Roman Stripe

I had joined a quilting group when I started to make this quilt.  We met once a month on a Monday evening, plus occasional Saturday workshops.  This quilt grew out of a workshop about the Roman Stripe block.

For those of you who don’t know about any of this stuff – in contrast to European ‘wholecloth’ quilts, the practice of piecing together (from scraps) individual pattern blocks which are then assembled to form a quilt began in America, and many of the names of the blocks (e.g. ‘log cabin’, ‘bear paw’) reflect life as it was experienced by the women creating and using those block designs.

The Roman Stripe is one such block, and is often found in Amish quilts.  It consists of one square divided into two triangles.  One of the triangles is a solid block of colour; the other is formed of different coloured parallel stripes.  My quilt has sixteen Roman Stripe blocks, surrounded by the nutmeg coloured border.

Before the workshop we were given a shopping list of quantities of fabric.  But this being an Amish design, there were rules to follow.  In particular, we were told that orange and yellow are completely forbidden.  (There’s an explanation of the use of colours amongst Amish people here.)  Equally important, no patterned fabrics are allowed: all must be plain.  And the background fabrics must be black or another dark colour.

I spent quite some time at the shop, choosing colours I liked and felt sat nicely together.  In the end I did include an orange.  After all, I reasoned, I’m not actually Amish; and I wanted a quilt that worked for me.  Also – horror of horrors! – I bought a blue fabric with a tiny floral design for the backing.  As I recollect, there were sharp intakes of breath when I opened my bag of supplies at the workshop!

Another Amish practice is to include a deliberate mistake when piecing the design together.  This is a reflection of their high skill level as needlewomen, alongside the belief that only God can produce perfection.  I didn’t think I needed to worry too much about that one either: getting those points to sit neatly where they should is much harder than it looks!

I’ve now almost finished this lap quilt.  There is just the outer border to quilt and the edges to sew together.  So I’m now thinking of starting another.  Looking at the piecing on this one, I’m really very happy with what inexperienced and sewing-machine-phobic Me managed to achieve.  (But rest assured – there are many imperfections!)

So I’m now wondering – can I produce a second quilt of a similar standard?  And could I complete it in considerably less time than the sixteen years it has taken to do this one?!

Cliffs of Moher

I was really looking forward to seeing the Cliffs of Moher when we went to Ireland in October last year.

Ranging for 8 kilometres along the western seaboard of County Clare, at the highest point the cliffs are 214m high.   To appreciate this scale more fully, click on the image below and you’ll see a tiny man walking along the top of the nearest cliff.

Down below is the mighty Atlantic Ocean.  Keep going due west and eventually you’ll find yourself in Newfoundland.

The Cliffs of Moher are a designated UNESCO Geo Park, a Special Protection Area for Birds and a Refuge for Fauna.  They are home to one of the major colonies of cliff nesting seabirds in Ireland.  According to information inside the visitor centre, the waters here are amongst the cleanest in the world.  I can well believe it.

Below, O’Brien’s Tower, perched on a headland.  The land just visible through the mist across the water is the Aran Islands, which lie at the mouth of Galway Bay.  (Not to be confused with the Isle of Arran, which is off the west coast of Scotland.)  It is from these three islands: Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer, that we get the term Aran knitting.  The names of the islands are Irish Gaelic, and that is the main language spoken there.  Unusually for us, we didn’t visit.  As a rule, islands hold a magnetic attraction for us.  Not only do we live on an island, but we’ve spent many holidays on different ones throughout the world.  Sadly, this was not really the time of year to appreciate the Aran Islands at their best, so this is the closest we got.

Here’s a closer shot of the tower.  These two shots – above and below – were taken by my husband.

If you remember my previous batches of photos from this holiday you’ll know that we spent most of the week trying – in vain – to dodge raindrops.  So if you’ve been wondering what Irish Atlantic Coast rain looks like – wonder no more!

Half an hour earlier we were anticipating a fine day!

I hope you’ve saved just a little awe and wonderment to be able to appreciate my final shot.

I couldn’t resist sharing this (sensor-controlled) space age waterfall tap in the women’s toilets at the visitor centre!

If you’ve enjoyed these photos please click on the badge below to go to Our World Tuesday, where you’ll find many more images from participants all over the globe.  Thanks to Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy for keeping it going.

Vintage Quilting

First of all – Yes, I know.  Dog hairs.

What can I say?  I have a large hairy dog.  And in years gone by (you will soon understand the relevance of this point) I had cats with fine furry coats.  I tried using a clothes brush before taking these photos, but to no avail.  So this is how it will look until it’s all finished and I can wash it.

I will wash it, I promise.

So now that the apologies are dispensed with, let me introduce you to what I’ve been working on since Christmas.

Well, I say since Christmas…  Actually I started it around the time my younger son was born.  He’ll be sixteen in May.

That’s the ‘vintage’ aspect of this quilting project.

But everything has its day.  And in the final two weeks of slaving away at the Christmas stockings, I knew this quilt’s day had come.  It’s no word of a lie to say that I was fantasising – yes, fantasising! – about how much better my life would be when I could move on to my beloved, wrongly-neglected lap quilt!

And so on December 26th I started quilting the long ‘interlocking heart’ border, which is now completed.  The template for this border was created especially for this quilt by my friend Jutta, an expert quilter, when she came to visit from Germany in 2002!  It has taken almost ten years for me to trace it onto the fabric and quilt over it. 

So as you will  have realised by now, this is another of my fabled UFOs – UnFinished Objects.  But read on:

It is my final UFO! 

Now I don’t want to overplay this situation.  I still have some UnStarted Objects lurking in the cupboard – project envisaged, materials bought, etc etc.  But I think you will agree:  Progress has been made.

Yours, smugly… 

Winter Foliage Mandala

The rubber stamp that has been used to create this card features holly and ivy and is obviously intended for Christmas cards and decorations.  I have used this stamp for Christmas cards but would also use it for the Solstice, and for midwinter birthdays.  This particular card was made for my husband to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  We were married around Christmas time nineteen years ago.

The rubber stamp is a ‘mandala’.  Normally, you would stamp this type of design several times (perhaps on different coloured card, as I have done here), look for the ‘layers’ hidden in the design and cut away progressively more on each layer, so that your bottom layer is the full image and the top later is a tiny central part of the image.  You can see what I mean here, since I certainly haven’t explained it very well!

But on this occasion I cut away my layers on the inside.  There’s a lot more work this way, as you can see from the side view below, because you have to cut the inside and the outer edge of the design.  But when I’m in the mood I quite enjoy this detailed cutting, and it certainly creates a card with impact.

I need to be sure the recipient will keep the card for ever before I would go to all this trouble!

(And yes, my husband has a large box full of all the cards I’ve made for him over the years.)

More heirloom stockings

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!

Be it known throughout The Realm and beyond

That The Christmas Stockings are completed!

I’m very pleased with all of them.

But – and I’m sure you’ll understand – more than just a little relieved that they are finished!

The one above is for my husband.  The second, below, is for my younger son.

All four stockings will now be wrapped in an old pillowcase, surrounded by heavy duty moth repelling herbs and cedar wood, secured in a plastic bag, and stored safely until next year.

But the Christmas Stocking Saga is not completely at an end.

I now need to buy four stocking hangers so they can be displayed on the mantelpiece each year.  I’ve found exactly what I’m looking for, but some of the designs we wanted are now out of stock.  With any luck, I’ll be able to buy the designs we chose in the autumn.

You know how much I enjoy making something beautiful out of nothing – pieces of card into a beautiful greetings card, offcuts of fabric into a herb sachet – that sort of thing…?

Well these SO do not fall into that category!

And with the cost of four pewter stocking hangers currently weighing in at a total of £120 (that’s US$185 / 145 Euro) on top of the cost of the materials, threads and charms, these have been a major extravagence.

Looking on the bright side, at least I now have lots of offcuts and threads lying around with which to make more beautiful items ‘for free’. 

♥♥♥♥♥

In case you missed them, you can see the other two Christmas stockings I made for my family over the last year here.

All four designs are from Shepherd’s Bush Needlework.

New Year, New Heirlooms…

I have a recurring dream.  The details vary, but I’m desperately trying to arrive somewhere for an appointment.  Try as I might, I can’t make any progress.  Sometimes I’ve parked my car and can’t find it again.  I’ve had this dream so often that I looked it up in a dreamer’s dictionary.  Apparently it’s very common in midlife.  It symbolises an awareness that time is running out, and a sense of urgency to achieve something before it’s too late.  Yes, indeed, I can identify with that interpretation.

In the run-up to Christmas I experienced a real-time variation on this dream: assembling my Christmas stockings.

Yes, I know, I started them in July!  And you’d think that was allowing enough time to complete them…

But, no.  Apparently not.

It was the making up that threw me.  As you perhaps realise by now (ahem!) I don’t always enjoy this stage of my needlework projects.  I have very high standards.  A millimeter out here or there doesn’t bother me (well, not too much) but glaring errors and shoddy work are more than I can live with.  It would, for ever, be all I could see when I looked at the finished project.

I’m sorry, but I’m a Virgo.  And there’s an end to it.

So – there I was with four beautifully executed front panels for four Christmas stockings.  All I had to do was cut backs to match, making sure the weave of the fabric was perfectly straight (horizontally and vertically) so that I could embroider a dedication patch in the centre of the ‘leg’ of each one.  Then I had to sew together the front and back of each one, capturing between them a twisted cord which was attached for ease of use (ha ha!) to a tape of the same colour.  Then, with my stocking formed, I had to fold over and hem down the upper edge, and attach more of the cord around the top.  I did all of this using just one piece of cord per stocking, measuring around two metres.  Next, I took more of the same colour cord, but this time not attached to the tape, and I used this to form a loop for hanging.  Are you still with me…?

I kid you not.  This – for four stockings – took in excess of twenty-five hours!

There were many reasons for this.  The attention to detail, yes.  But also I kept doing it wrong!  I was unhappy with the placing of a line of text on one of the dedication panels, and had to do it again.  I embroidered another of the dedications on the wrong side of the fabric, so that the toe was pointing the opposite way on the back from the front.   Obviously, that had to be unpicked – I mean, seriously, this has nothing to do with being a Virgo!  And that cord mounted on tape? – well it was nothing short of a nightmare to work with.  In fact, after spending five hours assembling one of my stockings I took it all out the next morning and did it again.  Nancy Sinatra’s boots may have been made for walking, but these stockings are apparently intended only for one step forward, two steps back.

By Christmas Eve I knew I wasn’t going to finish them in time.  I decided to get all four stockings up to the stage described above, leaving the linings for completion at a more leisurely pace in the days after Christmas.

Throughout the afternoon I kept dipping into the Norad Santa Tracker to watch Father Christmas as he made his way around the world delivering presents.   It was twenty minutes past midnight when I finally heaved a huge sigh of relief after attaching the hanging loop to the fourth stocking.  Just as I did so, I checked Santa’s progress.  He was flying over the English Channel, heading straight for us.  Phew!  Just in time!  I set the four stockings under the tree and went to bed!

The photos in this post show two completed stockings – one for my elder son, the other for me.  Below, you can see the lining and the cords of mine.  Each one is lined with 100% cotton to match the coloured cord selected to complement each design.  A heavy curtain lining is placed between the inner and outer layers.  The linings of the remaining two still need a little tweaking before I’m happy with them.  I’ll show them to you in my next post.

So now, all that remains for me to do in this first post of 2012 is to wish you all a good year.  To be honest, 2011 was not the best for me, and the Christmas period followed suit with the unexpected passing away of a member of my extended family on Christmas Day.  Apologies to everyone that I should have visited but haven’t.  I will try to get back to it all within the next few days.

Wishing you all

A Very Happy New Year!

Please click on the badge below to visit Creative Every Day and see how others are interpreting this month’s theme of ‘new’.

Happy Christmas!

Wishing all my friends and readers throughout the world

A very Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

Hope you enjoy this little selection of Christmas doorways from my recent visit to Winchester.  The one below is the cathedral entrance.

I’ll be taking a short break from blogging over the coming week or so, and will return at the beginning of January.  Until then, I wish you and your loved ones peace, comfort and joy.

Christmas at Winchester Cathedral

Just taking a short break from making up my Christmas stockings to bring you some photos from my recent day out at Winchester.

You will note:

1. I still haven’t finished the stockings.
2. I am at least making them up…

In my humble opinion, Winchester is not the prettiest of our cathedrals.  But it certainly has a beautiful setting.  And throughout December it has been making the most of that location with a German-style Christmas market and this outdoor ice rink.  Can you imagine a better place to go ice skating?!

Not that I had a go myself, you understand…  Actually, you had to book well in advance and we didn’t know that until we arrived.  So we just enjoyed watching for a while.

In any case, had I joined in I may well have needed to take advantage of one of these…!

So – as I was saying, there was the ice skating and also the market.

I prefer taking photos of scenes where there are no people, but we would have had to get up very early in the day to get to Winchester just as the stallholders were opening up.  There’s that fine balance between photos that show it is actually a popular, bustling market, and so many people that you can’t really see much else!

Anyway, that’s it for now.  Christmas stockings to do and all that…  I have a few more photos to show you from Winchester, and hope to have them ready in a couple of days.

I hope all is well with all of you!

Christmas News!

Much as I feel the pressure at this time of year to get everything completed in time for Christmas ( – and particularly this year, with four Stockings still in progress.  Eeeek! – ) I will never understand why people resent writing cards.  It’s such a treat receiving cards with interesting news from people I once knew well but now, for reasons of geography and lives progressing along different directions, rarely get to see.  Just this morning I had a long chatty letter from the now ninety-one year old lady who was my parents’ friend and neighbour for 45 years.  Amongst other things she gave me a little information to add to a local history research project I’ve been doing about the area where I grew up.  From within another envelope came my annual ‘pets and family’ update from an old colleague who now lives part of the year in Italy.  And a wonderfully creative friend (whose latest exploits are always such a joy to read each year!) wrote to tell me she has added archaeology and puppet-making to the mix.  Last year, at the time of writing she was appearing as ‘a river’ in a theatre production…?!  I can only hope that some of the news I share each year can bring the same ‘oohs!’ and ‘aahs!’ to the friends who receive it.  (And no, I don’t do the ubiquitous ‘newsletter’.)

Apart from the ones I make myself, all the cards I buy help charities whose work I value.  When the cards come down on 6th January I cut designs from the fronts to create gift tags, and take all the rest to my local Marks & Spencer, where each year recycling facilities for good quality card are available.

From my persepctive it’s win-win all the way!

My last few cards are now packed up and ready to post.  The recipients of these two never look on my blog, so it’s safe to share. They are both scanned images so apologies for the blurring on the one below – my scanner can’t cope with the third dimension!

Yours, sincerely wishing she had access to the fourth dimension at this precise moment…. !

Así se baila el tango

I make no secret of the fact that I am completely hooked on Strictly Come Dancing.  This year’s has been the best ever, and last night we were treated to a final in which any one of the competitors – Jason Donovan, Chelsee Healey and Harry Judd – could have won.  They were all magnificent.

I have also recently confessed to wishing I had been born in Buenos Aires, where by virtue of my grace, beauty, talent, passion and dedication I would be an acclaimed tango dancer.  (Hmmm, actually – now that I’ve done a quick search through my blog – I see I’ve been making references to this on and off for two years!)

So you’ll understand why I feel I must share this video with you: Harry Judd (dancer of four month’s standing; drummer with the band McFly) and his professional dance partner Aliona Vilani performing their beautiful, passionate final dance of the series before being crowned Strictly champions of 2011.  Just look at that line at 26 seconds!

The music – Así se baila el tango – translates as ‘Here’s how to dance the tango’.

Indeed it is!