Jen Jones' Quilt Shop in Llanybydder - Video Tour

Here is a lovely tour of Jen Jones' quilt shop in Llanybydder, Wales....given by Jen herself. It gives a good flavour of the atmosphere in this wonderful shop. Quilts and also Welsh blankets are discussed...enjoy.....

Trip to Bury St Edmunds

A trip to Bury St Edmunds was on the cards today, as Mike had been invited in to a quarter peal of Grandsire Cinques at the Norman Tower today.

This was once a very prosperous Abbey - then after the Dissolution it became the Church of St James - now it is a cathedral, with a new Millennium spire...very pleasant Abbey gardens...

 ....but first, we had a little adventure on the motorway, the A14...we came across a horse box that had broken down - one girl was staying with the truck while the other walked off to find some diesel - we gave her a lift, found a petrol station that was open, and returned to the truck...only to find that the police were in attendance. We left, feeling sure that the girls (and horse) would be on their way shortly...

 Here's Angel Hill, with the Gatehouse and the cathedral in the background.

 The church has a detached bell tower, the so-called Norman Tower (thus very old even by English standards). The quarter peal attempt didn't last very long, as there was a problem with the fifth bell. The stay was poorly cut and was not engaging with the slider properly...We went up to see the bells, very interesting.....

My talk yesterday went very well and was well received. Thank goodness that the hall has good accoutics and a microphone was not needed. Got through all the quilts, altho I had to hurry a little at the end! Quite a few were interested in the Ruth McDowell pieced flower quilts and my Hawaiian quilts. Anne Bevan put in a good plug for BQSG. And the Benefactors appeal was announced by the co-ordinator. Here is the first speaker, Clive Barnett who talked about his City and Guilds work, and showed dyed and overprinted fabrics.

Quilters' Guild talk....Copdock Village Hall

Just a reminder that I will be giving a talk on my quilts at the Region 8 Regional Day tomorrow....I will be showing my own recent quilts plus a selection of Welsh and Durham quilts. My talk will start after lunch, at about 1.00.

It is difficult to choose which quilts to take, and I have erred on the generous side, I'll be looking at the clock and may not show them all....but they will be there to look at afterwards in any case. What a job lugging all the bags of quilts into and out of the little car, they are heavy!

I have made a few other purchases....a back stitch cushion.....a WWII Red Cross Quilt with an Ontario label .....and a geometric Welsh quilt ...I will show these in future posts.

Also getting on with the two "quick quilts" and will show progress on those.....

Pettistree Mini Outing to Essex

Once again, we ventured south into Essex, on our mini outing. Mini - because due to various ailments, many of our members could not come along - also, because we only went to three churches...luckily, a nice warm spring day with sunshine, the kind of weather we have been longing for over the past month..

The first tower was Langham, a church set well away from the village but close to Langham Hall. You approach down a long lane of trees...the ringing chamber has been recently moved upstairs, and the bells are now much nicer to ring - and there is some impressive woodwork, a very impressive organ screen..

We also liked the church cat, Jerry, who is well  known and has his own chair and cat blanket near the ringing chamber. He lives at the Hall and until recently had a brother....

...a very friendly cat.....the church helpers have to make sure that he is outside the church when they leave --not difficult when it is sunny as he likes to sit in the sun --but difficult to find a black cat when it is cold and dark --luckily he is usually to be found on the vicar's seat, or, the bellringing seat....

We took the scenic route through Constable Country to Earl's Colne. This is an old-fashioned eight..

You may have noticed the "mistletoe ball" in the tree outside the church. These are not uncommon in Suffolk and Essex. The plant is a parasitic one and only grows on certain species of trees. It remains green throughout the winter; one can see why it was considered a fertility symbol - hence "kissing under the mistletoe" - a hangover from our pagan past...

The tracery looking into the ringing chamber was impressive....

The last stop was Coggeshall....this church was bombed in 1940 and had to be rebuilt after the war...

We went into Coggeshall to have lunch at the Chapel Inn, a very old pub...this is a clock tower built for Queen Victoria's Jubilee...

More old buildings...

The interior of Coggeshall church is lovely and airy...the bells are a really lovely 10, rehung and augmented from 8 for the Millennium. We rang well considering that most of us only ring on 6 or 8 bells. We attempted Grandsire caters and finished with Yorkshire major.

A nice day out...

Progress on quilts...

Well, its been a very busy few weeks for me...as you know, I work as a bookkeeper, and the HMRC is introducing a new payroll system/routine in April. I'll be really glad when all is settled in and the yearend reports are sent off!

Progress has been made on the two "quick" quilts (do we really believe that phrase?)

For Tom and Lily's quilt, the blocks are mostly made, I just have to arrange them and then sew together in rows. This has worked pretty well and the seam joins have been no problem..or maybe I'm just getting better...

The other quilt is looking good too - all sewn together...

The cathredral windows blocks are mostly sewn down....we had the AGM of the Suffolk Guild of Ringers yesterday, and I took the oportunity to make the six Suffolk Puffs, will have to sew these on. I will probably sew on a border to this quilt - or make it a bit larger. I have more charm squares left.

Sophie and I skyped the other day - she is coming back from Singapore in May for a good friend's wedding - Laura - and we agreed that this quilt could be a wedding present.  The new Ipad makes Skype so easy and it was easy to look at the partially finished quilt together.

I also did a little experuiment and made some "dryer balls" - essentially felted wool balls that go in the clothes dryer to help the drying process. Essential oils can be used and these supposedly hasten the drying process and can replace fabric conditioner... I had a lot of wool odd and ends so I thought that I would have a go - this is Icelandinc Wool....

 The wool balls are the size of a tennis ball and have the ends darned in...they are then washed on the hottest setting, in nylon tights, so that the wool felts....

Here is the result -  not as pretty as the example I saw on the internet - the cats were not impressed and refused to play. I will try them in the dryer, but suspect that I have used a wool with too long a staple. They look a bit hairy or is that hoary - the last thing I need on my clothes is extra fibres - two cats see to that in this house!

Quilt for Lily and Tom

I have been making a quilt for Lily and Tom to use - not an heirloom quilt, just one that they can use without worry! I know that their London flat is not warm, and hope that they will enjoy it. Here are the fabrics that I chose to experiment with...

I don't usually like the patterns given in the magazines - too fussy or too cute, usually, but in one of the magazines I saw two that were possibilites - this is one, it uses 2 1/2" strips.

and this is the other.....it uses Cathedral windows blocks in the centre blocks. I will make up both over Easter and see which Lily and Tom like better. I'll quilt very simply and also use polyester wadding so that there are no washing problems.

Here are the strips, ready to be sewn together - I have teamed them with a white on white print, as per the pattern...

 The pattern is a simple one - simply sew two strip sets ...

Sew the two strip sets toether along each side to form a tube...and then cut using a ruler and the 45 degree marking....I'll show you how it came together once I get the blocks made and sewn togher.