I've been doing stuff - honest

Hello all. Hope you're all well. 

Sorry I haven't posted (again). Here are the excuses: I had a really busy week at work after my last post and then was booked on a 5 day residential course last week. So the weekend (when I should have gone to Rocheberie Schoolhouse Quilters) was spent sorting out lots of 'stuff' rather than having more fun.

But in spite of this I did manage to scan in a picture I'd found in a magazine and then print it onto Lutrador and craft vilene (as you can see below). The printer (HP Photosmart C7280 All-In-One) was an absolute dream and just took the different media and printed. I know this is how it's meant to work - but I'm sure many of you will agree how it often doesn't.

Not too sure what I'm going to do with them - but I'm sure my next class will give me lots of ideas.

Thought you might like to see Flo - in her favourite position - on our bed asleep. Can you see the tail is starting to swish - she really doen't like to have her photo taken. 

And I was so happy to come home to my copy of Selvedge. Oh it's such a delight to read and look at the pictures and the ads. The next issue is about quilts - I'm sure it'll have lots of news about the forthcoming exhibition at the V&A. I know sine the sad demise of Borders it's not as easy for everyone to get a copy of Selvedge off the shelf - I think Waterstones might be tsrting to try to fill this gap - so do try to have a look at a copy and see what you think.

Anyway - I'm off now to do all those jobs I haven't been here to do for a week. Have a great weekend.

A class and stressed Flo

I had a great day yesterday playing. I had a great class with Mikki - who I originally met at Bren's class at Bramble Patch. It was a really good day and I'll show you in more detail how I'm going to use the techniques I've learnt. I've certainly got a much better idea about how to use some of the stuff I've acquired over the years. Watch this space... And now to Flo - the strangest cat we've ever had in our life - and she's number 6. Well we took her to the vets to make sure there was nothing wrong - but after a very thorough examination she said she was physically fine - but it was more likely to be stress. Yes stress.
So now she's a very spoilt cat who gets her own way all the time and gets to sleep on our bed every night. And she's a delight - enjoys fuss, comes when you call her and she hasn't gone for either of us once. So there you go.
Here she is sitting in the bath waiting for the tap to be run.
Anyway - must go now for the ceremony we have in the village at our war memorial for Remembrance Sunday.

A Saturday day out

I had a lovely day out yesterday. But before I went out Flo decided to explore the climbing plant that comes over from the garden next door. It was really funny to see the rustle of the foliage and then a head pop out. The little dark lump is Flo trying to get on the roof. The lengths she'll go to to get somewhere.

I then went to an exhibition at The Brewhouse, Burton on Trent for 'The Feel Good Factor Final Show'. The artists displayed a great range of paper art. Please do look at Gillian Taylor and Linda Marie Young websites - their work is great.
I then went onto The Lavender Patch where I had fantastic lunch and bought a couple of new lavender plants. The photo below doesn't really do justice to how beautiful the shop and cafe was - beautiful soft furnishings. The lavender is a bit late flowering but the photos on their site look amazing.

I then went onto Staunton Harold for a look round. Yet more great art to look at.

Oh and The Fabric Guild have finally set up a website - it's got loads of links to free patterns and the producers websites - it takes some time to look at all the links but it's a great resource.

I'm off now to get all my jobs done - I was having too much fun yesterday so that's the price I have to pay LOL.

Take care.

It's a miracle!

If I hadn't seen it myself I wouldn't have believed it. Yes - Fluff and Flo - asleep - next to each other.

Busy busy...

Hello, yes I'm still here.

I had a lovely day out yesterday with the Lutterworth Embroiders Guild to London to see the Prism 2009 exhibition at the Pall Mall Gallery. Although not a large exhibition all the pieces were of a very high quality. Hopefully in the next blog I'll be able to provide you with some details of the artists.

Because we were there from 10 - 4 we decided to visit a shop I heard about from one of the quilters in our group - McCulloch & Wallis. What a treasure trove. I was very restrained and only bought 4 meters of ribbon.

We also had lunch at the new National Geographic store on Regent Street. It was rather nice.

Here's another of my blocks for the exhibition at the Bramble Patch. I've got to deliver them in the next few weeks and I've just got to finish off the one block and then decide how to get them hung.
And finally here's Flo - exploring. LOL She really can't wait to stick her little nose anywhere. Luckily she jumped out before we shut the boot.

Well - I'd better crack on with all the stuff that seems to have accumulated over the week.Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

February already

Thank you all for the lovely comments you left on my last posting. It's great to hear from you all.

I had a lovely day yesterday with the girls in the village hall. The aim was to test one of the members instructions for a scrappy Double Irish Chain. The idea is that you do all the hard work putting the scarves together and don't have to spend time moving the blocks around to get a good scrappy finish. It was very good - but my head did hurt by the end of the day LOL. As you can see I did make good progress but there's still some left to so. Unfortunately won't have time this week and we've been told -;) we have to have them ready for our festival in June. So as usual no pressure..... It was really interesting to see how we all had the same instructions and how the different colour choices looked so very different.

I've also been a very good girl and got my entry off for Trentham (3 - 5 April 2009). I'm very annoying as I've got the quilt ready now.

February is already with us and as I type this it's snowing. Flo has found the weather very confusing - she's chased the snow and run a round after it but in the end it landed on her she ran around in circles and wanted to come in. I should think by now she's assumed her standard position of sleeping.

I wanted to let you know about a video podcast I watch that I think is great; it's Bonnie McCaffrey. She does great interviews with artists and they often share their ideas and techniques - please do try to find time to have a look and listen.

I'll leave it there for now - hope you all have a good week.

December already

Is it just me or has December come around really quickly again? I always know it's on its way - but I'm still suprised when it arrives. At least I think I've got all of my Christmas presents now - I just need to wrap them and write the cards.

And talking of Christmas cards bnelow is a photo of the cards we made for each other in our Bramble Patch with Bren. They're all so different. I was really sorry to say goodbye to all the girls as I won't be joining the class next year - but I think I will be back there in 2010 - boy does that sound a long way off.

And arriving on my doormat in the last few weeks - the new Selvedge magazine - beautiful as always.
And here's a bag a made for a friend's birthday...From this book...

And hot off the press (a late birthday present) is Keri Smith's latest book. It's a good fun book. Have a look if you get the opportunity.

And here's what I have to cope with when I'm trying to bind a quilt. Flo decided, in spite of the pins in it, it would be a good idea to curl up and go to sleep in it.

Take care and I'll be back soon.

It's February already

I can't believe it's February already - it only seems that it was Christmas and the New Year last week. Must be a sign of old age.

I had a lovely day yesterday - another day quilting in the village hall with other members of the Market Bosworth Quilters. Not many of us - more qulaity than quantity LOL.

I think I've just about finished my piece for Brenda's class - all the quilting is done - just the binding now and perhaps a bit or surface embellishement. Oh and I mustn't forget the hanging sleeve.

As you can see from the photo above I'll be starting another quilt soon - rather pink I think you'll notice. I promise to keep you posted on the progress of this one.

And just a few photos of Flo looking cute and sleepy. I get on with her fine but her and DH do seem to have a few issues - she bites him...

Hope you've all had a good weekend.

I'm off to have my dinner and then spend a lazy night quilting.

Saturday in the village hall

Just to prove I did make something on Saturday in the Village Hall (with its great new windows) and even finished it off on Sunday - my advent calendar. The pre-printed panel has sat in a box for a couple of years and I'm really pleased with it finished. Now I've just got to sort something out for the pockets. I was trying to think of some non-chocolate things - perhaps treats like treat yourself to a soak in the bath. Do you any ideas?

And here is Flo on her 1st birthday. Ahhh... She decided she liked sitting under our umbrella that was drying out after a soggy walk. She can still be a bit of a bugger - but when she's cute - she's really cut.

Art class tomorrow night and I've managed to do nothing. But I know I'll have a great time. I've also got Bramble Patch on Saturday and I'll be screen printing - I can't wait.

Dennis...

...well unfortunately Dennis died last month. Although we were very upset at the time we realise he had a very happy long life (18 years) and he spent his last day in the garden sunning himself.

Everyone who came to the house met him - whether they wanted to or not; he was very friendly. So here are a last few photos of him looking like the fat happy orange cat that he was...

Finished!!!

As you can see I did have some 'help' with my 'Sunburst' quilt. Fluff decided one evening that it was hers and no-one else was going to get near it.

As you can see it's done - and I feel a bit sad because I thought it would take longer and I've got nothing to hand quilt. But unlike the last HUGE one this one measure approximately 61 x 50 inches. It was machine pieced and hand quilted in the ditch with YLI variegated thread - called Sunset...

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

Thanks to all of you for the good wishes you sent for both my birthday and anniversary. DH is now very keen to read any comments on the blog as he seems to think they're all going to be about him. LOL.

Thanks

Cat update

Just thought I'd share a couple of photos of 2 of the cats. Flo - ready to pounce and Dennis doing what he does best - sleep. Why do they all love boxes so much and will squeeze into them what ever size. At least he's happy.

Malvern 2007 and Flo update

Hi to all of you out there. I'm still getting very excited about the red dots on my blogging map. So thanks for looking and I hope you like what you see. I'd love to hear from you all.

Flo is having a great time now in the garden - without being supervised on her harness. She still hasn't worked out that plants aren't solid and she can't use them to stand on. It's very funny to watch her running around and bouncing chasing bees and birds. As this is yet another Bank Holiday weekend so it's raining - but she doesn't seem to mind it at all.

I'd also like to highlight a new forum to you all - The Quilters Toolbox. Please have a look and have a chat with fellow quilters.

I thought I'd share a few more photos from Malvern - this time I'm going to focus on those exhibits that used hand dyed fabrics. You'll see they've been used in lots of different ways - I'm sure you'll like them:

Oaks & Ferns - by Mary Button. A great example of hand painted fabric. The colours are great.

Black and white by Janice Croft - a collage of printed and dyed fabrics.

Timbuktu I by Christine Restall. A really fantastic piece of work. A good example of how to mix both hand dyed fabrics and African fabrics. A very interesting piece of work to look at.

Next year the theme for one of categories at Malvern is 'Architectural Inspiration' and to promote this they had the following two examples. This first piece is called Prague by Lee Brown. This inspiration was the Rider's Staircase in the Royal Palace, Prague. A very precise piece of work.

Another piece by Lee Brown titled Sagrada Familia - inspired by a trip to Barcelona and the work of Gaudi. Another great example of the use of hand dyed fabrics and accurate piecing.

'Indigo and sunflowers' by Delia Cecil. After dying a piece of fabric Indigo the image of a field of sunflowers resulted. The outline has been machine embroidered and a variety of threads used. I really dramatic work that deserves a closer look.

Going with the flow 7 - by Margaret Davidson. A very free flowing piece of work using hand dyed fabrics and diverse stitches.

Simply Pink by Kathy Turner highlights the exhibitors great skill is graduation of a colour using hand dyed fabrics.

Asterisk by Ann Jermey. The technique of spray paining is used here is is really impressive.

In my opinion this is one of the best quilts in the show. Winter - Wessex by Liz Heywood is influenced by the Dutch artist Tom Schulten. A really great piece of work - I don't think my photo really does it justice.

I hope you like the examples I picked for the use of hand dyed fabrics and can see the very different ways they can be used. I hope some have inspired you to give it a try.

Post, WIP and the kitten's first time loose in the garden

Well - a very exciting post day as my first package from the Fabric Swap 3 came through - it was from Penny. It's all really nice - I'm really pleased and I'll share with you all what I make with them.


Next is the log style cabin I made with the potassium permanganate fabrics made at Edwina's class at Bramble Patch together with the photo transfer fabric from last weeks class with Brenda Boardman. I was really pleased with the results so far - there is still some work to do on it. Can you see the fabric I made the other week has also been incorporated?




And finally here's a photo of Flo's first outing (without harness) into the big wide world of the garden. She really enjoyed chasing the bees. I hope you can see her peeping out.

Brenda's class

Well - a really quick blog tonight as I need to sort out my shopping list for Malvern for tomorrow. I thought I'd post a few photos of my class today at The Bramble Patch. The first on is of the class gathered around looking at Leanne's work as she was trying to decide how to put her quilt together. The next one is an empty class room - it shows the work Brenda has put up to illustrate the photo transfer technique we were using. The last one is of our work pinned up for 'show and tell' - my work is top right - the brown log style cabin.

I think we all had a great day and learnt lots.

I thought some of you might like to see Flo in her blue velvet harness having a walk around the garden. She's not very keen on the outdoor life at present - she'll have to get used to it. She was also very naughty as instead of being subdued after her little op - she decided she'd like to run up the curtains, just to see how much my blood pressure could take.