My roundup of 2011

I have had a very busy 2011, exhibiting my quilts for the second year (I'm still new to this!). One of my favourites was Springwatch (below), for which I was awarded a Judges' Merit Rosette in Malvern in May.

I'm expecting Springwatch to have another outing in March 2012, being exhibited in Exeter. Do try to get along to see that and I hope to meet you there!


Another favourite was a William Morris design quilt which I started making in Australia, completing it on my return to the UK just before my mother died and having used all the beads she gave me to embellish it. It was exhibited at Birmingham 2010 and noted on her blog by the original designer, Michele Hill, who was at the exhibition at the time.

Thanks for the mention, Michele!


I am also a great fan of Ricky Tims, the American quilter, and last year finished the quilt he designed called Kaleidoscope (below). I hope to exhibit this one some time in 2012.

And for my son's 50th birthday in April, I made this quilt called Musician.

I'm now hard at work on a few other surprises for exhibition next year - watch this space to see what they are!

Holsworthy quilter wins national recognition

Stars in the Night by Jeanette Orr

In 2010, at the international quilt show in Malvern, my quilt entitled Stars in the Night (from a design by Jacqueline de Jonge) caught the attention of the judges who awarded it with a Judges Merit Rosette. It is a foundation pieced quilt and machine quilted with a feather design in metallic threads in the dark sky areas.



I was thrilled and honoured to be selected for this award, given the number of very talented people across the country, who are producing exceptional work. I committed a great deal of time and energy to this project, which is the first piece of work I have ever entered into a competition; the award has made it all worth while and will encourage me to do more.

When I returned to the UK three years ago having retired, I joined a patchwork group in the town where I had grown up. Several of the members were people I had been to school with, so in a sense this new association completed a circle within my life. Their warm welcome gave me the confidence to develop my skills to the point at which I felt ready to enter a piece of work in a national competition.

What excites me about this medium is the way in which it calls on your creativity through the selection of shapes and colours and their integration into an overall design to create a piece of art, no less than a painting or a piece of sculpture.

Interest in the medium has been stimulated this year by the patchwork exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Many people are taking up Patchwork and Quilting as a means of expressing their creativity, while at the same time enjoying the social aspect of membership of community quilting groups.

I had the honour of becoming the Chairlady of our group this year and feel very fortunate indeed to have found a 'home' in the fellowship of other enthusiasts.

In The Spotlight at the Festival of Quilts

Like a Circle in a Spiral
I was asked to make a quilt for the Region 4 section of In the Spotlight at the Festival of Quilts.

My inspiration came from the song “The Windmills in Your Mind”. The Leaves depict the line “the autumn leaves were turning to the colour of her hair, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning on an every spinning reel”.

This is to me, a very romantic song.  I have tried to convey some of the images I see while listening to the lyrics.



The quilt is machine pieced, with raw edge appliqué and quilted using a Bernina 1230 machine.

A few more of my quilts

Following the success of my opening foray into the world of blogs, I thought I would post some of my earlier quilts and tell you a few things about them.

The quilt below was completed in 2003 for Charlotte, my first granddaughter. It has little embroidered sewing mice in a patchwork pattern.

The quilt below is an I-spy quilt made for Charlotte when she was four years old. Every patch has a different picture on it to play I-spy with. Can you see the giraffe?

The following two pictures are part of one playmat which was created for my first grandson Isaac. He was mad about animals and wanted to learn all about them, which he subsequently did. The animals were embroidered on to a patched background. This one took a long time to make but is still being used.

  

Some of the smaller wall hangings from 2009 and 2010

This was the result of a book title challenge - I chose Red Square by Martin Cruz Smith.

This quilt above called Poppies was the result of a workshop I had with the American quilter Frieda Anderson when she was at The Festival of Quilts, Birmingham 2010. A delightful lady and a great teacher.

This quilt was made in 2009, from a 'jelly roll' ,  plus the navy background and the red binding. I used embroidery from my machine to embellish the quilting.