New Toy

Well, it was my birthday recently and with the money I'd got burning a hole in my pocket I went to Jessops in Birmingham and bought a new camera.

A Sony Cyber-shot H200, with 20.1 mega pixels and 26 x optical zoom.

So far I've managed to put the batteries and memory card in and switch it on and off.  All the rest is a bit of a mystery - and will take some concentration.

I promise to show you how I get on. If any of you have any tips - do let me know. 

I need all the help I can get.

Hope you all enjoy your Bank Holiday Weekend.

Where do I start?

I've been up to so much, I don't know where to start.

So - first of all I'll start with the Open Studios at Bramble Patch with Edwina MacKinnon and Catherine Nicholls.  I didn't time my arrival too well as a coach party had just arrived.  But I bided my time and waited so I could have a chat with them both.  So here's a photo of a more relaxed open studio.

And just an aside about The Bramble Patch - they now have a weekly newsletter, so just subscribe on their website.

And then I went onto The Splendour of Stitch at Wycliffe Memorial Methodist Church in Lutterworth. This is an annual exhibition by the Lutterworth Embroiderer's Guild and it's a great opportunity to see all the members work. They also had lovely tea and cake on offer.  here are some photos from here too:

 These are from our Carol Naylor class.

These are our aprons from our class with Jamie Maldon from Colouricious. A great way to display them 

I love these elephants and will be asking for a workshop to make one - they are so cute.

And these are some of the pieces made at our Janet Bolton class.

And then yesterday I had a very exciting day with some friends - at the Battle of Bosworth re-enactment.  It was great.  Here are a couple of the banners, beautifully made.

Here is the Battle of Nations.  

They were fab - no holds barred, full on fighting.

  And then there was the re-enactment.  It was very well done and a great spectacle. 

If you do get the opportunity to go - please do.  

There was so much to see we didn't fit it all in.

Anyway - hope you're still making the most of the fine weather.

Best wishes.

FoQ 2013

Well - what a show.

I hope that those of you who managed to get there had as good a time as I did.  It was great to travel to and meet up with lovely people.

Here are a few highlights.

Here is the lovely Jo Lovelock demonstrating how to get fantastic results with tray dying. You can see how it started with soda soaked fabric and developed into this amazing try of beautifully dyed fabric. 

  

 I also bought the most beautiful threads from her too.  Do have a look.

 I have taken quite a few more photos but need a little time to recover and sort out who make which quilt, so I'll post these over the next few weeks.  

Hello - Embroiderers Guild and Festival of Quilts

Hello all.

I hope you're enjoying the changeable weather we're having.  It seems to go from bright sunshine to a torrential downpour in seconds.  Well, it does give us something to talk about.

I was visiting the Handmade Boutique in the Western Arcade in Birmingham and was chatting to Tiger Lilly, we were chatting about the Embroiderers Guild. It reminded me of the preconceptions people have about the Guild - that you have to be an amazing embroiderer and if you aren't you can't join.  I really can't emphasize enough that all you need is an interest in textiles and or sewing.  You can literally just come along to the talks and not go to any workshops. 

It's worth researching the branches websites to see what they do, when they meet etc to see if it fits in for you.  And you can always test any group by popping along as a visitor.  Don't worry about going on your own, many groups now have a buddy system, so the way the groups work can be explained.  But the most important thing is to enjoy yourself.  Look on the Embroiderers Guild website and see where your local group meet.

And now - it's that time of year again, actually it's a bit earlier than normal. 

It's FESTIVAL OF QUILTS.  

And having pre-ordered I've already got my show catalogue.

I'm going for a couple of days and I have a few talks booked, I'm hoping to meet friends,  have a chat and see what they have bought.

Take care all and I'll be back soon with photos of my purchases.