WOW: WIPs On Wednesdays

This is something I am working on for Festival of Quilts this summer.I had to fill the form and send it off with details last week and I hadn't even started it. Just hope the idea works out now. Hopefully it will suggest Autumn? It will the base of an entry into the 3D section. Wish me luck---I am going to need it!

I am linking this to Esther's blog :o)

Life gets a little hectic sometimes

We have had a busy few weeks.

Indoors we have been working on the last room of our renovation. I can't bring myself to show you what it looked like when we first saw it. It has remained as a junk room for years but now its turn has come. Other windows downstairs have proper working wooden shutters so this window looked a little bare until we were tidying the loft space and came across an old dismantled wardrobe . The doors were exactly the right size!

Sadly they won't function as shutters  and this old window can't be double glazed so I am seriously thinking of quilted curtains? :o)

Outside there has been a lot of gardening to do.

Everything is growing so fast and early! Looks as if another huge crop of apples is promised on this tree this autumn. It has cropped heavily for 20 years now!


Quilting wise I have got through the "creative lull" I was in and am now working furiously on something for Sandown and something else for Festival of Quilts although the latter is just a rough sketchy idea at present. I am definitely better working under pressure!

The other thing on the horizon is the start of the rebuilding of our river wall and road damaged in the the Cockermouth floods of November 2009! It is due to start at the beginning of June and be done by the end of September. It is going to be a big job and at present we have no idea how we are going to be able to get to and from our house. Just in case we are going to do a couple of big shopping trips so that we are stocked up with all the non perishable heavy staple stuff.

After several weeks quiet--

I end up blogging twice in 24 hours! I forgot to mention last week that I received the current Fabrications magazine and two of my quilts at Sandown are mentioned.

but what got me excited was noticing this for the first time in print!

I knew it was planned but until it appeared in print I couldn't believe it. I still have to pinch myself!
In the next few weeks I will have to parcel up nearly all my quilts and won't see them again till sometime in 2011. Malvern is the first show in which they will be displayed.

Of course the big problem now is to work out how many I can put into the wheelbarrow to push 100 yards to the nearest point that the courier will be able to approach! The saga of the river wall and the road continues but more of that next week.
Suffice to say that it is now nine months since the Cockermouth floods and we don't yet have a start date for the wall to be rebuilt.

I had a phonecall--

to say that this little quilt has won a first prize! :o)
The whole quilt is shown further down the page but these are a few closeups. It isn't very big--maybe 24"x26" ?
The flowers were lightly sketched and then coloured with various methods including Derwent Inktense pencils and Pentel water colour dyes, before the quilting and machine embroidery added details. (If you click on the picture you will get a full screen view.)

It was made for the "Celebrate Summer" competition in Patchwork and Quilting magazine and will be on display at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham this weekend. It will be on the EQS Threadplay stand.
(The competition was sponsored by EQS Ltd in conjunction with Husqvarna Viking sewing machines.)

Wish I was going to FOQ--------maybe next year?

My quilt returned today after its trip to Festival of Quilts complete with a lovely collection of YLI threads! I am going to really enjoy using them all.

I have never had a big collection of cotton quilting threads before but now will be spoilt for choice. The silk thread feels incredibly smooth and makes me want to start something else in silk.

The colours in the variegated ones are positively juicy!
:o)

Surprise win!

In the second week of July I had one of those summer colds that leaves you feeling wiped out. Once over the worst I was looking for some distraction and came across the advert below for a competition in "Sewing World". I had previously looked at it but my mind just couldn't come up with any ideas for a quilt using three letters!

Doodling away I came up with the idea of using the angular letters to make some sort of organic design. I chose Y,L and I and used them repeatedly for the flowers and stems. I sent it off literally at the last minute. The result is that this week I received a letter saying that I have won the second prize which is a £250 worth selection of YLI threads.

I am delighted and can't wait to play with them :o)

PS. If you are at Festival of Quilts I think my little quilt will be hanging in the "Sewing World" area!

By the skin of my teeth again!!!!!!!!!

Well the three quilts are now all in the hands of the Royal Mail. They need to be there by Wednesday so as usual I am only just in time. To be fair we have a lot of family commitments at the moment and so perhaps trying to fit 3 quilts at the same time was a bit much .

The last one especially was very time consuming as there is so much stitching on it. It was the first one done like that and I am already planning the next one :o)

I was just thinking how different they were and then realised that they all have flowers on them so perhaps a certain similarity?

As long as they arrive on time they will be at Sandown for the show in ten days or so.

Woo Hoo Happy Dance :o))

Just got back from a supermarket trawl (very busy because of Bank Holiday tourists) and I had a phonecall to say that my clematis bag had won Viewers' Choice at the Festival of Quilts . The prize is a Husqvarna embellishing machine!

A big thank you to any one who took the time to vote. :o)