And the winner is....

Two weeks ago we traveled to the Uttoxeter Quilt Show as DS won first prize in the children's category.

It is hard to get his photo taken now so he got caught!

I don't buy many Quilting magazines anymore but if you see him in one could you let me know so I can buy the magazine. There seemed to be a professional photographer taking photos.

A very proud mum x

Dyeing with flowers and cabbage

I found my photos and now Blogger seems to be behaving!A few weeks ago now someone gave me some dead daffodils and some dead hyacinths. I was sure that I could get some colour from them so I wrapped them in some pre-mordanted cotton.

Each stem was wrapped round the cloth.

Finally it all was tied up with string.

It had only been in the pan a few minutes when colour started to come through.

I have also been using red cabbage. Don't you just love the colours and textures when you cut it in half.

I again wrapped some pre-mordanted cotton round a stick found on the beach last Summer and popped it into a pan. I left the cabbage chunks in the water rather than sieving them out to see if it gave me any extra texture.

You can just about see the bundle in the middle of this picture.

At the end, a beautiful blue package to unwrap.

This didn't give me as much texture as I had hoped for. I am now stitching into this cloth. No photos of it yet though.

Blogger has lost my photos

I'm still here. Life is pretty hectic and blogging seems to have taken a back seat!! I am going to endeavor to show you what I have been up to though! As you will see by the heading I did have photos but all but one have vanished without trace.

My mums group have been experimenting with fabric paints and stencils. They did really well as we only had very thin paper for our stencils. Last week they learnt how to do half square triangles ready for a bag.

OK, well I was going to share some natural dyeing photos next but these are the ones that have vanished. I have been using daffodils, turmeric, logwood, red cabbage and dead hyacinth  flowers. Off to ask DH if he knows what Blogger could have done to the photos. Back soon x

Dundee the journey home

This post is a bit photo heavy but I promised to share the train journey home from Dundee. This was taken from the train going over the bridge on the Tay estuary.

 The bridge is very long and curves round. It was a really hot day and the train heaters were on!

 I am always on the look out for lines and this field covered in plastic grabbed my attention.

 With my very poor geographic knowledge I have no idea where I was expect for between Dundee and Newcastle but the train line was right on the coast for some of the journey.

 This was through the train window which is why things look a little hazy.

This was just going onto the Forth Rail Bridge. I remember seeing a Blue Peter presenter painting this many years ago, now I am informed that the red paint lasts for twenty five years.

Love the views but have not idea where this is.

As the train pulled into Newcastle it was just getting dusky. The train lights came on so I was unable to take any more photos due to the reflections. I then got out my knitting for the rest of the journey.

I have been doing a lot of natural dyeing in the past few weeks as well. I have lots of photos to share soon.

Angela x

Dundee 2012

It seems like months ago now that I traveled up to Dundee for the Quilters Guild AGM and Conference but I haven't blogged about it. It was at the Caird Hall, a fantastic old building that was right in the center of Dundee and a very short walk from the hotel.

This is my last year at the Young Quilters Officer so I was still able to work with the young people who always amaze me with their skill and creativity. On Friday of conference some 14-15 year old girls joined us for a workshop on stitched book covers from a local school.

This  quilt below won first prize in the 10 and under category.I loved the Koala bears that had been printed onto fabric.

Room with a view in the fog! My hotel room did have a stunning view over the Tay road bridge and river but the last morning it was covered in fog so you can't appreciate the view!!

On Saturday after all the workshops had finished I went off to explore Dundee. This statue in the main shopping area was of characters from The Beano, I think this is Desperate Dan.

I was anxious to look round the McManus gallery and Museum and it contained the most amazing, diverse and eclectic mix of things. There was also a coffee shop for afterwards!

There were some displays with artifacts from the 60's and 70's. I remember my mum making these dolls to cover a toilet roll.

This piece of indigo dyed cloth was from the early 20th Century by the Igbo people. It was usually worn as a wrap but could also be used as a wall hanging to indicate the inner sanctum of a lodge. The repeated triangular motif symbolises the spirit of the leopard. The blue was just fantastic but doesn't show up well as the photo was taken without the flash on through glass

As the Conference was in Scotland it started and ended with a traditional Scottish Piper.
 Next year it will be in Nottingham so only a 90 minute journey for me!

Studio Open Day

Yesterday was the studio open day. I had good intentions of blogging last night but collapsed in a heap. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped me and visited me during the course of the day and gave me lots of gifts. I was so touched and really wasn't expecting it.  It was so lovely to see so many friends and to meet some new blog friends as well.

I had lots of cards, you can see the wonderful plant given to me by Lynn and just see the Easter cakes made by Ann.

As I love natural dyeing I did a mini display to share the passion. The piece on the right is stitched with pieces dyed from Logwood and daffodil. In the jars I had daffodil heads, onion skins, rose hips, Logwood chips and marigold flowers. Debbie who visited gave me some madder root to play with. She took lots of photos and has fantastic photographs on her blog here.

The fabric on the left is about two Indigo dyeing days that I will be doing at the studio. I have already filled some places but have spaces on both days - 7th July and 8th September. Please contact me if you would like more information. They will be on the website soon. I am planning lots of exciting things in the studio and will be updating the website really soon (OK DH will be updating the website but the ideas and stitching are all mine)

This is Trudi who blogs as Quilt Prolifically setting up the quilting frame before everyone arrived.

It is very rare that I have my photo taken but Jackie sent me this one (so I thought I would post it). I would love to say I am on the left but that is Rebecca who is already very talented at 17. I am on the right!

Jackie gave me this wonderful sign she has made for the door. It does say open on the reverse but at the end of the day the studio was "closed". I was a very tired but happy bunny!

Now I am going to sit and enjoy these. Whatever you are doing I hope you have a peaceful Easter day.

Studio Open Day - invitation

You are invited to the opening of Fenland Textile Studio

Time - 10am - 4pm
Date -  Saturday 7th April 2012
Venue - Unique Cottage Studios, Fulney Lane South, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE12 6FA
Dress - informal (no dyeing today)


Demonstrations - the talented Trudi of Quilt Prolifically blog showing machine quilting on a frame, Tina of Sweetpie50 blog demonstrating hand quilting and embellishing and Carol will be doing some interesting wooly things

Come and join us for tea/coffee, cake and creative chat.


See you on Saturday x