Chilford Part 3 - What you've really been waiting for!

Edited Note: Part 2 of the quilt photo's has been published below Part 1 :o)

OK, I've not bought kits for years, but this one was an impulse buy, and shouted at me!
Another kit, which I had seen displayed back at the Spring show way back in March this year, Another impulse buy, but hey... what the heck!

Funny how they are both similar colours, hmmm a blue and brown phase is approaching ?

Yep, blue and browns for a sneaky little idea that's nagging its way to the front of my brain and won't be still!

I saw a stunning quilt done in black and whites, and as soon as I saw it, it was one of those patterns that just made sense! Watch out for a leaders and enders project to be done with these

I actually went with my mum's Christmas quilt in mind, and these are some of the fabrics I bought, the colour hasn't come through too well, they are warm taupe's with a pinkish hue.
And these are the ones I will be using. The background fabric I picked up at my LQS recently, it has that opulent feel that my mum would like, it needs to go well with the wallpaper in the bedroom. Nothing like a challenge! (Hence the wishy washy look of the fabrics too)

I walked passed this little roll of 4" strips several times, and it goes so well with the blue and brown collection too!

I had been tempted having found this pattern on the web recently, but felt that shipping from Australia seemed a little decadent for just a pattern, so when I saw this along with many others I just had to. And it will be used as inspiration for my Fall Mini Swap quilt.

So those were my purchases. I spent far more than I anticipated, but am really pleased with the stash that came home with me!

I've loaded up the first of the yellow nine patch quilts onto the frame and have started quilting. Most of my quilts get an all over pattern, some have been more intricately quilted. These I am keeping to the blocks, which is a different way for me! I hope to have something to show you soon :o)

Happy Quilting!

Chilford Hall Autumn Quilt Festival - Part One

Yesterday I went to Chilford Hall Autumn Quilt Festival, something I'd been looking forward to for some time, as I had missed the International Quilt Festival in Birmingham back in August and the Harrogate Quilt Show back in September. It's a very small venue that can only be described as intimate, but it had a lovely atmosphere and well worth the visit. The vendors are always wonderful, and getting there on the first day (something I'm not normally able to do) made a huge difference to availability of the all important retail therapy!

This is the view into one of three main areas the show takes place, this one housing the quilts on show in the centre and vendors surrounding them. It's a tight squeeze :o) There was a wonderful display of quilts by Joyce Dawe of The Contented Cat entitled 'Quilts from My Princess & the Pea Bed'. So called because she keeps her many quilts laid on a spare bed flat and not folded.

This was my favourite quilt at the show, 'Sheba's Meadow' by Joyce Dawe.

Another of Joyce's quilts 'Around the Bend', which used striped fabrics in the appliques.

'Celtic Cameos' by Joyce Dawe.

'Starburst' by Joyce Dawe, made completely with triangles including the background!

'The Ever Circling Seasons' by Joyce Dawe. There were several quilts at the show, that immediately made me think of V over at Bumble Beans and her 'Stones' quilt. This was one of them.

'Paintbox' by Joyce Dawe, and challenge between Joyce and her daughter Joanne resulted in this beautiful quilt.

There was a display of quilts called 'It's and Illusion' by students of Purely Patchwork.

'A Taste of Teal' by Mary Wilson, Edinburgh, Midlothian.

'Illusion' by Claire Wenham, Torphichen, West Lothian.

'Trial and Error' by Morag Ogston, Falkirk. Her first major quilt project.

'It's an Illusion' by Margaret Linkston, Linlithgow.

'Free at Last' by Wendy McFarlane, Edinburgh, Midlothian. The background fabric in this quilt was a lovely subtle soft lime green, although it's not very clear in this photo. I tried several times, but the light was terrible.

I've got more pics, to follow on from this post ....

Happy Quilting!

Chilford Hall - Part Two

OK, so here is the second part of the Chilford Quilt Festival, I confess I only took pics of the quilts I liked. One of the exhibitions was a display of quilts by Joan Weston 'A Painters Approach to The Quilt'.

'Milford Sound Stained Glass Window' was stunning, the movement and colour were wonderful.

'Small Milford Sound Quilt' inspired from a visit to Milford Sound, New Zealand. The border fabric was bought whilst on the trip.

A close up of the stained glass of this quilt - amazing!

'Bath Quilters Challenge' displayed their quilts from 2007 challenging members to create something using the challenge fabrics.

'Dreamtime - 3 am' by Angelina Monks, Bristol. This was another quilt that took me straight back to V's 'Stones' quilt, and to coin the phrase it's had "... the dog quilted out of it..."

'Swirling Waters' by Josephine Holloway, Bristol.

One of the most talked about displays of quilts was 'The Pam Bono Roadshow - UK Exclusive' presented by the Pam Bono Design Team.

I found the quilting on these quilts really stunning, I know they are done by Long Armers, but it certainly gives you food for thought and something to aspire to.

'Rambling Rose' pieced by Susan Clark and quilted by Mary Nordeng. These were all huge quilts. You can see this one just about touches the floor!

'Forget Me Not' pieced by Susan Clark, quilted by Mary Nordeng. (The little orange basket held gloves for use to look at the backs of the quilts - The quilt police were not in evidence!)

'Out of the Darkness' designed and pieced by Pam Bono, quilted by Faye Gooden.

'New Beginnings' designed and pieced by Pam Bono, quilted by Faye Gooden. A block of the month series in memory of 9/11, this particular quilt celebrates the survivors. The quilting was outstanding on this one, I took loads of shots to inspire me :o)

There was a lovely display by Phat Qwarters called 'Poetic Licence' a group that formed to challenge themselves to become more experimental in their work.

'Sea Fever' by Sue Waddleton, Somerset, this was her first venture into abstract quilting.

'Spirit of The Frost' by Stella Hammond, Somerset.

'The Sun in His Jealous Sky' by by Joan Dawson, Somerset.

'Veil on Veil of Evening' by Joan Dawson, Somerset.

I found the quilting detail on this really quite inspirational, I love the addition of big bold stitches, and how the directional changes change the appearance of the piece.

I just wanted to give you a sneak peek of another of Pam Bono's quilts, but I am planning a separate post about this one for Wednesday.

The quilting is stunning!

I have seen many three dimensional quilts, all done very well, and this one was no exception.

'In the Darkness the Light Shines' by Louise Mabbs, Hove, East Sussex.

View from the left.

View from the right.

And finally .... no show is worth it's salt without at least one Dear Jane Quilt!

The one 'Commemorating Jane' by Joyce Dawe of 'The Contented Cat', the sum of 12 years work! Now that is dedication!

Still to come in Part 3 - a little retail therapy!

Be right back!

Just a quickie!

Earlier this week I drove out to Louth, in the wolds of Lincolnshire to attend a talk by Lillian Hedley on North Country Quilts. It was well worth it! I've met Lillian several times in the past at shows, and she has always been very generous with her knowledge of hand quilting wholecloths. This talk took us on the journey from the origins of North Country Quilts, through the idiosyncrasies of Amy Emms to Lillians quilts of today. There were some stunning antique quilts to be seen, including a stunning pink and gold strippy that had never been used, and we were even allowed to touch them! Sorry I didn't take my camera! If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, I highly recommend it!

I managed a little retail therapy whilst I was there! Well, ... it would have been rude not to! lol

Remember the Block Lotto? I joined in October, and was absolutely blown away with the fact that I won! These are the first of 48 blocks that are winging their way to my mail box! This is going to be a really pretty quilt! I can't wait!

I've been working on the quilting of the stacked coins quilt I made with a Dandelion Girls charm pack. Today I took it off the frame. In fact it's lucky it survived this long, the second half of the quilting was fraught with trouble, thread breakages like I've not seen since I started quilting on the frame, 3 needles and lots of love and attention to the machine, cleaned and oiled several times.

But I am pleased with the overall effect. I have yet to make the binding, and this is probably going to have to wait as I have to quilt the two Yellow Nine Patch quilts before Ilene's birthday on the 19th of this month! Yep, that's what I said! lol nothing like a deadline to get you motivated!

Tomorrow I'm off for a little retail therapy at the Autumn Quilt Fair at Chilford Hall in Cambridgeshire. I'll remeber to take my camera!

Happy quilting!

A little on the side ...

Yesterday I found a blog with a great tutorial on it for a cute little fabric basket. Unfortunately I can't remember which one it was, so I can't give credit to the right person, Sorry :o( I'll do a bit of digging and see if I can find it for you, she had some great tutorials on her blog.

Edited note: Thank you to Sue Stubbings for telling us the blog address for Ayumills great blog 'Pink Penguin', you can find the tutorial for the baskets Here :o)

So I had a little play, my first attempt, using some charm squares trimmed down to 2 1/2" It's nice, the larger size works well, but.... well it just didn't quite do it.







So today I made the little one, when the fabrics were laid out, I realised there needed to be some separation between the base and the blocks, so I added some piping. Now I really love this one! They were so quick and easy to make, I can see a few Christmas gifts featuring these in the near future!

Happy weekend!

Busy, busy busy ...

... and still sooooo tried! But that's not what you came over to hear about, so lets get back to the busy bits :o) Last week I went to my LQS for a class, I've signed up for them because I'm really missing the creativity in interacting with other quilters. I get so much more from bouncing ideas with other like minded folk. Anyway, this is what we did last week, a bit of applique and reverse applique and not a hand stitch in sight! Not brilliant, but I had fun learning this!

I've since added binding to this that is reversed too! Just need to sew it down on the back.

And for the weekend I was away in Grimsby again on a retreat. As I no longer have my back brace on, did I tell you I'm free? Yep, corset free and finding my limits all over again! Back to the quilting.

I saw a quilt similar to this done by Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts, and loved it. So much so I e-mailed her and asked is she minded if I did my own version. Thank you Amanda Jean! I grabbed a load of Amy Butler fabrics the last time I went, the blocks had been made for a month, and now it's ready for quilting. Somehow I don't think this one will be long in the waiting pile!

I've been trying to piece 2 yellow quilts for my partners mother for most of this year. Again, the blocks have been pieced for some time, now I have once top complete and the other getting there too :o)

I also managed to finish the piecing of the borders and attache them to this middle from a month ago. It's a bit small by my standards, but it didn't feel right when I tried adding other borders, so it stays as it is.

I also got the binding sewn onto a quilt that I quilted recently too, more hand sewing to be done. The nights are drawing in so its definitely the right time to be cozying up under a quilt to finish off the binding :o) I'll save a pic of that one for when its all done.

So its been a little busy lately, and my energy levels are still a little wobbly, but I'm so much better.

Happy Quilting!

And the winner is ...

I had a great weekend away at a quilting retreat, and I confess I was too tired when I got home yesterday to count and post a winner. Today after a few hours down on the allotment, after eating the spoils of our work, I asked my partner to pick a number between 1 - 35. Drum roll please .....

and the winner is...

#26 which is Doina.

Congratulations Doina, e-mail me your address so I can get your goodies sent to you in Romania!


I would just like to thank all of you for posting your comments, I read every single one, and thoroughly enjoyed them all, some made me think, some made me laugh out loud, (Greg!) but on the whole, the overwhelming consensus is that celebrating with family is the most important thing to you all.

Happy quilting