New arrival

I bought the new Janome Horizon machine at the Oast Quilters Show and put it through its paces by making a book of all the decorative stitches to prove a reference. However on joining my Katherine Guerrier blocks which have some seams pressed open and some to one side it would not deal with these seams. I had to manually lift the presser foot to surmount them. However my trusty 29 year old Bernina Nova sailed through them effortlessly.  On joining a Janome 7700 email lists I came upon the tail end of posts about this very problem.
 A simple adjustment by the dealer to the feed dogs is all that is needed. How glad I am to have bought my machine from a local dealer and how glad to have the information sharing resources of the internet at my disposal.

Garden Party

The Rambling Roses held their annual garden party - lots of lovely food, chat, a lucky dip and the presentation of two friendship quilts, one drawn by lot and one for the retired chairperson.

Hearty Quilters Show

Hearty Quilters were formed to make charity quilts and raise funds for the Heart of Kent Hospice.
Hearty Quilters

They hold a Quilt Show annually, this time in a huge medieval barn attached to Aylesford Priory in a picturesque village near Maidstone. Quilts were crammed everywhere. My visitors choice vote went to Tony's Ties by Bernie Connolly which included many of her husband's ties. I was also pleased to see a quilt made from Katharine Guerrier's Galaxy of Stars pattern.
The "Lasagne" quilt from simple strips was made by Claudia Taylor inspired by Mary Fogg's work and included wondefully varied fabrics including chenille and corduroy while Jeanette Twort's "Loosely Japanese" cabblestones type quilt was based on a Susan Briscoe design.

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detail

Sisters Trip 06

Here are some quilts that caught my eye at Sisters (omitting the teachers' section). I found the label attached to the hexagon quilt rather dispiriting. It had been made by a friend's mother-in-law who had died recently aged 103. The piecing and hand quilting were excellent. It was for sale for $450! I'm sure someone down the line will regret that decision. There was no room in my suitcase unfortunately but I hope loving hands rescued it.

One Block Wonder

Weaver Fever Pattern

Grandmother's Flower Garden

Sisters Trip 05

Thanks to connections made on the internet we were invited to join some ladies at Quilt Camp one late afternoon and evening. Each had a table in a large airy room with air conditioning with sofas in the corner to chill out on. The camp bit came in the form of rather spartan bedrooms and shared showers. We toured the room looking at the wide variety of projects, walked around the camp grounds and down to the lake and then enjoyed a lovely evening meal with a wide selection of dishes. I demonstrated split nine patch basket cases and then it was show and and tell time when projects completed since the previous year were admired and favourite gadgets explained. We took our departure refreshed and enlivened. Thank you quilt camp ladies and hope to meet up with Barb at FOQ.

Sisters Trip 04

We were really pleased that Alex Anderson brought the Quilt Show BOM,  designed by Sue Garman,to show after her talk. As this is a Usual Suspects project it was good to see the size and especially the quilting for ourselves. We are using batiks on white but I don't think mine will have such elaborate quilting.

I've subscibed to the Quilt Show since its inception and value all the information and tuition. I watch it a chapter at a time with my after lunch coffee.

http://www.thequiltshow.com/

Sisters Trip 03

On Thursday we went on the Home and Gardens tour, only the first three on our list as Judi and I had to get back to attend the Alex Anderson lecture. I enjoyed the settings and the quilts outside and inside and working out where as a quilter I would set out my sewing station. The first house won hands down; it had a separate cool and airy barn, the studio of the artist homeowner with a large room for a group to gather plus lots of storage facilities. The view was lovely too. On the garden front the irises at the second home shone out and this was a stunning building.

Bear in the garden

I must also include a photo of our own rental house from the outside and the sunset seen from the deck.

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Snail's Trail in the garden

Sisters Trip 02

Monday, the first full day in Sisters was a workshop day. I had a very enjoyable time in Judy Johnson's "Floral Remix" workshop which involved stacks of four repeating strips cut into four squares which were combined into blocks. Judy was a very thorough teacher who provided chunks of tuition throughout the day so the information was easy to absorb. I asked permission to take photos for my blog and from Judy's many varied examples have chosen a very tasteful monochromatic quilt. Class star was Deanna with sensational huge scale poppy and sunflower fabric. Her blocks looked very different. Much hilarity when the design board collapsed (mostly on me) and blocks flew everywhere. I had found it hard to track down a 24" repeat fabric and was not very keen on the pink lilies on an aubergine background but in a workshop setting ("across a crowded room") they made quite an impression. I've since sewn up the rest of my squares and together with some setting blocks they will make a useful sized quilt to sell or for a Linus teenager teenager quilt. I'd like to try this technique with some good taste fabric.

I can't resist a picture taken during our drive across the Cascades from Eugene. The lava fields took us by surprise.

Sisters Trip 01

I've recently returned from a trip with friend to Sisters, Oregon, to the Open Air Quilt Show there but first we stopped off in Pennsylvania to meet up with Internet Friends and be invited to joined a quilt group as international members (!) which involved singing our respective national anthems and partaking of pudding. We did the bulk of our holiday shopping in Amish and Mennonite quilt shops where the choice was wide and prices very reasonable. Sauders (see sign) was the best for bargains, Burkholders the best stocked (see shelves of bolts)and the Old Country Store (see frontage) the most attractive especially as it had a museum and display section upstairs.
I also include a picture of an Amish schoolhouse with outhouse.

Twists and Turns

Here are blocks made by workshop participants making their own projects.