Eccentric Crosses

I had a lovely day yesterday teaching this bag at the lovely quilt shop Tuliptree Designs at Groveland, yesterday.  I forgot to take pictures but I'm sure the students will show off their work when they have completed their bags.

I had a small experiment with doubled crosses, some people call them hash-tags!
This gave me something on which to demonstrate the quilting process. This would make a nice iPad case or small zipped pouch. I am thinking of things I might make for a sales table when I have a quilt show at the end of August.

Granny Square

This pretty block is actually a Great Granny Square as there are three rows round the centre. I found a box with ready cut 2 1/2 " squares, and of course cut some more to go with them, as you do...

I think I'll be making a few more of these, but not this week as I have to go to my daughters to take up the bridesmaids dresses as my granddaughter is getting married at the beginning of March.

More Pincushions.

I'm still enjoying making these..
There are another dozen like the blue one below, and several like the red one, waiting to be stuffed!

Eccentric Crosses

Here are the Eccentric Crosses blocks that I've been working on this week. The fabric is from the lovely shop at Groveland near Cromer, called Tuliptree Designs. and these are samples for a class I will be teaching there.
I like the blocks that are low contrast where the crosses do not show up too strongly, although you need both kinds to make a good design. Then I played with the colour combinations.

Blue backgrounds

Pink backgrounds

A bag, with linen background

A cushion.

And
 all from eight 6" strips of fabric!

Playing hooky

Here are some of the pictures I took at Catworth Church when I took a short break from teaching. Its clearly an old church site as the list of rectors attests!

1239 is the earliest name!

There are gargoyles and a small spire, and clerestory windows that flooded the interior with light.

A beautiful stained glass window above the altar with a stunning combination of reds with turquoise blue.

Stained glass above the altar

There were framed photographs on the wall of a set of textile treasures: embroidered ecclesiastical cushions, dating from the fourteenth Century, now I suppose to fragile to be on display.

The font was very plain, but the rood screen old and interesting.

Carved rood screen

700 year old embroidered cushions

Away Day

I went off to teach at Catworth Quilters away the other side of Cambridge from my nest on the Eastern edge of the country. I had a lovely day in a light and airy village hall, once the schoolroom. We made envelope blocks all morning.
Here are some of the ladies hard at work:

And some of their blocks...

and these were really tiny, starting with 2 1/2" squares instead of 5".


In the afternoon we looked at my Eccentric Crosses blocks and there were a few experimental ones made.

Stitch and Flip Bag.

I'm working on another bag, using up some of my nice Japanese fabrics. This is being stitched and quilted straight onto a piece of wadding, but not with extra stiffener. Usually I put the wadding on top of a piece of heavy cotton canvas type fabric - a cotton duck works well, but if you ask for that in Dunelm you get some strange looks, although they do sell a fabric I would call cotton Duck!!

I work across one piece of wadding but making two areas. One for the bag front and another for the bag back, and where they meet, where the side seam would be I just tuck under the edge of the strip that joins them up and machine it down. Then add strips for top and bottom. Progress so far: