Workshop - Mug Cozy!

As I have mentioned previously 2010 is the year that I am starting my Patchwork and Quilting teaching career. I have taught 3 workshops since January 1st and today I taught a day workshop at a local church here in Barnsley. We made mug cozies using applique and stitchery techniques. I have posted some photos of my workshop samples below.

I will share more workshop photos soon.
Starting next Tuesday, 2nd March I am teaching a 10 week, 2 hour patchwork and quilting class. Tuition is FREE just provide your own fabric etc. Location is just off Junction 36 of the M1. Anyone like to join me?

Also on April 10th I am teaching in Sheffield for Running With Scissors - details on their website.

Quilt Retreat at Quiltworks.

I know that quilt retreats are very popular with American quilters and I have read about them with envy on quilters blogs. It was my ambition to go on one myself and this weekend I organised my own quilt retreat for my group of quilting friends.
After a recommendation from someone on BQL I booked a retreat in Cumbria at Quiltworks hosted by Maureen.
And what a wonderful weekend we had - continuous quilting from Friday afternoon to Sunday lunchtime with gaps for marvelous meals and cakes cooked by Maureen.

The first photo is of the spacious, warm quilting studio. Loads of room for the 6 of us.

Here is the corner for relaxing with quilting books and magazines and a view of the wonderful stove which keeps the studio toasty warm.

We didn't have any taught classes - just worked on our own projects. I managed to baste two quilts and worked on putting together the log cabin blocks from the Birthday Block Swap from last year.

The weekend was wonderful, much better than I could have imagined. If you can get to Quiltworks I know you will not be disappointed and Maureen has regular classes with Pat Archibald as well as some workshops with Gloria Loughman and Dena Crain coming up this summer.

Remember these blocks?

In August I ran an applique workshop for my quilting/embroidery group. Some of the ladies donated their blocks to Kath, our charity quilt coordinator.

Look what she did with them! What a lovely charity quilt!

Woven Fabric Mini Quilt

This is actually one of my City & Guilds 10 inch square mini quilts but I thought I would share it on my main blog as it is a technique that I have never tried before. It is a lot of fun and you can achieve quite good results with a minimum of effort.
The fabric is cut out as two squares, one blue and one pink. Bondaweb is applied to each. They are each then randomly cut into wavy strips which are woven together. The whole thing is then ironed to stick it all together abd then the raw edges are zig zagged in satin stitch.
I then appliqued a flower using bondaweb and used raw edge applique and stippling on this.

The inspiration for this little quilt came from this book which is full of lovely woven quilts.

Liberated Amish Quilts.

Just a quick note to say if you fancy making a liberated Amish quilt this year there is a new blog which you can join here.

Philippa Naylor Workshop - Precision Piecing

Last Saturday I attended a workshop with Philippa Naylor who visited our embroidery/quilting group here in Barnsley.
I finished the sample last night so here it is....
Not quite as precise as it could be but better than I have acheived in the past. I used hand dyed fabric which I really enjoy working with.

I have picked up quite a few tips which I will use in the future. For example - pressing seams open can help to improve accuracy in complicated designs, try to use finer cotton fabrics for intricate piecing and never underestimate the importance of correct pressing!
I also learned how to make mitred borders which is something I had never tried before.

We had a lovely day, Philippa is an excellent teacher - try to get to one of her workshops if you can!

This is a photo of the room we use - loads of space, we are very lucky!

On Wednesday Philippa returned to talk to our group - four ladies had finished their samples.

Philippa is on the left with her pile of magnificent quilts. She gave a very inspirational and interesting lecture about her life in Saudi Arabia and her quilts.

Liberated Quilting

This is the book I have waiting for ever since I discovered Gwen Marston's style of quilting last year. I had it on pre order from Amazon since Christmas and it arrived a few days ago.
It is an excellent book and has loads of ideas I am looking forward to trying.

It also goes well with my liberated stripes quilt which is still not quite finished.
What have you been doing with your time? I hear you ask!

Well.........

Since Christmas I have taught my first 3 patchwork and quilting workshops which went very well. I have been to College for a weekend for my City & Guilds. I have also made my first fabric postcard which I can't share until it arrives at its destination.

Also, almost at opposite ends of the spectrum I have taken a workshop with award winning quilter Philippa Naylor in precision piecing! I have not completed my workshop sample yet but will hopefully report soon.

So as you can see I have not been too lazy - except perhaps when it comes to updating my blog!