Here are some photos of the commission I'm working on, the top is pieced, I love the teddy fabric in the cornerblocks of the border.  I have one line of the dedication block for the back to complete, and then this week it will be layed together with the wadding and backing and quilted.  The design is quite busy, so I will quilt in the ditch.  It looks lovely in the flesh.

Jenny

Bags, bags

I tried making a couple of bags last week and I was pleased with how they turned out.

I've made shopping bags in the past, but not proper handbags.  I was rummaging through some material and found a piece of canvas and a lovely piece of broiderie anglais (I'm sure that's spelt incorrectly).  When I put one against the other it just looked right and there was enough to make a small bag.  I was so pleased I then made the tweed one above it.

They are both lined in a dark brown striped fabric, the tweed one has been sold at market, and I have an order to make a similar one.  Unfortunately I only had enough of that particular tweed fabric to make one bag.  But I've got plenty more of similar tweed, so watch this space for more bags.

Even more amazing is the fact that my windows are relatively clean!

Jenny

Highs and lows of cooking

Is it really a month since my last post, I'd better put a few things up over the next few days.

As you've probably guessed from this blog, I love sewing.  I also love cooking, but that can be a little hit and miss at times.  I love baking cakes, I bake lemon cakes, flapjacks, chocolate cakes, date slices etc for our local Country Market.  As for savouries, they're edible (mostly), roasts are good, but that's about it.

My father-in-law came to us for his evening meal tonight.  Stew and dumplings, my favourite.  My mum makes the best stew and dumplings you've ever tasted.  I've just about mastered the stew, I use the 'chuck it all in together and leave it to cook long and slow' method and that works well.  Dumplings are usually OK.  This evening I used vegetarian suet and they turned out like mini cannon balls.  Rather than light and fluffy, they could have been used to sink the Titanic easily. 

On a much much happier note, I received a letter today.  It just had my name, house name and postcode as the address.  Rather curious, I opened it a little apprehensively.  Inside is a letter from a lady in Surrey which reads ... 'My husband and I visited Orford Country Market .... and would just like to say how wonderful your butter flapjacks were ... my husband is a big fan of flapjacks and said that he hadn't had any that good in a very long time ... can I put in an order or you could send me the recipe'.

I laughed all the way through reading this, not because I thought it was funny, but from happiness and knowing that someone thought my baking was good enough not only to write and tell me, which was fantastic, but also to ask for more.  Wow ... that really did make my day.  Thank you Mrs D.

I support Ipswich Town Football Club, they have just lost their 13th game of the season and are the only club in all five divisions not to have won a game so far.  Watford have equalised in the last 30 seconds of the game.  It's such a shame, the players muse be absolutely gutted, having lead from the 5th minute, and by all accounts they were the better side and had more chances.  Many fans want Roy Keane to go, but I still have faith, it's just getting that first win.

Jenny

Quilt commission

I'm very excited and pleased to have a commission to make a quilt for a little boy after his aunt saw my memory quilts on my website.

After our initial discussions about colours and style, these are the fabrics we've chosen.

(Aunt) Sophie has asked for colours and patterns that can be used in adult-hood.  We are having a mis-matched, different sized square design with  different sized blocks so it doesn't look too uniform.  Some photos are also going to be incorporated into the design, but they are not going to be focal points of the quilt, rather that you will spot them when you look over the quilt.  As the little boy is called Teddy, there will be a few Teddy's appliqued on the top along with an embroidered block with his name and birth date.

I'm a bit of a star block fan, so I've made up a few star blocks to start off with.

I have been emailing the blocks to Sophie (thank goodness for digital cameras) and she is really pleased with how they look.

It's very exciting making a quilt for someone else, but a little bit nerve-racking too.  I'm trying to make Sophie's ideas for the quilt come true, without trying to influence her choices.  I'm glad Sophie likes the blocks as I find it quite difficult to say 'It will definitely look like this or like that' because until I sit down and sew, I'm not sure myself which fabrics I'll use in which blocks so my quilts tend to evolve as they are sewn.  I really love these fabrics and it's been wonderful to pick up three or four that go together and just have a free reign to create.

So, thank you Sophie for putting your trust in me.

Update on tablecloth

We laid out the blocks on the floor, this one is called 'Light and dark', and this is the one Jenny has decided she likes.  It will be really pretty once it's done and pressed. 

Now just got to find a spare hour to sew it all together ....

Log Cabin Tablecloth

I made up one block to show Jenny (MIL) what they would look like and she was really pleased with it.  This also meant I was able to check all my calculations for log sizes were correct, and thankfully they were.

Log Cabin is often foundation pieced, but I'm not a huge fan of that, so I cut all the pieces out first and then chain piece.

I set them out in the order, it's not that clear in the picture and then pieced all log 1 to the middle square 36 times.  Cut between the logs, press and then piece all log 2 pieces to these and just continue until all are done.

So this is the first four logs pieced and it's starting to look good.  Every time I finished four pieces to complete a square, I pressed and then squared them up to get rid of uneven edges.  I always like to remove 'ears' and square up blocks, even though this adds extra time to the sewing, it really does make a differnce to the finished piece.  Many years ago I went to college and studied catering.  When rolling out pastry one day, the chef asked me what shape I wanted (in this case a rectangle) and then asked how did I expect to end up with a rectangle when my pastry started off as a ball?  Good point, same with patchwork, if you want to end up with as near a perfect square as possible, you need to make sure it stays as close to a square all the way through, otherwise it gets all skewed.

Apart from the lovely light-bulb spot in the middle of these photos, it shows how small amounts need to be trimmed.  Then you end up with lovely square sqaures.  So these blocks are 9" sqaures, a 3" square in the middle surrounded by 12 1" log strips.

Log cabin

My mother-in-law, who is also Jenny Cooper, has asked me to make her a quilted tablecloth.  As we both share the same name this can be a little confusing at times.  A couple of years ago I entered the local flower show and was lucky enough to win the handicraft cup, when Jenny (MIL) went into the village the week after, she was congratulated on winning.  This year, Jenny (MIL) entered some embroidery and knitting in another local show and I was congratulated on the prizes! 

Anyway, back to the tablecloth, Jenny (MIL) likes the log cabin design and lilac colours.
Here are the ones she has picked out:

I think the colours she has chosen will make a very pretty quilt.  It will be approx 54" square made from 9" log cabin blocks. I don't know yet which log cabin setting it will be in.  The thing to do, is make the blocks and then take them to her and we can lay them out and decide.

What do you think?
Jenny