A welcoming note

When you work at home all day, it is lovely when friends drop in for coffee. Jasmine and little Fred used to call in around 4pm most days for tea and a little play with the Duplo bricks before bath and bedtime. 

Yesterday three friends came for lunch and I really enjoyed their company.

But with my blog, when people visit I have the same feeling. I am curious to read about other people's lives, I read about their interests, hobbies, businesses and busy days. I have felt sad for their sorrow and happy for their triumphs. Sometimes they become real friends too.

So I have decided to welcome followers of my blog , just as I would if they knocked on the door and called in for coffee. Everyone has interesting blogs, websites  and it's lovely to link up with them.

So here are some of my visitors  so far, if you would like to meet them too just click on their names...
Nicola  who works as a freelance consultant in the overseas development field

Chelsea  who lives in New Hampshire, makes fantastic quilts and teaches too. Chelsea has inspired me to try making The Farmer's Wife quilt.... it is one of life's mysteries that my blocks have all turned out six and three quarter inches square instead of six inches....

Farmer's wife quilt blocks

Lorna   who runs a very established garden design and landscape business

British wildlife quilt detail

Maddy   who is a brilliant photographer and has wildlife at her fingertips

heron quilt detail

I will introduce other visitors soon...

Talking of wildlife, I have finished the British Wildlife single bed quilt for Jean. Here it is and I am really pleased with it: 

British Wildlife quilt 

If you are making the Farmer's Wife Quilt, do tell me how you are getting on with Those Templates, if you are, you know what I mean... and for those of you not struggling to print them the right size, enjoy your coffee!

Thank you everyone for visiting my blog,

Kind regards,

Sue

Vintage gals

At our quilting group we had two lovely speakers last week. Julie and Serena from Tempo Promotes came to give us their talk ''Rummaging Through Grannie's Drawers''. The title was a fine start to the evening! You can read about their business here and we had a huge laugh as well as lots of nostalgic chat as they talked about vintage fabrics, hankies, anti macassers ..... did anyone else have a mum who had a crocheted  apron for wearing on Sunday afternoons when we had visitors ? 

Lori Holt design for Riley Blake fabrics

Julie and Serena had a wonderful collection of vintage aprons and overalls and yes, we tried them on and the memories of the wash days, polishing days, spring cleaning weeks of our mothers all flooded back! We were only little girls then, but the need to carry a duster at all times was impressed on us from an early age! It has taken years to overcome this urge in my case....

vintage sewing items

The talk made me think about my mum's and even my granny's sewing baskets. Threads and incredibly fine hooks for mending stockings, enough hooks and eyes to start a shop and buttons, white fabric covered buttons for pillow cases, and replacement straps for petticoats.... 

vintage sewing items

The packets had wonderful names.... The Snowdrop and The Owl buttons and The Sentry waxed thread for sewing on army buttons.... The Defense button.... what for?  Sewn on to petticoats  or cotton bloomers maybe?

vintage sewing items

Does anyone remember Dorcas pin tins? Darning wools and silks in all sorts of colours, the tiny red buttons from a baby's shoes, the mother of pearl fancy buckle from a silk dress...all things I loved to play from her sewing box when I was little.

Then there are the magazines and leaflets, so carefully kept and valued as housekeeping money had to be stretched to buy them....

Home fashion leaflets from 1950's

Home fashion leaflet 1950's

Such elegance, sweeping skirts, little hats, gloves for every occasion and to my delight I find you can meet Mrs Hall.....

vintage home fashion 1950's

She's the not so slender grandmother, but she knows how to dress!! Love the tiny net veil too! Here is another treasured magazine from 1958....

Women's magazine 1958

and reading the love story I find some advice to young girls about handsome men with a taste for tartan ties....

Women's Weekly 1958

Well you might think that if your child was having a day of throwing pastry on the linoleum.... can you read the second column  at the bottom ?

Housewife magazines 1950's

So if you need the instructions for making a Coolie hat of your holidays on the beach, I have them right here!

Modern material by Lori Holt for Riley Blake fabrics

My wildlife quilt is coming on well despite me having an awful cold  and cough so I will show you it next week. I hope you have enjoyed my rummage through my Mum's sewing box, maybe it has brought back happy memories for you too,

Hoping you all have a lovely week,

Kind regards,

Sue

A nature walk

This week I am starting a new quilt. The theme is British wildlife and it will be a gift for Jean to give to her little grand daughter. I have really enjoyed the designing of this quilt, today I have been drawing a kingfisher pattern, this little bird is a flash of colour we see often along the river bank on the way into town. The colours of the quilt are yellows and greens, soft and subtle with little touches of brighter shades. Here is the first block...

This my favourite book for drawing birds from, I bought it in a thrift shop:

Kingfisher by Green Star Quilts

 There will be lots of other wildlife, but now I am making the fill in blocks...

I found I have some printed small panels which are just right with three squares added....

I hope the hedgehogs in our garden are waking up now and soon I will see them pottering around in the evenings. Last year I found one eating the fallen wild plums near the vegetable patch. 

Last year I went to an exhibition of one of the artists who most inspires me. Mark Hearld is a British collage artist and he had a brilliant display of his work over several rooms at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park...

From the exhibition catalogue of Mark Hearld 

I love his painted animals, both wooden sculptures and painted pictures, he captures the essence of each animal in simple shapes:

Mark Heald's wooden, painted animal shapes

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a marvellous place to visit, loads to see, places to walk, great food and Henry Moore sculptures in the grounds:

Henry Moore sculpture, The Yorkshire Sculpture park

Thinking about  places and everyday journeys as I was cycling to the library last week, I realised it must be one of the most beautiful journeys to a library a person could have, so come with me on a trip:

Over the little foot bridge on my bicycle and there's The Witham river flowing into Lincoln

Along the riverbank beside the allotments with Lincoln Cathedral all misty in the distance

Time to say hello to the Shetland pony in the field, I don't know his name though

Boutham Park lake

Past the lake with ducks and swans waiting to be fed, 

detail from Sam's quilt

Through the beautiful Victorian wrought iron  park gates

Boutham Library

To our local library, then back home again with lots of books, for coffee and some of Lucy's excellent Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lucy's lemon Drizzle cake

I hope you have enjoyed my nature walk, There will be more photos as the quilt grows bigger. The weather is warming up here, time to plant my potatoes, the weeds are definitely growing too! Thanks for dropping in to visit,

Kind regards,

Sue

Boston Pilgrims

Boston today

To the south of Lincolnshire lies Boston. In the middle of this historic town is the church called The Stump, which can be seen for miles across the fenland area. Inside are momuments to Reverend John Cotton, who led members of his congregation to the New World and became the first pastor of Shawmut, Massachusetts, which was later renamed Boston in honour of their far away home in Lincolnshire.

detail of seagulls, Green Star Quilts

 The Pilgrim Fathers set sail from our south coast in 1620 at the height of the storm season and sailed for two months before they landed on the other side of the Atlantic. The drawing shows what a scary and dangerous journey it must have been.

The Mayflower

Another memorial is at Fishtoft on the north bank of The Haven river.

Pilgrim Fathers memorial at Fishtoft

What a long journey to the New World and what hope of new beginnings the pilgrims must have had and what sights they must have seen on the way.....

detail of dolphins Green Star Quilts

Detail for Calan's quilt, Green Star Quilts

I wonder about those pilgrims, especially the women. What did they pack? What did they expect to find when they arrived? How hard it must have been to leave their friends and families. How much space did they have to take precious things....

Vintage coffee pot on 'Whitby' fabric tea towel

Did they take seeds, hoping to grow new gardens?

Could they take livestock to start their farms?

hen and chicks

I have just finished reading The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier  about a pilgrim who journeyed to America in 1850, such a good book, I couldn't stop thinking about Honor Bright afterwards. She was a quilter too. When I look at the equipment I have to produce quilts and think of these women who made quilts by the light of oil lamps without rotary cutters, electric sewing machines, irons, specialist rulers.... the list could go on and on... I am humbled by their beautiful quilts which can still be seen today. This summer I will definitely be visiting the American Museum at Bath. 

Thanks for dropping in, I know some of you live in America and Canada, so welcome to Lincolnshire for a few minutes. I hope you have a lovely week and Happy Mothers Day to all who nuture families, friends, neighbours and even care for strangers,

Sue

Low volume quilts and pale mornings

This morning the view from the window was very misty, even foggy. The garden was mysterious with muted colour. 

Greens were tinged with grey, yellows softened and tiny mauve primulas were pale.

It all reminded me of a low volume quilt from the book Sunday Morning Quilts  by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkinson which is one of my favourite books at the moment. Here is my own pale quilt....

low  volume baby quit

In the garden, the big willow tree is almost in leaf, nearly there, it just needs another sunny day or two and the suggestion of lime green will be replaced by minted new leaves.....

The May blossom tree is in her full frothy bridal glamourous dress.....

paper fine petals and delicate yellow stamens with little bobbles on the end of each one... 

low volume baby quilt

I used loads of long stripe scraps, some recycled fabrics, it was a great way to use things up from the huge pile of bits too useful to throw away...

low volume baby quilt

Later on in the morning a pale sun struggled through the fog and the day turned into bright colours....

elephant fabric for back of low volume baby quilt

The fabric for the back of the quilt is from Kay in Lincoln, little elephants in bright colours... and then when the day was in full swing I noticed the camillia had opened her first ruffled hot pink flower, a small corner of brightness in the front garden and it made me feel so happy that the spring has started. 

I hope your garden is waking up too and your week is going well, thanks for dropping in,

Sue