Down my street.

First of all, here is my finished 'Bathers' quilt.  I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out.  It is A3 sized and a little brighter than this photo shows.

Of course, it was only after I'd put some guide lines for the quilting on to it with water erasable pen that I remembered that my hand dyed fabrics wouldn't necessarily be colour fast - oops!

I'm happy to say that I have given it a light spray and it seems to be fine.  Perhaps it's just the cerise based fabrics challenging me!

Aren't these lovely?

Shamelessly using the lovely, simple pattern from Janet Clare's Home Quilt Home book, last night some friends and I enjoyed a kitchen table crafting night.

As one guest commented, more Balamory* than understated chic (I got  to choose the colours of the felt provided) we all had fun making these little houses.

I'm so lucky to have friends who will indulge me by coming round to join in with small crafting projects - my life is richer for the friendship that all of them offer me.  Thanks, girls!

This week I've also been lucky enough to go to my quilt group where Liz Trenow, author of 'The Last Seamstress' was giving a talk.  She was an entertaining speaker and I was interested to learn 1) that the last silk weavers in the UK are still based in Sudbury, 2) some of the constraints of producing parachute silk (relevant to her first novel) and 3) that her next book is called 'The Poppy Factory' - so has some local interest to me, as it's just five minutes away in Richmond.  I haven't visited it, but DD1 went there on a school trip and was fascinated by it.  I enjoyed The Last Seamstress (which is a story based around a quilt - you can download the pattern from her website) so have ordered the other two books too for some more 'easy reading' for the summer.

Finally, the outcome from last week's giveaway.  The randomiser chose number 3 - so congratulations to Gill - I'll be in touch to get your snail mail address.  Thank you to those who played along!

I hope that you are planning a week of sewing or crafting.  I'm hoping to finish my next Bather's based quilt - very different from the first one, but the same size.

* Balamory was a children's TV series, shown on CBeebies that my DD's used to enjoy.  It was shot in Tobamory on the Isle of Mull where there are some brightly coloured buildings, and used technical wizardry to colour some other buildings too.