At last my Cove holiday quilt is finished apart from a label

I have finally finished this quilt I started in Cove in February. I left it most of the summer because I was busy with the garden. 

 I grew more lilies in pots than ever before and they really added a zing.

 Also this hydrangea had never flowered properly even though I had planted it 16 years ago, so I was delighted with it.  I had to cover it up against the frost in the spring but it was ok.

 

 

 I bought some new fuchsias from Wales this one is Carmel Blue

I made 4 fruit marmalade and windfall apple marmalade

 But here is what you have been waiting for the photos of the Cove quilt.  I used a simple 9 patch theme and decided to quilt it in the Welsh style with coloured threads which I selected in greens, blues, pinks and yellow.  The yellow thread was thick and it was for lining out and giving some detail to the flowery centre. I also found that my new walking foot was excellent for making small Welsh style squares and lines because it had a seem gauge I could adjust.  Now the only thing I am not sure about is where to place a label? It would look odd on the back but also may not suit the front.....

Night Owls

I managed to photograph the new quilt in my conservatory as it is so large.  I had my DH helping me with holding it up one end on a chair...

I used some Japanese owl fabric in the small sashing squares and elsewhere hence the name.

So now it is finished I might be able to sit back and enjoy it, as it certainly took a long time to make.  It was an idea put forward during a meeting of a quilt group I go to in Penrith about two years ago.  So we all bought Lyn Edwards' book on Sampler Quilts version 2 and were supposed to make one block a month.  I left it for several months before I realised I had not made a single block and they were on about number seven.  So I switched up a gear and made some.  It's a mixture of hand and machine piecing which was a challenge at times.  Eventually I finished about twelve blocks and then had a look at the block choices remaining and did not like some of them. Luckily I did have a couple of Susan Briscoe books and turned to her Japanese blocks for inspiration.  I think they were 9 inch and I had to size them up on my HP printer to about 12 inch. Anyway, I chose all appliqué as I preferred those designs and thought I had done enough complicated piecing! So those of you with an eagle eye can see if you can spot which blocks are Susan's.  A clue; there are five.

At last the blocks are done

I started a sampler quilt with Cumbria Patchworkers some time in 2014 as they wanted to do a block a month.  This was challenging and not my usual way of working on a quilt which I prefer to start and finish.... However, I did persevere and now might be able to work it to a finish.  This has been a long haul for me as I prefer to work much faster and by machine not including a lot of hand piecing and foundation piecing too.  I am not complaining as I have learnt a lot but I also know some areas of quilting are not interesting enough to grab my attention for long.  So making a pineapple with fp looked like a no no way back in the autumn of 2014, however I did it.

The first block which sat around for months before it had the border added and the papers removed.

Quilt Snuggles

Domestic bliss for some .....

Well it has turned cold in Cumbria so I suppose it was inevitable that Bella would sneak onto the new quilt on the bed and snuggle in.  We have had 3 quilts layered on this week to keep out the cold.  I much prefer piling them on to the idea of a duvet and hate having to go away because we always find thick unwieldy duvet's on the beds at hotels.  We did find one exception this year though when we were in Wales.  Yes, it was a duvet but it was a duck feather one and it was comfy, so there are some which I can tolerate.

I am busy making things at the moment but some of them can't be shown or the surprise I intend will be spoilt.  There is the usual round of sewing parties to attend and most of them require a hand made gift of some sort so it is a busy time for me.  I also bought a new computer today because my DH has been so good and patient waiting for a replacement for his very old Dell which he must have had over 8 years now.  It is on its last legs and beginning to drive us both mad because it keeps doing stupid things and is so slow........  Anyway, the plan is for me to give him mine which is only a year old and for me to have the new one, that way I can help him to familiarise himself with mine because I know how it is all set up and I can customise it for him whilst we wait for the new one to be built and tested.  I now buy computers from a firm where there is an actual man on the end of the phone whom I can speak to and where they are built to order and to specifications I consider to be important i.e. loads of ram. 

Well it seems to me to be a good idea to take him a nice cold beer.....

Oops stung by a wasp on the big toe

Just as I was about to empty the compost bin I felt a pain on my toe......

Anyway, as I now have a swollen big toe my afternoon plans have changed and I am sitting at my computer instead of doing other things...

So how about looking at some photos of Take 5 at our recent Quilter's Guild Regional Day.

Rhythm

There are five members of Take 5 naturally and they are as follows:-

Debbie Wooley, Chris Gash, Margaret Boughton, Carolyn Madden and Sheila Jackson

Entry



Time

Luminosity

Sky

Forest

They made a lovely, stunning display and I presume the idea was that they were sort of Journal Quilts?

Thank you ladies.

Quilting Time!

This cuckoo clock was on the wall at the NEC last week and it was very cleverly made with a mouse on the top left which you cannot see in this photo from the front.  The reason I loved it was because I often place a pink sugar mouse on my kitchen clock at Christmas on the top left too.

I did photograph some of the quilts on show but it was one of those days when my new camera phone and I did not agree.  Some shots worked and others did not and I don't want to post up inferior photos so next time I go to the Festival of Quilts I will take a camera......

I was not helped by the placement of some of the winning quilts in a corridor which was the main thorough fare of the show mind. Every time I tried to line up a shot it was pandemonium and there was not enough space to step back to get the quilts in.  I saw one woman contorting herself with her head actually leaning against a winning quilt trying to line up a shot of a quilt on the opposite wall.

I expect some professionals managed to photograph them but I failed.

oops, don't know where the time is going

I have not posted for so long, sorry.  It's been busy here especially last week with all the comings and goings.  The insulation in our walls was damp and not working so we had to have it all removed and it took 3 days last week.  The two men came all the way from Wales and were so efficient and tidy I could not believe how well they did the job which I had been dreading for months.  Anyway, the house is now free from all the gunk they injected and hopefully the black mould and plaster falling off on the inside will now be mending and we can re decorate. 

I have done some more quilting though and without this quilt on the go I might have been driven to distraction with all the drilling and sucking noises, but no I kept on quilting it's so calming.  Or it was until I went wrong and had to unpick half a feather yesterday....

And there is more to do yet.

Feathers?

A spine made with twisted chain

This is my first attempt at a quilt with machine feathers, I had to practice first. Anyway, I have another fifteen of these to do and its only for my bed so I hope by the last one that I shall either a) be smug, b) be relieved its all over, c) vow never to do it again.  Sound familiar?

On another note, I am now Quilters' Guild Regional Co-ordinator for Cumbria; lets hope it is an easier job than machine quilting feathers.....   

No room at the quilters

I did not think there would be enough room at the Cumbria Patchworkers workshop last week for 17 of us to make these convergence quilts, so I went it alone with some ideas I picked up from looking at photos on the internet and this is the result.  I seem to recall a similar way of adjusting pictures years ago in a basic design book by Maurice De Sausmarez. http://fineart.ac.uk/artists.php?idartlist=162

The idea was to cut the photo into strips and rearrange it in many different forms to give a different view. The same happens with this quilt, so it's not a new idea.

I made most of the fabric myself because I wanted a particular look. Basically, I had the black fabric with the sharply defined lines and I made the green, orange and yellow fabric by painting on white Egyptian cotton with silk paints, then heat setting it with an iron.

I am still working on the colourful quilt but have not had time to photograph it, but the corners worked out ok and so has the rest of it. I dug out another quilt too which had been around too long waiting to be quilted, its under my Bernina as I type.

Slowing down for the corners

I know my last post said it was going fast, but I had not properly worked out the corners for my quilt as I decided I would make them up as I went along. So it is progressing but taking a little longer than I anticipated.

Meanwhile, I discovered that at Cumbria Patchworkers next week we are making a convergence quilt, so I did some research and found this
http://jessicasews-imsewhappy.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/happy-convergence.html

I assume we will be making something similar. 

I also sewed a small bandana for Bella earlier this week.  She is a 'tweeting' border terrier so she has a number of pals who keep in touch and they are now in a special group called the #BTposse

 

PROUD MEMBER #BTposse

 

 

 I nearly forgot to mention that my 'Wainwright Quilt' will be exhibited again this year, this time its off to the Loch Lomond Quilt Show 15th - 18th May, check out their website www.lochlomondquiltshow.com

Colour me brightly

Untidy desktop

Yes it is very untidy, rather like the garden with all this cold weather, but I have high hopes it will make a good quilt which will keep us warm for a few years to come.

I have had this flowery white background fabric for some years now and it was once used for a year as bathroom curtains, then we moved house.  They have been lurking in the bedroom chest of drawers waiting their chance, and here it is.  A friend who came back last week from the States was the donor when he left for Colorado 14 years ago. He is now firmly back on English soil.  His return prompted me to look at the material I had been given again and then I found the curtains, well it does not take much for me to dash down to my small stash and start playing.......

I will post later when the quilt top is finished which is going together quite fast....

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh quilt exhibition

Two ladies admiring my Wainwright quilt I see

You may recall that last Sunday I went to Sedbergh to see some quilts which were being exhibited at Farfield Mill and that I was unable to post photos of them because of a problem with blogger.  Well they fixed it and so I thought I would make a start this evening. I don't have all of the photos ready yet so you will have to make do with these two.  The first photo gives a general view of the space allocated to the Quilter's Guild members and is at the very start of the event so more people were supping wine than actually viewing..... I quickly downed mine and put the glass back empty because wine and quilts don't mix in my opinion and when I saw that they had placed some of them really low on the floor I was pleased I had not wandered about glass in hand.....

A quilt by Nicola Howell our Quilter's guild Regional Coordinator

This second quilt was the largest in the exhibition and the colours were lovely and vivid, it was a shame I could not find a catalogue anywhere to bring away so that I could name each quilt and I resorted to taking a photo and then speaking into my camera's microphone to say who made each quilt. I did not have time to also say what they were all called, sorry. 

This exhibition runs for another 10 weeks and finishes on the 7th April so you have time to go and see for yourself.  Their are plenty of other exhibits and more quilts in other rooms by professionals.  You will find ample parking albeit a bit muddy and the outside of the mill does not impress, but inside is a different story. There is also a very good cafeteria which sold lunches and the usual snacks and home made baking.  We did not have long to spend there because the snow was starting to lay and we wanted to head back before dark, but we are planning a trip back for the day and you really could spend several hours at the mill, it's so interesting.

I will post more photos soon.

Farfield Mill, Sedbergh

Hi all,  sorry I have not posted for a bit, don't know where the time has gone. Anyway, I will try and make amends with the next couple of postings. This will be short tonight as time has flown again.  But sneak a peak at these......

Oops, blogger will not let me load my photos from my computer, so that's the end of that then.  I was going to post some quilts up....

Does anyone have the same problem, when I click on the photo link it does not come up with the option to upload files from my computer anymore.....and I don't use the picasa option its offering me, I don't like Picasa and I don't like being forced to use software I don't like....... annoyed.

Threlkeld in stitches

Today was day one of a three day show of quilts, embroidery and knitting at Threlkeld, a small village which nestles under the mighty hill Blencathra. As I arrived this morning the rain was falling but the forecast was good so I quickly attached my banner to the wall and made a dash for the dry hall.

 

The place is a typical village hall and the exhibition was organised to raise funds to keep it from falling into disrepair.  Like so many public buildings in Cumbria the local people have to do a lot of work to raise money if they want to keep their facilities going.  Threlkeld village hall is no exception to this rule and a lot of hard work and enthusiasm from a few had gone into organising and staging the exhibits.  Whilst I am on the subject, that means that the ladies have to ask their husbands to hang the quilts and to help with the lifting and carrying and in this case even taking the money on the door.  So before I forget, well done chaps! We could not do it without you.

Once inside it was not long before I too was given a few jobs to do, but it was all for a worthy cause so I was happy to oblige. There was a good atmosphere even though in the early stages we had to wait for the customers to appear. But by lunchtime the place was buzzing. One of the events organised by the ladies was to help make a Linus quilt and in the photo below you can just see the quilt pieces on the left pinned up prior to assembly.  Members of the public were invited to sew a square (quick cathedral window) and this was where they were placed ready for making into the finished quilt.





I was stewarding all morning and I am back again on Monday, if you are in the area, why don't you call into the exhibition, it is well staged and the exhibits are lovely.  I will show you some of them in my next posting hopefully tomorrow.

Designing again

My grapevine is displaying lovely autumn leaves

And I am sketching them

I have an idea at last!  Sometimes you keep thinking about a little problem and suddenly you see a way forward and I think this might be it.  I love the shape of these leaves and I think the autumn garden is a wonderful inspiration after the summer. Wow, just look at the variety of colours. Thank you DD for leaving me your vine when you went to California. I wish it grew large, edible, black grapes too, but you can't have everything you know.

Quilt exhibition at Temple Sowerby

This week I have been busy adding sleeves to two of my quilts because they are going to be hung at the Temple Sowerby Quilt Exhibition. Actually, the exhibition will feature, quilting, patchwork and embroidery and is taking place at Temple Sowerby Village Hall on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th September from 10am till 4pm.  Admission is £3 for adults and £1 for under 16's, and this includes tea/coffee.  Other refreshments will be available too as well as mini workshops for £2.  They are:-
Silk painted and embellished postcard Sat 10.30 - 12.30
Folded patchwork squares Sun 10.30 - 12.30
You can also help make a Linus Quilt and there will be demonstrations and sales tables. Phone 017683 61440 for more information or to book a workshop.



View of Temple Sowerby

Whilst there you might like to take a stroll around the village green, which has some interesting relics including this stone.


John Wesley preached from this stone in 1782 - 'The World is My Parish'

A Roman Milestone

It is a lovely village and quiet now that it has a bypass which has taken all the traffic out of the village.


Lastly, if you want to explore the village and surrounding area on foot then check out this link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/activityandadventure/walkingholidays/8430292/Temple-Sowerby-Cumbria-walk-of-the-week.html#

Keswick Embroiderers' Exhibition - 6th July 2012

Hi everyone, I type this under severe pressure with no first letter the key does not work..........so I commence with b if you see my point.....It is going to be difficult but I must try.

Our exhibition went down very well with the public, so I intend to show you some of our work.

Only eleven of us could turn up for it but we enjoyed ourselves.

So I offer snippets below with terse comments without the letter before the B ........

Cushions

Felt work

Close up shot

Still life

3D effect

Needle LAce

 Got one to work there but only coz it's fiddled............

Mixed MediA

Add caption - don't know the medium/technique - sorry

Top two silk pAper

A huge diversity shown here

Stumpwork? or something including goldwork?

A snil - remember I've keybord problems.....

Embroidery on Mini Quilts

Big Quilt  - no embroidery here

Red Squirrel

Mixed MediA

Silk PAper purses

Boxes MAde esy using zig zg stitch

Well I did it; just. If you ever feel like trying it yourself, my only comment is it's blinking difficult....

Now for my next trick I need to get my keybord fixed pronto, coz it's driving me md.