Jelly roll space

Yet another busy week here at C&B Towers – finishing touches are being added to the major building works carried out earlier in the summer and our autumn teaching programme is already in full swing.   Our next Saturday class is October 12th at Tittensor when we will be sharing the fun of stitching strips together and cutting them up again for our Seminole Jelly Roll class.  The Ticket Office tells us that there are still some spaces left for this class so you could book your place over at our website and come and join us.  Samples have been made, discussed and modified, the worksheet is nearly finished and it promises to be a good day all round.

We’re amazed that this gem from 1980 (yes, really – 1980!) is still one of the main references for Seminole work –

What’s probably more amazing is that this was a brand new publication when Barbara acquired her copy, which just goes to prove how long we’ve been messing about with fabric!

Drunkards Square

A refurbished vision of loveliness – the unanimous verdict from today’s class on the familiar surroundings of Tittensor Village Hall. Lighter, brighter, the revamped room was a pleasure to work in as we tackled a new and exciting fast piecing concept. Make a simple block, add a circle, chop it up, re-arrange to suit – easy, fast and satisfying! Chris is still recovering from the heavy cold she found earlier this week, so Barbara managed to do a very basic demo and then turned everyone loose to try the concept for themselves. Here’s just a few pictures to give you a flavour of the day –

Our next class is Seminole Jelly Roll on 12th October, we need to finalise the needs list and finish the worksheet and samples – back to work!

Hit the road

It’s a seldom-publicised fact, but we do take our tandem teaching act off home territory from time to time.  On Monday the Chris & Barbara Road Show rolled into Mold to teach Free Motion Quilting to a very enthusiastic group of more than 20 ladies, and a good time was had by all.  Slight hiccup at the start – no caretaker, unable to access booked venue – every organiser’s nightmare.  Problem solved by a very organised organiser who found another hall nearby, led the convoy of cars to the new venue and had us all set up a mere 45 minutes after the published start time.   Phew!!

No surprises in how we tackled the teaching – the usual formula of worksheets, demo and discuss then guided stitching time to try everything out.  We caught several perfectionists unpicking lines of stitching and had to remind them that it’s probably better to keep going and improve by doing rather than trying to have everything perfect from the start (which is almost impossible anyway!).  And, despite the slightly later start, everyone had the opportunity to try lots of different patterns, swoops and squiggles on the scribble cloths we had provided – just a few pics because we were too busy keeping up with a roomful of keen stitchers! –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop is Tittensor Village Hall on Saturday for our Drunkards Square class – the samples are done, worksheets printed out, demo equipment collected up, just the vital kitchen supplies to marshall and we’ll be ready to go.

Saturday

Chris is spending her Saturday at The Corner Patch teaching Celtic applique followed by Block of the Month. Barbara is spending her Saturday putting various things together in readiness for our class on Monday –

and considering whether its worth the extra effort to begin tidying other areas –

The likely outcome will be additional preparation (and procrastination) for Barbara’s next class also at The Corner Patch. Topics to cover are handquilting –

maybe some needleturn applique –

and some hand piecing

Preparations and procrastination continue apace (!) for our next class at Tittensor. We like to have a small basket of fabric – fat quarters usually – available for fabric emergencies or changes of mind. We are extremely fortunate to have very accommodating quilt shops willing to provide this service for us and one of Barbara’s Friday tasks was to collect the fabric basket from ZigZags in Newport. She would have signed up for their class on how to make this

and is hoping to see what these eventually grow up to be

Our next stop is North Wales – have a good weekend!

Celtic roots

While Barbara has been soaking up the sun Chris has been busy avoiding it and getting ready for a class at The Corner Patch. This month’s Technique is Celtic Applique. Its a long time since Chris did any of this and there seem to be no examples/samples or Blue Peters about the place. Drastic news – it means Chris is going to have to make some. Probably no bad thing as at least its a chance to practice before attempting to do it in public!

As previously mentioned, Chris has recently been to the British Museum (they had a vague attempt at air conditioning, but not so’s you’d notice) and while there took the opportunity to go to see the Sutton Hoo and other Anglo Saxon (as well as Viking and Celtic) treasures. Then a trip to Hanley and a few minutes to spare meant the opportunity to pop into the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery to see the Staffordshire Hoard display (hurry – it finishes at the end of August). The fact that this museum does have air conditioning and was blissfully cool had nothing to do with the detour at all. Though one of the staff said they were thinking of asking if they could have sleep-overs – what a good idea, Chris thought, sign me up.

All this immersion in Anglo Saxon, Viking and other similar designs, not to mention a book Chris remembered she had bought a long time ago, led to a happy afternoon with paper and pencil doodling curves and scrolls and intertwining knots.

None of which was at all suitable for the class next week – bias will bend, but not that much in a confined space and the piece we’re going to make will measure only 4 x 12 inches. So out came more paper and the scissors.

And a few further doodles and rubbings out and some more considered measurements later and a suitable design was produced.

Finding fabric to make some bias strips from, and the bias bars bought a very very long time ago, then making the strips took another morning.

Finally the strips were glued and stitched (very roughly) in place to make sure the design was possible and worked in fabric.

So all that remains is to write the worksheet, make the Blue Peters, make a proper (and better) sample and then we’ll be ready for Thursday next week. And Saturday in September as well. Only the Block of the Month to do now and this month there are two blocks plus a new technique to learn. But that’s not until Saturday next week. There’ll be the whole of Friday free to prepare. And of course its the end of the month – again, already – so there’s the small matter of a magazine article to write. Just as well the garden is full of builders mending walls!

Stars, summer, etc

Lots of activity around C&B Towers this week – Barbara is preparing for something called a holiday and Chris is preparing for classes, gardening and running C&B Enterprises yet again.  Class preparation is always helped along by looking at results from previous classes, so we were delighted to have these pics of two tote bags made following our Tumbling Stars class –

 

 

and a finished block from the same class – we understand that this might not actually be a finish, more the start of something a little larger …

 

Chris is often called upon to put her EQ skills at the service of others and rather suspects there may be an imminent request for further drafting.  As part of essential holiday preparation Barbara has been spending some time with this book –

which contains many luscious quilt pics, but one in particular has caught her attention

 

and a little closer

 

Sort of a Starry Dresden Plate, which would take in Chris’s Dresden Plate work and Barbara’s hand pieced zigzag triangles and curves…  Then there are one or two pictures on the “Waiting” file with a similar theme –

 

 

So, we’ll see what happens – who knows, A Plan may be forming!  After all, planning is what we’re good at, it’s just that procrastination brings everything to a halt!

Spotted on a summery walk was this rather appropriate numberplate – we wonder if the owner has worked out the answer to the question …?

Summer’s here! ?

The ‘summer holidays’ have arrived at C&B Towers. No more C&B classes until September when we’ll be teaching Drunkard’s Square at Tittensor on the 21st and travelling to Mold to teach machine quilting on the 16th. C&B groupies will be stunned and amazed to know that the worksheet for Drunkard’s Square is well on the way. The Needs List is being tweaked even as we type and samples are being discussed. We think it could be a really good workshop (modesty gets us everywhere) – we’ve come up with a Cunning Plan which (surprise surprise) involves starting with a few squares, joining them together, cutting them apart, adding a few further elements and … end up with a block that is a Drunkard’s Path with a difference. We even have a Plan for Mold. But September is a long way off so how will we fill those empty hours? Firstly we really need to get down to planning next year’s classes. The dates are booked at Tittensor, we just have to decide what to teach, on which day and then write the brochure – and revamp the website. In between times we both have our own teaching committments – Barbara more so than Chris. So there are all those workshops to prepare for. Plus there are dozens of ‘samples’ and ‘Blue Peters’ asking to be finished.

So on Thursday while Barbara entertained visitors from afar (trips to Oxford, Stratford, Liverpool and the like on the agenda for the next few days) Chris looked at the weather –

and decided to take an inventory of ‘things that need finishing’. A fabric that ‘would do’ was found and the picnic set had a binding made and stitched on.

The Lone Star was dug out of the cupboard

More ‘will do’ fabrics were unearthed from further cupboards and a backing made. Furniture was shifted from the sitting room to make a large enough space for layering (it’s 80 inches square). Much huffing and puffing later and it has been layered and the main construction seams stitched (more or less) in the ditch. It even has a binding made – a good plan to make the binding before you are really ready for it otherwise there is a tendency to use that fabric for something else. Listen to the voice of experience!

Further things in need of finishing will have to wait while Chris recovers. The Layer Cake Scramble quilts need either stitching together or borders (or both) and then they’ll both need quilting.

A peek in the cupboard to see bags of UFOs hanging there accusingly

– trouble is, there’s more than one project in each bag. Quick, shut the door on them. The sun has peeked out. Its time to go back in the garden. There’s a bed to be dug out and a fence to finish painting.

Another lovely summer’s day!

Yes, its cold and wet and windy. So … Barbara is up in Stirling at a Quilters’ Guild event, teaching and talking. Chris is supposed to be Wandering the Web as its getting near the end of the month and deadlines are looming. There is a note somewhere of the deadline but there are a lot of notes on the calendar and its too far away to read easily right now! Some procrastination is called for (hence writing this post? – Barbara). Rain has stopped play in the garden, but at least the pots won’t need watering tonight.

Time perhaps to continue work on the charm square picnic set from yesterday’s workshop at The Corner Patch.

All we’ll need then is picnic weather!

Triangles and diamonds

Following on from our Tumbling Stars class we thought we’d show you a few photos explaining cutting 60 degree angles to get triangles and diamonds and then how to match those shapes to stitch them together.

So to begin with cutting a triangle. First cut a strip the height of the triangle. Find the 60 degree line on the ruler, line it up with one raw edge of the strip and cut your first angle. Turn the ruler around, line up the 60 degree line with one of the raw edges of the strip (it is at the bottom in this photo) and cut from (or to) the point of the triangle. Cut your way along the strip to make lots of triangles. As it is a symmetrical shape you can leave the strip folded and cut 2 or even 4 triangles at a time.

Cutting a diamond is very similar. Cut a strip the width of the diamond and make your first 60 degree angle cut in exactly the same way as for the triangle. Then measure the required length of the diamond along the strip and mark it lightly with a pencil. You can mark the length of the strip, or as many diamonds as you want to cut. And, again, its a symmetrical shape – you can leave the strip folded and cut multiples at once.

Once everything is marked, find the 60 degree line on the ruler, line it up with a raw edge on the strip and cut to each mark, keeping the ruler facing the same way this time – just slide it along the strip.

To stitch them together into rows, as we were for the Tumbling Stars block, you need to match the tip of the diamond and the tip of the triangle, leaving the seam allowances of the triangles showing half way down the diamond.

Then stitch a quarter inch seam along the appropriate side (this is the slightly tricky bit as they have a habit of turning round in your hand). The seam should end where the diamond and triangle intersect.

Finally, press the seam to one side and trim off the ‘ears’. The triangle and diamond should line up ready to be stitched to the next row.

Simple when you know how!

Tumbling Stars class

Combine 60 degree angles, diamonds, triangles and add a dash of 3D with light, medium and dark values of fabric – and you get Tumbling Stars!  Chris had spotted the possibilities in one of her many EQ doodling sessions last year and it was great fun to see all sorts of stars appear as everyone worked through her instructions.  We are all now masters of the 60 degree line on our rulers!  We also included instructions and a brief demo for hand piecing the design, and we were surprised by how many took the opportunity to try this during the day (Barbara is convinced we are seeing a massive revival in hand sewing in general, and hand piecing in particular).  Several mutterings of “could easily make a couple more and turn it into a table runner” ” maybe a bag” “maybe a shaped cushion” were overheard as we were checking and admiring progress – maybe these will show up as completed pieces at our September class ?  First of all, Chris’s sample and demo strips –

Once shapes were cut and counted and arranged it was time for some serious sewing –

We had a lot of fun exploring further options for the layout of this large hexagon –

and it was good to see some of the first set of completed blocks up on the display boards –

We’re looking forward to seeing what happens next for these blocks – it should be quite interesting!  Well done to all, an enjoyably productive day.