Exhibition, heatwave, what's next?

If I don't blog for a week it usually means I'm really busy rather than I have nothing to talk about. This last week has been hectic and made worse by the exceptional temperatures we've had. Normally I can take the heat, enjoy it even, but if quilts need to be quilted and videos recorded, when the workroom is a hothouse despite the efforts of the electric fan, it's not so easy.

I choose to quilt this cushion fabric by hand so I could sit in a shady spot in the garden to get it ready for DMTV and then onto our stand at Festival. It's a good excuse to sit and enjoy the garden without feeling guilty.

The latest crow quilt needed its text added now all the quilting is finished. In the cool of the evening or first thing in the morning was the best time for a little stereo stitching! This involves setting the embroidery machine up to do its thing while I keep an eye open for when the thread colour needs changing or the hoop moved. Magic! While it's whizzing away I sit alongside at another machine frantically free motion quilting.

I can't tell you how I love to hear two machines working at the same time!! I've contoured the spoon and fork on the right with turquoise and in-filled between the spoons on the left with angular patterns in orange. This is one of a pair of cushions I'm making for Laura's Fingerprint pop up shop next Sunday.

Our SiX and Friends exhibition opened earlier this month and it was lovely to travel to Llanidloes at the weekend for the Meet The Artists' event. As you can see from the picture above, The Rivals did get finished in time! This is the only photograph of it I have as the three pieces are far too big for my walls at home! The organisers looked after us really well and we were all grateful for the delicious lunch after a long hot drive. There's new work from every artist so even though the exhibit has travelled to previous venues there are new pieces to see. The exhibition runs all through the summer so I do hope lots of people will make time to visit this beautiful gallery in a lovely part of the world.

Annabel's quilts looked stunning. They have a calm monumentalism about them which is hard to describe until you see them 'in the flesh'. No pun intended! I can't wait to see more of her quilts in the Through Our Hands gallery at Festival of Quilts in a couple of weeks.

Hilary did a great job demonstrating some of her favourite techniques.

While the rest of us just did what we do best - talk! Laura has put a few photos on the SiX and Friends blog so head over there if you'd like to see more of the exhibition and links to all the group members' own websites and blogs.

Thanks for visiting today - I'll be back with more soon. Bye for now - Linda