Proud Mother!

My eldest son has a photo in his first photographic exhibition.
This is the photo which he took from a motorway bridge over the M1. This photo won a competition at his college and his prize was a two day visit to London to view the site of the 2012 Olympic Games.

The theme of the competition was 'Building Bridges' and it was to highlight the links between Barnsley in South Yorkshire and Newham in London.

Here we are at the opening evening of the exhibition at Barnsley Civic.

These are photos of the other students who went to London who also have photos in the exhibition.

And here they are photographed with their tutors and the Leader of Barnsley Council.

Jonathan is hoping to study Graphic Design at University in London next year.

We are all very proud of him and hope this is the first of many exhibitions of his work.

Happy Halloween!

As we were driving from York to Whitby we passed this pumpkin farm and just had to stop. It looked more like the USA than North Yorkshire.

The farmer said it had been a bumper crop due to the wet weather in July and August and the dry sunny weather in September. If you look carefully at the top of the photo above our vintage camper van is in the background.

The pumpkins at the top of the photo above, in the wheelbarrow are 'blue' pumpkins which are supposed to be great roasted - I bought one of these and one traditional orange one. The ones on the wall have been spray painted black and gold!!

Today I have been making pumpkin pies and baked pumpkin cheesecakes for the Halloween party we always attend. I discovered that the best way to cook pumpkins is to cut them in half, remove the pith and seeds and then roast them in the oven cut side down. It only takes about 40 mins and then the skin just peels off. I can't believe how much flesh I have got from one medium size pumpkin - enough to make 5 large cheesecakes/pies and 2 pounds of pumpkin flesh put in the freezer.

Pictures of the sashiko exhibition York

Since my last post I have found a link which shows pictures of a lot of the sashiko textiles on display at York. This was given to me by Susan Briscoe who is well known for her work with sashiko.

Two quilt exhibitions - sorry no photos!

Well, no photos of quilts!
This week is half term in the UK and Geoff and I are having a few days away in our camper van. Yesterday we spent the day in York - it was a warm sunny autumnal day - we even ate dinner outdoors by the river.

The main purpose of our visit was to view the Sashiko exhibition at York Art Gallery and the Turkey Red exhibition at the Quilt Museum.

Both were great exhibitions but no photos allowed!
So here are some classic shots of York.

The Minster.

View from the Art Gallery.

St Mary's Abbey.

Another Mini Quilt inspired by a Vintage Plate.

I really enjoyed making the first mini quilt so decided to make another. This one is actually for my City & Guilds Machine Embroidery Collection, it is fusing snippets of fabric onto a background, covering with a sheer and free machining over the top using an automatic stitch. The only thing is I am actually free motion quilting using the automatic stitch! It is 10 inches square like the other one.
This is the original plate made by J&G Meakin in 1966 and the design is called 'Aztec'.
I really like how all the triangles fit together to make the circle - and I love the colours too!

I cut some strips of fabric, 1 inch or 1.5 inches wide and attached bondaweb to the back. I then cut the strips by eye into triangles and removed the bondaweb backing. Starting in the centre I arranged them into a circle onto a square of calico and as I was happy with each circle I ironed them down. I added a blue circle to the center and then covered with a sheer.

It took me a while to decide how the quilt it but I decided a spiral starting from the centre would look best. I have used a pale blue polyester thread and the automatic stitch is a scallop shape which I have stretched a bit by playing with the stitch width and length.

Here is the back so you can see the detail of the quilting.

Did you know I was a fan of Cath Kidston fabric?

Of course you did!!
Look what has just arrived - this new Cath Kidston book called 'Sew'.
What makes it really special is that it comes with free fabric to make your own Cath Kidston bag. I just love Cath Kidston bags!! You even get the label to sew on to it when you have made it.
All this cost just £9.24 and if you buy it here you get free worldwide postage.

Sorry about the advertising of a well known online bookseller but I just had to share this information and hopefully you won't mind me getting a teeny commission if you do decide to buy it.

A Mini Quilt Inspired by a Vintage Plate..

Following on from my City & Guilds samples I decided to make a mini quilt based on a 1960s plate made by J & G Meakin.
I started with a four patch, 2 calico squares and 2 linen squares. I then bondawebbed strips of fabrics into the star patterns.

Here is the plate which I used as my inspiration. I liked the scribbles on the stars. I tried to use a similar colour scheme.

I then covered the four patch with a sheer fabric and layered up with wadding and backing. Using the automatic stitches I machine quilted the scribbles on the stars. I really liked the patterns which formed by the overlap of the stitching in the centre of the stars.

It was then bound with a skinny binding. Finished size 10 inches square. I will put it into my City & Guilds folder but as an extra to the work we were asked to do.

Applique Workshop

My ultimate goal is to be a patchwork and quilting teacher. I was hoping this would happen this month as I was supposed to be teaching a class at the college I usually teach at. However not enough people signed up to do the course so it is not going to happen yet.

I did do some teaching in August though - even though it was for my own patchwork / embroidery group. I did a workshop on applique using the 'freezer paper on top' method which I learned while doing my Dear Jane blocks.
I had a really great turnout for the class and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Here are some photos of the little block they made.

Works in progress.

Ladies busy stitching.

One of the best ways you can tell if a class is a success is if anyone continues and does their own version of the blocks. I was really pleased to see that the next month Dorothy had made all these blocks for a charity quilt.

Don't you think they are lovely - so bright and cheerful!

Also Margaret had started a butterfly applique quilt for her daughter using the same method.

It went down so well I will probably do another next August and I also have a little sewing workshop planned for the Christmas meeting.

I also have two tentative teaching jobs offered for the new year but they will also be subject to signing up enough students - so fingers crossed!

Crazy Patchwork

I have now started my new City & Guilds course so a lot of the work you see will be related to that. Our first topic was crazy patchwork which I am not a big fan of. However I did enjoy making this piece out of recycled shirts - it is only 10 inches square.

The second sample is made out of paper something I have been wanting to try. Turned out quite well I think.

If you want to read about these samples in more depth click over to my other blog - details in sidebar.

In other areas of my life I have also been quite busy - back at college teaching my usual subject of food safety. Also we have cleared out DS1's bedroom to get him a new desk and wardrobe and make it more like a university style room than a teenagers bedroom. This required trips to the dump and charity shop yesterday plus lots of cleaning but it was worth it. He is very pleased with it and I was glad to get rid of so much stuff!