New Quilt, New Tunic and Old Books and Bears

Have you seen Stephanie's Long Johns quilt? She remembered her grandfather's long johns on the washline, and made the polka dotty pieces like them, up and down. She also made a Christmas version, very pretty. She gave me the pattern for my senior home quilts, and here is what I came up with:

 

Long johns on the line are, in this climate and this family with two men and just one me, a very usual sight even today. (So there you see, Mr. Squash, you don't have to be "a woman of a certain age" to have seen that sight.)  The quilt top is made with what forms another substantial part of my laundry, men's old shirts. Old men's shirts, whatever. That's why I named my quilt Laundry Day. Take a look at Supreme Candace's version here. She too added a border, but I made an extra row too. This way the quilt will be big enough to keep any tall grandpa warm and cosy when he is taking a nap. The backing is checkered flannel like the binding. Tomorrow I'll be taking this and the Bee in my Bonnet Row-Along quilt to the nursing home.

This quilt is also my 4th project in the Special Category of the Craft Olympics hosted by Flickenstichlerin. I have been on a new sewing class, just 6 evenings with the theme tunics. I learnt to alter the pattern to my personal measures, and here is the result:

 

 

I'm really pleased with it, and the jersey's cheerful grey and greenish colours are just me. This is my 4th project in the New Category of the Craft Olympics.

 

Last Friday we went to the Helsinki Book Fair, a perfect place to test use my new tunic (can be classified as one of the "cultural ladies robes", you know the roundish ladies between 40 and 80 who go to concerts, theatres, art exhibitions and interesting lectures, wearing figure flattering long tunics/vests/jackets). We concentrated once again on the older books.

 

This raven has been on every book fair I remember.

This year the teddy bears had a special place at the fair.

I didn't even know there are so many literary teddy bears.

This one I know!

 

And here's for you, Melanie! (She is going to Rupert's cottage next Spring). Bamse is sharing this shelf with Rupert.

 

 

Do you know Rasmus? He comes from Denmark. I have read about him to my children...

... but not as much as about this brave fellow, Uppo-Nalle. He is created in Finland but according to the story he floated here from France.

Some of the teddies were really old.

Some were more famous as toys than from stories in books.

Winnie the Pooh like he originally was and what Walt Disney did to him.

The modern Pooh Corner gang.

 

We spent a lovely day at the fair and I found a used copy of the new Finnish translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, illlustrated by Helen Oxenbury . Perhaps I can finally read the whole story!

Have you a favourite literary teddy bear? Was he on this exhibition? I had a toy teddy bear that my best friend made for me when we were maybe 12 years old, and my childhood literary bear friend was Winnie the Pooh like Uncle Shepard drew him.

More from London

If you feel up to it, we have a little more walking to do. This is the Covent Garden Market.

 

This part of London belonged in the 13th century to the Westminster Abbey and was known as "the garden of the abbey and convent".  Henry VIII took it and gave it to the Earls of Bedford, and in the 16th century there were fashionable new houses around an arcaded square, and a small open air fruit and vegetable market. In the 1830's these buildings in neo-classical style by the architect Charles Fowler were built to cover the market area.

 

In 1980 the protected place was reopened as a tourist location with cafes, pubs and shops. The Apple Market is a craft market.

 

A short walk from the market was another interesting part of the city.

The houses were not set around a square for an interesting reason. To maximise the number of houses as rentals were charged per foot of frontage and not per square feet of the interior, the area was laid out in a series of triangles.

 

Seven streets meet at this central point, and the Sundial Pillar was built in 1694, at the same time as the houses. The pillar has six sundial faces, and the column itself is the 7th 'style'.

 

On the way to the hotel we spent some time at the Fowles bookshop, but with my very tired feet (and head) the best they could offer was a comfortable chair.

 

As the next day will be even more walking and even more photos and facts, I'll show you the London part of it already. We started our one-day excursion at the Paddington Station, and guess whom we met there:

 

A very famous bear, waiting patiently to be looked after.

 

We took a morning train, because the 4.50 from Paddington sounded too exciting and because we wanted to see as much as we could at or destination.

 

This day in London was still a warm and almost sunny one, but here in Finland we have had our first frost nights and a sleet shower earlier this week. Räntää, sleet, it feels and looks as unpleasant as the Finnish word for it sounds. The dotted a's are pronounced like the a in the English word 'bad'.