Wedding quilt

We have just returned from a family wedding in Glasgow. My nephew Craig married Emma and they both had a ball. We did too. Cerys my granddaughter was a flower girl too so what not to like!
Last Autumn I asked if they would like a quilt as a wedding present ( my daughter thought I was mad to ask. 'Of course they'd love one of your quilts' she said!) and right enough they were very excited at the prospect of a throw to drape over their sofa or snuggle under when watching tv.
I had been to The festival of quilts in Birmingham earlier in the year and was inspired by the colours in a miniature quilt I saw there. So that was good at least I knew the colourscheme roughly. For the design I thought 'checks' might reflect a kind of Scottish influence. And then a little bit of retro on the back of the quilt.....sort of Mary Quant flowers! There you have it. I completed the quilt two days before the wedding. They were delighted with the quilt I'm pleased to say but then again I don't suppose they would tell me differently!!

From this...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an informal workshop on 'free machining' with a few quilting friends. We had a great if somewhat exhausting day. Most importantly though my sewing machine and I became good friends.
I have always been wary of lowering the 'feed dog' and throwing away(not literally) the sewing foot to experiment with free machining. I wasn't good enough. It wasn't perfect. But do you know....it doesn't matter. I can't draw. It doesn't matter. There are ways and means and that's what I learnt yesterday. So vroom vroom away I went stitching around my traced picture( that's why you don't need to know how to draw!) and then we 'coloured in' by using acrylic paints within the framework of our picture. Amazingly the paint does not 'bleed' beyond the stitched lines! Then we did more stitching on top...such fun. I think I was exhausted because I was really absorbed over a long period of time. Anyway here's a few piccies.  Mr Fox is the completed 'work of art' and the practice piece is....well the practice piece!
Have fun. Till next time......keep stitching.
                                                           

Mr Fox

So simple, so effective

so why can't I produce something like this!! Bought this lovely picture from a friend at a textile Fair recently. Just have too share it with you. Navy blue quilted background. House...natural linen. Love it.

Cushions

For some time now I have been attempting to make cushions to add to the decor in our guest bedroom. I love linen. That's a start. I'm enjoying embroidery again too so there's another plus. But what to to? The end result is so simple but satisfying. I copied a pattern from some fabric I had by tracing the pattern using baking parchment, gluing it on to pieces of card to then cut the templates (see below). I then traced round the templates on to my linen using a water erasable pen (brilliant!). Simple stem stitch completed the shapes. The cushion was completed using a strip of patterned fabric n the back. Not that I'm mean but the linen was a bit 'tight' so the fabric strip helped!! I was so chuffed I made another!

Bluebird

I have the great fortune to be surrounded by lovely friends. This was brought home to me when a few of us met up last week for a 'Workshop' Mandy Patullo style. A mixture of excitement buzzed around the room as the five of us dived into baskets of scrap fabric to make our 'birds'. We were superbly guided by Janet who made it all sound so easy and relaxed. And d'you know what.....it was. We chatted and stitched and ate cake all day. We shared moments of laughter and sadness. The power of fabric to bond people should never be underestimated. We had a ball. Here is some evidence of that below in picture form. This is my first bird but I don't think it will be my last. I have a notion to do a pheasant next. We'll see!
We had guests staying this weekend and we sent them off on a walk up Penycloddiau. They haven't stopped raving about it. They did not realise the depth of beauty in the area. Come see and stay with us at morgansbedandbreakfast.co.uk and find out for yourself. (we have a new updated website!)

Have a great week wherever you are

'Kit'

Here's  a picture of my 'kit' that I purchased at the Festival of quilts earlier this month. It's by Janet Clare, one talented lady!
 It was so easy to construct but instead of machine sewing I handstitched the birds. I don't trust my free machine sewing yet! I loved making it so immediately made another,  Finished size approx 12" x10". See you next time.

Festival of quilts NEC Birmingham

Spent a lovely day with friends last week at the NEC absorbing pattern and colour and fabric and ideas. Great. If there was one quilt that hit all the buttons for me it was this miniature quilt below. It has given me colour inspiration for a quilt I'm about to embark on for my nephew and his fiancées wedding quilt
I also bought a 'kit' for heavens sake!! By a great maker of lovely things...... Janet Clare. I spent a lovely afternoon yesterday making it and I'm so chuffed. I'll show you that in my next blog so keep watching.....