Showing posts with label NEC Festival of Quilts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NEC Festival of Quilts. Show all posts

Monday 26 July 2021

Festival of Quilts 2021

If you are heading up to the Festival of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham, UK between 29th July and 1st August, don't forget to look out for my quilts.

CT34 (Contemporary Quilts) - Serenity I

TN40 (Traditional Quilts) - Grassy Creek

GR3 (Group Quilts)  - Bristol Quilters Ruby Celebration  (see if you can recognise the block I contributed!)

Naturally, this year there are some guidelines in place to keep everyone as safe as can be, which include bringing evidence of your current COVID status, which you can find here.

Tuesday 14 August 2018

2018 Festival of Quilts - Judges Choice for Dear Jane Quilt

'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith Festival of Quilts, NEC, 2018
'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith
Festival of Quilts, NEC, 2018
A busy few days up at the 2018 Festival of Quilts, NEC Birmingham, with the added bonus of a Judge's Choice for my Dear Jane quilt.  They don't hand out many accolades at this show (let alone any rosettes!), so I was very surprised to receive anything.  However, this photograph is the only evidence, as when my quilt was returned to me at the end of the show the little plaque was not included.
For the record it said "A lovely,warm quilt displaying accurate piecing and applique techniques with careful  colour placement and some intricate quilting" Judge: Vera Walker . Thanks Vera.
I also had the pleasure of quilting five of the quilts in the Two Person Category, which you can see over on my Fabadashery Longarm Quilting blog.

21/08/2018
Good News! the little plaque has arrived in the post today.

Wednesday 8 August 2018

Dear Jane Quilt - Festival of Quilt, NEC Birmingham, August 2018

'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith, 2018
'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith, 2018
If you are heading off to the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK, this week you will be able to see my completed Dear Jane quilt on display, No FO48 in the Traditional Quilts section.  It is a few months since she was completed and there have been a few requests for a bit more information about how I reached the finishing post!  
I guess you need to start at the beginning, with the trip to Nantes, France in April 2013, where there was a spectacular 
150th Anniversary display of Dear Jane quilts, which was the inspiration to start on my Dear Jane quilt.  Then in August 2015, once my Nearly Insane quilt was completed I was able to start my Dear Jane journey.  Wow, three years ago.  As you all probably know, my Dear Jane quilt was completed by hand, using English Paper Piecing in conjunction with the Electric Quilt Dear Jane software.  Steadily each block and side triangle was completed during trips away and in travelling time.
'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith, 2018
'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith, 2018
About a year ago in the spring of 2017 I managed to get the top completed and together, which was followed by the mammoth task of removing the papers.  There are 5163 pieces in the quilt. I think this took about 5 days this time and is not something I rush to do straight away.  Meanwhile, there were a few challenges that lay ahead - quilting the quilt and doing a scallop edge for the first time.  I will admit that I have a long pause between finishing a top and quilting my quilts, but a show deadline is usually a good prompt to get it done.

I am lucky enough to have a long arm quilting machine and having put so much time into each block of the quilt I wanted each one to shine.  Each block is stitched in the ditch and then I designed my own pattern for blank triangles and the sashing.  At the time of quilting the edge of the quilt was a straight border.

To tackle the scallop edge I would recommend making some practice quilts.  I made a few charity quilts for Project Linus which were lucky enough to have scallop edges.  By making these I ironed out the problems before I encountered them on my masterpiece.   I chose quite a narrow binding for the edge and applied it with the machine and then finished it by hand.  I only trimmed the scallop border once I had applied the binding on the machine.


'Dear Jane' quilt by Frances Meredith, 2018
Once I decided to make a Dear Jane quilt I knew I had to go the whole way - all the blocks, all the triangles, and the scalloped edge, just as Jane Stickle had done. Now this quilt is done, my next Dear Jane quilt can be done in any way I choose!  I will admit that while I was quilting each block I was reminded of what a fun quilt this was to make.  The variety of techniques that you can choose to make each block, makes it interesting. Fussy cutting each block makes it interesting.  Choosing colour combinations makes it interesting.  I wouldn't dismiss the idea of making another one.

How much fabric did I use to make my Dear Jane quilt? I don't know, but I know I have enough Kim Diehl fabric left to make probably three more of these!

As I write this I am reminded of the true beauty of English Paper Piecing.  When I was away in Nantes, I was most probably working on a few Nearly Insane blocks. Dear Jane has travelled with me for the past three years and my handmade quilts really do weave their way into my life.  They hold memories of where you were, trips you made and follow you when you are out and about living your life.  The quilts I make when I am sat down in the same room on a sewing machine, perhaps don't have that weight of value.  I am often asked 'How long did it take you?' Well, like friends, you don't measure the number of days you have been friends as a measure of special your friendships are, they are just friendships.

Wednesday 9 August 2017

Festival of Quilts 2017, UK - Pies and Tarts Quilt

'Pies and Tarts' Quilt by Frances Meredith, designed by Sue Daley
'Pies and Tarts' Quilt by Frances Meredith, designed by Sue Daley
Here is my entry for the NEC Festival of Quilts show 2017.  You will find it amongst the Traditional Quilts, No 538. It is a Sue Daley pattern called Pies and Tarts.  My early Followers may remember it. I have just browsed through my blog to see when I actually finished piecing this quilt - it was 5 years ago in December 2012.  Well since then I basted it, left it a while, made a pathetic attempt to hand quilt it, left it a while, bought a long arm quilting machine, still thought I would hand quilt it, and left it a little bit longer.
Unpicking basting and quilting stitches before longarming
Unpicking basting and quilting stitches before longarming
Then one day earlier this year I decided that I would unpick the basting and hand quilting I had done (it wasn't very much) and I would quilt it on my long arm machine.  I can remember the time and pain it took to baste the quilt, but the stitching came out in no time at all ....
Long Arm Quilting
Long Arm Quilting
So in one day the quilt was quilted.  The binding had been waiting patiently for 5 years in a bag with the quilt.  In the evenings I have quietly attached it, added a hanging sleeve and even stitched out a label for it. It has been delivered to the organisers There is a moral in there somewhere.

Do go and see it at the Festival of Quilts this year, however, you probably won't see its fabulous Kaffe Fassett Millifiore fabric on the back - so here is a picture for you to enjoy.

Saturday 13 August 2016

Dear Jane Quilt - every show should have one

'A Sparkling Dear Jane' by Catherine Carlyon
'A Sparkling Dear Jane' by Catherine Carlyon
After two exhausting days at the 2016 Festival of Quilts it is time to get back to normality and that means back to focussing on Dear Jane. You can pretty much guarantee that any quilt show you attend there will be some Dear Jane love and this show was no different.

This first Dear Jane quilt is by my sister which she made using just four metallic Hoffman fabrics - all English paper pieced and hand quilted. You can see here that it attracted quite a bit of attention and rightly so. 

'Not a Patch on Jane' by Valerie Eames
'Not a Patch on Jane' by Valerie Eames
In the same Traditional category was this Civil War fabric Dear Jane by Valerie Eames, machine pieced and hand quilted.  It was great to have two near each other to see how each had approached each block, there are so many approaches you can make.

So two more Dear Jane quilts have been born - keep up the good work if you are still working on yours.

Wednesday 10 August 2016

2016 Festival of Quilts - Nearly Insane Quilt by Frances Meredith

Nearly Insane Quilt, Frances Meredith 2016
It is almost a year since I showed you my completed Nearly Insane quilt top, so I thought it was time for an update.  You may be able to see from the photo that it is now quilted, bound and ready for a trip out.

If you are heading to the 2016 Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK, 11th-14th August, my Nearly Insane Quilt will be hanging amongst the Traditional Quilts, No: 564. 

Enjoy!

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Festival of Quilts 2014 - Shopping

As I knew I was going to the Festival of Quilts for two days this year, I planned ahead and actually wrote a shopping list to work from which included a few projects I have in mind.

Kaffe Fassett Fabrics
Kaffe Fassett Fabrics
I don't have many pieces of Kaffe Fassett fabric in my stash as I have found it hard to blend them with other ranges.  They only seem to work with other Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  So I decided if you can't beat them, join them.  The plan is to use these blues and reds in a chevron / zig-zag quilt.  Doughty's were selling them at a good price and I think I just need to get this little Kaffe project out of my system.
Foltvilag English Paper Piecing Templates
Foltvilag English Paper Piecing Templates
In a previous edition of Quiltmania magazine I had noticed a shop in Europe selling tiny plastic templates for English Paper Piecing.  Well, they were at the show. Foltvilag are based in Hungary and sell these versatile patchwork templates.  With all my Nearly Insane blocks completed I have a couple of jars of scraps staring at me and I thought these shapes would be an incentive to use them up.  These templates are tiny, but there were smaller ones (and larger ones) available in a variety of shapes. When it gets tiny, paper sometimes just isn't man enough.In addition there is a Foltvilag YouTube channel which demonstrates how to use them.

Oakshott Fabrics
Oakshott Fabrics
Oakshotts were there.  I succumbed.  I don't know how long it will be until I can bear to untie the ribbon and actually use these lovely fabrics.

Others things went into my bag including a new seam ripper, a new machine cleaning brush and some Superior Threads Bottom Line to try in my machine.

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Festival of Quilts 2014 - Focus on Medallion Quilts

When I go to a show there is usually a theme which is my current 'flavour of the month'.  This time at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham I was focussing on medallion quilts.  I like the idea that you can use lots of different techniques and fabrics in one quilt.  I especially like the mystery 'Round Robins'.
'My Love fro Liberty' by Tracy Alpin
'My Love fro Liberty' by Tracy Alpin
This quilt by Tracy Alpin uses Liberty fabric - always a winner.  It also caught my eye as I have been looking at spool blocks lately, as I like the sewing related idea behind them.  The Liberty colours are always so attractive.

'Turning 40' by Rebecca Handyside
'Turning 40' by Rebecca Handyside
I love the centre panel in Rebecca's quilt.  It has plenty of white around it to show off the appliqued flower.  She also used this space to show off some lovely quilting.  The colours are lovely.
'Yorkshire Quilt' by Pam Lofthouse mrs billings coverlet
'Yorkshire Quilt' by Pam Lofthouse
This medallion quilt by Pam Lofthouse is based on the Mrs Billings coverlet.  To me, the colours she has used make it look more graphic and modern than other interpretations I have seen.  It must have been fun watching it grow.

'Gargantuan' by Mary Cunningham and Maggie Kingston
'Gargantuan' by Mary Cunningham and Maggie Kingston
I haven't done much applique myself, but I love the applique centre which is the focus of this quilt by Mary Cunningham and Maggie Kingston.  I can see applique, churn dash blocks, log cabin, flying geese - it's all in there.  That is what I love about medallion quilts.  Again, quilted beautifully to enhance the piecing.

'V and A Postcard Quilt' by Jean Phillips and Andrew Whittle Kaffe Fassett Scrap
'V and A Postcard Quilt' by Jean Phillips and Andrew Whittle
This medallion quilt is made from over 10 years worth of Kaffe Fassett fabric scraps.  Kaffe Fassett fabrics are always bold, and always seem to produce a bold quilt.  It must have felt great to use up all those scraps and a good excuse to go and buy some more!

Monday 11 August 2014

Festival of Quilts 2014


'Fish at Sea' by Pam Stainer
'Fish at Sea' by Pam Stainer
Last week it was the 2014 Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham.  This is the biggest annual quilt show in the UK, and being based right next to Birmingham airport, it allows a lot of people to fly in from all over Europe. This year I decided to go for two days, as one day never seems enough to see the all the quilts and make the most of all the stalls.  Here are some of the lovely quilts I saw.

'Fish at Sea' by Pam Stainer
'Dreamtime' by Antonia Hering, The Netherlands
This was one of my favourite quilts from the Contemporary category.  The quilt depicts an aboriginal story of 3 sisters in the Blue Mountains in Australia, and features the 'dot painting' that you see in traditional aboriginal art.

'Dreamtime' by Antonia Hering, The Netherlands
'Dreamtime' by Antonia Hering, The Netherlands
From the close-up you may be able to see that every dot is appliqued on - 7500 in total.  The quilt was totally hand quilted, hand appliqued - totally handmade.  It has won prizes in quit shows all over the world.  I'm glad lots of people have got to see it - it is absolutely amazing.

'Hip Hip Hooray II' by Jacqueline Amies
'Hip Hip Hooray II' by Jacqueline Amies

I love repeat patterns.  This small contemporary quilt by Jacqueline Amies was made with cotton sateen and raw edge applique.  It was inspired by the shiny black hips seen in the countryside of Hampshire.  A simple idea, extremely well executed. I love it.
'Not the Darts of Death' by Sue Dawson
'Not the Darts of Death' by Sue Dawson
More repeats. This one was made up from silk scraps, with very fine black inserts for the outlines.  Some of the silk scraps were very dated, but completely brought up to date with this modern design.

'Big Bang' by Carmen Arevalo Sanchez and Silvia Gonzalez Medina
'Big Bang' by Carmen Arevalo Sanchez and Silvia Gonzalez Medina
I rarely work with these bright colours myself, but I am always attracted by their freshness.  In fact I realised when I got home that I liked this quilt so much I had taken two photographs of it! The coloured triangles were made out of a 'Jelly Roll Race' flimsy and arranged in a 'Big Bang'.

'Big Bang' by Carmen Arevalo Sanchez and Silvia Gonzalez Medina
'Big Bang' by Carmen Arevalo Sanchez and Silvia Gonzalez Medina
Again a simple design, but what really made this quilt was the quilting - yes, quilting REALLY does make the quilt.  The white space was divided up and different patterns were used to make different textures. Brilliant.

'Codes and Secrets' by Hilary Gooding qult
'Codes and Secrets' by Hilary Gooding
More clever ideas.  Hilary Gooding has decorated this Frieda Anderson fabric with bar codes, QR codes, and more subtly, with braille quilted into the quilt.

'Codes and Secrets' by Hilary Gooding
'Codes and Secrets' by Hilary Gooding

'The Good Life' by Philippa Naylor
'The Good Life' by Philippa Naylor
This quilt by Philippa Naylor won first prize in the Traditional Quilts category.  Every inch of this quilt design was planned out with great thought and stitched with great care. It seems perfect in almost every way. 

'Flourish on the Vine' by Kathy Wylie, Canada
'Flourish on the Vine' by Kathy Wylie, Canada
This quilt by Kathy Wylie also had an enormous amount of detail, technique and design.  It was beautiful.  I can only imagine that it missed out on a prize as it was entered in the Contemporary category.

'Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection' by Cinzia White, Australia
'Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection' by Cinzia White, Australia
Here is one for all you hexagon fanatics out there.  This quilt by Cinzia White, Australia, has 13,972 pieces in 363 blocks, which are QAYG (quilt as you go)

'Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection' by Cinzia White, Australia
'Raconteur the Storyteller's Collection' by Cinzia White, Australia
Some of the 2" hexagons have nearly 150 pieces in them!

'Omaggio a Gerda Bentsson' by Laura Armiraglio, Italy
'Omaggio a Gerda Bentsson' by Laura Armiraglio, Italy
Finally, here is a lovely quilt by Laura Armiraglio.  As well as the natural theme, the border was made out of hessian, and the quilting was really organic.

All good stuff.
 

Sunday 8 September 2013

Nearly Insane Quilt - Draw 12

Draw 11 - Nearly Insane Quilt Blocks, 6,17, 42
Draw 11 - Nearly Insane Quilt Blocks, 6,17, 42
Here are the completed Nearly Insane blocks from Draw 11.  These three blocks, 6, 17 and 42 add up to 250 pieces in all, with one block just 21 pieces, another 120.  I think it is the variety that keeps you sane!

Draw 12, has pulled out the next blocks as

7 - 78 - 83 - 93

Nearly Insane - English Paper Piecing Travel Packs
Nearly Insane - English Paper Piecing Travel Packs
I have been getting my house in order with regards my Nearly Insane Quilt progress.  In my 6 Month Progress Report, I mentioned a few outstanding issues with regard the outer edge cornerstones, and the zig zag border.  Well action has been taken, and as you may be able to see I have not only cut out the pieces for all these, and put them into their travel bags, but I have also already prepared the next four blocks.  At 'work' I think all this reviewing would qualify as 'professional reflective practice'.

Old Cutting Mat
Old Cutting Mat
All this activity with the rotary cutter has been vastly improved with the introduction of a new cutting mat.  For quite a while I have been having problems cutting my fabric.  I thought a new blade in the rotary cutter would do the trick, but no.    The reason for the trouble was that the mat has been used so much that there are vast crevasses missing from it, so blade was skipping on those sections. I had to admit to myself that my old mat had passed it best.
New Cutting Mat
New Cutting Mat
So at the NEC Festival of Quilts, I invested in a new cutting mat, and everything is working like a dream. 

Thursday 8 August 2013

Discount Vouchers - NEC Festival of Quilts 2013

Red and White Pinwheel Quilt - NEC Festival of Quilts 2013
Red and White Pinwheel Quilt - NEC Festival of Quilts 2013
I took a trip up to the NEC Festival of Quilts today, mainly to see my Red and White Pinwheel Quilt and all the other lovely quilts on display, but also to get my regular summer fabric fix.

If you still have plans to go before Sunday, I thought I would highlight some stands that have discount vouchers available, click on the links to download the vouchers!

The Quilt Room - 10% discount voucher on purchases made on their stand
Antique Angel - VIP 10% Discount Voucher if you make your purchase before 11am in the morning
Creative Grids - £2.00 Cuttings Mats and £3.00 of Rotary Blades
Simply Solids - 10% off your purchase

Enjoy!

Friday 2 August 2013

BIG FINISH - Red and White Pinwheel Quilt, Hand Pieced, Hand Quilted


Red and White Pinwheel Quilt - Hand Pieced, Hand Quilted
Red and White Pinwheel Quilt - Hand Pieced, Hand Quilted
Well, here at Fabadashery it is not often you get to see a BIG FINISH like you will today.  Usually you have to satisfy yourself with the little 6 inch Nearly Insane blocks that I am working through.  But my efforts of recent weeks have paid off, and I have completed my Red and White Pinwheel Quilt, in spite of the little trauma of washing it. 

Completed - Red and White Pinwheel Patchwork Quilt
Completed - Red and White Pinwheel Patchwork Quilt
It is a single bed quilt, hand pieced and hand quilted. I devised the design myself, with the assistance of my Electric Quilt software, and inspiration from antique quilts on the internet.  I love the look of red and white quilts like this, and would have loved to have seen the American Folk Art Museum exhibition: Infinite Variety, Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts, but it was just too far away, but I have downloaded the App onto my iPAD, and now I have my very own.

Back - Red and White Pinwheel Quilt
Back - Red and White Pinwheel Quilt
The backing is a piece of red spotty Laura Ashley fabric which has been in my stash for years.  I started the quilting at the beginning of this year, and it was completed 26th July 2013, (having an exhibition deadline definitely helps to get this sort of thing done....)


I probably started making the little pinwheels at the end of 2009, as I remember it being my hand piecing project whilst we were building our house.  The top was complete by January 2011, and the sandwich put together ready for quilting.  Having known this quilt for so long, there are a few things I may have done differently, and it is by no means perfect, but it is a finished quilt!  Anyway, no sooner had I stitched the last few stitches, and the quilt had to be packaged away for delivery to the NEC for the Festival of Quilts.  There were a few disappointed cats in the house, as they have been waiting, and waiting to test it out, but that will have to wait.

If you are heading off to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham 8th-11th August 2013, you can see my quilt among the Traditional Quilts section, No:660.  I can't wait to see it there!
  
Statistics
Dimensions: 150cm x 190cm (approx)
Piecing Method: English Paper Piecing. Hand Pieced
Quilting Method: Hand Quilted
Dates: 2009 – July 2013
Joining up with Sarah, Crazy Mom and Feline Friday today!


Wednesday 31 July 2013

Machine Embroidered Quilt Labels

As you have probably gathered by now, I tend to do mainly hand stitching, and like to maintain that integrity throughout the project, by hand piecing and hand quilting.  However, when it comes to doing my quilt labels, I like to use my embroidery machine.

Husqvarna Designer 1 Embroidery Machine, embroidery hoop
Husqvarna Designer 1 Embroidery Machine
In the past I have done a lot of creative machine embroidery, and have the sewing machines and threads to prove it!  Therefore I like to take the opportunity to use my embroidery machine to make my quilt labels.  With the completion of my Red and White Pinwheel quilt, I had the opportunity to blow the dust of this machine and reacquaint myself with the software, to make a little label for my finished quilt.  Watching these machines is mesmerising, and it never ceases to seduce me.  For this label, I didn't even have to put the pedal on, I just used the Start / Stop button!
Stitching Quilt Labels in the Embroidery Hoop
Stitching Quilt Labels in the Embroidery Hoop
I have got into the habit of doing my quilt label stitching in the same colour as my background fabric, like I did on my Single Irish Chain Quilt, and again, I have gone for white on white for this quilt.  I think it is important to put a label on, and I would rather have a stitched label than a handwritten label, but I don't like them to shout too loudly from the quilt.  If you can even see it, I have just put my name, date, and location on the label, with a little stitched diamond border around it. Subtle.

We all like to do things differently - how do you like to mark you quilts?


Tuesday 11 December 2012

Couture for IKEA, with Bemz

When we built our house, I made sure that it accommodated a workroom for me and my sewing.  Even though we have been in the house for over two years, it is only now that I have started to make the room, my space. 
Over the summer I made some check curtains and a pelmet out of the Voyage Lorient Contemporary range, called Bonnie ( .. is that a coincidence?), which I purchased from Fabric Mills, Monmouth.  I have made lots of curtains over the last few years, and with the lines of the check to follow, these were by far the easiest - why didn't I start with them? 
With the curtains in place, it has started to feel more comfortable, so we popped to IKEA to buy an easy chair as an addition to the room.  I had visions of me looking out of the window, watching the world go by, as I sat quilting, with some relaxing music in the background...

IKEA Jennylund chair from the EKTORP range
We purchased the Jennylund chair from the EKTORP range at IKEA, as the back was a bit higher for you to rest your head.  You can purchase them without a slipcover, so it comes with just a plain cotton cover.
At the NEC Festival of Quilts, on the Rowan stand, I noticed that within their display they had covered some IKEA chairs in some of their bright Kaffe Fassett quilt fabric.  They looked amazing, and they have even produced some patterns for other IKEA chairs (Henriksdal, Tullsta) which can be found on the Coats Craft website.  However, I felt this was a project too far for me at this stage.
Whilst I like the quality and design of IKEA furniture, I am rarely taken with the quality and colourway of the covers, so I looked elsewhere. There are a handful of companies which make covers especially for IKEA furniture - Save My Sofa, Ikuva and Bemz, are the ones I know about. 
www.bemz.com
Their websites allow you to order free samples so you can check the colours and the quaity of fabric.  I have ordered covers from Bemz before, and the quality is really good.  I was looking for something to go with the new curtains, so after waiting for the samples in the post, I finally decided on a textured cotton 'Tegner Melange Sand Beige' from Bemz. 
Bemz fabric samples
Bemz are based in Sweden, but as far as I know, they ship all over the world. The covers are preshrunk and machine washable at 40 degrees C.
Anyway, my cover has arrived, and today I have put it on the chair. 
Jennylund chair, with Bemz Cover
(Tegner Melange Sand Beige)
If I wasn't so busy with the Easy Street Mystery Quilt, I might have a moment to sit down in it!

Tuesday 4 December 2012

#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.

Butterfly Quilt
'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’.

Saturday 17 November 2012

#2 Butterfly Quilt - Techniques and Construction


Butterfly Quilt English Piecing Blocks
English Paper Piecing the Butterfly Quilt

Construction
The Butterfly Quilt was hand pieced, using the English Paper Piecing Method.  This involves tacking each piece of fabric over a paper template, to give it shape and structure, and then sewing the pieces together.  I tend to leave all the paper in until the top is complete, again, to keep its structure.  I find that this method leaves me with a dead flat top at the end. 

This was a great project.  I spent hours playing with fabrics from my stash and choosing the colour combinations.  It was a great portable project too.  I used my train journey to work to cover paper templates and piece blocks, and it went on many car journeys, as well as holidays to Amsterdam, France and the USA.  This is where all the action took place, and without a fuss, quietly the blocks came together. Once the blocks were together I decided it needed a border to frame it.  I pieced 2.5” x ¾” strips together out of the scraps, and that made up the border, along with calico borders. In a large quilt like this, don’t underestimate how long it will take to remove the paper templates!  For the back of the quilt, I used the same cream calico as on the front.
 
Before I put the sandwich together I needed to add the 64 antennae. The antennae of the butterflies are hand embroidered, using a backstitch, in a regular stranded embroidery cotton.

The wadding in the middle is 100% polyester.  All I remember about it is that I wanted one piece of wadding, and with the large quilt, my choices were limited.  I had also previously had a BAD experience hand quilting cotton wadding, which ‘bearded’ on a navy background, so I knew I wanted to give that a wide berth.  Having used the quilt daily for several years, I still really like the feel of it.
Quilting
When it came to the quilting, I knew I wanted to hand quilt it, but I didn’t know where to start.  As the top gradually came together, I knew I had to do something about it, so I booked onto a
Sandie Lush Hand Quilting Workshop, at Busy Bees, in Newport. That was a brilliant class, and I left with the confidence to start quilting the Butterflies Quilt.  I didn’t know what to quilt on it, so I made up my own pattern (not without MUCH deliberation), having outlined the butterflies, and ‘stitched in the ditch’ of their bodies.  I remember quilting this quilt quite distinctly. It was July and August in 2006.  It was HOT.  And I was underneath a quilt, hand quilting.  I was quilting to a deadline – I had entered it into the NEC Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, so it had to be done, ready for delivery in August.  Without the deadline, I think I would have done more quilting on it. 
Butterfly Block Scrap Quilt
Example of Butterfly Quilt Block
Once complete, I washed it in the washing machine.  I had been dragging this quilt around with me everywhere for a couple of years.  The cat had regularly sat on it whilst I quilted, and the heat of the summer meant that more recently, it had taken the brunt of my perspiration.  It washed up a treat on a 40 degree wash, and luckily the sun remained out long enough for it to dry outside on the washing line. However, almost immediately, it was packed up and taken to the depot where they were collecting the quilts for the show.  I was missing it already.
Further information about the Inspiration Behind the Butterfly Quilt can be seen in earlier posts.