Bits and bobs

Hello all.

I went out for a coffee today at the Garden Barn  and saw a very cute fluffy sparrow having a bath. 

And here are some of my purchases from the Festival of Quilts with links to their websites

 Stencils from Stamposaurous and Hilary Beattie

 Beautiful threads from Alter Ego

 Threads from Barnyarns

 Fabric from Puddleducks

 A lovely little book from Annette Morgan

 Loved so mnay of the quilts on display by the European Quilt Group

 And I just loved these fabrics from Moda designed by Janet Clare

More quilts to follow soon

Yes - I'm still here...

Apologies for having neglected my blog - I've been really busy - but I'm sure you have been too.

So - I'll start with the Festival of Quilts. I hope lots of you managed to get there - I had a great time and the photo above is from my short class with Alicia Merrett. It was really fun. I'd recommend going to one of these short classes if you go to the Festival for a few days. I also noticed they've started putting on twilight classes - from 5 - 8, I might give that a go next time.

I also went to the Contemporary Quilters Coffee Morning. It was great and a big Thank You to those involved in organising it. The idea was you moved around the room looking at 15 minute demonstrations - what a great morning.

Now - after the Festival I was very fortunate to attend a two day class at The Bramble Patch with Catherine Nicholls, It was great. Below are some photos of my sketchbook pages from the 2 days. 

So we started with a photo. Mine was of a hedgerow with lots of flowers on the verge in front of it. We were to focus on the lines and shapes.

I then condensed these lines and shapes into 6 inch boxes.

I then isolated and highlighted different elements of the same drawing and produced printing blocks.

 then sampled the block into two samples - one with Bond a Web and the second was machine pieced.

I've now made a full size sample and will see after quilting what the final size will be and see if I need to adjust the original size. 

So by the end of the 2 days I was shattered. I've now got lots of ideas to make a number of small hangings so - watch this space and I'll show you how I get on.

Catherine was a great tutor and with a class of 9 we really benefited on an individual basis from her experience and comments. If you get the opportunity to have a class with her I'd highly recommend it.

I hope you;re all well and enjoying this Bank Holiday weekend. 

My Festival of Quilts

I hope you enjoy this selection from the FoQ - more to come.

Hope you're all enjoying the August Bank Holiday. It's such a shame the weather has been rather dull - but we did manage to get a little bit of gardening done.
Thank you for the kind comments about my first 'proper' walk. I'd certainly like to try some more in the future.

I wanted to tell you about the the lectures I attended at the FoQ. I'd certainly recommend having a look at them next year.
So my first one was Pauline Burbridge - what a great artist. She was really interesting. She explained how she planned her year and the process she used to make her pieces - she was very generous with sharing her sketchbooks. She makes 2 types of work now - large pieces and then pieces on a more domestic scale; these latter pieces allow her to develop a theme. She had a exhibition space at the festival - well worth a look.

Next was Maggie Gray. She is so enthusiastic (and very funny)- even though she'd only got back within the last week from a trip to Australia. She was great. My head was spinning by the end of the session as she told us all about so many processes and how she did things. A great speaker. Maggie did have a stall last year but didn't this time. Please do have a look at her blog as she is very generous with her ideas.

And finally was Regina Benson. She makes spectacular pieces. Many of them are bought by corporations as they need big spaces top be seen at their best. She had some great slides and again, like all the quilters and artist I have hear speak, was very generous with her techniques. She is also a member of the Surface Design Association - they had a stand at the show and you could buy their magazines. the magazines have in depth interviews with artists and each one has a theme. I was able to find one with an interview of Pauline Burbridge - a great find.

The show is always a great opportunity to meet up with friends. I was lucky enough to see Jane from Sew Create it, Bren Boardman (my great teacher at the Bramble Patch and a fab artists in her own right) and lost of other people I've seen at classes.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday.

Lots of bits and bobs...

Hello all. Hope you're all well and that, like me, you had a lovely sunny weekend. Yes dry and sunny in England and yes it's September.
I had a great day on Saturday at Brenda's class. It was so nice to meet up with everyone again and hear what they'd been up to over the summer.
I had great fun tray dyeing some calico - I do have photos and here they are:

And here are the results from the trays.

Lovely as this fabric is - I was aiming for an olive green LOL. You can tell I was chatting and not concentrating. But hey - I like it.

A mix of chestnut brown and rust orange.
Just royal blue

And my copy of Selvedge arrived. I love the front cover. I drive past these round hay bales every day and they're just asking to be rolled...

And finally - more photos from the NEC. I've still got lots more photos - I think I'll just pop a few on now and again.

Brenda Boardman's winning entry...

Lots more great quilts from the FoQ.

Have a great weekend.

My sewing machine has been fixed - but I think it might need a service...

Rain, rain, rain - it just didn't stop

Yep - it's been raining for days... and it hasn't stopped for days and days now. It's not a light drizzle - it's throws it down.

But today, for the first time in ages, it's dry and sunny.

At long last I've posted some of the photos I took at the FoQ 2008. I've got lots more so I'll try to post these over the next week or so.

I'm also a bit grumpy as my machine isn't working as it should so tomorrow I've got to get it sorted. It's so frustrating as I've done all it said in the book and changed the bobbin, thread, needle and feet and still it isn't as it should be. Ahhhhh. I'm sure it'll be better very soon.