Quilting is the new black

It has only taken 3 years, but finally, I have my very own work station. The obvious question, 'why didn't you do this sooner?' from David, really wasn't helpful!


But, I really dont know what took me so long. All that was required was a £50 table and mini set of drawers from Ikea. At work I am as pro-active as they come. On the journey home it all seems to wash away.

Now that I have a work station of power, as it has to be referred, there is no stopping me. Well, you would think after 3 years of, 'I wish i had my sewing machine handy', I would be bursting with ideas. Wrong. My mind was a blank. That was until I went to see my friend Clare, currently in week 22 of her pregnancy to her first child. I had been telling Clare I was thinking of starting to make quilts and she kindly passed on to me some fabrics she had left over from some art projects she did at Uni.


Clare is my oldest friend. We studied at are college together, both 16. We have both gone in very different directions and never seem to be in the same part of the country at the same time, but have remained friends. I was proud to be asked to be her bridesmaid last year at her wedding. It was a beautiful, intimate ceremony on the SS Great Britain, a memorable night.

So, with my 'Clare fabric' safely returned to scotland, I got quilting. Project no.1, quilt for baby Shortcook.

I am more like the male species when it comes to 'not reading the manual' and am a practical /hands on learner, so I decided to just give it a go and see what happened. I did ok. I am lucky that I inherited my Mums patience for all things crafty. I can spend 8 hours making a beaded tree or 12 hours cutting out a lino. But, for some reason, when it comes to following Ikea instructions to put a bloomin' bookcase together, I always seem to get something wrong and fall into a huff proclaiming it must be broken and David must fix it immediately. Luckily he finds my inability to put furniture together endearing.


After creating my first piece of quilting I realised there was more to this quilting malarky than I first suspected. Techniques and processes I would never have figured out on my own. So I admitted defeat and starting researching on the lovely world wide web. Luckily quilters are outrageously prolific in their postings on the net. I signed up to a website that has sent me approximately 300 emails a day on the subject ever since. Possibly a slight exaggeration, but not by much. Penny from How to Quilt appears to be intent on making me a master quilter by christmas. I think she probably lives in a quilted house she loves it so much. It is a running theme with quilters I have found on the internet, a hint of bonkers in all of them, or just american, who knows. 


Some pics of what I have done so far

I cannot proceed at present as I have to get some invisible thread to bind the back and the front.  


I can though, get working on Neirin and Huwyls bedroom door signs which will be equally satisfying.