A Four Year Month

A really busy workshop today - everyone working on their lovely Yoko Saito Quilts and three new starters so there was a real buzz.  With 12 of us eating in the kitchen at lunchtime there's a lot to clear up so this will be a very short post.

So, I should have said everyone but me was working on their Yoko Saito quilts...... I was working on my Medallion.  And, I am pleased to announce that I have finally (very nearly) finished month 4 of my Medallion Quilt.  This may not seem such a big deal, but I started on the Medallion course with Lynne Johnson in 2012 - and then stalled big time.  My plan was to use old, but loved, dresses so it would be very traditional, but as the months, and then years rolled by, and people finished quilt after quilt, I became very uninspired. Month 4 became impossible to finish.  I even started month 5 in the hopes that that would gee me on.  It didn't.  Until last week.  And then yesterday I managed this:

It was very much a matter of completion over perfection, and something has gone very wrong with the measurements, but I am so pleased and can almost imagine it on my bed.

 

Onwards and Upwards!

An Eventful Week

Well, we've had quite an eventful time since my last post.  An excellent Pitch and Stitch on Tuesday where Anthea finished her Christmas stockings for her youngest two grandchildren

and Denise basted the quilt she is making for her grandson.

There were also a few new Modular Knitters there - it really is quite addictive.

Then on the Medallion Day we were all mad about Lynne's latest Di Ford quilt

I really don't know how Lynne does it - all those tiny little pieces:

Inspiring and daunting in equal measure.

I have been working on some Christmas crocheting from my new 200 Crochet Blocks book.  I am still really only a beginner, so I was very pleased with myself, although also annoyed with the book, when I spotted a mistake in the pattern.  Clearly there had to be 12 triples, and not doubles, in the centre.  I thought I'd check on line for amendments and saw that there were already two or three there.  By now I was truly indignant and bursting with self-righteousness.  I decided I had to add the error I had come across to the list.  As I was filling out the form, and saying that the pattern had said Double crochet instead of Triple crochet, I thought I'd better check the book to get the abbreviations right. 

So, double crochet was dc, and treble crochet was tr.....but,  what's this? - dtr ?  - double treble crochet?  Never heard of it.....better refer back to the pattern "1 dtr into next st, 2ch". 

Fair enough, the book appears to be right.  Apologies to Jan Eaton - it really is a very good book and I am quite happy with my four blocks (although they're supposed to be the same size!)

Finally, we have started having our open fires again - not every night, it's still fairly mild, but every now and again.

However, we were very surprised when the phone rang on Tuesday and Flanners, who lives in the farm cottage, said, "Fire at the Farm".  What?  "Fire in the barn at the farm!." 

We raced down there and sure enough the wood pile was burning away in the barn.  With the help of neighbours running back and forth with buckets of water until the fire engines came, it was all put out, didn't spread and lessons were learned.  Never stack wood if you have been using a blow torch on it to remove metal screws - even if it looks like it has stopped smouldering, the fire can be worming away inside.

A Busy Day

What a busy, bubbly, high-spirited crowd we all were in the workshop today - hardly surprising when Lynne Johnson was taking the class.  The door was open wide to let in the sunshine and from outside we could hear the sounds of spring - lambs bleating, bird song - a perfect day!

Alice brought in the Butterfly quilt she made to show us

This picture really does not do it justice - I think the colours haven't come out because it was such a bright and sunny day - the quilt is actually all different, vibrant shades of purple - not greys and blacks which it looks like in the picture.

Ros and Alice showed us what they've done on their Medallion quilts:

 

 

We loved Alice's flower border - she's used bondweb

 

 

and then the ladies working on their Antique Samplers compared blocks

And then it was down to work for the rest of the morning.

After lunch, we returned to the workshop but Sue and Jenny were missing and even Lynne had disappeared........
                                              ...............Aha!

 

 

Thank you Ladies - made my job a bit easier!