Patchwork & Quilting Course - Blocks from Week 1.

I know I haven't blogged for a while - one of the main reasons is that I have been going through a mini crisis with my City & Guilds course.
The main highlight of my quilting life at the moment is teaching my classes every Tuesday.
We have just completed week 7, the progress that the students are making is excellent so I thought it was about time that I shared some of their work. Apologies to anyone whose work does not appear but my photographing of blocks has been a bit random!

When we all returned for week 2 I was amazed to find that Kath had made an entire quilt top using the string blocks we had made in week 1.
I must point out that Kath is a very experienced and accomplished quilter. It is lovely to have her in the class because she was my first patchwork teacher and has been very supportive and encouraging as I have progressed in my quilting journey.

This is Angela's first ever patchwork block - Angela is now hooked and has even bought herself a sewing machine!

Mary's block - colours are much nicer than shown in this photo.

Maureen's block - she is making a Christmas table runner.

Judith's block - another first timer!

Carol's string block with sashings.

Liz's Block.

Kath's second block in another colourway.

Pat's block.

It was fantastic to see these blocks in the second week.
The course is going very well and I will try to get up to date with our progress.

My aim for the course was to encourage people to try patchwork and quilting, to help people to develop their skills but most of all to show how much pleasure and satisfaction you can get out of it. I think I already have some new P&Q addicts!

Quilts 1700 - 2010. Two contemporary quilts.

There are quite a few contemporary quilts in the exhibition. There has been much discussion about whether they fit in or not. My view is that the old quilts were the stars of the show but I do appreciate that some people will not have seen the work of contemporary quiltmakers.
I have to admit that many of the contemporary quilts did not inspire me and I have seen better work at quilts shows - but these two below did catch my attention and were my favourite contemporary pieces.

This quilt is called 'Chinese Dream' and is made by Susan Stockwell. The quilt is made entirely out of Chinese paper banknotes. It features a map of the world and is supposed to represent the rise of China in the global economy and the way in which bank notes are recycled in the same way that other quilt materials can be.

The second quilt is by Pauline Burbridge. We are studying her at college and I am only just 'getting into' her work but it is growing on me and I do like this quilt.