Exhibitions

It's the Open Evening for my classes this Friday - I have been doing this for a few years now and it's a wonderful opportunity to display all the hard work produced by the ladies who attend my classes and workshops. Sometimes it's good to be reminded just how much we have achieved.As well as being a great wee social event, we hold a sewing related Bring and Buy stall - this year, all proceeds will go to the Elf fund, a local charity appeal.
Perhaps if you are reading this post but unable to attend my event, you might like to read about the fund and donate a little something?

Meanwhile, on the subject of exhibitions, check this one out - it's fabulous!! One person's quilt collection, she must have big cubpoards..lol...

Accidental Landscapes

Today I held an Accidental Landscapes workshop, based on Karen Eckmeier's excellent book - when I first held this workshop, last March, I had made sure I had permission from Karen, and she was happy for me to do it as long as my students purchased a pattern or copy of her book.............I am always very mindful of copyright and having spent many hours preparing handouts and instructions I know how disheartening it can be to have your efforts photocopied and distributed without thought.

So, today's workshop - the ladies were very industrious and although all the photos have been posted to flickr, I thought they deserved highlighting here.
                       
                                          by Christine

                                          
                                           by Frances

                                                   
                                                    by Helen

                                         
                                          by Isobel

                                              
                                               by Jane

                                         
                                           by Jenny

                                                    
                                                     by Linda

                                           
                                          by Margaret W.

                                          
                                            by Moira

                                                    
                                                     by Pat

                                            
                                              by Caryl

                                              
                                                by Alexis

                                                   
                                                    by Theresa

                                                                   
                                                                       Fab, aren't they?

Sugar and Spice

If you go to the Quilt Story blog, you will find a super giveaway going on - I love this red and aqua combination, haven't used colours like this before, hope I win!!

 

Two Old Chooks & A Bunch of Chicks, at a Hen Do!

Our very good friends, Delia & Ken, are having a rough ride at the moment - Ken has been in hospital for a while and last week, was transferred to Edinburgh, to the RIE.
Their very lovely daughter, Lorna, is marrying Matt, in 8 wks and this weekend was her "Hen do"..........her friends were coming together from all over the country, and Janet & I joined the young - uns, our status promoted temporarily to substitute mums, as Delia was unable to be with us.

Saturday, we set off bright and early, by mini bus ( ok - it was actually a dial - a- bus, good practice) and had a lovely trip down to Pebbles Spa, just south of Girvan.
There, we had an arduous day which involved lolling about in a jacuzzi, playing with some gym equipment, some rather pampering treatments and a lovely lunch - all with a glorious view of Ailsa Craig.
At 6pm we were picked up and taken to our dinner reservation at Wildings, in Maidens. The food there is wonderful.

Today, we gathered earlyish, at Alloway Village Hall for a Bunting Workshop. The teamwork was astonishing and we managed to complete 129 bunts (officially the singular of bunting)...these will be part of the decoration of the wedding venue.

For those who wish to see more, click on my flickr button and go to Lorna's Big Hen Do.

Japan

As a follower of Pink Penguin's blog I am responding to her appeal to help raise some funds for the Diaster fund following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. It's hard to believe only a week has gone by since the earthquake struck and with our technology these days it was almost obscene to be able to watch the horrifying events unfold on our tv screens. It is difficult not be touched by the stories we are hearing daily.

I have a fairly new etsy shop and I have decided that all sales of current items will go to the disaster fund. (after shipping)
Why don't you have a look..................thanks.

Another one for Linus

Isn't it wonderful to be able to pass on our quilting skills to the next generation. Katrina has done just that and daughter Sam has produced this super little quilt for Linus - well done Sam!

Lie - in

Had a bit of a lie-in this morning which seems to have set a lazy tone for the day. I rarely stay late in bed in the mornings but as some of you know, we are constantly awoken in the night by our poorly, geriatric cat (you have to take the good with the bad!), so the lie - in was good. I had great intentions to hit the sewing machine but instead I headed for the desktop and got my new session class project out to all my current classes and then sent out the leaflets for my new beginners' classes, so decent use of time really.

I am now drifting thro my 'puter files and have found this pic...

a few weeks ago, I bought some plain, red pillowcases. My new sewing room has to double as a spare bedroom and I am creating an Americana theme, based on my old favourite quilt, see pix further down in post. I was hoping to find some bedding in the right colours but so far, no luck so picked these pillowcases up in Debenhams sale and did a bit of fancy stitching in cream, and blue. Just wanted to share with you the stitch that I used for the cream lines - it's what is known as a triple stitch and will appear on your sewing machine as 3 parallel dotted lines - intended for reinforced stitching but in this instance, looks nice and textured. Sometimes a utility stitch on your machine can turn into something special.

So , I also managed to hang my "Americana" quilt - I made this back in about 2002, quite early in my quilting life - it's still my out and out favourite. They do say everybody has one good quilt in them!! I called it "Sweet Land of Liberty". It used to hang in our old house but when we were trying to sell I put it away in an effort to be "minimal and neutral". It's now back on a wall, hanging on some June Taylor quilt hangers (brilliant purchase).

Anyway, think it's time for another episode of Criminal Minds..........................

A Giveaway

If you go to Spun Sugar Quilts you will find another fun giveaway, a chance to win $50 to spend on fabric - yum.

Busy Month

As some of you know, I teach P & Q here in Ayrshire. My current classes are rolling towards the end of session and I always round things off with an Open Evening. This year it will be on 1st April!! As we approach this time of year I always throw a challenge to all my students to make one small quilt for Project Linus. We usually produce heaps of little pre-natal sized quilts which go to our local maternity unit. We are told that nursing staff especially appreciate the quilts being backed with fleece so that is what we do.
I have 5 classes a fortnight, one for beginners, and the others all follow the same project. In the term before Christmas the project was called Cabin in the Woods and was a smallish wallhanging of an appliqued centre surrounded by log cabin blocks. The focus was on the applique and the ladies were encouraged to pursue their own applique ideas if they didn't want to follow my samples. In term two it's all been about free moltion quilting. and I suggested that perhaps they could combine this with their Linus quilts. We are often terrified of doing free motion quilting on a "real" quilt. Attendance this term has been a bit sporadic, due in the main to illness, but those who have managed to get their teeth into the technique have really grown their confidence and skill levels, even me! So it really is all about practice.
Anyway, I usually start collecting exhibits for my Open Evening as folks finish their projects and today I decided to blog each little Linus quilt as I receive it. Much effort has gone into these little gems, one or two are a bit bigger than neo-natal, and I am sure all will be gratefully received, and loved, for a long time.

Delia started this one as her Cabin in the Woods project and decided to give it to Linus. The Sue and Sam in the centre are French and have all been hand stitched......look at this close-up,

The next two have been made by Wendy, from orphans and scraps! Both are quite big, toddler sized I reckon and are properly layered and bound. She has even free motion quilted the pink one even tho she hates the technique.

This next Linus teenie, has been made by Irene from my beginners class - Irene has embraced p & q with great gusto. She has also taken up machine embroidery as can be seen in the quilt's embellishments.

This next baby quilt is from another busy beginner, Denise. It is actually destined for a poorly little relative, Lily...

My final pic for today is Jackie's Cabin in the Woods project. She started following the Baby Baltimore sample but wanted to make a cushion. The leaves and buds were raw edge appliqued and then she did some rather clever fabric maniulation to make her petals. It has all been stitched onto a linen background and is indeed, a thing of beauty.

Keep coming back as the month progresses I will post more work from all my clever ladies.

and after a short break........

........remember this post? I finally picked out all that awful quilting and started again, this time with cotton wadding. And now it's done, finished the binding at the weekend.

   

The fabric is "Lollipop" by Sandy Gervias, for Moda - it's a brilliant range, you could make a kiddies quilt from it using the monkeys, there is a print with fish, or alphabets on, but there is also enough variety to make a more grown up quilt. We have nearly the full range available in the shop (Sew Materialistic, in Ayr) and the pattern I have used to make the above quilt is my own, "Lemon Squeezy" which is also available from the shop.It's a great pattern for beginners to make.

Yummy Giveaway

If you pop over to the Vignette in Stitches blog, you can enter into a really yummy giveaway and you don't have to have your own blog - someone has to win........

My Treat

I visited the Spring Quilt show at Ingliston (near Edinburgh) on Saturday - hadn't been in a few years and was interested to see if it had changed much. I had made up my mind to treat myself to a funky, modern Jelly Roll but was disappointed to find few stands selling the new fabric that I keep admiring on so many blogs.

I think it was as busy as I recalled and there was plenty of spending going on. It  was great to catch up with Pat Archibald and she was telling us of her latest trip to India which appears to have inspired some of her new projects. Don't forget to check out her website here for details of her courses.

Sadly, the catering, as usual left much to be desired but this is down to the in -house catering and not the quilt show organisers.

I did manage to buy myself a few fat 1/4s...................

How yummy are these?  (Summertime by Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup for Henry Glass & Co.)
I think I have risen to my own challenge of trying something new, now I just have to decide on quilt style & pattern. Watch this space................

..........and before I go, why don't you hop over to Pleasant Home where Jodi is hosting a giveaway of an Accuquilt GO - Baby.........to celebrate the impending birth of her first grand-child.