Relentless!

Monday was the deadline for entering a handful of quilt shows that I had known about for months but had still not got around to entering. As usual, I did not have all of the necessary information for every entry so had to faff around finding or retaking photos and look for the blurbs lurking somewhere on my computer. I have even entered the very unfinished BzB into The Open European Championships as they allow pictures of work in progress and when I get it done they can have an updated photo. None of this scrabbling around at the last minute was helped by our pitiful Wifi connection which was so bad that I even tried to upload files from my phone in the supermarket carpark where there was at least some of the slowest ever 3G.

Having committed BzB to an actual show, I realised that it was definitely time to load it onto the longarm frame. I was beyond irritated to discover that I had not saved a whole pack of wool wadding and that the black wadding was not wide enough. Yet again, I questioned why I had made BzB so big. I phoned around several well known UK quilt shops but none were able to guarantee next day delivery or even had what I wanted in stock. There was only one solution which was to join all of the leftover bits of wadding together. The huge pieces that I reconstructed were then generously spritzed with water and laid out to relax because the wool that come in packs is always impossibly creased. 

I have to admit that BzB is making me very nervous. It has been a long time stewing and has to be sewn upside down for me to be able to see the quilt markings. The back is pieced and I have to get perfect tension on both sides since I intend for it to be a double-sided quilt. I tried out different threads, including a wool blend which looked great on the top but was not so nice on the back because the colour was not right. I was faced with the choice of ordering some more thread, sight-unseen online or making do with something else. In the end I decided that since BzB is a bit anti-establishment then I will use a 30wt neon pink cotton because I have it on a huge spool. It is my plan to get most of the outline quilting done next week but we all know my plans are very subject to change. 

Fergus has time off school for exam revision but he has a not-uncommon approach to that which involves worrying that he has not done enough work before proceeding not to do any actual work. He wastes as much time as I do doing avoidance jobs like tidying computer cables but he has not got enough self-discipline to avoid spending hours watching irrelevant videos on Youtube. I jollied him along and tested him on Music theory and I even bough a DVD of “Romeo and Juliet” with nude scenes but he does not yet seem any more enthusiastic about Shakespeare.

I happened to catch a re-run of the “River Cottage” cookery programme the other night and was reminded how I have always wanted to make a gorse version of elderflower champagne. The bright yellow gorse this May is incredibly abundant so it did not take me long to pick a bucketful of flowers without getting too scratched in the process. The last time I attempted to make a lightly alcoholic, foraged fizz I added too much yeast with explosive results. This time I am attempting to stick to a recipe and after 48 hours it is beginning to smell like fermentation is happening.

After all of that activity, I told myself I could have a relaxing weekend except for making a simple dress. The pattern from The Maker’s Atelier looked straightforward enough not to bother making a tester “toile” so I took my measurements and made the size that looked like it matched up the best. The result was that I made a great dress that was several sizes too big. At least it was not too small, like the oilcloth top that I could get on but struggled to get off. I might try to make it again one day in a smaller size but maybe I will take the trouble to make a rough version to check the size first. Not put off by this experience, and because I had some “spare” time, I decided to run up an apron-dress in the skeleton toile-de-jouy that I bought for the job at FOQ last year. It was actually very easy after I sussed how to make the pockets but I seem to have made another bigger than necessary item of what I would not call clothing. I have seen several textile artists swanning around in such garments, rocking the look but I think mine looks more like a 1940’s utility overall. If I had made it in denim it might have been sensible but at least I now know that I can make another one should I feel inclined. 

Not content with making two “frocks”, I forged ahead with a huge customer quilt so I would have no distractions about tackling BzB, apart from my relentless To-Do list and motivating a teenage boy to get stuck into some exam revision…