Bears, sewing and mending

A quick post this time. Roberta has posted about my quilt for the Mille Colori, You can read about it here.
Although the original post is in Italian, you can have it translated for you.
It has been rather busy here with some stitching being completed on the last of my journal quilts for this year. I still have the October one to post yet, since I've been busy with some hand stitching and haven't got around to adding the back, label or the satin stitched edging. Hopefully I shall be able to get that finished later.
Oh, the mending? Yes, even my mending pile is getting a look in with a skirt that really just needs the fastening redoing and a pair of trousers which need taking in.
How is the sewing going at your end? Do let me know what you are getting up to.

Update on the Thousand Colours for Abruzzo project.

You may remember reading about this wonderful project some time ago. I was lucky enough to take part.

All we had to do was make a brightly coloured quilt suitable for young children. This was then going to be given to the young children affected by the dreadful earthquake which devastated the Abruzzo area of Italy. I was very fortunate to have a good friend, Jude, helping me with the quilting. She has a long-arm quilting machine and her kindness in quilting this for me meant that I could send the quilt off to Italy in good time.

It was really exciting to hear from Roberta the other day, and to hear that the quilts had been delivered to the children.
Please go to Roberta's Blog to read all about this amazing project and to see photographs of some of the children's faces. It sounds from Roberta's descriptions as if it was a really emotional time. Be prepared to take some time to read all of the posts, so get yourself a cup of tea (or whatever you prefer) and settle down to the full story. It is truly delightful.

I do hope that you have had a really lovely Christmas. My best wishes to you and your families.

A thousand colours for Abruzzo.

My quilt has arrived safely with Roberta in Italy! What a relief.






For more details of this wonderful project, just go to Roberta's Blog.

Knitting in public day.

Well, I knew I wouldn't be able to join in with any of the official Knitting in Public events this year. So, I did my own....................



I went to help with the Club Barbecue yesterday for the Model Flying Club where my husband is a member. Imagine this - a large field grass field. It is occasionally used by visiting light aircraft (full-size). At the side of one hedge are a series of buildings. One is the club shed. The other, a covered area. This covered area housed a home-made barbecue. This had been constructed in the shell of a large metal filing cabinet. Two barbecue firepits one above the other. Impressive.
At the front of this, a trio of gazebos (tented roof structures) to give shade. Under the gazebos the picnic tables covered by my collection of tablecloths. There was red/white tape showing the boundaries not to be crossed by anyone not directly involved with the model aircraft. In one of these was a static park for all the model aircraft due to fly that afternoon.

We arrived at around 11 am to help out with the setting up of the gazebos, chairs, tables, food preparation areas, etc. Lots to do at the start. The event was due to begin at 2pm with the "neighbours", the farmers, and other house-owners living around the area of the flying field had been invited too. It was to be a big social event. The weather was kind and the day dawned bright and cheerful.
I took a couple of project bags with me, since I could foresee quite a few hours where I would be on my own. Ian had brought four models with him and he was going to be flying those during the course of the afternoon as well as moving around meeting and greeting visitors and members. He is a member of the Club Committee.
The projects I took along were: the cardigan and two knitted tops I am currently making; a piece of applique I wanted to hand stitch around; a sketchbook and pencils; and my camera. There was also my Travellers Chuck which was also brought along in case I needed something to spread myself out on. I managed to complete the back on one of my tops - a lace piece that I am inventing as I knit.
During the afternoon I had a series of fascinating conversations with the wives of members. It was really so nice to be able to stitch along and chat. A couple of people said "ooh I wish I'd brought my knitting." Perhaps they will, next time.The nicest conversation was with an eight year old learning knitter who was fascinated by the lace. It was so nice to show her that lace is really not scary and to connect it to the stitch she had learnt. I hope she starts playing with lace for herself - I showed her the principle of knitting two stitches together and adding a yarn-over to make a deliberate hole.

I finished my Italy quilt during the week and it is now ready to be posted.

Piecing, quilting and Worcester.

Do you remember that I mentioned taking part in the quilts for the children affected by the earthquakes in Italy? Well, mine now just needs binding. Hopefully I shall be able to get that completed in the next few days.

Felix inspected it when I had finished piecing the front. I was incredibly fortunate that my friend Jude offered to quilt it for me. She has a long-arm quilting machine and is very talented, doing pantograph or custom quilting for others.

She has done a wonderful job, quilting it very simply, which was all it really needed.

Sorry the pictures have been taken on a richly patterned carpet, the cats were occupying the bed and were too comfy to want to move.

During the recent Bank Holiday, I was in Worcestor for a wonderful family gathering. We were celebrating my mother's 80th birthday in a location midway between the locations where everyone lives.



On the first morning, I was able to take these photos of reflections on the walls outside my room. They were caused by open windows a couple of floors above.

Whilst in Worcester we all (There were 17 of us! The ages ranged from 18 to 82 - mum's elder sister came too!!) went to explore the Cathedral. It is a really beautiful building. I really love this window.

The ceilings were spectacular too.

When we went there was an amazing exhibition of work which had be made as a result of an Art Project involving children from the age of 5 right up to 18.

Oooops!

I made the mistake of accompanying my younger daughter on a trip to Abakhan yesterday. I have been so good lately , not buying much fabric to add to my enormous stash. And then I go to help Rosemary get some fabric for her dress....................... I must remember not to take my purse next time.

Well, I suppose I have not been as naughty as all that, since much of the fabric will go towards making quilts for Italy. I intend to make more than one, but am not too sure whether I shall be able to achieve this. I shall do my best. There are very few pieces of bright child-like prints amidst my stash.

I couldn't resist the sock yarn. Its really soft.

My knitting has been coming along quite well. It feels slow, but then I've been busy with other projects too.

All the pieces of my summer top have been completed, now all that remains is to sew it all together and get the neckband done. I shall search amidst my collection of buttons for the placket fastening for the back. (Colours are more accurate in the photo on the right.)

I have now completed the left front for the cardigan.

The right front has been started. Hopefully I shall get the ribbing finished soon - not my favourite part. Which sounds almost silly since a lot of the rest of the cardigan will be ribbing. It will look good when it is finished.

Have you seen this?

Roberta has posted about organising quilts for the children affected by the recent dreadful earthquake in Italy.

For further details, please follow this link and send an email to Roberta.

http://www.simplyninepatch.blogspot.com/

(Just scroll down to the English version of the post.)

Thanks go to this wonderful Blog for posting about it recently:

http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/

The post is dated the 26th April.