A Village Quilter

Hello, I seem to have missed Christmas with you all - sorry about that. I hope you all had a nice time - I had a lovely time. I managed to cook the turkey and not kill any of the family. They all managed to eat most of their dinner too. Unfortunately my mum was ill so couldn't come along for dinner - but I did send her a doggy bag round. I've had a great time off work - making stars from a great book I had for Christmas - Scrap Quilt Sensations by Katherine Guerrier. It's an easy to follow book and I'm pleased with the accuracy of the stars I've made. I've also enjoyed having the time to cook - the Spicy pork and chilli pepper goulash from the Jamie at Home book is delicious - give it a try. Have any of you dared to make New Year's Resolutions? I'm going to have a think about them and see if I can think of some fun ones. Have a great New year and I'll see you in 2009...

Is it just me or has December come around really quickly again? I always know it's on its way - but I'm still suprised when it arrives. At least I think I've got all of my Christmas presents now - I just need to wrap them and write the cards. And talking of Christmas cards bnelow is a photo of the cards we made for each other in our Bramble Patch with Bren. They're all so different. I was really sorry to say goodbye to all the girls as I won't be joining the class next year - but I think I will be back there in 2010 - boy does that sound a long way off. And arriving on my doormat in the last few weeks - the new Selvedge magazine - beautiful as always. And here's a bag a made for a friend's birthday... From this book ... And hot off the press (a late birthday present) is Keri Smith's latest book . It's a good fun book. Have a look if you get the opportunity. And here's what I have to cope with when I'm trying to bind a quilt. Flo decide...

Hi, Sorry about the break - been away on holiday for a week and I still don't seem to have got back into the swing of things. Just read a good book that has a great closing paragraph. The book is 'Addition' by Toni Jordan it's about a girl who is obsessed with numbers. But the closing paragraph goes like this: Most people miss their whole lives, you know. Listen, life isn't when you are standing on top of a mountain looking at a sunset. Life isn't waiting at the alter or the moment your first child is born or that time you were swimming in deep water and a dolphin came up along-side you. These are fragments. Ten or twelve grains of sand spread throughout your entire existence. These are not life. Life is brushing your teeth or making a sandwich or watching the news or waiting for the bus. Or walking. Every day, thousands of tiny events happen and if you're not watching, if you're not careful, if you don't capture them and make them count, you could m...

So I spent last Friday and Saturday at the Bramble Patch attending a class with Sandra Meech. I was very pleased to have such a great group of people on both days to work with and I'm pleased with my results from the class. The first photos I have are examples of what students achieved during the days Below are examples of the paper collages we all made on the first day. And these are examples that Sandra brought in for us to look at. And below is my paper collage of a sea scape. And the result of the transfer paints and other embellishments I used to produce another seascape. I won't be posting for a couple of weeks - but I'll be back with lots of photos for you all. Have fun.

My aim was to do some art everyday and for the most part I have managed it - it might only have been 10 minutes or a flick through a magazine - but I have done something. And the photo above is what I did for a week in the evenings. It was a very good friend's birthday and i wanted to make her something - so here it is. I'm very pleased with the result - and I'm pleased to say so was she. It's from a book called Kokoro no Te - Handmade presents from the heart and it's the first project I've made from it. I do like having something to hand sew rather than always being at the machine so another aim (yes I have lots of them) is to always have some hand sewing. Now - although like me you are trying to forget how quickly the year is progressing - it is coming to that time of year again -yep Christmas. And at The Bramble Patch on Saturday Bren bought along some Christmas theme boards she'd made. The idea was to think about different colour ways for this festive ...

I've been meaning to show you this for ages -it's part of the village Bosworth in Bloom. Yes - it's a policeman's helmet planted up and hung outside our village police station. And here is our stand this morning for the NSPCC coffee morning - we decided to make a contribution to the coffee morning but donate most of our takings to LOROS. I think we did rather well for 2 hours - I'll be able to tell you later in the week how much we took. And finally - what comes in a case like this... YES - ONE OF THESE... Boy is it nice. It's runs so smoothly - it's a real delight. I only got it yesterday so I've not been able to spend too much time playing - but I'm very pleased with it so far. I promise to keep you updated with my progress. If any of you have the same model I'd love to hear from you and would like to receive any comments you have. Oh and I have been creative every day for the last week - I can't show you what I've made for my friend...

Well I've had a great weekend - lots of quilting associated stuff. I had a great day at Great Doddington at the Quilder's Guild Regional Day . I was very impressed with the 2 speakers they had Ferret and Katherine Guerrier. Both very different, but it was great to hear how they have developed their ideas and skills. It was a delight to heat them both speak. I'd highly recommend making the effort to attend either a regional or area day - it's a great opportunity to meet other quilters and hear well known ones speak and also meet up with fellow quilters. I had a great day. It also fitted in very well with my challenge for this month - to do something towards my creativity everyday. So that's Saturday 4th October started - and today I've posted on my blog, bought some calico (for dyeing) and get set up to start some other things too. I'm also very pleased to have my sewing machine back in full working order. I'd also like to let you know about a few events...

Hello all. Hope you're all well and that, like me, you had a lovely sunny weekend. Yes dry and sunny in England and yes it's September. I had a great day on Saturday at Brenda's class. It was so nice to meet up with everyone again and hear what they'd been up to over the summer. I had great fun tray dyeing some calico - I do have photos and here they are: And here are the results from the trays. Lovely as this fabric is - I was aiming for an olive green LOL. You can tell I was chatting and not concentrating. But hey - I like it. A mix of chestnut brown and rust orange. Just royal blue And my copy of Selvedge arrived. I love the front cover. I drive past these round hay bales every day and they're just asking to be rolled... And finally - more photos from the NEC. I've still got lots more photos - I think I'll just pop a few on now and again.

Brenda Boardman's winning entry... Lots more great quilts from the FoQ. Have a great weekend. My sewing machine has been fixed - but I think it might need a service...