Taa-Daa: Memory Quilt

At last! I'm sorry it's taken me such a long time to reveal my surprise project - it's proved a rather tricky thing to photograph. Either there has been too much sun casting big shadows all over the quilt's ripples, or not enough. I've been ill and had paid work and, even though I managed to complete the thing well enough for Dom's birthday deadline, it was somewhat held together with bondaweb. It took me a good 10 ten days afterwards to finish off all the hand stitching. Note to self: In future estimate the amount of time something will take, then double it.

However, voila, here it is. I give you - <trumpets> THE MEMORY QUILT! </trumpets>

Let me start by staying that my husband is resolutely difficult to buy for. He likes his bees, making home brew and hot women, given half a chance. However, since the last one has been out of the question since marrying me (sorry, Dom!) that leaves the other two, both of which have been well catered for at every other birthday, Christmas etc. My parents tend to give Dom some money as a gift, or buy him gardening tools / vouchers. He is very happy with this arrangement. His family normally give him money, which he likes too - and normally spends on beekeeping equipment.

I tried - I really did - to save enough money to take him to Rome for his 40th. However, no matter where I put the money, Dom found it and moved it back to be used for more important things. I even told him what I was doing, in sheer desperation, and all he could say was "but I don't want anything for my birthday." Yeah, right. This was his 40th, and I was not stupid enough to fall for that one, even if it would have served him right.

So I took a long, cold look at myself. My husband, the man I love, was turning 40 and I wanted to mark the occasion. What could I do? I don't have much spare money, that's for sure. Besides which, he'd decided that he wanted a lathe and everyone in the family was chipping in. That was all very practical, but what could I do? To coin a very cheesy management phrase, how could I add value?

 

I could bake a cake, but I had done that every year since we'd met. It wasn't special enough. We couldn't really afford to go away for the weekend, especially as we'd commited to going away with friends for a night a couple of weeks afterwards - this had been arranged since Christmas. Eventually I took a long look at my studio full of fabric and yarn, and decided it needed to be something hand made.

The problem with my husband though, gorgeous as he is, is that he's not in the least bit sentimental. And he's already had a Little Picasso cushion, and various other things I sell on Folksy: such is the lot of a spouse whose partner needs to refine her ideas. He actively cringes at most soppy things. What could I make that was sentimental, but not overly so, resource cheap, but could be time heavy?

At the same time, we were having a completely different conversation. Charlie had finally grown out of his cot bed, and he went into a big, single bed. It was a very exciting time for him, but a little sad for me. It was with great sadness that I packed away his cot, not likely to be used by us again, and all his cot bedding.

Then - TA DAAA! - there it was, in the middle of the night! I would use Charlie's recently discarded baby quilt to make a new quilt for Dominic. Dom would love that - he really does love his boys. It's sentimental enough without being sickly so - perfect. So, I gathered together Charlie's old duvet and bedding, and some old clothes of his and started to put together some ideas.

I'll be honest, there were times when I wondered whether this was an appropriate gift idea for a 40 year old man. But as the germ of the idea grew in my mind, I also started to realise that I wanted it to mark his life so far, and, to a certain extent, his dreams. It would be MORE than a quilt. An act of love, maybe? A rite of passage? That sounds a bit wanky, sorry. But you know what I mean.

So what I did was this. I got enough fabric together to work out a colour scheme (orange, red and blue), and then bought a couple of fabulous packs of co-ordinated fabric from the brilliant Seam Star. This isn't how I'd usually make a quilt - I'd enjoy spending time finding co-ordinating fabrics individually. But this takes time, which was something I didn't have. I would, however, buy the co-ordinated bundles again, it took a lot of hard work out of the process. And it included some fabrics I wouldn't have considered, but ended up looking great.

The next thing I did was to find some lovely family photos. It was important to me to have some photos of Dom throughout his life - something I knew he wouldn't be keen on! I tried to pick the nicest photos (I hope I did a good job.) There are some of his babyhood:

Some memories of his childhood:

(Dom could finish his Rubix cube - I could only do it by peeling the stickers off and putting them back in the right order! He often ribs me about this)

 

(we were both computer montitors at different schools, 200 miles apart. We both rave about the BBC Model B)

 

Some pictures of his adolescence (I think he's dead handsome on this one, aged 13ish, the same age as Jonny now):

His very first car - which he admits was a dog, but he loved.

Some pictures of the love of his life (I hope! lol)

and of his wife and children (I'm assuming they're one and the same!):

Some facts about the year he was born, 1971:

A dream of his:

He's a pianist (you have to be careful how you say that aloud!) He really wants a baby grand, but it's utterly and completely out of our league at the moment. This one was apparently a house warming gift for someone from Elton John. Dom loves playing EJ's music; Something About The Way You Look Tonight was our first dance song at our wedding. One day I'll be rich enough to buy him one. Until then, here is the promise.

And finally, a tribute to the lovely man that I love so much, who is a wonderful husband and father. And beekeeper:

On the back of the quilt, to recognise the birthday-ness of the tribute, I asked his family to write some messages on pieces of fabric in fabric pen.

(if you look carefully you'll notice an axe and a gravestone in a rather worrying tribute from Charlie depicting him "doing jobs" with his Daddy)

(I nearly cried at this one. Jonny never says the words "love you" anymore, being, of course, too cool for school now)

 

(this brought tears to everyone's eyes. Dom's Grandma died ten years ago, about 12 weeks before we got together)

(this seemed appropriate at the time. Now each time I look at it, it makes me sing Wild Thing in my head. Oopa)

So there you have it. A tribute, in textiles, to a lovely man. A way to show the warmth of our love both literally and metaphorically. We love you, Dominic. Happy Birthday, darling.

<passes sick bucket to blog readers. Normal service will resume soon>

 

PS I never did get to bake that cake.

Corners of My Studio

Being a Proper Nosey Parker, I really love to see other people's working spaces, especially when they're annotated with little explanations. So I thought I would share mine, in the hopes that you lovely Blogland ladies are minded to show me yours. Oo-er.

I've finished a couple of projects recently - bedding for Charlie's new bed (pictures to follow) It was time to have a clear out and reorganise of my studio. I'm a messy worker and need to be strict with myself between projects otherwise everything very quickly decends into chaos. So here you are, whilst it's looking pretty neat.

My Storage System

This is my storage system. I've posted a similar picture before, but that's because this area of my studio is so important to my creativity. When you're in the middle of a project it's great to be able to put your hand right on the thing you need, otherwise you lose the flow of ideas.

From the bottom up, left to right this stores:

rolls of fabric, my scrap bag, my business cards, postcards and stickers, ribbons and odds and ends of bags and other wrapping.

Next shelf: new yarn boxed by colour, my journals, cotton, buttons and other findings, embroidery threads and hoops.

Top shelf: Odds and ends of yarn from past projects. They're all sorted into similar colours in bags within. I use this for patchwork mainly. Then tins in which I keep postal receipts and things of sentimental value (usually cards). Finally is my overspill box. This has yarn and buttons that don't fit where they should. Ideally this should be empty, but it's quite full with cheap yarn I bought last winter. I thought it would make good business sense to keep my costs down. However, experience tells me that most people don't like handmade products made from cheap materials, and I don't like working with them. It wasn't an expensive mistake really, there's probably less than ten pounds worth of materials in there. It was, however, a bulky mistake and I don't really want to give them to Freecycle just yet, in case I can think of a project they'd be perfect for ...

 

The Top Desk Drawer

This is the top drawer of my sewing desk and when I am working, I'm in and out of this like a fiddler's elbow. In fact, to be honest, I tend to sew with this drawer open so that things are more easily to hand. In here are the following:

Bobbins and tape measures; nice pens that the children are NOT allowed to have (mwahahaha. This does take some policing, though); sewing machine needles; scissors, pom pom makers, Mrs Bee ribbon, pins, templates,fabric glue, a bias binding maker (that I've not yet used); one of each of a metal, wooden and plastic ruler plus a sewing marker that fades, and one that sponges off. I prefer the fading one.

 

The Bottom Desk Drawer

This is the bottom drawer of my desk. The desk was rescued from a school who had dumped it in a skip. It's not the sexiest desk in the world, but it does what it needs to. And it's recycled, so it makes my heart happy.

The bottom drawer includes:

My knitting needle tips - which are bloody brilliant and have been a great investment (see Knit Pro - mine are metal)
Elastic
Bias Binding
The quilting arm for my sewing machine
Quilting templates, from Freecycle.
My glasses (they're broken, I sat on them and snapped off the arm)
Sewing patterns which I bought last year to make my own clothes. Total so far: one top.
Bicycle clips. I read online that this was a nifty way to roll up your excess quilt and keep it in place whilst you're machine quilting. I am not sure if that's true as I haven't used them yet, but they were 99p from Ebay so I thought it was worth the risk. I'll report back.

 

The Bobbin Box

The more astute among you will notice that this is a Ferrero Rocher box and I can confirm that this is the PERFECT receptical for bobbins. They don't roll around and shed strings and you can see at a glance what colours you have got, and where your empty bobbins are. Within this handy system I also keep my measuring tapes (which also have a habit of snaking open in a messy drawer), my thimbles and a system for making covered buttons. I've not managed much success with that yet. but I think it's a thing of practice.

The beady eyed amongst you will notice chromatography paper. That's for an upcoming project <taps side of nose>

 

The Needle Case

This is a rubbish photograph, even for a camera phone. However, I have taken it to remind myself where I put my sewing machine needles. This is a new home for them, as they were previously rattling around homeless in the drawer. Last Christmas I persuaded Dom that what I really needed was this gorgeous, purple leather, magnetic knitting needle case from Namaste. However, what I soon discovered was that even my knitting needle tips don't fit in here. How disappointing! Let's hope the needles make this a happier and more productive part of my craft drawer.

PS That is not a nipple ring, it is apparently a stitch marker for knitting. It's too thick to use properly though, hence it reclining in The Useless Case. The thing to its left is a device for tightening and unlocking knitting needle tips to their cords.

 

 

So there you have it, some of the corners of my working space. I'd love to see yours. If you do a blog about your working space, please leave the URL in the comments, I really want to see!

Lots of love

Claire x

Today

Jumping Back In

Day 1 : Frog or Finish* Organise, Create

 

Well hello, Blogland. It's been a while, hasn't it?! I've missed you.

It's been a strange year 2010, pretty difficult but also pretty positive. I started off suicidally depressed and ended up, well, almost normal. I've made a lot of things along the way, and I've learned a lot about myself. I spent quite a lot of it in therapy, I got used to the discipline of using my Lady Shed / studio every day. From nowhere I've built up a lovely little business almost without knowing how it happened; I've just been doing what I love and what feels right. I've swapped the diagnosis of depression for that of ME / CFS (and I actually think they both were accurate) and I'm learning how to manage the CFS and am having more and more good days. I would say that I'm almost back to normal, health wise, except for the medication and crutches. However, I suspect I have invoked the Law of Sod as today I feel crappy. You've gotta laugh.

I feel the need to explain my absence from the blog in recent weeks. When I first crashed and burned I needed to understand what was happening to me - and the best way I could do this was by blogging. I didn't want to talk to others, you know - the real life people, and so it was great to analyse my feelings on here. Gradually more and more folks started to follow the blog and I got performance anxiety - I needed the blogland version of Viagra. When you hear that others are struggling too it feels wrong to just talk about the positives, and a bit... erm... depressing to carry on just about the negatives. So I wasn't quite sure what to write about.

Also - and I'm not sure if this is common with those recovering from depression - I suddenly felt the need to be very private. Much more private than I have ever been before. Like a fresh, naked plant shoots from the earth I wanted to protect myself and I wanted to be alone. This has been tricky for my extended family because I've not wanted to be with them either. Just me, my husband and my boys. And my fabulous online friends who have only ever accepted me for being me and have never questioned my absences or the times when I went over the top.

Anyway, right now 2011 feels a bit scary. I'm guessing it's the first time that I have properly planned forwards. Christmas was lovely in bits, and tense at times. I'm looking forward to time alone to look at my goals.

I'm not setting new year's resolutions because I am still doing the 101 in 1001 project. I'll review that here soon. However, I have chosen three themes to work on every day - I want to be:

Creative, Organised and Kind <3

Each day I will endeavour to do one of the three and take a photo.

Creativity is important to me because I feel the urge, deep down in my soul, to make things. I also hope to do a textiles degree in 2012 (I need to save up first!) This year will be about experimentation and preparation for the bigger goal of my degree. Also, the creativity works it's magic and makes me feel happier, more relaxed and healthier. Therefore, it's currently a priority in my life.

being Organised is key to me achieving my goals. I'm not the most organised woman in the world. Hell, I'm actually spectacularly DISORGANISED.  I find personal organisation really challenging. However, in order to reach my goals I know I have to get my head around it. This includes practical things - like organising my deadlines, my studio space and paying off our credit card so that I have more choices.

Kindness is very important to me too. I'd like to think I do a reasonable job at being kind to my family and friends, but I want to increase what I do. Also, hand on heart, I'm not always very kind to myself. So this resolution involves eating more healthily, exercising, getting my hair cut and looking after myself. It also involves giving of my time and resources to charity (note - not just giving money, but my time to being a governor at our local school, as well as donating things I've made and items to charity shops). Lastly, I want to be involved with random acts of kindness. Blessed is the hand that giveth.

So, this leaves 2011 with the fantastically abbreviated COK Project!

* Day 1, as you can see from the picture at the start, was a Frog or Finish day. Frogging is a knitting term - when you rip it, rip it, rip it back. I have lots of projects that remain unfinished (I like to do several things at once) so this is their ultimate fate. Either I finish them, or they get turned back to yarn and the needles freed. I finished this crocheted cushion - RIP the summer shrug. C'est La Vie.

 

Day 2 : Working on Charlie's Quilt, Create

Its been a year in the making so far, and it needs to double in size - and that's just the top. I will finish it in time for the arrival of his new bed sometime this year. This is an ongoing project.

 

Day 3 : Making Recycled Christmas Tags, Create, Kind (recycling)

 

Charlie and I cut up the old Christmas cards before recycling the backs, and made gift tags for Christmas 2011. I was rather proud of how they turned out, and remembered doing exactly the same thing with my Mum in the 1970s. Funny how these simple, cylical things can feel so good.

 

Day 4 : Tidy The Corner, Organise

 

You would not believe what a mess this corner of my studio had become with the rush of Christmas orders. This is where I store my yarn, buttons, ribbon and findings.  Thankfully it's now restored to quiet calm where my creative juices can take hold.