Malvern Tickets 2016 Giveaway Winner!

Malvern Tickets 2016 Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my Malvern Quilt Show ticket giveaway and visited my Fabadashery Long Arm Quilting webpage and Facebook page.  This competition is now closed.

The winner is Frances Darvill.  Congratulations!

 

GIVEAWAY 2016 Malvern Quilt Show Tickets + Dear Jane Quilt - 100th Block Edition

Giveaway - A pair of tickets to 2016 Quilts UK Malvern Quilt Show

THIS GIVEWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

I am celebrating reaching my 100th Dear Jane block by having a GIVEAWAY!


Dear Jane Quilt - 100th Block Edition

Yesterday, Mystic Quilter commented how I must be accumulating quite a pile of Dear Jane blocks.  Yes, indeed. This is what 100 English paper pieced Dear Jane blocks look like.  Steady hand piecing since August has produced this pile of pretty blocks and I am starting to feel a sense of PROGRESS.

To celebrate I am offering the chance to win a pair of tickets to the 2016 Quilts UK Malvern Quilt Show.  Each ticket is valid for one person for one day and are non-refundable.  The show runs from Thursday 19th May to Sunday 22nd May 2016 at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern, WR13 6NW, UK.  There will be one winner who will receive the prize of two tickets.  The draw will be made on Saturday 23rd April 2016. 


Alongside the personal quilting projects you can follow on this blog, I also have a Fabadashery Long Arm Quilting service (www.fabadashery.co.uk) which I offer to customers, which has its own blog and Facebook page, where you can see other lovely quilts made by my lovely customers. 

How to win the tickets - you have three chances

• Go to my Fabadashery Long Arm Quilting Facebook page where you will find a post about the Giveaway, leave a comment, SHARE it and the LIKE my Fabadashery Long Arm page, or let me know that you are already a Follower and you would like to enter the draw. 
• Go to my Fabadashery Long Arm Quilting Blog (www.fabadashery.co.uk) and become a Follower or let me know that you are already a Follower, leaving a comment on the blog to let me know.  You can link from the button on the sidebar.
• Become a Follower on my regular Fabadashery Blog or let me know that you are already a Follower and you want to be entered into the draw.

Be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you have done by 12pm Saturday 23rd April to be entered into the draw.

 

 

Malvern Quilts UK 2015 - Judges Merit Award



'Welcome to my Stash' quilt - Judges Merit Award

A while ago I showed you all a half square triangle quilt I had been making and had long admired.  Once it was finally finished, it was just in time to enter it into the annual Malvern Quilt show.  When you spend so much time alone stitching it is always nice to share what you have done by displaying your work.

Judges Merit Award - Malvern Quilts UK 2015

On arrival at the show I was delighted to see a rosette against my quilt - a Judges Merit Award.  There was no feedback, but I think I am safe in saying that my quilt probably had the most variety of fabrics in it! LOL


Half Square Triangle Quilt

 

Single Irish Chain Charm Quilt

As I am at the beginning of my Nearly Insane Quilt journey, I thought I would share another of my completed hand pieced, hand quilted marathons with you.  This is my Irish Chain Charm Quilt. It is hand pieced, using the English Paper Piecing method, and hand quilted.



Single Irish Chain Quilt

The start of my patchwork and quilting journey started when I inherited a fabric stash from a friend.  Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of fabric and thread in my life, just not the 100% cottons used for patchwork and quilting.  Some of the little gems in the collection were bags of  small charm squares, which were less than 2" square. 

Fabric Charm Squares, 1" - 2" square

I believe they were from the era before the internet and online fabric databases, when mail order shops would send out small samples for customers to select their quilt colours from.  These little pieces intrigued me, and quietly laid down the gauntlet 'find a project to use us in'.  An Irish Chain quilt was the solution.  Also, we were expecting the arrival of a camper van, so I decided to make a quilt for use in the van.



Single Irish Chain Patchwork Quilt

Obviously the size of the charm squares put a limit on the size of my shapes, so each small square was 1" big.  I made up the English paper piecing templates using the Table function in MS Word, where I could set the size of the cells to be 1" x 1", print them off and cut them out.  From the charm packs I selected the deep and warm toned charm squares, which have a jewel like effect, and sought out a light background fabric that would add a subtle texture.  I had already started to cover these little squares with the charm fabrics on the train to work, before I found a suitable background fabric.  In the end I chose a little tan, tone on tone sprig print, "Bound to the Prairie" #9195 by Kansas Troubles for Moda (some of you may be familiar with it - it was the neutral in my 2012 Easy Street Mystery Quilt).  It also matched the woodwork in the camper van perfectly.

Single Irish Chain Quilt - Ideal for a Camper Van!

I remember pouring the squares out onto the shop counter to match up this co-ordinating fabric as the assistant looked at me in disbelief, commenting ,"You do know there is an easier way of doing this, don't you?" Yes, there might have been, but at the time carrying a sewing machine on the train each day was not an option! This portable hand piecing project went with me everywhere, and often or not, a stray square would turn up in the boot of the car, down the side of the sofa - I often wonder how many got left on the train...


Irish Chain Patchwork Quilt

The Single Irish Chain pattern is made up from a 9-patch, alternating the background fabric and the main fabric.  In this case, the 1" squares made up a 9-patch 3" x 3", and that was the same size as the alternating 3" x 3" background fabric square.

Detail of hand pieced 9 patch block, Irish Chain Quilt

The quilt is hand quilted, firstly by quilting around the coloured squares, and then by adding a further cross-hatch pattern in the centre.  The border is also cross-hatched.  On this particular quilt, I think this simple quilting pattern works well with the Irish Chain quilt.


Scrappy Border - Irish Chain Quilt

To add to the scrappy nature of the quilt I decided to make up the binding from further scraps, which are also 3" long.  The background fabric was also part of the Kansas Trouble, 'Back to the Prairie' range.  Up close it is a very pretty print, and although it disguises the quilting stitches on the back nicely, from a distance the colours tend to blend into a muddy colour.  I used a small piece to make a quilt label using my Husqvarna Designer 1 Embroidery Machine, using Isacord embroidery thread.  I didn't use a strong contrasting thread, as I prefer a more subtle label, but it does the trick.


Quilt Label - Single Irish Chain Quilt

This quilt tends to live in the camper van, getting used regularly if we head off on a trip during the winter months.  I love spotting all the different fabrics as I am cosied up in bed!

There are still plenty of these charm squares in my fabric collection, any ideas for the next project?

Joining up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Statistics
Dimensions: 150cm x 178cm (approx 5ft x 6ft)
Blocks: 3” x 3”
Piecing Method: English Paper Piecing. Hand Pieced
Quilting Method: Hand Quilted
Dates: Autumn 2006(?) – March 2009

Competition Entries:
2009 Traditional Quilts, Quilts UK , Malvern

#3 Butterfly Quilt - Showing the Butterfly Quilt

It was great to eventually see my Butterflies Quilt hung up at the NEC Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.  It was also lovely to hear the kind comments that visitors made about my work.  Because of its size, I had previously had nowhere to display it where I could stand back and have a good look at it myself.  This was a great opportunity.  At the time, I lived in a three storey house, and the only place large enough to lie it out was in the garden, and then to run upstairs and look at it out of the top window.  Not entirely satisfactory.


'Butterflies on the Move' Quilts UK 2007

This was the first quilt I entered into a show. The NEC Festival of Quilts is the biggest show in the UK, has a vast array of styles, and the quilts are well displayed (not to mention the shopping!).  It attracts visitors from all over Europe, mainly because Birmingham International Airport is on its doorstep, and you can literally walk into the exhibition centre from there.  I enjoy showing my quilts, especially when you have spent so much of your time on them.  

The following year I entered it into the Quilts UK Show at Malvern, and was fortunate to be awarded a Judges Choice Award, from the quilter Carolyn Forster, and to win the 2007 South West Quilters Award for Traditional Quilts, which can be seen here on their website .  It also won First Prize in 2007 at the Great Northern Quilt Show, in Harrogate, in the category ‘My First Bed Quilt’.

#2 Butterfly Quilt - Techniques and Construction

#1 Butterfly Quilt - Inspiration Behind the Quilt

#1 Butterfly Quilt - Inspiration Behind the Quilt

Butterfly Quilt by Frances Meredith

Inspiration
The inspiration for this scrap quilt came from a picture in a quilting book I took out of our local library, early in my quilting journey, about 2003.  The original picture in the book was no more than a couple of inches big, but it was enough for me to work out a pattern for a block.  I like a scrappy quilt, and this quilt used all sorts of fabrics.  At the time, the only patchworking I knew was English piecing, so I made my own paper pattern, cut out all the pieces, and off I went.

History of the Butterflies Quilt
During the period when I was making the quilt, I went to a JOAnn’s store, during a trip to America, where I saw a pattern of the same quilt being sold on the shelves. I guess it was only then that I realised that the quilt I was making already had a history.  Further research when I returned home to the UK revealed that a pattern, and the history of the quilt was published in a book “The New England Quilt Museum Quilts: Featuring the Story of the Mill Girls -Instructions for 5 Heirloom Quilts” by Jennifer Gilbert (Paperback,1999) [NB: Which I notice you can currently access via Google Books].  I discovered that it was originally made in about 1935, by a lady called Nina Shrock, Harvard County, Indiana, USA, using a design by Laura Wheeler. When we were back in America in the Autumn of 2007, we made a pilgrimage to the New England Quilt Museum, in Lowell, where we able to see the quilt on display, the one I had seen originally in my library book, back in the UK.  It was a nice feeling. I now have a pencil with the same butterflies on it, as a memento!

What fabrics did I use?
My creative journey has included dressmaking and embroidery, and it was only in about 2002 that I inherited a collection of beautiful quilting fabric and I considered doing some quilting. Amongst the collection were packets of fabrics, which I later learnt were called Charm Packs.  There were 5” squares, 4“ squares, and tiny 1.5” squares, mainly from a mail order company, Strawberry Fayre based in Chagford in Devon, UK.  I wanted a project that was going to use these up, and the scrappy nature of the quilt, seemed like the ideal choice. 

However, I did notice in the small picture that there were ‘constants’.  For instance, the body of the butterfly was the same for each.  I did not have anything suitable, so I went to my local quilting and patchwork shop, BusyBees, based in the Craft Units at Tredegar House in Newport, Wales.  There I found a brown batik fabric.  I was recommended to give it a wash before I used it. I think that was a good idea.  Otherwise, I didn’t wash any of the fabric – the bits were too small.

There is a whole mix in there.  Ironically, it was only after I had completed the quilt that it was brought to my attention that there were a lot of 30’s reproduction fabrics in it.  This was not intentional, it was serendipity at work.  At the time I didn’t realise what 30’s reproduction fabrics were.  I also have one or two bits of special fabric in there, including the first piece of fabric I ever bought, at the Marldon Apple Pie Fair in Devon, back in the early 1980’s.  You can see details of Techniques and Construction in this post.

Statistics
Dimensions: 243cm x 243cm (approx 8ft x 8ft)
Blocks: 64 blocks, 10” x 10”
Piecing Method: English Paper Piecing. Hand Pieced
Quilting Method: Hand Quilted
Dates: 2004 – August 2006

Awards:
2007 South West Quilters Award for Traditional Quilts, Quilts UK , Malvern
2007 ‘My First Bed Quilt’, Great Northern Quilt Show, Harrogate

#4 Butterfly Quilt - What did I learn from this Quilt?

#3 Butterfly Quilt - Showing the Butterfly Quilt

#2 Butterfly Quilt - Techniques and Construction