Chinese Curse

Isn't there a Chinese curse which says, 'May you live in interesting times'?  Well, just recently I think someone has cursed me!  We have just been on holiday for a week (lots of eating breakfast in the sunshine, wandering around in foreign cities, red wine, chilling out etc), then back to pick up the current threads of DD's wedding preparations and my parents' imminent move to Lutterworth (hooray! can't wait!).  Add to this the fact that I had agreed to do some Linus quilting at Brook House, a local care home, and had all the arrangements and fabric cutting to do for that.

 

This was the design we made blocks for.  It's Kathy Doughty's 'Fractured'.  The block is just a dark and a light rectangle joined with a sloping seam, but the arrangement of the blocks was a bit tricky - not just for the sewers, but on assembling the quilt!  I think this will be stunning once it's quilted.  Many thanks to the staff and residents of Brook House for their hospitality.

Then it was running a Linus stall at a new local show.

 

Since this was a new venture, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was lovely!  Paula and I went and manned the stall for the weekend, and Julie kindly gave us a hand on the Sunday.

 

 

Here they are sewing labels onto completed quilts.  We had a lovely time and met lots of people, old friends and new.  We were able to spread the word about Linus, offer patterns and ideas and even found ourselves as 'quilt experts' when we were asked, 'Are you the quilting ladies?' to which the only answer is 'yes!'  We gave our opinion on the merits and snags of hand and machine quilting, and it seemed to go down very well!  Fifty people took a leaflet about Linus with our contact details on, so we were very satisfied.

 

 

Here is our neighbour, Kate from p/hop.  I hadn't heard of this charity before, but they have designer knitting patterns which you can have for a donation calculated on the pennies per hour of pleasure (p/hop) you will get!  All the money goes to Medecins Sans Frontiers, an extremely worthy cause.  If you would like to see their range (from Christmas reindeer and stockings, through scarves, shawls, gloves, hats, teddies and tea cosies), click here.   Kate came up from London and gave up her whole weekend, but I think it was worth it for her, as she got plenty of donations. 

 

here is a scene in the main hall, with quilts displayed in the middle and stalls round the outside.

 

And here are people flocking in to pay for entrance and workshops.  I think the organisers were pleased with the visitor numbers and positive comments, and look forward to doing it again next year!