Not a hung parliament . . .

. . .but a hung quilt. Here is my Twisted Sisters quilt at the Malvern Show in a prime end of aisle position. I was very lucky. One of my favourite quilts at the show can be seen behind it , behind the blue lone star. I went to the Show and very much enjoyed the quilts and confined my shopping to items on my list. I spent quite a lot though, mostly on wadding. I bought metres of Mountain Mist Cream Rose which I have been wanting to try for some time after seeing Ted Storm's  Spring of Desire  being hung at Paducah in 2009 for the exhibition of the 25 winners of the AQS Show.  http://www.tedstorm.eu/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58:spring-of-desire-2006&catid=36:quilt-gallery&Itemid=67
It just rippled down from the hanging rod. I asked her about the wadding and she said Cream Rose. Lady Sew and Sews were selling it at the show.

Valerie's masterpieces

I've haven't got round to photos from the last Usual Suspects meet  at Valerie's when she climbed her stairs and dangled her fantastic works in progress over the bannister. One is the Quilt Show BOM. She's used her own fabrics and colour choices for this and the work is just stunning and immaculate. Hopefully at the Oast Showcase 2013 we can all bathe in  reflected glory!

Samples Box

Still on aide memoires here are some of the contents of my samples box, mostly samples from workshops I have taken with tutors including Inger Milburn (seminole and Japanese folded), Jan Mullen(cut loosz) ,Nancy Brenan Daniel (working with strips) , Doreen Nicholson (Celtic)from all of whom I have learned a lot. Some are from sort of workshops (I don't consider myself a huge expert) I have done myself (working with strings and quilt as you go), partly because we are all called upon to do demonstrations etc for Quay Quilters. Needless to say I was looking for something which I had put in a safe place ready for my upcoming session with Oast. It seems despite attempts at organisation I spend time looking for stuff and also discovering stuff I'd forgotton I had like the Laurel Burch fabric in the samples box which will be useful if and when I get round to assembling my Laurel Burch swap blocks. This not the family archive box but a throw out from the archives department purchased for a small amount.

Hideaway

I've promised to do a split nine patch demo for the Oast Showcase the first weekend in June as I knew I already had handouts. http://oastquilters.co.uk/showcase/ I wasn't sure about samples as all the quilts I and others made in the workshops were given away to charity (check out the charity quilts album at http://community.webshots.com/user/quayquilter)- for prison babies - but I looked in the spare linen basket and when I got everything out I found lots of items I'd forgotton about - old Laura Ashley curtains in cotton soft with time and washing, woolly fabrics, sets of fat quarters sold as Turning Twenty kits though I have another purpose in mind and spare kitted up split 9-Patch quilts. It was like Doctor Who's Tardis. I took photos and when I review this year's blog I hope I'll be able to say I've dealt with some of the contents.
I have a set of drawers and in each one is a card with a list of the contents which makes all sorts of lesser used gadgets and thingies easier to locate and put away. I think I'll print a contacts page of my linen basket contents photos and place it on top as an aide memoire.

Wash Day

I made this throw from 16 leftover Twisted Sisters blocks made from Three Cats fabrics and added a border using pieced offcuts but I still had some fabric left so I kept on going which made it look rather odd. I added some ties in the outer borders using Shetland wool and show the before and after pictures. A hot wash felted them up into pleasing bobbles which shouldn't work loose. I'll now add buttons (red) and some applique. Gosh  - am I actually embellishing?? A rather dirty word in my quilty lexicon. No I'm securing the layers!

Anja Townrow speaks at Oast

At the Oast meeting yesterday Anja Townrow gave a very jolly talk. Her picture of the dedicated quilter ticked a lot of boxes with me. Guilty as charged! I think she sold lots of patterns afterwards and small quilts. Her workshop today should be good and I look forward to seeing the results but I'm at home. However I bought her big loss leader quilt and I love it. This is the second contemporary quilt I've bought and is not one I would ever make and certainly not one I would ever be able to quilt in metallic thread. I'm sure my daughter and granddaughter will admire it too so its future is assured. I hung it on my design stand to photograph and my husband passed it several times enroute to water his plants before registering its presence. "Oh is that your latest quilt?" I was touched but fought back temptation and explained I'd bought it with several provisos about fabric prices and cost of making etc. "It's a bit bright for me." I pointed how how daughter and granddaughter would also like it whereupon he brightened! The quilt is very much in Anja's individual style with lots of pointy pieces. It will be loved. I think it was the border effect that "spoke" to me. http://www.anjatownrow.com/

Mixed bags

It was the Oast meeting today and I took in nine bags for the Oast tombola which will be at our Quilt Show in June The ninth bag is a big one I used to put all the other bags in, a mixed bag haha! I shall have a bit more room in my house now.
http://oastquilters.co.uk/

Batik Mystery

The top I made to test and  illustrate a mystery project had been in the cupboard for a long time together with its backing so I got it out and quilted it simply in the ditch. Somewhat inadvertently it's to hang in our local quilt show here.

Basket case

Here is the photo of my people sample at Janet's workshop from the right side.


I have also been doing three each of two caramel and indigo basket blocks for a side swap in indigo and caramel with alternate backgrounds. I'm running out of fabric choices!

Janet Clare workshop 02

I drew a dog following a flexible pattern - Janet had made a whole quilt with the dog in different positions. I post photos of her work with her permission. The beautiful river scene is hers.
http://www.janetclare.co.uk
She was using a Pfaff Quilt Expression  4.0 and although I only tried  it for a few stitches I was very impressed and will investigate further.
At the close of the class we laid out our work to look at and admire. I particularly admired the one middle lefthand side, houses grouped round a pond done, I think, by Guild Rep, Sue, who organised our day.

Janet Clare workshop 01

I went to a very enjoyable workshop day taught by Janet Clare; the title was machine drawing and as you can see from my blog I'm a traditional piecer and patchworker and not very crafty I thought I would be well out of my comfort zone. Janet's approach was very calm and reassuring and before long we were writing our names, drawing faces, then people and combining it all with applique and various techniques. There was quite a lot of laughter. I felt the machine seemed to take on a life of its own and figures emerged which surprised me and ideas kept crowding in. The hall was lovely too with lots of light and an Arts & Crafts atmosphere and ladies had been making cakes!!
I realise I've photographed my figures from the wrong side and will do another one. The ballerina in variegated thread was sewn by my workshop neighbour, Alison, and was taken from Janet's website. She was much admired by visitors to our table under the large pointed window.

http://www.janetclare.co.uk/