2017 Rainbow Scrappy Challenge

'Jane's Pinwheel' Quilt  62" x 62"

It is a long time since I linked up to the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.  When I started this in January 2017 I was struggling to keep up.  The top was finally completed in January 2018 after a serious attack on it over the Christmas period, but since then it has been lingering around waiting for me to quilt it.  Before I had decided how I would quilt it I forced the issue by entering it into the 2019 Quilt UK, Malvern Show which is on this weekend.

'Jane's Pinwheel' Quilt  62" x 62"

So last weekend I was quilting it on my longarm quilting machine, in between my customer quilts.  I stitched in EVERY ditch and then added a simple orange peel design.  I wanted the piecing to be the focus, not the quilting.  It has made a dent into the Kim Diehl fabrics left over from my Dear Jane quilt, but there are plenty more to come out of that bag.
Linking to So Scrappy Saturday

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!

 

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 33 and Spring Quilt Festival, Duxford

I had an urge to go to a Quilt Show at the weekend, as I will not be making my usual pilgrimage to Quilts UK in Malvern in May.  A quick search on the internet revealed that it was the 2013 Spring Quilt Festival in Duxford near Cambridge at the weekend.  Luckily it was based at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, so I was able to pursuade our weekend visitors to come along too, so they could look at aeroplanes whilst the rest of us looked at quilts.  A double bonus.  I got six hours in the car stitching, and I also got to replenish my red and cream stash for my Nearly Insane Quilt.
The show was a moderate size with exhibits from a few renowned quilters in the UK including some lovely whole cloth quilts by Sandie Lush, and some lovely colourful quilt by Gwenfai Rees Griffiths, including this 'Shades of the Sargasso Sea', based on the Storm at Sea quilt block pattern.


Gwenfai Rees Griffiths 'Shades of the Sargasso Sea'

One of the cutest quilts there was this 'Forget-Me-Not' by Judith Scott.

'Forget-Me-Not' Quilt by Judith Scott

In terms of vendors, there was a good selection, including Creative Grids which allowed me to purchase the large 15.5" square Ruler I have been 'needing' for a while - well since I realised I needed such a large ruler to square up blocks as large as those in the Easy Street Quilt.  Luckily, I checked their website before the show, and there was a discount coupon to download for use at the show - it would have been churlish not to use it. 

Creative Grids - Non slip 15½ Inch x 15½ Inch Square

I also got to spend my £10 voucher I had won from The Quilt Room in their Name a Quilt competition  - they also had a discount voucher on their website.  Red and cream fabrics were purchased and it fulfilled the spontaneous 'quilting fix' I felt I needed.
As for stitching, I managed to complete Block 33 of the Nearly Insane Quilt, and some other bits and pieces, during the journey, which means that all the blocks from the second draw are now complete.  

Block 33 Nearly Insane Quilt

This was another simple block, perhaps not my favourite pattern, but I do like the colours I have chosen.  When making the blocks you need to remember that they will be placed on point, and this influences how you use directional prints and other fabric choices.
Joining WIP Wednesday

NUMBER OF PIECES: 28
DIFFICULTY: 2/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Triangle, 1.5" (42mm) x 1.5" (42mm) x 2 5/16" (59m)
LARGEST PIECE: Square, 1 1/2" (37.5mm) x 1 1/2" (37.5mm)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS:
Rural Jardin by French General (Leaf Trail Rouge) for ModaFa La La by French General (Floral L'Arbre De Noel Red 13587-11) for Moda
Tiny Flower Print (Unidentified)
 

#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