Civil war skirmish at the American Museum in Britain part 1

On Sunday we travelled for over 3 hours to go and see the American Museum just outside Bath. Marking the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil war they had the UK branch of the Southern Skirmish Association. I have wanted to visit the museum, which is also celebrating it's 50th anniversary, for years but it seemed too far to go. When I went to the Festival of quilts in August( I really should post my photos of that weekend!) I found out about the civil War re-enactment from the museum stand and thought I couldn't pass up the chance and fortunately DH agreed to drive us!

Claverton Manor and the sorounding area was beautiful. It was thrilling to arrive and see civil war soldiers and women walking around. As we drove into the car park a small band of Union soldiers marched by singing.

 I liked seeing the rooms set out showing different periods of American history it was just a little weird that all the guides spoke in cut glass English accents which made us feel like we were visiting a National Trust property not an American House!

Seeing the quilts was great and the main reason I had wanted to go to the Museum. You could get up really close and marvel at the tiny stitches. You weren't allowed to take photos of film anywhere in the Museum buildings so I only have outside shots.

I didn't know what to expect from the Re-enacment but we were all amazed at how awesome it was. The cannons were so load and it was all brilliantly choreographed!

Confederate soldiers in line.

I shall have to end here and post the rest of my photos later as they are not downing loading ! Will be back with the rest as soon as I can.

Blessings, Carol

Tea bath

Hi

Today I have been working as hard as I can to make as many flag banners as possible. Also for the first time I had a go at tea dying some fabric. I bought some men's check/plaid shirts from a charity(Thrift) shop yesterday for a few pounds. Once I undid the seams I had some really useful pieces of cotton fabric. One was white with blue stripes and one white with brown stripes. I always find white too bright and I am hoping to use them in a reproduction quilt so I soaked them in a bowl of tea and coffee with hot water. Then When dry I ironed them to fix the colour and washed on a cold wash to get the tea smell out. This may not be the right way to do it but I am really pleased with the results. I forgot to take a before photo but I shall post the after shots as soon as I can get on the other computer!

Blessings,
Carol

More quilts following my Red, White and Blue theme!

Hi

These are photos of another couple of my quilts that I made about 4 years ago. They were the start of my passion for Red, White and Blue quilts. I really am trying to sew diffrenet colours but I always come bake to these ones.

The first is a large log cabin and the second is a Le moyne star made with Civil War reproductions - another passion of mine!

Hope you like them.
Blessings,

Carol

Sorry it took so long but here's the thread!!

Hi

Sorry it has taken so long but here are the photos of the great bargin of old thread I got from the thrift store. Already been using it projects so it will save me a fortune!

Struck gold! or more to the point - THREAD!

We had to go get new school uniform for my DD yesterday and there happened to be a Charity(Thrift) shop next door to the uniform shop. they were selling bobbins of old thread for 10 pence (6 cents) a bobbin. I took the whole container to the checkout and bought them all for £4 ($2.45). They are amazing! When I counted them there were over 50 spools of different colours! I sorted them out into Polyester and cotton as far as I was able. I prefer cotton but they will all get used up. Does anyone know a good way of telling if a thread is cotton or polyester if there isn't a label on it?

Blessings, Carol

P.S. I will post the pictures of this haul as soon as I can.

Hand quilting v. machine quilting

When I first started serious quilting about 10 years ago I thought it was only a 'real' quilt if it was hand quilted. I started to change the way I thought about 18 months ago when I realised I had so many quilts in me but at the rate of 2 or 3 a year hand sewn I would never get all my ideas done! So last October 2010 I took the plunge and bought a Bernina Aurora QE 440 to replace my old second hand sewing machine. I was instantly in love! I must have already sewn about 1/2 million stitches on my Bernina and have made about 6 quilts, many bags and smaller projects. I have noticed though that even though I put so much care and love into everything I make, because I make them quicker by machine, I don't feel as connected to them. Even my daughter has said she prefers me to hand sew the quilts I make for her. What do you think?

Kind wishes,
Carol

Red, white and blue quilt

Hi

This post is about my last red, white and blue quilt that I finished a month or so ago. I say 'last' red, white and blue quilt as I seem to always be drawn to making quilts in this colour scheme! It was from a pattern in a summer issue of McCalls Quilting. Only a small piece of the quilt can be seen as it is folded on the back of the sofa. It has really brightened the room. I concentrated on trying to match the types of fabrics and shades to the article so this contains both new and reproduction fabrics. It is machine pieced and is just quilted in the ditch by machine.

Hope you like it.

Kind wishes,

Carol