A day at the museum

Friday was my afternoon to teach Fun with Fabric at Chertsey Museum.  Four ladies attended for at least a second time, and three new ladies too

Jenny brought her denim bag from last month which she finished for 'homework'.  I love that these ladies, mostly over retirement age, bring along their creations for 'show and tell', just like the 5 year olds at school do!!!

Most of the ladies decided to have a go at paper piecing: pentagons or hexagons.  Barbara made a hexie pin cushion, Jenny and I went for pentagon balls, while Iris, Frieda and Denise went for grandmother's flower design either as a mug rug or a wall hanging.

Deborah didn't fancy this, she's done patchwork before, so she had a play with the gingham fabric I'd prepared for smocking.  I didn't get any photos, but she did a great job . . . and now we've decided that we'll all going to try smocking next month, so I'd better get some more gingham!

Hole In The Ground Panel
When I got home I managed to do some work on my yellow, orange (and now pink) Hole In The Ground.  (I think of it as this name, but Google couldn't find a block by this name, so if you have a proper name for it, please let me know!!!)

It was really easy to make the centre piece: It was from a jelly roll, so there were lot of fabrics pre cut to 2.5 inches x width of fabric (about 42 inches)

• I joined enough strips to make a flimsy that measured 42 x 21 inches, then cut that in half, so I had two striped pieces each measuring 21 x 21.  
• I put these two squares one on to of the other, right sides together, one with the stripes going vertically, the other with horizontal stripes.
• I stitched all abound the two blocks (usual seam allowance) joining them together.
• I cut the resulting block, diagonally, from corner to corner, like an X,
• I then opened out the 4 triangles into squares.  
• They were then twisted to create the design above.

This piece was started pre-blog, in oranges and yellows, with just a tiny hint of pink, but I have some great fabric that I want to add that has a fair amount off pink.  I thought I would introduce some pink, before I introduce loads of pink!

Now off to Windsor Library for the next class!!!