Patchwork done! Quilting next.....

Wow, three years ago I started a big project, a super king patchwork quilt!

Well last week I stitched the last square, so that is the first part done.

To make the quilt wide enough (to hide all my rubbish under the bed!), I edged both sides with two rows of plain squares - rather than squares made up of three rectangles - quicker that way.

Second part is to now to attach the wading and the backing, But I think I will wait till the summer, as its a large beast and none of my rooms are big enough to spreed it out flat in.  

So I think the garden will be my best option

Really pleased how it has turned out, but now thinking plain curtains would be better......

a taste of the Great Gatsby!

The Tapestry is closed over the winter (except for Thursdays) 

so I have time to crack on with other projects like my quilt.

Last winter I took on the volunteer role of
costume curator at The Folk and Costume Museum

It has so interesting, I have been like a small child in a sweety shop,
we really have some amazing pieces in the collection going back to the 1750's. 

Think my favorite so far is a pair of nubuck coachman's breaches from Government House.
The nubuck feels more like shammy leather, he would have been wearing them while

 sitting on top of the Coach and we all know what a shammy feels like when wet!!!!  

 But dry, they feel amazing, the problem it is their feel that makes them so special, 

so I have know idea how we will ever put them on display?

But this year the Museum is celebrating its 50th Anniversary,
 so our theme is Celebration. 

Upstairs we have a large display of evening/party dresses and a small display of wedding dresses.

But its down stairs I am most excited about,
entering the room is like entering The Great Gatsby

We are doing the 1920's, the ultimate celebration decade,

 the Bright Young Things partied and celebrated life after the horrors of World War 1. 

So I just wanted to show you some snippets of the amazing pieces on display, 

to see everything, you need to come to the Museum!
They re-open for the season on March 20th.

The twenties have a powerful draw for us all,
I think its because it really is the first decade we can look at
and think 'yes I would wear that today'  ten years 
before that you definitely could not say that!

When you look at the fashions from 1910 and then look at the 

dresses in the exhibition it really is one the most monumental jumps we have in fashion history, 

from massive hats, s-bend corsets and hobble skirts

 to calf length sack dress, bobbed hair and bras!!!!! 

I do hope all this brocade, feathers, lace, gold and beading temps you.

and I hope you enjoy it as much as Christian, Arne and I have enjoyed putting it together.

Amazing what you can find in the attics of a small island!

Its a snow day!!!!

 Because of the amount of salt in our air we don't get snow very often, but when we do we get very excited, over react abit, and generally panic and behave like kids!!!!

 this was the gorgeous apricoty sky this morning, that says more snow is coming...

....and yes by lunch time its gone all fluffy!

Hope you are all enjoying the white stuff, stay safe and warm xxx

True Granny knots

I didnt know my Granny very well, sadly she died when I was about 6, 

but I think we would have got on very well.  

You see she was a dress-maker, that talent totally skipped my Mum, 

she couldn't sew to save her life, draw yes, sew no.  I remember her hemming my jeans with staples!  

So I think Granny and I would have got on very well. 

By the time I appeared (a bit of an oops moment for Mum and Dad ;-)), 

she was rather elderly and not quite with it,

 but the other day I re found a dress she had made for my older sister when she was little.

 

Its a stunning gingham dress, the attention to detail is brilliant, 

from the little tucks down the bodice, to the run of French Knots round the waist

And when you look really closely it is all hand stitched, everything....

.....you then take into account the amazing band of embroidery going round the skirt 

and the time it must have taken is a true expression of love.

Even more so when I think she made a matching one for Serena's doll, 

which sadly now has gone walk about. I will treasure this.

 Its an important link to another woman I wish I had known as an adult.

I wimped out of lace.....

Last Autumn I spotted this gorgeous yarn in Creaseys, it's lace weight and I have some friends who are very good lace knitters.  So I thought, I am sure I can do it, how hard can it be????

Well it turns out its very hard, especially when you are the sort of knitter who wants to 

knit in front of the fire and not really think about what you are doing....

So I gave up and went back to what I know, stocking stitch and a cowl.

Its deliciously fine and was very therapeutic to knit.  Then I spotted another colour, a glorious plummy pink that went beautifully with the bluey purple, and I couldn't resist.

The plan was to do it half and half.  

But once I started on the pink I quickly realized it would be ridiculously long, too long. 

So the pink has become a highlighting edge.

I am really pleased how it has turned out and have worn it lots so far, 

but I do have loads of the pink left...

...so soon I will have a pair of pink wrist warmers to go with it!