So what
have I been doing since I returned from France?
I went
through the final preparations for and taught the workshop “Parquet and
Patchwork” that I have posted about here.
I have been
practising the piano a lot more than during the last year, which I hope my
teacher will notice when I go to have my lesson next week... I made tons of
quince jam and apple sauce as the garden season is coming to an end and last
harvest activities need to take place.
I finally
had an idea for a tight spot I had got myself into in May. When in Einbeck I
saw that the German Patchwork Guild was having a little challenge for members
to make a quilt 70 x70 cm, using pieces of two given fabrics that the president
had brought with her from a trip to Malaysia. The quilts are to be
shown for the first time at the AGM of the British Quilters’ Guild in Nottingham in April, and since I am also going to be
there, teaching, I had figured I better get me one of those little packages.
However, I had absolutely not counted on the kind of quilter’s block I would
get upon looking at the fabrics. These are the two fabrics that were inside the package.
The package
was called “checkered fish”, and somehow I got hooked on that combination – how
do I do a checkered fish, do I really want to do that... But my idea came when
I was thinking about the fact that I myself still had not done more in the
parquet-style than sew the few samples for the workshop. Forget the checkered
fish, just do a little parquet pattern using the fabrics.
This is the
pattern I will use to make the quilt.
So I made
plastic templates. Usually I cover up the numbers on the templates with scotch
tape to prevent the mark rubbing off.
And this is
the state of the project at this minute: pieces are cut, waiting to be sewn
together, and then I will figure out how to do the border, although I do have
an idea for that already.
These are
the leftovers of the two required fabrics – I think I did use enough of them to
meet the challenge requirements indeed.
So have I
been doing a bit of sewing, too, or is the new machine just sitting there idly?
In spring I
had seen on Bonnie Bucknam’s blog that she has started a continuation of her “100
quilts for an orphanage in Guatemala” project which she calls “Quilts for MayanFamilies” .
I had
promised her I would make at least one top, but I had announced that I would
not get started on it until after the exhibition in France.
Which I did
during the parquet workshop – I started cutting the pieces for a quilt that
would meet the size requirements, also a parquet pattern. In fact, it’s the
first practice pattern that I used to get participants started, getting them
acquainted with the half sewn seams.
This is how
far I had got with the sewing before I had to start cutting some more pieces:
Which I
have done, even sewn them together partly already, but I don’t have a picture
of that stage yet.
And after these, I will return to Play of Lines and Shapes, I am sure.