Drive-By Quiltings

The afternoon was dreary, but Sue Maddox and Sue Watters managed to make their way to Oxford station just before we had to pass through the turnstiles and board our train. Since most of our drive-bys are done at lightning speed, this particular opportunity to actually visit for a moment was rare. 

Sue Maddox says:
Two days to go before Christmas and all was going according to plan -  ie not Christmas preparations, but taking part in the UK 'Train-by' version of Ricky's US 'Drive- by quiltings'. When I saw Ricky's travel schedule, I couldn't believe he was going to be travelling through Oxford, just twenty minutes away! Even better, he was going to be catching the train there, so as long as he was at the station in plenty of time for his train, and we could get our timings right, we possibly stood a chance of chatting with him as well.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this on my own, so called my PIC (partner in crime) Sue Watters and talked her into doing it with me. We always talk each other into mischief and this seemed to be something we absolutely must do.

Two quilts were selected and we set off in the worst weather we had seen for months. The mid afternoon sky was black and the rain was hammering down. We crawled through heavy traffic, abandoned, rather than parked the car, and ran, with our quilts to the station. We must have looked a bedraggled sight, but there was Ricky, Justin and their friend Susan waiting at the Oxford staion to greet us.

Goodness knows what the crowds of people must have thought of us, but we were so caught up in the moment that we really didn't notice anyone else. We had a quick picture in the station entrance, followed by a chance to chat. Ricky was unbelievably generous with his time and Sue and I so appreciated the fun opportunity to do something so mad.

Whoo-hoo as Ricky says! We giggled all the way home and both thought it a great start to our Christmas. We'll dine out on this in quilting circles for years to come. Sue has a blog ISEWQUILTSUK.com and you can see a few pics of our 'Brief Encounter' there.

About the quilts:
My quilt is a Folky Baltimore - my own design using blocks from EQ. I loved making it and eventually taught it as a BOM at my local quilt shop. I was talked into adding the border by my lovely students and I'm so glad they encouraged me to do so. The fabrics are mainly Rites of Spring by Brannock and Patek, which seemed perfect for the aged, mellow look I was after.  I think the quilt was one of those quilts that are inside you, just waiting to be made. I hand appliqued, using freezer paper and finished hand quilting it in time for the Shipton Quilters' show in 2011.

Sue's Watter's quilt is her 'Toile Reel'. The beautiful Jo Morton Ravenswood fabric inspired this quilt. She loves toile fabric and just knew she wanted to use it as a border for this quilt. She used blanket stitch applique and had it long arm quilted.

Thank you Ricky for this fun opportunity. It was great to see you here in the UK!

Sue Maddox, Alvescot, Oxfordshire and Sue Watters, Cheltenam, Gloucestershire

I did a quick dash upstairs to my long suffering DH. “Guess what, guess what? He’s coming to England and doing drive-bys!” My excitement was met with muffled replies...well, in all fairness it was early and he hadn’t had his cup of tea yet. I persisted. ”I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to have a go and the Swindon railway car park it is.” I emailed Ricky so he would be on the lookout for us in Swindon.

My next contact was my equally long suffering very dear quilting friend Emma, who after some explanations (she is used to me and my sometimes slightly hair brained escapades, thank goodness. Every quilter should have a friend like her) agreed to have a go herself. Great I thought, how fantastic if we can both pull this off.

The quilts were chosen, venue decided upon, and train times checked. Oh, thank goodness, we have enough time after patchwork class to get to Swindon and get in place. Now, getting into Swindon was the easy bit, finding a car park, not so easy. Dear husband kept his cool (time was ticking by just a bit too fast) and had it all under control. He managed to get me and the quilts in place. We were positioned such that the photo would happen as the train pulled away from the station.

Then along came two workmen.......I can’t start to imagine what those two burly maintenance men must have thought we were doing but whatever they were thinking, it made them smile.

They had announced the arrival of Ricky’s train. He is here. My DH and I wait with bated breath. Will it work, will it work? Then the train pulls away from the platform and the right carriage is along side us. We held up the quilts as the train passed by! Did it happen, did it work?

We breathe again and grin the biggest grins ever!

The quilts were wrapped up and we made our way back to the car intent on getting a cup of tea (well, we are English, mostly) and a hot chocolate to celebrate. I was so pleased that Michael (DH) could take part as well. He works quite hard helping me in class so it was only right that he should have some of the fun too.

About the quilts:
The lovely attic window wall hanging was made by Michael (DH). The blocks feature sea scenes and lighthouses, sea shell buttons, and wooden seagulls.

The next quilt (stained glass rose) is Michael's version of a Rennie Mackintosh design. A lot of time went into getting the colors just right and making the stitching invisible.

The nine-patch is “Luke’s frog quilt” Luke loves frogs - from a distance - and I agree with him on that!

The largest quilt in the center of the photo started life as a storybook. Folks who know me, know I like to do “textile rescues” and the storybook was most certainly a “rescue”. It was sad, grubby and forlorn when I found it in a charity shop when it “spoke “ to me. Such fun was had in the making of this happy little rescued quilt.

The little pink and yellow cot quilt came together so easily. The squares have a feature print which made choosing the sashing very easy. It is used as a sample for my first time quilters and they love to see their versions come to life in a fairly short amount of time.

The "Welcome" hanging?  Just had to show that one, didn’t I?  Welcome to England Ricky!

The heart suspended below the Welcome is known as Emmy’s heart. Emmy was a cat that adopted us many years ago and came to be my much loved furry quilting buddy.

The teddy bear is another rescue. I found him looking all sad and lost at the back of a shelf in the American museum at Claverton in Bath. At every meet and greet I have done over the years, he stands there proudly clutching his quilt and making friends with folks from all over the world. As this was another “show and tell” he just had to be there too.

There were three of us traveling to England for a Christmas holiday. Knowing I would not be traveling by car, a drive-by quilting in England wouldn't be possible. However, doing a train-by quilting just might be the ticket in order to put an international spin on this fun game. Pam Day managed to be the first to accomplish a train-by quilting. I particularly the photo (above) with the reflection in the train window. In it you can see Susan waving to Pam, but in the reflection you can see Justin as well as me with the camera.

Pam says:
I learned that Ricky would be traveling by train and passing through Reading train station, 10 miles from my home. I emailed him and tentatively asked if he would be willing to do a train-by quiltling during his private holiday.  The reply was a definite ‘yes, that would be fun’.

On December 20, 2011, I arrived at the station early and was able to work out the exact spot on the platform that his carriage would stop at. A few people around me glanced at the quilt but no one said anything. We British are so reserved we just look the other way thinking that ‘this woman’s lost the plot’ (meaning, is very strange).  When I got home and told my husband that it had all worked out, he very lovingly said ‘you’re a groupie’ to which the reply was ‘Yes, and proud of it’  I was so excited.

After taking photos from the train Ricky, Justin and I were able to chat for about 30 seconds at the doorway.  Just long enough to wish one another a Merry Christmas and safe travels. I have always found the drive-bys so fun it was wonderful to be able to take part in one myself. It was so cool to do the first train-by quilting.

About the quilt:
My quilt is called ‘Hawaiian Seas Bargello’. The fabrics remind me of the turquoise waters on Hawaii. One fabric is a batik with turtles on, a reminder of our stay at Turtle Bay. It was worked as ‘quilt as you go’ starting from the centre outwards. I did one side then as I got nearer the edge on the other side I was concentrating so hard on just getting it finished I forgot to follow the pattern, so it’s not a symmetrical pattern but I like it as it is.