It's been a bit of a journey, this embroidery lark. Not only have I had my preconceptions and expectations of needlework pushed and pulled every which way over the last year but now I'm forced to embrace 21st century comms! Today I'm suffering from 'to-do' list paralysis: so much to do before September term starts (including a lot on my 'personal projects' list) that I can't decide where to start. So I've done what many a needlework enthusiast does: I've got a handlful of fabrics out and am contemplating them wistfully without wishing to cut.
Today I think I will try and crack on with 'log cabin' or 'cathedral windows'. I've found a couple of websites which take you through the techniques and are useful, and I've had a look on google images and can see it's OK not to use plain fabrics for the log cabin (I believe we call this 'pushing the boundaries'!)
Here are the websites I found, for those interested:
http://alternative-windows.com/patchwork-cushion.htm
http://gourgette.wordpress.com/2009/05/11
Hi Esme. Congratulations on becoming a blogger. I like the Cathedral Window website you found, I did mine this way but I have also a sneaky technique for machining the squares which I think produces a neater finish and is less fiddly. My challenge is to produce piece of crazy patchwork that I actually like - I am inspired by this website http://www.caron-net.com/featurefiles/featmay.html
ReplyDeleteI like the website you found. I must admit I've found an unexpected liking for crazy patchwork and am tempted to try for a whole quilt... just keep telling myselg I have too many other things on!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see this blog – thanks for this, Esme. I am amused by some of the stuff on the websites – I wish I had a wonderful name like Betty Pillsbury (she must be a relative of the Dough Boy) and how I’d love to have set up a society called ‘The Society of Creative Anachronism’! I noted the quote about Crazy patchwork ‘In its time of glory, crazy work had tremendous appeal, possibly because the maker could do her work any way she chose, thus allowing for a good deal of freedom in an age that restricted women in so many other ways’. Do we feel the same way now? Discuss in 17 words.
ReplyDeleteI found this website for future use; I’ll never need to buy a book on patchwork with all these free patterns: http://www.101patchworkpatterns.com/ Then I learnt the hard way that I should write my posting in a word document and then copy and paste it into the blog response box (I kept losing the website when I was surfing the net and it cleared the text-box x times)