Post Comment Love 30 October - 1 November

Hello there, welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they may be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

The weather here in the UK has been a bit grim with the first storms of the autumn, and two coming in quick succession. Ideally I would have liked to stay home and hunker down but we weren’t able to do that as we had plans to visit family. We decided that an early start would be prudent to avoid as much traffic as possible, especially on/around the Dartford Crossing and that plan worked pretty well. We managed both journeys there and back in good time and while the weather did its thing we made the most of it.

All of which means I don’t have many photos from this week, so I’m digging into my archives and sharing a favourite Portuguese tile, as it’s not long before we head back to Porto for a few days. Hopefully the weather will be more favourable!

Have a good week.

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My Teal Flying Geese have taken off

In my last Quilty update I shared that I had finally started my Teal Flying Geese quilt, which seemed like a momentous point in time and now that I’ve roughly calculated I’m about half way through creating the blocks I felt that I should share a progress update.

Shortly after my ‘starting announcement’ in September I had eighteen sets of four geese, these in fact and I couldn’t resist laying them out to see a) what they looked like and b) how big they were and therefore how many more blocks I would need to make.

I reckoned then - and agree now - that these are about a quarter of the number of blocks I’ll need to make for the quilt I have in mind. But I also realised when I laid them out on the floor, that I wanted a funkier layout.

Something more like this.

But enough of the playing with fabric and layouts, I needed more blocks. So more blocks have been made using complementing and contrasting colours, but always with the plain teal background.

And now I have 29 of these blocks, which is just under half of what I need by my very rough calculations.

I told you they were rough, and from this you can probably work out that I’m a visual person so doing the quilt math was easier for me this way. And to me, it makes perfect sense - even the ‘geesed’ terminology!

I spent an afternoon ahead of my patchwork group session cutting the next batch of squares to turn into geese - I love how this has quickly become my ‘take to’ project for the longer patchwork afternoon sessions, and in each of our group’s recent updates my entry has been ‘making a million flying geese’ (which of course is a little exaggeration).

After that afternoon of cutting though I’ve realised that I need some more of the plain teal fabric. I’d bought what I had in two batches previously, so I’m not too worried about the colour not being exactly the same and I know that it’s still available, as it’s a fairly standard item for this fabric provider.

Now I need to guesstimate how much I’ll need. I’ve guesstimated that I have enough for approximately three quarters of my plan, but I also want to have some (but not too much) leftover for any borders so I’m quarrelling with myself about just how much I need before I place that order.

But now that I’ve seen how it is likely to look (or similar-ish) my mind is racing ahead to backing and borders.

For the backing I have some fabrics in mind. The darker brown above I picked up for £6 at my patchwork group from one of the members downsizing her stash - and I optimistically hoped there might be enough for the back of this quilt. I’m not sure there is, but as I don’t yet know what actual size the quilt will be that’s based on instinct and mentally judging the material to the size of our bed.

The darker brown is a vintage fabric and no longer available, which is a shame as it’s lovely and perfect for my quilt. The lighter more mustardy version is one I saw while at the new fabric shop in Newark recently, and while I knew the colour was different, I thought the pattern might be similar.

It’s not as similar as I thought though! But I like them both, and I like them both together, so I think with plenty more pondering they could work together - but it’d need to be in a creative way.

For the borders my mind is saying there should be a smaller flying geese border, and I think my mind could be right - but for the time being I’m not committing to that, or even giving it too much more thought as there’s plenty of other flying geese pondering to be done.

And more blocks to be made, which is my priority (for this quilt in any case!)

Reflections by Threaded Together

The Threaded Together group of quilters displayed some of their work at the Newark Quilt Show this year, and it’s interesting to see how their group came together during lockdown and how they have continued to grow and support each other; their virtual workshops developing over time into friendships. They continue to meet as a group through residential holidays, face to face catchups and online, as they started.

They say they are ‘Threaded Together by experience, inspiration and friendship’ and that’s great, but not unusual amongst crafters.

The quilts they displayed in Newark were all quite different, but all equally amazing.

STORIES OF CHILDHOOD, PHIL ADAMS

STORIES OF CHILDHOOD, PHIL ADAMS

I could have spent way longer than I did looking at this small but absolutely packed quilt titled ‘Stories of Childhood’ - it’s an eclectic celebration of vintage textiles, embroidered family heirlooms and woodblock printing combined to help the maker remember their favourite childhood tales. I loved it and there was much included that I remembered from my childhood - and the rhyme above - which I’d forgotten about until now, and I did have a chuckle to myself at the memories which came flooding back.

I did warn you that they were all quite different and this is a complete step change isn’t it? This one aims to evoke the hush that follows a celebration with scattered memories, softened emotions and the dimming glow of the once bright lights.

REFLECTIONS - AFTER THE PARTY, JACKIE GOULDING

And even if you didn’t know that, it’s a great study of colour isn’t it?

This next one is based on a photo the maker took of two ladies selling scarves and hats which uses silks and ribbons for the background as a representation of the prolific colours on that trip to Mexico.

STREET SELLERS OF SAN CRISTOBAL, ANNE FARNELL

There’s less colour in this one, but I was drawn to the skies and the poems on the cliffs. They are the cliffs at Saltdean and the quilt is a reflection on the life of a dear friend of the maker named Cliff.

CLIFF’S, JULIE KONRAD-KOSICKI

CLIFF’S, JULIE KONRAD-KOSICKI

This next quilt is a reflection on a month-long trip to India with the images based on photographs taken - it is very India, and it makes me want to go back to see and experience more of this fascinating country.

INDIAN ADVENTURES, LORRAINE ORGAN

INDIAN ADVENTURES, LORRAINE ORGAN

I’m itching to get back to my sewing machine, and the many (and ever increasing) projects I have in mind and planned, soon hopefully, soon.