27/03/2009 by Anna.

After coming up to the hospital yesterday, we stayed at a sort of B&B last night (at least without the Breakfast part). So now I am sitting here, with a drip connected to my left arm, and happily blanket stitching my latest creation.  This is going to be a wall hanging related to my time at the Royal Marsden.  The hanging will have the text “Cancer will change you” in the centre and will be surrounded by words of hope and support.   These will include phrases like “Pamper yourself”, “Keep a positive mind” and “Still party like there is no tomorrow”. it will also include a few names of those that have helped me through the whole experience.It is going well, perhaps too well, since I have almost finsihed the centre piece.  I am kicking myself that I didn;t bring the ironing board and iron up to do the next stage .  This was supposed to keep me going for the whole week!! 

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25/03/2009 by Liz.

It has been some time since last writing on the blog, fortunately there is more e-mailing between the Loosethreads group. I have managed to complete two wall hangings, average 38” by 25”, the blue cockerel using up scraps of indigo fabric, that should really have been thrown away. And the Arabic Blue Camel also using fabric dyed by me.Pakistan has been difficult to adjust to with respect to shopping, food and heat. However, I came prepared, packed all of my procion dyes, fabric for dyeing, wadding, sewing machine and cottons. There has been a trip to the Lahore Fortress, a couple to Dubai, good for stocking up on essential items from shopping list that one would not care to survive without. Then there is John, my 10 year old who still is chaperoned by mum when he has football, tennis, swimming and school pick up. So between cooking meals, and recovering from avoiding near death mishaps with Lahore traffic, I have time for my patchwork. I’m now working on my next project, a fantastic perspective of Lahore Traffic circling a round-about including donkey and horse carts.

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17/03/2009 by Kevin.

Not quite sure why these are involved in patchwork but …. I have just come across my wifes stanp collection.  No these have little relation to those issued by the post office. these are ink type stamps with patterns and shapes.  I suppose I can understand why wyou would occasionally need a pattern to make a shape on some fabric.  My wife doesn’t just have a few - I would expect that there is more than a hundred, with all different shapes.  I suspect my wife is not unusual in this and it is just another aspect where patchwork enthusiasts become obsessive collectors.

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16/03/2009 by Debbie.

Village Green Quilters are organising two days of workshops with Dawn Cameron-Dick at Tythings in Yateley for more details contact Hazel Ryder Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th March. Dawn will also be speaking to Village Green Quilters on Tuesday evening at 7.30 at Hedgecroft Yateley. Check out the website linked to Loose Threads for more information.

I am looking forward to this as I haven’t done a workshop for ages. This might be the time I actually get into applique…

Debbie

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16/03/2009 by Debbie.

Hooray, today I received a piece of work from Liz our long distance member in Pakistan. The post has been very unreliable but this was sent recorded delivery. Now I have all the pieces have to figure a way to bring them all together.

Debbie

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16/03/2009 by Anna.

Dont forget the regional day on the 25 April and the work shop the following day. i have booked the saturday to here the speakers Jenni Dobson and Eliza McClelland, but not the work shop.
The competition is ” Oriental Jewels” which fits in just right with my City and Guilds piece that i have just finished! how jammy. the only thing that might not be so jammy, is that i might have to miss the whole event, as still no date for my opperation.
The Region day is held at Colden Common Community Centre, Winchester. 10-4 , share a lunch,£ 10 members and £15 non-members. Details Jenny Chalmers 01329-231790

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16/03/2009 by Anna.

just reading the Quilter this morning and noticed that the Quilts and Roses exhibition is on again this year.  Last year myself and Kevin were visiting the garden centre and came across it by luck, my luck, not Kevin’s! this year the dates are 20th and 21st June which is a saturday and sunday.

its well worth a visit, there were some great quilts last year, its at the Squires garden Centre, Bagshot Lea, Farnham. 10.30-4.30 and 5.30 on the Saturday.

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09/03/2009 by Erica.

No more finished pieces but this seems to be a time for inpiration. Is it because it is spring? Maybe this is when the ideas flow, summer and autumn I develop them and in winter I actually finish. Spring is my favourite season.

Loose Threads had a meeting on Friday, everyone could make it this time (no snow!) except Liz who is still out in Pakistan and there was a lot to discuss. Mary had been putting together our Ice challenges, and everyone brought their tree pieces. We talked through a lot of ideas and I came away feeling so inspired it was difficult to sleep. The next morning the sun came out and for me the sun always inspire a need to dye for some reason. Of course life is getting in the way and I won’t be doing any this week - family visits, other projects, other work. This morning I need to finish a row for a Row Robin quilt I am making with my other group but maybe this afternoon I can get a couple of ideas down in my sketchbook. I might also make a few more leaves - an idea I have for the Nature in Art exhibition in 2011 that will require a few hundred of them. Watch this space.

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07/03/2009 by Anna.

Just reading in my popular patchwork, an exhibition by Grenville Quilters at Grateley village hall (between Andover and Sailbury) station road, Grateley,Andover,Hampshire. Open 10am-4.00pm, Admission £1.00, free parking and trader is New threads.

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02/03/2009 by Kevin.

I earlier stated

“As an ‘outsider’ to the patch world – I am totally amazed about how the perception of patchwork is so different to the reality.  The public perception of patchworking is a woman sitting in a rocking chair, cutting up old shirts and sheets with scissors and sewing them together to eventually make a quilt.”   

In continuing this viewpoint I would like to talk about the cutting up of material. The vision of using scissors is very outdated.  Today’s patchworkers use rotary cutters (a glorified pizza cutter!) to cut up material and do so on a calibrated cutting pad - as a precision paper cutter would use.  On top of this to help make the right cut an acrylic template is used.  This help to get the precision in the sections used for patch. However don’t think it is just a single acrylic template.  Any patchworker will have a large library of these acrylic templates.  In fact the collection of these templates seems to be a standard obsession among patchworkers.

So scissors are not used? Hmm - not sure where scissors are used, but there certainly is no shortage of scissors in my house.  In something that looks more like a scene from some horror movie - scissors seem to be everywhere I look in the house.  Strangely, it seems, none of these scissors can be used for anything other than material (all 100+ of them) - so if I want to cut a piece of paper I apparently have to tear it by hand, rather than use these specialist instruments (that don’t seem to be used in any case!).

Will I ever understand this world?

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