Sunday 29 May 2011

Surprise!!

Now what can this be????



Lovely photography - although I do say so myself.  It's not often I get it all mostly in focus on the first attempt!  Subsequent blogs will tell you all about this and give you the full photo and lowdown on the embroidery too.  Bet you can't wait!!!!!

While you are waiting - hop on over to apple tree crafts to see what else I have been up to lately. (In the crafting world of course).

Saturday 28 May 2011

Quilt in a day.....

Today we had a sewing day at the church hall in Kirkheaton and the Annual Art Festival was in the Church next door. I needed to get a quilt ready for the Aldwark Gallery at the Quilt Museum in York. Our region has been asked to make quilts 8-1/2 inches wide by up to 1 metre in length using a single colour of the rainbow.

Before I left home this morning I cut strips about one and a half inches wide from all the green fabric I could find. This was made with a stitch and flip method then I bonda-webbed the leaves and free machine quilted them. Jackie has given me some sparkly green metallic thread and I shall do some more quilting and maybe add some beads. It is 24 inches long.

At the begining of May I was at a quilting retreat at Cober Hill, a hotel and conference centre near Scarborough (don't go there if you are vegan and like to eat anything healthy!!!!!! - but that's another story!). In the week I was there I managed to do this much of a rainforest quilt which was a pattern in a 2002 Quiltmaker magazine.

This quilt is foundation pieced onto papers.

A royal wedding must for all quilters! This is going to be for a cushion, but as you see I only got as far as this - I can't decide on the back - I may have to do a US flag for the back and zip it together! The pieces were cut out and stitched together, from a pattern in a recent UK quilting magazine.

This is a mug rug so not much bigger than your average postcard - made by cutting and inserting strips. I am going to quilt in the ditch with a metallic thread by hand to see how this will work for the rainforest quilt by quilting in the ditch around all the creatures.

My birthday pressy from Anne - a basket and workshop on making the fabric insert - this is the one Anne made - mine is not at all in one piece yet! But I used fabric with cupcakes on for the centre of the pockets.

It was cold yesterday morning and the cat from the end of the road was curled up on my bird table keeping warm!

Sunday 8 May 2011

Workshop today..

........... with Imperial Quilters and made a little quilt.... have actually put the strips on all of it and joined it together - but don't seem to have taken a photo of it.....



The next is the one that the teacher had done to show us....



I spent ALL last week at a quilting retreat and have so far accomplished this... sorry it's on it's side, but my software doesn't seem to turn my photos round when they are uploaded to the blog. That's linux for you and free software!! It is from a pattern in 2002 Quiltmaker magazine. I made this much about 9 years ago for a wallhanging for a little girl I know, and now I am going to make it all for myself. There is quite a bit more to do, another toucan, a treefrog and another dragonfly and several more leaves. Am planning on hanging it at the top of the stairs.