Just because I haven't been blogging for the past year, doesn't mean I've stopped with the making things. I'm sure any blogger can relate to the tale of woe: life just gets in the way after a while. I'm a college lecturer and when school is in session, it often interferes with of all the things that I'd rather be doing.
That's the thing with being a teacher. Everyone always laments the fact that I get summers off, but they don't realize how many hours you cram in when you're in session. You need those breaks to be human! So you could call this my summer vacation quilt since I started it last summer during my break to the soundtrack of Animal Collective and Ben Gibbard/ Jay Farrar's Big Sur tribute album. I only just finished it this week by adding the outer border during this year's summer vacay to this summer's tunes from some old favorites: Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues and Gillian Welch's Harrow and the Harvest. And how happy am I to finish a quilt top! My very first one!
The pattern is based on one by
Piece O' Cake Designs that I saw in American Patchwork & Quilting when I was visiting my Mama on a trip back to the US last spring. Don't you absolutely love their work? If I could only be that good at applique! The design was called Vintage with a Twist and the banner on the magazine screamed out No Rules! No Rulers! and I thought... that sounds pretty good to me!
I didn't actually use the pattern inside, I just sort of eye-balled it. I probably should have followed instructions for my first quilt top, but hey, it said no rules! The fabric is from a layer cake by Moda which I can't remember the name of other than it was designed by Mary Engelbreit. A quick google search says it was Basket of Flowers. What DID we do before google, eh?
I decided to applique with felt for a couple of reasons. First, no rules! Remember? Second, it was what I had on hand - for some reason I never seem to buy solid fabrics! Finally, it was pretty easy to work with for a first timer, and I have to confess that I cheated by using fusible web instead of properly appliqueing the birds and the trees. I'm still learning, give me a break! I think the results are great! No rules!
Geno says he feels sorry for the little birds. Why are they so sad? What are they worrying about? I really didn't intend to make worried birds when I embroidered their eyes on, but this is how they turned out!
Leave it to Bisbee to supervise my photography session. Did you notice he was peeking over the wall in the photos above?
It's not perfect, but it's my first quilt top and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! Now for the quilting! I'm going to attempt to do this by hand. Did I mention that my sewing machine has only one speed - light speed! It's American and I haven't bothered to get a voltage converter, so it only goes on super speed. That's why I'm sticking to hand quilting... wish me luck! No rules!
We took a little trip to the Smallholding at Tufton to check out an event they put on with the Hampshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers called Crafty Ways with Wool.
As a knitter, I haven't always given so much thought to where my yarn comes from. It's almost as abstract a concept as my dinner coming from the farm to my fork. It really opened my eyes to a whole new world of textiles and it was fascinating to see how a fleece can become yarn. 
From fleece to swatch.
From fleece to swatch.
Some of the sheep on the farm.
In case you needed to know your shetlands a bit better!
