Variations

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Patterns are all around. As soon as I start doodling one I begin to notice it everywhere, like variations around a common theme.

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In fabric designs,

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Crochet

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rubbish bins up-scaled to bed-side-tables,

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ceramic vases,

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baby blankets,

even our garden table. Soon it will end up in stitches on my Art Quilter frame.

like an easel

 Art quilts are so liberating! There is no precise template so I can do whatever I like. For this 'little ship' project I used my Art Quilter frame just like an easel.  I loaded the 4 foot frame with some left over fleece which serves as the wadding and backing and two shades of blue fabric joined horizontally to create sea and sky. This was my 'canvas'.

 First, I created some texture using this # 807 Seashell from the  Rainbows Range of Superior Threads. We call this one of the magic threads as it has so many uses.

Here it serves perfectly as both waves and clouds.

Then I glued the pieces of the little ship directly onto the textured canvas...

The raw edge appliqué technique makes this a simple 'cut and paste job.

 
 This Appliglue is ideal, it dries soft and clear and can be sewn over.

With the ship in place, I changed the thread to a red So Fine and stitched the details,

 ...adding window panes and bunting flags. I'll probably add some buttons later but I was pleased with how quick and fun this Dunkirk 'little ship' project came together.

Here it is unpinned from the leaders and laid across the frame. As soon as the frame tension was off the clouds puffed up nicely. My little ship was completed in much less time than it took to blog about!

Dunkirk Little Ships

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I loved seeing some of the Dunkirk Little Ships in the Flotilla. 39 of the original 700 'little ships' participated in the Queen's Jubilee celebration.

The Little ships of Dunkirk were 700 private boats that sailed from Ramsgate in England to Dunkirk in France between the 26th of May and the 4th of June 1940. They rescued more than 338,000 British and French soldiers who were trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk during WW2. The rescue operation turned a military disaster into a beacon of hope and inspired one of Winston Churchill's most famous speeches.

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender ..."

Dunkirk Evacuation

Considering?

Dreaming about buying a machine quilting frame? Our Line Dancing DVDs are a great way to see the New English Quilter frames in action. The DVDs feature JUKI sewing machines on New English Quilter frames using Superior Threads. The Line Dancing DVDs showcase just what happens when you put them all together. It's a bit like having a demo in the comfort of  your home. Then if you're interested in finding our more you can ring for a chat or book a demonstration.

We save all our machine quilting practice pieces, cut out the fun bits and use them for machine quilting samples. We give the samples away at shows and slip one inside each DVD just before we post it. Quilters are such tactile people we think that you will appreciate holding in your hand a piece of the action.

The DVDs are easy to purchase via PayPal. We ship our DVDs and frames all over the world! This one's heading off to Catherine in Georgia, USA. We hope she likes the sample of Emily's stitching.

Concerts Grand and Quaint

Katria and Emily with a guy in a wild hat

Emily was in London for the Jubilee Concert. 

There were over 500,000 people in the streets around Buckingham Palace, and filling the parks, for the Jubilee Concert. In the run up to the concert, it started to rain ever so slightly - and suddenly it was a sea of umbrellas! Luckily though, the rain stopped for the duration of the concert, which was beautiful, and it ended with an amazing firework display! All in all, in the four minutes there were over 5000 flashes!

 Jubilee Concert finale fireworks

The rest of our family enjoyed the local village concert  which was just a bit smaller!

the Timberland Chapel band

The village Chapel Band entertained us for the first half then the older kids performed some popular music.

Rosie, Ellie and Georgie with Sam on drums

Ellie sang and Rosie played the keyboard to an Adell 'mash up'.

Ellie singing

Jerry our Postmaster cut the cake.

Then it was out for a jaunt across the moonlit fields to light the beacon.

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The Jubilee Flotilla

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The Queen's Jubilee celebrations were brilliant last weekend. We went to a village barn dance and came home to watch some online clips of the Flotilla. Just marvellous!  1000 boats of all sorts cruising down the Thames in the pouring rain to the cheers and riotous good will of the very wet onlookers along the banks. It seemed to capture so much of what I love about the British, putting on a grand show and making the best of all weather.

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The variety of boats were amazing. My favourites were the historical boats, especially the little ships of Dunkirk. Here they are going under Blackfriar's Bridge, a bridge that Emily crosses to get to her lectures at King's College.The artist's rendition below forgot to include the downpour.

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Emma Bridgewater, a rather fitting name wouldn't you say,  captured the day in her lovely mug. I love the little bunting scallop running round the inside of the top.   I was inspired to create a textile tribute to the Dunkirk Little Boats. Watch this space...

Banksy Bunting

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Just found this Banksy Bunting wall art and had to post it.I love Banksy and this was just perfect.

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Still the same look after all this time!

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Baby Bunting

It's the start of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations and there's bunting everywhere, including my front door.  I've been using scraps for Veta's Bunting Quilt to make some bunting cards.

I cut tiny bunting flags with the rotary cutter.

A dab of Pritt Stick glue to hold the fabric flags in place.

I threaded my JUKI Exceed with some black thread and stitched the flags in place.

It took minutes

and turned out really cute.

With the left over flags I decided to make a tiny bunting garland.

I just sewed across the tiny flags, lifted the needle and gave the thread a pull just like you do when you're strip piecing.

I haven't decided where to put it yet but I like the way something similar is draped across this mirror.

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Happy Jubilee everyone! 
Have fun celebrating!