Malvern Quilt Show

This weekend we have visited Malvern Quilt Show. Geoff came with me and did his best to enjoy himself! He also bought me my birthday gift of EQ7 which I am looking forward to getting to grips with!

We have been to the venue before as it is where Vanfest is held every September, but it was our first time at the quilt show.

I have really enjoyed our weekend away, we met up with Anthea and Rachel from Quilting Antics for dinner and drinks last night, but I did not feel that the quilt show lived up to my expectations.

As this is my blog I can express my opinions without fear of hurting anyone's feelings.

The venue was not as good as Harrogate, my local quilt show. The cafe was tiny and expensive (£1.80 for a small cup of tea!). There was another cafe just outside but that was also quite small.

The hall was cramped in my opinion and there were not enough competitive quilts. Also lots of quilts I had seen before at other shows and many were not shown to good advantage. There were also not many modern quilts or quilts with the 'wow' factor. I know this is very subjective and many of the quilts were made to very high standards but they were just not speaking to me.

It made me realise, that even with all its faults you cannot beat the Festival of Quilts and that Harrogate comes a close second.

 I did buy some great fabric though, this is the latest from Alexander Henry.
This will become cushions for Jonathan's next student flat - 16th floor of a high rise near Leeds Uni - the 'penthouse slum' as it is known!

And for those of you who wished you could have been there here are a few snippets of the quilts......

 How can I resist wonky trees and houses?

 This one was made with recycled fabrics - the hand quilting on it was stunning!

Piecing over papers in Civil War Fabrics - what's not to like?

As usual I didn't agree with the judges - good job I'm not one - that would be controversial. I don't think a single first prize went to an amateur quilter which is a shame because it might just put people off entering. 

Baskets, Leaves and Trees - more Civil War Blocks on point.

In my Tuesday class we are making more blocks for a small quilt. The purpose of the class for this term is to learn how to make a quilt with blocks 'on point'.

My starting point was the Apple Tree Block from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt blog but then I played around with basket, tree and leaf blocks to come up with 13 blocks which play nicely with each other and are meant to be set 'on point'.

This is the layout I have decided upon.

 This is my first layout with the 'heavy' tree blocks on opposite corners but I think that the new layout above looks more balanced. I did think about remaking some of the blocks but that's not in the spirit of patchwork is it? 

Here is the starting point - the Apple Tree Block

Next is sashings - although these are not needed in an 'on point' quilt I like them to define my blocks. I did not have enough of my first choice fabric so am now auditioning a couple of fabrics.
The fabric I have used for the blocks is partly Barbara Brackman Civil War Reunion and Woodrow Studios William Morris.

Hexagon Pincushions

My mini workshop at International Quilting Day was a hexagon pincushion.

Hexagons, made by the English paper piecing method, often have a bad reputation in P&Q circles as they are the point at which most of us started patchwork, many people abandoning it at this point.

To illustrate this point, most of us have an unfinished hexagon quilt in our UFOs (go on, admit it!)

However, here in blogland, hexagons have been undergoing something of a revival and many internet groups have been making hexie quilts.

So, I decided that we should include hexagons in our IQD activities and came up with this little hexagon pincushion design made with only 8 hexagons.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy making it on the day and I know that some of you have secretly been making more!

I confess to having more than one hexie project in my UFOs and I love making them! The red ones are for a block in a red and white quilt I am making - more on that soon!

It is now officially the Easter holidays and I have two weeks with no teaching. I am going to try to catch up on gardening, tidying the sewing room and working on some of my UFOs. I am also going to try to blog about some of these because sometimes I am just too busy to keep you up to date with my quilting activities!

Civil War Quilts - Show and Tell.

Today was our end of term show and tell.

Not all the quilts are finished but it gives a flavour of how different the same blocks can look.

Click on the photo to view the quilts.

International Quilt Day - The Results!

Yesterday was our International Quilt Day Event.

 Here are the wonderful red and white block lotto blocks

 We had cake - lots of cake!

Elsie made a special red and white patchwork cake - thanks Elsie, I was really touched.

 The silent auction was even better this year, fabric, patterns and books galore!

 Here is everyone enjoying themselves - 52 ladies and 2 young quilters.

And the result of all this fun, stitching and cake eating......

£1017

raised for Barnsley Hospice!

Thanks to everyone for your support - see you next year!

More Civil War Quilts.

At my Tuesday class some of the Civil War quilts are starting to take shape.

 Maureen's is almost finished!

 Celia's is looking good.

 Liz's red, white and blue one is ready for borders.

 Cherry brought in another Kentucky Crossroads quilt top - this one is so bright and springlike! I fell in love with it especially as it included some vintage fabrics.

Cherry has also nearly finished this string star quilt - I love the block layout and the secondary patterns it forms.

Civil War Quilt Progress

I have been continuing with my Civil War Quilt.

This quilt was made from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilt blog.

It is now complete with sashings.

 I started by adding scrappy sashings which I decided looked too overpowering for an already very scrappy quilt. The only problem is that I had cut all my remaining fabric into 8 and a half  x 2 inch strips. Bad idea!

Then, I decided to use the red fabric that I had intended for borders, this looked much better but means I have no border fabric now!

I added green cornerstones, but then decided I didn't like them either!
Reverse sewing required!

So that is how I finally arrived at the red sashing with no cornerstones.

 I am now contemplating borders, this is a very difficult task as I have very little fabric remaining. The plan is to make a scrappy border first, followed by a border of the remaining red fabric which will have to be pieced as I have no long pieces left.
I could buy more fabric as I have found a supplier on the internet but really I like the challenge of working with what I have.
I originally bought 12 half metre pieces with 1 and a half metres for the borders. The finished quilt will be about 70 inches square so I don't think I have done too bad. I will have enough fabric for binding but not backing. I also have 8 orphan blocks and loads of crumbs!

 Janice, who is making two single bed sized Civil War quilts, has also just finished this lap quilt made with just one of the blocks, Kentucky Crossroads. Lovely isn't it? It is amazing how many of the blocks could be used on their own to make a great quilt.

Finally, these are some of Kath's blocks. She has made them with what she calls 'ugly fabric'!

As you can see the quilt be will far from ugly.

Between now and Easter we will all be trying to get our Civil War Quilts finished. By my reckoning there should be at least 25 between us, we could have our own quilt show!