More from the Festival of Quilts

I promised to show a few more highlights from the show so here they are.

C June Barnes and Janice Gunner had a wonderful stand and kindly allowed me to take photographs.

There were beautiful indigo pieces from Janice but there were so many people admiring them I couldn't get close enough to show the detail.

There were lots of 3D exhibits from June.

The pieces were carefully illuminated to emphasize their form.

And cast great shadows.

The quilting was superb of course.

Stephanie Redfern and her daughter Chloe made a great team. Steph's mixed media work always stands out as completely original.

And lastly for today, here are our friends on the Husqvarna stand with all their machines set up and ready to try. It's much like letting a quilter loose in a sweet shop!

I loved the diversity of the exhibits and the traders this year - definitely something for all tastes!

Thanks for dropping by - I'll post again very soon, Linda

At the show

It's late and we need to get some sleep before we head back to the hall for the final day of the show but I thought I'd show you a few quick photos. This must be quite early in the day because it's all relatively quiet around our stand.

Before long, as everyone floods in, it's hard to see through the throng.

 Marie's gallery is just around the corner from our stand.

Her quilts and dolls look beautiful and are receiving a lot of attention.

Here are three of the lovely figures in more detail.

Laura's quilt looks very dramatic hanging in the Pictorial category. She didn't win this year but she gets my vote!

Of course the eating and drinking areas are always the most crowded places in the whole show!

I've taken a few pictures of my favourite quilts and will blog them soon.

Bye for now - Linda

Must be getting old!

This will be a short post because I can hardly keep my eyes open long enough to write tonight. Age must be catching up with me! We've been at Festival of Quilts today building the stand for the show opening tomorrow. It only takes a bit of muscle, an enormous hired van and a few hours unpacking boxes and crates to get from this.............

To this!

We look almost ready for business don't we? A good night's sleep tonight and we will be!

It'll probably be hectic tomorrow but I'll try to remember to take lots of photos. Meanwhile I thought I'd end by showing you the view from my window this week. This field surrounds our cottage on three sides and the grass has been responsible for my terrible hay fever. Maybe now it's been cut and baled I'll get a bit more sleep at night.

Really though, the sore eyes and sniffles are a very small price to pay for such a beautiful sight and the smell is quite wonderful.

Hope to see lots of you over the next few days. Come and say hello if you're visiting the show.

Talk again soon - Linda

Summer - what summer?

We try to be self sufficient with vegetables for as much of the year as possible but we've definitely been up against it this year. Record breaking temperatures and drought in early spring followed by the wettest weather since records began doesn't make for ideal growing conditions. 'He Who Gardens' soldiers on despite the odds and, as he is of a generous nature, always grows far too many plants for the two of us. After giving away as many spares as we could ( even the milkman had trays of tomato plants thrust upon him!) one remaining cucumber plant found its way into the conservatory where conditions seem to be suiting it!

It's growing over the top of the dresser.

And scrambling triffid-like across the doorway. We'll need to pick these soon before we risk concussion on our way into the kitchen.

The cucumber isn't the only thing growing - Laura only has a couple of tops she can still fit into so I've been sewing again. This is a brilliant Vogue pattern (V1261). You can be wearing it within an hour if you have a mind (and a speedy overlocker helps).

Of course if you like it in blue you probably wouldn't say no to the red star version either!

You might have spotted this on the design wall behind the mannequin. It's one of Laura's latest Fingerprint designs. It's a cheat's version of crazy patchwork that I'll be demonstrating on during Festival of Quilts. I'm going to be hand embroidering every pretend seam with Madeira Lana threads.

When we're panicking about getting ready for a show it's all hands on deck. Mom came for a couple of hours this week and had great fun sorting charm squares. The good thing is she doesn't want paying - she went home quite happy with a jar of homemade raspberry jam and, you guessed it, a cucumber!

And out in the studio my embroidery machine has been earning its keep again. I'm using the preset designs but working them onto hand dyed squares that I've already stitched and painted.

Layering the techniques makes all the difference I think. These little jewels are destined to be mini cushions to sell on the stand. I've lost count of how many there are now but I can promise there will be more by next Thursday!

Hope you're all busy and productive too. Thanks for reading this - Linda

On with the next!

It was a perfect summer's day today and first thing in the morning, before it got too hot, I walked along the lane to my local quilt shop to enjoy coffee and cake in the garden. Each year shop owner Jackie holds a day to raise funds for charity and today was the day.

There were quilts draped over tree branches.

Over washing lines.

And on the walls of a marquee. I couldn't photograph inside the shop because it was too full of people busy shopping!

Tempting as it was to stay for the delicious looking lunch I saw being prepared I had stuff waiting for my attention back home.

The latest Moth quilt is off the longarm machine now and just needs its hand stitching, binding and sleeve. With no time to waste a little landscape quilt is now pinned on in its place and quilting has begun!

I'm keeping to a limited palette of only two or three colours of thread for the quilting. I've taken the warm colour of the moon out into the surrounding area but much of the rest of the quilt will be stitched with a soft blue which more or less blends with the colours of the piecing.

The foreground of the landscape needs some interest and spotting this statuesque Old Man's Beard in the hedgerow on the walk back from the quilt shop I think I may have found the answer!

Thanks for dropping by - I've got lots more work to show you so I'll post again very soon. Bye for now, Linda

Feeling the heat

Well summer finally came back with a vengeance this week. We had 28C again today. My workroom is almost entirely glass at one end so working in there is just like being a ripening tomato in a greenhouse! I should be used to it by now I suppose - we always end up working frantically during the July and August heat as we get ready for Festival of Quilts. This year we've got two autumn exhibitions to prepare for as well. I've pinned one of the Moth quilts onto the longarm and begun the quilting.

I'm outlining the overlapping moth wings to accentuate the suggestion of transparency in this top part of the quilt.

And I'm taking the colour of the magenta moth across the quilt by using a cherry red thread in the negative spaces between the stencilled shapes.

The red is alarming when viewed en masse on the cone but just provides a necessary spark of colour when seen as a single strand.

When it got too hot to stand and quilt I switched to a bit of gentle piecing at the cooler end of the room. I think my friend Edwina's Cut and Come again technique really suited the Winter Hedge prints that Laura designed for Fingerprint. I made nine four inch blocks, framing them with a hand dyed fabric and then added a startling black and white design I've had in my stash for a very long time. I wouldn't normally use a geometric print like this in large amounts but as a narrow insert in a seam I love it. I think I'm going to quilt the pieced area with a variegated black and white thread and extend the quilting out into the plain border to make a connection between the patchwork and the jazzy insert at the edge.

By mid afternoon I could resist a seat under a shady tree no longer. This mini cushion was just needing to have its final seam closed by hand - such a pleasure to sit and sew outdoors on such a glorious day!

Managed to achieve quite a lot despite the heat - I hope you're having a productive time too.

Thanks for reading - Linda

Time to prepare for Festival

I know I haven't blogged for a week. It's not because I've been idle - quite the opposite in fact. After much thought we decided that we couldn't bear not to be at Festival of Quilts again this year. It's their 10th anniversary and we've been there every year since the beginning. Despite the fact that Laura will be as round as a beachball by August we have booked our stand and will endeavour to demonstrate each day. Until then we'll be working frantically to prepare. While Laura is pregnant I've taken over dyeing duty and am enjoying it hugely.

I may find it difficult to part with some of these fabrics!

Mind you, there should be plenty to go round.

As well as a mountain of charm squares.

Laura has just designed this apron print and will be offering it as a kit. My much used paint box has never looked so amazing.

Of course we'll have new work on display too. This is a detail of one of the latest pieces in the Moth series. Right now it's just a little sliver of insubstantial fabric waiting to be quilted.

This is an even bigger piece needing to be quilted too. May have to work a night shift to get everything finished in time!

Maybe it's because it's summer but I've been making rather colourful quilts lately. Not my usual dour palette at all.  Of course, stitch will transform them and add even more colour - I'll let you see how I get on as soon as there's something to show.

Thank you for dropping by. Please come back again soon. Linda