Nan's Quilt

This quilt has certainly been a labour of love - it was started back in 1988!   After Nan died, I asked if I could have some of her old dresses and nighties.  At the time, Mum was making a patchwork quilt and I really fancied having a go at a major project.   Nan was very tall and quite a large lady and also had a wooden leg, so all her frocks had acres of fabric in them to cover this up while she sat in her chair.  I think also that Mum made all Nan's dresses as she was quite an awkward shape to cover!  

Had I known what an undertaking it was going to be, I'm not sure I'd have started!   First of all I had to cut all the hexagon templates out of card - old index cards that came from Carfax, Sheila's company.   I had hundreds of them!   Then cutting up all the fabric to fit the hexagons - in the end I actually had to buy two dresses from charity shops - but in the same style as Nan's dresses so they'd fit in. 

Here I am wearing them!!

This is in my old flat down in Hastings - note the already started quilt hanging on the room divider.

Until the very end when I could start quilting on the sewing machine, everything was hand stitched.   The reason it took 31 years (31 years!) is that the whole thing was so overwhelming.  Not to mention that I kept moving around with my job (20 house moves in 20 years is my calculation), so I was never always sure where the quilt was anyway.   I'm fairly sure it spent a long time languishing in garages and lofts until I could finally reclaim it when I moved into this house ten years ago.  Although it's remained in my loft for eight years here until I could finally summon up the energy and enthusiasm to crack on with it.

Once ready for quilting, it was a simple case of straight line stitching on the machine in horizontal and vertical lines, using the hexagon edges for guidance.  It really wasn't any more technical than that!

This is it covering my sofa - it's enormous and STILL not finished here!

I really hadn't factored in the size of it - I felt I was almost wrestling it to try and get it through the sewing machine.  I'm never making such a large quilt again!

But, it's finished.   It still needs cleaning - the dry cleaners I took it to were very nervous of cleaning it as some of these fabrics are over fifty years old and it's clearly very fragile.  My plan is to sew it into a duvet cover to protect it and wash it in the washing machine on a very low temperature at the most delicate setting.

Once that's done, then I've still got to work out how to hang it on my living room wall!  Once that's done, there'll be another blog post, but I'm not holding my breath!

Other People's Gardens - April 2019

I'm so lucky to have such an array of gardens to work in and so many diverse tasks - I could never get bored!

I love working in this garden - it's in the middle of nowhere and, if I'm lucky enough to be there on a Sunday morning, the church bells next door are ringing and it's beautiful.  In this bottom photo, there are actually two children in the cat flap!   These two keep me endlessly entertained while I work!

These photos don't do this justice but I'm trying to help get the lawn back up to scratch.  I've been sowing seeds directly in the soil, but also in seed trays to take with me to transplant into the garden.  

The rockery is looking stunning - I used one of the wooden stakes that I chopped from the back of the garden to stake up the small rose and it looks fab.   Really happy with how this is turning out.

I would kill for strawberry and raspberry beds like these!  (Since these photos were taken, the family have built fruit cages over the canes and it just looks amazing.)

In the meantime, I've been digging out the other veg beds, which have since also got cages over them now, ready for the sowing of the Heritage seeds.

When working in this garden, I always have company from the chickens (and sometimes the family dog too!) - but I know it's only because they're desperate to come out and start pecking at the earth I've been busy clearing.

So lucky to have all this diversity and especially loving being outside now the weather is warming up nicely!

Seeds and Stuff - April 2019

I'm always really surprised when the tulips pop up each year - I'm not sure if I'm supposed to lift and dry them and store them for the next year, but that seems such a faff to me!   What is always a surprise is that they come up in my veg bags, because I forget that I plant my tomatoes, courgettes and spuds in the same bags to maximise space.  

I did finally get around to starting off some seeds but all that has come up so far is the hollyhocks and a few beetroot.  (Coincidentally, I've put them outside today as it's so much warmer and I'm hoping that the sun will inspire everything else I've sown - larkspur, morning glory, lavender, tomatoes, courgettes and lettuce - to start showing too.)

The Cercis siliquastrum has been flowering for weeks now - so pretty - and, from a distance, could almost be mistaken for wisteria.   Gorgeous.

The garden is looking very lush indeed.