttgart tomorrow - 20 hours by coach, for a school trip - and although internet access is possible, it's not always easy.

I'm taking some hand appliqué with me - I should have plenty of time at various points to get on with that - and also some needlepoint (nice big holes to poke a needle thorough - no worries about stitch size there).

Last year I overdid it on the shopping front - this year, the strength of the Euro means that I shall be reduced to windowshopping only.

Still no photos :-(

I spoke to the technicians at work today.

Apparently I just have too much stuff on the PC - I thought it was bit like a filing cabinet, and you could keep stuffing more and more things inside it, into a glorious higgledy-piggeldy pile, but it appears not. I've stuffed so much into it that the poor thing can't even work out what to do anymore.

They say that I need to buy a hard-drive thingy to plug into the UBS port, and that then everything will be lovely and calm again.

I also brought my camera into work, to see if I could upload pictures here - but left the manual at home.... Of course, if I'd only thought, I could have asked one of the students to sort it out for me.

I'm working late tonight (yes, I'm still at my desk, having got here at 7 am!), becaue for some unknown reason I offered to be the keyholder for the next visit to Boulogne.

Which departs tonight.

At midnight.

Yes. That's right. MIDNIGHT!!!!

So I'm staying here, getting everything ready for tomorrow, when I shall walk the corridors like some middleaged zombie after a late night tonight. All being well, the coaches will arrive and depart on time, and I'll be able to get to bed at about 12.45........

...... and I have to do the same thing tomorrow evening - what a way to spend Friday evening!!

Hopefully I will either have found the manual for my new camera, or will have been able to persuade a cheerful student that they really, really want to spend thier lunch hour looking at pictures of patchwork...

Still here - but still busy

No posts for while now - the PC at home has been playing up a lot - it now takes over 20 minutes just to turn it on, and accessing the internet is alomost impossible.

Any plans for shopping / blogging / working have to be carefully planned - picnic lunches have to be made and taken upstairs, and I often plan to do things like phone my mum while I'm fighting with technology.

I'd planned to get a better base unit (is that what it's called???), but then the fuel bill arrived yesterday. According to the fancy schmancy graphs that they've included with their demand for money, we're using far less gas and electricity than last year - so why oh why did I nearly collapse with shock when I opened the envelope??? The 'updating the kitchen' budget has already been diverted to the 'summer holiday' fund, and the decorating fund is periously low - so nothing else for it - no new PC this month..... (and, more worryingly, no updating of stash...)

No photos either - I left my camera at home this morning - but there should be some up soon (I have a new camera, and I can't wait to see what the photos look like... - I know you can see on the little screen at the back, but it's not the same as on the PC monitor.

So what have I been up to?

• I've been to a workshop with Sandie Lush - incredible - can't recommend it enough. More detail later.
• I also went to a workshop on folded patchwork - hmmm - think I need to work on this a bit more.
• Took 90 11 and 12 year olds to Boulogne in France for the day (yes, from Derbyshire - we left at 11.30 at night, arrived at 8.30 - spent the day in france, and got back at about 10.30 in the evening...).
• Made a 'quiltlet' with a photo in it - pictures as soon as possible!!!
• Spent Mothering Sunday with my grannie and about 30 of her descendants (ie mum / aunts / cousins / siblings / nieces / nephews) - a beautiful sunny day in the Cotswolds!!!

And I leave for Stuttgart on Sunday, for a week - not much time to get projects completed by then (but plenty started!!!).

Progress

Here's the top of the gymkhana quilt:

No borders added yet - not too sure what to do - perhaps two borders, a red and then a brown?

And here's the batik top, with borders nearly on:

I've also been practising my machine appliqué - this was a freebie from the retreat I went on - 2 squares of fabric, and 8 'sticky hearts' - they were adhesive, so all I had to do was to peel off the backing, stick them on the right place and then press with the iron to make sure they stayed where I wanted them.

I then went round each one with the blanket stitch on the machine - and it was SO much easier than I had thought it would be (LOL).

Rather than lay these bits out on my bed, or one the floor, as I usually do, I decided that, now the bedroom has been decorated, to hang them from the picture rail and step back.

What a different perspective!!

In fact, I've left the batik one hanging up as it looks so much better than it does draped on a table in my sewing room. It just about fits across the chimney breast, and is a real splash of colour in an otherwise monochrome room in shades of neutral.

The only downer is that my camera, after being ill for some time, appears to be on its last legs. When it's turned off, the lens cover think no longer shuts, and so it won't be long before the lens gets badly scratched.

And today, when I was trying to use the zoom, it just wouldn't move, but then creaked noisily into action.

All in all, I think it's probably had it.

And I don't know how economical it would be to get it fixed.

Even supposing I could find somewhere to get it mended.

So what now?

Another 'point and press'??? No effort involved in using it - but perhaps not enough options for taking diferent types of picture.

Or do I invest in something more expensive? - but then again, I don't think that the pictures I take would necessarily justify the expense.

weekend activities

Spent today at Clumber Park with a friend and her small children - recovering from the workshop I went to yesterday by feeding the ducks in the lake.

The block we made on Saturday was called Spinning star, and involved piecing and then folding back material. I got the block completed, but as I didn't take any wadding, couldn't get the folding started.

These are all the completed blocks from the group:

(Mine is the one on a yellow background, top left).

I had intended to make a throw, but I think that I'll put a border on this one block, layer it up and quilt it - and then pass it on to my mum for mother's day (22nd March!!).

And I also bought a layer cake last week, to make a quilt for another friend. I haven't got very far yet.....

Yes, that's right - it's still wrapped up (sorry Sally!!). I need to speak to her as the pattern I'm using involves some decision making - if I were making this for myself, there'd be no problem, but as it's for someone else, I'm worried about making a design error....

And in addition, I've started a quilt for (yet) another friend, for her 40th. It's not a serious one - I'm using the gymkhana fabric from Makower that came out last year, I think.

We met in our first year at secondary school, when we were 11, and at the time she was pony mad (and quite possibly still is). As soon as I saw this fabric, I thought of her, so I'm making a throw to remind her of all the hours spent readng the Pullein-Thompson novels, and going to see the local ponies....

I'm making 2 different blocks, and it's going together really fast.

I know she'll like it - she'll appreciate the gesture and the thought behind it!!!

Back again...

Hmm.

It was halfterm lastweek - so I should have had plenty of time to get things done.

Including updating my blog.

But in fact I spent most of the week out and about, catching up with friends and family.

And sewing (a bit...).

First up - a visit to Marsden, near Huddersfield, to catch up with an school friend. Hard to believe that we first met in 1980 - because it actually feels like only a few years ago...




The weather was still bad - walking along the canal was great fun though, and it was VERY tempting to see whether the ice would bear my weight (but I did manage to resist) -

probably because I was hoping to eat this -

a scoop of chocolate ice-cream, a scoop of lemon curd ice-cream - oh yes, and a scoop of 'creme-egg' ice-cream.

Interesting.

That's all I can say about that last one.

And then down to the Cotswolds to to see Grannie - still going strong at 93. She's having a birthday party next month - it used to be one every 5 years or so - but now she feels that she may as well have one every year - and why not??

She's still sewing away, but she says that she doesn't like her work anymore - because her stitches are too big (and believe me, I'd LOVE to be able to sew with such fairy stitches as she still churns out).

She's been cross stitching this winter - mum gave her a pile of kits from her stash, as grannie can't get to the shops easily to buy embroidery supplies to do what she really likes to do - but grannie is steaming ahead, and at this rate mum 's stash will no longer be in existence.

This was something that she managed to get done in a couple of weeks...just in time for the latest great-grandchild.

Then the labradoodles came to call, along with mum:

I'm not too sure what they made of the animals at the local park....

Last of all, I managed to get some sewing in. I signed up for the Thimbleberries BOM, and the first package arrived last week (and the next arrved today - so much for one a month :-) ).

Last year's is still incomplete - but this one looks much more achievable - it's one 12" block and 3 6" blocks each month - so doesn't take too long.

And then it was almost a relief to get back to work on Monday morning .....

Home again

Well, I finally got going.

Note the essentials for a weekend in a large city - spade - in case of snow, small suitcase with minimal amount of clothing in - and plenty of fabric (green box, blue bag etc)!!! However, you'll also be able to see a brown bag in the middle. Guess what's in there?

Hmm.

It's Jim's Christmas presents for his family. Let me check.

Its February - and I'm just about to deliver his presents to his sister.....

Whenever I think that I'm too disorganised, I remember what sort of man I'm married to....

Guess what? The UK being a relatively small area, there was snow in Milton Keynes as well!!!
Here's all my lovely luggage, waiting to be wheeeled - oops, no, dragged into the hotel. Note (a) the small amount of clothing needed and (b) excessive amount of fabric required......

I was a little bit worried in case I didn't have as good a time as I did last year - I needn't have worried!!! After a welcome drink (or two, or three), and supper, the first task was to make a name badge.

And this is what I (apparently) look like:

Saturday started with an early morning class at 7am. The project - a pincushion, made on the machine.

But hey, why make your life easy??? Why not hand sew the central motif on??

And so that's why I didn't finish mine. That's it on the right...

And on to the main event on Saturday. Now, I already had Barbara Chainey's book, but hadn't even attempted anything from it - it looked too daunting - but I forced myself to read it before class actually started - and suddenly it all became clear!! It was as though a lightbulb had switched on inside my head!!

So the way it works is this - you stack up your fat quarters - any amount, it seems to me, but I think you need at least 6, and cut them according to a strict pattern.
You end up with a variety of squares, triangles and rectangles - and then you play around with them, mixing and matching shapes until you get a block that you're happy with.

But what was also explained to us was that if you were unadventurous (yep, that's me!!), you could lay out a design that you like, and switch some of the fabrics about. So, for example, you'd have your design laid out, and with one stack, you'd take the top fabric, and put it to the bottom of the pile. With another stack, you might take the top two and put them to the bottom of the stack - and so on.

The key appears to be to not disturb or try to interfere with the order in which the fabrics come up.

Believe me on this.

I tried to rearrange them - and then had to go back to the original arrangement -which is why my stacks look very messy....

I had several 'wobbles' about whether it would work or not - but you know what - even with the same block, it looked absolutely fine. It's easy to forget that what seems very intense in one small 8" block disappears and fades away when there are several laid out.

The variety was enormous - and the possibilities are immense (you'll have to look in Barbara's book for the exact details).

At the end of the day, from 8 fat quarters, I'd made 16 8" blocks and had another 8 laid out ready to sew - so if I hadn't stopped at this point for supper, I'd have had 24 blocks completed - and wasted only about 1" strip of fabric (which has gone into the scrap bag).

I'm definitely going to use this technique on some of those delicious bundles of fat quarters that I've bought in the past and then have done nothing with. At present, they're sitting in my sewing room, only seeing the light of day once in a while - better to get them used and on their way (ready for more stuff...).

Other people had completely different looking blocks - just look at them all above here.

Everyone who had taken part was asked to put 2 blocks out on the floor - you can see what's been achieved and how different the blocks look with the different fabrics.


How big can you go with triangles???

In the evening, we had a talk about the tentmakers of Egypt - a tradition that's dying out very quickly. It dates back over 4000 years, and is only done by men, with designs handed down from father to son.

Barbara had brought some of her (very) extensive collection to show us - and best of all, there was the chance to look at them AND handle them afterwards - it was SO great to actually have the chance to look closely at the stitching - and once again - what looks great from a distance, or even 6" away, starts to look a lot less impressive when viewed at very close quarters - so why oh why do we keep beating ourselve up about the quality of our stitches all the time? Barbara was very keen to stress that the Egyptian tradition was one of making work to display, not to impress - they are intended to be hung up in tents for ceremonial use.

And so to bed. Eventually. A lot of gossiping to be done...

Sunday - another early start, to make a small bag,. Once again, Mrs Faff here didn't get it completed - I've got the wrong size cord in, I think - I'm going to pull out the thick black cord and replace it with something finer.

On Sunday, it was our chance to mimic some of the classic designs. Barbara has published books with these patterns in - but I really really found it hard.

This is the end of 6 hours work.

Yes.

Honestly.

And it doesn't look much better close up....

How small can you go? This is Mong (I think) appliqué from South East Asia.


A selection of pincushions and small bags - look - there's my unfinished one!!! complete with needle still stuck in it.....

Barbara Chainey and Sally White (organiser of the quilting retreat).