"It started with a Delft Blue Tile" quilt with its rosette and platter! :o)

Jan Bain on BQL list kindly sent me the picture of my quilt when it was in Scotland but now I have the certificate , rosette and platter :o)

The quilt will be travelling with the display of my quilts starting at Malvern tomorrow and then through the Spring fairs in 2011.

My quilts will end their travels at Sandown  National Quilt Championships in 2011!
I am still having to pinch myself that it is really happening. :o)

Jaggy Thistle won a rosette! :o)

I wasn't able to get to the Scottish Quilt Championships at Ingliston last weekend so I asked another member of the BQL if she would take a picture for me if she spotted it. As you can see she found it and it had a rosette! I was a bit disappointed to see that the description seems to have been pinned on so that the motto "Wha daur meddle wi' me?"was obscured somewhat. :o(

I had never been in correspondence with Claire prior to this and knew nothing about her. Imagine the surprise when it transpired that her husband's ancestors used to live in the house that we now live in!!!
I wonder what the odds are of something like that happening?
PS.Click on the image for a bigger picture

Busy ,busy.

This is the last bag of the year in the BQL bag challenge. I am pleased that I managed to get 11 out of the 12 made, but annoyed with myself for missing a month! They have been a brilliant way of dipping my toes in different piecing techniques as well as the different construction methods. I have only quilted for the last 5 or 6 years (apart from the Thirty Year Quilt!!)and mainly do sort of applique ones so these have all been new things for me to do. I just might attempt a "proper quilt" next year. :o)
We are now waiting for Kandy on BQL to let us know what the challenge is for 2009.


Couldn't resist posting a picture of a stocking filler doll in her seasonal Christmas outfit.

Crochet is so quick in comparison to knitting. This outfit was made in one evening whereas I think it would have taken me 2 or 3 times as long to knit it.

BQL bags.

Along with many other members of the British Quilt List I am making a bag a month, following directions kindly designed and drafted by Kandy Newton.
Life got in the way in June so I unfortunately missed that month's bag but I am pleased that I have managed to keep up for the other months. Apart from helping to cut down on plastic bags these bags have used up a lot of fabric that has just been lurking in my stash; have introduced me to new techniques and have sometimes been the sewing project I needed to get me creating again.
You can join the BQL here.
You can see all the bags that have been made here.

U.F.O unearthed!

Way back around 1980 we lived in Shropshire . My neighbour, at the time, was keen on patchwork and introduced me to Laura Ashley fabric offcuts. At that time they were generous sized, odd shaped pieces that were left over from items made in the factory in Wales ie. not the neat co-ordinated squares that became available later.

I armed myself with a copy of "The Perfect Patchwork Primer" and all my used envelopes to cut up into hexagons and proceeded to "make a quilt".Of course it had to be made of hexagons because that was what quilts were like weren't they? (Can you tell I hadn't seen many?)

As you can see I didn't get very far and it got bundled away for more than 25 years. A few years ago I got drawn into quilting again, but this time by machine, and this bundle stayed firmly wrapped up at the back of a drawer. A few months ago I looked at it again and wondered what to do with it. It seemed a shame to leave it unfinished but I couldn't see me ever hand-finishing a full sized quilt so I asked advice on BQL (British Quilt List). I was assured that I could finish it as a traditional quilt by appliqueing this medallion to the centre of a larger piece of fabric and perhaps adding some flowers at the corners and then machine quilting it.

This then is my challenge for next year. Hopefully it will be done before the fabric is 30 years old?

Watch this space as they say!