September 2022 #focuscuttingsewalongroundup

 Hello everybody!

It's been a strange month in the sewalong. The theme was Books, which I was really looking forward to, however this was interrupted for two weeks while we paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. I found this second theme very difficult in terms of creating blocks, as I had already used up my more obvious royal fabrics during the Platinum Jubilee. And it meant we didn't get to do all the Books stuff I wanted to do.

Nevertheless, I made 3 blocks on the theme of Books, and 3 on the theme of Queen Elizabeth II.

Week 35 was Identifiable Motifs and Books. I made two blocks.

The first one is, very obviously, Winnie the Pooh.

We have just finished reading this very battered copy of Winnie the Pooh to my daughter. 

I grew up with the two AA Milne poetry collections, When we were Very Young, and Now We Are Six. As well as an audio book version of the original Disney cartoons of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. So these books were very much a part of my childhood.

Secondly, Alice in Wonderland.

The fabric is a Disney licensed fabric from Aldi (actually, so is the Winnie the Pooh fabric). Again, this is a book I read in my childhood, I owned at least two copies of it, the first of which was given to me by my Dad. I don't seem to have brought it to my adult home as yet, so I couldn't take a photo of the block with the book.

Week 36 was the first week after the Queen's death. We did identifiable motifs. I made two blocks.

Firstly, these chess pieces.

Honestly, I made this because I was desperate for ideas and it's a queen. I guess the black and white colour palette is funereal.

The second one is more thoughtful tribute.

I found my licensed Paddington fabric while I was looking for my missing car key (it took me another two days to find the car key) and this was clearly much more appropriate. It is, of course, a reference to the Platinum Jubilee sketch. The Paddington Bears are even holding marmalade sandwiches. I really like the way this block has come together, the pops of colour in particular look great, in my opinion. I also like that this block combines the two themes for the month, as I loved reading the Paddington Bear books as a child.

Here's the sketch for anyone who needs to see it again.

Week 37 was pattern matching in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. I made one block.

This block was made the day of the funeral. Again, I struggled for appropriate fabrics. The fabric is from a recycled shirt fabric and was horrible to work with, I really should have stabilised it or starched it. It's the Royal Stewart tartan. It represents the Queen's love of Scotland, and of Balmoral, where she died. Incidentally, Scotland is also the place I lived on the same street as a member of the royal family - I studied in St Andrews at the same time as Prince William, now Prince of Wales (I really don't move in those sorts of circles though, and I never met, or even noticed, Kate Middleton). My only time seeing the late Queen in real life, however, was in Australia. She drove through the town of Geelong, where I was living, during a visit to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary in 1988.  The primary school I was attending took us out to line the route and wave flags and cheer as she went past. I didn't get a very good view of her, as the Duke of Edinburgh was sitting on the side of car nearest me, so I saw more of him. (I found this website showing what she went on to visit in Geelong that day).

For the final week of the month, week 38, we were back on the theme of Books, and pattern matching for the second week in a row. I made the one block.

Wonder Woman! I am really pleased with how this block turned out. My husband pointed out that the shape Wonder Woman herself is in is actually the shape of a the Superman crest, so it is all very Justice League. And here she is in a book.

I suspect there would have been quite a number of comic books featured had the full month of the Book theme played out.

The one fabric I wish I had that would also have combined the two themes would have been BFG fabric. The Queen's appearance in that book is iconic. So I shall leave you with Sophie's description of her, and this video, of which the first 1 minute 10 seconds is the Queen's best presentation in fiction ever.

'The Queen of England,' Sophie said. 'You can't call her a squifflerotter or a grinksludger.'

'Well . . .' the BFG said.

'You can't call her a squeakpip or a notmucher either,' Sophie said.

Thanks for reading!