Holding the fort

Well, life at C&B Enterprises is never predictable – or dull! Chris had done a wonderful solo turn while Barbara was quilt-hauling in the US last week, only to find that a nasty heavy cold took charge of her almost minutes before Barbara landed back in the UK. We did some urgent re-shuffling so that Barbara could take over the solo bit while the patient stuffed herself with mega strength cold remedies. The first evening class was probably not our finest two hours but everyone was very forgiving of Chris’s absence and Barbara’s jetlag – no pics from this session but we’ll try to do better on all fronts next week. Barbara managed another impromptu solo turn to cover Chris’s Sampler class at Pollyanna Patchwork today – and remembered to point the camera bit of her favourite iPod gadget at some of the work being done, and at least one of the students. .. a Grand Time was had by all, and the good news is that Chris is beginning to feel just a little bit better!

21st century

At last – we’ve done what we’ve talked about for the last far too many years – you can now pay online for our classes. Providing Chris has got it right (?!) you should be able to pay the deposits for Tittensor classes online from now on. Once we’ve had an email to say your payment has been received we will email a confirmation of your booking to you. If all the class places are sold we will take the ‘pay’ button down and mark the class as full. You can then email us to be placed on a waiting list in case we have cancellations – and they happen more often than you might think. (you see what happens when I go away … – Barbara). All we do now is wait to see if it works for us and you.

The car is packed for Nantwich. Chris is packed for Nantwich.  See you there?

Working hard …

No pics for this post but just to refute the idea that Barbara is just messing around during her brief trip to the States – she wishes to report in (from her host’s snazzy state-of-the-art Mac .. and dribbling with techie envy) that she has personally hauled 500 -yes, FIVE HUNDRED, vintage quilts of all shapes, sizes and weights out of cupboards and into heaps and then up and down a flight of stairs and then back up the stairs again.  Now five hundred quilts is roughly 200 more than a whole quilt show, so this is a considerable achievement for one pair of hands!  And excellent exercise!!  So, as soon as she works out how to get pictures downloaded onto this magnificent machine, you may get a glimpse of some of the fabulous quilts she has been hauling – or then again, the pictures may show up on Barbara’s blog when she gets home.

And there’s a cryptic message about “The Cherrywood has been ordered” which may have meaning for some readers….

Nantwich fabric sale

Its all go here at C&B Headquarters – which has moved (on a temporary basis) to Chris’s as Barbara has swanned off to the States to play with old quilts for a week. Its the grand Fabric Sale at Nantwich Civic Hall on Sunday (22nd) and C&B were supposed to be demonstrating their ‘skills’. However in the absence of the B half it will be a solo turn by the C contingent. Much muttering and sorting of fabric  (aka heaps of bits all over the floor) while Chris decides which quilt to try to work on while talking … and also which one still has some fabric left over so it can be completed, or at least continued… it is beginning to look as if more fabric may have to be purchased.

Meanwhile what is laughingly known as the ‘sitting room’ is filling up with boxes of extension leads, books for sale, brochures to hand out, display boards, finished (or almost) quilts, and all the other stuff that makes up a quilt show stand. The Sale starts at 10, finishes at 4. Entry fee is £2.50 and free after 3pm (partners and children are free all day!). Lots of parking – and the Civic Hall is well signposted (well, we’ve managed to find it each year up to now). If you live nearby(ish) its worth a trip – lots of fabric bargains, exhibitions, demos, and bacon butties.

Adding to the heaps of fabric in the sewing room are the bits and pieces for another little Ohio Star quilt for a class on machine quilting at Pollyanna Patchwork starting later this week, (really must get the borders on today instead of sitting here…)

the Blue Peters for the Sampler Quilt class at the same venue also later this week and possible fabrics plus sketches for bags for the Bag Day workshop at Tittensor next month. And we really must sort out our entry forms for the Quilt Show at Uttoxeter – they’re due in by Jan 31st.

Grow your own quilt

Well, we’ve survived the first workshop of the year – and we think the students did too, aided by copious cups of tea and coffee, not to mention chocolate biscuits and cake.

This month’s class was another ‘Grow your Own’ – a medallion-style quilt where you start with a centre and add borders until you run out of time/patience/fabric/whatever. But this time we were cruel and started with a couple of borders so everyone could (would?) have a go at Seminole technique to make a zigzag border and a diamond border. Plenty of practice using those ‘funny lines’ on the rulers.

After lunch Barbara moved on to the centre block – a Carolina Lily in a pot. At 20 inches square on point it was a reasonable size for having a first go at Y (or set-in) seams on the machine. We’d thought everyone would opt for one or other of the simple (-ish) centres we’d given as alternatives but most decided to try the Lily. Barbara’s sample-in-bits did look very splendid.

It all took time and Barbara was busy washing up cups and Chris forgot her camera (again!) so no further photos of Lily blocks, or even units, although many were stitched. We did see the start of a splendid simple centre quilt from Val -

And we all admired Jane’s Christmas present from her husband and boys -

- which she soon put to good use (though how she could bear to chop into it …??)

Finally, as everyone realised the day had disappeared and it was time to pack up, we managed to get most of the class together with some of their hard work and looking happy.

Our next class is a Bag day on Feb 11th and the Needs list is on the website. In the meantime we need to get ourselves organised for the start of Evening Classes in Stone on Jan 25th. We can still squeeze a couple more in if you’re interested; we’ll be looking at blocks with a ‘Thirties’-feel. (Another excuse for Barbara to buy repro-fabric – Chris)

How did it get to be ‘next year’ so soon?

Classes start next week! Have we done anything about this?? Well, we’ve had some high-level meetings (aka coffee and cake) and we’ve scribbled on bits of paper and fretted a lot and shuffled fabric about and even cut a few bits up and sewn them back together again. But – have to admit to a mild state of panic as to how fast this year seems to be going before we’ve even got used to the idea that it is this year. Chris has added to this mild panic by vanishing to the depths of deepest Wales for a couple of days (and very good it was too, despite the wind and rain; excellent hotel, comfy beds and wonderful food plus blazing log fires – Chris). So now it’s probably time we buckled down to some serious work – starting on Monday.

In the meantime a few photos for inspiration from Chris’s previous house (late Victorian). And before you ask – no, Chris has not made anything based on any of these (yet).

There were some really lovely fireplaces, tiles, ceiling roses and other bits and bobs in that house. Sketchbooks are filling with applique ideas, quilting designs and all sorts … But we really must sort out all the equipment for next week, and get the worksheets finished, and the Blue Peters done, and (most importantly) buy the chocolate biscuits. Head over to our website for class details and Needs Lists.

Seasons Greetings

With best wishes to all from C&B Enterprises. May you find time and space for some stitching over the coming days …

… and may your tree be full of goodies.

Hope to see some of you in classes in the New Year and we’ll be back here – maybe not with Mystery Monday, but with ‘something else’ to keep you all busy.

Mystery Monday 7 Step 13

And here we are – the final week where you get to arrange the blocks according to our Grand Plan. Download the printable version here.

First, find your blocks – you should have 4 of Block 1, 4 of Block 2 and 1 of Block 3.

Arrange your blocks with Block 3 at the centre. Barbara is arranging hers like this -

But because you have the same number of Blocks 1 and 2 you could change things around.  Which would look like this -

Once you have decided on an arrangement, simply (!?) stitch your blocks together. Add a border or two and then just layer, quilt and bind, not forgetting the all-important label of course.  It’ll be ready for Christmas!

And that’s all (for this year) folks! Have a good Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year with lots of stitching time. Mystery Monday will return – eventually, and possibly in a different format, but we’re going to take a holiday for a few months. When we started it was just going to be one mystery quilt for the summer holidays, but somehow … …

Wordless Wednesday

Just a few snapshots of tiled floors in the V&A which Chris spotted on a visit last week.

Meantime thoughts are with Barbara and her family.

Mystery Monday 7 – Step Twelve

By now we are getting very close to the end of this Mystery Project – download the printable instructions here.

This week we are making the final block, Block 3

You will need to find:-

4 Unit 2 from Step 7 at the corners

4 Flying Geese 2 from Step 5 north south east and west

1 D square from Step 1 at the centre

Assemble and join the units into strips then into the block.

Label as Block 3 and put with Blocks 1 and 2 in that safe place ready for next week.

With apologies for the poor quality of the photo and block pic but Chris is doing this week’s post and has failed to find the original jpegs so this one is copied and pasted from the pdf. Tomorrow, of course, the jpegs will emerge from their hiding place chortling happily.

(p.s. this post may or may not be posted correctly – its publication has been entrusted to Chris’s daughter, Rebecca, who is monopolising the computer into the small hours of the morning desperately trying to finish her work before 9am Monday morning, and desperately trying not to get distracted by the likes of damnyouautocorrect.com. I suspect that being given the responsibility of blog-posting is also punishment for having ‘come home to visit my mother for the weekend’ and in fact pitching up late on Saturday evening, disappearing for most of Sunday and only reappearing to sleep in her spare bed, eat her food, and incarcerate myself in her study in order to complete the weekend’s work. I have promised to be a better daughter in future…)