Anyway, it all seems to have turned out well in the end and here’s the finished results:

The binding was nowhere near as troublesome as I thought it was going to be, but I’m not sure I got the corners right, but I’ve done the best I can, and I think for my first attempt, it’s a very pleasing result.

I’ll carry on posting about how I created each block, but I’m just so pleased I’ve finally finished, that I couldn’t wait to document my achievement.

Here’s all the blocks in detail, plus a look at the backing fabrics chosen:
Click to view slideshow.

So the second block we made was still fairly simple straight line sewing, and another 9 patch block, but this time with the addition of triangles. The main lesson we had to learn for this block was how to make two of the triangle blocks from two squares. In order to create two blocks at the same time, we cut out two 4 7/8″ squares, one of each colour.

On the back of one of the squares, draw a diagonal line from the top right corner to the bottom left corner on the square. This should leave you with two triangles marked out, which will have 4″ length sides and a 1/4″ seam allowance on all sides. Measure 1/4″ from the diagonal line to give you where the long side of the triangle template will be, and 1/4″ in from the bottom and 1/4″ in from the right, to give you the other sides right sided triangle, then draw around a right angle triangle template with 4″ length sides. Repeat on the other side of the diagonal line to give you two triangles.

Repeat on the other square of fabric, and pin the two squares (right sides together), matching up points as on the square patches in Block 1. Sew along the long side of both triangles, matching points and seams between the front and back. Once both are sewn, cut along the diagonal centre line, and this will give you two triangle blocks, which can then be pressed open. The square blocks will have “dog ears” where the excess fabric from the seam allowance is visible – these can be trimmed to be make your square again.

There are also four square blocks to be created with two rectangle templates. These should be 4″ x 2″ with a 1/4″ seam allowance added.

This will give you eight blocks, with a single 4″ square (plus 1/4″ seam allowance) needed to be marked and cut out of either one of the colours already chosen, or a third contrasting colour for the centre square of the nine blocks.

Join together the blocks into three rows and then join the three rows together to form the finished block. Press and square up to 12″ at this point.

This is the finished square, the reverse and the detail of the churndash block:

Luckily, Father Christmas bought me a lovely freestanding mixer, and I treated myself to a new handheld mixer as well. I also got a couple of new cake cookbooks as presents, so I decided to try something new!

Here’s my first attempt – Gingerbread cupcakes from Christmas Cupcakes by Annie Rigg. They are a spicy cupcake with ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and all spice, with a cinnamon flavoured meringue buttercream. I used a golden caster sugar instead of ordinary in the buttercream, which gave it a golden colour instead of bright white, but I think it went well with the cake flavour. It was quite a brave type of frosting for me, as it needed the sugar and egg whites to be whisked over a pan of simmering water and heated to a specific temperature – something I’ve never done before. The end result was lovely, a nice light sponge, with a smooth frosting, and not too sweet.

The first week of the course we made one of the simplest types of block, the 9 square block.

It’s made up of nine 4 inch squares, each cut with a 1/4″ seam allowance. They can be nine completely different fabrics, or using few fabrics to make different designs. As all the fabrics I had for the quilt were Christmas patterns, I decided to stick to two different fabrics and make a checkerboard pattern.

Using a pencil, place the fabric front side down on a piece of sandpaper (to prevent slippage on a table surface), and draw around a 4″ square template. Using a ruler (I prefer the Omnigrid rulers with the yellow and black marks on the clear perspex) to draw a 1/4″ seam allowance outside the square, and cut around the large square.

Join two squares by placing them right sides together, and put a pin through the top left hand corner of the two squares, making sure the pin goes through the corner on both the front and back squares, and pinning down the left hand side of the square. Then put a pin through the top right hand corner, again making sure the corners of the front and back square match. Add another pin halfway along the top of the square, again matching the front and back squares, and pinning down the fabric. Depending on the size of the square, add more pins matching the tops of the squares at various points (for this one, I think we added four more – two between the mid point and each corner). Always pin down the fabric, as pinning along the drawn line could distort the shape of the squares.

Now that your square are pinned, the seam can be sewn. We were recommended to decide on either a grey or brown neutral thread to sew the fabrics together, and to have a light, medium and dark shade of thread, and to pick the most suitable shade for the tone of fabrics you’re sewing together. For the most part, threads shouldn’t be very visible on the completed work, but keeping to a neutral colour and an appropriate shade should make them as inconspicuous as possible on your final piece.

Knot the end of your thread, and remove the pin that matches the top left hand corner of the square. Put the needle through the hole left by the pin on the front square, and again make sure it goes through the matching hole on the back square. Using a running stitch with as small a stitch as is comfortable to sew by hand, continue along the seam, removing the pins as you go. My personal preference is to sew no more than three stitches at once, but with each stitch to make sure the needle is staying on the drawn line on both the front and back squares of fabric. When you get to the end of the seam, sew back along the seam for a few stitches, and then knot the fabric and cut the thread.

Join three squares together to make one row of the finished patch, and repeat twice more to get the three rows of three squares. You then need to join the three rows together, so pin right sides to right sides again. You need to take care when matching the corners together. I think the way we did it was to start by pinning the top left corner of the middle square in the row from the front side to the corresponding corner on the middle square in the row on the back, then the top right corners of that same square together, then top left corner on left square, then top right corner on right square, and then add pins in between as when you were sewing just two squares together.

Sew the full length of the seam, but don’t worry about trying to use a single length of thread, just finish and restart as required. Take care when joining corners – DON’T SEW THE SEAM ALLOWANCES DOWN! Difficult to explain, but using needle, go through front top right corner on square 1, to back top right corner on square 1, then from back top corner on square one through to front top left corner of square 2, then from front top left corner of square 2 to back top left corner of square two. Continue along the entire seam of the row, finishing off in the same way as when joining the two singles squares together.

Join the remaining single row to the two rows already joined to make the full block.

Now, I can’t remember exactly what we did about pressing the seams. I think we pressed the seams on each row as we went along, then pressed the seams of the block after we’d sewn the block, but I could be wrong! Both pieces of fabric that have been joined together should be pressed across to one square or the other – don’t press open (i.e. one seam allowance to one side of the seam and one to the other). Try to press the fabrics to be behind the darker of the two fabrics, but at times it might not always be possible particularly on the rows, and just go with the fabric if it feels it wants to go one way or another.

You can see the reverse of my block and a detail of the seams here:

When you’ve finished sewing and pressing the block, it should be squared to 12 1/2″ using either an 12 1/2″ square, or using rulers, and cut with a rotary cutter on a self healing cutting mat.

We made a different 12 inch block each week to learn some of the different techniques, and quilted each block separately so that they could be joined all together into a single quilt by the end of the course. Along the way, we also learnt about fabrics, cottons, colours and tones, giving us the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to design and make our own quilts.

Unfortunately at the end of the course, I hadn’t quite finished the binding of the quilt, and it’s sat unfinished ever since. It’s been in the back of my mind to complete it and start on a full size quilt, but I have to admit it’s the patchwork part of the making the quilt that I liked, not the quilting and binding. I have found out that you can get patchwork fronts quilted by machine, and I may well look into this in future, but in order to try and rekindle my interest in the meantime and encourage me to finish the sample quilt, as well as using as a reminder of how the blocks were made up, I thought I’d try and document the process so far, and then (fingers crossed!) be able to post some pictures of the finished item.

I found the “translated” sections very hard going, and made slow progress as I was constantly trying to unravel the sentences and translate them into proper English myself. Having said that, at times they were in turns charming, funny and heartbreaking, but initially, I did have to force myself to keep reading as I waded through these chapters.

On the other hand, I loved reading the historical chapters. Full of beauty and melancholy, I was able to slow down and savour these chapter, all the time guessing that it was likely to build to some tragedy at the end.

Having said that, the final chapter is possibly my favourite of the book despite being another translated letter, and while sad to read, left me with a feeling of hope for the future of the characters, and felt like a fitting end to the book.

I’m glad I read it, as it’s one I’ve been meaning to read for a while, but I have to say, I read his second book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a few years ago, and for me, it was a much more satisfying book to read, even though it had a similarly quirkiness to its style and language. Definitely an author I will look to read again in the future.

Eminently readable, I felt instantly swept up in the story, but there is such a depth and detail to the lives of the characters on the page, that I couldn’t read more than a chapter at a time, in order to savour and envelope myself in this society that Faber has created. There is no getting away from the fact that there are some graphic descriptions of sexual scenes, but they feel that they fit within both the plot and period of the story.

But, for me, the overall glory of this epic book, is the wealth of characters. No character is too small or insignificant not to warrant a colourful description, from the larger secondary characters of, for example, William’s brother, Henry, with his tortured goodness, to his shallow, hedonistic friends, Bodley and Ashwell, to the calculating servant, Cheeseman. All come alive on the page and alongside the descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells of historic London, made the whole world of this book a completely immersive place to visit each time I picked up the book.

The end comes quite suddenly, and although you don’t really get a resolution for the characters, this felt right, as no-one’s life should be able to have all its loose ends tied up cleanly, and after spending so long with these people, I was actually quite glad to be able to think for myself where their lives would take them next.

I’m actually sad I’ve finished it, and won’t get to come back tomorrow for another installment, which must surely be the highest praise I can give any book.

So. Hmmm. While I was reading it, I thought the book was compelling. At the end of each session of reading, I was desperate to keep going to find out how the story would progress. But, here’s my problem. By the end, I didn’t feel that I knew the characters, I wasn’t convinced by the development of the plot, and the voice of the narrator seemed young and naive, while the character was actually reflecting back on life after the revelations of the story.

I’m still in two minds about the book, and I think I’ve realised why I found it so compelling, but ultimately so unsatisfying. I’m a story person, and what really grabs me is a great plot, but I knew before I started the book who the characters were, so I was waiting for the reveal rather than surprised by it.

My biggest disappointment though, was by the end, I wanted to see some sort of rebellion or outrage at the system from one of the characters instead of total acceptance. Even the moral stance of the guardians at Hailsham dwindled out, but what I was most disappointed by was the glossing over of the Morningdale scandal, which I felt was a key factor to how the story played out by the end and raises crucial issues in the debate, but was woefully underplayed.

Having said that, I think it will provoke a lively discussion at my reading group, so that’s something to look forward to!

A family go to spend the summer with their great uncle in Cornwall, and while exploring their holiday home on a rainy day, Simon, Jane and Barney discover an ancient map that sets them on a quest to discover that which as been hidden. Assisted by Great Uncle Merry, the children start their search only to find they are not the only ones after their treasure.

This book was originally published in 1965, and I have to say, it completely transports me back to my own childhood (which wasn’t this far back I hasten to add), and has the feel and tone of the adventure books I would read when I was young. The trouble is, I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about the writing that makes me feel that way. The story is exciting, and gradually builds to an exciting crescendo, but there’s an innocence and naivety about the children, and the idea of a family spending a whole summer away together, that just makes it feel of its time.

I absolutely loved it, as much for how it reminded me of being an eight year old engrossed in an thrilling adventure as for the actual story and the writing itself. It seems obvious to me why this series has stood the test of time, and is still published today, as well as being transferred to the digital format as well, although maybe that’s more for us older “kids” reliving the books of our childhood!