Planning a Ringing Outing

Last spring, our "Ring and Walk" Pettistree outing between Fressingfield and Wingfield was a big success, so Mike and I are planning another for April. The formula is a bit demanding - there have to be two towers with bells - linked by a short but picturesque walk -suitable parking for the cars- with a pub at either end, one of which is suitable for lunch for 20 to 30 people.

On Saturday, we tried to walk from Yaxley to Eye. The footpath was overgrown and a bit of a scramble - worse, there was no pub in Eye! The Queens Head was closed for repairs.....and the bells at Eye seemed too heavy for our ringers.

On Sunday, our walk met with more success...


We started at Stoke Ash, a small village next to the Ipswich to Norwich Road (an old Roman Road). It seems that excavations in 2004 have shown that there was a Roman staging post here, and it was much larger then...there was a very pleasant 30 minute walk to...

Thornham church. The paths were broad and well maintained and passed some lovely old cottages.

This is the Waterhouses area, with its ford - imagine driving through this every morning on your way to work...

The ford was too deep for our boots, so to get over the footbridge we had to "run the gauntlet " past loud geese -

And there are two good pubs at either end, the White Horse and the popular Four Horseshoes at Thornham (above). The next stage will be to make the bookings - entry to the churches and arranging the food - if only we could order up the good weather.

This week, I have done something I thought I would never do again - some dressmaking. It brings back unpleasant memories of "home ec" at jr. high school...however, I have found it difficult to buy cotton trousers with nice fabric - so frustrating when there is great fabric in the quilt stores. So I bought this pattern - have modified it to match a favorite pair of trousers -I bought 2 metres of fabric from Quilters Haven - it is Habitat by Michele D'Amore - hope it turns out well....it is does, I'll make some more - I want a pair of red paisley trousers...LOL..

Cream and Gold Welsh Wholecloth

Here is a lovely wholecloth with bright gold on one side and a dark cream or beige on the other side. This quilt is 80 x 80 inches and was only the second welsh quilt that I bought. But it has the lovely welsh quilting designs that are so typcial.

This photo shows the colours a bit better, although the gold is actually a bit brighter than shown. The quilt is used but in good condition, the cotton sateen cloth is very soft and lovely with age. The filling is carded wool.

You can see the outer borders of leaves and spirals - with good, dense quilting.

The centre medallion is a bordered square surrounded by beech leaves.

I love these straight leaf motifs....No provenance on this one, it came from a dealer in Tiverton, Devon. No date, but probably about 1900 I would think. A lovely quilt, quiet colours but with lovely, dense quilting. I would be proud to make one like this!

Pink Welsh Quilt with Frill

This is a wholecloth quilt in a light pink cotton sateen, with frills to all sides. The wadding is carded wool, and the stitching is good. The size is 78 x 82 inches.

The central coin is of four beech leaves, surrounded by twists and spirals. There is the crank design - four lobed motif - but also seen here is a motif of four hearts touching, to form a flower. Hearts on a Welsh quilt are commonly supposed to signify a wedding quilt, but actually, the heart is not an uncommon design in Welsh quilts.

On the outside border is a small spiral design. Again,one can see the four lobed design and the hearts design. The frill is 4 inches wide, of matching double fabric.

Unfortunately, the frill is worn in some places and looks quite tatty. Some would repair or replace - but I would rather keep it "as is".

Corner of the quilt, again showing the nice quilting. This would have been a very feminine quilt - what a pleasure to have, it was someone's favorite, I'm sure.

No provenance on this quilt - it came from a dealer in Swansea, who bought both from the public and at auctions.

Framed Quilt Poster and Samplers

Here is an old poster that I bought inexpensively on Ebay last year. It shows a photo of a Welsh woman in traditional garb, and advertises "The Great Welsh Patchwork Quilt Show" at the Orangery in Holland Park. Interesting that at that time, they had to state "patchwork quilt" not just "quilt"; I would think that today "quilt" would suffice.


I don't know whose exhibition it was - Ron Simpson's or Jen Jones' ? I assume that it was a show and sale of quilts. It has no year - just a date - November 5 - 15 and venue. Does anyone know the year? Did anyone go to this show?

This Christmas, I had the poster framed as a gift to myself - needless to say, it cost about four times as much to frame as it did to buy!


Running out of space in the living room - I used to do a lot of embroidery and cross stitch - I still take it on holiday. The sampler in the middle is one that was given to me as a kit for Christmas by mother one year when I was a teenager (I had already completed one; seems a rather ambitious gift these days).Carol was given one too - I think they were by Paragon or another large American company - bought at the needlework shop at Clayton's in Palmer Square, Princeton.

Another area in the front hall (just near the kitty litter boxes!) More family photos and samplers. The sampler on the left is Carol's Christmas sampler - when she died in 1989, I took the partly completed sampler home with me. With a young family, it was not finished and framed until 1998. I think that they are copies of American samplers.

The wall hanging is a silk scarf designed by local artist and businessman Stuart Morris several years ago when he was experimenting with silk printing (needless to say, it is all done in China now, where it is cheaper and there is more expertise). I quilted several different scarves for a trade fair. This was my favorite and I reappropriated it- it was quite freely hand quilted with no marking.

Also in the living room is this quilt - it is to a pattern, Heartz by Jan Mullen - Hazel Judge saw Jan's original quilt in the Quilters Haven window and liked it - I made her one and also made myself one. The salmon fabric is a dyeing mistake - I thought it would never be used - but it proved just the right colour for the two quilts. The quilts were machine quilted with a nice leaf and vine pattern around the border which was fun to do.

Surprise Discovery

On Saturday, I was teaching Hand Quilting and Torn and Woven Quilts at Quilters Haven. I happened to spot this fabric....


It is "Faded Red" a Rouenerries fabric by Moda - it is a very near match to the fabric in the Northumberland stamped top - it is the right color and also has the red and white threads...


....You can see how close a match it is to the original, which I didn't think was possible! The only drawback is, it is a linen and cotton mix and is a heavier weight than the Kona cotton. I bought 1/2 metre - I will wash it (in case there is a dressing) and then make up a sample piece to see how it sews and quilts. If all goes well I will go back and buy more - the pink Kona cotton will be saved for another project (it would make a good quilt backing for a wholecloth).

...first signs of spring in the garden, some lavender crocuses...

I thought you might be amused to see this, it recently won a contest for Best Pub sign...the Vulcan Arms in Sizewell. Sizewell is a small fishing village that has a pub - and two nuclear power stations.We went for a walk there yesterday, along the beach to Minsmere and back. We got lost and ended up walking much further than intended...Vulcan of course is a Roman god, there is also a bomber of the same name ....and Mr. Spock.....very amusing to this girl of a certain age.

New Fabric for Northumberland Sawtooth Centre Diamond

You may remember that I bought this "stamped" top last year. Rather than quilt it, I thought that it would be fun to buy new fabric and make another top, then transfer the quilting designs from the old top. This week, my order from Simply Solids arrived.

As well as the fabric, I bought a Kona Cotton shade card - I thought it would be printed, but it has little squares of fabric stuck on, which is neat. I don't imagine that all these colours are available in the UK! And, I guess it is really for shop owners and wholesalers, as it talks about a minimum order of 2000 yards for custom colours...

Here is the fabric I ordered - Blush Pink and Bleached White. Although I did "reckon" the amount I would need, the half square triangles may need a bit more! I guess that I can always order a bit more if I need it....

You can see that the colour match is not bad, although "melon" is a slightly better match. Anyhow, I am not trying to make an exact reproduction - the actual fabrics are heavier weight - and I would have to add many decades of accumulated grime as well...

Recently while at a local quilt shop, I bought this stencil on the spur of the moment - thought that it might be suitable. It is the right size for the border - but it is not the same design. The original design had two strands woven under and over. So I'll use the original tracings...

Here is one part of the tracing - you can see the lovely freehand scroll work - the zigzag markings are the outline quilting in the half square triangles.

I'll start to sew the top soon - it should be fairly straightforward - except for those half square triangles - the originals are more rectangles - and the points are often lopped off - I'll have to do the best that I can....

Then it will be a simple matter of using my light table to trace the quilting designs off the tracings. I'll have to finish the Pilani quilt first, before I can start to quilt this top. At least my sewing machine's tension will be better than the original!

I am nearly at my 100 th post - which is surprising - however, I have decided that I will do something special for my one year anniversary - on April 8th.Watch this space....

Red and Blue Flannel quilt - More Photos

Today, I thought that I would post some more photos of the red and blue flannel quilt - to show the quilting designs and detail more clearly. This is a wonderful quilt, and clearly has never been used. You can see that the quilting is simple but effective - a central sunburst is surrounded by a spiral scroll and corner fans. Then there are borders of church windows infilled with chevrons and spirals. At the outer edge is a simple twist.

Another look at the church windows and the corner fan.

The colours are a bright red (which doesn't photograph as well) and a royal blue. The quilting thread is blue - so the blue must have been the right side - but was it quilted from this side (hard on the eyes!) ? Just went to have a look - its hard to tell, but it looks as if the quilting was done with navy thread from the red side.

This is a heavy quilt - I would guess that there is no filling? The two woollen fabrics would be quite heavy in their own right.

A detail of one corner, and the simple twist used there.

Another detail of the spiral infill .

Deatil of the central "coin".

The two fabrics contrast well....

A close up of the flannel fabric - it is woven , but has a teased, brushed surface - it is not a felted fabric.