Wednesday 19 December 2012

Not a dry eye in the house!

In October 2011, Chris, a dear friend and founder member of Foxy Quilters, lost her battle with cancer. Weeks before she died she asked me to promise to finish her quilts for her. Some were finished shortly after her death but the rest have now been completed and were presented to her husband yesterday. 


Here is Neil, her husband with the bed quilt that Chris was making for them. It was a mystery quilt, Chris had done all the piecing, layered and tacked it so I just had to quilt and bind it.

Chris had bought her fabrics to make a Civil War quilt in patriotic colours as she has an American granddaughter. Sadly she had only completed one block before she died. As the class progressed, I cut fabric for her blocks each week and members of the class made up enough blocks to make quilts for her grandchildren.
This was a very emotional surprise for her husband, sister and brother in law and I am sure they will be treasured.

Friday 30 November 2012

Cheddar Bowties!

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my cheddar bowtie blocks. These were a Bonnie Hunter leader and ender challenge from last year! I decided I didn't like the traditional settings of the block and a visit to google images came up with this alternative setting which I really like. Also , by adding in the plain squares it makes your quilt twice as big! The blocks are 3 inches finished size and the top measures 50 inches square so far.

 Here is a closer view. It will finish with a narrow dark green border and then a border of four patches, currently being made as leaders and enders, in true Bonnie style.

 At the moment I am quilting my Geometric Modern Sampler quilt which I will share soon. I love quilting my own quilts, revisiting each block as I quilt it, but it takes so much longer than I think!

Monday 26 November 2012

Knitting and Stitching Show Harrogate

Yesterday I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. I think I have been attending for around 20 years! Although the focus is not on quilting there are usually lots of interesting exhibitions and this year was no exception. Here are a couple of my favourite exhibits.




 Cross stitching on metal and wood!

I purchased loads of fabric - I have been collecting the Alexander Henry Mexican 'Day of the Dead' fabrics from Fabrics Galore and yesterday I added these to my collection.






The plan is to make a simple, modern quilt for my youngest son.

Thursday 22 November 2012

Liberated Piecing Workshop for Region14 of the Quilters Guild



Last weekend I was busy teaching for the Yorkshire and Humberside region of the Quilters Guild.



Just look at these lovely colourful liberated blocks made by Glenda.



Batiks used to great effect by Sandra.



Christmas blocks made by Davina. She experimented with rectangular blocks and tiny liberated flying geese.








We had a big show and tell at the end - fabulous blocks and loads of them!
I really enjoyed the workshop and would like to thank all those who attended for such a lovely day. One of you paid me a great compliment when you commented that 'it hasn't been like a teacher led workshop, but just like a group of friends sewing together for a day'. Thanks for that, it means a lot!

Thursday 18 October 2012

Harrogate Quilt Show 2012

This is late, I know, but I forgot to share my quilts which were on display at the Harrogate Quilt Show.


This is our Group Quilt, all blocks made by members of Foxy Quilters and joined together by me. If these blocks look familiar it is because they were all produced for the Block Lotto at our International Quilt Day earlier this year.


We won a Judges Merit for this quilt! We were so proud!
Foxy Quilters meet on Tuesday afternoons in Dodworth, Barnsley if you would like to join us.


I also won second place in the Cot Quilt category for my little quilt, Paintbox Crumbs.


It was lovely to see my Civil War Quilt on display and my Little Log Cabin Trees.


And I have exciting news for 2013! There will be a display of Civil War Quilts made by members of Foxy Quilters at the next Harrogate Show!

Saturday 15 September 2012

Quilts on display at Thorpe Hesley Village Show.

Today we visited Thorpe Hesley village show. The weather was glorious and the show was excellent , a lovely traditional English village show.



Lovely 'Baskets of Plenty'



A category for Victoria sandwich cakes


And amusing vegetable sculptures.



And lots of quilts - many had been made in my classes.


First prize for Kath's cat quilt!



I also loved this crocheted throw - made from school house blocks.


What a lovely day out!

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Modern Quilts at the Festival of Quilts

When looking at the quilts I found myself attracted to what I consider to be modern quilts.



This one reminds me of a Gee's Bend quilt.



Love the improvisational piecing in this one.




This quilt almost looks as if it has been woven.



This close up shows the interesting use of raw edge appliqué.



I found this one fascinating. All those little strips!



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday 8 September 2012

Festival of quilts 2012

This summer has been a difficult one for me due to the deteriorating health of my mother. However I did manage a short visit to Festival of Quilts in Birmingham England. As usual the quilts were the highlight for me! I concentrated on the modern and scrappy quilts with piecing being my main focus.


Look at this gorgeous Hexie quilt!


Beautiful fussy cutting and use of stripes. The centre of each hexagon rosette is made up of tiny fussy cut triangles. A piecing triumph.
It is called hexagon revolution, made by Sarah Gill of Cambridge England. She used a lot of recycled fabrics, including socks.



What about this gorgeous pineapple quilt? It looks as if recycled shirts could be involved.
The quilt is called 5850 - is this the number of pieces I wonder? It was made by Jilly Meredith from Bridgend as a family gift.


More FOQ quilts to come soon!

Sunday 17 June 2012

Red and White String Hearts.

I love scraps! I just can't help it - often the leftovers from a project excite me more than the original project.
Recently I have been playing with red and white scraps left over from one of my classes.
I started by making rectangular string blocks or 'bricks' as they are sometimes known. I then made these into hearts by adding white triangles.

 This produced lots of 'bonus triangles' which were just asking to be made into scrappy flying geese. These are 1.5 x 3 inches and will make great borders.
 Anthea has asked me to do a workshop on these string hearts at Quilting Antics in Settle. She has given me scraps to work with - here are some of the string bricks I have made.
Don't they look lovely when they are all trimmed and ready to turn into rainbow hearts!

Sunday 10 June 2012

Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee

I know this post is a little late as it is nearly a week since the official Jubilee celebrations. Yesterday I was reading Barbara Brackman's blog and she had devoted a post to the Jubilee. She was talking about panels to make Jubilee quilts and I suddenly remembered the Cath Kidston bag I had been given for my birthday. This bag is double sided and made of quite lightweight calico so it could be easily unpicked and the panel used as the centre for a quilt.
On the subject of Corgis Barbara has designed a superb Jubilee panel that you can find in her special Jubilee post  here. If you are not a regular reader of her blog I can highly recommend it, it is one of the most interesting quilting blogs in my opinion. 


I also have a Jubilee pin given to me as a birthday gift from my eldest son. This is also from CK and was much admired when I wore it over the weekend.

For those of you in the UK you will know how disappointing the weather was over the Jubilee weekend - in fact our whole summer so far has been a wash out. But we did get the bunting out in the garden. Cilla is posing in her favourite garden chair and in case you are wondering - yes that is the insides of an old washing machine made into a wood burner.


Wednesday 30 May 2012

How many things can you make from a recycled cotton shirt?

I know that I have not shared much recently - life has been hectic and most quilting has been work related making sample blocks and quilts for classes.
However this is a little treat I have been meaning to share for a while. All the items in the following photos were made by Maureen, a creative and prolific quilter who attends my Tuesday class and does not have a blog of her own so it is my duty to share her work with you all.
She started with a red white and blue men's shirt that she bought at the International Quilt Day Event.
She added some plain white and blue star fabric and made a quilt.

 Here is a close up.
 Then she made a bag - here is one side, note the button holes in the handle!
 This is the other side - the label from the shirt has made the flag on the yacht!
 Then she made a cushion.
 A couple of pincushions made from the scraps!
 And finally this cute little fella!
 Look at his coat with tails made from the collar tips!
Awesome work Maureen!