International Quilting Weekend 2016

Fabadashery Long Arm Quilting

Happy International Quilting Weekend!

Are you quilting today?  I am busy stitching some customer quilts on my long arm machine whilst watching the episodes of The Quilt Show which are FREE as part of the celebrations.  I have watched nearly six episodes so far and have plenty more to revisit.

Later tonight we are moving onto the next Star Wars film, so plenty of hand stitching to look forward to and the completion of another Dear Jane block.

Have a great day. 

Spring Quilt Festival 2014 - Exeter Westpoint

'Brick Lane' Medallion Quilt by Village Fabrics

At the weekend I made a trip to Exeter to visit the Spring Quilt Festival at the Westpoint Showground.  It's a small show, but when you need a quick quilt fix it is the ideal tonic.

'Delft Floor Tiles' by Alice Webb

This blue quilt was a small hanging by Alice Webb.  It caught my eye as it reminded me of my on-point Nearly Insane quilt, and little projects that could emanate from it in the future.  I often have a small 3" block in my hand as I construct the full block and think how cute it is.


'Enchanted Garden' Quilt by Rhianon Taylor

Every time I go to a quilt show, I am usually at a certain stage in my quilting thoughts, and different things appeal to me amongst the exhibits. This time around it was quilting.  In terms of quilting on quilts, there was a lovely display of quilts by Rhianon Taylor, also blogging as the Nifty Stitcher. 


Detail - 'Enchanted Garden' Quilt by Rhianon Taylor

Just look at this amazing machine quilting. A full display of her work can bee seen on her blog, and no doubt it will be touring in future Grosvenor Exhibitions coming up throughout the year if you want to see it in the flesh.

'Baby Jane' Quilt by Sheila Lloyd

After my trip to Nantes last year to see the 150th Anniversary display of Dear Jane quilts, it was lovely to see another.  Sheila has pretty much stuck to the style and fabrics of the original Dear Jane quilt by Jane Stickle - it looked lovely.

Naturally I made a few purchases at the stalls.  I added a few fat quarters to my stash of neutrals from a charity stall, and bought the 'Little Black Dress 2' layer cake by BasicGrey.  The Japanese fabric was from a rummage bin - it has a striped design which I though had lot of potential ...

Cat Coaster - Giddy Sprite Designs

Also, whilst I was out and about at the weekend I also picked up this little cat coaster by Giddy Sprite.  Suzi the cat seems to have this expression on her face permanently at the moment - the birds outside are driving her to distraction!

 

International Quilt Day - Report

Suzi the cat on the Butterfly Quilt

This is how International Quilt Day started out here at Fabadashery.  Suzi the cat lay on top of the butterfly quilt, whilst I lay underneath it, browsing quilt blogs and online quilt shops on my iPad.  I had a good browse of  What's New at the Fat Quarter Shop, and enjoyed a thorough read of some of the blogs I follow.

International Quilt Day - The Quilt Show - Free for 24 hours!

Like last year, The Quilt Show was celebrating International Quilt Day by offering access to their quilty shows for free for 24 hours.  It was great seeing quilters in action.  I knew many of the names, like Gwen Marston and Jenny Beyer and it wasn't too long until I was adding their books to my Wish List on Amazon. I also spent a lot of time watching the longarm quilt episodes ...

Nearly Insane Quilt blocks

With my Nearly Insane blocks needing to be done, I felt I could justify a bit of multi-tasking, by watching the TV and keeping up with my English paper piecing, and over the day I managed three blocks, which I will tell you about in due course.

Suzi busy supervising in the workroom

We had such a great time, Suzi says "Why can't it be International Quilt Day, every day?"

Check out all the other crazy quilty cats every Friday at Sarah Did It!

Hand Quilting Progress - Red and White Pinwheel Quilt

Marking cross-hatching for hand quilting
on Red and White Pinwheel Quilt

My Nearly Insane quilt activity seems to have been put on the back burner for the time being.  Instead, I am currently trying to catch up with my hand quilting back log, which as you can see is STILL the Red and White Pinwheel Quilt.  As you can also see, I am still using the Wipe Off Fabric Marker, which I am finding works well.  What I have found is that you need to remove it with a wet cloth rather than a damp cloth - it is the water that removes the blue mark. So far, so good.
To get this one moving, I needed a deadline, so I have entered the quilt in a show, and now I am frantically quilting to get it done.  Mind you, the pace I am going could not be mistaken for 'frantic', as there is a lot of stitching for what seems like meagre progress.  The overall plan is not fully worked out, and the more I do, the more I feel I need to do, as well as the binding, plus the hanging tab, and the quilt label.  I can see myself stitching, just minutes before I hand it over!

Book: "Quilt It!" by Barbara Chainey

I would not say I am an expert at hand quilting, and don't feel that I have quite mastered how to choose a quilt patterns for particular quilts, but one book I find really useful is Barbara Chainey's 'Quilt It', as it gives loads of suggestions, especially for pieced work, rather than patterns for whole cloths.  I have designed some motifs of my own for this quilt, plus a lot of outline quilting, and at the moment I am working on some cross-hatching. 
It will get done.

Joining Up with Design Wall Monday! and Slow Stitching Sunday.
 

Spring Quilt Festval, Exeter, April 2013

At the weekend I popped down to Exeter, in Devon, to attend the Spring Quilt Festival, where I met up with my mother, to enjoy the Quilt Show.  We did a workshop with the textile artist Vineta Cable, I looked at Long Arm Quilting options, and as usual, we did our best to prop up the economy by supporting our local patchwork and quilting shops.

It is not a big show, but sometimes the smaller shows give you the opportunity to take more time to enjoy the individual quilts.  Below is a detail of one my favourites, which featured scrappy patched apples and pears, and was part of a display by Kernow Quilters.  I love the scrap fabrics used for the fruit.

Up the Old Apples and Pears' Quilt - Kernow Quilters

Another one I liked was a simple pictorial quilt hanging, depicting the harbour at Mevagissey in Cornwall, by Di Wells.  Simple, but very evocative of the Cornish coast.


Mevagissey by Di Wells, Kernow Quilters

Otherwise, I think I was quite restrained - just a few red and white fat quarters from Stof, purchased from a new vendor, Clarris, who I understand will be opening a new patchwork and quilting shop in Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, in the very near future.  These fabrics have been added to the stash, ready to be used in some of the Nearly Insane blocks in the very near future.


Red and White Fabrics - Quilters Basics, Stof