Well, she was a thorough seamstress, the lady who made this quilt. The sewing machine set on a tiny tight stitch which is a devil to unpick AND then a zigzag stitch outside of that to stop fraying. Sigh. Unpicking the single row of squares is going to take me a while, but will be worth it. As you can see, I had a little helper . . .
I have been sat here this past half an hour, listening to an excellent podcast about St Kilda, from the diaries of a Vicar's wife (though there is another name for them up in Scotland). She was the schoolteacher. Very interesting. I was surprised at the number of tourist visitors they had back in 1906. The women folk seemed to do ALL the heavy work, in fact pretty well ALL the work whilst their menfolk fished, caught birds (esp. Gannets) and would you believe, made pretty dresses for their wives, whilst sat on the doorstep (bet they had Piles!) The women folk didn't sew but spun wool and knitted stockings which they sold to the tourists. It is a place I have always wanted to visit, after learning about it on my degree course. I think the midges are something fearful though!I am babysitting today whilst Tam and Jon have a day out in Hereford (it's his birthday) and so Rosie and I will have fun here. I am making the most of my quiet start by unpicking the row on the quilt.
When she has her nap I will clean up the tea caddy. I'm looking forward to that. I shall enjoy this cooler weather before the next heatwave arrives . . .
What a nice photo of the cat in the quilt. Your patience amazes me, I’m so impatient 😉
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day with Rosie.
Alison in Devon x
Rosie and I had a lovely day, but she wouldn't have her nap, so by the time we got her to bed, was beyond herself with tiredness. I had to leave Tam to it as she wanted granny cuddles, then mummy cuddles, and wanted to sleep on the floor not on the bed. In the end Tam said, ok then, you sleep down there, and having "won", Rosie capitulated and went on the bed. Then we finally ate our takeaway curry, at nearly 9 p.m.!
DeleteMy patience quite amazed me too, as I am NOT a patient person . I worked on it in dribs and drabs in the day and now have the 21 blocks unpicked to replace the central "hole" and will pin the long edges back together today.
Cats do love to help don't they. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou will have to have a lot of patience to unpick all those carefully done seams.
Pippi "helped" me again yesterday afternoon, when she disappeared inside the quilt. I plodded on with it. Worth it, as sewn up I can sell it.
DeleteMy gardening plans were mostly thwarted by the rain. I managed to get the plants in, and cut back the hollyhock which was taking over, although I left the stems with flowerbuds, also tidied up the Fatsia. Had to rescue the washing which ended up in the dryer and Miss Sheva came home thoroughly soaked. We had a trip to the tip with all the garden rubbish. Tomorrow we are off to Iris's school concert - she is playing the piano. 2 hours of sitting on a too small hard chair! Xx
ReplyDeleteIt rained hard here yesterday, on and off, but worse in Herefordshire, as Tam and Jon reported torrential rain and then hailstones, but fortunately it had left off by the time they got to Hereford.
DeleteMiss Sheva must have been a good way away to get so wet. I need to book a Trip Tip for tomorrow - haven't been able to recently because of permanently packing to go to a Fair!
Oh gosh, two hours on a hard chair. You have my sympathies. I can still recall the torture of ALL DAY (from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) Local Schools Eistedfodds in Carmarthen, with up to 40 children murdering the same song or piece on a violin! I can remember one English mother flouncing out once with her 4 year old, saying it was child torture!
The podcast spunds fascinating!
ReplyDeleteI think of myself as a patient methodical sewer but picking out those tiny wtitches would do me in. Lovely soft colors tho, worththe effort. Is it to keep or sell? I'm assuming you ll want it quilted?
Hope your day w Rosie was wonderful!
It will be sold, although I have considered gifting it to Danny and Emma as a housewarming present when they move into the house they are buying. Will I quilt it - probably not. WIll just "tie" it with buttons.
DeleteA full-on day with Rosie, who has a LOT more energy than me!
I'm intrigued that quilters and stitchers on your side of the pond refer to 'unstitching' something as 'unpicking.' Its kind of like someone here saying they 'unthawed' an item from the freezer! Removing stitches we'd be more apt to say 'I picked out the stitches, I'm picking out stitches, or--referring to a seam ripper, I ripped out those stiches. Thimble has 'helped' me put together quilt blocks the past few evenings--its like having someone Rosie's age to mind!
ReplyDeleteYup, always unpicking. Unstitching sounds . . . odd! Aren't we funny, with our expressions. Pants to us are knickers, and what the heck is a faucet? A tap I assume :)
DeleteQuilt unpicked. Now I have to try to "fill" the hole in the centre and keep everything even. TIps greatly appreciated.
I have a severe aversion to unpicking, ever since I offered to replace a double ended zip in my Mum's rather expensive jacket/posh anorak. Zip was not easy to find, the right length, right colour etc. Found one in Swansea. THEN the unpicking commenced . . . zip was secured {and I mean SECURED} to the top placket with TWO rows of top stitching and then another row to the coat itself. Followed by another row for each of the following, holding the facing, lining, wadding, and another sort of interfacing. How many rows is that {all about 38" long} then multiply by two {one set for each side of said zip} and at the end of about four days I was climbing the walls . . . and bleeding from my fingertips . . .
ReplyDeleteOh lordy - yes, expensive and beautifully made - that zip wouldn't shift in a hurry!! You must have been tearing your hair out at the end of that.
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