Monday, June 5, 2017

Finish What You Started

As far as my crafting endeavours go, I have to admit to being a great starter but not so good in the finishing department.  There are always so many ideas swirling around in my mind, tempting fabrics, new colour combinations and inspiring images seen in books and magazines, and even in daily life. The time has come to try to finish some of the many things I have started over the years and it has been a very productive year so far, with two new quilts completed.  

The first quilt I tackled was one which was inspired by an issue of Simply Vintage Quilts & Crafts, (Summer 2015, No 15),which included a project entitled Circle of Birds, appliqued on linen and surrounded by a crocheted border.  In modifying the project to suit my own needs I used an old woolen blanket and some woolen fabric which I dyed various shades of blue for the swallows.  I am a complete pushover for anything with birds, especially swallows. 



Of course that was a good start but it needed a little something more, and so it grew and grew into a very large quilt using scraps from other project plus some things I had saved and never been bold enough to cut up because they were so special.  The cotton hexagons frame the centre panel of wool.  


There were some old men's shirts,


 some embroidered doilies,



 some hand printed fabrics I bought years ago in Melbourne at a craft market, and which seemed too precious to cut up for many years,

especially the piece with swallows

 some old pieces from dresses I made for my girls when they were little, 


and even some bits from maternity dresses.    (Waste not want not.) Because of the swallows theme I tried to work in as many hexies with birds as I could lay my hands on



but I also had to squeeze in a pansy or two, of course


and a couple of iris for Mrs Peaceable, since they are her favourite flower.  



Also lots of toile because I find the images so endearing and sometimes downright mysterious.


 (What is the story with this goat, for instance?  It seems to be about to receive a wreath.)



I used to take the pieces to my work and baste the hexagons over papers during my meal break which eventually led to some questions as to when this quilt would ever be completed.  Apparently it was on the go at work for at least a year, so I was very pleased to be able to take photos to my doubting work colleagues and prove it was indeed finished.  The quilt just went on getting bigger and bigger and it is indeed a good sized coverlet now.  I have to say "coverlet" rather than "quilt" because it is all hand pieced and consequently took an inordinate amount of time to finish and though I like the look of heavily quilted work, I have had to admit defeat finally and face the fact that if I was to hand quilt my quilts as well as hand piece them, then I would never finish the ones I have started, never mind being able to move on to any of the others I would like to attempt.  

Having finished that one (which has now been named Large Blue in my head), it was the turn of an even larger challenge, Big Red.  I saw a photo of a similar quilt once in a magazine and thought, "Well, I like the look of that and I'm sure I could make something similar to use up all my red scraps" but as I didn't start out with any particular dimensions in mind Big Red just kept on getting larger and larger, in order to develop a balanced quilt with equal numbers of both sort of row.  It has two distinct types of shaped rows pieced together to achieve the deceptively simple look and so balancing it out meant that it got wider and wider.  


 The hexagon row


and the elongated diamond row make up the components of the quilt.  

The finished coverlet actually reaches down to the floor on both sides of the bed and because the hand piecing wasn't relieved by the woolen centre panel of  Large Blue, it took even longer to finish.  



I  particularly liked the bee images on some of the hexagons in Big Red.

I am very pleased with it and it feels as though it was worth all the feverish activity in the last few weekends, because putting the backing on both quilts became rather fraught as they were so large and too big to spread out easily on the floor at Shoestring Cottage.  I am very pleased with both backings though - it's a bit of a bugbear of mine to see a quilt which is beautiful on the front but has an obviously unsuitable back.  Large blue has an old flanelette sheet for the backing, a perfect shade of blue and all the more cosy and comforting for having been washed a lot, and very good colour match for the front of the quilt. 


 Big Red has a combination of a mattress ticking in beige/red combination


 plus a gorgeous strip of special fabric running down the centre, (French General from Moda Fabrics) so I am well pleased with the back as well as the front of the quilts.  


It hasn't all been stitching though.  In between times Mr Shoestring and I had a delightful trip to the South Island and trawled through the op shops on the way.  The Southern Ladies in Invercargill treated us to a night of wonderful hospitality and we dined in royal fashion on the wonderful repast prepared by Sandra.  It was made all the more special for being served on the most pretty china with beautiful table settings and in her home with original art deco features including some wonderful lead glass windows.  Heavenly.  They went with us to a fair in Arrowtown where Mr Shoestring treated me to a  birthday present which will be going to winter deco, a handbag which includes the most adorable little built in purse.  I was a very happy birthday girl that day.  
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From the same vendor we bought the beautiful little brooch (bird themed of course) to embellish art deco collars this July.

I also spotted this black fabric handbag which needs a little restoration but will be perfect for winter deco, though these bags are miniscule and it's obvious deco ladies only carried the bare necessities.  My handbags are usually very heavy and it would force a person to be more disciplined if she used these bags on a daily basis. 


 Mr Shoestring found himself a plate to add to his terrier collection
and I added greatly to my collection of gloves for deco also.  

The Dancing Queen remembered my envy at seeing her beautiful green glass deco measuring jug and managed to track down an identical one for me, what a great birthday present and how much it relieves the tedium of cooking at Shoestring Cottage on days when inspiration is lacking
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My sister also treated me on my birthday and I love the book she found by P G Wodehouse (yes, he of Jeeves and Wooster fame)

but the best thing about this book is the plate inside which celebrates the rather mediocre achievements of the person who received it as a prize "For Regular Attendance and Good Behaviour".  Somehow I feel that this is the kind of prize I would be likely to receive; nothing much to think of when wracking the brains for positive attributes but at least turned up on time and didn't get into any fist fights.  


Also a lovely cup, saucer and plate to add to my violet china collection, hoorah!


The Lady Canuck gave me a delightful little gift also, which really charmed me.  It is made from matchboxes and old Christmas cards and the matchboxes are all attached together and completed with little beads for opening them.  (You can see a little green bead at the bottom left.)   I think a child would have made it for a Christmas gift, and somebody has kept it for all this time as a memento. 


Now that Large Blue and Big Red are finally completed I'm determined not to rest on my laurels and I am moving onto two other quilts as the next "must do" projects. 


This one is a "quilt as you go" affair so it will be lightly quilted, and the clever thing about it is that I have figured out a way to make the reverse side in a different colour combination, so in effect there will be two quilts for the labour of one, very exciting.  

We have had a dreadfully wet but warm season so far, and it is very strange to have camellias and roses blooming at the same time.  Nice in theory but somehow wrong, just plain wrong!  


I can't help but feel that we will have to pay for it next summer, because the aphids and other pests will be loving this warm winter.  Maybe we will have a couple of good hard frosts before the season is out though, it's only the beginning of winter now after all.  

This must be the most picture heavy blog post I have ever posted, but there was lots to report and now lots to do, keeping up with the quilt finishing off project!  Apart from the one pictured above there is a chicken themed one, which I am very much enjoying.  Happy days to you wherever you may be, hoping that you are having time to do the things which you enjoy and especially wishing you joy in creating.

PS:  I really must give my heartfelt and sincere thanks to Mrs Peaceable and the Lady Canuck for helping me take out all those wretched papers in Big Red and Large Blue, I don't think I ever would have finished them without your help.  After the scissors gave me a swollen and red thumb I was quite despondent and having your company and assistance made me persevere.  Also Madame Aviatrice who contributed and made it into a more enjoyable experience on the evening when three of us were all toiling away together.  XXOO