Quilt while you're ahead

Amy and I

 Yesterday I had the pleasure to attend a talk given by Amy Butler.  It was great to meet somebody responsible for so much of my Visa bill in recent years, someone whose disegn peppers my wardrobe and my house...

And here she is

 

oh yeah, and that's me - hi, ya'll - and that is no 3 who loves having his picture taken.

I was unable to find a babysitter for the boys so I took them with me.  They say luck helps the brave (and the stupid...) and they were superb.  They sat quietly for 2 hours, colouring, playing Nintendo, sitting on the floor picking their toes...

And this is Amy talking about her new line (can't wait, looks fab) coming out in the Autumn and trying very hard not to look at what No 3 was up too just in front of her.  She's a professional, she didn't miss a slide.

and, wait a moment, what's that in the background? there on the table looking splendid and amazingly finished?

but of course, it's this little baby...

which now lies in all its Amy glory in the newly painted spare room

This room used to be a VERY bright pink but after three years I had to democratically bow to the majority and get rid of it.  Nobody liked it but me.  Seriously.  Nobody.

So now it's this soft, calm, restful powdery blue (Farrow & Ball, Parma Grey).  And everyone is happy.

Including me.

the best of times...

aka as the recharging power of friendship.

(and good food.  and good shopping)

Some of you already know of my day out last Tuesday.  It was a really fab day.  Even if the weather tried to spoil it.  Even if I was so tired at the end of it I barely remember being picked up at the train station by Mr M and Lilli the dog.

London held up to its reputation too, I mean, where else would you find a car like this?

it was for hire too. 

Maybe I should re-upholster the interior of mine? or maybe not.

Ali mentioned the gorgeous food we had, I'll just mentioned the shopping... I'm obviously shallower than her. 

Fabric:

And the most gorgeous of skirts:

 

Divine, eh?

Oh yes, I needed a day like that.  Thank you my friends.

lovely

I simply couldn't resist

 

I tried

 

but I'm weak.

 

all from www.summersville.etsy.com

stock building

a friend has asked me if I'd like to have a table at the Christmas school fair she's helping organise...

ok, you're twisting my arm, I'll do it!

 

so yesterday I started to play with fabric

 

these are the discarded squares from the huge vintage quilt I'm trying to rescue

 

the stained ones, the ripped ones, the ones that were an inch smaller than the rest

 

recycling at its best. 

 

Or is it up-cycling?

lovely - a day in pictures

the bluest sky

the most inspiring shop/gallery

 

the most colour co-ordinated of purchases

 

and the deserved indulgence at the end of it all

... are you still there?

  I can't believe how long it's been since my last post.

Thank you very much for all your kind words about 'Juliet'... I'm actually looking forward to the cold weather so I can wear it! (and I'll try to respond to all your comments... just bear with me for a while)

I've been racking my brain to think what on earth I've been doing all these days... nup... can't think.  Maybe I was abducted by aliens and have just been returned...  Anyway, on Sunday I dragged my mum and sister to the knitting and stitching show in Birmingham. 

It was very very quiet - which was just as well as No 3 was with us... - but that didn's stop us admiring all the exhibitors (my favourite are always the embroidery and knitting graduate shows, although this time with a three year old in tow the experience was somewhat more rushed than I would have liked.

Of course sock wool was purchased

this is a fabulously soft Swiss made yarn and each ball (is it a ball even if it sausage shape?) comes with a small spool of a nylon/wool mix to use in the heel and toes areas. Genius.

 

You can find it here. (hey, how different do the colour look in the above two photos? weird)

I also found a brilliant stand with lots of Japanese fabric

some FQs

 

and some bigger pieces..

 

 

From this place.

Nice, eh? ah the joy of having found some cool stuff for boys was well worth the money spent...

Indigo dyeing (and the new kitchen)

Have you ever tried indigo dyeing? You should.

It's magic. 

You take a white piece of fabric, you fold it, stitch it, roll it, knot it.

Then you dip it.

And when you take it out it's dull green and  it smells  horrible BUT right in front of your eyes... it turns this amazing shade of blue... (something to do with the oxygen in the air)

this

turned into this

this

became this

and this

surprised me with this

But my favourite of all is this

which unrolled into this magic piece

Magic or what?

Oh, and the kitchen... drum roll please...

ta dah!!!

So clean and white and calm and new and MINE!!!!

buona Domenica

It's a beautiful Sunday morning:

one child is watching tv, one is drawing and the youngest has just fed the puppy a whole bag of training treats... "because she was hungry".

Whatever.

A birthday present for a dear friend:

A bit of re-upholstery done in the lounge

And look at this Ali , I've already got the fabric to make the pattern you sent me!  (No 2 thinks I should wear more pink because my clothes are 'boring'.  I guess this season's 'neutrals' will be missed on him!)

Have a good Sunday everyone.

objection, your Honour

I know Ali said it was my fault... but it wasn't.

Yes I drove her to this shop but she did all the spending by herself.  I swear. No gun pointing, no arm twisting necessary.  No Sir!

Actually, I did some 'shopping' too... a bit of fabric

and a little bit more

and this (although the thought of doing it kind of scares me)

and some bliss yarn

which has already been put to good use (one down, 17 more to go)

And by the way...  how can someone claim to be innocent... after tempting a friend with such evil presents?

Thank Ali, it was a lovely day.

what now?/help!

It was a cold dark night, Mr M was out, the boys asleep upstairs, the dog snoring at my feet.

Yes, I admit it, I was a tinsy winsy bored... which is the worst state of mind for surfing ebay, because boredom makes you forget about all the  unfinished projects crowding the room around you and the other projects still in your head waiting for you to have five minutes to start them... know that feeling?

Well, as I was saying I was searching this and that without real aim in mind when with just a couple of click I was the proud owner of this:

Mr M was positively horrified.   It arrived in a huge box and its conditions were pretty scary, clean (it smelled of detergent) but scary I have to admit, but  c'mon... you can see its potential, right?

Look at this gorgeous old fabrics

or this one

Yes, the back is a horrible flannel sheet (or so it seems)

And the stuffing has to go, it's unbelievably lumpy (and strangely frightening to look at)

but look at this block

or this one...

I couldn't just let it die, rotting away in some city dump somewhere...  so I painstakingly unstitched the border and threw away the back and the two tonnes of lumpy cotton it contained.  I snipped tiny pink ties for hours.  I washed it with all sorts of gentle stain remover and not so gentle ones.

And now I'm left with a gorgeous old quilt top which still needs tons of work to do before it becomes a quilt again.  Oh yes, we don't like it easy around here.  The yellow fabric is incredibly fragile, it rips really easily and I would like to end with something I can kind of use.  Maybe on the back of the sofa/on top of a bed kind of thing.

I could just replace the batting the back and quilt it, keeping the original front intact and kind of not-using it at all.  Or I could replace all the yellow squares and border and hopefully ending up with a much more durable object.  Would this be considered a sacrilege? or a heroic act of rescue?

What should I do?