Olympic Torch arrives at St Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich

Last week, I missed seeing the Olympic torch as it arrived and left Ipswich, as we were busy in the ringing chamber, bell ringing and making a merry noise! So I was pleased to see Amanda Richmond with her Olympic torch at Monday's practice at St. Mary-le-Tower.

Amanda is a PE teacher at Stowupland high school, lives in Ipswich and is a past Master of the Suffolk Guild of Ringers. She also holds the distinction of being the oldest British woman to have climbed Mt Everest! Amanda was a torchbearer as the Olympic torch procession passed through Aldeburgh,Suffolk.

As you may know, the Olympic torches had to be purchased if you wanted to keep them! Here is Amanda with hers in the ringing chamber. In the background you can see a bellrope or two, and also the many peal boards lining the walls - these commemorate some of the more noteworthy peals rung here in the past. Ipswich had a very strong band, and some of the first peals in Surprise Royal were rung here.

Minerva Quilts 12

After driving off from Suffolk, I arrived at Llanidloes and delivered the quilts. There are about 25 quilts, mostly Welsh quilts but with some North Country (Durham ) quilts as well. I also included six pairs of quilts - two Allendales (new and old quilts) two Princess Feather quilts (both made from a pattern in McCalls Book of Quilts) and two Northumberland Sawtooth quilts (top and my quilt).

 Doreen had been working in the Centre with the other volunteers and they had gotten the screens set up for the summer exhibition. We unloaded the quilts from their bags and put them on tables, ready for hanging.

 Later in the week, the volunteers were able to hang all the quilts. Some of my quilts were not hung, but draped on tables, which is effective, I think. Here is Doreen with the Princess Feather that I made in 1989.

 Then on Sunday 8 July, the opening and preview took place. These photos were taken from the Quilt Association website. You can see two of my quilts in the background, the gold and blue geometric quilt and the quilt with the zany centre from Aberysthweth.

Here is the feather quilt and the red and blue flannel quilt.

Plus the yellow and red wholecloth from Llanelli.

And this is the Framed Quilt with Roses from Ammanford.

I will have to go back at some point to pick up the quilts. The exhibition runs through to September 8. Open daily from 10.30 to 4.30, except Sundays, admission £3.50. Minerva Centre is located at the top of Broad Oak Street,  Llanidloes.

Back from Trip to Wales...

I went to Wales last week to deliver my quilts to the Minerva Centre for their Summer Exhibition. It is such a long drive that I decided to stay on a day or two more! I did over 700 miles but I am pleased to say that the new little car performed well and is doing fantastic miles to the gallon - so I am pleased!

There were nine bags of quilts - heavy, too - so I was glad when Mike was able to load all into the new car- I was not sure that they would fit. After delivering the quilts to the Minerva Centre on Sunday afternoon,

.....Doreen kindly put me up in her lovely house at the far end of a long country lane - three cattle grids, one ford and up a farm track.....here is a view driving back the next day towards Llanidloes on my way to Llannybydder. You can see the threatening clouds gathering!!

It rained quite heavily for most of my visit...

LLanidloes - looking toward the market place...more storm clouds...

A photo of the coastal road between Aberaeron and Aberytswyth.

I was able to visit the Wool Museum (hard to find, that one), Jen Jones' shop and the Quilt Museum. So I  have quite a few photos to share with you in the next few posts.

In the meantime, I am trimming and applying the binding to my Hawaiian Piilani quilt - it has to be sent off to FOQ very soon.

Ringing for the Olympic Torch in Ipswich

There was a lot of celebration yesterday as the Olympic torch procession arrived in Suffolk. Mike and I went to Ipswich to help ring the bells in the evening. Here we are at St Lawrence, Ipswich (a very old ring of five).

Because the torch was a bit late in arriving at its overnight resting place, we then went to St Mary-le-Tower and continued to ring on the bells there. A great atmosphere - we were glad to be part of the celebrations.

More difficult was getting up this morning, when we had to ring at 6.30 in the morning, as the Olympic torch left Ipswich on its way to Essex!

Military Quilt found in Karachi

Here is an item that was brought to the Treasurer's Meeting at the Quilters Guild in York. It is a woollen table cover made from military worsted wools, and belongs to John Gilmore of Cambridge, a dealer in textiles. It is an expensive item but hopefully someone will want to buy it.

The item was found in Karachi and was obviously made by an expert craftsman, of which there are many in this area. There is a slit in the backing fabric, and one can see that the wools are butted up to the adjacent piece and overstitched with a fine very regular stitch (inlaid work). This is definitely done by hand, although it looks extremely regular, as one can see knots at the back. Then at the front side, a tambour hook has been used to create a chain stitch over the seam line for decorative effect.

The most impressive part of this piece is that it is made to fit a 3 ft 6 inch table - one can see that it would have looked very impressive on a regimental table, perhaps. The edge portion that falls from the edge of the table is not seamed on, nor does the item just drape - the edge is perfectly fitted and drops straight down, and has been sewn in such a manner that this is accommodated by the pieces and stitching, Surely this was made by some master craftsman.

Here are the chevrons found in the area hanging from the edge of the table. Like my military quilt, the top has some sun damage but is in remarkably good condition.

This item was found in Karachi and may have been made and remained in that area. But apparently charity shops send textiles from the UK to Afghanistan - items that are not of interest then pass to Karachi - so English quilts and other items of British textiles do turn up there. A British silk log cabin quilt was discovered and purchased in this way. So although this item is of Indian origin, it may have come from the UK.

The Quilters Guild declined to buy this item - it was too costly, but also because of its unusual shape it would be difficult to store or display.

Workshop and new Patterns

Earlier in June I went to a workshop at Quilters Haven given by Dawn Cameron Dick, "Threaducation" all about different types of threads. It was interesting to try out the different trays of threads - there were some new ones to me - and also good to have a recap on thread types as well as machine needles.

New to me were Trilobal (Mettler  Polysheen), YLI Colours and Masterpice Superior. I used wool wadding and just doodled with my usual FMQ. Its nice to have a little book with eight samples.

These arrived today - more patterns from Cissy at Poakalani of Honolulu. Monkey is checking them out.....

...and I shall be checking them out carefully too - a Hawaiian quilt is such a large project in terms of time and fabric - that I shall have to choose carefully. I will have to look at the patterns closely! Should keep me busy for a few years to come.

I like to have one quilt on the frame and another applique quilt on the go. So when the purple Piilani is finished, I'll put the blue and white Molokame in the frame and at the same time, start another applique quilt. I have used up my yeardage so am currently invistigating plain fabrics....it is fun doing the preparation, choosing colours and choosing patterns.....

Goodbye old car!!

I had a big problem - my trusty old VW Polo was not going to pass its MOT (road test) this year without a lot of money being spent on it....and even then....dubious......

I had this car for over ten years and it never let me down....it had done over 170,000 miles....but it's now gone to the big scrap yard in the sky (aka Whip Street Motors in Ipswich)

and it has been replaced by a new smaller VW Up! The money that would have gone on the repairs went on the deposit for the new car. It seems very nice and the mileage per gallon/litre is much better. I just hope that it is as reliable as the black car....it will also get me across to Wales next week - FOQ in August - and Burnley in October! Public transport is not good here in Suffolk, so I need a car for work.

I am delivering the quilts to Llanidloes on Sunday - going to the Wool Museum on Monday - visiting Jen Jones' shop and Museum on Tuesday. Back Tuesday night to work again on Wednesday. Of course I will take the camera and share the photos with you.