A Village Quilter

Well - we did it. I must confess without DH nagging and helping (lots) the computer room would still be a real mess. We can now see all the surfaces, all the carpet and most things have somewhere to live. Even the bookcases have some spare room on them and all of the magazines are in seperrate piles and in order - yes I know it's a bit OCD but it's great being able to find things. It's a miracle. I'd show you a photo of before and after - but I'm so embarrassed. Next weekend (apparently) we're attacking the sewing room. LOL I did hope I'd be able to crack on with some sewing at the weekend - but the tidying and other little jobs took up all the time. Anyway it's quilting meeting at my house tonight - and I even baked some cookies. Hopefully this week might be a bit more crafty. Hope you all had a good weekend.

As you can see from the logo on the side bar 'I took the hand made pledge'. The idea is to make present for the forthcoming Christmas season rather than buy them. I'm certainly going to give it a go but I can't promise it'll all be handmade. Have look and perhaps sign up yourself.

I did confess to you all I'm rather messy. Luckily for me DH has taken pity on me and has bullied / helped in the tidying of the office. Half of it's done now and tomorrow (or at least some time this weekend) we're going to tackle the bookcases. I must admit it's so nice to sit here with a clear clean desk - I could get used to it. Besides tidying I have mother and father in law visiting on Sunday and I've got quilting here on Monday night so I need to get the place very clean. I will try to fit in some sewing of some sort. Have a good weekend.

I treated myself to some new threads from Jennifer Gail Threads . They're really nice and i think a great price. Do have a look at her site - she has the colour variations in different thread types and fabrics too. Here's my sketchbook plan of how I'm going to quilt the Market Bosworth Water Tower piece I'm making. And below is the sample in my sketchbook. It's gping to have both hand and machine quilting. I even did a little thread card - an idea I saw in one of the girl's City & Guild books she made. I'm rather pleased wit the sample. I need to make sure I take my time. I've a fair way to go still and still to be done are the screen printing, dyeing the backing fabric and screen printing that, plus all the quilting and then binding and the sleeve. And the little jobs you have to do on every project (like the binding) always seem to take much longer than you expect.

Well here we are again having a great day at The Bramble Patch. It was so nice to meet up with everyone and see what they've been up to. One piece of homework one lady undertook was to get very large pieces of paper and to make marks on it whilst listening to a piece of music. he results were very interesting - and we ended up having the music on for the rest of the lesson which was really nice for a change. We then all came up with lots of ideas about how the work could be progressed. Brenda also discussed the programme for next year - it sounds great. You can see from the boards above some of the work started. From the left is a piece that will form the background of her work and the mood board associated with it. Next is my piece that I've now completed but still needs lots of work. The final piece is a length of fabric that was dyed. I think they all look great and they show the variety of work we all make. It was a really relaxed day and was so nice to have a catch up.

Well I'm being brave (again) and here are my drawings from the last 2 weeks of classes. The one above was drawn using a stand and grid method. It was really hard work and not as much fun as the five minute sketches by a long way. I do think it's useful to do the exercises posed - just to see how you get on. This is from this week. The idea was to draw the space around the objects - it's much more difficult that it sounds. I wasn't too pleased with this one so.... ... this is the finished one. The space was drawn and then a spotlight was shon on the objects and we had to look for light and shade. Yes - that's a shadow of a tea cup and saucer. The comment I keeping from from the tutor is 'that's bold'. I'm taking that as a compliment. LOL. Next week is half term so no class - just a bit of home work. Tomorrow it's off to the Bramble Patch. It's bound to be a great day. Have a good weekend.

Well - I was thinking about what to post about tonight and Jane at Sew Create it has tagged me - so I don't have to think. 4 jobs I've had working in a shoe shop when I was at school Bingo Hall - no I didn't call the numbers, I was the Office manager and I can honestly say it was the worse job I ever had working in various libraries - I really enjoyed that Asda on the tills when you sat side on and had to re-pack the trolley, boy did you get back ache 4 films I could watch over and over Moonstruck Some like it Hot James Bond films (but not with Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton - sorry) Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - Howard Keel is fantastic in this. 4 TV shows I watch Heroes The Tudors Doc Martin - I know that's a bit sad but it's got nice scenery and is relaxing to watch Strictly Come Dancing - (And 'It takes two' when I can fit it in) 4 places I have lived Portsmouth - very nice near the seaside Knaresborough, North Yorkshire - a really beautiful place He...