Shopping

So, what shopping did I do at Malvern?  I'm not one of those people who can go to a quilt show and just look at the quilts, but I have to admit, I only bought what I needed (well, nearly!)

 

 

I needed threads, so bought some nice cotton thread from Empress Mills.  I also treated myself to a chalk marker, as while I'm happy with my tailor's chalk and pencil, the tailor's chalk isn't good for precise lines!  A couple of half metres of Kaffe Fassett fabric - I find it ideal for livening up scrap quilts, string quilts in particular - some typewriter and camera fabric (I didn't have any of that in my stash, so it certainly was needed!) and some birds.  A 'Piece O'Cake' book which was reduced to half price (another 'needed' purchase) and some Heat and Bond.  I don't usually buy Heat and Bond, as I'm a needleturn girl, but I saw this fabulous pattern, and just couldn't resist it! 

 

 

It's by 'Don't Look Now' and I think it's so much fun!

 

 

So much fun that I couldn't resist making some robots of my own!   I won't recreate the quilt, but a few of these little beauties will really jazz up a Linus quilt for a young boy.  There are five different designs, so I'm just off to make the rest!

Malvern

On Thursday I had the pleasure of going to the quilt show in Malvern.  I hadn't really planned to go, but when Paula said she was going, I jumped at the chance to join her.  In the event, there was me, Paula, Maria and Carol (a new quilter) so we had a group outing!  People have asked me whether it was a good show - I don't know about that, but I can say that I had a lovely day out!  Here are some of the quilts which caught my eye.

 I am a fan of old quilts, so this strippy with a modern touch appealed.  The colours are gorgeous! 

 

A double feathered star - perfect.

 

A medallion quilt with stars, beautifully balanced. 

 

I didn't get a show guide (don't know why, as I usually do) but this was one of a series of quilts made with the same pattern.  there were bright ones, suble ones, dark ones, pretty ones, but this scrappy one caught my attention.

 

The fourth border was beautifully machine embroidered with flowers.  A clever touch.

 

Double wedding ring in purple, used as a kind of trellis for climbing yellow flowers.   I love the way the background moves from dark to light echoing the light to dark rings.  Great use of colour.

 

Superb piecing and applique.  The lady in red thinks so too!

 

Here is an appliqued detail from a pieced quilt.  Very Clarice Cliff!

 

This beauty was just hanging on its own behind a stall, with a table in front of it.  I don't know if it was an exhibit, but it should have been!

A very simple quilt, made of rail fence blocks in delectable colours, with embroidered circles.

 

Here's a close up of one of the embroideries.

 

Couldn't resist a smile at this one - does my bum look big in this!  A worthy rosette winner!

Hong Kong harbour.  I've never seen it, but it's as I imagine it to be.

Earthy colours in this Australian quilt.

 

I love the way the blocks float on the cream background of this quilt. Not rocket science, but very pleasing.

 

 

Wonky houses a la Tonya Ricucci!  And what a cheerful sky blue background!

 

A stunning Hawaiian quilt - the only one in the show.  Wow!

 

Hexagons are the new black (apparently!) and this one was amazing!

Here is a close up with my hand to give you an idea of the size of the pieces.  Sides of half an inch?  The little boobles are French knots.  A man was admiring it with me, and we agreed, amazing, but bonkers!  (His words, not mine!) 

 

There's always a trend at a show, and this year's Malvern trend seemed to be appliqued flowers.  There were lots of them in various styles.  This one was sumptuous.

 

Here's fresh, lively one.

 

This one was riotous, and almost Impressionistic.

And what about the shopping?  I'll come clean in my next post!

Still playing!

I haven't had as much time to play recently as DH and I have been away for a long weekend.  We went to Brixham in Devon, and while the weather wasn't warm, it was at least dry!  We had a lovely time, and I'll just let you see the view from our bedroom window and leave you to drool!

 

You can just imagine the scene at night, with all the twinkling lights!  Lovely.

But I have been still playing with Mile a Minute blocks.  Here is the latest design.  can you see the pirates and the cats, and the brown haired girl (even though she's upside down!)?

 

 

This is the arrangement.

And here is the finished top. 

 

 

Thank you to Bunty, Carole, Jane, Liz, Muriel and Sephanie for suggesting that red was the right colour for the borders.  It certainly is!

More playing

I'm still playing with Mile a Minute blocks.  I took this pile (I pin them together in 10s so I can quickly assess how many I've got - 30 blocks here!),

 

 

and some bright green fabric to make some half square triangles,

 

and hey presto!  All the MAM blocks used up (and more).  Looking good.

 

Even DH liked it, although he was quick to qualify, 'But I wouldn't want it on my bed!'  He should be so lucky!

Just playing

I never tire of making Mile a Minute blocks.  The pleasure of using up scraps and oddments which others have scorned never diminishes, and the way the colours go together, or clash together, is the source of endless fascination for me.  So, I have a lot of blocks which I usually cut into 6.5" squares.

 

 

I took a pile of these, and then with some yellow solid, cut some of the squares into 4" squares and made them into half square triangles.  The good thing about workig with MAM blocks, is that any offcuts can simply be sewn together and used to make more blocks! 

 

Then the triangles and big squares went together to make stars!  I have to admit that this idea was inspired by Victoria Findlay Wolfe's book '15 Minutes of Play' and it was quick and easy!

 

Once the star was together, I made four more and arranged them on point.  On point arrangements always have lots of movement and life in them.  (The reason the bottom right corner looks a bit odd is that the middle section has been joined together, so is smaller than the other unjoined rows!)

 

And last, a sassy border to add pizzaz and use up more MAM blocks!

 

I really like this quilt, and after it's been quilted will bind it in yellow.  Pure bottled sunshine and good fun!

Lots of Linus

Recently I have been trying to finish some donated Linus tops.  It seems that people love piecing, but not the layering up and quilting!  Andrea gave me several lovely cot quilts which she had donated complete with wadding and backing, and they were just lounging in the Linus box, and feeling rather neglected.  I finally took pity on them, quilted them (mainly meander) and passed them to Paula for binding.  Paula is very sensible, and says I must be firm, and the next time anyone offers me any tops for Linus, say, "I'm sorry, but I'm not accepting tops until I've managed to finish the ones I already have.  But I can let you have the wadding and backing to finish them yourself."  What do you think the chances are that I'll be able to carry this plan out?! 

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying piecing myself.  Here are some scrappy pinwheels, which have made a small dent in my 2.5" box, and I will be quilting this top soon.

 

 

And then, because I get bored if I only have one thing on the go, I've started Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips.  I've already made her Scrappy Bargello, and this is the same technique, but only 6 strips at a time.

 

You can see the effect it will make more clearly here.  Another raid on the 2.5" box.  Not that you'd notice, as there is still plenty in the box!

 

On Wednesday Paula and I had a lovely morning out in Leamington.  Sunflower Fabrics had a pop-up shop in The Townhouse pub, so we had a run out.  We met Maggie (and her daughter)  and spent a while admiring Maggie's gorgeous designs and delectable fabrics.  I was tempted by the Liberty fabrics, but in the end went for something a bit more me. 

 

How's this for hot pink? Perfect!

Still sewing

Since we came back from Berlin, I have been very busy.  Not just with the washing and sorting out which always follows time away, but with other things too.  First of all we spent a couple of (exhausting) days helping DD and fiance move house.  They had underestimated how long it would take them to pack up their stuff and move it to a new second floor flat - yes, two flights of stairs! - and it was a bit stressful as the deadline for handing over the keys to the new tenants of their old property loomed.  Well, we made it and they're they're now happily sitting surrounded by boxes in their new place!  We hope they'll be very happy there!

 

 

I did mange to do some sewing for me, and have put the first border on my Challenge Group quilt.  We're deciding what to do by throwing dice and then using the number to refer to a prewritten list of possible techniques.  This time's number was 2 and the corresponding technique was 'Log Cabin'.  It didn't take me long to find some log cabin blocks I'd already made and use them to frame my wonky house.  I put Courthouse Steps in two corners, which continues the log cabin theme.

 

 

Then, after some comments by DH I went into the garage where a lot of my Linus fabric is stored and spent some time tidying up.  Over the winter, it's been too cold to want to spend much time in there, and lots of things have just been dumped in front of the shelves, which hasn't made it easy (well, possible) to put things away properly.  I found this large box full of scraps which had been donated to Linus, brought it inside, fetched my rotary cutter and set to work.  Anything which was poly or curtaining went into a charity shop bag, any decent sized pieces went into colour-coded piles, and any small scraps or strips were cut into useable sizes and stored appropriately.  My hand was beginning to blister when I'd cut it all, but at least it's now all available for use!  Anyone want any fabrics to make a Linus quilt?  Just let me know!