Springtime and Gather Ye Rosebuds at the Birmingham Festival of Quilts

I'm truly thrilled this morning to see my two quilts, Summertime and Gather Ye Rosebuds, on show at the Festival of Quilts at Birmingham NEC! And I'm even more to discover that Summertime has been highly commended.

Parkhouse Quilt Group Chairman's Challenge

I entered the Parkhouse Quilt Group Chairman's Challenge which was Rock Pool Reflections and did this thread painting, something new for me, which won first prize. There were some extremely good entries so I was quite surprised but gratified by the result.

A few projects for June

I've been working on a few projects recently and thought I would share them on my blog.

The first one is a design by Libby Leman, first seen in Alsace last year. I loved the idea of the interlacing ribbons so had to give it a try.

The second is from a workshop by Anya Townrow given to our patchwork club in Bude    last January.

This one is actually from back in January, made for my brother Derek's 70th birthday. A tribute to a marine bandsman!

The Malvern Quilt Show, May 2013

My winning quilts at Malvern earlier this month were a very gratifying moment for me. It is exciting to be recognised for all the hard work that goes into making large quilts.

Summertime took 18 months to put together and quilt and was in fact quilted during the appalling summer we had last year, hence its title. (It had a brief outing at the South West Quilters' Show and Tell as well.)


It was  made from a block of the month by Sue Garman via The Quilt Show from America. A challenge in precise piecing, and quilted on my much loved Bernina 1230 machine.  A great pleasure to do, and such happy colours to lift my spirits during the rainy days!

I was pleased to gain 3rd place in the Wellhead Books Shield for Bed Quilts plus the bonus of 1st place for the Christine Porter Quilts Award for Machine Quilting.

Gather Ye Rosebuds was another new challenge for me.

Yards and yards of black bias tape was all supplied by Stitch Witch until they had none left! Deciding how to quilt the 'windows' was hard until I hit upon the idea of using silver thread which glowed in the light and gave them luminosity. I added crystals in the windows to give the effect of more light and beads to create the likeness of the original window design by Alexander Gascoyne in 1906.

The pattern was originally produced by Kathy Adams of Koolkat Quilitng in Australia. Again, a great pleasure to make over nine months, mostly during winter and spring.

Thanks to Karin Hellaby of Quilters Haven for featuring this quilt in her blog on the first day of the Malvern Shows!

I was delighted that this quilt gained a 1st place in the Myra Coles Award for Machine Appliqué, and 3rd place in the Cotton Patch Award for a Large Wall Hanging. 


I also picked up a rosette for this small feather quilt:

The full list of Malvern 2013 winners can be found here.

To prove there are trophies, here I am with a couple from Malvern!

My thanks to Fabrications Magazine who featured two of my quilts in their June/July 2013 issue and who provided the two high-resolution photographs used in this post.



Talks in Autumn / Winter 2013

If you've enjoyed the quilts on my blog, you might be interested to know that I will be busy giving a few talks about quilting later this year.

Boscatle Village Hall

The first which was to have been in Boscastle Village Hall on Wednesday, 11 September has now been postponed until a date to be announced. I hope you will be able to rearrange your diaries!



Saltash Baptist Church

The second will be for the Quilters' Guild Day at Saltash Baptist Church, Cornwall, on Saturday, 2 November at 10 a.m.

 

Tavistock Methodist Hall

The next will be with Goosey Quilters in the Methodist Hall, Tavistock, Devon, on Thursday, 7 November at 7.30 p.m.

Burton Art Gallery & Musuem, Bideford

The final one this year will be at the Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, on Wednesday, 20 November at 7.30 p.m.

There might also be one for the South West Quilters at Bridestowe Village Hall, Devon, on Saturday, 12 October but that's yet to be confirmed; pencil in the date, perhaps.

The more the merrier - I hope to be able to meet you at one of these!

South West Quilters Challenge, 2013

I entered this quilt, which originally started as a workshop with Jan Hassard, into the South West Quilters' Chairman's Challenge at Exeter in the spring of this year. The challenge was entitled 'As the Saying Goes'  and I named the quilt A Few Feathers Short of the Whole Duck!

It was amazing to me that it won first prize and is now touring the country with Grosvenor Shows. Perhaps you were able to see it at the Springfields Quilt Show which took place in Spalding on 7th and 8th of June!

South West Quilters - November 2012

The South West Quilters recently held their Christmas meeting at Exeter Raceourse and the challenge this year, set by Pam Smith who won last year’s challenge, was "Angels", inspired by the book Angels, Angels All Around by Bob Hartman.

As you can imagine, I was amazed to be awarded first prize for my quilt Angels, which you can see here in all its glory:

There were between 25 to 30 entries in the South West Quilters' Challenge. My quilt was made from dupion silks and remnants from silk dresses that I had made for various people while living in Australia ( I am a squirrel and never throw anything away!). I liked the idea of lots of sparkle - after all, it is Christmas - so added couched silver thread around all of the blocks then threw in some stars and other bits of embellishment on the appliqued angels. All made on my trusty Bernina 1230 sewing machine with some stars embroidered using my Janome 10,000. I had originally decided to have only two angels but somehow the other four spread their wings and joined in. I made it over a period of two to three months on and off. I was surprised, and of course thrilled, to win first prize.

 

The annual  SWQ Christmas party and get together with two speakers (morning and afternoon) takes place at Exeter Racecourse Centre every year and is always - despite the atrocious weather this year - well attended, with 200 or so packing the hall, everyone contributing food which makes for a superb lunch. It's topped off by the wonderful Christmas cake provided every year by the great Dorrie Shorthouse, liberally doused with calvados and tasting truly amazing. A great day out and not to be missed.

Details from the six angels:

Exam Wizard

I have been a dressmaker for many years, but it's been a while since I made any clothes for anyone. So when my son Graham recently asked me (at very short notice I may add) to rustle up a wizard's outfit for a training conference, I wasn't initially sure if I could rise to the challenge - but I think the results show I can still pull the rabbit out of the hat when required!

Posing by the fortune-telling tent - Mystic Maria and the Exam Wizard

Detail from the wizard's cloak - I knew my O level maths would come in useful one day.

Wizard and friend relaxing at home

Exhibited at Birmingham, 2012

I was very pleased to have a quilt called Springwatch exhibited at the 2012 Festival of Quilts in Birmingham NEC this year.

Malvern Quilts in Fabrications magazine

I'm chuffed to have two of my quilts from the Malvern 2012 show featured in the latest copy of Fabrications: Quilting for You (June/July 2012) - get your copy now!

On page 10 you can find Simple Curves - inspired by the work of Caryl Bryer Fallert, this one was awarded the Crafty Ribbons Award for Miniature Quilt.

On page 13, you can find Les Dancers, winner of the Creative Grids Award for Humour.

Parkhouse Patchwork Group Show, June 2012

For those of you who were unable to make it to the exhibition by the Parkhouse Patchwork Group in Bude this weekend, here are a few of my personal highlights.

A number of quilts were entered for the 2012 Challenge:

I was thrilled to win first prize for this one:



For anyone who felt they were missing out not watching the boats go down the Thames, I also had a patriotic cushion cover on display:

and I also had a chance to display quilts made for my brother and his family (see It's a family affair below for more on those):



The Malvern Quilt Show, May 2012

These gorgeous Can Can Girls below have won me first prize at the Malvern Quilt show this year 2012. I just love the 'joie de vivre ' that emanates from it. I was so thrilled to win first prize in the Humour section.

As submitted...

and with rosette!

This Caryl Bryer Fallert design below has just won me another first prize for a miniature at the Malvern Quilt Show 2012.  I had to figure out a way to put it together as she does hers with freezer paper and glue and invisible thread. I devised my own method with 1/4 inch seam allowances,and some foundation piecing. I was totally amazed to win.

As submitted...

and with rosette!

And here I am, picking up some silverware!

Twisted Log Cabin

My most recent enterprise is this Twisted Log Cabin quilt ,which started as a workshop with Jan Hassard. I embroidered feathers onto the backgound with black and free motion embroidered feathers onto the rest of the quilt.

We Are Sailing

This small quilt was made for the We Are Sailing competition for Region 4 of the Quilter's Guild,  back in March 2012. It will be touring around this summer with all the other entries and will be shown  in Tiverton on May 17th and at the Dorset Quilters' day on June 2nd. Further venues will be the Sea Ilfracombe festival on September 1st and at Creative Stitches at Westpoint from September 27-30.