Autumn Colours

I have practically finished my crocheted blanket from the pattern I bought from Black Sheep Wool at the Ally Pally last year ( I started it in June), and only have the border to do.

I was looking at it just now, and thought how all the colours can be seen outside this Autumn.

Obviously the sunny days we've had mean the skies have matched the blues, but the pink is exactly the same as the pink of the Spindle berries

I love our Spindle trees - and was interested to read that the wood used to be used for making spindles (surprise!), knitting needles and bobbins.

In the right light they just look so beautiful and practically glow.

But back to the colours of the blanket.  The dark red is the same as the Dogwood

and the gold/brown colour is, of course, everywhere but I think the best match is the climbing hydrangea:

or the little fir cones that have grown on our Spruce for the first time. 

So there you are!

We had a bag making day in the workshop last Saturday and everyone really had their heads down

Some people even managed to make two!

I am using mine to store my knitting - great workshop with Ros yesterday where I not only made a start on a beautiful scarf, but also learnt to say 'yarn' and not 'wool' and furthermore discovered that I put an extra twist into the stitches I knit - a habit I plan to break.

Hip, Hip.....

Hurray! - but more about that later.

This post has been a while coming, and since I've already written it once and then accidently deleted it, it's likely to be a short one.

We've been busy, with lots going on, including the little East Garston Craft Show last weekend.  I'd gone down on the Friday night to set up but hadn't read the e mail saying the times had changed so found the place all locked up.  Robert kindly took my stuff down on Saturday though and set it up for me, leaving Frosty to keep guard:

The reason I couldn't be there was because I was at

 

The Ally Pally Knitting & Stitching Show.  We had a great time, and I am getting very good at not buying things.  I didn't buy the Latvian Stocking kit, but was really tempted by the four day knitting trip to Latvia.  I've brought the flier home and keep looking at it and dreaming!!  I did buy wool for a new crochet blanket - I've nearly finished the one I bought last year and have really enjoyed doing it.  I didn't buy anymore linen thread but I had to get some more linen - lots of plans for that.

The next day was Harvest Festival - a sign that Autumn has arrived.  I'm still picking Blackberries and Raspberries, but the devil has sadly spat on most of them.  The Dogwood my sister gave me years ago and which we planted outside the workshop, is looking really beautiful and we love looking out at it:

We didn't go to the Harvest lunch, though, and I'll explain why later.

We  have been very busy in the workshop, and it was lovely to see three quilts made by Pam, Pippa and Jackie:

Pam and Pippa have now made a start on their Sutton Grange Quilts, but Jackie is mainly making rabbits or clothes for rabbits.  My Bobbin Pin Cushion with the sheep has gone over to Jersey (huge sigh of relief for those who thought they might be getting it for Christmas) to remind Victoria of the hills of home, and now I'm making one for me with Scottie dogs!

Finally the really big thing that has happened the last couple of weeks is that Jonathan has had his hip replacement!

The patient is recovering well, (note, only one stick now!) and not too bored yet so hopefully after two or three months he'll be able to live up to his name and be hopping around all over the place.

Now, let's see if I can publish, rather than delete, this post!

Three Weeks Have Passed

Well I'm blowed! - It's been three weeks since my last post and such a lot has been happening.

We had the French Twinners here so enjoyed a weekend of days out including a trip to Corfe Castle

 

 

which was lovely and then on the steam train down to Swanage

Where we had a meal and then a wonderful swim in the sea:

On the Monday we had three families over to Lorne Hill Farm for a feast (everyone brought a selection of food) - the sun was so hot that we had to move the laden tables to the back of the house to eat, then later back to the front to enjoy lively discussions and games of (very competitive) croquet as the sun set!

The next weekend (harvest had finished the Thursday before) we went over to the Isle of Wight for their day of dance.  It was the first time I had been there and we had a lovely day - and just missing the ferry home (of course) gave us the chance to look around the very pretty town of Yarmouth

I think they said this was the longest wooden pier in Britain.

The next weekend we got to see George's band, Ctrl, Alt, Indie for the first time at the Cider in the Barn Festival

 

and then the next day we danced at Highclere Castle - and as part of the entertainment for their Edwardian Afternoon we were allowed to look all around the house and gardens which was brilliant.

So, I think I have a few good excuses for falling a bit behind with this blog. 

And of course, as well as all these extra-curricular activities, life has to go on as normal.  School started back, household chores had to be done and, you know when you are rushing around and think, right, dinner's on, I'll take the dogs for a twenty minute walk round the field then we'll eat......and then this happens:

Nice.  Should have known better than to let them run out in the field where the cows had been.

On a happier note, the Autumn workshops got off to a cracking start with our Bobbin Patch giant Bobbin pincushions - sheep everywhere - these are just four of them  - three ran off before I got a chance to take a photo!

Teeny Tiny Hexagons

So there were lots of sniggers in the workshop when I started on a little project I've been looking forward to since I bought the kit from Foltvilag at the NEC.  I love all the Foltvilag things - they're a Hungarian company and watching Margit working with all her different templates is always fascinating.  There were sniggers because it was generally thought that, yet again, my ambition was greater than my skill.

Anyway, I got my head down, and by the end of the day I'd made these:

See how tiny they are?  That's a real 50p piece next to them!

Annoyingly Foltvilag don't supply patterns with their kits - you have to email them to get the instructions.  I emailed at least twice, and kept checking to see if they'd sent them, but they didn't come.  And I couldn't wait.

So I went ahead and made the purse anyway, hoping I'd got it right.

When the instructions came through today, I realised I hadn't done it quite right, but it's okay and I'm pretty pleased with my little change purse!

I'm going to make more - the right way next time!

Our Visit to Lorne Hill Farm

I didn't realise this post had worked! - but it has.  This is a little video my friend Mary made of her and Trevor's visit it to us the other week.  We had a lovely afternoon with her six grandchildren aged from 2 to 16!

Festival of Quilts 2016

Brilliant time at the NEC last weekend and top of my list was going to  see Angela at the Bobbin Patch to get the kits for our Giant Bobbin Pin Cushion workshop on the 14th September:

You can choose from Owls, Sheep, Scottie Dogs or Cats and they are really fun and quick to make.

We looked at all the quilts, and the good thing about going for two days is that it's all a bit overwhelming on the first day but on the second day you can take more in.

I took loads of photos, of course, but am going to try and select a few favourites for this post.  I try to be really careful about taking down names etc but I'm not always so clever about it.

The first two quilts I was very excited to see was Medallion Quilt II by Jenny Otto - which is, of course, one of our very own Lynne Johnson Quilts:

So that was very exciting.

And then this one by Faye's daughter-in-law Anna Galvin:

That's not Anna in front of it, it was someone I don't know but she and her friend were really admiring Anna's quilt!

Next up is this 'Walled Garden Broughton Castle by Dorothy Clee which I loved because it reminded me of the gardens of my relatives in Blockley in the Cotswolds.

This one, Tumbling Blocks by Abigail Booth, was very clever and won third prize in the Modern Quilts.

and this one, Vintage Bouquet is by Jo Colwill of Cowslip with Eileen Luxford

 

I loved this one -  Wallachien Colours by Vera Skockova and Skocek Citbor - because I love the folky feel to it.

 



 

This one below was a massive quilt on the end of an aisle and the more I walked past it the more I warmed to it.  You had to admire all the work that had gone into sewing all the little hexagons together - each on about the size of a 50p.

 

 

The softness of the colours in Grey is Beautiful by Anne Lillihom Jorgensen really drew me

 

 

I loved this one on the Diversity in Europe stand

The border was so beautiful:

And finally, since so many of the ladies who come to our workshops keep bees, I have to include this:

So, there you are, a tiny selection of the many beautiful quilts we saw at the exhibition.  We had such a good time, enjoying the over night stay so we could attend the delicious meal and then be entertained by the brilliant talk afterwards by Kaffe Fassett - I wonder if any of my Hastings cousins know him?

Then how lovely to get back home to find this:

All stacked up nicely for me to wash up - thank goodness our new dishwasher has arrived!

Penny Quilts

They're on again, so I'm enjoying these long August days when I'm pretty much left to myself.  Living with a farmer and his son who work together with uncle means the day follows the following plan:

7.15am - farmer sets out to work bellowing at son.
7.25am - son charges out to work
8.15am - both return and bicker over breakfast
9.15am - son leaves for work
9.20am - uncle telephones to ask where son is
9.30am - farmer goes out to work

12.30pm - farmer comes back for lunch - son may or may not do the same so there may be a bit more bickering

1.00 pm - if son came back for lunch, he'll go out again about now

1.05pm - uncle telephones to ask where son is

1.15pm - farmer goes out to man the drier

8.15pm - both return too tired to bicker and just eat

and that's it really.  At least for now when Jonathan is working at the drier at Maidencourt.  Once they move over to the drier barn here, things get a bit more complicated and there are lots of calls for lifts back and forth, or cups of tea, or slices of cake which really disrupts my peace!

Anyway, the garden is finally being a bit more productive and I made pasta with sunburst squash and courgettes yesterday:

both of which have been a long time coming.

And I've also finished my chair back cover made as a Penny Quilt:

Penny Quilts or mats were very popular in the 19th century and made with whatever fabrics the maker had around the house.  Pennies were inserted in the little circles to make sure they laid flat, and the folk art designs usually included hearts, flowers and birds.
I've used the off cuts from the woollen quilt I made and I'm pleased with it (the woollen quilt is over the sofa).  I really wanted something over the back of the chair but it would make a really pretty cushion too

- I've put it in the Autumn schedule on the 16th November - yes, the schedule is almost complete, just waiting for one more date to be confirmed!