tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49180394512956438482024-03-13T00:07:45.989+00:00 byannelize Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-12803357326973327932017-08-23T17:14:00.001+01:002017-08-23T17:14:22.712+01:00Gosh, where has the time gone?I knew I was way behind and overdue an update on my blog, but every time I thought I would sit down to do this, something else cropped up. I was so shocked to see that it was nearly a year since my last post! Now, where to begin?<br />
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<b>My new life:</b><br />
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Well, the divorce came through in December, I am told quite quickly really as it was only 13 months since we separated. Because of the circumstances, I have needed to see a therapist but I am very happy to say that I no longer need her help. Having had the help of both the therapist and a psychologist who had specialised knowledge of the issues involved meant that I could make sense of the situation and accept it, also that I finally have a true understanding of what caused the breakdown of my marriage and understand that there was nothing that I could have done to prevent it and that I was not to blame. <br />
It has been a long road, there is still a very long road ahead of me, but I am happier now than what I have been in a very very long time. My experiences have all been documented and I have had offers and requests to put it all in a book as so many women could be helped by reading my story. I do not have the time right now to do this, but am in touch with someone who can do this for me.<br />
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<b>My new home:</b><br />
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I started overhauling the garden last October, anticipating all the work to be done in a couple of months, oh yes, I thought it would all be finished before Christmas when all my kids came to stay. Boy, was I wrong. So, since moving in, I have had the entire house painted, walls knocked down and new walls built, new wardrobes put in, old ones taken out, doors repositioned and some taken out altogether. Underfloor heating added to upstairs and new wooden flooring put in in all the bedrooms and landing, new carpet on staircases. Bought furniture for every room and furnishings, curtains and blinds were ordered and put up, plans were drawn up and contractors employed, mostly I oversaw all the work and became great friends with everyone that worked here, just as well, as some just about moved in!<br />
I now have a new porch and two brand new bathrooms. There is still the fascias and soffits to repair and then clad, but I am now having a bit of a breather. Here are some before and after photos;<br />
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<b>My new garden:</b><br />
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As proud as I am with what I have achieved in my home, this is nothing compared to how I feel about the transformation in my garden. Rather than explain, I will let the photos speak for themselves. All that is left to do now, is to maintain it (and I have help from some lovely young lads every week with this) and to visit a garden centre every two or three weeks to see what is in bloom that would fit in with the other plants at home. This is my strategy for always having something in bloom in my garden and a good excuse to buy a few more plants.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New outdoor dog </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Springtime, before plants were ready to go in to rill</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rill at the end of the patio</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How amazing does this look at night time?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New steps to replace steps with classification problems</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South African influence: Strelitzias</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtyard outside my studio with new stone cladding on the old red brick wall</td></tr>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2QZezdA-lZc/WZ186L0uYFI/AAAAAAAAFK4/kEOwJ42hZFMASVEzHL97IiED0Q-mTVZnACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_4439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2QZezdA-lZc/WZ186L0uYFI/AAAAAAAAFK4/kEOwJ42hZFMASVEzHL97IiED0Q-mTVZnACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_4439.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbA7V0QlrUA/WZ184sznI-I/AAAAAAAAFKw/JL5zTucDrbcxNPVQ-vOlUBy0mOb9GVpLwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_4437.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Revamped mail boxes with auriculas</td></tr>
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<b>Family news:</b><br />
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My oldest son proposed to his Canadian girlfriend on Christmas eve and we spent the rest of the holiday talking and planning the wedding, even squeezed in time to go and buy the wedding dress. The original plan was to get married the following Christmas, but once the venue had been chosen, we realised that it would be in the middle of winter and not a lot of flowers around outside, so the wedding date was moved forward to July to fit in with other commitments. This did not leave a lot of time for organising, but all came together as planned and they had the most fantastic wedding. And my garden was finished literally the day before they arrived here for the wedding! I am now mother-in-law to a beautiful Canadian girl<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fAjHZvmd7Jo/WZ2amVT_A-I/AAAAAAAAFP4/JzaZIT56HNg55t5fqm8XRh-gNJI0cc07gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fAjHZvmd7Jo/WZ2amVT_A-I/AAAAAAAAFP4/JzaZIT56HNg55t5fqm8XRh-gNJI0cc07gCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9701.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Quilting world:</b><br />
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Quilting has had to take a bit of a back step in the last few months, but I am hoping to get back into it as soon as my new Handiquilter Infinity has been installed. I have finally decided to upgrade and sell my Avante, I am so looking forward to this as I have not done any quilting now since May and am starting to have a few withdrawal symptoms.<br />
Not having had my quilting machine has been a blessing in disguise as it meant I had no distractions from doing the coursework I needed for the judging course that I am doing. This is turning out to be far more time consuming than I estimated, at times I am wondering what I was thinking when I signed up to it, but I am learning so much and it was about time that these grey cells got a bit of a workout.<br />
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So, what have I managed to quilt this year?<br />
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Quilts for a friend:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vKp_LUmgaAM/WZ2mKyiScHI/AAAAAAAAFRA/zslUI2QdpKwMIfq3b4tTx-mCA1FgbylFQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8762.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vKp_LUmgaAM/WZ2mKyiScHI/AAAAAAAAFRA/zslUI2QdpKwMIfq3b4tTx-mCA1FgbylFQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8762.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was in such a rush that I forgot to take any other photos of this one, but isn't it a great quilt? Wish it was mine...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Made from left over fabrics, I loved quilting this one</td></tr>
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Here are a few photos of the back:<br />
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"All journeys lead home"<br />
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Early in the year, I was asked if I would participate in the "In the Spotlight" exhibition at the Festival of Quilts. Each region in the UK was asked to put forward a quilter that could make a quilt to the theme "No place like home". I was really excited to take part in this, and knew that I wanted to use some of my Cherrywood fabrics. I also wanted to have a go at designing and drawing up my own foundation pieced pattern. I combined the centre medallion, which is my own design, with a foundation pieced border by Norah McMeeking. <br />
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Progress was going really well until I sprayed some Blue line Eraser onto the quilt, when the deep purple and burgundy fabrics (which were pre-washed before you ask) decided to bleed into the mushroom and aqua coloured fabrics. Several attempts, using several different methods, removed the bleeding, but also some of the lovely colours, and as a result of the hot water required to do this, also shrunk the quilt. But time was running out, so the quilt was sent off and looked lovely in the exhibition. I was sent some of the feedback from the exhibition and was thrilled to read some of the comments, particularly from Norah whom I had no idea would be at the show.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being blocked: I have no other photos at the moment of this quilt</td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z8riLwRnrfk/WZ2nNAUFmyI/AAAAAAAAFRc/BYg_brZk-ZYzcCfUMY_UOQp89oqacoQpQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z8riLwRnrfk/WZ2nNAUFmyI/AAAAAAAAFRc/BYg_brZk-ZYzcCfUMY_UOQp89oqacoQpQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9296.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb4EsJgsSz4/WZ2nNPA33XI/AAAAAAAAFRY/UQvEfZH6GgE2FCTYZBN59lsZm6Wct0rkgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb4EsJgsSz4/WZ2nNPA33XI/AAAAAAAAFRY/UQvEfZH6GgE2FCTYZBN59lsZm6Wct0rkgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9062.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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'The trouble with magenta, hot or not'<br />
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Those of you that regularly read my blog, will know that this was the quilt I made specifically for the Festival of Quilts in 2015, but I was then asked to enter a quilt into the World Quilt show. I had not ever entered a quilt in this show before and felt so honoured to be asked, I had no other quilt available that was not on tour somewhere, so this quilt was entered and was then awarded the 'Best of UK' award. I decided to enter this into the Festival of Quilts this year, and was over the moon to find out that I have been awarded a First place in Traditional category with it. I have had so many lovely comments about this quilt and so many people have asked me how I made it and how I go about designing it. In my post about 'Nostalgia' you can see what I do and how I do it when designing and then stitching out a whole cloth quilt.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6_BR526s-Y/WZ2nzyCK2mI/AAAAAAAAFRg/OJBPUBUkNLwbhaT-VBaVpaSqjy14Cxo5gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6_BR526s-Y/WZ2nzyCK2mI/AAAAAAAAFRg/OJBPUBUkNLwbhaT-VBaVpaSqjy14Cxo5gCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_0242.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of "The trouble with magenta, hot or not", I am often told the back looks better than the front!</td></tr>
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'Nostalgia'<br />
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I entered 'Nostalgia' into the World Quilt show this year and am just so happy to say that it has been awarded a FIRST place in the traditional category. I am totally overwhelmed by all the amazing comments and messages I have received from friends and quilters all over the world. In the first half of 2016 I had a lot of negative and unhappy thoughts when I quilted, so in 2017 I decided that I would only quilt when I am happy and have positive thoughts. I guess all the happiness came through in the quilting.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front of 'Nostalgia"</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-31708242298562166722017-08-18T00:21:00.000+01:002017-08-18T00:21:24.921+01:00'Nostalgia'"Nostalgia'<br />
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The idea for nostalgia came when I was waiting at Heathrow to board a flight to go to a funeral in South Africa. Normally I am super organised and have everything to hand that I might need, but on this occasion, I had forgotten to pack a notepad. I was already at my gate so no chance to buy a notepad, but the young man next to me passed me a small piece from his notepad and I started sketching the idea I had in my head. When I unpacked my bag on my return I found the paper and positioned my magic mirrors to see if I liked the design and then enlarged it onto a foolscap paper. I still liked it so then enlarged it onto a piece of paper cut large enough to be the same size as the quilt is going to be (I buy paper by the roll for this purpose). I had to make some minor adjustments to get the scale right and then started adding background ideas onto the paper. Mostly I stick to what I have drawn out but sometimes I need to make adjustments as I have a tendency to draw far too small and detailed which when stitched out will be too small for the scale of the quilt. Once I am happy with the overall plan, I use a lightbox to transfer the main elements of the design onto the quilt top, using a blue water erasable pen. On a dark fabric, where the blue won't show up, I use a Bohin chalk pen with fine point in white.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9CH8bZbJuWE/WZYQJH3aSJI/AAAAAAAAFGE/iXLIkn5L7rotaGSU5nxymM_5iAO5lUMFQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9CH8bZbJuWE/WZYQJH3aSJI/AAAAAAAAFGE/iXLIkn5L7rotaGSU5nxymM_5iAO5lUMFQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_5571.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Initial sketch on notepad</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jyV6XtrOcIk/WZYWn1_QFxI/AAAAAAAAFHs/vAS08uAs0CISndU4uDApBIHvbVz1gXs6QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jyV6XtrOcIk/WZYWn1_QFxI/AAAAAAAAFHs/vAS08uAs0CISndU4uDApBIHvbVz1gXs6QCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_5126.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doing a rough sketch onto A4 size paper</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7d33WnvUS7Y/WZYQHdEvFlI/AAAAAAAAFF8/qma4izNmj3U6wu411j_JLjhQOV7MPYJCACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7d33WnvUS7Y/WZYQHdEvFlI/AAAAAAAAFF8/qma4izNmj3U6wu411j_JLjhQOV7MPYJCACLcBGAs/s640/IMG_5520.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enlarging onto full size paper to check scale using rulers</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hMgDcCyHz50/WZYQHPYybMI/AAAAAAAAFF0/J440ikJBxNk-yjHS8betsMc4FReYOkoNwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hMgDcCyHz50/WZYQHPYybMI/AAAAAAAAFF0/J440ikJBxNk-yjHS8betsMc4FReYOkoNwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_5524.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing main elements full size</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L6gk5JO8INE/WZYQJI4tbzI/AAAAAAAAFGA/9LiMud2NeFk0yg1ZiWiUrl9C9_eMuXGkQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5570.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L6gk5JO8INE/WZYQJI4tbzI/AAAAAAAAFGA/9LiMud2NeFk0yg1ZiWiUrl9C9_eMuXGkQCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_5570.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding in feathers and experimenting with infills</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing the background design in to figure out best placement</td></tr>
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I often get asked "How long did it take you?" My answer usually is "Until I am not enjoying myself anymore". It does not matter how long it takes to make a quilt. I once started a quilt and got fed up with the borders that did not meet in the corners the way I wanted them to. I did not enjoy it, so I put it away. I discovered it a few years later and could not believe I gave up so easily, unpicked it and redid it, it worked out perfectly. Probably because I could look at it with fresh eyes and had picked up a little bit more experience in the meantime. And I loved working on it until it was finished. Now if anyone asked me how long I had worked on it, my honest answer would have to be about 5 years, yet it was a machine pieced quilt for a bed, with minimal quilting, done on my domestic sewing machine. But when I say that I worked on a quilt like this one for 4 months, there are either looks that say incredulous or others that are horrified. It does not matter, as long as you enjoy it. You do it because you want to do it, show me a quilter that ever has made a quilt because they did not enjoy it or did not want to do it, we choose this hobby or job because we like it or love it. Therefore it does not matter how long or short it took. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mZtk3WDaPdM/WZYQxOWjBoI/AAAAAAAAFGQ/uTs9NoYBrkolXcILLMDsTqm0reOvpTIXgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7907.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mZtk3WDaPdM/WZYQxOWjBoI/AAAAAAAAFGQ/uTs9NoYBrkolXcILLMDsTqm0reOvpTIXgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_7907.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main elements marked onto quilt top</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XyMqZdK4Emg/WZYQxY7M_8I/AAAAAAAAFGU/ZyYuItL8OMMKrvtLqJa1K2IY3pFsDyCsgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XyMqZdK4Emg/WZYQxY7M_8I/AAAAAAAAFGU/ZyYuItL8OMMKrvtLqJa1K2IY3pFsDyCsgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_7908.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of quilt: First all main elements and border lines are stitched, then feathers are stitched out</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5LNCyCImIw4/WZYQyzTwBbI/AAAAAAAAFGc/sceNnEA7q9AyBtVcoWc2KqCwjR5hXcmswCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5LNCyCImIw4/WZYQyzTwBbI/AAAAAAAAFGc/sceNnEA7q9AyBtVcoWc2KqCwjR5hXcmswCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_7917.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding feathers and piano key borders</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRhMOghHaus/WZYQzpOqYOI/AAAAAAAAFGk/r8PIk8Ir5SAsRrO4exORbEj0B95hrpztwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hRhMOghHaus/WZYQzpOqYOI/AAAAAAAAFGk/r8PIk8Ir5SAsRrO4exORbEj0B95hrpztwCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_7918.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding detail to piano keys to add depth</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cvf79-7XoKY/WZYQzVE7EFI/AAAAAAAAFGg/vbNcwbH_67InmXRKJj6OIh_eihg46HKygCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7919.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cvf79-7XoKY/WZYQzVE7EFI/AAAAAAAAFGg/vbNcwbH_67InmXRKJj6OIh_eihg46HKygCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_7919.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quilt from the back: Outline of main elements as well as feather border and piano keys all stitched </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--EC4DkiyAJk/WZYQ0vZQsKI/AAAAAAAAFGo/tPgrgDvaKdwKvO6EZYbmrar0J2K3IZxGgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--EC4DkiyAJk/WZYQ0vZQsKI/AAAAAAAAFGo/tPgrgDvaKdwKvO6EZYbmrar0J2K3IZxGgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8011.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quilt from the back after twisted continuous lines have been stitched out</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-h6MWGsNVw/WZYQ11N3tnI/AAAAAAAAFGs/2UeDIHRA_Mcu--Ka9WbFW532_9q-BfkWgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-h6MWGsNVw/WZYQ11N3tnI/AAAAAAAAFGs/2UeDIHRA_Mcu--Ka9WbFW532_9q-BfkWgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8013.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of quilt showing ruler work done today</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n1NAB7co_v0/WZYRVb5AvHI/AAAAAAAAFG8/_PHRdQcV_78YD9eM-Ux400rlwe1tnO55gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n1NAB7co_v0/WZYRVb5AvHI/AAAAAAAAFG8/_PHRdQcV_78YD9eM-Ux400rlwe1tnO55gCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8161.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying out size of infill, in this case far too small, drawing with fine draughting pencil can be deceptive</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuvzXqrwnVY/WZYQ2IcZKkI/AAAAAAAAFGw/WJ_XxLgrlesOPRFcTVSc8GllWsgslKwPgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuvzXqrwnVY/WZYQ2IcZKkI/AAAAAAAAFGw/WJ_XxLgrlesOPRFcTVSc8GllWsgslKwPgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8016.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of quilt showing back ground infill stitching</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lcpOP2g4NYw/WZYQ2qKP5LI/AAAAAAAAFG0/7KN0ArM85yE1iDwIzAuYAhkVpuh4LrbVgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lcpOP2g4NYw/WZYQ2qKP5LI/AAAAAAAAFG0/7KN0ArM85yE1iDwIzAuYAhkVpuh4LrbVgCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_8043.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quilt on the front, showing scribble quilting to highlight and outline feathers, deciding if colours are balanced</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding the coloured infill stitching </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beaded piping all stitched</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First edging stitched on</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding the beaded piping by hand</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hand stitched the second piping on</td></tr>
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I have used silk in ivory that I bought from a wedding dress fabric shop in London, for the quilt top. The piped edges and beaded piping are all stitched in silk from the same shop. For the back I have used a silk duvet cover that was bought years ago in a sale in Harrods. I have used the other half of the duvet cover as backing on another quilt 'Lords and their ladies' (see separate post) and just love how it looks quilted. I have used silk wadding with high loft polyester wadding on top. The variegated thread is Magnifico, I also used Glide threads and for the infill quilting used Microquilter and Infisival threads. It was quilted on my Handiquilter Avante, freehand, using rulers for the main elements. The feather border was marked using a stencil but I have customised the feathers to my own style so they are not all uniform. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eTSMAQqNu84/WZYRZXJah8I/AAAAAAAAFHY/9_ruN8jOLREp-Xgdpc9gOKgSaxhvqmSygCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1570" data-original-width="1600" height="628" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eTSMAQqNu84/WZYRZXJah8I/AAAAAAAAFHY/9_ruN8jOLREp-Xgdpc9gOKgSaxhvqmSygCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9080.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Nostalgia' front view</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Showing detail of stitching</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FqTAh7eYbZE/WZYRaYXYlpI/AAAAAAAAFHc/L3FOciubl-gWP-H5XL7oqNAq7297y9tBwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_9085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FqTAh7eYbZE/WZYRaYXYlpI/AAAAAAAAFHc/L3FOciubl-gWP-H5XL7oqNAq7297y9tBwCLcBGAs/s640/IMG_9085.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of edging</td></tr>
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I am also frequently asked what my quilts are used for or who they were made for. This quilt was made as a gift as commemoration of a special event. The recipient has not been told and will not be given the quilt for a while.<br />
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'Nostalgia' was my entry for the World Quilt Show in New England this year and I have just found out today that it has been awarded FIRST place in the traditional category. I am obviously over the moon. Not sure I am going to be able to sleep tonight.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-11185188394738545632016-09-19T18:31:00.001+01:002016-09-19T18:31:07.161+01:00Studio back in actionI can't believe that I have not posted since I moved in! But it is perhaps not a surprise. My first priority after sorting out bedrooms, was to get my studio back up and running, but Oh, so many boxes!! And things just stuffed inside them. I had some overhead lights put into the studio and removed the funny, useless porthole style wall lights that did nothing for my sewing. A television was installed, so that I can watch/listen to something while I work and then the walls had to be made good again, so my decorator spent a couple of weeks in there too. New curtains were made and hung and then finally, I could get all my sewing stuff together in one place again, for the first time since last November.<br />
I bought and built a new desk and some wall units from IKEA and then the sorting out started. I am still not totally organised, there are still some boxes around, but I will get round to sorting them out early in next year. For now, I just need to try and catch up and get to grips with my Handiquilter again.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quilts hanging off blanket hangers in the store room just off my studio</td></tr>
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I have also been busy with renovations in the bedrooms upstairs and some large trees have been removed from the garden, increasing the amount of light that shines in through my studio windows. My garden is currently being redesigned and the works on this will start shortly. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southwest Corner of garden when I moved in</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same corner after trees removed and new fence panels added</td></tr>
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There have also been 2 new additions to my family, Lyra, who is now 18 weeks old and Jinx, who is 10 weeks old. They are both Miniature Schnauzer girls, but not related. I have been spending most of my days on the kitchen floor, watching them and training them and playing with them. They are so cute and totally adorable. Smokey was not impressed when Lyra arrived, but by the time Jinx came, he was totally used to it and seems to tolerate Jinx more than Lyra. Lyra and Jinx plays together all the time, very rough sometimes and I have to stop myself from interfering and stepping in, but when watching them, I have realised that Jinx, although less than a third of Lyra's weight, is actually quite feisty and daring and will certainly in no uncertain terms let Lyra know when she has had enough. Their training continues, walking is a bit difficult at the moment as Jinx is not allowed out yet, Lyra can go on short walks but Smokey needs longer walks. I am working on it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lyra and Jinx</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lyra and Jinx likes to sleep together</td></tr>
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<b>Festival of quilts</b><br />
I volunteered as a judging angel this year and spent a day shadowing and helping the judges before the show opened. What an amazing experience. I have enjoyed it so much that I have signed up to do the Quilters Guild Judging course, which starts in October and takes 2 years to complete. In the meantime, I hope to be accepted as a judging angel again next year and will keep volunteering until I have qualified. <br />
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<b>World Quilt show 2016</b><br />
Just after I got back from FoQ, I had the most wonderful and unexpected news that my quilt "Kutch Diamonds" have won a second place in the World Quilt Show in the traditional category. I feel so honoured and can hardly believe it. I entered "Kutch Diamonds" as I just did not have time to make a quilt specially for this show. It will now go on tour to several shows in the USA before returning to me around March next year. My friend Lynda Jackson, the UK Handiquilter Educator, entered her quilt Cappuccino Dreams into the same show and won a highly commended. It seems to have been a really good year for the UK with so many of our quilts winning awards. When congratulating the winners, one of the contestants called us Team GB! I like that!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kutch Diamonds at World Quilt Show</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My ribbon, Second in traditional category </td></tr>
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<b>Fitness on holiday</b><br />
I took 2 of my children with me on an activity holiday in Croatia in August, where we did kayaking, canoeing, rafting, walking and cycling. I surprised myself by how much I loved the kayaking, also the canoeing, but cycling was not so much fun. Perhaps if I was just a bit more fit, I would enjoy it more, but by the time I had reached 17 kilometres, doing steep uphill and downhills, I had decided that I am not enjoying it and that this was supposed to be holiday and fun, so I gave up. My kids enjoyed the holiday so much that they have asked if we can do a similar style holiday next year, so I am going to have to work on my fitness. So, the plan is to start running. I have bought new trainers and downloaded apps on my phone to get me started. Now I just need to pluck up the courage to get out there and give it a go. Hopefully I will be able to take Lyra with me when she is a little bit older. She has a lot of energy and seems to really enjoy running. But first, I need to get myself off this couch!<br />
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<b>Proud mom</b><br />
I hope he does not mind, but I am so proud of my oldest son, who is now a Master of Science majoring in Natural Resource Management at James Cook University in Cairns. He has now moved to Darwin, where he will be doing a PGCE.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-25879492832480001922016-05-08T00:45:00.000+01:002016-05-08T00:47:05.134+01:00Quick updateAs the title says, this is just a very quick update.<br />
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<b>House move</b><br />
Yes! I have now got the keys for my wonderful new home. It took a while, but I have the removal firm booked for Monday. They will be doing all the packing and relocation but not the unpacking. Then on Tuesday, my very BESTEST bestest friend, Alan, will be coming to dismantle and move and reassemble my Handiquilter for me in my new studio. I have an electrician coming round on Wednesday to see what my lighting requirements are and hopefully that will get sorted in early June. In the meantime, I will concentrate on getting my studio up and running as soon as possible. It may take a while as some work needs to be done, channelling through the walls, then making good and then redecorating, but certainly my quilting machine should be back in use in time to finish off two quilts that I would like to enter into the Festival of Quilts this year.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from my new studio...unfortunately lovely Gothic mirrors have gone</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-43T_1kmI8hI/Vy5080gSV-I/AAAAAAAAE8E/_5jTiIoVtQ0lyt3J8s7poUcGuY3oHZUZACLcB/s1600/IMG_3792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-43T_1kmI8hI/Vy5080gSV-I/AAAAAAAAE8E/_5jTiIoVtQ0lyt3J8s7poUcGuY3oHZUZACLcB/s640/IMG_3792.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steps to my back garden from the studio, planning on making a living wall garden on that brick wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PjRgH6lPdOM/Vy501hf-9YI/AAAAAAAAE78/NrK027mm-xQIBNx7-Pj6NOMX2Vm0GNFQgCLcB/s1600/IMG_3790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PjRgH6lPdOM/Vy501hf-9YI/AAAAAAAAE78/NrK027mm-xQIBNx7-Pj6NOMX2Vm0GNFQgCLcB/s640/IMG_3790.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can see lots of pots with plants on those steps in a few days </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lyu__Tr4b54/Vy51RPZJYJI/AAAAAAAAE8M/YbUjWNQEfaAqNLDk7D0oXUSc5koP56RCwCLcB/s1600/IMG_3805.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lyu__Tr4b54/Vy51RPZJYJI/AAAAAAAAE8M/YbUjWNQEfaAqNLDk7D0oXUSc5koP56RCwCLcB/s640/IMG_3805.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New studio space before previous owner moved out</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_bVp3MBxfXI/Vy51MytIzYI/AAAAAAAAE8I/AH9TUVTj5GgBrFAMukNhmdEHmx5ZNJjwgCLcB/s1600/IMG_3796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_bVp3MBxfXI/Vy51MytIzYI/AAAAAAAAE8I/AH9TUVTj5GgBrFAMukNhmdEHmx5ZNJjwgCLcB/s640/IMG_3796.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And there is a lovely storage room just off the studio...hmmm....fabric?</td></tr>
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<b>"The happy quilt" renamed "The journey"</b><br />
In the meantime, I have finished quilting this quilt but decided to rename it as it was finished under such sad and the most unhappy time of my life. "The journey" seems to suit it better too. All the blocks are hand sewn reverse appliqué blocks. Until I started this quilt, I have never done this technique, and in a moment of madness I decided that I may as well perfect the technique, so decided to do all 196 blocks in the book "Dutch treat" by Judy Garden. Most of the blocks were sewn on car journeys, train journeys and coach journeys, on trips away with my husband, with my family and also on quilting holidays. I stitched all the blocks together before I separated from my husband and I was so grateful that at least all the piecing was done during happy times. "Quilting is my therapy". Now how many times have you heard a quilter say that? Do you ever take them seriously? Do you think they are just joking? I started quilting 16 years ago, after I had lost my baby, Damian. It wasn't really quilting, more piecing, but it got me out of the house and meeting up with others who needed time out from whatever was going on in their lives. I needed it then. It was my therapy. In difficult times it was my escape and my happy place. It gave me a purpose and made me feel valued. With recent events in my life, when I felt I had lost all hope, and purpose, and I had no motivation, I could pick up this quilt and stitch just one block at a time. Sometimes I was happy with the quilting, other times I hated what I was doing and didn't like the block or the design of the quilting, but I forced myself to finish the block. I felt like I had lost my touch, I resented that my quilting had become so important in my life, wondered if in fact it had replaced what should have been most important in my life, my family. And I resented that and didn't want it. My family was all that mattered to me and if I had to give up quilting in order to have my family back, the way it was before, I would gladly have done so. Then one day, I realised, this is not true. My quilting never has replaced my family, never have been more important. I had turned to my quilting because of the problems in my life that I could not deal with and could not face. I hid behind the quilting, it had become my place of calm and where I could switch off and just be. It was my therapy.<br />
So, after all this time, I realised that not only had I journeyed from not knowing anything about reverse appliqué to becoming quite skilled at it (not always easy and some blocks had to be redone in order to look decent) , through so many journeys and holiday trips, but this quilt has also seen me through some of the happiest times in my life, then through some of the most desolate and dark times to slowly coming through to a place where I can see light at the end of the tunnel. My journey is not over, I still have a very long way to go, but this quilt tells the story of part of my journey.<br />
I still have to do the binding on this quilt, it will be the first project to be finished in my new home. I have entered it into the Festival of Quilts. It is not a competition quilt, it never was intended to be a competition quilt, but it is nevertheless a quilt I am very proud of and happy to display for others to see. I started off a complete novice at this technique and finished I feel as accomplished as I will ever be at doing reverse appliqué. It was worth the effort, worth unpicking and redoing all those blocks that did not quite turn out nice enough. Will I ever do another reverse appliqué quilt like this one? Probably not, who is to say? Besides, there are so many other techniques still to learn and master. Maybe one day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7PjFjsQCWc/Vy5zrDC0v2I/AAAAAAAAE7s/9Jq_x4_E4ZYHwFlamdwvrBXcMcCYi5QMwCLcB/s1600/IMG_3932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7PjFjsQCWc/Vy5zrDC0v2I/AAAAAAAAE7s/9Jq_x4_E4ZYHwFlamdwvrBXcMcCYi5QMwCLcB/s640/IMG_3932.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in progress on borders</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbpCRnycQHg/Vy5zl98BMoI/AAAAAAAAE7o/-mzkmToiNpQ7OV7ksTFMrj24_lH6kSt_wCLcB/s1600/IMG_3933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbpCRnycQHg/Vy5zl98BMoI/AAAAAAAAE7o/-mzkmToiNpQ7OV7ksTFMrj24_lH6kSt_wCLcB/s640/IMG_3933.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of "The journey", still work in progress</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6J-y-660jSk/Vy52hd3oxWI/AAAAAAAAE8c/gkxghVktYWsxOzZHqAfwY9eXUCLr_CHUgCLcB/s1600/IMG_4002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6J-y-660jSk/Vy52hd3oxWI/AAAAAAAAE8c/gkxghVktYWsxOzZHqAfwY9eXUCLr_CHUgCLcB/s640/IMG_4002.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The journey"</td></tr>
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<b>Hexagon quilt</b></div>
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Although I have not been able to sew at all over last few weeks, I have made some progress on my hexie quilt. And once I am nicely sorted out in my new home, I will be starting to sew in the evenings again and will make some more progress, although I am starting to realise that hand sewing might just have to be what I do more of in the colder months. When we have daylight till late at night, I need to get going in my garden.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Only the yellow star point to add before filling in with big diamond shapes</td></tr>
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<b>Green Radiance quilt</b><br />
I still do not have a name for this quilt! All done now apart from adding the hanging sleeve and label. I even managed to find some little seed beads that were just the right shade for adding to the binding. Very pleased with how it has turned out.<br />
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<b>My new garden</b><br />
My new garden is a total blank canvas. Lots of shrubs planted along the boundary fence, with unimaginative grass areas. The garden is not huge, but big enough that I can do something really special in here. I am already working on a layout and design, and will hopefully be getting the hard landscaping done in the very near future. Will keep updating as I make progress.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-27799118787898449172016-03-08T00:49:00.000+00:002016-03-08T08:32:34.837+00:00Life moves on<b>Life moves on...</b><br />
It is now 4 months since I have separated from my husband and I am slowly coming to terms with my new life. I have had so many people contact me and wish me well and offering me support, that I have been totally overwhelmed by it all. You never know how much people care for you until you are in a situation like this. I could not have coped without all the support I have had from my friends and family. I have a new routine now to my daily life, I do a lot more exercise than before and I love how I look in all my new clothes...yes, I have lost a LOT of weight and it has boosted my confidence no end. I took up yoga and actually manage to do stuff I never thought in a million years I would be able to do. I have signed up for a marathon walk for Breast Cancer and really look forward to doing that with some friends.<br />
I have also found the perfect house for my needs. It is just the right size for me and have the most amazing basement studio room with light flooding in through huge big glass doors. I have made an offer on the property, my kids love the house, but there is a bit of a stumble block to securing it. Keep fingers crossed for me, I will update here if and when I have news.<br />
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<b>Quilting again</b><br />
Yes, after the first few days of forcing myself to quilt, through all the shaking and heart palpitations, I have made it. I am back to normal and have been quite prolific.<br />
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The first quilt I loaded was this little wallhanging which I call "Lady". I made it for my hairdressers called "Rapunzel" and they are hanging it up in their office. I am so happy that they like it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Lady"</td></tr>
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I then loaded my next Radiance silk quilt. It has not yet got a name, I am still working on it. I originally designed it as a wholecloth, but when I pulled the fabric off the shelf, I just kept thinking about adding different colours with the olive green, so the appliqué was added and I am so happy with how it has turned out. It was lying on the floor one evening so my youngest daughter and I could look at it. I have been wondering which colour to add in the binding and thought that brown would be quite subtle. I asked my daughter who was busy reading at the time, she looked up and without a moments hesitation said 'brown' so brown it will be. I might still use the pattern for a wholecloth, but that will have to wait till I have finished a few more UFO's first.<br />
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I currently have "The Happy Quilt" loaded on the machine and am some days quilting whole rows of blocks (14 in a row), and on other days just 1 block. There is no rush, I am just enjoying deciding how to quilt each block as I come to it, and with 14 rows, I will be working on it for some time yet. For now, I am just quilting using a cream colour thread, then, when I get to the end, I will start adding some coloured thread in.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back</td></tr>
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<b>Working with silk</b><br />
I now know why I have been putting off sewing with silk! I started this project about a month ago and is now a bit stuck as not all the diamonds are exactly the same size. The design I had in mind is therefor not going to work anymore, so I am putting them aside for the moment, whilst I await the lightbulb moment.<br />
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<b>The Harvest </b><br />
I added a chocolate brown border on the still life but was not happy with how flat it looked, so got out a bit of paint and had a lovely evening of designing and painting the border design on. I am hoping to add even more depth once I start quilting it. This will be the next project to be quilted once I have finished The Happy Quilt.<br />
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<b>My hexagon quilt</b><br />
Still working on it when I have time in the evenings. I seem to be far more out and about these days though and often is just too tired by the time I get home to start thinking about sewing. But spending time with my friends is just so rewarding. And this was never going to be quilt in a day or a month or even a year. But watch this space as I intend having it finished in time to have on show at the Festival of Quilts in 2018!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pattern</td></tr>
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<b>Quilter's Guild "Moving on" exhibition at Knit and Stitch show at Olympia, London</b><br />
The briefing for the exhibition was that you had to produce a quilt with the colour purple in. Photos of your quilt had to be submitted for approval before it was accepted. I was so excited when my quilt was accepted and even more excited when my daughter said she would come with me to see it in the show on Mother's day. We arrived just before lunch and as she has not had any breakfast, we sat and had our lunch first and then it was a dash to get to the corner where the quilts were on display. What a wonderful surprise to see my quilt hanging just perfectly and even more exciting when so many people stopped to look at it and ask questions about it. Finally I can show some photos of "When purple is the favourite no more"<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, look at me, carefully colour co-ordinated with the quilts on the wall and the carpet. My glass frames are purple by the way</td></tr>
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<b>World Quilt show</b><br />
My quilt "The trouble with magenta, hot or not" have arrived back home after months of touring around the USA. Guess what came back with it? A rosette that I am incredibly proud of. I am already planning how I can display all my rosettes in my new studio.<br />
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Now this is what makes life exciting!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-42401931243399272082016-01-17T15:05:00.000+00:002016-01-17T15:05:15.187+00:00A change in circumstanceIt has been a while since I last updated my blog. This was not intentional, there has just been some major changes in my life.<br />
I have separated from my husband early in November,after 27 years together, very unexpectedly, and we are now getting a divorce. Things are very complicated and has affected my health and well being. I am not able to quilt at the moment although I have managed to do some sewing (some less successful than others) and even a bit of painting. I am hoping to get my desire to quilt back and will keep updating my blog if and when I am able to.<br />
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These are some of my projects I have been working on in the last 2 weeks:<br />
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<b>"Lords and their ladies"</b><br />
I had done all the blocks before my trip to Houston and just needed to sew them together. I had planned which order they were going to be, but made a mistake somewhere, I have not yet figured out where, but decided to leave it as is. More colour will be introduced during the quilting stage. I have used Oakshott fabrics and a fabric called "Mugungalyi - Circle" by Nutex, which I had bought in Cairns in April, when I visited my son. The design is my own. I have found a pattern for Curved Nine patch blocks and used the Quick Curved Ruler to achieve this. I then added some appliqués to the "ladies" blocks to make them more pretty (note there are many more ladies than lords!) and added some 3D corner blocks, which will be curved back once I get round to it.<br />
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<b>Quilt for Marike...no name yet</b><br />
Marike had chosen the colours that she would like me to use in her quilt and I had chosen the design. All of the fabrics were bought in Houston and I have decided to personalise some of the fabrics for her. So, I have used a Thermofax screen to add a bicycle motif to some of the blocks. The intention is to get her to write a piece in Latin in her own handwriting, I will then have a Thermofax screen made up with this, and this will be added to the remaining blocks.<br />
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<b>My hexies quilt</b><br />
I have not really done any work on this since the summer, but as I now have so much free time in the evenings, I have taken it up again. I still have many many more hexies to sew together, so far I have done approximately 1300. Each hex is only 1/2" so to get to the size I want, I will need approximately 12000. I am patient.<br />
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<b>Painting</b><br />
I have taken some classes using Tsukineko inks when abroad and wanted to try it, before I forgot how to do it. I needed something that would keep me busy when I was not able to sew and hoped that this will take care of a few days. In the event, the whole picture only took 3 days to sketch out and paint. I guess I will just have to make some more or do some larger pictures. It will eventually be quilted, maybe even thread painted. I enjoyed the process enormously and can see that I will be doing many more in the future.<br />
The outline is drawn with pencil onto paper backed fabric and I have then used the Tsukineko inks with Fantastix's to fill in with colour. The paint dry really quickly, so on large areas you have to work really quickly in order to avoid getting 'water' lines. Of course, when filling in smaller areas and wanting to work with lots of colours, it is a huge advantage that the ink dries so quickly.<br />
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I had some good news yesterday. I had made a quilt for the "Moving On" challenge for the Quilter's Guild exhibition at the Knit & Stitch show in Olympia, London, and was told yesterday that my quilt "When purple is the favourite no more" has been accepted for the exhibition. It was the last quilt I had made before my trip to Houston, I am so pleased that I had finished it as I would not have been able to finish it now. I cannot post photos of this yet, I hope to do so once the show is on, between 3rd March and 6th March. Here is a small teaser though:<br />
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I can not promise to be any more regular in my updates, too many things need sorting out in my life. All I can say is that I turned to quilting 16 years ago after a great tragedy in my life. It has seen me through then. I know that if I can overcome the current block, that it will become my therapy again. And I need that, so I do hope I can come back to it. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-42074171951478498612016-01-16T16:51:00.002+00:002016-01-16T16:51:47.851+00:00International Quilt Festival, Houston 2015I meant to post this as soon as I got back from Houston. Unfortunately I never got around to posting them due to events that happened just after I uploaded these photos. I am sorry they are so long after the event, but hope that you will enjoy them nonetheless. I am sorry I have no captions to the photos, if you know whose they are and would like me to add the details, please contact me and I will be very happy to do so. I did take a note of all the quilt names and makers, but unfortunately these were lost in my recent house move.<br />
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<b>Quilt Festival</b><br />
This was my second year at Houston and it was a great feeling knowing what to expect and how it all works. I was a bit worried when I saw some photos posted on the internet about the roadworks just outside the exhibition hall and then read the instructions for parking! Lots of people saying they are glad they are not going this year and flood warnings. Torrential rain as a result of hurricane Patricia. But the weather was fine and the flight on time. Not joking though! I had to stand in a queue for over an hour and a half to get through immigration and then in another queue to get through customs! Really???? And then another half-hour before my shuttle turned up!<br />
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I had signed up for classes from 9am to 5pm every day from Monday to Saturday, which left me with shopping opportunities in my lunch break every day from 12 to 2pm and again from 5pm to 7pm. On Wednesday night, there was preview night and the vendors remained open until 10pm. I had planned not to do any classes on the Sunday, so that I could at my leisure look at all the quilts on display and then go back to take photos of all the quilts that I liked. This worked perfectly and I actually had time to go look around the vendor's stalls for one more time late Sunday afternoon. By then I could not have fitted anything else in my cases though, so shopping was minimal.<br />
Despite so little time free, I met up with lots of friends and had some lovely meals with some of them. I did not get to see all my friends, but I do hope if I have not met up with you at Houston, that I will see you again in next year for a catch up.<br />
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I loved all my classes, I did thread painting with Nancy Prince, Woven watercolours with Pam Holland, ink painting and ink techniques with Judy Coates Perez and paper pieced pojagi with Katrina Walker, but I am not posting these on this post. In stead I am posting photos of some of the wonderful quilts I have seen this year at Houston. There is no way I can post every photo I took, so I am just posting the ones I liked the most. I do hope if you could not get to Houston, that you will enjoy the photos or if you did go, that the photos will be a good reminder of the quilts on display this year. In no particular order:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magna Carta quilts on display in Houston</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-6716776968539165282015-10-19T10:15:00.001+01:002015-10-19T10:15:58.911+01:00Quilt for Benedict<b>Quilt for Benedict</b><br />
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When on a trip to Colorado in 2012, I bought a pattern called Texas Star by Whirligig designs. I wanted to make the quilt top using Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott and knew that I would need to get all my fabrics on that trip as they were not yet available anywhere in the UK at the time. I was in a group of about 30 and we travelled by coach. It was a quilting trip organised by Patchwork & Quilting Tours, but unlike most people would imagine, we did not just visit quilt shops. We do a lot of sight seeing and on average do something quilting related only every other day. On a trip lasting 2 weeks though, there are a lot of quilting related activity, not least the visit of quilt shops. So I had plenty of opportunity to get the fabrics I needed. It was a great source of hilarity to everyone on the trip though, that unlike my usual habit of waiting to last to get off the coach (being respectful, I normally sit right at the back as I am younger, fitter and more able to move than most), I was waiting right at the front to get off the coach at every stop at a quilt shop. You see, travelling by coach, over long distances mean a lot of ladies are very ready to use the rest rooms when we stop and I could not afford to miss the restroom stop in order to get fabric (stops tend to be short with mostly only an hour at each shop, you had to be quick and know what you wanted). So I had to make sure I got to the restrooms first so I would have ample time to look and search for the fabrics. Invariably though, the choice was mind-blowing and decisions were hard to make and lots of pieces had to be cut, so I ended up last back on the coach too! I apologise profusely to all my fellow travellers who must have thought that I had a serious bladder issue and that I have a feverish need to buy lots of fabric ! I am sure you will agree though, that it was worth all the jibes and jokes and teasing in order to produce this lovely quilt top.<br />
Being more accustomed to doing custom quilting than all over edge-to-edge designs, I was stuck for ages not knowing how to quilt the quilt. There are after all a lot of very small blocks and strips in here and I needed a design that suited the quilt. I did not want it to look like a quilt sample with lots of designs that do not tie together. The quilt top remained in the UFO pile for over 2 years.<br />
My normal way of quilting is to sketch out the planned quilting design, which may or may not change as I go along, but once I loaded this one on the Handiquilter, I decided to just follow my instinct. It was quite scary to quilt areas not knowing if it will tie in with what I might add later, but I figured that as long as I enjoy looking at it and doing it, that it must be good. I started with the Stitch-in-the-Ditch outlining of all the blocks, which took 2 days to do, in a clear smokey grey monofilament thread, before starting on the designs for the blocks and finished off with the setting triangles.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back</td></tr>
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I have just finished the binding on this quilt, which has a double piped edge to the binding.<br />
The quilt is the first double bed sized quilt I have made for Benedict as he has until now had a single size bed.<br />
I used Omni thread in pale yellow for the pale areas and then used a maroon coloured Glide thread which showed up better on the black and mottled grey than the steel grey I had first tried. Other dark areas were quilted using Military Gold in Glide.<br />
The quilt has two layers of batting in, Quilter's Dream Blend with Hobbs Tuscany wool on top, so it is heavy and will be very warm. Lovely for winter in England. I still have to make the label but have not decided on a name for it yet, so this will have to wait for the moment.<br />
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<b>Millefiori Quilt-Along</b><br />
I have joined an online Quilt-Along group and we are all hand piecing a quilt called Millefiori, designed by Katja Marek, author of "The new hexagon", and sharing photos of our progress with each other. A wonderful way of getting support if you are unsure of how to do it and wonderful for keeping you focussed so that you keep up with all the other members in the group. The group started in January and have been doing one block every month, I joined late and although there is no pressure to try and keep up or catch up, because I have so many other projects on the go, decided that I would try to. I have been doing quite well with this and now have six blocks sewn together. I have not sewn my first block to the others as I felt the colours did not sit well with the colours of the others, so I will redo that one. This is what it looks like so far:<br />
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I have had a lot of questions about where I got my fabrics from for this project. I had one piece of fabric that I just love and found another that had lots of potential for fussy cutting that went well with that. Most of my fabrics are bought from shows, I knew what colours I wanted, so every time I went to a show, I focussed my attention on looking for specific fabrics that would look good with the ones I already had. It actually saved me quite a bit as I didn't even look at other fabrics. I collected my fabrics over a period of 4 months and then found some in my local quilt shop that worked well with what I already had, so it was time to start.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My starting piece of fabric</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the fabrics I chose to go with the original piece of fabric</td></tr>
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The pieces that have large motifs on, are 1metre pieces, medium scaled ones are 1/2m or 1/4m pieces and the blenders are mostly 1/4m or 1/8m. I also pulled some from my own stash if they fitted well within the designs of the blocks (rosettes). As most of the fabrics are fussy cut, there are lots of holes in the pieces. I am planning on cutting smallish hexagons from these waste pieces and combining them into a long wide strip that I can sew onto my backing fabric. Hopefully there will be very little wasted .<br />
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<b>English Paper Piecing</b><br />
As I love doing hand piecing, I also joined a group on Facebook for EPPAddicts and this has focussed me a bit more on my hexagon quilt. I have now designed how I want my quilt to look and has just cut out another 2000 cream hexagons. This is my design:<br />
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By the way, if anyone would like to copy and use my design for their own quilt, you are welcome to do so, but I had so much fun designing it and it gave me an immense sense of achievement when I had done it. I would urge you to just have a go on graph paper and see first what you can come up with yourself. If you then still want to use my design, that is fine.<br />
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<b>Classes</b><br />
I will be going to Houston in just over a week where I have signed up to do thread painting classes with Nancy Prince, ink painting classes with Judy Perez, a class on using cheesecloth in quilting with Pam Holland and sewing with silk with Katrina Walker.<br />
Then, later this year, I am doing quilt designing classes with Claudia Pfeil.<br />
I am so excited about these opportunities, and will post pictures on my next post of what I have learned.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-91360844874669951382015-08-14T00:09:00.003+01:002015-08-14T00:09:40.721+01:00World Quilt Show 2015I am just so excited right now that I just want to listen to some happy music, really loudly, and then dance to my hearts content.<br />
"The trouble with Magenta, hot or not" has been entered into the World Quilt Show and I have just heard that it has won 'Best in UK'. It is currently on display at the show in Manchester, New Hampshire, but will then go on to be on show in Pennsylvania, Palm Springs, CA and then at Pacific show. I am unfortunately not able to go to any of the shows. Here are a few photos of the quilt:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First sketch, using rulers and a add-a-quarter- wheel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding in feathered hearts</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deciding background fill</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decided too many marking lines required for central curved crosshatching</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marking with pen the curved crosshatch that I would like to keep </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Using Radiance fabric (Robert Kaufman), double layer of batting and plenty of ruler work, marking done with Bohin chalk pencil in white </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stitching out feather spines with a ruler and feathers freehand over marked lines</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Piano key border stitched out, now adding feathers</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding the continuous curve grid work freehand in red thread</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting filler work around the feathers </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outline of feathers stitched in darker thread to create shading and contrast, background stitched in same colour as fabric </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Difficult to capture the true colour of the fabric on a photo</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marking lines for creating the curved crosshatching </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Background in aubergine colour Radiance, overstitched with red, lilac and pink threads, beaded trim hand stitched over piping, blue water erasable pen marks still visible </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of quilt before facing all stitched down</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Centre of quilt</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VIAs3iJEKKU/Vc0arA6AmUI/AAAAAAAAEVQ/OHNivhCYac0/s1600/IMG_0008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="530" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VIAs3iJEKKU/Vc0arA6AmUI/AAAAAAAAEVQ/OHNivhCYac0/s640/IMG_0008.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The trouble with magenta, hot or not" </td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-71333932745892081272015-08-11T11:25:00.000+01:002015-08-11T12:45:14.519+01:00Festival of Quilts 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have just had four incredible days at the NEC in Birmingham with so many adventures! Lots of coffee breaks and lunches and dinners every day with lots of different friends, as well as some very interesting night time escapades, with friends car's locked up behind barriers in the NEC carpark, boy racers and crashes on the road around the NEC and very little sleep! Coming to the festival is not just about seeing all the lovely quilts and shopping, but also a big social event, and as I have discovered, unexpected adventures too!<br />
As there will be lots of photos of the category winners on the internet, I thought I would just post a few photos of my absolute favourite quilts. If you do not see your quilt here, it is not that I did not like it, there were many more that were absolutely stunning, but I cannot possibly post them all here. In no particular order....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Subtle Differences" by Kay Bell</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Juno" by Sandie Chandler</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Cappuccino - Perfect Bliss" by Lynda Jackson</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">""Jacobean Wonder" by Margaret Ede</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Slow Growing Hybrids" by Ellen Seward and Sandie Chandler</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mandala" by Anna Williams</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CoXCMf5KGiY/VckVHuKmFNI/AAAAAAAAEGM/9bNVJHXWBvI/s1600/IMG_1741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CoXCMf5KGiY/VckVHuKmFNI/AAAAAAAAEGM/9bNVJHXWBvI/s640/IMG_1741.jpg" width="576" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Purple Nights" by Marleen Jonkers</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fireglow" by Gillian Arkley - I loved her use of colour</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philippa Naylor - The difference between 12" and 30cm meant this one was disqualified</td></tr>
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I have not been able to get a decent photo of the whole quilt, but here are some close ups of "Turtle Bay" by Claudia Pfeil:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Cordoba" by Claudia Pfeil</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EO0BQd57VkI/VckYcit86PI/AAAAAAAAEH8/vAJI2Sqjy9w/s1600/IMG_1620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EO0BQd57VkI/VckYcit86PI/AAAAAAAAEH8/vAJI2Sqjy9w/s640/IMG_1620.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Celestial Fireworks" by Hilde van Schaardenburg and Sandra Marcum</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Time" by Sue de Vanny</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F3wuRmxIR2c/VckbqbRhfII/AAAAAAAAEI0/_6DdBPgejts/s1600/IMG_1662.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F3wuRmxIR2c/VckbqbRhfII/AAAAAAAAEI0/_6DdBPgejts/s640/IMG_1662.jpg" width="569" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Dream Catcher" by Adriana Briones Calleja</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-coiHQxwdsW0/VckbuVof9qI/AAAAAAAAEJY/EWRUJzMOOqU/s1600/IMG_1724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-coiHQxwdsW0/VckbuVof9qI/AAAAAAAAEJY/EWRUJzMOOqU/s640/IMG_1724.jpg" width="569" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Taking a new path" by Jane Falls - wonderful use of pattern in fabric</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TuWGkDzxmoo/Vckbvmj0KRI/AAAAAAAAEJo/UHvQV8rcm0o/s1600/IMG_1738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TuWGkDzxmoo/Vckbvmj0KRI/AAAAAAAAEJo/UHvQV8rcm0o/s640/IMG_1738.jpg" width="384" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Harley" by Adrienne Quinlan - such a jolly fellow</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AP8LOg8ho_s/Vckc6UKc1mI/AAAAAAAAEKw/F8xDDhfd6sY/s1600/IMG_1667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AP8LOg8ho_s/Vckc6UKc1mI/AAAAAAAAEKw/F8xDDhfd6sY/s640/IMG_1667.jpg" width="624" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Beyond the black hole" by Natalia Manley </td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFrvu55JMAo/Vckc7QmFmQI/AAAAAAAAEK4/WeVokt3urH8/s1600/IMG_1666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFrvu55JMAo/Vckc7QmFmQI/AAAAAAAAEK4/WeVokt3urH8/s640/IMG_1666.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Flight" by Margaret Fetterhoff</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gdkvX4gBSAY/VckdAK7ef5I/AAAAAAAAELQ/ZFOZGYoy-kQ/s1600/IMG_1670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gdkvX4gBSAY/VckdAK7ef5I/AAAAAAAAELQ/ZFOZGYoy-kQ/s640/IMG_1670.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZaLws3IpBvk/Vckc0YzeSVI/AAAAAAAAEKQ/f-xvbwGLr2U/s1600/IMG_1656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZaLws3IpBvk/Vckc0YzeSVI/AAAAAAAAEKQ/f-xvbwGLr2U/s640/IMG_1656.jpg" width="537" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"That scent!" (Que aroma!)" by Angelines Artero</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qdO1G33PFBg/VckcyTt7FQI/AAAAAAAAEKI/Yd7oUhSiBDs/s1600/IMG_1654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qdO1G33PFBg/VckcyTt7FQI/AAAAAAAAEKI/Yd7oUhSiBDs/s640/IMG_1654.jpg" width="492" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Silence" by Jean McLean</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qTE_2oZ1_z0/VckgOT3kUyI/AAAAAAAAELw/Cc7bUEDJNks/s1600/IMG_1683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qTE_2oZ1_z0/VckgOT3kUyI/AAAAAAAAELw/Cc7bUEDJNks/s640/IMG_1683.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Spring" by Zsofia Atkins</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0n1lOLbPLsU/VckgQGmJixI/AAAAAAAAEMA/R7WUM-Ns_JI/s1600/IMG_1687.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="595" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0n1lOLbPLsU/VckgQGmJixI/AAAAAAAAEMA/R7WUM-Ns_JI/s640/IMG_1687.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Blue Spring" by Zsofia Atkins</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tarUCY9lK1c/VckhWpuuCgI/AAAAAAAAEMg/-E8W3RkXlYs/s1600/IMG_1690.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tarUCY9lK1c/VckhWpuuCgI/AAAAAAAAEMg/-E8W3RkXlYs/s640/IMG_1690.jpg" width="371" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Eclipsed" by Brenda Wroe</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W7zFOEW-HG8/VckhY7FnFwI/AAAAAAAAEM0/H0EkqnHgkBg/s1600/IMG_1694.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W7zFOEW-HG8/VckhY7FnFwI/AAAAAAAAEM0/H0EkqnHgkBg/s640/IMG_1694.jpg" width="368" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Gold and silver waltz" by Nancy Smith</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T25Vk2UAERc/VckhbvmSCVI/AAAAAAAAENE/lBf3sDBLhAg/s1600/IMG_1713.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T25Vk2UAERc/VckhbvmSCVI/AAAAAAAAENE/lBf3sDBLhAg/s640/IMG_1713.jpg" width="537" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Zipped Zingy Blocks" by Sheena Norquay</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Spin" by Diane Dixon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7a1sMV_zxkQ/Vckiikc6hNI/AAAAAAAAEOU/_KBMY9ZGkjU/s1600/IMG_1731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7a1sMV_zxkQ/Vckiikc6hNI/AAAAAAAAEOU/_KBMY9ZGkjU/s640/IMG_1731.jpg" width="444" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Alice Dreams" by Angelines Artero </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Swift Moons" by Maggie Barber</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fnQkvYvej9U/Vckipwb2ptI/AAAAAAAAEO8/AGCU_hMqIp0/s1600/IMG_1746.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="473" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fnQkvYvej9U/Vckipwb2ptI/AAAAAAAAEO8/AGCU_hMqIp0/s640/IMG_1746.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Time waits for no onee" by Sue Reid</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2-xrUqaePcM/VckkAAatWoI/AAAAAAAAEPk/XId2me2sPKM/s1600/IMG_1752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2-xrUqaePcM/VckkAAatWoI/AAAAAAAAEPk/XId2me2sPKM/s640/IMG_1752.jpg" width="462" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Merrill Hall, Asilomar, California" by Gloria Loughman</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ia38gMCd-Vs/Vckj_0W1n_I/AAAAAAAAEPc/zHPyEZ6iPnU/s1600/IMG_1755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ia38gMCd-Vs/Vckj_0W1n_I/AAAAAAAAEPc/zHPyEZ6iPnU/s640/IMG_1755.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Opera House, Vivid Festival" by Gloria Loughman</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Australia My Way" by Cathy Jack Coupland</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"City by the sea" by Pauline Barnes</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Ptolemy's Challenge" by Raita Sawyer</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My lady of the grapes" by Laura Di Cera </td></tr>
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And this was my quilt for FoQ 2015:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Awakening" by Annelize Littlefair</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The back of "The Awakening" by Annelize Littlefair</td></tr>
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<b>British Patchwork and Quilting Magazine September issue</b></div>
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Off course I knew that I will be featured in the "Meet a Quilter" feature of the magazine, Judi Mendelssohn came to do the interview in my studio and we had a lovely day. It just went by too quickly and we could have chatted for a lot longer. I was not expecting the September issue to be out yet, so was pleasantly surprised when it was on the stand at Traplet's booth. Then when I got home, another copy was waiting for me. This is the front cover and the page featuring me:</div>
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It has been a very exciting week this week, I now have a few days at home to organise all my shopping from Festival, maybe even get a bit of sewing done, then, I am booked in to do a class with Angela Walters in Birmingham next week, but I should have a little bit longer to do some quilting before I go to Houston. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-4550532520008623382015-08-05T12:18:00.003+01:002015-08-11T10:04:47.779+01:00Not enough time at home?First I have to apologise again for my lack of posts just recently. As you can guess from my heading...not enough time at home! Too many trips, not that I mean to complain, I realise I am very lucky to be able to go away so much, BUT! This is the thing, I go away to a quilt show to attend some classes with wonderful teachers, to learn how to do some wonderful techniques and then I am never at home to actually try out all these wonderful techniques. My resolution for next year is to make more time for trying out all the newly learned skills.<br />
So where have I been and what have I been up to?<br />
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Since Malvern show in May, I have been working on my quilt "The awakening", which I have entered into The Festival of Quilts. I have actually made "The trouble with magenta, hot or not" for Festival of Quilts, but as that one is now on tour at World of Quilts shows in the USA, I have had to decide whether I would enter "Whistler" or "When rainbows dance" or enter one that has not been in a show before.<br />
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<b>The Awakening</b><br />
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I added some colour on the back with Tsukineko ink pens<br />
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<b>Radiance Challenge</b><br />
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My Radiance Challenge piece is now finished and a few of the other ladies in the group have also finished their challenges. I am posting their quilts here, so you can all see the quality of the work and start looking forward to these quilts going on display at the autumn shows next year<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damask dual - in progress</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Brenda Wroe </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Nel Eyre</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Vee Jenkins</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">28 Petals by Adrienne Quinlan</td></tr>
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<b>Another quilt for Una</b><br />
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<b>"Gabi was here"</b><br />
The theme for Sandown National Championships this year was "Learn, Create, Inspire" and I have entered "Gabi was here" as I had no other quilt ready that fitted the description so well and I ended up winning the theme category! The prize was a voucher for books from Kaleidoscope and I spent quite a long time deciding which books to get. The theme running through all the books chosen is foundation piecing, maybe this is a clue to what is coming next? A wonderful prize and I will spend many hours looking through these books.<br />
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<b>Karlee J Porter visit UK</b><br />
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Karlee is the author of the book "Graffiti quilting" and is also a designer of quilting designs and a phenomenal young woman who I am sure will change the way we see quilting. We were very lucky that Karlee agreed to visit The Cotton Patch in June, where she did several workshops where we had so much fun. Most of us felt very intimidated at the start but some wonderful pieces were produced. There is not a lot of opportunities to learn better skills for longarm quilters in the UK, so when we do have someone with such amazing talent come visit, we all grab the opportunity. Thank you so much Karlee, we loved you!<br />
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My piece done in Karlee's class:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Subsequent piece done couching with metallic yarn</td></tr>
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<b>Talks</b><br />
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I have done two further talks and now have another four booked. I am still surprised that people actually want to hear me talk and that I enjoy meeting new quilters so much. I have learnt to put my phone on silent with the alarm set to go off at 5 minutes before I need to stop talk, as it is so easy to talk for too long and leave no time for show and tell and questions afterwards.<br />
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<b>Sisters Quilt Show</b><br />
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At the beginning of July, I flew to Seattle, where I accidentally stumbled upon Undercover Quilts while exploring Pike Place Market, off course I had to support them and bought some lovely patterns and fabrics, but the biggest and best surprise was my visit to the Chihully museum and gardens right next to the Space Needle. I cannot imagine going to Seattle ever again and not go to the museum. Apart from the wonderful glass displays, it is by far one of the best gift shops I have seen at a museum. I will let the photos speak for themselves.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up at the ceiling in The Persian room</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The indoor garden</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many glass chandeliers</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glass added in the gardens to complement the flowers</td></tr>
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From Seattle I flew to Bend/Redmond to Sisters for the 40th Annual Sisters Quilt show. I was lucky to have accommodation at The Ponderosa Lodge, which is within walking distance of the town. I arrived on the weekend before the show started and could see day by day how more and more quilt related items found their way into all the shops. I had signed up for classes with June Jaeger for the entire week, and did 2 workshops with her. I will be back next year, in fact, I have already booked my accommodation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original photo I worked from</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My artwork on fabric using Tsukineko inks in June's class</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original photo I worked from</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My collage on fabric using June's 'paint by number' technique</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firemen putting up quilts in Sisters, outside The Quilting Post</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wonderful lunch in the park for the 40th anniversary celebrations of Sisters Quilt Show</td></tr>
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<b>School holidays</b><br />
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I came back from Sisters just in time for the start of the school holidays and had a few days entertaining my daughter and a friend with trips to Thorpe Park and shopping before going to Venice with her. In temperatures of 34 to 36 degrees while in the UK there were torrential rain and cold weather, it was a surprise that we manage to get as much sightseeing done as we did. I had the chance to talk to a museum curator and collector of lace and bought some very small pieces of the exquisite lace and the obligatory pieces of Murano glass, in millefiori style (as I am working on The millefiori quilt at the moment, this trip came at just the right time!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making of Burano lace</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burano lace </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bobbin lace</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KunafwjINk/VcHX3XVg2II/AAAAAAAAD4w/3asOAzP9U7U/s1600/IMG_1424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2KunafwjINk/VcHX3XVg2II/AAAAAAAAD4w/3asOAzP9U7U/s640/IMG_1424.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bobbin lace</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waste bucket at Glass blowing factory</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S1mcbdED8Go/VcHXDbe4hgI/AAAAAAAAD3E/fokjcZyBxxs/s1600/IMG_1488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S1mcbdED8Go/VcHXDbe4hgI/AAAAAAAAD3E/fokjcZyBxxs/s640/IMG_1488.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My millefiori glass collection</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Millefiori quilt - Rosette 1 I have managed to also get going and make progress on my 1/2" hexagon quilt:</td></tr>
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<b>Hexie quilt</b><br />
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So far managed to sew together 726. This is what it looks like so far.<br />
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Tomorrow I will be going to Festival of Quilts until Sunday evening and then I will be back in Birmingham again a week later when Angela Walters (woohoo!!!) is here to do some more skill building exercises. Hopefully I will have a couple of weeks where I can do some quilting before I next go travelling.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-35532073032635712122015-05-15T23:56:00.002+01:002015-05-20T09:56:33.965+01:00February, March, April and May all thrown into one!Honestly, I do try to update my blog at least once a month! So what happened over the last 4 months?<br />
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<b>Whistler: Fire and Ice</b><br />
I finished all the quilting on <b>Whistler</b>, it took a while as every time I thought I had finished, I spotted another quilting opportunity. I have loved quilting <b>Whistler</b> and really did not want to stop. I was so sad when finally it came off the frame but I knew it was time to do another one.<br />
I have entered <b>Whistler</b> into Malvern, Quilts UK and have just heard the news that I have won awards for longarm machine quilting, piecing (YAY!!!) as well as winner of bedquilts category. It is also overall runner up! I feel so honoured, having seen photos of some of the other quilts.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whistler: Fire and Ice</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in progress: detail of flying geese</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of feathered border</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swarovski crystals added</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of Whistler: Fire and Ice</td></tr>
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<b>When rainbows dance</b><br />
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I have also finished piecing my Jack's Chain quilt and has named it <b>When Rainbows Dance</b>. The quilting on this one took forever! Now that it is finished, I can spot loads of different ways that I could have quilted it, none of which would have been so repetitive and would have given a more pleasing result, but I am happy with the overall finish. I have entered <b>When Rainbows Dance </b>into the theme category at Malvern Quilts UK, A Symphony of Colour and it has won!<br />
By the response I have received on my Facebook page, most people prefer this quilt to <b>Whistler</b>. From the results at Malvern, I can only assume that the judges agreed with my view that <b>Whistler</b> was better executed. I have used hand dyed fabrics for all the 1" squares as well as for the 1/2" hexagons, which I have bought from Farne Designs at Malvern last year. The design of <b>When Rainbows Dance</b> is called Jack's Chain and the designer is not known. I have used a pattern by Lessa Siegele from Australia known as Ring Cycles for my version but substituted the appliquéd flowers with my little hexagons.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When rainbows dance</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of border and quilting designs</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trophies for 'Whistler:Fire and Ice' and 'When rainbows dance' </td></tr>
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<b>Maddy's retirement quilt</b><br />
I have not been able to post anything here before because it was supposed to be a total surprise for Maddy. Maddy retired recently after many years working with British Patchwork and Quilting Tours and Magazine and lots of friends have all made her a surprise quilt, which I was honoured to quilt for her. This was presented to Maddy at the end of February at a lovely lunch in Pershore.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maddy's quilt</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
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<b>Two quilts for Una</b><br />
Una is just the most amazing piecer I have ever come across. Her work is just outstanding! I have quilted two of Una's quilts recently, the first one made from tiny little Liberty prints and the second a log cabin. The next one is an appliqué quilt and I am already planning the designs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Una's Liberty Prints quilt</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Una's log cabin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Una's log cabin quilt</td></tr>
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<b>Travelling</b><br />
In April, I visited my son in Cairns in Australia with my youngest daughter and did some pretty amazing things, although I drew the line at going on a night time walk in the forest looking for snakes in the pitch dark! Son thinks I am a total wimp but I think I was pretty brave doing the day time walks in the forest! Of course I had to visit Kay's Fabric Shop in Cairns where, after buying some lovely Australian fabrics, I was presented with a special T-shirt. A delightful shop and I will be making return visits on my next trip!<br />
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Later on in April, I did a workshop with Hilde van Schaardenburg. This is a totally new venture for me, not having done much art quilting. My piece is unfinished at the moment, but I will post a photo as soon as it is done.<br />
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Then, on to Salt Lake City for HMQS, where I have signed up to do classes from 8am every day to 10pm every night, with just enough time between classes to have a quick snack. I did leave Saturday afternoon free though, to see all the wonderful quilts in the show and support some of the vendors and had a lovely evening with friends in The Cheesecake Factory. I also met up with a friend that I met 3 years ago at a Handiquilter Academy and we spent time together shopping, lunching, talking and having lots of fun. Then made some new friends too! Major issues with my phone and internet, so will have to sort this out before I next travel!<br />
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I did classes with Laurie Tigner, Claudia Pfeil, Judy Woodworth, Karen Sievert, Lisa Calle, Judi Madsen, Dustin Farrell, Linda Taylor, Suzanne Hyland and Bobbie Bergquist and watched a trunk show and talk by Angela Walters and came home with so many new ideas. I might even get time to execute some of these ideas in the next few months, keeping all my fingers crossed.<br />
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<b>Gabi's quilt</b><br />
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I had promised to post a photo of Gabi's quilt when it is finished, she has taken it to school with her, but I am going to need to borrow it back as I have entered it into National Quilt Championship in Sandown in June in the theme category "Learn, create, inspire"<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gabi's Quilt</td></tr>
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Some close ups of Gabi's quilt:<br />
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<b>Playtime</b><br />
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Just for fun, I have changed my ruler foot for a couching foot and did a bit of doodling in wool. I have never used up a ball of wool so quick! Note to self... buy more than what you think you need next time!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just for fun</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b><b>Piecing</b><br />
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This was pieced from Jinny Beyer strip pieces, I was hoping to get it quilted before my trip to Australia, but this will have to wait a little while longer<br />
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<b>The Trouble with Magenta, Hot Or Not</b><br />
I have started designing my first wholecloth quilt with the intention of entering it into Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August and finally finished it last night. I have used Robert Kaufman's Radiance fabrics and tried to use as many rulers as I can. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Design for Magenta</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The trouble with magenta, hot or not"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "The trouble with magenta, hot or not"</td></tr>
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<b>Radiance Challenge 2015</b></div>
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My sketch for the Radiance challenge this year. My fabrics are chosen, I just need to buy my threads at Malvern and then I can hopefully start stitching it out next week.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Design for Radiance Challenge 2015</td></tr>
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<b>Talks</b></div>
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I did my first "talk" to a group of lovely quilters in Farnham, made it just in time as my flight from Salt Lake City was delayed. On the plus side, that gave me something other than the talk to worry about. I now have a few more "talks" booked and am really looking forward to meeting some more quilting ladies. </div>
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I am off to Malvern tomorrow morning, where I am meeting up with some quilting friends. What goodies will I come home with?</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-48667249042792133342015-02-19T20:46:00.000+00:002015-02-19T20:46:04.710+00:00Busy month...Not so long ago, we were busy putting all the Christmas decorations away, preparing to go back to uni and school and looking forward to getting some serious piecing and quilting done. I have decided which quilt shows I will be going to and booked some classes, then worked out a time table for what needs doing and by what date. This is scary, but at least I can plan ahead and work to a schedule, which if I did not do this, I would think "Loads of time, will get to it in due course!"<br />
My Handiquilter was due for a service and after my needle dropped out while stitching just before Christmas, the timing has been just ever so slightly off, so I could not risk putting Whistler back on the frame until Alan had come and done his magic. I now have done over 10 000 000 stitches on my HQ. Lesson learnt re needle - check the screw holding the needle in place every time I change my bobbin! This has never happened before and I have not heard of it happening to anyone else, and I hope it does not happen to any of you, but if you are reading this, then do yourself a favour and just check that little screw next time you use your longarm.<br />
Whilst waiting for Alan to come out, I decided to do some serious piecing, so that I can just concentrate on the quilting bit later.<br />
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<b><u>My piecing projects in January:</u></b><br />
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<b>Fire Island Hosta</b><br />
This one is a foundation pieced pattern by Quiltworx, and was much easier than what it looks. The most difficult part was deciding which colours to use and where. I am very happy with how this one has turned out so far, just have the borders to add to it.<br />
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<b>Jack's chain</b><br />
A picture of this quilt was posted recently on Facebook and it just looked so lovely that I there and then ordered the pattern from Lessa Siegele. I replaced the appliqué flowers in the original pattern with little hexie flowers. Have just finished the quilt top, will be quilting this one next. For the moment I do not have a name yet for this quilt, so will just call it "Jack's chain" for now.<br />
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<b>Quilt for Etienne</b><br />
My eldest son asked me to make a quilt for him and bring it with when I go to see him in Australia. Not that he needs a quilt for warmth in Cairns (!!!) but he would like a colourful quilt to drape over the sofa in his apartment, to brighten the place up a bit and also as a reminder of home. I had bought some fabrics in colours that he likes and started playing with ideas of how to put it together. Decided on a design with lots of flying geese. The fabric was quite stiff even after I have washed it, but I thought it would soften with washing and I would wash it again once I had done the quilting, so proceeded with cutting out and stitching.<br />
No problems with the first seams, but as soon as I started seams where there were 4 layers of fabric together, my machine would just cut through the thread. I could also hear a different sound from the machine.<br />
I changed the thread, replaced the needle, changed the thickness of fabric from "medium"to "heavy", lengthened the stitch, then changed needle again. All to no avail. Still happened. Gave up and went to bed in a sulk. Thought about it some more during the night, only thing that I could think off that changed was the different fabric. I had stitched perfectly fine through 6 layers of fabric the day before on the Jack's chain quilt, so why have I got problems now?<br />
Decided to go test and see if it was the fabric. Took 2 totally different pieces of fabric and started stitching through just 2 layers and gradually added extra layers until I had 8 layers together. No problem, machine behaved impeccably and not so much as a whisper to indicate the transition from less fabric layers to many more fabric layers. Good! So, my machine is out of its mood. Started again with the flying geese. Problems straight away with thread cutting and change in noise. Again, nothing else changed, just the fabric.<br />
So, problem is the fabric. And if I have this kind of problem when piecing, can you imagine what I am going to have when I start to quilt it? Decided to ditch this one and restart with some different fabrics, so back to drawing board and will need to start this one later. A shame really, as I think it would have been a lovely quilt.<br />
Having spoken to quite a few quilters, this is what I have learned: In times gone by, we used to all buy much more fabric (stash) and fabric stores would have a reasonably quick turnaround on the fabrics they stocked. Now, times are harder and we do not build up our stash as we used to, quilters today are much more likely to buy for the projects they are working on or are planning. As a result, fabric sits on the shelves much longer than what they used to. And what would we as quilters like when we buy fabric? Nice clean and crisp fabric that does not look creased or dusty. How do the manufacturers achieve this? By adding lots more chemicals, starches, etceteras to the fabric, so that it looks better on the rolls.<br />
The fabric I have bought clearly had excessive amounts of 'additives' in it, if even after washing at 40C it still felt stiff and hard. I will only be buying fabric that feels reasonably soft to the touch from now on.<br />
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So, deciding to use fabric from my stash rather than go and buy replacement fabrics for Etienne's quilt, this is what I have come up so far:<br />
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<b><u>My quilting projects in January: </u></b><br />
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<b>Kirsty's quilt</b><br />
Kirsty brought this quilt to me desperate to have it custom quilted. She had been quoted the most astronomical amount to have it quilted because the quilt would have needed turning so many times to get the straight lines through the 'chains' of the Irish chain. Kirsty wasn't at all convinced about the straight lines, so we discussed alternative ways of quilting the chains and decided on a continuous curve design with a heart in the blocks. Each tiny little block measures only 1", they were made out of lots of scraps, but doesn't the colours just zing? I love this quilt and wish it was mine.<br />
I thought this one would be a quick one to quilt, not so with those tiny little squares, I must have spent around 26 hours on it, and it is not that heavily quilted.<br />
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<b>Whistler</b><br />
I finished all the micro quilting in all the areas I wanted and took it off the frame, ready to block. Then thought, something is missing here, it needs a little bit more doing to it, so loaded it again next morning and spent another day quite happily stitching in some more background. This time, when it came off, I really had to stop. Sometimes it is just hard to stop, I loved the quilting on this one and could easily have carried on for another day or two, but over quilting it would have spoilt it. So glad I stopped when I did. I have now added all the little Swarovski crystals (again - knowing when to stop is an art that I need to master) and hanging sleeve is in place. All ready for Malvern. Will post photos of the complete Whistler in my next post.<br />
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Now for an update on various projects I have been working on since Houston:<br />
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<b>Dutch Treat</b><br />
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All 196 blocks are finished and sewn together, I have stitched the appliqué on the outside borders and just need to join the borders to the quilt top, then this one is ready for quilting. I am particularly pleased with this quilt, as this is my first reverse appliqué project. I started it in December 2012, so it has taken me just over 2 years to complete the top, a huge achievement, as I almost gave up after 6 months. Will I do another reverse appliqué quilt? Probably not. Glad I have mastered the technique and willing to use it in small projects but not ever again in a project this size. Very pleased with the result though<br />
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<b>Rohan's quilt</b><br />
Rohan's quilt was a bit of a challenge. You know how we all sit and sometimes just wish that we can be given a free hand when it comes to designing and quilting a quilt? Well, I was given a free hand with this quilt. The request was to make a quilt for a newborn baby boy with his name and date of birth on, in baby blue colours and was given a total budget. That's it, no other instructions. Trouble was, I did not know the customer all that well, I had no idea whether to do a wholecloth, something very traditional or very modern, off course I tried to explain the different types of quilts to the customer, who by the way, is not a sewer but got the response : "Just do what you think will be nicest". I played with the idea of doing a traditional pieced, and do another one, a wholecloth, leaving the space for the name, then showing it to the customer and letting her choose which one she wanted. But time constraints meant I just had to make a decision and hope she liked it. She was delighted so all ended well.<br />
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<b>Whistler</b><br />
This is a Glacier Star pattern by Judy Niemeyer and is foundation pieced. The instructions look complicated but once you have read through them a couple of times and set up your work desk, it is really easy. Foundation piecing is not a quick way of piecing, but it does give the most accurate results for complicated designs. I have probably spent around 3 weeks piecing the quilt op together.<br />
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and then spent the best part of a week removing all the papers from the back! I am determined to find a better way of getting rid of the papers and am at the moment trying out some leave in dissolvable papers. Life is just to short to spent 5 evenings with a pair of tweezers!!!!<br />
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Then the fun bit started. I had so much fun quilting this, that I did not want it to get finished. </div>
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That is, until got to quilting on the darker fabrics! As lovely as those fabrics are on their own, they are not the type of fabrics you would want to quilt on if you want the quilting to be a feature. The quilting gets completely lost. To solve this I had to play with several different threads, finally decided that a thread which is slightly darker and in the "wrong" shade of that colour, is the only way the quilting will be showing. Off course, every little mistake you make then shows up. There is also the danger that the quilting can be too prominent and dominate the quilt in a way that makes the design of the quilt (the overall look of the quilt) gets lost. Lesson learnt - before piecing think about how the fabric will change once it is quilted!<br />
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I have now taken the quilt off the frame, I still have to do the micro stitching around the feathers in the darkest colours, but will load it back on the frame later on in January to finish it off. This is what it looks like so far:<br />
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<b>Gabi's quilt</b><br />
This is a "graffiti" style quilt for my youngest daughter, she will be taking it back to boarding school with her once the Christmas holidays are over. She does not particularly like girly colours as you can tell, she chose the fabrics below. The fabric is Grunge by Moda, the top is a denim blue colour, the backing is jade and the binding will be in tangerine. I bought the threads from Linda Taylor and then came up with some suggestions for the words and motifs, which we then both agreed upon. Although she has seen the quilting that I have done so far and loves it, I have a surprise up my sleeve for her. Along the bottom of the quilt, there will be a few blocks in the style of a comic strip, with pictures on that is very relevant to her. I got the idea from a post on Facebook that a friend recently shared. I will post pictures here on my next post, but I am very excited about it. <br />
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<b>New project</b><br />
I have been looking for a new hand sewing project as I knew that Dutch treat is coming to an end and then spotted this quilt at Houston. Whether I make the same or make up my own design or do another one altogether, I have not decided yet. I have however started cutting out and basting my hexes and have so far prepared 1300. Not bad for starting on 1st December and it is only 29 days in? But given that these are 1/2" hexes, I will probably need around 9000 to make a decent sized quilt. Not a quick project then, it will keep me busy for most of 2015.<br />
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<b>Workshops </b><br />
I just had to share this. I have never done any thread painting before and on a whim decided to take a break from the long arm classes on offer at Houston and sign up for one of Pam Holland's thread painting classes. Boy, am I now hooked! I can't wait to learn some more and am signing up for loads more classes to learn as much as possible about this. Didn't Abbey turn out really well? She is not finished yet, this is as far as I got in the class.<br />
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<b>Finally…</b><br />
Youngest daughter gave this to me for Christmas. Brilliant present and it was done on boxing day. So glad I know my teal from my turquoise otherwise this could have been a very difficult jigsaw :-)<br />
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I know I missed posting a post before Christmas, but I do wish every one a very happy New YearAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-3891856820592792762014-11-30T23:10:00.000+00:002015-02-28T23:01:18.976+00:00Houston 2014 The QuiltsI know it is a bit overdue, but here they finally are. First off, I apologise that I did not get photos of all the category winners. My photos were taken after the award ceremony and it was quite hard trying to get photos without lots of people in them. I intended to take more and better photos later on once they were on display in the main exhibition hall, but never managed to go round all the quilts on display. Some of the photos do not have all the information, if I have not given the relevant credits and you would like to add it, please let me know. Hopefully you will get a taste of the quality of work on show, so enjoy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Bike boys" by Lea McComas - Master award for thread artistry</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Panning for gold" Lea McComas - Art-people, portraits and figures</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Revolution 9" Robin Gausebeck - Mixed Technique </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of "Revolution 9"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another close up of "Revolution 9"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hurricane" Janneke De Vries-Bodzinga - Art-abstract, large</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of "Hurricane"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hurricane"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Beneath my wing" David Taylor - Master award for Contemporary artistry</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Reptile wisdom" Karen Stone - Traditional pieced</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Eloise joins the circus" Janet Fogg - Art-Whimsical</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of "Eloise joins the circus"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"One fine day" Laurie Britt - Art-painted surface</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Argentum" Susan Stewart - Miniature quilts</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "Argentum"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-udQkiXZX3BY/VHpMGsBAk_I/AAAAAAAADVc/moerJ3ywYlc/s1600/IMG_1347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-udQkiXZX3BY/VHpMGsBAk_I/AAAAAAAADVc/moerJ3ywYlc/s1600/IMG_1347.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"British Garden" Anna Maria Schipper Vermeiren- Judge's choice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2sWC6JhXPWw/VHpMHBiDC0I/AAAAAAAADVg/Zqk2eqKZGrM/s1600/IMG_1349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2sWC6JhXPWw/VHpMHBiDC0I/AAAAAAAADVg/Zqk2eqKZGrM/s1600/IMG_1349.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "British Garden"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNTzaUXSEws/VHpMJOPZJnI/AAAAAAAADVs/ns7E8b9fErg/s1600/IMG_1355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNTzaUXSEws/VHpMJOPZJnI/AAAAAAAADVs/ns7E8b9fErg/s1600/IMG_1355.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Springtime in the geisha's garden" Margaret Solomon Gunn - Judge's choice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qv0jXPAhAJE/VHpMNbfj1UI/AAAAAAAADWE/KIKlCEWk2u8/s1600/IMG_1353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qv0jXPAhAJE/VHpMNbfj1UI/AAAAAAAADWE/KIKlCEWk2u8/s1600/IMG_1353.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Springtime in the geisha's garden"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gjzYmFXdHEw/VHpMKuWsJPI/AAAAAAAADV0/NKFrSiQNgIo/s1600/IMG_1358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gjzYmFXdHEw/VHpMKuWsJPI/AAAAAAAADV0/NKFrSiQNgIo/s1600/IMG_1358.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Gift of appreciation" Kyoko Yamauchi -World of beauty award</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P083IHiHTeU/VHpMNWF7dcI/AAAAAAAADV8/K0s_7DferU8/s1600/IMG_1360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P083IHiHTeU/VHpMNWF7dcI/AAAAAAAADV8/K0s_7DferU8/s1600/IMG_1360.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Zeruah's legacy" Barbara Korengold - Founders award</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrFDHMdW64g/VHpMNlIX1SI/AAAAAAAADWA/zqbqWbG5gmY/s1600/IMG_1362.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrFDHMdW64g/VHpMNlIX1SI/AAAAAAAADWA/zqbqWbG5gmY/s1600/IMG_1362.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Stars on Mars" Gail Stepanek and Jan Hutchison - Master award for machine artistry</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3b8U4XlK4GU/VHpMQ9FPO-I/AAAAAAAADWU/iJwrFamyqFA/s1600/IMG_1363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3b8U4XlK4GU/VHpMQ9FPO-I/AAAAAAAADWU/iJwrFamyqFA/s1600/IMG_1363.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Stars on Mars"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hM04cKHN4Kw/VHpMR9dGxRI/AAAAAAAADWc/3VYDcFWDaNw/s1600/IMG_1364.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hM04cKHN4Kw/VHpMR9dGxRI/AAAAAAAADWc/3VYDcFWDaNw/s1600/IMG_1364.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "Stars on Mars"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bQzqBTofIIQ/VHpMTQGYxOI/AAAAAAAADWk/xotov26bA1Y/s1600/IMG_1366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bQzqBTofIIQ/VHpMTQGYxOI/AAAAAAAADWk/xotov26bA1Y/s1600/IMG_1366.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Majestic Mosaic" Karen Kay Buckley and Renae Haddadin - Traditional applique</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l0YvR8W3CcM/VHpXa2OwulI/AAAAAAAADYQ/fd2X76Y-psg/s1600/IMG_1295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l0YvR8W3CcM/VHpXa2OwulI/AAAAAAAADYQ/fd2X76Y-psg/s1600/IMG_1295.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Majestic Mosaic"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23b_NbKRUwo/VHpMVOvDgGI/AAAAAAAADWw/ffKk64OwtTs/s1600/IMG_1370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-23b_NbKRUwo/VHpMVOvDgGI/AAAAAAAADWw/ffKk64OwtTs/s1600/IMG_1370.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Majestic Mosaic"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyGPwTF7YVA/VHpMUrqn-DI/AAAAAAAADWs/eHs8Pdvj2kQ/s1600/IMG_1372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyGPwTF7YVA/VHpMUrqn-DI/AAAAAAAADWs/eHs8Pdvj2kQ/s1600/IMG_1372.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Magnolia" Sylvia Gegaregian - Innovative applique</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjF_pHkQV60/VHpMW7k5CEI/AAAAAAAADXA/csTN_VImFVY/s1600/IMG_1374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjF_pHkQV60/VHpMW7k5CEI/AAAAAAAADXA/csTN_VImFVY/s1600/IMG_1374.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "Magnolia"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YXCNasGboYM/VHpMWo84eYI/AAAAAAAADW8/p_tP0QRzDX0/s1600/IMG_1375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YXCNasGboYM/VHpMWo84eYI/AAAAAAAADW8/p_tP0QRzDX0/s1600/IMG_1375.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Vivaldi by moonlight" Sandra Leichner - Merit quilting, machine</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hz3yiQDfX0w/VHpL0L_COwI/AAAAAAAADTQ/wghC9f4AVNY/s1600/IMG_1298.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hz3yiQDfX0w/VHpL0L_COwI/AAAAAAAADTQ/wghC9f4AVNY/s1600/IMG_1298.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "Vivaldi by moonlight"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ROcj80EEIPw/VHpMYroiGeI/AAAAAAAADXM/dBRMd7b1blg/s1600/IMG_1377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ROcj80EEIPw/VHpMYroiGeI/AAAAAAAADXM/dBRMd7b1blg/s1600/IMG_1377.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fuji and Sakura" Masako Sakagami - Art-Naturescapes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D6Idyno-zXo/VHpMb-82O7I/AAAAAAAADXc/VyRvpom0VHw/s1600/IMG_1381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D6Idyno-zXo/VHpMb-82O7I/AAAAAAAADXc/VyRvpom0VHw/s1600/IMG_1381.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "Fuji and ~Sakura"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dYrwNhapLQk/VHpMa2JF3GI/AAAAAAAADXU/vnfA63pXZuI/s1600/IMG_1382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dYrwNhapLQk/VHpMa2JF3GI/AAAAAAAADXU/vnfA63pXZuI/s1600/IMG_1382.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Georgetown wedding" Ann Peterson - Innovative pieced</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6FEhX6da1Og/VHpL6vbAlEI/AAAAAAAADUE/VFzpUrbcKes/s1600/IMG_1311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6FEhX6da1Og/VHpL6vbAlEI/AAAAAAAADUE/VFzpUrbcKes/s1600/IMG_1311.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "Georgetown wedding"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IhoZKFgZ7mA/VHpXZhWr34I/AAAAAAAADYE/pGaDz_7S3cA/s1600/IMG_1312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IhoZKFgZ7mA/VHpXZhWr34I/AAAAAAAADYE/pGaDz_7S3cA/s1600/IMG_1312.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Georgetown wedding"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-04FE_voTUn0/VHpMcHLBsSI/AAAAAAAADXg/EoKiMfhKv4I/s1600/IMG_1384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-04FE_voTUn0/VHpMcHLBsSI/AAAAAAAADXg/EoKiMfhKv4I/s1600/IMG_1384.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Admiration" Sachiko Chiba - Merit quilting, hand</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-stASUdpo3Es/VHpMc4DMpMI/AAAAAAAADXo/9mBUixrLGCs/s1600/IMG_1386.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-stASUdpo3Es/VHpMc4DMpMI/AAAAAAAADXo/9mBUixrLGCs/s1600/IMG_1386.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Summer wind" Marina Landi and Maria Lucia Azara - Master award for innovative artistry</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRV_TIqEHwQ/VHpMd4an9QI/AAAAAAAADX0/laJnWKHZSUs/s1600/IMG_1388.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRV_TIqEHwQ/VHpMd4an9QI/AAAAAAAADX0/laJnWKHZSUs/s1600/IMG_1388.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Healing waters" Hollis Chatelain - Judge's choice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DjCYYD8s9F0/VHph_n5gSTI/AAAAAAAADZI/m1NNKDHl6Rs/s1600/IMG_1536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DjCYYD8s9F0/VHph_n5gSTI/AAAAAAAADZI/m1NNKDHl6Rs/s1600/IMG_1536.JPG" height="472" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"After Hadrian" Sue McCarty - Embellished</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RkKrfc8ipas/VHpMAXeDlzI/AAAAAAAADUw/1pvIEWiOsgA/s1600/IMG_1335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RkKrfc8ipas/VHpMAXeDlzI/AAAAAAAADUw/1pvIEWiOsgA/s1600/IMG_1335.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "After Hadrian" Sue McCarty - Embellished</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yCaSI9u2ZQw/VHpXdSOtLwI/AAAAAAAADYo/3jWnrz9FE-E/s1600/IMG_1334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yCaSI9u2ZQw/VHpXdSOtLwI/AAAAAAAADYo/3jWnrz9FE-E/s1600/IMG_1334.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"After Hadrian"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i2nyDGB0xdQ/VHpXcG7xxFI/AAAAAAAADYc/c8sEGF5LXLo/s1600/IMG_1329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i2nyDGB0xdQ/VHpXcG7xxFI/AAAAAAAADYc/c8sEGF5LXLo/s1600/IMG_1329.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"After Hadrian"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tE0ZyqnmMqg/VHpXc2Hz3OI/AAAAAAAADYk/T17EHj2zfN0/s1600/IMG_1333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tE0ZyqnmMqg/VHpXc2Hz3OI/AAAAAAAADYk/T17EHj2zfN0/s1600/IMG_1333.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"After Hadrian"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OtNqBASb0BY/VHpipb7oooI/AAAAAAAADZQ/e4jTcDw2MYI/s1600/IMG_1657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OtNqBASb0BY/VHpipb7oooI/AAAAAAAADZQ/e4jTcDw2MYI/s1600/IMG_1657.JPG" height="376" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The landing" Joanne Baeth - Art, pictorial</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YiE_vOPUWlc/VHpY7qM4E3I/AAAAAAAADY4/lvsvpgwQx1k/s1600/IMG_1521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YiE_vOPUWlc/VHpY7qM4E3I/AAAAAAAADY4/lvsvpgwQx1k/s1600/IMG_1521.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"On this winter day" Nancy Prince and Linda French - Best of show</td></tr>
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There were some absolutely amazing quilts in the exhibition, but a large number of them are not allowed to be photographed. The next photos are of some of my favourite quilts that I was able to photograph:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4o1-r0QJ1OM/VHpjQx6nPjI/AAAAAAAADZY/qhjRoeHKZD4/s1600/IMG_1501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4o1-r0QJ1OM/VHpjQx6nPjI/AAAAAAAADZY/qhjRoeHKZD4/s1600/IMG_1501.JPG" height="456" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Donna James </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-clOmKaCUgNA/VHpjRJ8fHwI/AAAAAAAADZc/kAzkGGnCBgo/s1600/IMG_1502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-clOmKaCUgNA/VHpjRJ8fHwI/AAAAAAAADZc/kAzkGGnCBgo/s1600/IMG_1502.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simply stunning!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xIJEBQdNuR4/VHpjSueMWNI/AAAAAAAADZo/H39r3jfAFQI/s1600/IMG_1527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xIJEBQdNuR4/VHpjSueMWNI/AAAAAAAADZo/H39r3jfAFQI/s1600/IMG_1527.JPG" height="514" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The inner journey" Jan Reed</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-83r74pDAdtw/VHpjTM6Im9I/AAAAAAAADZw/trNB-P8bPyM/s1600/IMG_1538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-83r74pDAdtw/VHpjTM6Im9I/AAAAAAAADZw/trNB-P8bPyM/s1600/IMG_1538.JPG" height="490" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Gamilla" Sue McCarty</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kmYM4zkgFuQ/VHpjWpKzbrI/AAAAAAAADaI/2PKlUvE6AXM/s1600/IMG_1540.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kmYM4zkgFuQ/VHpjWpKzbrI/AAAAAAAADaI/2PKlUvE6AXM/s1600/IMG_1540.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Gamilla"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p1TbG1gR0xU/VHpjXXd6NjI/AAAAAAAADaQ/Znwecxy2OEA/s1600/IMG_1545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p1TbG1gR0xU/VHpjXXd6NjI/AAAAAAAADaQ/Znwecxy2OEA/s1600/IMG_1545.JPG" height="552" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Frozen Margarita" Susan Stewart</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x8oZXxJHKFk/VHpjYPM1VJI/AAAAAAAADaY/dNNq-dNgjyM/s1600/IMG_1559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x8oZXxJHKFk/VHpjYPM1VJI/AAAAAAAADaY/dNNq-dNgjyM/s1600/IMG_1559.JPG" height="640" width="628" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Midnight garden" Elaine Class</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9stW8-0tNmM/VHpjaJSNldI/AAAAAAAADas/FZUkyslAi7k/s1600/IMG_1560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9stW8-0tNmM/VHpjaJSNldI/AAAAAAAADas/FZUkyslAi7k/s1600/IMG_1560.JPG" height="496" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Dance to the music" Jenifer Day</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BrG3RLKSyDE/VHpjaVVJyUI/AAAAAAAADaw/_LYVbMNd1ec/s1600/IMG_1576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BrG3RLKSyDE/VHpjaVVJyUI/AAAAAAAADaw/_LYVbMNd1ec/s1600/IMG_1576.jpg" height="640" width="564" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The jewel box" Anne Jones</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bPhv2PWkILE/VHpjdLqJy7I/AAAAAAAADbM/qSLg03ka44Y/s1600/IMG_1597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bPhv2PWkILE/VHpjdLqJy7I/AAAAAAAADbM/qSLg03ka44Y/s1600/IMG_1597.jpg" height="640" width="584" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Poppy Pods" Judi MacLeod</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dtzywyg3LSI/VHpjdQuqOBI/AAAAAAAADbU/vYatS46kJnI/s1600/IMG_1606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dtzywyg3LSI/VHpjdQuqOBI/AAAAAAAADbU/vYatS46kJnI/s1600/IMG_1606.jpg" height="640" width="552" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Love at first sight" Sheri Salo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lR0OQGxlNh4/VHpje6PseuI/AAAAAAAADbo/HqdIjlsV_UU/s1600/IMG_1609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lR0OQGxlNh4/VHpje6PseuI/AAAAAAAADbo/HqdIjlsV_UU/s1600/IMG_1609.JPG" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mated for life" Sally G Wright</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1e01QnbIBA8/VHpjiuphhfI/AAAAAAAADcA/v12r9anv4LM/s1600/IMG_1628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1e01QnbIBA8/VHpjiuphhfI/AAAAAAAADcA/v12r9anv4LM/s1600/IMG_1628.jpg" height="640" width="542" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Radiance" Carol Moellers</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-064Fp3BzYWU/VHpji4kZ61I/AAAAAAAADcE/ObsVVDWVMAA/s1600/IMG_1629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-064Fp3BzYWU/VHpji4kZ61I/AAAAAAAADcE/ObsVVDWVMAA/s1600/IMG_1629.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Radiance"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f8ozhu36WaE/VHpjjIByhWI/AAAAAAAADcI/Jb_PHi7gmjQ/s1600/IMG_1636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f8ozhu36WaE/VHpjjIByhWI/AAAAAAAADcI/Jb_PHi7gmjQ/s1600/IMG_1636.JPG" height="452" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"She's a wildflower" Joanna Wilczynska</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mHiaoREwmSQ/VHpjkx_ZVaI/AAAAAAAADcY/1av2qplkEy4/s1600/IMG_1655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mHiaoREwmSQ/VHpjkx_ZVaI/AAAAAAAADcY/1av2qplkEy4/s1600/IMG_1655.JPG" height="376" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Seneca" Ferret</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4xVzHb7WHCY/VHpjmvh4PqI/AAAAAAAADcw/lTcVKAI7Mac/s1600/IMG_1659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4xVzHb7WHCY/VHpjmvh4PqI/AAAAAAAADcw/lTcVKAI7Mac/s1600/IMG_1659.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fly away butterflies" Charlotte Hickman</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFsnWPyxq54/VHpjnoO7o3I/AAAAAAAADc8/xrwuW6qPRJg/s1600/IMG_1663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFsnWPyxq54/VHpjnoO7o3I/AAAAAAAADc8/xrwuW6qPRJg/s1600/IMG_1663.JPG" height="376" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Moody beach, Maine 1957" Morgot McDonnell</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u-2TMtSi-_s/VHpjqUKIKZI/AAAAAAAADdc/MeyovHw97Hg/s1600/IMG_1665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u-2TMtSi-_s/VHpjqUKIKZI/AAAAAAAADdc/MeyovHw97Hg/s1600/IMG_1665.JPG" height="596" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"More than a memory" Kathy McNeil</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AaoSYWHYzV4/VHpjqMoytiI/AAAAAAAADdU/dtQW-JHjNo0/s1600/IMG_1667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AaoSYWHYzV4/VHpjqMoytiI/AAAAAAAADdU/dtQW-JHjNo0/s1600/IMG_1667.JPG" height="498" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Waratha" Melinda Bula</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wc_aip_ntjU/VHpjtGzy2DI/AAAAAAAADd0/bH43qlusKpg/s1600/IMG_1709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wc_aip_ntjU/VHpjtGzy2DI/AAAAAAAADd0/bH43qlusKpg/s1600/IMG_1709.JPG" height="640" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Can you feel the spirit?" Cathy Pilcher-Sperry</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hFSVEbAxbPM/VHpjwiNwlMI/AAAAAAAADeU/enq5YmyoTRc/s1600/IMG_1719.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hFSVEbAxbPM/VHpjwiNwlMI/AAAAAAAADeU/enq5YmyoTRc/s1600/IMG_1719.JPG" height="608" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Crown jewels" Lisa Calle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JByrGvHz98Y/VHpjy6jnzSI/AAAAAAAADes/LBbUyaOIIuE/s1600/IMG_1723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JByrGvHz98Y/VHpjy6jnzSI/AAAAAAAADes/LBbUyaOIIuE/s1600/IMG_1723.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Butterfly wishes" Valeria Hill</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZgBp4wbIVyg/VHpjzAjLqmI/AAAAAAAADew/bBWQbinuCgU/s1600/IMG_1725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZgBp4wbIVyg/VHpjzAjLqmI/AAAAAAAADew/bBWQbinuCgU/s1600/IMG_1725.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A little bit of this and a little bit of that" Janet Sturdevant Stuart</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LcNmUdUbXyI/VHpj0No27II/AAAAAAAADfE/WTzfPk6L3OI/s1600/IMG_1727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LcNmUdUbXyI/VHpj0No27II/AAAAAAAADfE/WTzfPk6L3OI/s1600/IMG_1727.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "A little bit of this and a little bit of that" </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQp8EsGDxi8/VHpj2I943DI/AAAAAAAADfc/7N5V615svYY/s1600/IMG_1732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQp8EsGDxi8/VHpj2I943DI/AAAAAAAADfc/7N5V615svYY/s1600/IMG_1732.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Autumn's surrender" Margaret Solomon Gunn</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qAPEqH7X3IQ/VHpj0_bDoaI/AAAAAAAADfI/K5UMA-c3f_A/s1600/IMG_1730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qAPEqH7X3IQ/VHpj0_bDoaI/AAAAAAAADfI/K5UMA-c3f_A/s1600/IMG_1730.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Autumn's surrender"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Autumn's surrender"</td></tr>
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Display of quilts in the Red and White Challenge<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spotted a "Dear Jane"</td></tr>
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and inside the vendor's hall:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking to the right from Level 2</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking to the left from Level 2</td></tr>
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An unforgettable experience, hoping to go again next year.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-275566678098778172014-11-14T15:51:00.001+00:002014-11-14T15:51:14.905+00:00Houston International Quilt Festival - what I have learned on my first visitI have been wanting to go to Houston for as long as I have been quilting, but have never had the opportunity, until this year. I had planned it since last year and as soon as I had mentioned it to a couple of friends, I was told to get my accommodation booked as soon as possible, as the hotels get booked up almost immediately the dates become available. I was very lucky to get a room at the Hilton Americas and hope to go there again next year.<br />
Things I have discovered from my first trip to Houston:<br />
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<b>Accommodation</b><br />
The IQA have several official hotels, where you can get a discount if you mention that you are going to IQF, have a look on the website www.Quilts.com<br />
The Hilton Americas is right next door to the George R Brown hall where the Quilt Festival is held, and is in fact connected to the centre through a short skywalk on both level 2 and 3 of the hotel.<br />
I had no breakfast included in my package (I don't know whether they offer this in any package) but there is a restaurant in the lobby which does excellent cooked breakfasts, you might have to wait a little while to be seated as it gets pretty busy in the mornings, so need to allow enough time for this. Alternatively, there is the Java Jive shop directly opposite the entrance to the restaurant, where you can have a lighter/ smaller continental style breakfast, they have a good selection of pastries, cakes/breads, wraps, yoghurt and fruit as well as hot or cold drinks. There is not a lot of seating in this area, but just outside the hotel, to the front, if it is not too cold, are some lovely rattan chairs where you could eat. There is a small gift shop too, where you can buy cereal bars or chocolate if you are in a rush.<br />
Wi-fi is free in all the public areas of the hotel. There is a UPS shop in the Business centre on the 3rd floor of the hotel, very useful if you have ordered items and requested them to be delivered to you at the hotel. The UPS staff will leave a message for you once your parcel has arrived, although when they are very busy, it is worth asking them as they might not have updated their systems yet. It is very helpful to them if you can provide your tracking number. Parcels can be posted from here too, they can provide boxes and other packaging materials here, very useful if you have to fly home and do not have enough space in your bags.<br />
The Hilton is close enough that during an hour lunch break, I could walk to my room to leave my shopping bags and pick up a sandwich from Java Jive before getting back to my classes in the afternoon.<br />
Please do pick up a form detailing how to go about booking again here for next year if that is your plan, before you check out, it is notoriously difficult to rebook and get a room if you do not!<br />
Friends have stayed in the Hilton Doubletree, which is too far to walk to the George R Brown centre, but they loved it and found the hotel much more 'friendly' than the Hilton Americas. As a bonus, it was the first pick up point for the free shuttles that run to the convention centre in the mornings and so you could always find a place to sit.<br />
Other friends have stayed in the Magnolia, they loved it so much that they will be returning here. There is 'happy hour' every day with free drinks between 5.30 and 6.30pm every day and cookies and milk. Breakfast is included here.<br />
<b>Food</b><br />
If you are planning on doing any self catering, then do go to the Phoenicia, which is on Austin street, it is a small grocery store that sells just food stuff. They have the usual stuff like cereals and pastas etc but also the most amazing variety of teas and coffees. You can order hot take outs like pizza or wraps from here and make up your own salads from the salad bars. Fresh fruit and vegetables as well as lots of healthy nuts and other snacks. If you are not in a rush, you can sit down and eat in. It is a real little gem and the staff are very helpful. It is a very short walk away and just long enough to give you a bit of fresh air when you have been inside all day. Open till 8pm on Saturdays and Sundays, open till 9pm the rest of the week.<br />
If you are doing classes all day, you will only have an hour or maybe two for lunch. If it is only an hour, you will not have time to go to the food hall which is on the ground level near hall A, your options are a bit limited. You can either bring your own lunch or get something from one of the vendors on the corridor near the class rooms on level 3, there were 2 vendors here this year, one selling Mexican food, the other wraps and sandwiches. Only cold drinks are available here. You could go down to level 2 to Starbucks, which is immediately underneath, but queues were long here. If you were desperate for a hot drink though, this is where you would go. There is also a vendor selling croissants filled with cheese and ham on level 2, they also did coffees. There are plenty of tables to sit at on both levels 2 and 3 and as a bonus, you can enjoy free wi-fi here.<br />
If you had enough time, you could go to the food hall on ground level. Be aware that food is not allowed in the exhibition halls or where the vendors are, so if you bought food here, you will need to consume it here. There are water fountains on all the corridors between the class rooms, so you do not need to bring water with you.<br />
<b>Classes</b><br />
When you are booking your classes, have a list with your first choice and your second choice next to you, as you need to list them both on the application form. You need to submit your application form and will not know for certain whether you will be doing those classes until you receive confirmation a few days later. You will only be charged for the classes that you actually get allocated.<br />
If you subscribe to IQA, you will be allowed a day 'free' entry into the show (I used this on the Sunday).<br />
This will also entitle you to go to the Prize giving ceremony on the Wednesday evening, which is a highlight not to be missed. You will be able to take photos after the ceremony of all the winning quilts.<br />
Don't book so many classes that you do not have time to enjoy the show. You will need at least one day clear to see and enjoy all the quilts in the exhibition and another full day to go around all the vendors.<br />
You will need to produce your official receipt at the start of every class, so do not forget to bring this with you!<br />
<b>Registration</b><br />
Registration opens on the Sunday before classes start, at 3pm, but you can do registration at any time before your classes start. This is on the second level of the convention centre, near the escalators. You will be given a booklet with detail of all the quilts on display in the exhibition, location of all the vendors, and a map of the halls, a list of classes and their locations and a badge holder. You will also be given your pins and shopping totes if you have ordered them. If you are from outside the US, you will be given a self adhesive ribbon stating that you are an International visitor and if this is your first visit to Houston IQF, a ribbon that stating that you are a first visitor. these are glued onto your badge holder.<br />
Some classes may have become available and there is a counter where you can sign up for these and other classes that are not fully booked.<br />
The organising of it all is done exceptionally well and the volunteers who do it all are extremely helpful.<br />
<b>Shopping</b><br />
Rolling trolleys or cases are not allowed in the halls, but you are able to leave your shopping at special booths and pick them up again later. You can also purchase boxes where you can pack all your purchases in to be posted back home. Cash and cards are accepted everywhere. I have been advised not to use debit cards, just credit cards as it lessens the likelihood of fraud (I guess you have more of a guarantee if things go wrong too with credit card companies and you are not likely to be out of cash then). Also, do not put your bags down while looking at things, there are some organised groups of unscrupulous people (not quilters) that are on the lookout for opportunities to take what does not belong to them. An Australian lady had her bag taken containing her passport, travel documents and off course purse!<br />
Last but not least on this subject, SAVE all year, because when you get here, you are not going to believe what choices you have and what wonderful things you are going to see.<br />
<b>Exhibition of quilts</b><br />
You will need a full day to appreciate all the wonderful quilts on display here, please be aware that some quilts are not allowed to be photographed. Stick to the rules, if seen taking photos, you could be asked to delete those photos or even to leave. Not worth the unpleasantness. Far better photos than what you can take, will be somewhere on the internet, if you take a note of the maker and title of the quilt, you can always research it later when you get back home. In stead, take the time to look at the detail that does not show up on photos and just enjoy being there. It is such a privilege to be so close to so many wonderful quilts made by masters of their skill.<br />
<b>Weather</b><br />
Texas is warmer than you think for this time of year. Much warmer certainly than England at this time of year. BUT, you will be spending most of every day inside, in the exhibition halls you could get away with wearing the same as what you would wear outside, that is late summer clothes (with a cardie or lightweight jacket) but if you are in the classrooms where they have air-conditioning turned on, you will be very cold. Bring warm clothes for the classrooms. It can be a bit cooler in the mornings or at night, so if you are planning on going out, worth having something a little warmer.<br />
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Working on my photos at the moment, will be doing a post on this next week ;-)<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-12525737033301378902014-10-21T12:38:00.000+01:002014-10-21T12:39:39.869+01:00Dutch Treat, The Happy Quilt<br />
I saw a Dutch Treat quilt a few years ago, that was made by Clare Kingslake. At my then local quilt shop, a few ladies came together once a week to sew a block together with Clare helping out and giving advise. I envied the ladies their skill and determination, not thinking that I could ever do that, but I bought the book by Judy Garden anyway, just for in case, and started collecting lots of red and white prints for one day.<br />
Then in December 2012, I decided that it would be my evening sewing and that I would just do a few blocks and see how it goes. Rather than doing it in all the red prints, I decided to use a collection of fabrics that I had bought on a trip to Colorado, which would look better in our house.<br />
The fabric collection is called "Suede" and is by P&B Textiles. I had bought 14 different colours and the Dutch Treat quilt is made up of 14 rows of 14 blocks, so that seemed to be it's destiny. I had a lovely mottled caramel/gold/cream fabric, that looked really good with the other fabrics, and had enough of it too, so no need to get any extra.<br />
My first block was stitched using a blending cotton thread, but I was not happy with the result, so started experimenting with different threads. I definitely got the best result using YLI 100wt silk thread, although a friend of mine has used Superior Bottomline for hers and she recommends that. Another friend suggested that I try out the Superior Monopoly thread, which she uses for appliqué, but I am very happy with my silk threads.<br />
I used the same colour thread throughout, as it blended really well with the top fabric.<br />
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When I first started making the blocks, I did 3 or 4 a month, just whenever the mood took me. A year later, I realised that this could take many years to complete and not being blessed with a lot of patience decided to set myself a target of doing at least 10 every month. For a while this worked really well, but then things got in the way again and the project got put aside. I then discovered a group on Facebook for people doing "Dutch Treat" quilts, so I joined the group. This was just what I needed to restore my enthusiasm, so with renewed energy, the last few blocks were tackled.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blocks done in 2013</td></tr>
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If I ever do another block quilt like this, that is what I will be doing, join a group, because if nothing else, you get so many ideas on the group, you see so many different ways that people are doing the same design, there is always someone that can advise if you get stuck or don't know if the colour is working and it also keeps the momentum going. Some ladies in this group has made 4 Dutch Treat Quilts and although I got to the point where I hated this quilt and would never ever do another one like this, I am actually now considering doing another one, but in different fabrics, maybe rather than using all the designs in the book, to draw up some of my own and make it "my own treat".<br />
This is the first attempt at doing reverse appliqué for me and some of the blocks were really hard to do, like the "Field of dreams" block, which I redid 3 times. Others that I thought would be really hard, turned out really well and was much easier than I thought. Some will always remind me of where I was when I did them, like the Napa Valley block, which I stitched on a quilting trip in France travelling through lots of vineyards. Rather than call my quilt "Dutch Treat", I have decided to name it "The happy Quilt" as the colours are so cheerful and I am so happy to be where I am right now, at the moment, today, this month, this year!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First time I laid out the completed blocks</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Field of dreams block</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Napa valley" , the grapes that I stitched in France</td></tr>
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I still have 8 blocks to do, but have started putting all the sashing strips in, hopefully I will have them all done before the weekend, when I go to Houston, so that I can measure out the border and mark the design out to start the appliqué on this while I am away from home. I don't have the backing fabric yet, but I have located a few shops that stock extra wide fabric in this range, so will be buying my backing while I am on the Quilter's Quest shop hop in Virginia and Maryland, after Houston. I might even be looking at fabric to do my next "treat" with!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting to play around with ;about</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deciding which colour to use for backing</td></tr>
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While I am Houston, (I am not going to market, just to festival), I have enrolled in a few classes and hope to meet up with some friends from around the world, like Alex, who live in Australia, and Anne, who lives in the UK, but far enough that I only see her at quilt shows! And of course I will be meeting and making new friends, some that I have been corresponding with through good old Facebook, very excited about this.<br />
I will not have a lot of free time to shop or look at all the amazing quilts, but will make use of every spare minute to go and enjoy the exhibitions and will post photos once I am back home. Now off to go and pack my class requirements, yippee!!!!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-14965574229218001112014-10-05T13:16:00.000+01:002014-10-06T00:04:01.149+01:00Radiance challenge 2014<b>Radiance challenge</b><br />
I have been asked by so many people what this challenge is about, that I decided to explain here, then I can refer everyone to my blogpost in stead of explaining, yet again LOL.<br />
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Lisa Calle, owner of Stonehousequilting and Bernina ambassador, has set herself a challenge in May to relearn how to quilt on her new Bernina sewing machine. Not that Lisa has not quilted for a while, or need any practise to quilt or indeed learn anything at all, she is an award winning quilter that many of us follow avidly. It is just quite hard to go back to quilting on a domestic sewing machine when you have been used to quilting on a long arm machine for a while. I guess Lisa wanted to explore and use her new machine to it's full potential. The challenge was set with Teri Lucas, award winning quilter, teacher and also Bernina ambassador. An open invitation was extended to anyone to join in this challenge.<br />
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I am in a closed Facebook group of Handiquilter owners in Europe. The group was set up about two years ago and started with a handful of people and we now have over 80 members. We are all new to long arm quilting and the longest anyone has had their machine is about 3 years now. For most of us, the challenge would not be to quilt on a domestic machine, as until very recently, that was the way we did our quilting. In stead, the challenge would be to quilt on the long arm. I contacted Lisa and explained that we would like to join the challenge, but that we would like to do it on our Handiquilters. Lisa was very supportive and delighted to have us join the challenge.<br />
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So, I set the challenge to our group. Some needed a LOT of persuasion to take up the challenge, others needed very little convincing. Eventually we had 26 members join in the challenge.<br />
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The challenge was to produce a wholecloth mini quilt, approximately 18" square, using Robert Kaufman's Radiance fabrics. Any design in any style was permitted, no limitation on threads, but no painting or altering the fabric was allowed. What I did not realise at this point, was that the Radiance fabrics are not readily available in the UK, in fact, we could only find 1 shop that sold a very limited number of colours, we wanted every member to have a different colour of fabric, so I ordered all the fabrics from the USA. Then came the allocation of colours and to be fair, I offered choice in the order that members signed up to the challenge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KV_sJiskuH4/VDEdqV_pKoI/AAAAAAAADN4/OdBGrxDC9_k/s1600/IMG_5800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KV_sJiskuH4/VDEdqV_pKoI/AAAAAAAADN4/OdBGrxDC9_k/s1600/IMG_5800.jpg" height="464" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the colours of Radiance fabric that we used</td></tr>
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Great excitement when all the fabrics finally arrived, but also lots of awesomeness with several members stating that they could not possibly cut or sew these lovely fabrics. First hurdle…convincing some that it was okay to sew on the silk/cotton mix, much easier than stitching on pure silk!<br />
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It took ages before anyone was willing to start the stitching and with several members indicating that they have never before done a wholecloth and had no idea where to start, I started mine and posted constant updates and pictures. Very slowly the quilts started coming in, when some had issues, or second thoughts, the group was there to offer advise and encouragement and without this encouragement, some may never have finished their quilts, but if you see what has been produced, you would never guess that.<br />
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I have had an offer of prizes for winners, but have declined this. The challenge has been set up for our group, to encourage everyone to do something "out of their comfort zone", to learn a new technique, with the help and support of the group. We are all working together and helping each other out and learning together. For some designing and drawing out the design is the biggest challenge, for others it is using rulers and for some it is stitching out a design when they have never done anything other than use groovy boards before. Some have no idea which type or colour thread to use, but there is always someone that will give advise. We want everyone to feel that they can post photos of their progress on the group page and ask for help and for those that know how, to share their knowledge. This will not happen if there is an element of competition. The group was set up to educate and support all the members and if after the challenge, some want to enter into competitions, they will have the support and encouragement of the group.<br />
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The amazing thing is that this group has brought so many of us together, we are all in different parts of the UK and Europe and some of us have never met, yet we are all in touch with each other on the internet if not daily, at least weekly and have built up a huge support network. We even have a few members from the USA! Some of us recently met at a workshop and we all felt as if we had known each other for years!<br />
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I have now spoken to Grosvenor shows, the organisers of some of the quilt shows in the UK and the quilts in our challenge will be on display at the following shows:<br />
Malvern Autumn show 2015<br />
Ardingley, Edinburgh, Exeter and Duxford in Spring 2016<br />
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For most, this will be the first time that they will have a quilt in a show, for most, there have been some challenges in producing their quilt, but looking at the end results, you would never guess that. Every quilt has got a story to tell and is a huge achievement for the maker. Some members have used their 'spare' piece of fabric and produced a wonderful second piece to enter! I would say that this first challenge has been a tremendous success and I have set a new challenge for next year, which a lot of members have signed up for already. We are hoping to have a new challenge every year, joining in on this challenge is not compulsory, but it is such a wonderful opportunity to learn in the group and be active in a very supportive and friendly group, that we hope that most members in the group will take part.<br />
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All the quilts are not yet finished, we have extended the deadline to the beginning of December, I am posting the ones here that have been finished (in no particular order) so far and will do an update post later in the year with photos of the remaining quilts.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A Persian Tale" by Annelize Littlefair, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hearts a Fire"by Lynda Jackson, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Vee Jenkins, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Ginko" by Adrienne Quinlan, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Le Brave" by Anne Garner, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_iHIv1xW66Q/VDEdioT8rUI/AAAAAAAADMU/QMczQvNbDOk/s1600/10393887_10204740150806274_6463676169892525298_n-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_iHIv1xW66Q/VDEdioT8rUI/AAAAAAAADMU/QMczQvNbDOk/s1600/10393887_10204740150806274_6463676169892525298_n-2.jpg" height="608" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Mindy Powell, Utah, USA</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EuHN46WoSlI/VDEdjPcrGfI/AAAAAAAADMc/7i1LRiWyCoQ/s1600/10492175_1478165792445130_8235245487538640553_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EuHN46WoSlI/VDEdjPcrGfI/AAAAAAAADMc/7i1LRiWyCoQ/s1600/10492175_1478165792445130_8235245487538640553_n.jpg" height="612" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Jill Lindstromm, Sweden</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ofLSYvqw0SI/VDEdmoDMGTI/AAAAAAAADNg/Fo_9AaKC4wc/s1600/1903983_572828266156953_686395888361320759_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ofLSYvqw0SI/VDEdmoDMGTI/AAAAAAAADNg/Fo_9AaKC4wc/s1600/1903983_572828266156953_686395888361320759_n.jpg" height="640" width="622" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Jacqueline Bertho, France</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Face" by Adrienne Quinlan, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P6TvuvhNIt0/VDEdkArAqRI/AAAAAAAADMs/n8_4bbeQHZ8/s1600/10628499_572828239490289_6579173714044693445_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P6TvuvhNIt0/VDEdkArAqRI/AAAAAAAADMs/n8_4bbeQHZ8/s1600/10628499_572828239490289_6579173714044693445_n.jpg" height="640" width="610" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By jacqueline Bertho, France</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Arachne's day off" by Nel Eyre, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mufasa" by Marjorie Cook, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yzKHdnGH398/VDEdlFJgWcI/AAAAAAAADM4/0bcCLI0tnyc/s1600/10716176_545883898878778_1277176548_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yzKHdnGH398/VDEdlFJgWcI/AAAAAAAADM4/0bcCLI0tnyc/s1600/10716176_545883898878778_1277176548_n.jpg" height="586" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Tatyana Duffy, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Joe Bennison, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Go with the flow" by Annelize Littlefair, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"With a little help from my friends" by Jayne Spark, UK</td></tr>
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I am so excited to see all these quilts displayed together and because they will be on show at several different shows, everyone taking part in the challenge should have a chance to see their quilt displayed with all the others! </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-3320168253139736902014-09-26T10:30:00.002+01:002014-09-26T10:30:53.835+01:00'Crossing oceans' exhibition at European Patchwork Meeting<b>Crossing Ocean</b><b>s </b>is a group of international artists from around the world. The theme for this exhibition was "Nature", each of the artists offered a different perspective on the theme. This exhibition was curated by Jane Rollason from the UK.<br />
My favourite quilts from this exhibition are below. I have tried to take at least one photo of each of the artists work. I allocated myself half an hour for this exhibition and had to revise my plans, as the quilts were just stunning and deserved much more of my time.<br />
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By Frieda Anderson (US) : "Jack in the pulpit" series<br />
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By Irene McWilliams (Ireland) : 5 Flowers</div>
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By Bergen Rose (US): Peace in nature</div>
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The fibre art utilises two digital photos, one photo while travelling and the other of one of the artists paintings. The photos were printed from computer onto fabric - cotton (small appliqué) and silk organza (cow landscape). The cotton bottom layer was hand and machine stitched with batting and backing and embellishments. The top overlay is stitched only to the top and is loose, so flutters when there is a breeze.</div>
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By Dijanne Cevaal (Australia): Olive trees<br />
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By Jane Rollason (UK): Autumn leaves</div>
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Vase of flowers</div>
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By Ineke Berlin (UK): Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn</div>
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By Kay D Haerland (Australia): Aspects of the glen: looking down<br />
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I find it hard to believe that this is a quilt, it is so like a photo, it is only when you get up close that you realise it is a quilt!</div>
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By Christine Kuhr (Germany): Lost garden:Papaver, Dandelion, Fuchsia</div>
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By Hilary Beattie (UK): Bull rushes</div>
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By Charlotte Yde (Denmark): Chaos and Order; passage of time</div>
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By Elaine Quehl (Canada): Encore series</div>
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By Pat Archibald (UK-Scotland): Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter</div>
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By Lin Hsin-Chen (Taiwan): French Impressions: backyard garden in Villefranche sur Saone<br />
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There were many more quilts by these artists, I have tried to take a photo of the work that I found most interesting, but other pieces were just as worthy of looking at and it is simply not possible to take photos of every quilt. I do hope you enjoy seeing all these quilts through my lens. Hopefully, if you were thinking of going to the EPM, but were not sure, these photos will convince you that this is a show very worthy of a visit! </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-5720757899086384012014-09-25T15:34:00.000+01:002015-07-19T21:43:40.477+01:00Yoko Saito's Mystery Quilt - 50 VariationsAt the 20th European Patchwork Meeting in Alsace, France, Quiltmania presented an exhibition called "50 Variations of Yoko Saito's Mystery Quilt", which was published in Quiltmania magazine during 2012. The original quilt was displayed amongst the reproductions or variations of this appliqué masterpiece as well as one entry which is a miniature version. I only had a very short time to take these photos, so apologise that I did not have time to take a photo of each one, or record the maker of each quilt. I have started my own version of this quilt during 2012, so to see all these wonderful quilts in one place was just amazing. I do hope you all enjoy seeing how different each one is:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_5EVHSCYMug/VCQjwde87kI/AAAAAAAADBk/1fTE9f241qU/s1600/IMG_6700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_5EVHSCYMug/VCQjwde87kI/AAAAAAAADBk/1fTE9f241qU/s1600/IMG_6700.jpg" width="606" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Original Mystery Quilt</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by Anneke Bos</td></tr>
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This one by Toussein Martine:</div>
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and this is the miniature version by Michele Armanet, France</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Miniature mystery quilt, only 58cm x 69cm</td></tr>
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I hope anyone contemplating making one of these will have plenty of inspiration above. If anyone knows the maker of any of the above quilts, please contact me and I will happily add their details to their quilt.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-66010424411336923442014-09-25T14:42:00.001+01:002014-09-25T14:42:10.115+01:00European Patchwork Meeting Alsace 2014I have been wanting to go to the EPM for as long as I have been doing patchwork, but other commitments meant I have never had the chance. Then I had a gap this year where I could fit it in, so booked my place on the P&Q Tours. Very nearly missed it as events at home prevented me from going on the trip from the start, but lovely husband said I could still go a few days later than originally planned, so flights were booked and a car to take me to the hotel where the rest of the group were staying in, in Colmar. I arrived on the Wednesday evening and was so pleased to see some ladies in the group before I even checked into my room, some which I have met on previous P&Q trips!<br />
We had a lovely coach driver, Steve, who is Welsh and entertained us with music from the valleys on some of our journeys.<br />
Ste Marie aux Mines was about an hour's journey from Colmar, through lovely countryside, mostly we travelled on the main roads, but Steve took us on some of the back roads on our last day and we drove through some lovely little villages, that I am hoping to come back to with my husband, so that we can explore them properly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Statue of Liberty in Colmar, designer of statue came from Colmar</td></tr>
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The show is not all in one centre, but spread out amongst venues in the villages of Ste Marie aux Mines, Ste Croix aux Mines, Liepvre and Rombach-le-Franc as well as at the Parc Minier Tellure, which is about 5km outside Ste Marie. There are shuttle buses that run between the villages, sometimes they got very full and large queues formed with some ladies getting a bit forceful to get onto the coaches, they run approximately every 20 minutes to start off in the mornings, but this becomes more of a just wait until the next one comes later on in the day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladies from Japan visiting Ste Marie Aux Mines</td></tr>
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I never made it to Rombach or Liepvre as there just was not enough time to do it all, but what I did see in the other villages made up for what I did not see.<br />
The vendors are mainly concentrated in the centre of Ste Marie and it would be easy to spend a day just wondering and looking and shopping here. Most of the vendors could speak a little English, some very well, it did help to understand a little bit of French at others. Lots to see and buy that is not available in the UK, there seems to be a trend with wool fabrics and a lot of rustic country themed fabrics too. Also a lots of Lecien style fabrics and LOTS of ribbons. Not all the vendors were French, some were German, some from Prague and Poland, it really is European, but good to see some American vendors too, like Edita Sitar, with her fabulous laser cut appliqué pieces. Wonderful to finally meet Claudia Pfeil too and to see Handiquilter stall and chat with Nate.<br />
The vendors were not all in the same building, but were all concentrated in the same area, many inside large marquees or market style pop up stalls next to the big marquee tents. Nearby was a restaurant within another big marquee tent, but along the main street were lots of small vendors selling their street cuisine. I had some fabulous vegetarian vegetable pancake sandwiches with pesto and goats cheese filling and vegetable juice from one stall for lunch one day. Some of the other stalls sold breads and pastries, potato rosti, salamis and dried sausages, pizzas and pretzels. Lots of local restaurants too, where you could sit inside or outside, were doing a roaring trade with all the extra visitors to the towns.<br />
Coffees and teas with cakes were sold in some of the larger venues too.<br />
Lots of shops in the villages have quilts on display in the windows, some very nice ones:<br />
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Some of the exhibitions are in churches and village halls, some in museums and theatres. You can pick up a brochure/program with locations, maps and exhibitions from the Tourist Information shop in Ste Marie or from the entrances to the larger exhibitions. It is not possible to post photos from all the exhibitions, so I will just post some of my favourites here:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Regret at mown motley grass by Elena Folomeva from Russia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TSu4KLAGE1U/VCQJ9xHxhNI/AAAAAAAAC2o/o40LNOLTFlA/s1600/IMG_6624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TSu4KLAGE1U/VCQJ9xHxhNI/AAAAAAAAC2o/o40LNOLTFlA/s1600/IMG_6624.jpg" height="640" width="612" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Crystal by Elena Nekrasova from Russia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WQCl0jm8kmo/VCQJ_qbc5vI/AAAAAAAAC3A/VWoStiXiQ4I/s1600/IMG_6631.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WQCl0jm8kmo/VCQJ_qbc5vI/AAAAAAAAC3A/VWoStiXiQ4I/s1600/IMG_6631.jpg" height="640" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fifth Wheel by Anna Urusova from Russia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yE-l19IDG2I/VCQKALTRVVI/AAAAAAAAC3E/3hEnEl5-0_4/s1600/IMG_6633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yE-l19IDG2I/VCQKALTRVVI/AAAAAAAAC3E/3hEnEl5-0_4/s1600/IMG_6633.jpg" height="640" width="598" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The aroma of meadows by Irina Korotkova from Russia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vo90WIIHFMw/VCQKDBsOiOI/AAAAAAAAC3c/0RvlXRynN7w/s1600/IMG_6663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vo90WIIHFMw/VCQKDBsOiOI/AAAAAAAAC3c/0RvlXRynN7w/s1600/IMG_6663.jpg" height="640" width="388" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freedom by Helen Godden from Australia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ULe0sIhRBLA/VCQKEbKXyyI/AAAAAAAAC3s/aVhbH2X2wrg/s1600/IMG_6666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ULe0sIhRBLA/VCQKEbKXyyI/AAAAAAAAC3s/aVhbH2X2wrg/s1600/IMG_6666.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Freedom</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tm00apuM8mQ/VCQKGxGTX8I/AAAAAAAAC38/iEXGSedNtJQ/s1600/IMG_6671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tm00apuM8mQ/VCQKGxGTX8I/AAAAAAAAC38/iEXGSedNtJQ/s1600/IMG_6671.jpg" height="640" width="638" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cinese dragon and phoenix by Ming Hsu, Australia </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TvbppCU3lLo/VCQKJBtHH9I/AAAAAAAAC4E/_tvI_ytpiF4/s1600/IMG_6674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TvbppCU3lLo/VCQKJBtHH9I/AAAAAAAAC4E/_tvI_ytpiF4/s1600/IMG_6674.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Chinese dragon and phoenix</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AvwtrHcr0uk/VCQKJ3g3TpI/AAAAAAAAC4Q/iJoxT9bCmzE/s1600/IMG_6680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AvwtrHcr0uk/VCQKJ3g3TpI/AAAAAAAAC4Q/iJoxT9bCmzE/s1600/IMG_6680.JPG" height="640" width="634" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Counterpoint by Pam Hill, Australia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58InvW3L3HA/VCQKOFUk3pI/AAAAAAAAC4w/9zicYtyYJF4/s1600/IMG_6690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58InvW3L3HA/VCQKOFUk3pI/AAAAAAAAC4w/9zicYtyYJF4/s1600/IMG_6690.JPG" height="378" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summer: Kangaroo paws and Billy Buttons by Suzan Mathews, Australia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dXckDsQvnKA/VCQKNsdYetI/AAAAAAAAC4s/y-Q1vBQMOVw/s1600/IMG_6695.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dXckDsQvnKA/VCQKNsdYetI/AAAAAAAAC4s/y-Q1vBQMOVw/s1600/IMG_6695.jpg" height="640" width="558" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flax Lily by Bernardine Hine, Australia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUKKyYHCEd0/VCQKRFYffBI/AAAAAAAAC5E/0zlsY1gDWzU/s1600/IMG_6697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DUKKyYHCEd0/VCQKRFYffBI/AAAAAAAAC5E/0zlsY1gDWzU/s1600/IMG_6697.JPG" height="622" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Purple Haze by Karen Terrens, Australia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eyvwX3Z57lw/VCQKS1GTWUI/AAAAAAAAC5Q/YNkvy-psiIY/s1600/IMG_6698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eyvwX3Z57lw/VCQKS1GTWUI/AAAAAAAAC5Q/YNkvy-psiIY/s1600/IMG_6698.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Purple Haze</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rqXTVuhnFvU/VCQKSWIVSPI/AAAAAAAAC5M/LjM6_e-8ueA/s1600/IMG_6735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rqXTVuhnFvU/VCQKSWIVSPI/AAAAAAAAC5M/LjM6_e-8ueA/s1600/IMG_6735.JPG" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dartmoor walk by Kate Dowty, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_GJMhSKxqmY/VCQKXQ-MBsI/AAAAAAAAC50/rcXXmu41tPY/s1600/IMG_6742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_GJMhSKxqmY/VCQKXQ-MBsI/AAAAAAAAC50/rcXXmu41tPY/s1600/IMG_6742.jpg" height="640" width="472" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southern Delight by Marlya Waters, Australia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-67-bMhy3Nys/VCQKXKBEF_I/AAAAAAAAC5s/3QjEVZwygAU/s1600/IMG_6744.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-67-bMhy3Nys/VCQKXKBEF_I/AAAAAAAAC5s/3QjEVZwygAU/s1600/IMG_6744.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Southern Delight</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bB-AnjAGM7Q/VCQKaZi81EI/AAAAAAAAC6E/kHKDesdA794/s1600/IMG_6750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bB-AnjAGM7Q/VCQKaZi81EI/AAAAAAAAC6E/kHKDesdA794/s1600/IMG_6750.jpg" height="640" width="588" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pine Branch by Elsbeth Nusser-Lampe, Germany</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H0lBcOYYZJQ/VCQKcI61FuI/AAAAAAAAC6Q/YUhf_VS07Ls/s1600/IMG_6754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H0lBcOYYZJQ/VCQKcI61FuI/AAAAAAAAC6Q/YUhf_VS07Ls/s1600/IMG_6754.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Pine Branch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w2uSw7J6Z18/VCQKd0i8SeI/AAAAAAAAC6c/om1fb__xmOQ/s1600/IMG_6756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w2uSw7J6Z18/VCQKd0i8SeI/AAAAAAAAC6c/om1fb__xmOQ/s1600/IMG_6756.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taste of India by Christine Seager, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qaSyrv_Yqyw/VCQKe-ISEwI/AAAAAAAAC6o/CXAywJFnElU/s1600/IMG_6758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qaSyrv_Yqyw/VCQKe-ISEwI/AAAAAAAAC6o/CXAywJFnElU/s1600/IMG_6758.jpg" height="626" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Seven Spices by Yemima Lavan, Israel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QvKQh9f3yUE/VCQKhp5ACfI/AAAAAAAAC7A/8AmS08vfl_o/s1600/IMG_6777.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QvKQh9f3yUE/VCQKhp5ACfI/AAAAAAAAC7A/8AmS08vfl_o/s1600/IMG_6777.jpg" height="640" width="518" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Libby by Sandrine Osterman, France</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CjhBERvg7Yg/VCQKho32NxI/AAAAAAAAC68/8U5fsedqwwQ/s1600/IMG_6778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CjhBERvg7Yg/VCQKho32NxI/AAAAAAAAC68/8U5fsedqwwQ/s1600/IMG_6778.JPG" height="640" width="626" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Poppies by Beatrice Bueche, France</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxikpA2Qg54/VCQKj-S3u7I/AAAAAAAAC7c/UsV7kHeEwq0/s1600/IMG_6783.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxikpA2Qg54/VCQKj-S3u7I/AAAAAAAAC7c/UsV7kHeEwq0/s1600/IMG_6783.jpg" height="640" width="564" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balancing Act by Linda Forey, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PfETZjFcM4Y/VCQKmdGMvsI/AAAAAAAAC7o/Ke6lzZpaouQ/s1600/IMG_6798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PfETZjFcM4Y/VCQKmdGMvsI/AAAAAAAAC7o/Ke6lzZpaouQ/s1600/IMG_6798.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vague a l'ame by Dominique Fave, France</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-91xV54EmHVc/VCQKm4gtpUI/AAAAAAAAC7w/g0ThQEWlXEk/s1600/IMG_6814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-91xV54EmHVc/VCQKm4gtpUI/AAAAAAAAC7w/g0ThQEWlXEk/s1600/IMG_6814.jpg" height="640" width="592" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burning Sky by Yoshiko Koshi, Japan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9b0WT4WJsZY/VCQKp-B3R0I/AAAAAAAAC8I/WLIZLL08qHM/s1600/IMG_6817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9b0WT4WJsZY/VCQKp-B3R0I/AAAAAAAAC8I/WLIZLL08qHM/s1600/IMG_6817.JPG" height="468" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woodpecker by Noriko Endo, Japan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-76TAFrdhWdI/VCQKt0fbZWI/AAAAAAAAC8c/08aVshc7RMU/s1600/IMG_6903.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-76TAFrdhWdI/VCQKt0fbZWI/AAAAAAAAC8c/08aVshc7RMU/s1600/IMG_6903.jpg" height="640" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Constellation - beyond time and space by Yoko Kageyama, Japan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xzCAA_8X0Dc/VCQKu1ceDzI/AAAAAAAAC8k/-0hv1jmrFdU/s1600/IMG_6904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xzCAA_8X0Dc/VCQKu1ceDzI/AAAAAAAAC8k/-0hv1jmrFdU/s1600/IMG_6904.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Constellation - beyond time and space</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ETb-P93EAI/VCQKzeU3pfI/AAAAAAAAC9E/7ABRLlWKTKU/s1600/IMG_6914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ETb-P93EAI/VCQKzeU3pfI/AAAAAAAAC9E/7ABRLlWKTKU/s1600/IMG_6914.jpg" height="640" width="506" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Space Fantasy by Yumiko Matsubara, Japan</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Space Fantasy</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherry blossom at night by Kayoko Tonegawa, Japan </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7fwT3ENXjO4/VCQK3uDtdNI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/O1LDhLkxkyE/s1600/IMG_6929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7fwT3ENXjO4/VCQK3uDtdNI/AAAAAAAAC9Y/O1LDhLkxkyE/s1600/IMG_6929.jpg" height="640" width="536" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flowerly and Lightly by Mitsuko Kinoshita</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sX_APnwp7vs/VCQK3325Z7I/AAAAAAAAC9c/1ZgdLOspNtw/s1600/IMG_6928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sX_APnwp7vs/VCQK3325Z7I/AAAAAAAAC9c/1ZgdLOspNtw/s1600/IMG_6928.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Flowerly and Lightly</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBXnKFDtmeA/VCQK3jpnplI/AAAAAAAAC9U/tKxWTujZtSE/s1600/IMG_6934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBXnKFDtmeA/VCQK3jpnplI/AAAAAAAAC9U/tKxWTujZtSE/s1600/IMG_6934.jpg" height="640" width="524" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cameria in Love by Naomi Horikita</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reve de flour by Hilde van Schaardenburg</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wbrInUzO3GI/VCQK-DfNuvI/AAAAAAAAC-I/eBN0ZCW8H6Y/s1600/IMG_6956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wbrInUzO3GI/VCQK-DfNuvI/AAAAAAAAC-I/eBN0ZCW8H6Y/s1600/IMG_6956.jpg" height="640" width="436" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L'oeil by Hilde van Schaardenburg</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JGNeA6ZrooM/VCQLCgxfMHI/AAAAAAAAC-k/goctEpxdyaU/s1600/IMG_6982.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JGNeA6ZrooM/VCQLCgxfMHI/AAAAAAAAC-k/goctEpxdyaU/s1600/IMG_6982.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edge of a feather by Linda & Laura Kemshall, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5940a2v8OdA/VCQLDQjxQII/AAAAAAAAC-s/anAxryIrpjo/s1600/IMG_6987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5940a2v8OdA/VCQLDQjxQII/AAAAAAAAC-s/anAxryIrpjo/s1600/IMG_6987.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Edge of a feather</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VAlXLYyChbM/VCQLGeHm2LI/AAAAAAAAC-8/aES7Tn-GV6U/s1600/IMG_6995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VAlXLYyChbM/VCQLGeHm2LI/AAAAAAAAC-8/aES7Tn-GV6U/s1600/IMG_6995.jpg" height="640" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beachcombing by Sheena Noirquay, UK</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E6rO08rXz3o/VCQLG7bOYoI/AAAAAAAAC_E/xycklvyaBfQ/s1600/IMG_6996.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E6rO08rXz3o/VCQLG7bOYoI/AAAAAAAAC_E/xycklvyaBfQ/s1600/IMG_6996.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Beachcombing</td></tr>
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My absolute favourite quilt at the show was:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SWHkw-Tf_mI/VCQR8PuWhuI/AAAAAAAAC_4/zsiBRJurZvQ/s1600/IMG_6922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SWHkw-Tf_mI/VCQR8PuWhuI/AAAAAAAAC_4/zsiBRJurZvQ/s1600/IMG_6922.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The great tree by Noriko Matsutou</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">I have done a separate post on the "50 Variations of Yoko Saito's Mystery Quilt" and the Groupe Crossing Oceans Exhibition with the theme "Nature" as they deserved a special mention.</span><br />
I do hope that my pictures will inspire some of you, I certainly came back home with a head full of ideas, now to find the time to actually execute some of those ideas!<br />
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On the way back to UK, we travelled through lovely wine areas in France and stopped in Epernay, where we had a tour of the Champagne Mercier cellars, a champagne tasting and opportunity to buy some champagne. Well worth a stop over.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k4U3hPFnM7M/VCQXxcd2qdI/AAAAAAAADA8/BQIfVChalY0/s1600/IMG_7012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k4U3hPFnM7M/VCQXxcd2qdI/AAAAAAAADA8/BQIfVChalY0/s1600/IMG_7012.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tun, also known as The giant task, weighs 23tons when empty</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_X2dE8CgmJo/VCQXxJbJhJI/AAAAAAAADA4/9wVrTBqUvc0/s1600/IMG_7005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_X2dE8CgmJo/VCQXxJbJhJI/AAAAAAAADA4/9wVrTBqUvc0/s1600/IMG_7005.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tun, 5.5m tall, 6.5m long, capacity 213000 bottles of 75cl</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-It2ea3Ff_kM/VCQXvCltbcI/AAAAAAAADAw/aUjPFN9NhaU/s1600/IMG_7008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-It2ea3Ff_kM/VCQXvCltbcI/AAAAAAAADAw/aUjPFN9NhaU/s1600/IMG_7008.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When empty needed to be pulled by 24 oxen</td></tr>
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Wonder how many times have this come up in a quiz? Sizes of bottles in order from right:<br />
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Quarter bottle 0.20<i>l</i></div>
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Half bottle 0.375<i>l</i></div>
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Bottle 0.75<i>l</i></div>
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Jeroboam 3<i>l</i></div>
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Mathusalem 6<i>l</i></div>
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Salmanazar 9<i>l</i></div>
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Balthazar 12<i>l</i></div>
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Nabuchodonosor 15<i>l</i></div>
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And as we were travelling through wine regions, I sewed my "grapes" block of the Dutch Treat, so I have a lovely reminder now of this trip.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-39766694058580577392014-09-15T12:25:00.003+01:002014-09-15T12:27:00.911+01:00Longarm classes with Kim BrunnerWow! I had no idea it has been so long since I have last posted on here. I can only apologise and say that Life has a habit of sometimes throwing stuff at you unexpectedly.<br />
Since the Festival of Quilts, I had a week at home before returning to Birmingham for Kim Brunner's long arm quilting classes at The Cotton Patch. I've been at home for a week when we heard that my father in law has taken a turn for the worse. My husband and I took turns to sit by his bedside for the next 5 days and nights (thank goodness our children were all at home and could help with running the house) before he sadly passed away on the Friday. We now have the funeral this Wednesday, but as I am flying to France on Wednesday evening for the European Patchwork Meeting in Ste Marie aux Mines, in Alsace, this is the only opportunity I have to do an update.<br />
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<b>Classes with Kimmy Brunner</b><br />
Unlike in the states where there are loads of quilt shows and loads of classes available for long arm quilters, this is a fairly newish venture for UK quilters and we have very few opportunities to learn from the experts. Liz at The Cotton Patch has however attended a class by Kim at Houston last year and arranged for Kim to come and run some classes for us. Yayyyyy!!!!!!<br />
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Kim was here for 5 days and classes on offer were: <br />
- Beautiful freehand work<br />
- Twirly Whirly feathers<br />
- Playing with plastic (templates and rulers, not credit cards!)<br />
- Custom Quilting<br />
and lectures<br />
- From Wow to Pow! Trapunto for the beginner<br />
- Transforming your work with templates and rulers<br />
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Off course I signed up for all the classes and lectures and I am so glad I did. I have done Kim's online Craftsy class "Machine quilting with templates" which I thoroughly recommend, but nothing beats the classroom experience. Besides, it gave me the opportunity to meet and mix with fellow Handiquilter owners, some of whom I have been friends with on Facebook for ages. Funny how we have never met in person before, but within minutes of actually meeting, it seemed as though we have known each other for years!<br />
We had all agreed to stay in the same hotel, which meant we could socialise together after class each day. On one evening we all brought our favourite quilting books and had a look through them all deciding which ones we would need, on another night we all had a go at cutting shapes on the Go-cutter. We spent ages in the pub across the road from our hotel and had lots of time to just chill out together. On our next trip together, Marjorie will be doing all our manicures for us(!). Kim could not believe it when we told her we have never actually met each other until the course.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stitch design avoiding the centre point with possibly lots of joining seams</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Kim's class samples - LOVE the border</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another class sample - demonstrating use of rulers</td></tr>
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The classes were fairly small, so Kim could give us each individual support when needed, the ladies with Sweet 16's all worked on their own, but those of us who have Avante's or Fusions, worked 2 per machine. That worked out fine, but on the Custom Quilting class, we had not quite enough time to finish our class sample. Silly me did not take a photo of Kim's sample, and as it is a while since the class, could not remember exactly how Kim's block was quilted, so I had to improvise and then did LOTS of extra micro stitching! So, my sample is loosely based on Kim's block with a bit of improvising thrown in, but I am really happy with how it has turned out. It probably is the first class sample I have brought home incomplete and actually finished! </div>
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I have learned a lot from Kim, particularly with using rulers. Might have to do some continuous curve designs with my circle rulers soon :-)</div>
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As a bonus, Kim's class handouts have all the information that she has covered in class, so I have a permanent record of all that was said and can refer back to it whenever I need. Thank you so much Kim for the excellent classes and handouts!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Crowning glory"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of "Crowning glory"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XiXOyqhR79s/VBazn_EKYuI/AAAAAAAACzc/g_y5S0Wz0iY/s1600/IMG_6518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XiXOyqhR79s/VBazn_EKYuI/AAAAAAAACzc/g_y5S0Wz0iY/s1600/IMG_6518.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Dutch Treat update</b><br />
Having set myself a target of 10 blocks per month, and having fallen way behind with this (epic fail), I have joined a Facebook group of quilters who are all doing a Dutch Treat quilt. One lady in this group has completed her fourth Dutch Treat quilt! Joining the group has encouraged me no end and I feel so much more inspired to finish my Dutch Treat now, so with renewed energy, I have managed to complete a further 17 blocks, all in the last 3 weeks, so now have a total of 151. I will hopefully have all the blocks complete by Christmas and will then start the appliqué on the borders in January.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vBRBs-XAvxY/VBa3X_gctgI/AAAAAAAAC04/QLjvn0lN8sM/s1600/IMG_6373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vBRBs-XAvxY/VBa3X_gctgI/AAAAAAAAC04/QLjvn0lN8sM/s1600/IMG_6373.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">134 blocks laid out together for the first time </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 blocks in 1 week - my record so far!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">11 done in last 2 weeks </td></tr>
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<b>Secret block</b><br />
Someone I know is retiring soon and a friend has organised a surprise for her in the form of a quilt that will be made by all her friends. We are all making a block each, with the same 2 fabrics. This is my block:<br />
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I have left space to embroider my message and name on the block, but as this is a surprise, I will not be posting another photo of it on here, although I do hope to see the finished quilt at some time.<br />
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My next post will be when I return from the European Patchwork Meeting.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-15414930977500316652014-08-13T23:52:00.000+01:002014-08-13T23:52:12.774+01:00Festival of Quilts winnersJust got back from an amazing 4 days at Festival of Quilts. I have met up with some old friends and made some new ones, and for the first time since I have started quilting 12 years ago, met not only 1, but 2 South African quilters, both at the Festival. Will be keeping in touch and hopefully meet up again at next years Festival.<br />
There were some amazing quilts this year, below are some of the winners:<br />
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Pictorial quilts:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4L1ISR4IjY/U-vPyQ9yjII/AAAAAAAACro/nE85HydJ-a4/s1600/IMG_1164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h4L1ISR4IjY/U-vPyQ9yjII/AAAAAAAACro/nE85HydJ-a4/s1600/IMG_1164.jpg" height="476" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> "Poor and Rich" by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p193IUWthUs/U-vPyYOneqI/AAAAAAAACrk/xaQ42AetaB0/s1600/IMG_1166.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p193IUWthUs/U-vPyYOneqI/AAAAAAAACrk/xaQ42AetaB0/s1600/IMG_1166.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail from "Poor and Rich"</td></tr>
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Traditional Quilts:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iDNEKjJ4HEw/U-vU-qzDU8I/AAAAAAAACsE/ZHVHAwh8Btw/s1600/IMG_1168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iDNEKjJ4HEw/U-vU-qzDU8I/AAAAAAAACsE/ZHVHAwh8Btw/s1600/IMG_1168.jpg" height="640" width="596" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The good life" - Philippa Naylor</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-90D9sqsMhGU/U-vU-8TOVLI/AAAAAAAACsI/aRUGvNIK9RM/s1600/IMG_1169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-90D9sqsMhGU/U-vU-8TOVLI/AAAAAAAACsI/aRUGvNIK9RM/s1600/IMG_1169.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail on "The Good Life"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p5qpHx91tko/U-vP0c6qEJI/AAAAAAAACr8/zJ4JC142mM4/s1600/IMG_1171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p5qpHx91tko/U-vP0c6qEJI/AAAAAAAACr8/zJ4JC142mM4/s1600/IMG_1171.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail from "The good life"</td></tr>
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Winner of Quilt Creations:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGhh7hGNA5s/U-vVh6gF8PI/AAAAAAAACsU/jmBx9HZ4mk8/s1600/IMG_1173.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lGhh7hGNA5s/U-vVh6gF8PI/AAAAAAAACsU/jmBx9HZ4mk8/s1600/IMG_1173.jpg" height="640" width="358" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Clock" by Kate Crossley</td></tr>
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My own favourites:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1eB7ni7Mtos/U-vXbc33GiI/AAAAAAAACs0/Qnd-GpIY2cI/s1600/IMG_1113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1eB7ni7Mtos/U-vXbc33GiI/AAAAAAAACs0/Qnd-GpIY2cI/s1600/IMG_1113.jpg" height="640" width="502" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bristol Triptych - Yvonne Brown</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U-xRACvmgls/U-vYVsZbn2I/AAAAAAAACvo/qWni-d48tNk/s1600/IMG_1246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U-xRACvmgls/U-vYVsZbn2I/AAAAAAAACvo/qWni-d48tNk/s1600/IMG_1246.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Green Pond - Judith Wilson</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WlNj_yBVlvA/U-viDos_M5I/AAAAAAAACxg/NabAg11AZfY/s1600/IMG_6285.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WlNj_yBVlvA/U-viDos_M5I/AAAAAAAACxg/NabAg11AZfY/s1600/IMG_6285.jpg" height="640" width="532" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cappoccino ' Gwenfai Rees Griffiths</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Rx6t7Ukkwo/U-viGB3MUCI/AAAAAAAACxs/LWm9wbk24oQ/s1600/IMG_6286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Rx6t7Ukkwo/U-viGB3MUCI/AAAAAAAACxs/LWm9wbk24oQ/s1600/IMG_6286.jpg" height="640" width="584" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Girl's best friend - Liz Jones</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x4q_-tHm_rk/U-viOxUyOgI/AAAAAAAACyU/UcupCkSQL4E/s1600/IMG_6324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x4q_-tHm_rk/U-viOxUyOgI/AAAAAAAACyU/UcupCkSQL4E/s1600/IMG_6324.jpg" height="640" width="610" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Play with squares" - Angela Rudolph</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sTFkgGG4VeY/U-vh9mQzAgI/AAAAAAAACw8/SpYivzDDbCM/s1600/IMG_1149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sTFkgGG4VeY/U-vh9mQzAgI/AAAAAAAACw8/SpYivzDDbCM/s1600/IMG_1149.jpg" height="640" width="544" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liquorice and Lace" - Birgit Schuller</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-px8u5guhNa0/U-vXxv4XoZI/AAAAAAAACts/4sAVSRT4PSk/s1600/IMG_1152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-px8u5guhNa0/U-vXxv4XoZI/AAAAAAAACts/4sAVSRT4PSk/s1600/IMG_1152.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail - Liquorice and Lace</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v_IVcN-z1Fo/U-viCIFRO6I/AAAAAAAACxU/4TLCodr8UHQ/s1600/IMG_1255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v_IVcN-z1Fo/U-viCIFRO6I/AAAAAAAACxU/4TLCodr8UHQ/s1600/IMG_1255.jpg" height="640" width="630" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turkish Delight - Philippa Thomas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1vt_j5yDDUM/U-vXyXKejWI/AAAAAAAACt0/8XrE-VNRuJU/s1600/IMG_1182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1vt_j5yDDUM/U-vXyXKejWI/AAAAAAAACt0/8XrE-VNRuJU/s1600/IMG_1182.jpg" height="640" width="518" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lente in Keukenhof - Ethelda Ellis</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_LaZmf1YRo/U-vX0TnWVoI/AAAAAAAACuI/8avkEK4on_o/s1600/IMG_1184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_LaZmf1YRo/U-vX0TnWVoI/AAAAAAAACuI/8avkEK4on_o/s1600/IMG_1184.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "Lente in Keukenhof"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mMSnZEwIL3A/U-viRAsNvzI/AAAAAAAACyw/kCnY9uuhXA0/s1600/IMG_6352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mMSnZEwIL3A/U-viRAsNvzI/AAAAAAAACyw/kCnY9uuhXA0/s1600/IMG_6352.JPG" height="640" width="444" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old garden gate - Lynda Jackson</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sojEMYctxQg/U-vZhCXhlzI/AAAAAAAACwE/OINnNlgGuk0/s1600/IMG_6269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sojEMYctxQg/U-vZhCXhlzI/AAAAAAAACwE/OINnNlgGuk0/s1600/IMG_6269.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of "The Old Garden Gate"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A3i3KF3y-Kw/U-viPGlXO5I/AAAAAAAACyY/JdDET5QaO4I/s1600/IMG_6337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A3i3KF3y-Kw/U-viPGlXO5I/AAAAAAAACyY/JdDET5QaO4I/s1600/IMG_6337.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fire and Ice - Claudia Pfeil</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fHGTRlxob4/U-viPt8mw4I/AAAAAAAACyk/ROW2Vfn8SlY/s1600/IMG_6344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fHGTRlxob4/U-viPt8mw4I/AAAAAAAACyk/ROW2Vfn8SlY/s1600/IMG_6344.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail - Fire and Ice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-xadiCrPxw/U-viSQqRQ2I/AAAAAAAACy0/H1vhRB__jsY/s1600/IMG_6347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-xadiCrPxw/U-viSQqRQ2I/AAAAAAAACy0/H1vhRB__jsY/s1600/IMG_6347.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail - Fire and Ice<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Dkg4IXYbkE/U-viAt0-HnI/AAAAAAAACxE/rGZW7LDwZfU/s1600/IMG_1232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Dkg4IXYbkE/U-viAt0-HnI/AAAAAAAACxE/rGZW7LDwZfU/s1600/IMG_1232.jpg" height="640" width="464" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection - Cinzia White</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEh4lJcxf04/U-viBtqUqwI/AAAAAAAACxY/66x9BJbDcbQ/s1600/IMG_1235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEh4lJcxf04/U-viBtqUqwI/AAAAAAAACxY/66x9BJbDcbQ/s1600/IMG_1235.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail - Raconteur the storyteller's collection</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hTKF_c06RBw/U-vh9qBwsFI/AAAAAAAACwo/xljnbe42Mmg/s1600/IMG_1133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hTKF_c06RBw/U-vh9qBwsFI/AAAAAAAACwo/xljnbe42Mmg/s1600/IMG_1133.jpg" height="640" width="544" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flourish on the Vine - Kathy Wylie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zhW6lWpRYM0/U-viIFWo1PI/AAAAAAAACx4/giA5ThaLf_g/s1600/IMG_6303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zhW6lWpRYM0/U-viIFWo1PI/AAAAAAAACx4/giA5ThaLf_g/s1600/IMG_6303.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail - Flourish on the Vine</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PqsZt9yOXRQ/U-viLVe1bqI/AAAAAAAACyI/t2LmZCOmTzc/s1600/IMG_6311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PqsZt9yOXRQ/U-viLVe1bqI/AAAAAAAACyI/t2LmZCOmTzc/s1600/IMG_6311.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail - Flourish on the Vine</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6GuG40segT8/U-viKnIUohI/AAAAAAAACyE/2sbYTOX02qY/s1600/IMG_6309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6GuG40segT8/U-viKnIUohI/AAAAAAAACyE/2sbYTOX02qY/s1600/IMG_6309.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flourish on the Vine - detail</td></tr>
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Kutch Diamonds was entered in the Traditional category and got a Highly Commended, which I am absolutely delighted about. This is a photo of it hanging up:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kutch Diamonds - Annelize ~Littlefair</td></tr>
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Update on Dutch treat:<br />
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Although I have not yet caught up, I managed to stitch 21 blocks since my last update. I have to confess that I am thoroughly bored with it and decided that I do not like reverse appliqué. I will probably NEVER do another quilt like this and I am dreading having to do 4 borders. For now, I am going to persevere with my blocks until they are all done, before making a decision about the borders.<br />
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Next week:<br />
Kimmy Brunner is currently the UK, she has been teaching at Festival of Quilts and will be teaching long arm quilting classes at The Cotton Patch next week. I have enrolled for all her classes and can't wait to learn from her. I will post some photos on here in my next post.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-77843122626464773582014-07-22T16:41:00.000+01:002014-10-01T21:32:48.158+01:00Summer is here!<b>Radiance Challenge quilt</b><br />
Seven weeks after my surgery and my surgeon has given the all clear and okay to start quilting again. First on the list was my Radiance quilt, which I have been itching to do. I marked it out, using my lightbox and despite having a cotton interfacing applied to the fabric, which is quite dark, I had no problem seeing my design on paper through the lightbox. I used a Clover Chaco liner on the outlines of the centre design and a Clover white marking pencil (fine) on the border design, which when you first draw a line looks as if it is not showing and then magically slowly show up crisp and clear. The quilting design is all my own, but I have used a design by Sue Heinz, from Kismet Quilting, for my border and I think it looks perfect with the rest of the design.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z0MVM6Yhs-A/U8fuRsiH-aI/AAAAAAAACo0/DsQP_JcoN6w/s1600/IMG_5979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z0MVM6Yhs-A/U8fuRsiH-aI/AAAAAAAACo0/DsQP_JcoN6w/s1600/IMG_5979.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quilt loaded with practise piece next to it</td></tr>
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I had so much fun stitching this design, it was hard to decide which colours and which make of threads to use. In the end I just put all the matching threads on the table and decided as I went along. I used Rainbows for the little "horns" but found the thread quite thick and also dull looking against the silk in the fabric. I normally like Rainbows as it add a bit of subtle sparkle but this is not one I would use again on the Radiance fabric. I then used Glide thread for the outline of the clamshells and the star.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vzmi018QV4Q/U8fuU4mOGnI/AAAAAAAACpI/fQcl0_cUVoQ/s1600/IMG_5986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vzmi018QV4Q/U8fuU4mOGnI/AAAAAAAACpI/fQcl0_cUVoQ/s1600/IMG_5986.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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More Glide for the lacey-looking little swirls and minarets around the top of the "horns"<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wYOKpdnWSCY/U8fuYps5O_I/AAAAAAAACpc/Nd1UNwjr7YE/s1600/IMG_5991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wYOKpdnWSCY/U8fuYps5O_I/AAAAAAAACpc/Nd1UNwjr7YE/s1600/IMG_5991.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Infill stitched with Bottomline thread. In the ideal world, I would have liked to use So Fine, but as I had not ordered it in the correct colour and wanted to finish before I went on holiday, I used Bottomline, which I did have in exactly the right colour and I am really pleased with the effect. </div>
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I had a hard time deciding what design to use in the background around the centre motif. In the end I decided to do a fine meander stitch, that would gently remain in the background, rather than do a fancy design that could compete with the central design. I am very happy with how it has turned out. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yIfKWy4lX4k/U8fubpsLumI/AAAAAAAACp0/K0WxRlpn9VU/s1600/IMG_5993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yIfKWy4lX4k/U8fubpsLumI/AAAAAAAACp0/K0WxRlpn9VU/s1600/IMG_5993.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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I used "Suede" fabric by PB Textiles for my backing, doesn't it look as if it was made for a wholecloth?<br />
I might have to get some more of this to do a "Big" wholecloth quilt.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N2_zUlt_YXk/U86EmUhlO2I/AAAAAAAACrM/Ov3mrdQyZB4/s1600/IMG_6032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N2_zUlt_YXk/U86EmUhlO2I/AAAAAAAACrM/Ov3mrdQyZB4/s1600/IMG_6032.JPG" height="624" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radiance all done</td></tr>
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<b>Lovely presents for quilting friends</b><br />
A friend recently started selling some beautiful seam rippers. I bought one for myself and fell in love it as soon as it arrived. Apart from looking lovely, it sits incredibly comfortable in my hand. I have now had it for a couple of months, have used it more or less daily and can't imagine that I will ever want to use another one ever again. Today I bought four more, to give to some wonderful quilting friends and I can't wait to give it to them.<br />
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The sharp end pulls out and can be put back inside so that it is hidden and safe to put inside a sewing bag - no more poking yourself on sharp ends when taking something out of your sewing bag! Also, because the colours are so unique to every one, they are instantly identifiable so you won't misplace them when taking them to a class.<br />
If you like the look of them, look on the website, if you don't see a colour that you like, ask, as not all the colours are on the website and Lynda is very accommodating.<br />
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<a href="http://www.capricornquilting.co.uk/category/uncategorized/rippers/">http://www.capricornquilting.co.uk/category/uncategorized/rippers/</a><br />
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<b>New projects:</b><br />
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While I was recovering from my operation, I was unable to use the HQ, but as soon as I was able to, I started working on 2 new quilts. Here are some teasers:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9i-e_oGC3lA/U82CgbG0itI/AAAAAAAACqs/qnHKFJSd-Zo/s1600/IMG_5876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9i-e_oGC3lA/U82CgbG0itI/AAAAAAAACqs/qnHKFJSd-Zo/s1600/IMG_5876.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As yet, no name</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAmIU6CbVFo/U82Cfys-W4I/AAAAAAAACqo/c5QaZ_dxgR8/s1600/IMG_5883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZAmIU6CbVFo/U82Cfys-W4I/AAAAAAAACqo/c5QaZ_dxgR8/s1600/IMG_5883.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Whistler"</td></tr>
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This week we are off to France for our family holiday, we have had some very hot weather in the last 2 weeks, positively tropical! and the forecast for France is even hotter than what is forecast for here for the next week. I did not think I would ever say this, but there has been days when it was too hot to even sew. </div>
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When I get back, it will be Festival of Quilts and I will meet up with lots of quilting friends, I will be quiet for a while but promise to post some lovely quilt photos on here when I get back</div>
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Hope everyone is having a lovely summer </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14115597461420914727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4918039451295643848.post-70196523307292833792014-06-16T12:28:00.000+01:002014-10-01T21:33:09.634+01:00Radiance challengeI have recently read a post on Lisa Calle's blog about a challenge she set herself to learn how to quilt on her domestic sewing machine. This can be a problem for a long arm quilter. You see, once upon a time, we all did know how to quilt on our domestic sewing machines and some of us got quite good at it. Maybe we bought our long arm machines to set up in business or because the quilts we were quilting were getting larger and larger or maybe, because of a medical reason, it was just not feasible anymore to quilt on the domestic. Others just never did get on with the quilting on the domestic machine and it was either send it to get quilted by someone else or buy a long arm to get it done.<br />
So, once we have a long arm, do we ever go back to do quilting on the domestic? I have, once, on a small wall hanging and could not believe how quickly I had "unlearned" how to do it. I hated every minute and decided to stick to the long arm in future.<br />
Reading about Lisa's challenge got me thinking … I don't know that there are any "challenges" out there for long arm quilters, certainly not in the UK. I belong to an online group of long arm quilters, we are all fairly new to long arm quilting, some just absolute beginners. What we have in common, is that we all own Handiquilters, some have the Sweet Sixteen sit down version, but most have the Avante and one or two have the Fusion. Although we get some support from the trader, there is very little other support out there for us, so this group was set up so that we can offer each other advice and help when needed. Some of us have been getting to know each other very well and have become firm friends.<br />
Anyhow, I just thought it might be a wonderful way to get everyone in our group involved in a group project, we can have some fun and join in Lisa's challenge, although for us, the challenge will be to quilt on our long arms, rather than on the domestic machines. I did check with Lisa first that she would be okay with this and she was quite pleased to have us on board. Off course, the other motivation for this, is to get us all out of our comfort zones and for everyone to learn something new, so expanding the learning curve, which is after all what we are all about.<br />
Our challenge is to produce a wholecloth quilt, that is 18" square, in any style that we are happy with, using Robert Kaufman's Radiance fabric. This in itself will be a challenge for some, as it is a cotton/silk blend and most of us have only ever worked on cotton before. Every quilt will be made in a different colour, so some organising was involved with allocating the colours. These are some of the colours we are using:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CUp-ppsyWHc/U57ATFT4WlI/AAAAAAAACnE/9Ii3XoSkMoA/s1600/IMG_5800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CUp-ppsyWHc/U57ATFT4WlI/AAAAAAAACnE/9Ii3XoSkMoA/s1600/IMG_5800.jpg" height="464" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Radiance" fabrics by Robert Kaufman</td></tr>
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There are now 26 of us in this challenge, I am hoping to get them shown at one of the shows in the UK, maybe raising the profile for long arm quilters locally. We have no theme as such for the design, but as the fabric is so radiant and this is our first challenge (hoping many more will follow) we decided to make the theme "Radiance". We are still working on getting the perfect name for this group.<br />
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The design briefing is for a quilt design in any style that the quilter is comfortable with. This can be in a traditional style, modern "art" style to pictorial. My preferred style is traditional just edging on being modern and I will keep updating my blog with how my design is developing and how I will stitch it out. I have made a few sketches, shown them to family and friends and finally settled on this one:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jqCw-LpyD20/U57CmIdLcGI/AAAAAAAACnQ/3cxncSMlW0w/s1600/IMG_5822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jqCw-LpyD20/U57CmIdLcGI/AAAAAAAACnQ/3cxncSMlW0w/s1600/IMG_5822.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Design in progress</td></tr>
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I am still working on what to do for the background fill, hence a lot of doodling in those areas. Although it looks like a complicated design, it will be fairly straight forward stitching it out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step 1: Marking "ruler" lines onto quilt top</td></tr>
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The first step will be to mark all these lines out onto my quilt top. These lines will all be stitched by ruler. Rather than tracing onto my quilt top, to keep the lines accurate, I will redraw these lines with my rulers adding in the small red and blue registration marks. The blue registration marks will help me place my freehand designs in the correct position, as they will not be marked onto the quilt top. The red registration marks, are my guidance for the outside edge of the design, which is equidistant from the centre of the design. Once my quilt top is loaded, the "ruler" lines will be the first lines that I will stitch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jhJAFQ8ksU4/U57DGf5RQyI/AAAAAAAACnc/D4cp72KdnKA/s1600/IMG_5825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jhJAFQ8ksU4/U57DGf5RQyI/AAAAAAAACnc/D4cp72KdnKA/s1600/IMG_5825.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Step 2: Marking freehand guidelines onto quilt top</td></tr>
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Once I have marked out all the "ruler" lines, I will freehand mark all the scalloped edges as well as the little minaret shapes on the outside of the design onto the quilt top. I might make a stencil that I can draw around to get all the minarets the same size and dimension. These lines are important, as they will be my guide for where to stitch the design inside this border. The design inside the border does not get marked onto the quilt top. Once all the "ruler" lines are stitched these scallops will be stitched next. I won't be stitching the design inside the border until my outline for the main design is complete.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rn6Atu2e7tU/U57DJldNFJI/AAAAAAAACn8/202NkQPCT0U/s1600/IMG_5830.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rn6Atu2e7tU/U57DJldNFJI/AAAAAAAACn8/202NkQPCT0U/s1600/IMG_5830.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freehand guidelines for guiding inner border design</td></tr>
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The next step will be to mark the outline of all the little "horns". I can stitch these freehand, but to get them to be consistent and with equal number of segments, I will trace around the one I like the most and then make a stencil for it. These will then be marked on the top next. Final bit of marking will be my border design. The border design is from a book by Sue Heinz, I will place this on my lightbox, with the fabric placed over the design and then just trace it onto my quilt top. I will need to take care with my placement as it is a directional design and I would like it to look good in the corners. There is 2 ways that I can do this, either start at the corners and fudge the design to fit in the middle, or start in the middle of the border, turn the design to go in opposite directions and then work to the corners. As I have tried both ways on paper, I know that the second way would work best on this size of border, so I will start marking in the centres.<br />
No other marking will be done on the quilt top. This is what my quilt top will look like when the marking is done:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osNBAhDOQf4/U57NVQayDZI/AAAAAAAACoQ/ZwV3oWkvEqk/s1600/IMG_5831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osNBAhDOQf4/U57NVQayDZI/AAAAAAAACoQ/ZwV3oWkvEqk/s1600/IMG_5831.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the marking required on the quillt top </td></tr>
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Once all these are stitched out, I will make a decision as to which order I will stitch the rest of the design, but will almost certainly start with the shell shapes.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-K1QpdMxzw/U57QUIEGx3I/AAAAAAAACoc/8HdurKz2BH0/s1600/IMG_5827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-K1QpdMxzw/U57QUIEGx3I/AAAAAAAACoc/8HdurKz2BH0/s1600/IMG_5827.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Doesn't it just look so easy when it is all broken down into small units?<br />
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There is a lot of advise out there about where to start quilting and how to keep the stitching consistent. I don't follow any rules, I will start with one section and then do the repeat of that one section until they are all stitched out, look at the quilt to see where I think I next need to go to and do that. I do try to keep the quilting balanced, I won't for example start in one corner and work my way to the opposite corner. It is just a bit of common sense I think, if one area is a lot more puffy than another, then do that first. The one rule I absolutely always follow though, is to not start with any of the background fill until ALL of the main design is stitched out.<br />
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I am itching to start sewing this design, but as I have just had surgery and are not allowed to operate any machinery, this will have to wait until I get the okay from my surgeon. In the meantime, I am really looking forward to seeing how all the other little quilts are come along.<br />
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