Norfolk in Midsummer

 

My drive down to Norfolk took 11 hours this time, due to roadworks and some heavy rain. There was of course, no sign of rain in Norfolk where the grass is already scorched. I’m not sure the last time I experienced a dry summer solstice and it has been HOT. My plan is to sit in the shade when I am not meant to be somewhere and dew the tiny bells onto the prairie points for my FOQ entry. 

Nella and I had a day in London which is just under 2 hours away by train. We had a really nice day but tried to fit too much in. We did not do any sightseeing or museums on this trip. Near Liverpool Street Station is an eclectic collection of posh shops, smart flea market and street food at Spitalfields Market. To be honest, you could just mooch around that area all day. We also headed to Chinatown because Nella wanted to go to a Miffy pop-up shop. We had lunch at the trendy Seven Dials Market then made our way to Covent Garden which was very busy. I was over ambitious in wanting to go to Fortnum and Mason, followed by Liberty and rather wished I had opted for a calm exhibition of some sort instead. Fortnums was full of over-priced Coronation fruitcake tins but we did have a refreshing break at their ice cream parlour. It was pricey but worth it for a nice sit-down. 

I was a bit disappointed by Liberty, which I don’t think I have been to since the 1990’s. Maybe it was because it was late in our day or because Liberty is not as exclusive, or because the cotton lawn was almost £30.00 per metre. On the train back to Norwich I made a note of what we had particularly enjoyed and jotted down ideas for a future trip.

I have missed the reliability of East Anglian summer weather - here everyone has all their doors open to let in cooler air but at my house in Scotland I open the doors to let in warmer air;) It is so nice to eat outside all the time, not just occasionally. It is sweltering though!

This coming week Nella and I plan on wandering around in Norwich and going to the seaside. She will pack up her stuff to come back home for the summer. I hope she does not find it too boring and chilly back home. Mind you, if it is then she will look forward to returning for the new term!

Help ma Boab! - Staying out of the Sun

This week has been high summer for all of the UK and even here it has been in the mid twenties with clear blue skies. I stood no chance of getting sunburnt because I have been in my workshop all week pushing on with “Help Ma Boab” aka the mirror quilt. I am off to Norfolk next week so I knew that I had to get as much done as possible before I go so I don’t have to stress about it while I am away and then rush to finish it when I get back.

My original vision was for straight-line quilting and I was tempted to come up with some fancier quilting but decided to stick with my plan for a change. It took me around 20 hours to complete all of the ¼” lines with a ruler on my longarm. I had to make sure they were accurately placed and even though I was very careful there is still an oddly spaced line or two. My hand and arm ached as I am not used to that kind of quilting endurance these days. 

I spent another day couching on the silver accent macrame cord up and down the seam lines (not to hide any dodgy piecing because it was nearly perfect!). The quilt had become quite rigid as I had used 2 layers of wadding so it was quite a challenge to fit the quilt under the sewing machine for the long seams.

I decided to block it while we had hot weather and it had held its shape quite well. While I waited for it to dry I made up some binding samples, a bit like I had done with Rainbow Warliors. There will be a LOT of layers right at the edge so I have decided to add a single-fold binding. It’s not going to be a bed quilt and the Quilt Police don’t need to find out. 

I have now got all of the finishing components ready - the binding is made, the hanging sleeve is cut, the silver lamé flange has had gold ricrac attached, so I just need to hand sew micro bells onto the prairie points with invisible thread. I think there should be a special prize for ingenuity in making a quilt label. My Mac computer does not easily create curved text so I had too think of another way. I designed the text around a circle using Cricut software but my Cricut Joy was too small to draw the label the size that I wanted. I took a screenshot, resized and printed onto fabric attached to freezer paper with my printer. Then I made a reverse appliqué hole and put a spare block from the quilt behind it. Next I did some metallic stitching and kantha then had the brainwave of making the label circular. I keep thinking about what the maker of my Indian tunic scrap would do if she had the same access to trimmings that I do…!

Jings, Crivens, Help ma Boab!

Since the nights are light and none of my kids are home just now I have been working long hours on my Circles quilt. The deadline for the FoQ competition entry is midnight on Monday and the quilt has to be finished and sent to the show by about July 24th. 

Suddenly I needed to get it going and order the backing fabric and decide on further embellishments. I had to decide on a name, write an artist statement, list materials and techniques, declare the size, and upload a photo - all on an unfinished quilt. 

I used my industrial heat press to flatten the blocks in case I stretched them with an iron. I defied Quilting Law by pressing the seams open and decided that they were definitely flatter and easier to line up. I had made the blocks deliberately oversized but some of the rings were JUST outside the seam allowance after being trimmed so I decided to gloss over that by couching some sparkly yarn down the seam lines. Laying out the blocks on my table was mind boggling. I could not work out whether to group the blocks according to colour or try to make a regular pattern. In the end I went as random as I could. I was very careful to pick the blocks up exactly as I had set them down and joined them in diagonal rows to create an on-point layout.

While I wait for the backing fabric to arrive I will get on and make some fancy prairie points and see if I can be bothered to make many, many tiny tassels to insert into the binding. I have also ordered some tiny bells (but no tiny pompoms)…

“Jings, Crivens, Help ma Boab!” is a phrase used by Scots cartoon characters in Our Wullie and The Broons to express exasperation, frustration and / or amazement. It is thought by some linguists to translate to Jesus, Christ, Help me God. Modern texters might just type ffs!

The quilt has now been named “Help ma Boab!” Perhaps it should have been something more arty like “Glimpses”? but the first idea appealed to me more.

Finally got a-ROUND the circles!

Almost my whole week was spent stitching around a seemingly never ending supply of circles. Some of the circle-squares had 8 processes - reverse appliqué circles, stick silver lame to reverse (some with ricrac), blanket stitch around the silver circles, sew in thread tails, cut and heat press coloured and metallic rings, zig-zag or triple stitch around the coloured rings, sew in thread tails, stitch around the big zig-zag rings twice with silver thread, kantha-style stitching around many circles. Finally they can be carefully pressed and trimmed, then pieced together. 

The next dilemma is whether to add blue sashing as “punctuation”. The trouble is that I will feel compelled to embellish the sashing in some long-winded way… I was getting quite bored with the hand-stitching by the end!

Two customer quilts got done and I had a day in Edinburgh giving tuition to a new Q20 owner. That machine was fixed in a table, not moveable on a frame so it was not my usual longarm quilting skillset. I know how the machine works, of course, but the method of quilting and some operations are a bit different. 

Summer is racing on now that June has arrived. I need to decide if I can get the quilt ready for FOQ and I must work out a rough plan for Nella’s summer holiday. I can’t work out where the time goes!