West Country Quilt Show and a Couple of Finishes

Yesterday I went on a coach trip organised by Happy Patchers to the West Country Quilt Show in Bristol, at the University of West of England's Conference Centre.  The weather was really wet so I'm glad someone else was doing the driving.

I heard from last year that this was becoming a quite good show as it not only features quilts but also other crafts are represented too, such as spinning, felting, lacemaking and others and wanted to go this year.  It was interesting to hear demonstrators talk about their crafts even if it wasn't what you do.  There were quite a few textile artists, such as Hilary Beattie, I could watch her demonstrating the different colour mediums that she uses all day.  Needless to say that one of my purchases was her third book, Making it Personal, book 2.

There weren't many competition quilts and only a few competition cushions, but quite a few traders who had mixed fortunes showing at this show.  The aisles were quite wide so plenty of room to explore the the traders and demonstration booths too.

I took pictures of quilts, these were the modern mini quilts from the Modern Quilt section of the Quilters' Guild featuring white, black and another colour

Then there was a textile group with Sixties inspired quilts

Cushions and quilts

Competition Quilts

I made some purchases too, but as I'd only recently bought fabric at the Doughty's sale last month I resisted temptation.  I did buy books, Hilary Beattie's as above, and also from Gillian Travis, a crochet kit, textile brooch kit, a few more Aurifil threads and cards and contact details from other traders.

Now I can say that I have a couple of finishes today - yay!

A little while ago I bought a lovely skein of wool from Kathryn of Crafternoon Treats. It was would fairly quickly into a ball and I used it to make a Hitchhiker Shawl, a pattern by Martina Behm, which was a simple pattern which would show the hand dyed yarn to good effect.  It has been picked up and put down, but it was easy just to sit and knit while watching television, so it has taken a while.  When we stopped in Sherborne on our way home from the Motor Museum the other week the two ladies in the wool shop in the town were wearing Hitchhiker shawls and they looked so different in the different yarns.  Anyway it is finished today and all the sewing that was needed was weaving in the ends at the start and end of the knitting. This is it

And a selfie of me wearing it, sorry, looks a bit odd, didn't know whether to take a photo reflected in the mirror or not, in the end decided a selfie was a better option.

And a start and finish!  A journal quilt for October (I also have a November one in progress).  This was inspired by the tree quilts made by Helen Howes at the quilt show yesterday and the instructions are on her website here. 

I'd cut the background fabric to size with another thing in mind but it wasn't big enough so the size was expanded with the mustard yellow fabric on 2 sides.  The cutting and inserting was quite quick to do but its thinking in what order to do piece this.  Quite enjoyed this, as I do like to take time out to play with a different technique.

While I was out yesterday David, who volunteers on the Swanage Railway, did a stint of signalling at Norden, near Corfe Castle and had to stay to operate the level crossing for a visiting engine that travelled down on an excursion from Sussex to Weymouth which was stopping overnight at Swanage.    It was night time by the train arrived and the engine was travelling to Southall from Swanage today so we went to Poole station to see it go through. The engine is called Braunton, but as it is Remembrance weekend it was temporarily named Lord Dowding.

That was my weekend, hope you had a good one too.

Keeping Busy

I haven't posted for a week but I've been kept busy in spite of having a couple of days holiday from work.  This is the last of my holiday until Christmas.  Wednesday is my day off and David and I decided on a day out and went to Sparkford, near Yeovil to visit the Haynes International Motor Museum.  This was about an hour's drive enjoying the sunshine and the autumn colours going through the Dorset countryside, worth going out just for that.

Recalling when we last went there we went as a family when the children were children (they're all in their 30's now!) and the museum had changed a lot.  There were not just cars from before our time but also ones we remember growing up with too.

There was a red room with red sports cars, this lovely MG was made in 1955, so it's as old as me!



I've done a collage of just a few of the many cars here (and a scooter from the 60's)


Thursday was to help my daughter Sarah with her choice of wedding dress for her wedding next September.  She wanted to see if I liked it and I think she made the right choice, its lovely.  So that was Thursday taken up.  Also the gas fitter had capped off the connection for the old gas fire in our lounge and we now have a lovely flame effect electric fire instead.



Friday was to see friends for what we thought would be a nice lunch and walk at Hilliers Gardens near Romsey.  It was not to be as it was chucking it with rain.  So we got our phones out to search for the nearest pub and had a lovely meal and catch up.

As for making things I had a catch up with some recent Splendid Sampler blocks of course, more of that in another post.  I've also been busy with secret knitting too.  I bought the latest Crochet Now mag. and could not resist doing a little crochet.  This was done last night while watching Strictly Come Dancing and hearing the noise of the fireworks outside.

I love the little 'granny' flower which didn't take long to do and I used some glittery Christmas yarn to make a Christmas tree.  I like trying out little bits like this.

This week I've also received a couple of craft boxes that I subscribe to.  One is from The Bramble Patch (I am so thankful that I don't live near this shop, it is my favourite quilt shop, it wouldn't do my bank balance much good!) which has an English Paper Piecing project in this month's Box of Delights.  Another is from the Craft Club Box with some Christmas decorations.

Oh yes, and another little thing I've tried is folded Scandinavian Stars.  This was a link that was on the Quilters' Guild Facebook page (so its all their fault) there were several photos on Facebook following this and I had a go on Thursday evening at Bourne Quilters and couldn't get it to work, but I did this morning


The top and left were made with folded strips of fabric and the bottom right as made with ribbon, though that was a bit slippy putting that together but didn't have the bulk of folded fabric.   Here's the website that started it all off - Crafting a Rainbow.

All these different crafts reminded me of this

Adding to Stash

This month there's been a couple of events that have lead to fabric purchases. It's silly but I don't need to add to an already large (for me) stash. I know there are people out the who have got larger stashes than me, but I am limited by space. While I am working I might as well spend because when the work stops I might not have the finances!

A couple of weeks ago Sewing Saturday, promoting sewing and fabric shops, which I think is organised by one of the sewing magazines, lead me to go to Christchurch.  There is an online business, called My Sewing Box, had an open day in a small office complex near the station. Run by two ladies they sell a small range of fabrics, yarn and haberdashery from their website. They use social media and I learned of their open day through Facebook. I bought some Christmas fabric from there.

I couldn't resist the owls in the top fabric.

Nearby in Bargates there is another sewing shop, The Little Sewing Company, which has a variety of craft fabrics and haberdashery and they also run sewing lessons.  I may book to do an introduction to dressmaking one in the future to gain more confidence in dressmaking, which I've not done for years.  Here I bought some Makower fabric, Radiance, which I could not resist.

Lovely, wonder what I'll use that far? Maybe I'll just stroke the fabric for now.

Not far from there is a new wool shop, They Crafty Knitter, which was probably needed after the long established one in the town, Honora, closed.  This is a lovely airy shop and their yarns nicely displayed and I bought a couple of balls of multicoloured yarn for my Mum as she wanted to try out the Corner to Corner crochet that was in a recent Crochet Now magazine.

But yesterday was another fabric opportunity. I needed to get some fabrics to add to my Splendid Sampler Collection as some are running out as I've usually bought fat quarters, but that's to the variety in the blocks.  Doughty's were at New Milton yesterday so went their with Mum and she wanted to get some backing fabrics for the Linus quilts that she makes. Perhaps we were fabric-ced out as Mum felt a little disappointed by the choice and I bought a bit too

I went for the green and white/red along with the cream and mustard dotty fabrics to go with the Splendid Sampler fabrics and I may use the grey/white spot too.  I bought the sausage dog and the rust/grey ones to add to stash.

In a couple of weeks I go on a trip to the West Country Quilt Show. See what happens there.  I must seriously go on a stash diet next year!

Catch Up and Splendid Sampler 13

What has happened to this month?  Over halfway through already and being kept busy I had no idea until today that I hadn't posted anything since the beginning of this month.

A couple of months ago I started subscribing to The Bramble Patch's Box of Delights, similar to the quilt boxes that are offered to quilters in the US.  This is only the second box that they've done and this month contained Tilda fabrics and linen with instructions to make a rabbit cushion.  It was a fairly simple appliqué pattern and the cushion has an envelope backing to it.

It looked really pretty sat on the chair in our lounge.

Ive also been doing some knitting in the evenings, some of it is secret.  I can share this photo though of something I'm knitting for me:

This is a Hitchhiker Shawl, a pattern I've downloaded from Ravelry by German designer Martina Behm.  The yarn is from Kathryn Senior of Crafternoon Treats who hand dyes locally spun yarn and I treated myself to this.  With the variation of colours in this yarn it didn't need a fancy pattern and this pattern fitted the bill nicely.  I found the yarn bowl in the Tiger shop in Bournemouth which contains the ball really well.

I've done quite a few blocks for The Splendid Sampler, which has now at Block 71 today, so well over two thirds through now.  Although there are a few blocks I haven't tackled I may save some of those to the Christmas holidays as I'm only working one day out of the 3 working days between Christmas and New Year.  (Gosh, that's less than 10 weeks away!)  Talking of which I bought some Christmas fabric yesterday in Christchurch.

I digress - back to the Splendid Sampler

Block 63 - Icing on the Cake - designed by Kim Christopherson.  A simple appliqué block, I thought the pink fabric looked like sprinkles on the icing!

Block 64 - Rising Star - designed by Kathy Brown.  No it's not the name of a pub, I think you can just see the little star points in this nine patch block, the bright green really complements the reds.

Block 66 - Happy Thoughts - designed by Vanessa Goertzen.  Made a variation on this block, where each of the outside butterflies were there should have been 2 Flying Geese blocks in each square, but I didn't want to make tiny geese, so I fussy cut butterflies instead. I think that sometimes there's just too much packed into a 6.5" square.  This I've found with block 65 and this will be block to be tackled later.

A bit of a throw back with Block 56.  Appliqued but not stitched down.  This was At Home Anywhere  by Jennifer Keltner.  Had a lot of fun pulling out fabrics to go on this.  I found a shell that I fussy cut for another block but didn't use so it went on the house instead.

Block 67 - Bobbin Chase by Scott Hansen. A simple foundation pieced block and a chance to use some of my Dutch Heritage fabrics as I fussy cut the red for the centre.

Block 68 - Wild Roses (though this block is supposed to have one rose) Designed by Pat Sloan.  An appliquéd block the light grey was a good background for the vibrant reds and orange.

Block 69 - Full Circle - designed by Holly de Groot.  This block went together surprisingly easy, no seam ripper required! Although the finished size came to 6.25" so I had to trim to 6" so i wish I cut the outside of the concave semicircles a bit bigger to trim back to 6.5".  The blue fabric was a good choice as it looks like a whole piece instead of 2 halves.

Block 70 - Bows - designed by Jane Davidson.  This was originally a foundation pieced block and the printer seemed to have printed the pattern slightly small so had to think carefully how to execute this one.  Some people have opted for traditional piecing of the bow tie blocks and I found this was the best way for me too.  The cream fabric was a bit of the stretchy side and I had a few frustrations with that.  I won't be using that for future TSS blocks.

Lastly, Block 71  - First Stitch - designed by Kerry Green.  Again I had problems with printing, the inch measure of the bottom of the pattern page was correct, but I found the block was slightly smaller so I was not going to foundation piece, so working out the measurement of the strips I pieced these blocks, which are meant to represent large cross stitches.  This worked out well as I found this was a simple block to piece so long as the centre point of the strips were marked.

Nine blocks in all since the last TSS posting.  Blimey, I have been busy!

I have just updated my Splendid Sampler page with links to posts about previous blocks, right up to linking this post there.  I also post onto The Splendid Sampler page on Facebook as I've completed the blocks.  If you are on Instagram go to my page @suewilduk where I also post photos of my completed blocks.

One Little Sheep

Weekend before last was Yarndale at Skipton. I couldn't go (I will one day) but contributed by sending a crochet sheep to Skipton as part of a fundraiser for the local hospice.  Apparently over 700 sheep were received from individuals and groups and from different countries.

I found my sheep amongst several pictures on Pinterest by searching for Yarndale Sheep and spotted mine quite easily. Please excuse the screenshot that I took on my iPad of Lucy's photo. Mine is second from right, second row up. There were some really fantastic sheep, a lot of imagination was put into them.  

Here she is again.

From reading about Yarndale from Lucy at Attic 24's post about the event (do pop over and have a look), I also found there was a list of the contributors from which I took a screenshot here

No 359, that's me. I did look to see if there were any other Sue's in Dorset, but no there isn't so that's definitely my sheep listed.

Good to know she was received safe and sound and hopefully has gone to a new home. Good to have done my bit to help charity funds. 

Crossroads

Had I been born 5 years earlier I would have been retired by now, but I have to wait until I'm 66, another 5 and a bit years away, to get my state pension. I can get my Local Government pension now, but it would be reduced and isn't a lot anyway.  So at present I keep working four days a week, but at least I'm fit and healthy enough to work, so I'm lucky in that respect. David took voluntary redundancy at the end of last year,  it was the right thing to do, but it doesn't stop the frustrations that come with one working and one not.  I have the money to spend on craft stuff but not the time and snatch the time I have to create, be it knitting, crochet or sewing but things do pile up somewhat.

Above is some crochet, a corner to corner thingy, which I saw in Crochet Now and had to try.  I've also started knitting a Hitchhiker scarf with hand dyed yarn from Katherine of Crafternoon Treats.

Today is my day off and David volunteers at Swanage Railway so he was out today, so baking was the order of the day.  Coming home on the bus from work yesterday and idly looking at Facebook on my phone I saw a recipe for tea bread; hadn't made that in ages, I had to bake.

I started with some bread, I've not made bread in years, the dried yeast was old, but put it in some water and there were some bubbles so it would do.  It didn't really so I've got a couple of solid looking loaves, and I'll have to buy some new sachets of dried yeast and try not to let that get out of date!

A few weeks ago, just before our holiday, our oven died and we left it until our return and it has since been fixed and is working again. Having to use the combination microwave to cook some of our meals we then discovered the things that could be cooked including baking scones and had a go at fruit ones.  This time I made some cherry ones which cooks rather brilliantly.  I've since used the microwave to blind bake a pastry case for a quiche that we'll have for dinner tomorrow which it also does well.

Above are cherry scones and a couple of flat loaves of bread.

The aforementioned tea bread was also made and baked and I've also made a chilli, that's tonight's dinner. It's not baking but that's what was planned.

There is still time for some sewing and on Monday evening I've managed to make a couple of pouches. Some that I made a few months ago went down well at a craft sale at Cherry Tree Nurseries in Bournemouth so I've taken to making more of these when I can.

Marking and layering four Dresden Plate blocks

Back on Sunday (when I usually get to sew) I made a start on my journal quilt, which is to be finished off.

It should be turned 90 degrees, but never mind.

So I think if I was retired there'd be plenty to keep me busy. Just got to wait a few more years to get there.

The Splendid Sampler 12

Two thirds of September gone, so I think it's about time to catch up with the Splendid Sampler blocks. On Sunday block 63 was announced, so nearly two thirds through the 100 blocks.  

So recently I've had a couple of sewing sessions to complete some of the blocks to keep up with things.  I realise there is no race to get these done but if I let things slip they won't get done. 

This is block 58 - Homeward Bound by Kelli Liddle. The flying geese panel is a one piece foundation pieced unit. With the busy print the triangles look as though there is one continuous piece of fabric and goes well with the coloured geese.

Block 61 - Traveler by Pat Sloan. Looks a bit like Susannah block, which I've made several times, being the closest I can get to my own name, Suzan.  I used some of the original white/red fabric from those I started off with. An easy block to make.

This is a sideways look at the next block Block 59 - Circle of Friendship by Michele Muska. This was a Dresden plate for which I used scraps. I have a Dresden plate ruler which and the size used matched the size of the paper template so it was easier to use the ruler instead.  Instead of strips of fabric to make the background I used this stripy ruler fabric, so much easier to have a solid background.

Block 62 - Hen and Chicks, I made this an all blue block. This was designed by Heidi Keisand and the block size and instructions were really clear.  I Googled chickens and blue to discover there are breeds of 'blue' chickens and some breeds lay blue eggs, so not such a daft idea to use blue fabrics.

Move back to older blocks I made this one, Coneflower (Block 52, by Pat Sloan). This is a fusible applique block, which I finished with machine buttonhole stitch.

And lastly another foundation pieced block, no.54, Shell designed by Jane Davidson. This was more complex and did involved some 'un-sewing' as I placed fabric in the wrong place or accidentally cut a piece off that I shouldn't have done! In spite of that I'm quite pleased how that's turned out.

Phew! That was 6 blocks! The latest, block 63 is in progress, likewise the embroidery blocks are too, they'll get done one day.  

Back from Holiday

This will be a long post, so grab a cup of tea (or other drink of choice)!

If you followed me on Instagram (@suewilduk) I have been posting a few pics of my holiday cruise to the Norwegian fjords last week.  David and I booked this a couple of months ago on the same ship, Arcadia, that we went on last year for our mini cruise. It's convenient that it sails from Southampton, just an hour's drive from home and the Ocean Terminal is very efficient in its organisation, which saves going to an airport and the hassles involved there.

Our outgoing sailing in the North Sea was really warm, sunny and calm, in contrast to our first stop in Bergen, which was really wet and miserable, which you can see in the photos below.

Our next stop was Olden, a small village at the head of a fjord surrounded by mountains with glaciers. Our ship was joined by another smaller ship.  We were in awe at how vast the fjords are and how big the mountains are too. Seeing some vehicles on a road at the bottom of a mountain they looked just like micro machines!  

We went on a boat trip on the lake formed by melted glaciers, which still atop the mountains. The lake is a jade green formed by the sediment picked up by the glaciers as they melted. The water so flat that the ripples made by the boat as seen in the middle pic in the bottom row. We arrived during the early morning so could not appreciate how big the fjords are until sailing out in the evening when tributaries of the fjord joined on our sailing out towards the sea.

Our next stop was in Flam, where there is a scenic railway that climbs high into the mountains and joins with the main line that runs between Bergen and Oslo.  There are groups of tourists from different countries that descend on this little town in just to go on this railway and the scenery is spectacular, which made a stop at a waterfall to be entertained by a singer singing a Nordic song, which seemed a bit odd. Having got to the end of the line at Myrdal we saw a freight train on the main line.  There was just about 10 minutes at the station before doing the return journey back to Flam.

The town itself had a lot of touristy shops which were really busy, given that there were two cruise ships visiting and several coaches of people. There was also a small beach by the fjord and as the weather was lovely, warm and sunny it was good to sit and relax for a while.

Boarding the ship in the late afternoon it was time to go onto our last stop, Stavanger. Again we could see the marvellous views as we sailed towards the larger fjord, Sognefjord, which was massive. There are fantastic views from the Crow's Nest bar where we enjoyed a drink or two.

I also kept busy during the cruise as on our first day at sea there was a craft session. I didn't think knitting needles were allowed so took some crochet instead.  One of the crafts available was knitting prem baby hats, which the crew give to hospitals when visiting some ports.  So armed with needles, wool and basic pattern, I knitted one. After the craft session I knitted another, then during the cruise there were four! I only took a photo of two of them, though.

In Stavanger the ship was joined by another similar sized ship called Aida Sol, which arrived after the Arcadia docked.  We were booked on another excursion, this time to visit the Pulpit Rock in the Lysefjord. This was quite a long boat trip from Stavanger port through one fjord to get to Lysefjord. Some fantastically high bridges to take roads that then disappeared into the mountains.  The weather was sunny again and there were several photo opportunities, do another collage coming up...

In the third pic was the Petroleum museum, as Stavangar port's main function is to maintain and service oil rigs in the North Sea. But there are some other attractions in the town, including the quirky Norwegian Canning Museum, a few trolls dotted about. So one last collage of our photos around the town. Also a couple of old sailing boats one from Lerwick another from Colchester.

A holiday week always ends up being shorter than a working one! So it was back on board and the ship did not hang about getting out of port, just 10 minutes from our latest boarding time, bound for Southampton on Sunday morning. What a lovely sight that was too being back home!

This was while reversing next to the docks at Ocean Terminal at 6 in the morning! When the ship docked it was amazing seeing the little forklift trucks whizzing around below the ship unloading and reloading. It's a really well organised system that allows for a quick turnaround as the Arcadia's next cruise was going out that afternoon bound for New York.

So that's a little (?) glimpse of our holiday and I may follow up with another post soon. Thanks for taking the time and drink of choice for reading this long post!

Building up stash - again

I'm like everyone else, I don't actually need fabric, but it doesn't stop me buying more. Sounds familiar?  I didn't go to the Festival of Quilts last month, but there have been local sales which have been purchasing opportunities.

Earlier last month Bournemouth department store Beales has a haberdashery department which will be closing down.  They sold fabric and yarn from Rowan and Patons.  I bought metres of the green and large flower fabric and fat quarter packs of the yellow/turquoise fabrics.

Then I bought a couple of red/white fabrics half metres when visiting the Happy Patcher's exhibition, followed last week with a sale at Paulines Patchworks in Dorchester where I bought a fat quarter pack of Downton Abbey fabrics and also this lovely Frivols tin which were reduced. On the right following the red/white fabrics are some quarters from another Bourne Quilter trying to reduce her stash, some interesting marble fabrics.

That looks lovely. Even without the fabric, instructions and bits inside the tin looks funky.

 To add to the stash I have subscribed to Bramble Patches quilty box, which I hoped would have come today, but the postman has been and gone, so that package will come while I am away on holiday unfortunately. Something to look forward to when I get back.