SewWitty’s Bachelor’s Puzzle
This is 1/4 of my Bachelor’s Puzzle block. I did this in two pieces and then joined them, which means the finished block will have 8 pieces – I might be getting a bit carried away.
I have one more block to go to make 12, but I haven’t got one in mind yet.
Filed under Digitizing, Machine Embroidery, Patchwork
Sewwitty’s Almondine Sock
I finished a sock!
This is the Almondine Sock from Sock Knitting Masterclass – the pattern was quite easy to memorise and I (mostly) got it right. The yarn is Madelinetosh sock in Jade. It was lovely to work with – definitely recommend it.
Now, I just need to get the second sock finished.
Filed under Knitting, Sock Knitting
SewWitty’s Pinwheel block
What it looks like when there is four of them.
This is my latest digitised block, a Pinwheel. I used paint to show you what it would like if there was four of them.
I need two more blocks to make 12 – I’m considering a Bachelor’s Puzzle, Water Wheel and New York Star – although I might think of another block before the end.
Filed under Digitizing, Foundation Blocks, Machine Embroidery, Patchwork
SewWitty’s Golden Wedding Ring Block
This is another block that is only 1/4 of the final block. Check out a whole one here. It came together quite easily – I’m starting to feel more confident using Embird. As you can see in the image, I had a bit of difficulty cutting my pieces big enough, but this is just a practice run to determine whether my digitised design is OK.
I think I now have eight blocks: Log Cabin, Pineapple, Flying Geese, Courthouse Steps, Snail Trail, Iowa Star, Golden Wedding Ring, Hour Glass. My plan was to make 12 blocks for my sampler quilt, so only four more to go. Although at some stage I changed my template, so I need to double check the earlier blocks.
Filed under Digitizing, Foundation Blocks, Quilting
Quilts 1700-2010 Hidden Histories, Untold Stories
I know I have written about this book before, but I have finally finished reading it. This book is a textile lover’s dream – the illustrations are beautiful and it is full of fascinating information. It is not the type of book to read all at once, but just dip into every now and then (even to just look at the pictures and be awed by the skill, patience and dedication of the maker).
The book consists of four chapters; Making and using quilts in eighteenth century Britain, Complexity and context:nineteenth century British quilts, Maintaining the craft:British quilt-making 1900-45 and Negotiating space:fabric and the feminine 1945-2010.
Here are some of my favourites …
Unfinished Patchwork of Silks, c 1860-70
Pieced Wool, c 1863-77
‘Sanderson Star’ quilt in cotton sateens, c 1910-1920
Sara Impey, ‘Punctuation’. Machine stitched Silk, c 2009
Janey Forgan, ‘Liberty Jack’, c 2008
Coverlet, patchwork of printed cottons, c 1803-1805
As I love liberty fabrics, Liberty Jack is probably my favourite, but Sara Impey’s Punctuation is brilliant to, and then the amount of work involved in the earlier quilts is mind-boggling.
Filed under Book Review, Patchwork, Quilting
Iowa Star
The above block is 1/4 of an Iowa Star. You need to imagine 4 of them exactly the same, but rotated to make a square in the middle – like this
Iowa Star from Quilters Cache
I digitised the block using Embird Studio and it came together quickly. I did cut some of the fabric pieces a little too small, but this block was just a test to see how well I had digitised the design.
Filed under Digitizing, Foundation Blocks, Patchwork
Women’s Work The First 20 000 Years – Elizabeth Wayland Barber
I heard about this book on Ravelry and then found a copy here. It was fascinating – I am tempted to start weaving except for the space and time commitment. I watched a few you tube clips and it takes a long time to set up the warp threads (I already have too many projects on the go).
Here is the blurb …
New discoveries about the textile arts reveal women’s unexpectedly influential role in ancient societies.
Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing the first clothing created from spun fibers. In fact, right up to the Industrial Revolution the fiber arts were an enormous economic force, belonging primarily to women.
Despite the great toil required in making cloth and clothing, most books on ancient history and economics have no information on them. Much of this gap results from the extreme perishability of what women produced, but it seems clear that until now descriptions of prehistoric and early historic cultures have omitted virtually half the picture.
Elizabeth Wayland Barber has drawn from data gathered by the most sophisticated new archaeological methods—methods she herself helped to fashion. In a “brilliantly original book” (Katha Pollitt, Washington Post Book World), she argues that women were a powerful economic force in the ancient world, with their own industry: fabric.
This book was interesting; from the invention of string (who knew string was so amazing), weaving, the economics of weaving (and more particularly who controls the produce), different types of looms (and how local conditions affected their design), and why textile production was considered ‘women’s work’ in the first place. While being scholarly, this book was still easy to read and if you’re interested in textiles, women’s history or social history this is the book for you.
Other reviews …
http://quiltingfortherestofus.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/book-review-womens-work-first-20000.html
Filed under Book Review
