Blue bird

A tiny friend of ours will be 2 next week. I made her this applique wall-hanging for her bedroom last year for her first birthday. It is made from treasured scraps of fabric from my studio.



I wanted to incorporate lots of colours to help her learn every one of them. Each of the birds represents a person in her family - this red bird is R (her mum) because the dad loves a certain football team whose colour is red (he is the blue bird on the top right).



Baby G is in the middle of the picture, surrounded by her parents and her cats. She is made up of the red fabric of her mum and the tiny checks of her dad. She is wearing a crown (actually a vintage gold filigree button).



This is the reverse side of the panel where I have put my family - Mr and Mrs Bitsbox and our two cats (one of our cats is flying off to the clouds on the top right-hand corner). (Apologies for the quality of this picture but it was a dark day in my studio last June - and I was in a hurry to catch the post!)

Happy birthday G!

Purple hibiscus

Hurray for a dry and sunny day! This is my much-forcasted purple and green retro quilt. The purple striped backing came from a little charity shop in Leek.



This photo shows the binding before it has been sewn down to make the edge.

To make the binding, sew together fabric strips of around 10 cm width to make a huge strip long enough to go around the edge of your quilt. Then fold it in half lengthways and iron it, making sure the sewn edges all lie flat going in the same direction. Then, as you can see here, the binding has to be sewn down, laying together the cut edges of the quilt and the binding. Fold the binding over and sew onto the back using invisible stitching.



Making and attaching the binding is one of my favourite parts of the process as you can really start to see the finished product. It also brings all the colours of the quilt together as it's a good idea to use all the left over bits from the quilt top (very thrifty). As you make the binding, you really start to see the design that started off as a picture in your head.

However, quilts rarely turn out exactly as you imagined so there's plenty of opportunity for new ideas as you go along. Quite often you end up spending a lot of time solving problems like colour balancing - often the colour you see in your head is different to the real thing so it's important to lay out all the squares or strips before you start sewing. This helps you to see the whole picture - the wood for the trees.

This quilt is big enough to cover a double bed; I've made it to put in a craft fair I will be taking part in at the beginning of August (details to follow shortly). I have used a light padding inside so that it isn't too heavy to manoeuvre or too bulky to store - the sort of comforting quilt you need when you're off work with the flu (or have decided to watch Wimbledon all afternoon!).

This purple hibiscus fabric is genuine retro 1970s print - a lucky find last week before meditation on Tuesday (two large cotton sheets and two pillow cases). The finish of the cotton is wonderful, with that softness of age that you only get with genuine retro finds.

Quilting in nature

It's another rainy and dull day in Cheshire so I'm digging into my archive for sunny photos of quilts that I have made previously. I did try to take some photos of the new purple and green retro fabrics quilt but they are too dark (usually I like to just fling my quilts over a bush or a cast iron seat a la Fassett but it was just too wet outside yesterday and today is no better).

So instead, here's a show of how I use my own nature photography to inspire my fabric work. I took these photos in a wild flower meadow in Connemara just 2 weeks ago on a beautiful sunny morning with the sound of bird song all around. The natural beauty of the place is unparalleled and has inspired artists since time began.

One of the things I noticed in particular was the amount of land that is left to self seed all year round and looks completely untouched by humankind. There are lots of natural hedgerows of the type we used to see in England up to the time when large-scale farming turned the patchwork of small fields into large swathes of fluorescent yellow rape seed.

I have used a mix of co-ordinating shades of creamy yellow in this quilt; choice of fabric depends very much on my mood, the weather, the light, the time of year and what the fabric seems to suggest to me. Sometimes a mix of contrasting colours appeals; I love the green background for this wild yellow iris below - it makes the sunny yellow sing out strongly.

There's also a strong palette of shapes here which are very suggestive for textures of fabric - big spiky blades, thin rapier-like bullrush stalks, a swishy horsetail plant.



Whatever colours you use, I like to let the eye rest occasionally so I've used large panels of plain pale green and yellow for the backing of this quilt. You never know what will appeal to someone else - some people like the backing side of the quilt to display on top of the bed as you can see the stitching more clearly and that's the bit that they like - the clear sign that it is handmade.

I have used a very neutral cream cotton to quilt this one, but for my latest purple and green one, I have chosen a selection of singing greens and Palma Violet purples. Hope to show you tomorrow . . .

Retail therapy

Some much-needed colour on a rainy dull day like today. These little silk-covered books came from a lovely shop in Leeds called Within Reason - here's a picture:

It's a great shop for browsing (new stuff not vintage but with a retro style) - lots of lovely things for the home, and jewellery and Indian print scarves.

A vintage shop in Sheffield - packed full of big-print flowery dresses in acid yellows, blancmange pinks and sorbet oranges; corduroy jackets with leather elbow patches like my old geography teacher used to wear; vintage leather goods including bags and boots; and a million silvery tops and shivery skirts. Brilliant for a Saturday morning browse, and the prices are really good too. Lots of Margo style hats!

A bit further up the road from the vintage shop - the owner had this mural painted, presumably to get in before the graffiti artists.

A nice place for lunch. It's great to see old buildings being re-used in imaginative ways rather than left to go to rack and ruin.

I promise quilt pictures soon - hopefully I'll be able to take some today if the weather brightens up (I prefer to use natural lighting as much as possible for my photos). I'm just finishing off the edges to my new quilt - it's very retro in 1960s purples and greens can you believe?

Retro swirls

I made this handy shopping bag and sold it an hour after I'd made it - I think that's my personal record! It was literally hot off the press so I quickly took some pictures before it flowed out of my life and into someone else's life. You could still feel the energy within it as it buzzed off into its new life!

A quick snap in the garden before she gets wrapped up in hot pink tissue paper. The fabric is a really good tough canvas as I knew that this bag is going to have to carry heavy A4 files of notes and medical text books between car and college. It's got a vintage feel but with a modern twist.

This one also waltzed straight out of the door - to a party in Wilmslow, Cheshire. It's a cute knitted evening bag with shaggy tails and fluffy purple mohair stripes. The vintage button that decorates it was from a vintage button shop I came across at a vintage theatrical show in Chester. I suppose it's a bit Goth this bag.

Here's the back of the bag - for some reason I felt like giving it a fluffy bunny tail. Don't ask me why! Maybe just to offset the Goth feel with a little silly motif.

I have started making a new quilt from vintage fabrics but the weather is too dull today to take pictures so hopefully I'll have something for you on the theme of quilts tomorrow.

Lovely frontage missus . . .

There are some lovely shops in Galway City, Regis being one of them. Wouldn't you just love to walk in that open door right now? Such beautiful swingy summer silk dresses and bags to match. The window dresser has really made the most of this small space with a colour co-ordinated display in breezy blues.



As if by complete contrast, this vintage shop in Roundstone village, Connemara, has the most cluttered display ever - but I think it works because vintage can look really appealing when it's all piled up. This shop had an astonishing range of Americana with lots of 1950s prom dresses and early American designers. This ancient child's poodle is wearing one of those sixties faux fur bonnets with bobbles that tie under the chin - it really made me laugh so just had to bring you a picture of it.



This hotel is in Westport, Connemara - what a wonderful colour!



A typical Irish bar in Westport. Picture postcard perfect.

There are some gorgeous shop and bar frontages in Galway but it's difficult to get a good picture without a car in front. However, in terms of the environment, the Irish are way ahead of us in terms of plastic carrier bag use - they are not routinely handed out at check-outs and people tend to have their own canvas bags or just carry stuff out in their hands.

Have a good weekend!

The black stuff

A useful storage system for giant thimbles.

The fishermen of Cleggan, Connemara, have been practising their quilt knots.

And their sewing techniques.

A useful casting off point.

I've also been reading in the Connemara book about the evidence for a dye industry in 17th century Ireland. As well as the indigo dye from dogwhelks described in yesterday's blog, there is also evidence of black dye being made from the stuff extracted from the bottom of the bog-holes of the peaty landscape. This was widely used until a few generations back; it gives a dull black colour to the wool until the application of oak chips which produced a more glossy jet black finish.*

An industrial sized embroidery ring (but it has lost its inner circle with which to trap the fabric).

*Data from Tim Robinson's book Connemara (2007).

Indigo days

A few days later and the tide has turned and re-turned in Claddaghduff Bay, Connemara. The knitting which was left out on the beach by the busy giantess has been revealed. It's in a bit of a state and I doubt it can be rescued!

The sea has also washed up this little fella. When I walked onto the beach one bright morning last week, my heart skipped a beat to see what looked like a skull lying there at the far edge of the sand; but it's actually a wooden post that's been worn down by countless lashings of the waves. What a relief not to have to call David Caruso!

This seaweed looks like very finely woven filaments of silk.

The giant in the next village is dyeing a large quantity of wool in this deep dye bath. Looks like he's using a compote of various mountain mosses to produce an army fatigue green for his wool.

A rich purple colour was very rare and there is archaeological evidence in Connemara that it was being extracted from a particular type of whelk called the dogwhelk (until recently it was known as Purpura lapillus). A gland in the whelk produces pigment similar to indigo, and this was also exploited by the Phoenicians in the 15th century where it was literally worth its weight in gold (it took about 25,000 shellfish to produce one-tenth of an ounce of dyestuff).*

Some spun wool waiting to go into the dye bath.

*Data from Tim Robinson's book Connemara (2007).

Frilled rills

Lest we forget, these are the little guys who provide our most beloved wool for us. These two were hoofing about in the remains of a deserted village on Achill Island, one of the most westerly points you can get in Ireland; if you look out to sea, the next thing is New York.

The age of these ancient deserted stone houses has not been finally determined and there were student archaeologists there excavating the site when we visited. One thing they do know is that the houses were being re-used in the 1930s by the women of the villages in the valley for 'booleying'. This term refers to the practice of taking the sheep up to the hills for summer grazing.

According to Tim Robinson in his book on Connemara, dried heather would be collected to make a huge bed in one of the bigger huts where women and children would sleep in groups. Each person would have their own linen sheet to wrap themselves up in on the sweet smelling heather - can't you just smell it? Songs would be sung and simple food shared.

Sounds idyllic but there would also have been very harsh living conditions for the original 12th century women of the mountain village. They would have been responsible for looking after the sheep and for providing and mending all the clothing for the whole family, amongst many other tasks.

When you are up there walking by the rills frilled with bullrushes and purple-headed clover, and the sphagnum moss glistening with underground water, perhaps you can hear a distant voice calling in the sheep. You can certainly feel the same sun on your face and smell the same wildflowers as they did long ago.

The giantess who lost her knitting

Have just had some wonderful sunny days in the western reaches of County Mayo and Connemara in Ireland. Kept coming across the lost or abandoned knitting of the local giants and giantesses. This pile has some enormous stitch counters lost in it.



For the tidier ones amongst them, there's this handy place to keep all their knitting and crochet needles tidy (or perhaps it's just the radio antennae of a small fishing boat in Cleggan, Connemara . . .). Must mention the best place to eat there - Oliver's Restaurant - where they make the most wonderful crab sandwiches, served expertly with a cold pint of Guinness. Heaven after a walk in the fields of gold!



Dear oh dear, she has got her yarn into a right old tangle . . .

Now this machine looks handy for making giant's socks.

Bit of a cat's cradle going on here . . .

Maybe she was too busy scooping great handfuls out of the hilly crags to remember where she's put her knitting bag down; or got carried away moulding boulders and dropping them around the feet of the Twelve Pins mountain range of Connemara. Either way it's clear she's had a very busy day shaping the local landscape and with weary bones thought 'Sod this for a game of happy horses! I'm off home!', and left her knitting out all night! Disaster strikes - it's been buried on the beach in an overnight flurry of sand and sea.

Indian summer

I bought this vintage Indian wedding jacket in a little antique shop in Hay on Wye (sadly no longer there; the lady in the shop, who had been there for 25 years, had decided to retire to the South of France - lucky thing!).

The gold embroidery thread has faded to this beautiful rough old gold which has a tingly texture when you stroke your finger along it. The jacket is also festooned with fake pearls and sequins; and I love the hot pink against the azure blue silk - not an obvious combination but a really successful one.



Textiles are great used as decoration in the home - my jacket is hanging in an open chimney breast in the guest room and people always notice it and want to touch it.



An early morning photo of my latest bag (finished last night) - these poppies are actually a vibrant orangey-red but the light was a little weak first thing. I've used an authentic vintage fabric acquired in a theatrical sale - as with all real vintage, the fabric has the soft patina of age and use, and a slightly faded quality which only adds to its charm and uniqueness. The bag is also padded - good for carrying a laptop.



I also made this slightly narrower bag last week from new fabric which I think is meant to decorate upholstery but not sure I'd like to sit on a vast expanse of it - it might gobble me up in its thorny grasp! However, in small amounts it makes a real statement. The flowers and stems are raised velvet pile from the solid heavy linen base . . .

. . . with a special vintage button to decorate.

I have been caught up in various DIY projects around the house this week and I will be taking a break from this blog - I will definitely be back with more fabric fun, stylish vintage stash and of course billions of bags on Monday 18th June. Hope you can hold on til then. Have a good two weeks!