Guide to a Grumpy Quilter

This is Caroline's Post

For the last 2 weeks I have been tearing my hair out! The weather has been terrible and has put me in Dark Cloud Mood!

I have been trying to finish off my Basket Quilt, joining together the blocks with Chevron patchwork. That done, next I hope I have enough one and a half inch strips to join into blocks.

Oh Heck! Why is it you never have enough? Ah, I've found some left over from another project.

Now then, just need to turn everything out for 'joining it all together' material.

Oh Cripes, what a mess I've made!

Before

Just said no to Jane for a look around Midsummer Quilters. I'm flat broke and my yearning for new material beckons. I must be strong! groan.....

I've just found half a metre of material I was going to throw out, I knew it would come in handy! Move cat off cutting mat to use rotary cutting board or wait until he goes out to annoy the female cats of the neighbourhood.

I phoned Trish to see if she had my yo-yo maker, nope, no joy there, turned everything out again, with the most foul language! Ah, found it!

After

I am so looking forward to Malvern as I have not been for four years, and that is an achievement for me. I won't feel guilty about spending loads of money, husband No 2 is going to Glastonbury for 3 days!!

Funny, I seem to turn out really good work when I am miserable. I suppose it's because I put all my ideas into my work and that seems to help me focus.

Norman Wisdom, eat your heart out!

Always be Prepared!

Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do... never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaiscally. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing. When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on... (If) you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should.

Isn't that great! I found it in the latest Quilters Haven Newsletter - Advice from a Singer Sewing Manual from 1949.
The patterns are from the 1950's.

Baby Genius

This is Caroline's Post

Daughter No. 2 wanted a puff cot quilt for Granddaughter No. 1.

Phoebe has used her pram quilt since birth, making dents here and there as she grows in months. My friend told me that she bought some fabric for her granddaughter's quilt called 'Baby Genius', which was bright and funky. I bought fat quarters of this wonderful fabric and co-ordinated bright fabric already left over from other past products.

After all the rotary cutting (5 1/2" square for the tops, 4 1/2" square for the bottoms) 9 rows wide by 12 long and all that tacking and pinning I thought I would never finish!

The finished quilt is amazing and plan to make more of these colourful puff quilts.

But maybe not This Big.

Becoming a Grandmother

Here is my very first grandchild Louis Joseph! This photo was taken on the day of his birth and I saw him for the first time three days later. So many people had extolled to me over the years , the joys of being a grandparent and I was overjoyed when he was born; but when I went to see him I saw someone else's baby and all my feelings were for my own thirty year old baby who was suffering from a migraine from all the lack of sleep , excitement (always a cause when he was a little boy-eg invitation from best friend to tea-he was nearly always sick!!!) and the whole experience of the birth. Both new parents looked shattered but my daughter in law Mel had that beautuful glow of a very new mum. When this photo came through on the internet I printed it out and stuck it on my fridge. Over the next few days Louis' little face made me smile and a deep joy began to grow inside me and his grandpa and then his image made us chuckle with pride and happiness. His image worked it's magic in just a few days and I was well and truly hooked !!!

Ofcourse I had to make a cot quilt for Louis and here it is! Our quilting group used this block 'spool' for the charity quilts we have made from all our scraps. I think it works really well for this purpose because the blocks we used were small. I wanted Louis'quilt to be bright and I enjoyed the chance to sew fabric designed for babies with ducklings and kittens etc as well as use up some I already had. I made it all by hand and it took two months. I gave it to Mel together with a handknitted teddy which I bought some years ago at a school craft fayre, and my pearl earrings which she had borrowed to wear for her wedding. I know the quilt is in constant use and plans for the next are taking shape in my head!
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Quilts and Bears

Here are three of my little quilts, this one is called Candy Baskets, and inspired by the book called 'Celebrate with Little Quilts' published by That Patchwork Place.

The smallest of the three quilts is this little fan quilt, about 24" x 36"

I think this pattern is Roman Stripe, easy strip piecing, in Amish colours, the biggest of the three.

The border is not visible in the picture because I fixed it up with drawing pins to take the photo.

Because we have written to our grand-daughter every week since she was small we have lots of photos that we have turned into cards, things that she would recognise and enjoy. Here is Topsy with Alex - both bears were made by Marilyn Haupt.

Bruno with Tilly, both hand knitted by me. Tilly has her own clothes on in this picture. Bruno is still absent-without-leave.

Alex always has been a bit of a poser, almost always in his dressing gown, he was my Christmas present to my husband a few years ago. Two of my larger quilts can be seen behind him.

Hello I'm Sandra

Hello I'm Sandra

Since moving here from London ten years ago and retiring from full time teaching in a tough inner city school I have discovered the joys of country crafts. I really enjoy making quilts and working on other handicrafts.

By happy chance I've met up with a lot of people and eight of us meet regularly to sew,cook, eat,and gossip, we also have lots of trips and other activities .We laugh a lot and enjoy each others company. I hope to photograph some of my quilts and wallhangings to put on our blog

Knitting

I love knitting, it's so theraputic to see the fabric grow on your needles, but in spite of the growth of knitting as a fashionable hobby I've always thought it a little quaint, and rarely take knitted projects out of the house. It is a bit like hand quilting, which I always do, slow, but satisfying. Why would you knit a garment which you can pick up from a store for a quarter of the price that the yarn would cost you in the first place, with no guarantee that you will like the finished article, after all you can't try it on before you buy.

However, although most knitting patterns are basically the same, once you have mastered the technicalities you can make that pattern all yours, totally unique. The little cut off cardigan I knitted for our grand-daughter was adapted from an adult pattern, not without a few headaches, but it worked very well, I was really pleased with it. Since I knitted it I found a very interesting book, on Amazon of course, which would have helped tremendously with all those calculations. It's called 'The knitter's handy book of sweater patterns' by Ann Budd and explains how to change the sizes and yarn thickness, sizes 26" to 54" chest, of a variety of basic patterns.

But really I have to confess to a love of much more frivolous knitting. Teddy bears, and clothes for them, knitted bags to keep all manner of things in. Having knitted or bought the bears they will not mind how you dress them, they won't wear out their clothes, nor grow out of them. And because the biggest of them is not any bigger than a newborn baby you can use complicated patterns. Although they are allegedly inanimate when I wanted a teddy or two to photgraph I couldn't find my biggest, fierce looking hand-knitted bear. I expect he'll turn up in a cupboard sometime. The little girl bear in the photo was made by Marilyn Haupt, and is one of several of hers that I have. I have clothed each of them in turn, usually with a change of wardrobe, and children just love to dress them in different outfits.

The book with the teddy bear knitting patterns in is by Debbie Bliss, called 'Teddy Bears'

I would like to knit some cup-cakes, or slices of Battenburg, so if anyone has a pattern please let me know. Oh dear, I told you it was quaint!