Oast AGM

It was the Oast Agm today. I can't say I was particularly looking forward to it but as is the way I enjoyed the afternoon very much when I got there. I went with a bag full of stuff and came home having passed most of it on or returned items. I gave one quilt (jointly made with Judi) to Linus and one (jointly made with U3A members) to the Teenage Cancer Trust. I hope the recipients enjoy using them as much as we enjoyed making them. Apart from mince pies (and cake!) a feature of this meeting is the challenge, this year given the royal wedding the theme was weddings and there were some beautiful quilts, including double wedding rings of course. I voted for the small piece made by fellow Crab & Winkler, Marion, as I felt it best answered the idea of a challenge featuring the items celebrating each anniversary and displaying a great deal of ingenuity. I make a point of voting for the one I think is best not for one made by a friend so this was a genuine choice. However I haven't shown it here but instead some of the other entries.

Margaret's double wedding ring quilt which came third was immaculately made and joined quilt as you go and diiferent sections joined by lacing. Liz's displayed magnificent free machine quilting with feathered hearts and Ursula's which came second used lots of scraps in crazy pieced setting. This one was second.

Dream sewing space

Today we visited the bungalow one of our Houston Party has just moved into, having completely remodelled it. The roof space has been transformed into a beautiful and tranquil sewing area where we spent most of the day comparing Houston purchases, acquiring things she is throwing out and oooing and aaahing over her projects and fabric collections. In all a lovely time.

Armadillo quilt

Can you see the armadillo waving his legs in the air?

Two colour binding

November 28th I finally finished the armadillo quilt Judi and I worked on together originating in a cut and come again workshop with Edwina McKinnon. Edwina approached her project from an artistic point of view but Judi and I used bright scraps, many novelty fabrics including the one featuring the the armadillo. The panels were assembled and quilted separately then joined with strips front and back. I used a two colour binding to match the different binding strips.
It is destined for Project Linus.

Quay Quilters Show & Tell

 Margaret's tree

 Ann's wreath

Ruby's cot quilt

Mavis's Farmer's Wives

I'm still catching up with my quilting activities. Wednesday last week was Quay Quilters when Margaret showed the Suffolk Puff (Yoyo in US) tree she made after Ruby's class and Ann her wreath though Ann isn't in the picture. After the show Ruby was commissioned to make a cot quilt for my neighbour and this is it. Piece de resistance, however, was Mavis's wonderful Farmer's Wife quilt made with blocks sewn at the gatherings of Bonnie Quilters, a small house group I've belonged to for nearly 30 years though we did machine knitting for the first decade or more. I'm only on block 80 or so and wondering whether to give up. I was never intending to make the whole quilt but to make groups of blocks and smaller quilts but I'm running out of inspiration. My latest assortment of fabrics are the dullest of Civil War types which doesn't help.

Usual Suspects Day

Judy's super samples

Today I have packed up some of my quilts to show to a U3A group who have been studying the Amish this term. I lent the tutor a couple of books about Amish quilts. This represents quite an upheaval but it's good for quilts to be unfolded and refolded and I need to get them into the order I shall use them with winter ones on top.

Tracy's Christmas project

All packed up and ready to go

Belinda's Cindy Blackberg piece

It's two weeks to the day since the Usual Suspects met here so this is a very belated "Show & Tell". Judy and Belinda shared their work from Houston workshops, Belinda's from Cindy Blackberg's class and Judi's from Debbie Krasilik - I just love those chevrons. Meanwhile Tracy is getting ready for Christmas.

Last night I finished handquilting the border of the Blue Squares quilt.

Quilting retreat

Stack'n'Whack blocks

Redwork coverlet hanging in the chapel anteroom



No sooner had I got back from Houston than I set off, the very next day, for a quilting retreat in Norfolk, a quiet country location with meals provided and sewing from dawn till midnight. I took along various UFO's  though only finished one but the others are more finished than they were.   However as I was due to do a redwork session for Quay Quilters I was pleased to encounter this piece hanging outside in the chapel entrance.

I framed these bluework blocks, pieced the ninepatches and made the centre top. Since coming home I've added a border to which I shall add more stitchery. I cut and made more kaleidoscope blocks and decided this was the right number of blocks for this top though I have plenty of fabric leftover. I'll add a border anon.
   

My bluework seashore top

Houston Workshops 02: Karen Kay Buckley

Next up was a three hour hand applique class with Karen Kay Buckley though the final stitching could also be done by machine. This was a superb well ordered class with Karen keeping up the pace and using camera and screen technology so we could see the finer points of what she was demonstrating. The image was manipulated so we saw the work as she was seeing it not from the camera direction. I appreciated her class management skills. This method of applique pressing over heat resistant template plastic suits me better than needle turn. I do feel amused though that I got a dozen FQs in different colours and shades as per the requirements list only to use a few snippets. However, I thought this might be the case and got them cheaply from Jo-Ann's in useful bright tone and tones which will be good for Linus quilts. I suppose the tutor feels she has to give quantities to go on and complete a quilt whereas I am happy with a sample as I have enough quilts on the go anyway.
I spent loads from her helper afterwards - serrated scissors, perfect circles, needles and her DVD and am well satisfied with all.

Our classroom with our project hung at the righthand side

My fabrics purchased for the class

I used this much!

Houston Workshops 01: Lois T. Smith

I spent the days before the show opening attending workshops and learnt from them all. First was Lois T. Smith and machine quilting which involved various approaches which combine into a wallhanging though I shall make a bag  and dye it. We use both walking foot and free machining techniques and the Janome lady was kept very busy swapping our needles about. Although in my very first machine quilting class with June Barnes well over a decade ago we followed a drawn line with our darning foot, I have never fully believed in my ability to do this but I was delighted to stencil a leaf wreath in Lois's class and realise I could follow the line. I was teacher's pet, taking the register and attending to bits of things leaving Lois free to prepare and teach. Later when I was alone in the bar she and her travelling companion joined me and we ate and drank together and we saw each other every day after that while other people I never set eyes on again. I should also say the Janome lady herself felt she had learnt a lot too.

Home again

I'm back after 2 plus weeks of intense quilting activity first to Houston for the IQA show then by contrast a retreat in deepest Norfolk where we sewed from morning to night.  Both were great experiences though Houston is one I shan't do very often. We arrived on Friday in Houston and spent Saturday getting workshop supplies from a quilt shop http://texasquilterscottage.com/  and also cashing in JoAnn's vouchers as well as shopping at Walmart. On Sunday we enjoyed driving through the Texas landscape to the new Quilt Museum at La Grange ( http://www.texasquiltmuseum.org/Texas_Quilt_Museum/home.htm )which opened especially for us, then a short hop to the Winedale collection of quilts (and buildings) then on to the  Copper Shade Tree at Round Top where amongst other high quality craft goods was to be found an exhibition of quilts by men, my favourite being Gerald Roy's http://www.pilgrimroy.com/ made from shirtings and similar materials.

Quilters' Cottage: this shop went on and on
like the Tardis!

Entrance to the Winedale collection;
Mr Karr kindly showed us round the buildings on site.

Barn on the Winedale site.

Show at the Copper shade Tree

The Texas Quilt Museum

Quilters' Guild Coffee morning

Members of the Quilters' Guild from our neck of the woods got together this morning to chat, show and tell, make a heart decoration (I will make more), hold a raffle where the donations were wrapped - we all won something and most inportantly enjoy Pam's cheese scones and other baked goods.
Cilla showed us her quilt made in a workshop where participants sewed and flipped strips on telephone directory pages (oh bother I've just thrown a defunct one away!). It looks very enjoyable to do. The back was also stunning in a quite different contemporary way thanks to the fabric and piecing chosen and the quilting on the front formed a pleasing design on the back. Caryll who visits South Africa had used da Gama indigo fabrics and scrap golden yellow squares to make a lovely quilt all sewn by hand apart from attaching the binding.

Cilla's quilt

Caryll's quilt

Baskets sorted

Here are my basket blocks sorted out with sets of six on the left and "rejects" for me on the right. Now the swap blocks are all packed up ready to post when I go to Houston for the show.

More baskets

I've made another batch of baskets trying to make them more scrappy and differentiated. I'll get out my first lot and try to make a good selection for the swap, probably omitting the red and black ones.

U3A

The U3A group were playing with half square triangles yesterday though in retrospect I haven't taken many pictures.

For myself I have walking foot quilted the inner part of the blue square quilt and this afternoon have been wrestling with marking the borders for hand quilting, the corners proving very tricky and I still have one to do.

Quilters' Guild Birthday Party

Our table's sample

Carol's sample

Carol's work - detail

Quilters Guild birthday party today. It wasn't a very big affair but I like the fact that a cross section of quilters get to meet. In fact it was at this event last year that the quilting party for Houston got together and laid their plans. Anyway we worked on oblong Cathedral windows, showed and told, held a raffle where everyone one won a prize and ate birthday cake. We arranged our date for next year and laid plans for future events.

Add captionGillian's Show & Tell

Margaret's Show & Tell

Anne's Show & Tell - HST's

Made by Gillian's daughter,
Deborah Kemball

Banbury workshop with Sally

Sally's sample blocks

Needleturn applique was a very good choice for a Quilters Guild Traditional Quilters' Group weekend and Sally Stott has great expertise gained over many years and with many teachers so we benefited from from our morning with her. We had a choice of projects and she demonstrated to small groups of four but in the meantime we all had plenty to do tacking our patterns into place so no longueurs. It was lovely too to see examples of her work.

Sally with her quilt

TheHawaiian  pattern I chose

Banbury workshop

One of the half day workshops was with Leslie Harwood who hails from the USA originally. Her class was the only machine one and the subject was precise piecing which was certainly a characteristic of her own work which was immaculate. We used foundation piecing to make a house block but the real purpose was to demonstrate a method which involved very little fabric wastage. Her accuracy and precision enabled her to make some exquisite miniature quilts which she passed round.

Leslie with her quilts

Leslie's miniature with delicate beading.

Leslie's bright houses

My class sample