A Village Quilter

Hi All. Sorry I haven't posted for a while.  I've been on holiday to lovely Southwold.  We managed to pick the week where we had fantastic weather.  Hope you like the photos. Thought you might like to see some of the views from our balcony. Enjoy the sunshine this weekend.

Hello, Just a quick post this time.  For those of you who weren't able to make the FoQ Bonnie McCaffery has posted a great vidcast (in 2 parts) for you to share the event.  It's worth keeping your eye on this site as she meets some great artists.  I've been busy at work this week so haven't done any drawing. I hope to rectify that this week. Have a great week.

 I'd like to be able to claim responsibility for baking these lovely Butterfly Cakes - but I can't  they are all DHs hard work.  And boy are they nice.  And I thought I'd share a few pages of my Sketchbook.  I'm really enjoying it.  It does make me draw on a regular basis.  I've found a new products - like water soluble graphite pencils. Very nice they are too.  I found the shading really difficult - but it has improved.   I must say sharing sketchbook pages is like baring your sole - so please be kind with your comments. Hope you all have a nice relaxing weekend. Take care.

Hmm...  Pear and Ginger Muffins from a Nigella recipe.  Very nice. Thought you might like a post staring with cake. I've lots more photos from the FoQ.  And here they are :  I made this at the Rise and Shine session on Saturday.  A great opportunity to sit and chat and do a bit of sewing.  I thought the show was great this year. My sketchbook course is going well.  I'm drawing at the mo. Not my best skill - but that's the point isn't it.  And it is forcing me to draw, which can only be a good thing. I've also been making very good progress with my UFOs.  Finished a number of cushion covers, a couple of tea cosys and a couple of Linus quilts.  It's very satisfying finishing off things.  I'm enjoying my new style sewing room.  It's great to be able to see all my stuff rather than thing it's there and not be able to find it . Have a great weekend.

So - here's another post about the FoQ. There was so much that I couldn't fit it in one post. Many of us struggle to find inspiration and I've often heard tutors say - 'it's all around you - you just need to open your eyes'. Well, here's proof of that. A single yellow line on a road. We must all see them every day. This photo is just of a small section of the finished piece - it really made me smile.  The artist is a graduate from last year, Sue Dawson, and she had the opportunity to exhibit her work in a small unit. The texture was very well constructed and some parts of the yellow line were made from fluorescent yellow fabric from jackets. Another piece she made is below. Again, a very interesting texture - but just look at it when photographed with the flash on. In this piece she used grey fluorescent fabric which didn't look anything at all without the use of flash - but looked very different when flash was used.   She was a really i...

Hello all. Apologies for the delay - but better late than never. I've lots to share with you about the FoQ. It was a great exhibition this year. So... here's the first of a few posts about the show and what I liked about it.  I hope you like it too. So here is Hilary Beattie .  She was very generous and shared her technique with us of making backgrounds by using her fabric scraps and using Bondaweb or other products that bond fabric to fabric.  It's such a great technique, and she makes it sound so easy - but when you try it yourself you realise how difficult it is and what a great eye Hilary has.  She was demonstrating at the Rise and Shine coffee morning on Saturday.  I went to the session last year.  It's a great opportunity to meet people and see techniques. Below is her entry to FoQ.  A really beautiful quilt. The two photos above show the outfits made by the Kemshalls and entered into the fashion show.  Sometimes clothes with...

Hi, Thought you might like to see my work in progress from a class I attended recently. It's my own dyed fabric torn and reassembled. I'm not sure if this will end up as a picture or a cushion. It needs some more machining - but my little machine is in for a service with the fab Supreme Sewing Machines . So hopefully I'll have it finished very soon. Hope you're all looking forward to the Festival of Quilts. Might see a few of you there. If you want to see the  catalogue early - here it is

Hello all. Hope you're all well and enjoying August.  I can't believe it's August already. Anyway I'm very excited as I've enrolled on a new course - Sketchbooks  with Design Matters. I'd really like to hear from any of you who have already completed courses with the Kemshalls or have signed up for this course. Hope to hear from you all soon.

Hello all. Hope you've had a nice weekends .  It's  been rather wet - but luckily when DH and I went away for a few days in Ludlow it was beautiful sunshine.  Managed to top my tan up.  Yes - I meant I got a little pink - perfect when you're wearing a skirt and socks with trainers - very attractive. And was told I looked like Miranda. Friends have now suggested I make a living signing autographs or act as a double.  I may well write and offer my services. I thought you might like to see a few photos of our time in Ludlow.  This is a photo I took at the top of the tower of St Laurence Church  in Ludlow. And below is the view from the tower. It was a fantastic view on a bright clear day. Well worth the 200 tiny steps - not good if you have big feet like me and DH.  And the flowers for sale on the market were really beautiful.  The War Memorial was rather interesting too.  No information about it which is a sh...

 Hello all. Thought you might like to see where I went for a walk with DH on Sunday. Very nice.  Although it was overcast the whole time I still managed to end up rather pink, well red to be honest. Will I never learn. And here is some lace and thread that I've tea dyed.  I'll show you what I do with it later. I've also made really good progress with my altered book project. I can't wait to show you all - but it's hush hush until the end of the project. Take care all and hope to hear from you soon.

Hello all. Hope you're enjoying this weekend. Thought you might like to see what can happen when a tape measure and a rotary cuttter meet. Not good - but at least it wasn't my finger.  And here is a cushion I've made for my cousin as a wedding present.  I hope she'll like it. I'm hoping to get a few more things finished this week - I'll let you know how I get on.

Hello all. Just a few photos to show you the work our group completed on Frances' class.  Mine are the in the photo above, on the right - the rather psychedelic pages... I promise to show you the book when it's finished. See you all soon.

Hello all. Apologies for lack of posts this month - thought I'd just sneak one in before the new month.  I can't believe it's going to be July tomorrow.   Thought I'd share the completed work from my class with Linda Miller . She was a great teacher and managed to get quite a large class of differing abilities to complete a piece of work on the day and inspired me to attempt a larger piece. As you can see from the picture - both are finished.  I'm rather pleased with them . She also came to deliver a talk to the Lutterworth Guild.  Very interesting to see lots of her work and to hear her approach.  A very smart cookie with an eye on the commercial side of things without compromising the quality of the art she produces. I'm very excited about the next class I have - Francis Pickering. See you all soon.

Hello all. Hope you're all well. On Friday I went to the Leamington Embroiderers Guild talk given by Lesley Alexander . Her work was really interesting and the description of her degree course at Manchester in Embroidery was interesting too. I really enjoyed looking at her sample books and finished pieces of work. It's made me realise that making up a sample book is vital - its shows what your machine can do and what results can be achieved with different threads and material. So I'm now going to try to start a sample book. I promise to show you how I get on. What are you all up to?

Hi, I've just not been getting much sewing or anything else much done. Very disappointing. But I did manage to get to Compton Verney to see the Alfred Wallis and Ben Nicholson Exhibition . It was well worth the trip - great work and well displayed. I really like his naive style and seeing the work (rather than reproductions) you can see all the texture and appreciate the use of material - cardboard, ply wood, paper - and you could see how he made use of their properties. But this week I intend to crack on and actually make some progress. So I'm struggling to add an image this week - so I've 'borrowed' one of Alfred Wallis' work. I hope you like it.

Hello all. Hope you're well and that your gardens are appreciating the rain - mine has perked up no end. I had a great class yesterday with Linda Miller - what a lovely lady. And I hope to be able to show you the items I'll complete over the next few weeks. And I've also been walking a few times recently and thought you might like to see the photos I took en route. And in a few weeks time its the  Embroiderers Guild Day in Lutterworth - 21st May 2011 . It would be great if you could come along - sounds like it'll be a great day. See you all soon.

Hello all. Another Bank Holiday weekend YAY. Well I'm going to start off with a Royal link that I'm sure, if you haven't seen it already, it'll make you laugh. It makes me laugh every time. Another I'm very pleased to say I've made progress with a UFO. It was the Mystery Quilt we started on one of the last classes with Bren last year. And here we are with the top made. I'm still thinking about what borders to add - or not. I also wanted to let you know about an article in the latest issue of Embroidery. It features an article on Michala Gyetvai who's a member of the Leamington Emboierers' Guild. She has a great blog too that you might want to have a look at. So - I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of thye Bank Holiday weekend and yet more glorious weather.

Hello all. Hope you're enjoying this continued fab weather. We British really are obsessed with it aren't we. So - here's my evidence that I do get things finished. Here's my Olympic postcard for the Embroiders offering to the Olympiad. One of the countries our group has is Cuba and I decided to represent the cultural side of things and illustrate ballet. So here we are: I used soluble fabric as a base for the ballet shoes. And just so there was no confusion beaded the word 'ballet'. I've also finished another altered book page - but won't be able to show you these until the end of the project. So now - just one more altered book page and then I can look at my Angie Hughes UFO. Oh it never ends does it. LOL. Take care all.

Well - had a great day yesterday and saw a great exhibition - really top quality work. It was the Living Threads Group and if you get the opportunity to go - please do - you really won't regret it. Besides displaying a very wide range of textile skills - the way it was displayed was extremely well done. One of the artists we met, Gilli Theokritoff, made the piece below which I'm sure many of you saw at the Festival of Quilts and Malvern last year. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos but I hope this quilt will give you an idea of the quality of work. Hope you're all enjoying this unseasonally warm weather - I've seem lots fo very pink people. LOL. Take care and I hope to hear form you soon.