I’ve run out of black cotton material for my hand-sewn quilt and I’m not in the mood to start my machine quilt today, too tired, so I thought I’d do something a little different instead. Applique.
Owl and Moon
I haven’t sewn it on the background yet, that will have to wait for another day but I’m quite pleased with it. I love using up my scrap stash and this is perfect.
It would make a nice Christmas present…..now there’s an idea 🙂
Hand-sewn triangle quilt
I have a new quilt in progress, but this time I am sewing it by hand rather than use my sewing machine.
This has turned out to be a good idea as I can do bits and bobs during my daily commute to work on the train, and over the last few days when I have been confined to bed with a nasty sore throat and sinus infection, I have been able to pick it up for short intervals.
Coming together triangles and hexies
I am still experimenting with simple patterns and shapes before deciding which more detailed project to do next. As well as doing this quilt by hand, I also have my next machine-quilt material in the form of a Moda Jellyroll, ready to put together when I feel better.
This is PB&J by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics and I can’t wait to get going on sewing the strips together.
PB&J by BasicGrey by Moda
Crafting, including quilting, is a great hobby to have for anyone who is restricted in the level of activity they can do. Before my M.E/CFS diagnosis I would spend most of my free time forcing myself to be active; swimming, golf, heavy gardening anything physical that I could manage. I would wonder then why I ended up totally exhausted.
These days, I have different hobbies. Thankfully my 18 year old son now has his own circle of friends he can play sports with, leaving me to focus on more gentle interests. I do miss the activity.I hate being so restricted and having to turn down team-building social events after work because it means late nights. I hate having to weigh up the pros and cons of doing any activity before I make a decision but there are compensations.
My wonderful friend Colleen who has early-onset Parkinson’s Disease has a fantastic approach to dealing with her illness. For every activity she finds herself unable to do anymore as a result of the PD, she finds something else she can do. As a result she”fills the gaps” and learns lots of new skills as a result. Good on Colleen and I’m learning to adopt her approach.
Whilst my golf clubs are gathering dust in the garage and my garden is not as immaculate as I would like, I now have a new quilt on my bed, my niece’s wedding scrapbook part completed, a handmade card for any occasion and a material stash that anyone would be proud of. I love colour and apart from my garden in full bloom, nothing provides such vivid and varied colour like a craft stash!
It’s like living with a rainbow everyday.
I am relatively new to the craft of patchwork quilting and the more I find out about this fascinating pastime, the more I realise I don’t know much!
Today I went to a local quilt exhibition and discovered yet more quilting delights and surprises. The exhibition was hosted by the Lutterworth Piecemakers, a quilting club based in South Leicestershire. There was a number of standalone designs, beautiful quilts clearly made with love and so much patience, but what really caught my imagination were the “mystery” quilts.
The idea of a mystery quilt is that a person designs the eventual finished quilt, then month by month, provides the group with a panel to complete based on given instructions. Each individual quilter can choose their own colourway and add their own embellishments and interpretation of the instructions so that at the end of the given period, when all the panels are finally put together, bordered, quilted and bound, you get a series of “same but different” finished results.
It is amazing how different the same design can look in different colours so that there can be no two quilts the same. Incredible. Here are some examples of the finished quilts and the individual panels which make up the whole.
The mystery quilt is called “House and Home”
It was a lovely couple of hours wandering around admiring the details and hard work which has gone in to making these heirlooms. One lady had taken 6 years to complete hers.
We even had time for two cups of tea and a piece of cake whilst talking to some quilting afficianados who could have been talking a different language….jelly rolls, fat quarters, layer cakes, in the ditch, long-arm quilter…..etc etc. As a novice, I could have been quite overwhelmed, but as I keep telling everyone. How difficult can it be? It’s only sewing in straight lines!
I may have to change my opinion!
Yesterday I visited the Big Textile Show which was held in nearby Countesthorpe, in my county of Leicestershire. It is so nice to have an exhibition/show held near to where I live instead of having to travel for hours to get there so I made the most of it.
It was a fantastic exhibition of a number of crafts but my overwhelming memory is that of colour. There was colour everywhere; patchwork quilts, embroidery silks, wool, felt, material. Everywhere vibrant, vivid, verdant colour. I am also a very tactile person and found myself touching the exhibits and tracing the contours of the quilting even though there were lots of signs saying “Do not touch”. I just couldn’t help myself.
I wasn’t looking for ideas, which is just as well as I was completely overwhelmed by the amazing colours and complexity of some of the exhibits. I was in awe.
Here’s why;
This has been a busy week craft-wise as I continue to manage my physical exertion levels to make sure that I don’t over-do it and make myself ill. I find it very difficult, but absolutely necessary to do this so I just have to make the best of it. Luckily, I love making things and I get a lot of satisfaction out of trying new things.
My colleagues have ordered some memo-boards! Ordinarily I don’t make things to sell, but if anyone wants something particular, I will make it for them at cost price. This helps me to keep busy and keeps the cost of hand-made items down to a reasonable level.
I managed to complete the quilt that I started last year, so that I only have the border, backing and binding to do now. I also made a headboard to match out of a long picture canvass and hexagonal patchwork “flowers”.
Patchwork quilt and matching headboard
I am loving all this hand-made stuff-it’s right up my street and gives me great satisfaction when I see the end result.
This week I also found the perfect boxes for the new shelf I bought a couple of weeks ago. The only problem was that they were the boxes which contained our tax legislation at work and needed some TLC to make them suitable for use as storage.
Here is the result.
I have done some more odds and ends but my final “make” for the week was a Padstow Patchwork Puppy dog made from the scraps left over from my quilt. Never, ever throw away those little pieces left over, you can always find something to make! The dog is called Padstow as this is what the material bundle is called. I used a Moda Jelly Roll to make my quilt and the Charm pack for the hexagonals and other bits and pieces.
Padstow my Patchwork Puppy
I guess when I look at my week I have been really productive, and I have also managed to go to work full time!
Not bad for someone who is fighting ME/Chronic Fatigue and Depression. I am proud of what I have achieved and long may to continue to a full recovery.
Poppyposts 