It's my BIRTHDAY!

My birthday today! Quite a special one, ending in a 5 and extra special because I have been receiving treatment for breast cancer since last September.  Doing well, more energy each day although almost another year of Herceptin ahead of me.
Beautiful sunny day, been for a walk and now settling down in the garden in the shade with a cup of tea and a beautiful book I received from a dear Quilty friend to mark my birthday.  I haven't seen it before and it's FABULOUS!
Called The Gentle Art of Quilting by Jane Brockett

Beautifully set out.  Lots of interesting notes about fabric, quilts, quilting, backings etc. at the start of the book.

Each project was inspired by a flower or artifact and the Projects are beautifully set out.

For instance:

TULIP FIELD

 The inspiration

 And the Tulip Quilt

One more to whet your appetite! 

AMARYLLIS

  The inspiration

 And the Amaryllis quilt!

Just before I put the kettle on.......... here's a photo of the gorgeous bag another Quilty friend made me, showcasing various Kiwiana fabrics as Candy knows how much we love New Zealand!

Off to sit and read and get inspired to make even more quilts!

Have a Happy Day!

Owl Quilt Sneaky Peak

One of my daughter's friends asked if I could make a quilt for her 2 year old's bed. Bethany's bedroom curtains had an Owl motif and I was sent 2 fat quarters to incorporate into a quilt which was to be 40" deep and 55" wide, to go across the bottom of Bethany's bed. Two bright fabrics with really cute owls!

So, how to use them?  After much deliberation I decided to use a fusable webbing on the back of the circular owls and applique them onto spotted fabrics which matched some of the colours in the owls; lilac, blue and a soft green. I hand blanket stitched around the owl shapes.

Then I cut the other fabric into sections of owls sitting on branches. These formed the centres of a log cabin style block.  Again I used the lilac, blue and soft green fabrics but to add a bit more zing I framed some with a Michael Miller Ta Da spot in red and an Amy Butler spot in a mustard shade of yellow.  I had great fun arranging the blocks into 5 rows of equal length, adding extra strips of spotted fabrics to make the blocks and rows uniform.

Once the top was machined together I sandwiched ready for hand quilting, using the lilac spot fabric as backing. I have now almost completed the hand quilting but I have taken a few photos to email to Bethany's Mum so she can see how the quilt is progressing.  I am really pleased with how it is turning out and I hope my customer is too!

And here is a close up of some of the blocks.

A lot of work involved but I have enjoyed it!

Malvern Quilt Show 2012

I had a wonderful outing yesterday to the Malvern Quilt Show at the Three Counties Showground.  A coach trip with the Shires Quilt Group from Coventry.
One of my favourite local quilters, Anja Townrow from Walsall had a great quilt in the Show which also featured on the front of the Showguide.

Anja is originally from The Netherlands although she has lived in the UK since her late teens.  She is a great quilter and a great character. On two occasions I have had the pleasure of hearing her talk and show so many of her wonderful colourful quilts. She is a talented quilter and a fantastically humorous speaker.
This beauty is aptly named Flower Festival.
Malvern is a lovely Show to attend as it is quite small and you can easily see all the quilts and visit all the traders in one day without charging around like a mad thing. Plenty of time to chat with friends and relax over a cup of coffee.
Lots of lovely quilts, so here are a few which caught my eye.

A Bed quilt called Memories by Rebecca Collins, St Asalp, Denbighshire

A Cot quilt called Childhood Memories by Jean Hunt, Gloucestershire

Two close ups

A Group Quilt which I loved was this one, cleverly constructed from patchwork, knitted roofs and tapestry sections, all stitched together to form this great quilt.

Colmar, France

Dragonflies by Jan Hassard, Bristol

And a close up of some of the dragonflies

And finally, in the Jackleberries section (quilts made at a Thimbleberries class held at White Cottage Country Crafts)

Free Spirit by Marian Wyn

At the end of the day a coach full of  tired but very contented quilters happily returned home, many carrying bags full of goodies!



Another Crumb Quilt

I so enjoy making these little premature baby sized Crumb Quilts.  Completed another one last week, this time using leftover strips of aqua Kona Cotton for the sashing.

I have two commissions on the go at present so as I am sewing those I create crumb blocks, joining tiny fabric scraps together instead of my usual thread catchers!  I now have lots of crumb blocks sitting in a biscuit tin ready for me to make more little Crumb Quilts!

So, here are my two finished premature baby sized Crumb Quilts.  When I have a few of them I shall donate them to my local hospital.