On and off the bed

 

Currently on the bed, a Kaffe Collective favourite.

The Feathered Star came out well but this quilt
is not a favourite

Made quilt as you go

This is a lovely British vintage quilt with lots of beautiful hand quilting.

Busy Busy Busy

 I have been sewing away but not taking many pictures it seems.

These are completed rows of my
Zen Chic "Fragmental Quilt"
made from the Zen Chic "Olive You"
and "Even More Paper" collections
which I couldn't resist.

There are only 36 six inch blocks but the quilt will end up 82" square
thanks to 5" sashing and 10" borders. Maggie will quilt it for me.

I was happy with the quilting in the
end. Simple can be the right option.
I enjoyed hand sewing the binding
in front of the TV.

Mirrored Mountains being held up at Oast.

And here is "Warm and Woolly" made from Woollies flannels looking especially good thanks to Maggie;s long arm quilting.

July

 Six of us met at Chartham Hatch to sew and share progress. I spray basted two quilts. The Mirrored Mountains one I need to do promptly as it's the chief sample for my Oast Quilters' "corner" (15 minute  demonstration) later this month.

Sandra asked for advice about bordering her lovely hand pieced stars.

Detail

Wimbledon is a bit of a distraction and trying to follow tennis whilst quilting probably means I don't do either job properly. 

Flannels are quite tricky and I'm a bit depressed about the quilting but I hope I feel better once it's not right in my face. I would have liked a Woolies binding but made do with a non flannel one in my stash as I didn't have and Woolie in the rust colour I wanted..

The backing proved very scant and I had to add trimmings to a couple of corners to eke it out.

On the go

 My quilting has been going in various directions.

Our 3 member Queen Beez quilt top is nearly done, just two seams to go. It's been such enjoyable straightforward scrappy sewing.

It's a Jen Kingwell pattern for hand piecing. we foundation pieced onto very fine bonded vilene.

Our Quay Quilters show is coming up in October and I've been making things for the sale table and the bag tombola.

Zip Pouch

One of several sewing machine tidies; these
are useful for workshops. Kaffe Fasset fabric.

Our holiday in Sussex is coming to a close but I brought an old quilt to put on the bed and photographed it outside. It was made with fabric designed by AIDS campaigner Mary  Fisher and demonstrates various simple rotary fussy cutting effects. It's hand quilted fishing net style and my technique has deteriorated since.

Ashamed that it doesn't have a label so that's a to do job. It's 15 years + old.

We visited Bignor Roman Villa and admired the simpler mosaic pattern in the "corridor".

Gone but not forgotten

I've just given this longish ago Checkerboard quilt to the girl who comes and cleans for me once a fortnight as she's just got married.  There were lovely wedding pictures.  As usual it was given no strings attached but I think it will prove useful on the arm or back of a sofa.

It is made from Cherrywood fabrics and it was a bit of a wrench to lose it but I thought it was better out in the world rather than occasional use in my home.

Last from the retreat

Colette was piecing this - lots of novelty fabrics

Sue was making this by request.

Debbie's from African wax prints

Detail of Colette's hexagons

Chris's minus border

Julie's beautiful Show & Tell

 

More from the retreat

 Yvette, a Linus organiser, was making Linus quilts to show what can be made from 5" squares.

Pink Hearts

Double Carpenter's star

She had other Linus projects too . . 

Made with stripes bordered on
two sides to make squares

This super one suitable for a boy was a made using a technique suggested by Heather.

Heather herself came to visit and show us her completed Jen Kingswell "Wensleydale" quilt.

Wensleydale

One of our members has sadly died fairly suddenly leaving tens of fabric collection packs to make children's quilts for a local charity. I have got one to make at home but others got to work on the retreat itself.

Simple but effective

This one makes good use of the fabric

Quilt a lot of sewing needed here

Great DNP

More squares

Retreating at the Ivy House Country Hotel Lowestoft

 Ivy House Country Hotel

We had a lovely time here in large rooms, workspace, brilliant food and best of all a country location at the end of an unmade rooad and the Angle Path and great walks at the edge of the grounds.

Passed these when I turn left walking to the Carlton Marshes Visitor Centre.

This was turning right along Oulton Broad to Lowestoft
outskirts.

We liked the fact we had room to sew but also could be near each other in the workroom. 

View from my sewing station/  

The others all had SewEzi tables but knowing I only had a single table I had "kitted up" my projects which also meant I got a lot done and came away with a sense of achievement and three quilt tops done.

Mirrored Mountains, demonstrated on Missouri Star.
A  Bonnie Sullivan Pattern made in her Woolies flannels by Maywood Studio

Cosmo quilt patterned by Brigitte Heitland and using her "Olive You" and "Still More
Paper" collections.

Made from swapped ninepatches scraps collected over the
years sewn using an old technique popularised in Karen Hellaby's
"Simple Pineapples" book.

Just a reminder of my previous "Africana" Cosmo taken to Bind in Madeira.

Africana Cosmo

Finally I got the borders, sashing and posts cut for my Fragmental quilt and sewed a few more blocks. I am making it bigger to finish at 81" square but there will be only 36 six inch blocks to make and then join with wide sashing and borders. Lots of pretty background fabric. 

Progress

 I am making progress with Mirrored Mountains see previous post for source. Can you see the accidental mistake?

Now all the blocks are done and joining them will be my first job on retreat starting tomorrow.

Meanwhile on the bed is quite a technical sampler on account of the feathered star centre. The fabrics are nice too but I don't really like it. I don't think I like the harsh contast between blue and white. However I did enjoy making it and the different blocks alongside Bonnie Quilters. It does have a price tag on it from the last Arts & Crafts Show and I will have a second selling attempt at Quay and the 2025 Arts & Crafts in November.

In the sewing room I am prepping samples for an Oast Corner all based on cutting strips from sewn units and rearranging them starting with Mirrored Mountains and now "Navaho" piecing taken from an article by Dawn Pavitt in an an old Quilters' Newsletter

(June 96)

60 degree triangle unit

Cut up strips, not yet sewn

And this is how Mirrored Mountain blocks were sewn, here with Bonnie Sullivan's extra of a snowballed centre.

Two mirror imaged HSTs

The left hand one cut up

Lefthand one rearranged

Right hand one cut up and rearranged

Completed

Snowballing corners

Corners pressed one back, one down

Sewn half block unit: two make the block.