FOQ 2017 FIVE: Two Person Quilts 01

This section is usually my second port of call because as well as creative collaborations it usually contains significant traditional pieces quilted by someone else, generally a professional longarmer.. This year three Oast members had quilts in this section and two of them were brilliantly custom quilted by a fourth member, Maggie Breakspear.
First up is friend Belinda Jeffries with her quilt pantographed by Mandy Parks of Cats' Whishers Quilting, another friend. Such clever friends!! The Abbey Lane pattern Belinda chose makes excellent use of the fat eighths of the unusual Carrie Blopmston fabrics bought in Houston.

Love the way block and sashing backgrounds meld

I like the manipulatiom of stripes

And a paler one to set off the strongly
coloured blocks

And this faric in sashing post stars sets off the
whole so well.

And next is Beverley Brawn's version of a Kim Maclean pattern. I like the selection of backgrounds she has used rather than the white of the original and Maggie has paid individual attention to the quilting of each block.

Finally Tansy Martin;s "Find the Frog", her rendering of Stonefield pattern. Three other friends have been making this quilt so I have had the chance to admire the many delicate details and quirky aspects of the blocks. Truly a tour de force! Custom quilted by Maggie Breakspear.

Textile Traders

I am having a short cottage holiday in Shropshire which is so beautiful and so empty; driving is a real pleasure. Although towns are small and few and far between I managed to beat a path despite a gammy leg to  a special shop Textile traders and made some special purchases of ikat fabric though I was planning to buy batiks. I also got a richly coloured silk scarf..

FOQ 17 FOUR: Traditional 02

Linda Forey: Diamonds Last Forever
Judge's Choice

Detail: brilliant manipulation of stripes

Dawn Monk: My Butterfly Garden
I met the maker of thisone; she said she started out out determined not to fussy cut but
succumbed to the butterflies and blossoms to the point of unpicking her earlier work.
A favourite

Detail

Valerie Huggins: Seed Packet
Simple piecing letting the fabric do the work. An idea I like and have just spotted the
large pink lily bottom row which was the focus of one of my quilts.

Barbara Doyle Davidson: Arrowheads
I've always liked this pattern since making a block for my first Quay Quillters' Sampler piece.

Elizabeth Johnston: Shades of Colour
I like the way this isn't quite Bargello with the use of alternate wide and
narrow  gradations of strips.

Detail: batik textures work well here

Anne Marshall: Pink Roads (detail)
Block design noted..

A quick quilt to celebrate a collection of fabric, here Tula Pink's Tabby Roads

FOQ17 THREE Traditional 01

On arrival I always walk round the traditional section paying attention to each one and walk these aisles when it's time to leave. This time I had a class last thing so a quick glance was all I had time for. Here is my selection chosen for purely personal reasons.

Simone Steuxner: My Heart Is Swedish
I love the intense blue background on this one- food for thought!

Pippa Moss: Lei Moni - Lei of Pearls
Pippa Moss is a name I always look out for. I'm impressed by how she can manage
 to cut and applique such a large single piece and the patience to take two years
to complete a quilt of this nature.

Melinda Barry: Bangkok and Blean
Melinda is a fellow member of Quay Quilters. It is for her daughter who was born in Thailand
but grew up in Blean near Canterbury. Appropriately it is made from Thai silk using a
traditional English strippy format cable quilting patterns.

Jean Duncan Farr: Slow Dance, one of several others in the show based on
Willyne Hammerstein's "Millefiori Quilts" book. I'm not surprised makers decide to
show them once completed.

detail

Verity Seago: Merbreeze
I thought this had a very individual original look to it and the snails trail/waves border is
definitely an idea to file for future use.

FOQ2017 TWO

Dining with friends, husband on my left and wearing a teal cardie

Gloating over my purchases

Manx log cabin with Sheila daughtree

Gai Taylor's wonderful wool felt applique sample

Felt hexagon pincushion with Gillian Travis, very clever!

FOQ2017 ONE

The doors open

It's that time of year again when quilters gather at the NEC fr the wonderful Festival of quilts. This year I had just two days whereas usually I spend the best part of three there but I am very happy all the same with what I saw, did and spent! .
On the seeing side I found I had left my catalogue with descriptions of quilts back at the hotel but this turned out to be an advantage as I just looked at the label with the maker's name and quilt title which was enough and stopped me wasting time and clogging my brain with all the descriptions. I've noted the numbers of the ones I've photographed so I will look up the descriptions of those.
I did five one hour workshops, a chance to sit down and also to encounter teachers who might come to our quilt groups as well as sample different techniques.
My spending was fairly focussed. I had a list of items to get and of shops to visit and didn't veer too wildly off the beaten track. My one extravagance of Carolyn Friedlander cotton/linen print I regret not at all.
I find it hard to select a favourite quilt but the one that has set me off on a copyist's track is from the modern section, La Passacaglia Goes Large by Dorothy Hill. I need to set about acquiring templates or having them made. I should like to hand piece rather than EPP.

Just one of the Passacaglia "wheels" on a double bed sized scale

The Viewers' favorite was different from the usual pretty large applique type exercise of delicate needlewoman skill: a pictorial quilt depicting an elephant prominent near the entrance/exit.and with a hint of cuteness.

I don't know who made it but they must be very pleased!

Judi's Birthday Quilt

This is the stunning quilt Judi made for my big birthday, modern and masses of her clever quilting and favoured colours. Just what the doctor ordered! The design is based on  worksheets drawn up by Heather Hasthorpe for the Modern Quilt Group of the Quilters' Guild.  Now the Milestone is off the spare room floor I can photograph it.

On the bed

Milestone

Today I just completed the two inner border strips on the quilt from Jackie Taylor's Civil War pattern we Bonnies have been working on. It's been an absolute delight. Thank you Fran for choosing it. The pattern is for rotary cutting and although we use cutter, mat and ruler we forgo them for these projects and work from card templates. The trickiest bit about the border was partial-piecing the corners.
I have yet to add a single fabric frame and then I plan to have a final pieced flying geese border.

Corner

Little People Day

On Friday, Judi Kirk and I ran a Little People workshop for our area of ther Quilters Guild; we had a practically full house of 19 people with one absentee who had been called away to do baby sitting in Wales.
Our source was Kleine Meisje Quilts and a transatlantic swap Judi and I did in 2012.

Judi helping out

Population Growth

Barn Owls Quilt Show, Whitstable

I enjoyed a walk round Whitstable and for once remembered to unpack my camera from the day before to take pictures at the Barn Owls show where I spent almost as much time chatting as taking in the quilts but I did go round twice.

Here are two by Joy Smith, Bali Sea Star quilted by Maggie Breakspear and French Connection quilted by the Bramble Patch. Sylvia Bowman started Woven Blocks in a Carolyn Forster workshop. I've seen this pattern in a magazine and I would like to do it too. I was in Jan Hassard's Dazzling Diamonds workshop but unlike Celia Stockbridge never completed the quilt and used some of the fabrics elsewhere. My favourite though was the understated hard to photograph Chambray Churndash by Joan Hinns qulted by Maggie and which came as a cut out out kit. I did ask about posting pictures and was given the OK.

Joan Hinns: Chambray Churn Dash

Detail

Bali Sea Star by Joy Smith and quilted by Maggie of Priory Lane Quilting

French Connection also by Joy Smith and quilted by The Bramble Patch

Sylvia Bowman's Woven  Blocks from a Carolyn Forster Workshop

Tombola bag I sadly didn't win!

Dazzling Diamonds by Celia Stockbridge from a Jan Hassard workshop, a great quilt
and a great teacher.

Block 39: Pinwheel Star

Blocks from Row 10

This is another one from Jackie Taylor's Civil War quilt.