So tidy

At Usual Suspects this week Valerie and I followed Tracy's very clear instructions for an armchair tidy and I've finished mine. Very effective and very easy and now I won't be sticking pins in the chair arm and feeling around for lost scissors. I may make the deep pocket version for the remotes. These would go on my husband's chair!

Group Life

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I've met up with all three house groups I belong to in the past five days. First Bonnie Quilters had a fun time dividing up a roll of wadding between us. Buying it like this makes for much fewer creases than in packet form.
Next was Crab & Winkle where I didn't take any photos as we'd just had our show so not much new to see. Today was the Usual Suspects at Tracy's and this was a nice spot to drink our morning coffee and tea. Later, though, two of us started on armchair cosies under Tracy's direction. But we were one person missing. We should all get together next Friday, though, to go to the National Patchwork Championships at Sandown.

Time for elevenses

Carol's quilt

To Faversham today to help Carol with her quilts. Her first top was on the bed. She's very good with colours and when this comes back from the longarmer it should be a really good first effort. We spent the rest of our time cutting strips for the next project - twins and double Trips Around the World with super fabrics bought in New York.

On going

Bryn's blocks

I've made 35 blocks for Bryn's quilt - very subdued and masculine. I intend to add small brighter triangles to the corners but haven't auditioned the fabric choices for these yet.

Cherrywood Blocks

As I'm meeting up with the Usual Suspects on Tuesday and our charity group project is dragging on a bit. I thought I should make a concerted effort to move it along. It's constructed quilt as you go so I'm about to sit down and catch down the back joining pieces.
On another note we went to the Turner Gallery in Margate today and saw the Tracy Emin exhibition and for two days only a huge image of the queen made up of lots of smaller images, a technique I've seen used for quilts. This had attracted masses of visitors and even coach parties but the crowd parted briefly so I took my snap.

Her Majesty

Turner Gallery, Margate with Oympic Festival logo.

Dresden Plate

Four of us decided to give the Dresden plate pattern a go. I drafted my circles using a  compass and the wedges with a protractor then a pin tin lid for the the outer curves. I made templates from heat resistant templar, used them to cut the sections with a seam allowance  and then  pressed the top and bottom curves over the templar. I machined the straight seams and appliqued the curves. Much easier than I thought and it's just right for my rocking chair. The wedge fabrics were poached from 6" squares which were part of a Civil War swap.

Hand quilted

Start Up

I've put the Quilt Show stuff away and I'm now embarking on my grandson's quilt, a more grown up one as he'll be entering secondary school this year. It's going to be strips cut from shirtings. I've more to do and in this picturethey don't look too promising but I hope the sum is greater than the parts.

Quilt Show

The show was a great success and much enjoyed by the group - I'll include more photos from time to time now the excitement has calmed down. Here are the Visitors' choices: Maggie's medieval alphabet based on the book by Eileen Campbell came top both days but on the second day tied with Melanie's "Hearts & Flowers" quilt seen here draped on a chair so Maggie ceded the voucher to her.

General view

Through the window - cricket.

Quilts for sale

Maggie's Medieval Alphabet Quilt

Melanie's "Hearts & Flowers" quilt.

Crab & Winkle Line Quilt Show

We've been setting up our quilt today - all six of us but we wouldn't have managed so well without  "the boys". They were great and one of them is mine!

Changing the bed

Changed the bed today and for the first time this year was able to dry everything on the line and put it back on. It will smell lovely and fresh tonight. The summer duvet has gone on too and this 1998 quilt which is still a favourite, designed by Sara Nephew.

Finishing up

Delicious!

We enjoyed a very tasty barbecue at my daughter's today. She manages to do chicken which is cooked through but not burnt and tender and soft inside not hard . We always have quite a wait though and made sure we had coffee and cake for elevenses before setting out so I was glad to have sewing with me. I finished stitching down the binding on my sewing machine tidy (the keyboard doubles for the machine in my photo). I started this more than a year ago. I also sewed down the binding on bag number three. I've already handed over number two minus photo - I'll try and take one at the show. And when I got home in time to watch another Swedish show with a lugubrious hero I finally finished hand quilting V's block as well as my own so it was a finishing up bits and pieces day.

Quay Quilters' group quilt blocks

Bag number 3, my favourite

Sewing tidy

Our show looms

This was the cake we shared at the last Crab& Winkle meeting before we set up our Quilt Show next Friday. It was my birthday and this followed a lovely lunch and country sorti with my husband. Lunch with my children to morrow and the weather continues sunny and bright so this is a good time.

Lunch was at the Marquis in the village of Alkham between Canterbury and Dover and the sweet was creme brulee with Hazelnut ice cream.




At our meeting we saw the latest quilt Maggie has quilted on her Gammill - this one is for her.

I added a zipped pocket and covered the seams.

For myself on retreat I got out a strippy quilt I took the last time but on laying it out it became clear that it needed some work - some of the strips were puffy. I went to bed very demoralised that night the more so as the others were doing such beautiful work but Judi very kindly did a long line of unpicking for me. I shall do more and think a steady speed using the Pfaff plus some measuring might be the answer. I shall definitely persevere as the parts are good and the unlikely combination of fabrics works well. Now I know why I choose not to join more than one seam from side to side of my quilts but sew blocks into bigger blocks. No pictures yet nor of the workshop tulip quilt I made a start on. Since coming home I've finished the bag I had started while away and I also completed the Patchwork in Perspective cushion taught by Lynne Edwards in 2002! This was quite fiddly but the colours will look good on my sofa.

Patchwork in perspective cushion top.

Retreating

I and eight others have been on a quilt retreat. It turned out well. I knew everyone and those who hadn't met before forged new independent friendships and connections and we're going again next year. Visits to local quilt shops helped as did being catered for.

Belinda's quilt show BOM taking shape

Isabel's project

Valerie's bag with lots of pockets

Maggie's quilt in the making

Another day

General view

The stage

My mystery pattern made by Ros Martin

another quilt show. . .












I was very pleased to see a mystery quilt I patterned some years ago in different sizes. This is the smallest one made by Ros Martin.

My "Visitor's Choice" was hexagons started many years ago by Joyce Ovenden and finished recently by Jean Higgins. It's scrappy and it works!

Tulips

The hexagons have been made in a relatively short period of time by Mavis. She is copying the complex layout of a large antique quilt and has completed this centre section. This one is for her own bed.

On a smaller scale these are two blocks for Quay Quilters' charity quilt next year. I've hand quilted mine on the right and have just embarked on quilting Vanessa's on the left. Vanessa does superb machine quilting but is not happy tackling it by hand.

Tweet! Tweet!

I have been posting so much work made by others lately I need to point out I have managed a finish - a quilt started in a workshop with Bethany Reynolds, Paducah 2009. It's a kaleidoscope stack and whack. Although the fabric has large shapes the repeat is only 6" so there isn't much variation. It was fun to do though.

I was going to call the quilt Tweet! Tweet! but it's now "April Rise" after the poem of that name by Laurie Lee and the label includes a line from it about the swishing of birds' wings in the branches.

Lunch date

Those of us going on quilt retreat next week met at my house for lunch. We showed and told. I have to make a label for Judi's baby quilt: "Made with love by an Uvulati quilter". Nancy of  http://nancynearphiladelphia.blogspot.co.uk/ pointed out I hadn't included my membership of this transatlantic group on my sidebar, an omission I speedily rectified. Belinda is getting on well with her projects and actually finished the binding on her white stars quilt that day.

Finished on the day

Judi's challenge A4 piece

Judi's charity quilt

The spiderwebs have a lovely border

Dear Jane Day

Sally with a small quilt

Today I attended a "Dear Jane" workshop where we learnt techniques to aid us in making the 4.5" blocks that originate in a 1863 quilt made "in time of war" by Jane Stickle. We tackled some complex piecing and techniques new to many of us. Sally brought her own wonderful version of the quilt but also lots of vintage blocks and other items to show us - very in depth in terms of information and techniques. I asked if I could post pictures on my blog.
It was good to hand piece for a change but we still managed to take up lots of space even though we didn't have our machines with us.

Sally Stott's "Dear Jane"

Vintage blocks

One of our projects

Another project for the day

The first task of the day

Class work