Hey guys.... Atlanta calling...

I went to a quilting workshop in Atlanta at the weekend and they were all using this fabric marker pen for needleturn applique - so I am having a go.....

The marks from this pen iron away!

I collected these leaves from the oak trees in the forest in Decatur where my son lives......

Something for winter...

What do you need for winter?  Mittens of course!  Well you do if you live in Bradford - its cold up north!

I started going to Calder Quilters last month (after seeing their marvellous exhibition at Bankfield Museum.  They were reminding everyone to bring their completed challenge quilts for the next meeting and I asked if she could tell new members what it was - and she said we wouldn't have much time to make anything - well red rags and bulls spring to mind here....  The theme was winter and you had to put lace and beads on.... and it had to be smaller than some measurement that I forgot, but mine is very small!  Oh well I had lots and lots of fun making it and I think it will look very cute hanging on my wall!

So here is my quilt - in two parts - Mittens for Winter.  I drew around my hands for a size guide.

The foxy is the only thing I copied from a book - but he is lots smaller than the pattern in the book!

Close up of robin (with embroidered red breast) and holly (with french knots for berries).  And tiny size 15 seed beads to make the snow sparkle.

A close up of the beads at the top of the cuff and the machine quilting for the sky.

A tiny star in the sky.

A home for a lion...

... is here at my mum's underneath the lion perfume bottle.

Poor little lion only had a piece of old toilet paper to sit on....

... and now in regal splendour he sits on his very own lion quilt.

Unfortunately I got it WRONG!!  The lion was actually looking after a small piece of toilet paper that my mum used to use for putting spiders out and then recycled it again.  Oh well she can hide it under the lion quilt now!!!

Too late to blog?

Its half past 12 and I need some sleep - but first I had to finish my lion quilt.

What? you may ask, do I want a 6 inch lion quilt for at this time of night? 

ALL will be revealed tomorrow!  Well later today, actually.

9/11

While remembering that day 10 years ago I was reminded of a fabric I bought in October 2001 at a store in Placerville CA that was raising funds for a firefighters charity by selling off old fabric with images of the earlier New York skyline.

Great Northern Quilt Show 2011

Well Travelled at the Great Northern Quilt Show 2011 - Three of us from the group had completed our quilts - I'm not sure about the legalities of showing other people's work on here, so I won't!

This is now complete and ready to be a charity quilt to be donated to the Forget-Me-Not Trust, a local children's charity.

The start of a small quilt which will have log cabins and flying geese to teach my two students some different techniques.

H and S have made a good start on their project!

...and here is a log cabin quilt I made for Tom using blue fabric.  It is the first real bed quilt that I made - probably about 10 years ago.  The fabrics used are ones that I made his clothes from and some Laura Ashley too.  It is wadded with polyester and tied.

I started this at a Barbara Slee workshop many years ago....

..... and now is the time to finish it!

Nearly done...

My mystery quilter has done some more quilting!  She has stitched in the ditch on some pieces and a little way from the edge on others.  And has put the first part of the binding on.......

........next lesson will be sewing the binding!


In case you were wondering -Well Travelled was completed last night (after FIVE hours of hand sewing!) and delivered to Harrogate this afternoon for the show, which is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  This photo is a bit folded - all will be revealed on Sunday when I take a photo of it hanging at Harrogate....

Minnie Quilters....

Two little friends came to visit on Friday for a quilting day..... check out the fabulous quilts they both made.  We found them on this web site www.pippawardman.weebly.com .  Pippa is the young quilters rep for the Quilters' Guild and she has set up this site for young quilters; check it out - there are some lovely things to make on it!  Unfortunately I didn't have any time at all to find a gecko button, but I'm sure I'll be seeing Magi's African fabric stall in the not too distant future.

H is 13 and is quite an experienced machinist now.  She cut out most of her pieces and sewed them all together without any help at all.  And pressed it all herself.  Well done H.

R is 9 and has never used a sewing machine before Friday.   We took the foot pedal off, because her feet didn't quite reach the floor, but after only a couple of demonstrations, she remembered exactly how to start and stop and feed the fabric through the machine.  I cut out a Gecko from felt for R to sew on to her quilt.  Well done R. 

And.... in case you were wondering - here is a corner of Well Travelled - I have finished quilting the four borders and just need to trim to shape and bind..... ha ha - another day's work!!

Here's some quilting on one of the squares.

...and some quilting on another block.

If you are visiting Harrogate Quilt Show next weekend look out for my quilt in the Group section.  I'll be there on the Sunday if you want to say hi!

Guess who?????

.... is learning to quilt?????

Still no idea?

Look what my secret quilting student has achieved after her first quilting lesson - and the FIRST time she has used a sewing machine too might I add!

Look how perfectly matched these corners are!

And just a quick update on the quilt for the Harrogate show - I have almost finished quilting the fourth square (out of nine).  I am not sure what to do on the sashing, but I may leave it in such a way that if I run out of time I don't need to do anything at all!

Ready for quilting....

... and in reply to the comment on the last post -  I bought the red and white safety pin fabric from Intown Quilters in Decatur, GA.  I also bought it in black and white too.

Green quilt centre bottom row is my little quilt hanging at the museum for our regional display of rainbow quilts.

This is the circular seagull quilt all sewn together and layered up ready for quilting - and yes it's got to be ready to take to Harrogate on Tuesday 30th August!!!

With a bit of additional piecing I made the backing big enough to fit

I started making this ages ago for the children's hospice that our quilting group is donating quilts to.  It is now layered up and ready to quilt.

My little friend H started this at school and finished it last week.

It's a double faced monster this is the smiley side - the previous photo showed the broken hearted side.