Sewing

The other day we went with friends to see an exhibition of historical stitching in Scotland. For example, here's a chaise longue - it hasn't been sat on much, I shouldn't think, since it's very unworn. And one can understand why!

Look at the stitching! 

This one wasn't actually stitched in Scotland, but commissioned from India for a Scottish house in the early 1700s. It's a pair of curtains. Look at the background - how long would that take, never mind the flowers? 

Here's our friend admiring the curtains. 

And here's a bedcover stitched by William Henry Kennedy Erskine's mother - his initials are at the top, hers at the bottom, with "From Mother" sewn prominently. He was born in 1828 but sadly died at the age of forty-two. 

It must have taken months and months. It's thought his wife may not have liked it, because it's more or less as new... .

And a huge 18th century bedcover, with very detailed embroidery. 

And this table cover, more like a rug (but you wouldn't want to walk on it). Doesn't the black set the colours off? 

All sewn by hands long stilled. But it's good that they've left these lovely things and that we can still appreciate them. I do sometimes reflect that when I'm long gone, some of the quilts I've made will still be around somewhere. They're much less impressive than these things, though!

 

Blowing in the wind

I recently made Big Grandson, at his request, a floor cushion, and then Biggest Granddaughter wanted one too. His cover was from a single fabric but she wanted a patchwork one with fabrics of her choosing from my stash. The first ones she choose were these red and mainly green ones. I do not like red and green together (well, apart from at Christmas) and said, "Ooh, these don't really go together." She looked at me severely.

"It's my cushion, Granny," she said. Quite right. Then she picked lots of others, with reasons every time ("I love reading so I have to have these book fabrics", "I've got to have bunnies", "Who doesn't like balloons?") and I thought, hmm. How do I make something tasteful from this lot? 

I considered putting banding between them or doing something a bit fancy and then I decided just to go for it with simple squares, to get the full effect of her chosen fabrics. And actually the combination of patterns wasn't as bad as I expected. 

The other day, we went to the museum (first time since lockdown) to see the Galloway Hoard, a large collection of items buried about 9000AD and discovered by a metal detector a few years ago, in southern Scotland. It was so interesting. 

This is one of the intricately-made brooches, but there were many others, with armlets and ingots - mainly in silver, but some in gold, both from far-off countries - buried in a silver pot made  in Central Asia possibly 300 years earlier still. They were clever and adventurous people, our ancestors. The pot was wrapped in various pieces of cloth, which has been partially preserved by being buried and is currently being analysed. So interesting to see weaving done by people over 1000 years ago. 

The most fascinating thing, of course, would be to know why the items were buried, and by whom, and why they never came back for them - and I don't suppose we'll ever know that. Was it for fear of marauding Vikings, who then duly marauded? Did some old chap bury them to keep them safe from his neighbours, and then die without mentioning the location to his family? Did they come and look and were they frustratingly unable to find them? 

Meanwhile - though flowers bloom on and it's still warm -

there are definite signs of autumn. Rose-bay-willowherb is spreading its fluffy seeds, 

while rowan berries 

and rose hips are brightening the hedgerows

and you can see why this is called thistledown. It's pretty, but don't blow near my garden, seeds. 

 

Lockdown week 6 - Wednesday

I'm struggling a bit today. I'm enjoying sewing together little strippy bits for the border of Small Grandson's quilt, but last night a friend who's a serious sewer emailed to ask if I would make face masks for... I'm not entirely sure. A GP, I think, and a piano teacher (?). My friend has a theatrical costume degree and is very skilled, and at the moment is making gowns and scrubs and scrubs bags for this GP friend, so I feel like a total heel because I really don't want to make masks. Partly because I don't feel I'd make a very good job of them, partly because I don't want to use up nice fabric on them but mainly because it seems a stupid use of my (valuable...) time, when a factory could whizz them out very quickly, while I would take a long time and, I assume, produce something that didn't work very well. However, she's guilt-tripped me into saying I'll try a few.

What I want to be doing - or at least, want as far as present circumstances allow - is making my quilts. I can't show them on the blog because my friend (the one for whom I'm making two quilts out of her deceased husband's shirts) occasionally looks at the blog and she doesn't want to see the quilts before they're finished. Currently I've got quite far through quilting the one for her, have finished the top of the one for her son and am a fair way through the top of Small Grandson's one. And it's very time-consuming (in a good way) and I want to get them all handed over and start on the next one(s). Yes, I am a bit obsessed. But I love planning the colours and the design (well, pinching the design from some picture or other and then altering it a bit). Quite seriously, it comforts me and has kept my spirits up over the last few years, when there have been lots of good things but also much sadness of various kinds - just the normal ones that come into most people's lives.

Anyway, shouldn't moan. I'll have a go tomorrow. (My other problem is that I'm on to my last reel of thread and have no elastic; but I imagine Mr Google could sort me out.)

Mr L spent quite a long time this morning wrestling with a computer problem so neither of us felt at our cheeriest. We just went for a walk on Carrick Knowe golf course, which is fairly flat and easy. It's bonny, though, with the cherry trees and open spaces.

You can see that the prevailing wind is from the west. It looks here as if the golf course just gives on to the hills behind, but sadly there's a lot of suburb in between.

According to a friend on Facebook, the golf courses are about to be opened again to golfers. Oh woe! This seems very sensible, actually, since how much could you get infected in such open spaces? But oh dear, how we'll miss our lovely walks on them.

The former Jenners Depository, though not my favourite building, has someone working in it who plants flowers: tulips in the spring and what looks like mixed annuals in the summer. Very colourful and to be applauded.

I've just looked it up and it's a listed building, about 90 years old, and was designed "so that horses and carts could move around". Does that mean inside, I wonder? It's unusual to have bare red brick in Scotland - that's much more an English style, though I can think of one or two other big public buildings like this, one a (now demolished) power station and the other a college, now flats.

Ah well, tomorrow is another day (starting in five minutes) and maybe I'll feel more positive then.

Let's just ignore what's happening in the world...

And so life meanders on. We walked along to the art gallery, fortified ourselves with coffee and admired the verbena in the garden there. I do like verbena - the way it sways in the wind - but haven't yet managed to get it to survive in my garden.

Then we walked home along the river.

It's not an exciting life; but who wants excitement?

The garden still shows lots of colour, though there's so much to cut down now that autumn's here. Why did I make my small garden so labour-intensive?

Sedum is always reliable.

and this clematis flowers bravely on,

as do my many fuchsias. I love fuchsias.

On Tuesday, we went up to visit the Unbloggables. Here's bearded Son with his daughter on his back and his son on the mat in front of him. Middle Granddaughter is a dear little thing and greets us with cuddles and enthusiasm. Small Grandson is very cute.

Daughter 2 and I took the Edinburgh grandchildren to the Botanics on a lovely day.

And Littlest Granddaughter became two - TWO! - and I cobbled together a quilt for her doll's new pushchair. 

I'm still using some patches of that flag fabric that you gave me when encouraging me to start quilting, Anna!

And now I must get back to piecing the cot quilt for Daughter 2's best friend's new baby. See what you started, Anna... (How did I make that beach hut patch so crooked?)

Sewing wonky items

Littlest Granddaughter likes putting things over her wrist (and round her neck - such as electrical cables) so I decided to make her a tiny little lined tote bag to carry around on her wrist. And here it is. I post it not because it's a miracle of craftswomanship - which it certainly isn't - but just because I'm surprised at my (slightly wonky) achievement. I did use to make things when I was younger - not clothes (much) but loose covers for the odd chair, drawstring bags for nursery shoes and so on. And I do make curtains and cushion covers, though haven't done this much in recent years. But I'd sort of forgotten that I used to like doing such things. Quilting has reminded me and it's down to Thimbleanna, who exerted gentle but firm persuasion to get me started on that - thank you, Anna!

And of course Mr Google helps a lot nowadays.

As usual, we had the Edinburgh grandchildren this afternoon.

As usual, they were very busy.

We're so lucky. They're now seven and five - years which have gone in a flash. In the same time again, they'll be fourteen and twelve and getting all grown up. I need to get in lots of cuddles before they're too sophisticated to want to come to Granny's on their school half-day!

Snow days

Well, here's the thing: it's been snowing. We don't get very much snow, or any kind of extreme weather, in Edinburgh, so it comes as a big surprise to us all and things grind to a halt. This is the main road this morning, looking west...

and here it is looking east. The buses have been cancelled, the schools are closed and we're all being urged to stay at home. So, more or less, we have been doing so.

This was our street this morning - the footprints are now all filled in. There's no way we can get the car up that hill and it's the only way out.

And this was looking out of the window behind my sink this afternoon.

It's been all right for us retired folk, especially those of us with triangles to sew. I'm less stir-crazy than I'd have thought, though I do like to get out for a walk. But it's hard work, wading through deep snow. I did go to the local shop for fruit and other essentials but otherwise it's been quite pleasant, just battening down the hatches and lying low.

Well, not lying exactly. Sitting at the sewing machine and battling with fabric. The quilt top is now finished (sorry it looks so crumpled there. I should have made more effort to straighten it out). My triangles aren't all perfect but hey ho, they're good enough.

Now I'm off to organise the wadding and pin it all to the back and then at last I can spend several months quilting it. By the time I'm finished, it'll be summer and Biggest Granddaughter will have no need of a quilt but no doubt winter will roll around again shortly. Time passes so fast these days that often, when I'm undressing for bed, I feel it was hardly worth putting my clothes on that morning. But somehow making something, eg a quilt, seems to give one something to show for the passing of time. And I do love playing with fabric.

Flowery dress

When Daughter 1 went to nursery at the age of 3 in 1982, parents had to supply a painting overall. I considered making one but then came across this brown one and bought it instead. Then I felt a bit guilty that it was such a boring colour, so I appliqued a dolly on the back.

I got the scraps of fabric from my mother-in-law, who was a wonderful seamstress and had made a dress for Daughter 1 out of the flowery material.


Fast forward to this afternoon. The grandchildren were here and wanted to paint, so I fished out the elderly painting overall to put on Granddaughter-the-Elder.

After this, we had some stories. I was reading this book (published 2010,  highly recommended) to the children.

And then I noticed Lola's dress.

I'd love to know how Lauren Child came to have this fabric.  And does anyone else recognise it?