Elm Creek

Oooh, our lovely postman brought me "Elm Creek Quilts" and "Return to Elm Creek" this morning.  Lots of lovely quilt patterns by Jennifer Chiaverini and Nancy Odom linked to Jennifer's 'Elm Creek Quilters' novels and beautifully illustrated.  I wonder which one I shall start with?

Yellow Brick Road

 

This is the quilt I made using the Yellow Brick Road pattern from  Terry Atkinson.  The pale "cloudy sky" fabric is a bit too much contrast and I used a polycotton mix for the backing which I won't ever do again but I enjoyed using the design and it is a good holiday souvenir, those manatees were gorgeous.

Great Global Christmas Swap

This sounds like fun, take a look and sign up at

http://www.fionamarie.com/greatglobalchristmasswap.shtml

Sampler Quilt 2

 

These are my latest blocks for my king size sampler quilt that I'm making as a BOM at Dayspringer Quilters.  The Drunkard's Path took a whole session as I was determined to follow Lynne Edwards' "proper" method.  I do have the instructions for a cheating method which I'm also going to try as I think I may make a Drunkard's Path border for the quilt.

Great Northern Quilt Show, Harrogate

I would recommend the quilt show at Harrogate, it is not so large that you become overwhelmed but there is a good selection of exhibition classes, good workshops and demonstrations and a fair range of traders. I found the catering a bit pricey and another time would take a picnic, there are plenty of chairs and this is what a lot of people seem to do. This first picture shows the airy hall where the quilts are displayed and that there is plenty of room to enjoy them (this was taken on Sunday in the early afternoon).

I took a lot of photographs but have removed them from this blog because of some concern about copyright.  If anyone can advise me I would appreciate it but my favourite quilts were:

"Autumn Stars" by Joyce Dawe of Hertfordshire who was exhibiting a selection of her "Quilts From My Princess and The Pea Bed". The star design is enhanced by applique within the block and I loved the colour graduation.

"Sea Fever" by Chris Waddleton of Somerset, a machine pieced and quilted design inspired by the John Masefield poem and I thought it was beautiful.

"Circles Of My Mind" by Glenda Smith of North Yorkshire, the result of a circle challenge set by Priory Quilters. I thought the colour combinations were lovely and the quilting was superb.

"Uplifted" by Sheena Norquay of Invernesshire, inspired by the colours of autumn leaves and the turquoise sky. The quilt includes printing and machine quilting and I thought it had a great sense of movement.

"Blue French Braids" by Trudi Wood of Lincolnshire, machine-pieced and machine-quilted. The blending of peaceful colours immediately caught my eye, before I spotted that the quilt was by Trudi!

"Nocturne" by Dilys Roberts of Cheshire. The colour combination is lovely and the pattern is Winding Ways which is on my "to do" list. The quilt was machine-pieced and hand-quilted and was gorgeous.

OMG I spent how much?!

As well as the opportunity to see, close-up, some wonderful quilts, a quilt show is, of course, a marvellous chance to do some shopping. Here are the things I bought at the Great Northern Quilt Show at Harrogate on Sunday, they are, obviously, all essential and not one of them is fattening or unhealthy! Firstly, two lovely jelly rolls, one in soft greens and the other in Christmas prints. Using jelly rolls (forty strips of 2.5" x 44" co-ordinated fabrics) is a great way to make a quick quilt top - ideal at Christmas time, and the green one was just too lovely to leave behind!

Then I needed some notions and found a trader with good prices, you could tell because the stand was surrounded with quilters like bees round a honeypot! I bought a frame as my current sampler quilt project is going to be "quilt-as-you-go" and I think this will be ideal. I treated myself to some gold-eyed needles that I hope will run more smoothly than my current ones and I bought a twin needle which I'm quite excited about using following the machine quilting workshop I did with Ruth Jarman.

Books!! Who can resist the book stands at a quilt show, not me! This is the selection that tempted me. And no, I didn't forget to get fabric. These are for a purple and orange project, possibly Winding Ways but I'm not sure yet, although I can see from the photograph that I'll need more light fabrics whatever I do. All, in all a good haul!

Great Northern Quilt Show, Harrogate

I'm off to Harrogate http://www.grosvenorexhibitions.co.uk/Quilt/Harrogate/GtNorthern-withticket.html tomorrow, watch this space for news of what I'm tempted to bring home!!

Bountiful gifts and a new convert

I spent the weekend with my parents and Mummy is starting to have a bit of a sort out...I am the delighted recipient of these jars of buttons, aren't they gorgeous? At the moment I'm just admiring them, all colour-sorted in their containers but I do think I might have a go at making some jewellery with some and will definitely use some in a future quilt project or two.

The next goody bag was from my sister who has just holidayed in Florida. She brought me home this wonderful selection of fabrics and I have a plan for a rainbow quilt in square within a square blocks. I started talking about quilting with her and it turns out that she has ALL of Jennifer Chiaverini's books (which she buys in America) and was willing to lend them to me. Here they are in my sewing room, I started the Quilter's Apprentice last night and am on chapter 9! Jane had bought herself some fabric and wanted to know where to start with an English pieced-patchwork project so she has begun working on Grandmother's Flower Garden with hexagons and promised to start her own quilting blog. She found lots of helpful information on the internet including Wendy Harbaugh's very helpful tutorial at http://sunshinescreations.vintagethreads.com/2007/03/tutorial-on-english-paper-piecing.html all in all, a very successful weekend, plus, hopefully Jane and Mummy are going to the Quilt Show at Hever Castle this weekend while I'll be at the Harrogate show and we're intending to go to the forthcoming V&A exhibition together if we can find something to amuse the menfolk!!

Sewing Room and a Parcel!

Just as I was taking photographs for this blog a parcel arrived from ZandS Fabrics so here's a picture of the gorgeous contents. The green is backing for a hanging based on the Norfolk Broads that is waiting to happen, the rest is for Lynne Edwards' first sampler quilt which is going to go on our bed - I was aiming for an Egyptian terracotta and dark blue mix and I think the Tonga Treasures is not quite the right blue - I might have to order something else!

This is fantastic, my sewing room is ready to go (if I ignore the stuff under the sheet on the upper level which is my darling son's and awaiting transfer to his home, eventually). Here's where I will sit and sew, and gaze out of the window too.

In the "under the bed" area are assorted bags of projects to start and those started and awaiting further work!

Music - what do you listen to while you're sewing? I tend to have Radio 2 or Radio 4 and if I'm FMQ I'll go for something suiting the style, classical or pop, it just has to be the right rhythm and speed. The dresser holds books and magazines, fabric, wadding and some finished fabric boxes (and bits and pieces, hopefully out of sight), oh and loads of beads waiting to be sorted out!

It's not a very big room but it's mine, all mine!!

Getting there

Quick post with good news - the carpet is down and the table is in....and so is ALL my sewing stuff, in a big heap waiting to be sorted out! Watch this space for more news of my very own sewing room :)