Bonnies' borders

Bonnie Quilters got together last week after a long break and compared churn dash borders. Mine can be seen in an earlier post..

Trish's

Mavis's



Fran's

Next one to do:Trish's sample

Border placement: aide memoire

Fran is making two and this is her second one

Arlington Court

I've enjoyed a lovely morning and lunchtime wandering round Ilfracombe but later in the afternoon decided to get in the car and make for Arlington Court, a National Trust property in a most remote and beautiful spot. It was the home of the Chichester family until 1949 when the unmarried daughter of the house left it to the National Trust.
I was pleased on my tour of the house to see two patchwork quilts. Earlier in the day I saw a small crazy quilt in a pram at the museum. My children were pushed in just such a pram. Meanwhile an exhibition at the theatre displayed textile pieces by Sandy Campbell,


Textile piece by Sandy Campbell

1890 quilt made locally. The silks are disintegrating.
Some fabrics date from a century before.

Quilt made by Mrs Page in the early 20th century

Fragile silks



Fussy cutting

Last meeting of the summer term

Last Wednesday we presented the prizes from our show and learnt we have collected just over £2700 for the Admiral Nurses charity. These wonderful people support the carers of those with alzheimers and dementia. Quite a few people connected with the charity including one of the nurses came to our show. Our raffle quilt raised more than £1300 of this and it went to a non quilter who came back specially for the draw at the end and was virtually in tears when her ticket came out of the packed drum.

detail of Helen's quilt

Helen's last quilt quilted by Vanessa

another detail

measurements

Our 2011 show was in support of the Pilgrims' Hospice who had greatly helped Helen Appleby, one of our members. At this show we displayed Helen's last quilt top quilted and finished by Vanessa. At our meeting we decided to give it to the hospice for fundraising or to use as they think fit.

Young Quilter

A certain young person came to stay this weekend without her older brother for the first time. She declared she wanted to sew so she made a bag, designing the applique and placement of the fussy cut butterflies all by herself and though only six did all the pressing and sewing. I did most of the cutting (note to self:  buy some lefthanded paper and sewing scissors for next time).

QQ Show

This time last week it was a full day at the Quay Quilters' Show, including an evening session. I'm still recovering but it was fun and we enjoyed meeting all our visitors and spending extended time together. I was the "judge" though it's not taken too seriously and the idea is to simply share our work. However here are the ones I chose. One criteria was size!!

Mavis's pink hexagons won a third prize rosette. Mags' quilt on the right
is edged by tiny prairie triangles.

Trish's Stars, second prize, and a Katharine
Guerrier design.

Ruby's first prize quilt based on one in Karla Alexander's
Stack the Deck Revisited

Vanessa's superb quilt made from shirtings with cleverly  manipulated
stripes and unbelievable FMQ on a domestic machine.

End of Term

Well not literally but it feels like that after a non-stop week of our group quilt show, an Oast meeting, meeting to plan Houston classes and today an Oast workshop with Janet Clare. She gave an excellent talk on Saturday and the workshop today was just as good. after a failed first attempt a few months ago I didn't try FMQ on my Pfaff but I made myself get to grips with the instruction book before the class and set it up. Janet has the same machine and reassuringly confirmed all was well AND told me I could wind the bobbin without unthreading the needle - alone worth the class fee. The results of the day were various and we had fun. Now I can slowly sort things out and start to join the U3A autumn quilt QAYG. Here are pictures of practice pieces I made today.

Faces

Houses

House and washing line

Then

and now

On the line

From the back

I have been getting ready for the Quay Quilters' Shpw next week, sewing on hanging sleeves and sorting quilts. I have submitted rather too many but am happy to bring some home again if they are not needed. Today I washed the sampler quilt to get rid of markings and also an older crazy block quilt I made for my daughter which has come home for washing and minor repairs. This latter is not for the quilt show. Yesterday I went to the last day of the Kaffe Fassett Show at the London Fashion and Textile Museum, a feast for the eyes. I enjoyed seeing his paintings especially and  also the knitwear.

In the afternoon we visited the Lowry Show at the Tate, a trip down memory lane as we went to the 1966 Lowry Tate exhibition before we married and as a teenager I visited Salford Museum & Art Gallery on numerous occasions.
.

In time for the Quay Quilters' Show

77" square

"These are my Quay Quilters’ beginner sampler blocks finally assembled after nearly 20 years. As I made it I thought of the dear group members, Ruby, Doreen, Diana, Joyce, and Pauline who taught the various blocks and techniques." This will be the text on the label.

Back in the swing

Charity quilts washed, ironed and out to dry!

I'm getting back into the flow again. I've finished the extra quilting  on the charity quilts so they are now stowed away. On Saturday I went to the Sandown Show which wasn't very busy  but was all the more enjoyable for that.

I was pleased to see this quilt by Jackie Cook
which I had seen in the making on a quilt retreat.

This one by my friend, Maggie Kingston, uses
African fabrics and has been longarm quilted by her.

Detail of Maggie's quilt with
hand appliqued elephants, trees and
jolly tails.

I've noted this useful setting before
but it's good to be reminded.



I've long admired the work of Ruth McDowall in books so was thrilled
to see one in real life. (From a private collection and funded by compensation
payout after a bad car accident.)
 

Blue strippy

Sitting in the garden I finished sewing down the binding of the fourth of the five quiltlets I brought with me. This blue coins quilt was the favourite of the class.

Holiday Sewing

For and with the U3A I made several little Quilt as You Go quilts. I attached the bindings before I left and I have gradually been sewing them down, often in the evenings listening to Radio Four on the laptop or out in the garden, perhaps while watching an episode of the Quilt Show as I need to catch up with these. I photographed these alfresco. I will add a touch of machine quilting when I go home.

I

That was a surprise

We stopped for coffee and a short walk along the Meuse o near Karlsruhe.n our way to our houseswap destination. As I emerged from the car park toilets in Sierk-les-Bains what did I see but a Patchwork Exposition sign. It was small scale which was just as well as I had just two minutes to dash round and take pictures but the quilts were very nice.


The sign

Exhibition space

Log Cabin hourglasses



Optical illusions

Spools from strips

My quilts at the show

P