Ruby's Button Tin

Quilt's gradually growing, flat's looking a mess (sigh ...)

Very slowly this quilt is making progress.  But we're talking sloooowly ...

I'm pooped by this heat and by work being busy, plus I've got noisy neighbours moved into the flat upstairs who seem to think playing loud music at 5.00am is acceptable.  Consequently I'm in a lethargic phase.  I am managing to do the odd bit of typing up, adapting and reworking a couple of short stories that I want to enter into writing comps, and also weeding and watering the allotment.  A few weeks ago the grass between plots was long and lushly green, now it's scrubby and yellowing.  Still, M&S have got their autumn fashion in store so the heatwave will break before long I'm sure. 

I keep making resolutions to do up my flat, but judging by the state of my dining table I'm not making much progess, am I?

 Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to leave a comment lately.  I really do appreciate them and I will try - really try - to blog a bit more than once in a blue moon.  Meanwhile I'm going back to my sewing and to watching one of the films I've just bought in Fopp - the original version of 'The Producers' or maybe a young and ridiculously handsome Orson Welles in 'The Stranger' - subtitled 'The most deceitful man a woman ever loved!'  With a line like that, how could I resist it?
  

Not at Liberty quilt in the making ...

My 'Not at Liberty' quilt is making steady progress, and I've completed a few blocks now.  I'm searching through my fabric stash for material that resembles Liberty print, and also was a bit naughty and splurged on new fabric yesterday.  But it's so pretty and so Liberty-esque.  At £3.67 a metre it was also a bargain. 

 The blocks I've made are mainly quite soft colours, so I'm not sure how the red one is going to fit into the finished design. 

Another view of them:

The edges on the horizontal and vertical lines of the Union Jacks are deliberately not turned under, and they're already fraying a little, but I'm happy with that.  I like quilts that look worn, and anyway I'm going to quilt the blocks with rectangles over the centres of them when I'm assembling the whole thing so I think it'll be pretty hard wearing.  I think sometimes with patchwork we get too fixated on producing something that's technically perfect and forget that some of our favourite quilts from past decades/centuries are the ones with the wonky seams and make do & mend attitude.  The ones where the fabric was just what was available rather than specially bought.  At least those were always the ones I gravitated towards! 
 
 

Almost Liberty ...

One of the quilts I loved at the V&A's major patchwork & quilting exhibition this year was this Liberty Jack quilt, made of gorgeous tana lawn. 

I wanted to have a go at my own version, but frankly can't afford to buy Liberty fabric.  But I've got lots of small floral prints which could (if you squint a bit) look Liberty-ish, and I made my first flag block today. 

I decided it would drive me nuts to hem all the pieces, so I'm stitching them into place, frayed edges and all.  I'm not sure how big this quilt will end up, might be more baby quilt than bed size, but I'm planning on sewing several blocks over the next few days. 

  

Quilts exhibition at V&A

I thought it was about time I wrote about the Quilts exhibition at the V&A which I went to almost a week ago.  It was a really good, well put together show, and packed with virtually all women - mainly ladies 'of a certain age'!  The quilts that held most peoples interest weren't the modern ones - like Tracey Emin's bed or the Grayson Perry quilt.  Rather they were the traditional ones, and in particular the apliqued ones which really showed up the character of the maker. 

Of the ones I particularly admired - loved this by Natasha Kerr, entitled 'At the End of the Day'.  The colours appeal to me, as does the use of a family photograph along with fabric which shows signs of wear & tear, making you think about the 'life' it had before it was incorporated in this textile piece. 

I adore this 'Liberty Jack' quilt by Janey Forgan.

The colours, the mix of prints, the lovely striped binding (which you can't see in this picture).  The message behind the design is about having a symbol - the Union Jack - that's inclusive, incorporates many people from different backgrounds and ethnic groups, all coming together and merging into a whole. 

This is a quilt by prisoners in Wandsworth gaol, who worked with a charity called Fine Cell Work.  The charity sounds odd at first - teaching quilting to male prisoners? - but it seems to work.  They take pride in what they make, the sewing is relaxing, passes the time, gives them something to concentrate on and a sense of achievement.  Work is sold and the prisoners get a percentage of the money raised so they can pass much needed money on to their families.  There was a video about the making of the quilt and I found it really moving to see these men in crampt, Victorian cells concentrating on their needlework. 

 Finally, this is one of the quilts that everyone seemed to admire.  Made by Ann West in approx 1820.  The applique is fab, the animals charming, and you need to actually see it in person to appreciate the size of the quilt and the immense amount of work and imagination that went into it.  Superb stuff.

The exhibition's on for a while longer, and it's £10 to enter.  Plus the V&A shop has lots of quilt themed goodies on sale.  I could've spent a fortune, but I resisted and just splurged on postcards. 
  

Crazy Quilt

How's this for eye candy?  A crazy quilt by Victoriene Parsons Mitchell (1829-1916).  So beautiful. 

Reading and sewing and avoiding the rain ...

Saturday was a rainy day, so I did my chores (grocery shopping, laundry etc) and then settled down to a pile of hexagons and a a couple of metres of new spriggy cotton (no!  Not another addition to the overflowing fabric stash ... the guilt!!) 

I'm basically sewing lots of already-assembled hexagon rossettes together along with a cream plain fabric to add some patches of restful colour for the eye to settle on.  Apart from that, I'm re-reading Willa Cather's 'My Antoina' which I must've read at least twenty years ago.  It's such a beautiful, lyrical evocation of prairie life among the new settlers in the US, and the prose is an absolute joy.  This Dover Thrift addition is a pleasing book too - the typeface, the cover and size of the book all add to the experience of reading it.  Something you wouldn't get with those new fangled reading thingies - Kindlers, is that what they're called?  

Sunday is going to be spent going to Mass and doing some cleaning & hoovering, then listing things on ebay as it's a free listing day and I'm trying to de-clutter the place.  So, hopefully, it's be a productive day all in all.   

Hexagons and a messy desk

Sunday's rolled around again, and another working week beckons.  It's nearly October, and would you believe the shops are already full of Christmas decorations.  Even mince pies in the supermarket!  It's ridiculous.  An advert for a furniture company is appearing on telly offering to deliver by Christmas.  Err ... hello!  Halloween's not even gone yet, so why the heck wouldn't you be able to deliver by Christmas!!!  Talk about wishing the year away, I think retailers ought to get a grip.  Oh well, on to less blood-pressure-raising matters ... a little gentle hand sewing is called for.

This is a quilt that's (very) slowly making progress.  I unearthed it from the chaotic fabric piles around my desk. 

Hmm, needs a tidy-up.  

Tidying-up can wait.  Cleaning should always come second to crafting, don't you think?