It isn’t unusual for ideas to come together to form a plan, but I don’t remember the inspiration for a project coming from two ideas found on the same trip.
A couple of summers ago, I went on a trip to Scampston Hall, between Malton and Scarborough. They had an embroidery exhibition of work inspired by the local landscape. There were a couple of group projects, where a picture of a suitable size had been divided up into squares, each of which had been embroidered by a different person, using whatever technique seemed appropriate. The result was a series of very different embroideries, with a variety of colours and textures, but they all worked together as parts of the picture.
On the way home, we stopped at the Stained Glass Centre near Filey for a cup of tea. In front of the tea room window was a rather splendid peacock fire screen. Now I need a fire screen. The one my Mum made when she was a teenager died a few years ago, about 30 years after Dad said the leg wouldn’t last long and couldn’t be mended again. But a stained glass screen is going to look best in front of a window, so the light can shine through.
Both these ideas were burbling round my head. Then one day I found an old book about making felt toys. It had a pattern for a peacock. A quick rummage in the stash produced some hessian that was about the right side, and some suitable colour felt. I enlarged the pattern to fit on the hessian, and made a start.
The ideas for the feathers are a little more challenging. Several ideas just haven’t worked, but here are the ones that are finished or nearly finished so far.
I reckon I am almost half way there…
This technique with salt is an idea from watercolour painting. It is often described in books with dire warnings against using it too often.
Did I mention I have a new sewing machine?
unexpected gap, or going right over what I had just done. And the final problem was that, even with my glasses on, it is difficult to be sure of the difference between some of the stitches. Indeed sometimes it turns out they are the same stitch on two vastly different scales.
So I got another bit of fabric, and worked down the menu, marking the number of the option with a Sharpie from time to time. That turned out to be a very good idea. Not only do I have an easy reference for the main options, but also I have some streamers to hang over the ugly pipes and wires in the corner of the studio. All it took was an off cut of dowelling, slotted into two cup hooks of unknown origin that are 
in the corner of the ceiling.
Which lead me to the final discovery of this project. I had been merrily using up scraps of thread, with no regard for anything on the label. Let’s face it, some didn’t actually have a label. Some of it must have had more man made fibre in than I normally buy, because it melted. I now have:
So overall, I have gained from this project. I have learned how to use my new toy. I have bitten the bullet about getting a set of samples I can follow in the future. I have recycles some left over materials into something useful. And I don’t have to feel guilty about not bothering to put the over locker away.
I have a new sink in the studio!
The first thing to say to anyone thinking of going to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC is to book online. This is the queue to pay on the door at 11am on the first day, a Thursday.
I really like double wedding ring quilts. Particularly the ones made of scraps, so there are lots and lots of fabrics involved. If you look hard at my sampler quilt, there is a double wedding ring block in there. I doubt if I will ever get round to doing more than that. I found it really difficult sorting out the fabrics. I kept thinking “Oh, there is a nice one. I haven’t got that yet.” Then a few moments later I would find I had a duplication.
The Rainbow Angel 