New Bells/New Quilt

The ringers of Campsea Ash worked hard to raise money - over £120,000 - to turn their old ring of four bells into a modern ring of six. You might have read in the newspapers last September how four of the bells were stolen whilst they were at the bellhangers' factory in Dorset. Luckily, insurance money ensured that the stolen bells were replaced by new, recast bells.

On Saturday, the Suffolk Guild of Bellringers, which has given a grant towards the cost of the bells, had its official try out. The bells are a pleasant ring, with only a few minor adjustments to be made.

St.John the Baptist Campsea Ash is a country church - Suffolk and Norfolk used to be prosperous farming areas, with many farm workers working the land. Now the need for farm workers is gone, and the villages are a pleasant place to live for commuters.

Ringing rounds whilst Jonathan checks his sound meter... The sallies are gold, black and burgandy coloured, a change from our usual red white and blue.

We then went to Woodbridge. Here is St Mary's,Woodbridge, a much larger and grander church. It has a splendid ring of eight bells in a tall tower.

I have now basted my purple and cream Pilanii Hawaiian quilt. Here is the backing fabric pinned securely wrong side up on the living room carpet - ready for the wool wadding to be placed on top of it.

The ironed top is then centred over the backing fabric and wadding and smoothed out and pinned in place.

Then it was time to get down on hands and knees and put lots of safety pins to hold it all in place while quilting. I had to buy another box of safety pins to have enough as the rest were already in use. You can never have too many safety pins...

Now I am starting to quilt - at 1/2" intervals, using pins and a small ruler to mark the distance. Its pleasant to have both applique and quilting projects to work on.

Here is a small sample I made for a class at Quilters Haven, using two fossil fern fabrics. The weaving technique makes an interesting background for applique motifs.

And another small sample using ombre (graduated) fabrics. The woven fabrics are bonded onto the wadding and quilted in the ditch.