Stitching for Texture

Today I spent an enjoyable yet very productive day with the ladies of Country Roads Quilt Group. They worked so hard to make up lots of stitched samples which were then made up into a book.

Lots of concentrating, especially from Lis. She has written about the workshop on her blog here.

Some ladies worked in the dining room, others in the conservatory.

Thank you Christina for hosting the workshop and including the partially dressed young man and Thomas the spaniel.

I am teaching this again at the studio in Spalding on June 16th and July 28th, limited places on both workshops now so contact me for more information.

Happiness is parcels in the post

When I was sitting at home feeling sorry for myself lots of goodies arrives in the post. Can you guess what this is?

In a huge box from ASding came 30 yards of 80/20 wadding. I had got to the point of having none in the house and will be needing quite a lot for my C&G quilt. I got this with a couple of friends and I couldn't believe how much cheaper it was for us. If you have got friends to share costs with contact ASding. They were just so helpful, it came the day after I phoned them and no postage costs. You also get the bonus of lots of giggles when you open it out of the bag and it expands and the challenge of keeping count when you measure it out. Good job Sweetypie had a big room to do it in.

Another company equally worthy of a mention is Kemtex. They give out so much information over the phone and again the package arrived really swiftly. These jars contain Kemtex easidye acid dyes for wool. Lovely eye candy..

Andrea from Indigo Blue sent me an ATC in preparation for the ATC swap I have joined. She used gorgeous sheers, sequins and beads. I have this hanging in my sewing room.
Finally I had to order more of this -

So I could finish this.

It's not a great photo as DS was holding it up and trying not to giggle. I'll try and get a better one. I have built up a tradition of making my nephews and nieces a quilt for their first birthday so this is Sean's first quilt. We are all off to see him soon, I am sure he will have changed so much as as I haven't seen him since Christmas. This was originally a spilt nine patch design but then I realised that if I wanted to get all the stripes going the same way it was easier just to piece it. It did come together quickly though and for once I will not need to stay up all night finishing something. Even the label is done.

I'd rather be stitching

Its been a busy 24 hours. Last night I went for a Chinese with an old friend. Fantastic company but not great food. The local Chinese we went to has changed so much, instead of table cloths, linen napkins and Chinese crockery we had blank tables, paper napkins and a buffet that only had two veggie things I could eat (except for rice and seaweed). There was not a chop stick in sight with only knives and forks in baskets. Today was very different with fantastic food and company due to the Expedition Quilt Art girls. Tonight, well I felt very old! My teaching assistant whom I worked with had a 30th birthday party. It was good to catch up with old friends but I found it hard to shout at everyone which you had to do above the noise (sorry music). I did feel old beyond my forty years as I would rather have been home doing this, and this,
and this,
I was home by 10pm which surprised DH. This mini quilt is for the Expedition Quilt Art challenge, lots of other wonderful people have completed their challenge - not me. Well it is finished and is sitting in the dye bath, just got to wash and dry before revealing photos hopefully tomorrow on their blog.

Fabric Fusion

This is the finished piece for my friend I have been working on. It's now with the proud owner and hanging on her wall. I'm not sure if I said before but one of the workshops I teach is a six day course covering different dyeing techniques, printing, stamping, paint sticks etc etc. At the end some students decided to trade work so the fabric has been "created" by lots of different ladies. The owner of this is just about to go and have a major back op so I have made it as a kind of gift. Her brief was to make it look like it had been thrown at the wall, nothing too formal. This photo doesn't show up all the detail but I used hand and machine stitching with different binding techniques.

These beads were from some curtain fringing.

Blanket stitch with beads attached.

Ferret workshop

This is the outcome of the workshop last weekend. It was one of the most relaxing I have been to, I learnt such a lot though. It was a great day with lovely people to chat to as well. I am quite pleased with the machine quilting although its hard to see on this photo. My machine quilting gets to a point when I think its not bad then I don't do any for ages.

Since seeing Philippa Naylors quilts I have decided that I must improve my machine quilting. I forgot to mention last time that I bought Philippa's book, Quilting in the Limelight at her workshop. It is the story of Philippas life in quilting alongside lots of techniques. The photos are stunning, perhaps the best that I have seen in any quilting book.

Home alone..........

For the past few nights I have been enjoying peace with the rest of the family visiting relatives in Liverpool. I have just had the call to say they are only an hour away hence this quick blog. I have done lots of stitching over the weekend but as yet haven't taken any photos. Instead I thought I would share the table runner I made for my mum's birthday, it is machine pieced with needle turn applique in the centre. The one below is obviously a Christmas one, this had painted lutradur appliqued pieces which seems to have survived the washing process.

The design is very simple and quick to stitch up, the only real tricky part is attaching the binding on the internal corners.

I have managed somehow to process onto the next module of my City & Guilds patchwork and quilting diploma, this is a distance learning course but with wonderful and supportive tutors. I am now planning my miniature quilt design but have never made anything miniature before. Anyone any tips??