Well so much for the fun foray into all things digital and technological! Despite best laid plans the podcast never made it to air this Saturday! We were just all so busy having fun! It would have seemed churlish to interrupt the flow of creative ideas!
One of our regulars decided to cut out yet another project! We're going to have to check what she is doing with all of these cut-outs! This time she was using an actual pattern not a much loved item from her wardrobe! She utilises a delightful technique of placing plates upside down on her pattern to keep it in place on her fabric rather than pinning. It is certainly much quicker but I don't trust myself to be able to cut out the patterns without the pieces moving! Maybe I just need sharper scissors! Looking forward to how these pieces come together!
I was delighted when a newcomer announced she had been following our progress all year on our blog! (It makes one feel a bit warm and fuzzy to know that folk are following our progress and I'm not just talking to myself in blogland!! Please feel free to add your thoughts so we know you are there!) Finally the stars aligned and she was able to join us in person not just spirit! A couple of trips to the car and the sewing machine, overlocker and associated accessories were in place ready for action! As our tables are a great size and on castors so that they can be placed in the best lighting, they are ideal for for cutting out and sewing up projects. There's plenty of room to have the sewing machine and overlocker out ready for action. For a self-confessed beginner she produced a delightful little skirt for some lucky little girl.
Our crotchet expert continued to work on squares which are destined for a quilt for some charity organisation - I've forgotten the details - will try to write them down next time! It's a great way to share one's skills with others who are not having such a great life experience at present! Apparently this social sewer is interested in crazy quilting too. One of the library books on this topic could help stir the creative pot!
Our 'FOML expert in all things fabric', thought she'd get some time to work on her digital scrapbook as her deadline for this project is fast approaching! However.... our regular cross-stitcher decided to walk on the wild side and buy a beginners????? quilt project kit. She has always had a yen to try a quilt and somewhat naively thought a kit might a good starting point! For someone who has sewn most of her life this was a foray into a surprisingly completely alien world! Thank heavens for our 'FOML expert in all things fabric'!
The kit was rather full of surprises! The fabric was not cut into the required pieces! The instructions for cutting the pieces was written in 'quiltese'! Shock! Horror! Quilts are worked in imperial measurements - such things as inches, quarter inches, eighths of inches - not a decimal in sight! The list of necessities that were not included in the kit was a source of dismay. 'FOML expert in all things fabric' now morphs into 'knight in shining armour' and makes mercy dash home to her quilt factory and brings back such necessities as an iron, a cutting board, a cutting wheel, a tape measure to mention a few.
'FOML expert in all things fabric' now translates the 'beginner' quilt instructions. Cross-stitcher now quite cross-eyed and completely beyond working in imperial measurements! Quite dismayed to learn that quilting requires precision! Cross-stitcher now needing to channel Peter Brock's advice - 'always bite off more than you can chew and then chew like mad!' Eventually after some therapeutic ironing and some origami style folding by 'FOML expert quilter', cross-stitcher calmed and set on track to start cutting six-inch squares the quilter's way - a seriously sharp wheel not scissors! Apprentice quilter now applying much grunt and carefully cutting first strips and then squares. Concentrating....concentrating... oops! loss of mental application and off the cutting wheel skews! Now definitely not a square! 'FOML expert in all things fabric' now 'expert in all things psychological'! Apparently this is not the end of the world and there is still the definite possibility of a quilt at the end of these squares, not-so-squares and strips!
OMG! It's past 4 o'clock! Do we really have to pack up?
Certainly looking forward to the next instalment in what appears to be the beginning of a quilt-making saga! It was so much fun to be part of such productive and creative socialising on Saturday! If you'd like to join us - we meet next at Gordon White Library Community Meeting Room at 1pm on Saturday 26 July. Just bring your project along or bring your library card and borrow some of the great craft resources to get you started.
I might just borrow a couple of 'Handmade' magazines just to keep the inspiration flowing!
Make the most of this amazing weather and keep on stitching!
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