#DSTTchallenge revealed...

I am not sure why I have been slacking on this reveal, I am normally rather quick off the mark to toot my own trumpet!  Sorry.

So back at the beginning of the month when I read about the Dear Stella/Timeless Treasures 'modern traditional' challenge, I had one idea in mind, an old fashioned block in modern fabrics, (I can see you all nodding off already!), but I just couldn't get enthused about that.

I went back to basics; in fact I went back to the V&A collection of quilts (online) that had got me so excited about fabrics and sewing and all the things that I now obsess over; I trawled for something to get me going, and one quilt immediately did that...

This was made between 1740 and 1800 and look how modern it looks; it was love at first sight!  None of those brown basket type blocks I immediately think of as traditional.

I decided to recreate this in my DS/TT fabrics along with the quilting, which you can see a bit clearer if you look at the link.  Rotary cut, machine sewn, and purely decorative, a far cry from the original, but using only stash fabrics, I have, I hope, combined the best of what both eras have to offer.

So I cut and randomly stitched rather a lot of tiny pieces from 1.25" strips, using some of my Dear Stella Hadley fabrics, (what else!?), half a dozen different Sketch prints, some How to Make A Pillowcase text and more.

To me, the current love of low volume, text prints and pops of colour is not a long way from what was being sewn in the 18th century!

As per the rules, this quilt is entirely made of Dear Stella and Timeless Treasures fabrics and measures up at 20" square...

... and I even used an almost brown Hadley print for the backing as a further nod to the traditional roots of this mini-quilt...

This was entirely pieced and quilted in Aurifil (50wt 2021), another icon of the modern age of quilting.

I took a batch of photos to try and show off the quilt and the quilting as best as I could...

... and then I had fun with the garden centre models...

I really enjoyed researching and making this, which after all is what it is all about; yep the prizes are amazing, but I think I veered off at such a tangent that I can kiss those goodbye!

This mini-quilt really makes me happy in a way that piecing a non-brown basket block ever could; I call that a success!

I hope you have enjoyed my little foray into trying to be a little bit more meaningful in my stitching, but don't worry, I won't do it too often xxx

Away!

Dear husband and I managed only our second night away from the children, together, last weekend.  I would love to say that we cannot bear to be away from them, but truth is, we just can't bring ourselves to foist them on my parents en masse more frequently than every 3 years!

So having dropped them off, we were on the train to London at 10am and just after 11 hubby was installed in a man-seat whilst I was stroking selecting Liberty in Shaukat!

I was very restrained...

That's a 1/2m of the pinky-red needle-cord, 3 x quarter meter cuts and a couple of smaller pieces.  Probably going to make another bag from the needle-cord, but no real plans so far!

We then went to the V&A, nipped round the Club to Catwalk exhibition, and had a spot of lunch.  Then there was the shop; I love that shop!

I bought a full meter of the fabric that got me into this here game of quilting and hoarding in the first place!

When we last/first went away for the night sans kids, on my 40th birthday, I went round the Quilts at the V&A exhibition, and have never looked back.  I bought my first few FQs there and then, and have not been able to bring myself to use them; so when I saw the meter cut, it was in my basket quick as.

A little washi tape and a re-cycled bracelet had to come home too; they matched, what else could I do?

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the shops, trying to avoid American Football fans who had taken over Regent's Street, and not buying anything in Liberty!

After an early evening meal, we went to see The Book of Mormon.  Follow the link if you want to know more, but honestly, it will not be to a lot of peoples' taste; although Prince Harry went to see it last night, so it can't be as rude, crude, blasphemous and shocking as some may think, eh?  I thought it was fantastic, and a have a frog to prove it!

After a night in the fancy Radisson Edwardian Hampshire, we strolled around town, there was more shopping, and this winter I will be sporting these...

But most excitedly, I will be wearing this little beauty...

I have been holding out for the real thing for so long, and thanks to my wonderful husband I now have one.  I am a very happy lady!

All too soon it was back to reality though, home with the kids, school bags and lunch boxes; but you know I wouldn't have it any other way.