Quilt while you're ahead

Christmas table runner

I hate having to mention the 'C' word again, but it's kind of the focus of all the activity around here.  We're going to spend it very quietly this year and I'm really really looking forward to it.  Ironically, given that not many people are going to see it, I'm really in the mood for decorating the house top to bottom... so watch this space.

This table runner was made as a 'teaching tool' for the beginners quilting course I've just finished teaching.  It was a six week course (2hrs each time) run at the gorgeous studio of my lovely friend Kirsty of Five Valleys Design.  By the way, note for your diary, Kirsty will get delivery of every single new Amy Butler fabric in January... don't forget to check it out.

It was my first time teaching and I loved it!  In January I'll run a day workshop on foundation piecing so if you're interested (and you live in/around Gloucestershire) drop me a line and I'll tell you all about it.

We covered the basics and had fun.  How to cut fabric, matching seams and corners, half square triangles and quarter squares, simple nine patch, log cabin, pinwheel and Ohio Star...  We all worked from the same fabric and it was really interesting to see how the resulting runners were all different from each other...

Don't you just love quilting??

Now I need some sort of centre piece... I want candles and pine cones... but in a modern style... any idea?

glimpse

Hi.

Still here.

Crafting but in secret.

Shhh...
 

small things

football, tennis, cinema, walking

 Autumn leaves

in a jug

eating, washing, laughing, playing, sleeping

quilting

rugby, partying, reading, homework,

raining

 

Beauty in the small things.

  
 
 

there are no shortcuts

Quilting is a lot like life.

For example, the old adagio: 'measure twice, cut once' ... what it basically means is think before you act. Agreed?  Good.

Now reflect on this for a second and admire the only remaining branch of my beloved Japanese maple (victim of an anonymous stray rugby ball... the case is still open)

So today, when I found myself with some precious time to spare I sat down at my desk and started cutting fabric and sewing fabric and .... aaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh

In my haste to tackle the UFO - now upgraded to WIP - of my previous post I completely ignored any measurement and elementary mathematical functions and basically made a huge/enormous/gigantic mess.

Take a moment, like I did, to mourn the loss of precious fabric and the temporary and hormonal loss of any rational mental faculty with a delicious (and posthumously regretted) chocolate biscuit

 

This brings me to my next point of simili:  there are no shortcut.  I wanted to finish this project quickly and what I did achieve instead is a big fat juicy waste of time.  Doh.  I wanted to ignore the little voice in my head pointing me to the right direction because it meant slow progress and fiddly sewing.

How many times has this happened in real life too?

So, no shortcuts is my new mantra.

Even if this means endless rows of little borders... 

I'll get there in the end. 

 

And I'll smell the flowers

 
 

mariner's compass

This is not a UFO... it's more like a fossil.  It precedes any grey hair I might have.  It is older than two of my children.  A relict from the days when I had only one child to look after and thought I had no free time at all - the charming ignorance of youth...

Anyway, I 've been trying to de-clutter.  And honestly, is there anything more poisoning than a great big pile of UFOs staring at you with their mean/sad/why-don't-you-love-me-anymore beady eyes?  Right, we all know the answer to that one.

So I exhumed the oldest and probably the biggest of these monsters and tried to re-kindle the old flame.

 

I must have been mad, this quilt was most likely designed in a daze of sleep depravation and baby love (do you remember those days... when you spent all night awake with a screaming baby and all day awake looking adoringly at your sleeping baby?... doh.)

Anyway, it's not my style really... but I can't just let it languish in a box forever so I'm thinking perhaps if I can ignore the fact that not all the point touch the outer circle (it's painful) I might be able to make a medallion quilt out of thise one? Help?

I don't have much in terms of the original fabric (mostly Kaffe Fasset)  but I do have four badly assembled blocks called, according to my notes, 'Martha Washington's squares'.  But that is not necessarily the correct name...

 

Should I use them? how? where? in the corners? in the middle of the sides?

(And yes, I'm standing on the table... don't tell the boys)
 

Birmingham Festival of Quilts - part 3

   oh yes, there's more.

The quilts I'm going to show you today were part of special exhibition.  Made by 'professional' as No 2 would say - his favourite to describe high level of proficiency and skills in any field whatsoever.

Right here are the 'professional' quilts then:

first up is Chiunghie Lee

Ingrid Press

Janice Gunner

And my completely absolutely totally undisputably favourite the amazing Yoshiko Jinzenji.

I had a brief chat with her and she's so nice and helpful and encouraging.  Taking on of her workshops would be simply amazing.  The photos do not do justice to the beauty of her work.

Amazing.  And nothing was 'appliqued'.  Just an inspired use of fabrics and patterns.

Amazing.

Birmingham Festival of Quilts - part 2

  Today we're going to enter the world of art quilts.

Scary subject I know, but I might have to eat my previous opinions about them because I was completely bowled over by some and intriguid by others (and in all honesty worried about the mental health of some 'creators' too... but I won't show you those)... and I'll let you make up your mind. 

ah the colours; wouldn' this make a most stunning rug?

This one was made by an Italian quilter.  Doesn't it make you think of those old villages clinging to the top of a mountain?  I love it.

I don't usually go for dark colours... but who would have thought there were so many shades of black?

or so many shades of red either?

I would love this one on my wall... sigh...

 

This is made entirely of shopping labels (and handles...)

It's happy.  And I like the 'make do' ethos... use what you have type philosophy.

all those quilted stiches... I really really like heavily quilted items.

how amazing would this look against a white wall?  I'm sure I could even convinced Mr M about it.

part fabric part paper.  Genius.

this... I don't know how to explain it... can you even call it a quilt? But I absolutely love it.

log cabin love.

the colours... the heavy quilting... the  funky logcabins...

Isn't this the most beautiful use of photographs?

looks like graffiti, eh?

this island of Manhattan one was one of three and I thought the choice of fabric was great

 

does anybody know what fabric it is?  It's just gorgeous!!

Ok, that's it for today folks...

'Toodles'... (name that film)

Birmingham Festival of Quilts - part 1

Brilliant.  What a beautiful show.  Ok admittedly my last visit had been 4 years ago, two weeks after a c-section and my memory of that day it's clouded in paracetamol, but I heard so many people saying how good it was, so it's not just me.

Today I was fit and healthy; giddy at the sight of so many quilts and fabric.

Anyway, I've taken more than 100 photos, but before you groan in despair don't worry, I won't show them all at once...

Let's start with the show winner, shall we?  I believe it comes from Japan, but I was too tight to buy the show guide so I don't have any more details than that. (shabby, I know)

Ok, quite eye-catching you might say... but wait till I get closer...

See those lines? No, not quilting lines.... seams.  Oh yes baby this quilt is made of thousands of tiny tiny pieces.  Check this out:

Tiny. small. pieces. perfectly joined.

The accuracy was amazing and the most incredible thing of all?  It was completely hand quilted in the ditch, but you only know this if you look at the back.

You can close your mouths now.  Shake your shoulder, take a deep breath and the feeling of inadequacy and failure will fade eventually.  We're all human after all... although it seems that some more than most...

On to the rest then.  What follows is just a small sample of what I liked and what caught my eye on the day.  In this post I'll show you the more 'traditional' quilts.

The 'best in show' in this category went to this one

In my humble opinion the border was the nicest part

folksy, eh?

very dear-janeish, I thought.

I liked this Hawaiian quilt... makes me think of holidays.  Even thought I've never been to Hawaii.

I would probably never make one of these, but they held a child-like fascination for me

hexagons; I'm developing an obsession, you'll see.

modern hamish?

lots of borders, I like that.

more hexagons... get used to it..

and these were quilted with round circles making them look like flowers and completely erasing the shape of the hexagons.  Mmmm, they jury is out on this one.

Brown.  I was very into brown today too.  Who knows why.

yes, our 6-sided friends again - must be the trend these days - this time interestingly fussy-cutted

see? clever and simple and the same time?  or is it too clever, over-thought out?

 Well typepad won't let me upload any more photos to this post, so I guess you've been saved the last two of the day.

Till next time...

 

 

a new table runner

The old one died of a painful death caused by red paint and a full cup of tea.  Sad, but like every cloud it has its silver lining.

Like the perfect excuse for some sewing and free motion quilting.

And the brave - in a house full of boys - placing of a white jug.

And now let's see how long this one lasts.  Don't hold your breath.

Amy and I

 Yesterday I had the pleasure to attend a talk given by Amy Butler.  It was great to meet somebody responsible for so much of my Visa bill in recent years, someone whose disegn peppers my wardrobe and my house...

And here she is

 

oh yeah, and that's me - hi, ya'll - and that is no 3 who loves having his picture taken.

I was unable to find a babysitter for the boys so I took them with me.  They say luck helps the brave (and the stupid...) and they were superb.  They sat quietly for 2 hours, colouring, playing Nintendo, sitting on the floor picking their toes...

And this is Amy talking about her new line (can't wait, looks fab) coming out in the Autumn and trying very hard not to look at what No 3 was up too just in front of her.  She's a professional, she didn't miss a slide.

and, wait a moment, what's that in the background? there on the table looking splendid and amazingly finished?

but of course, it's this little baby...

which now lies in all its Amy glory in the newly painted spare room

This room used to be a VERY bright pink but after three years I had to democratically bow to the majority and get rid of it.  Nobody liked it but me.  Seriously.  Nobody.

So now it's this soft, calm, restful powdery blue (Farrow & Ball, Parma Grey).  And everyone is happy.

Including me.