Quilt show and new fire

I had a wonderful day out at Trentham visiting Quilts in the Garden on Sunday. It was well worth the visit as there were some wonderful quilts on display although sadly they were not really at their best as the lighting was not good. I did the best that I could with the photos but it was not easy, particularly as it was difficult to get into a good position for a shot as well. The winning bed quilt was by Gwenfai Rees Griffiths, another beautiful example of her hand work, including the Sea Lily blocks from Jenny Beyer's book which were hand pieced using the traditional English method.



I loved the colours that were in Maggie Relph's wall hanging which was made from her sunprint fabric.



This next one is another lovely wall hanging by Annabel Rainbow - it really stood out in the rather dim light.



There was also a small exhibition by a contemporary textile group called Eclectica who meet at the Forge Museum at Redditch which provided some excellent and varied pieces. I can't acknowledge who made the pieces I'm afraid.






I was extremely restrained amongst the traders for a change and only bought two wall hanging patterns from Anja Townrow. I have several others from her but have only ever made one of them - perhaps I will be inspired to do some more now. Having said I was restrained we did also visit the retail village after lunch and I discovered a shop called Weird Fish and treated myself to a new jacket which meant that I had just about spent up before going back to the quilt show. I did need a new jacket whereas I definitely did not need more fabric!

The fireplace is finished. relatively painless because the two young men who were with me for three days were so pleasant and left the place immaculate. Here is the 'before' picture with the old gas fire and the fake marble and MDF surround that I had always hated.



And this is what I have now - the slightly darker marks have now gone, it was just from where they had wiped down the stone and it was still damp. I love it as it makes the room seem warmer even when it is not lit.



I got a wonderful surprise when I was checking my emails on Sunday evening to find that a landscape hanging that I had been doing with the Learningfa Yahoo group was on the home page. First time I have done a landscape and I have to admit that I had to add the three-dimensional butterflies to help out the perspective but I am quite pleased with it.



I'm now back on shifts until Sunday morning so time spent sewing will be greatly reduced but I wish you all, happy stitching.

Maggi

Busy and exciting weekend

I found out yesterday that I was the winner of a beautiful little quilt by Geta who does the most amazing machine Trapunto work. I am so thrilled and can't wait for it to arrive. Her blog is just full of eye candy so do try to visit is you haven't already.

Friday evening was the Jackson Browne concert which was awesome. He does not appear to have changed at all over the last 40 years and if anything, in my opinion his work has just got better. The photo is very poor I am afraid but the lighting wasn't really conducive to ordinary photography.




Sunday was also a somewhat emotional day with the opening of this year's F1 season in Melbourne. Although I have been a Ferrari fan all my life I was overcome by the success of the Brawn GP team. They have been through such troubled times and until about two weeks ago there was doubt as to whether they would even be in this year's championship. To come away with Ist and 2nd is an amazing achievement. I think Jenson Button's face says it all.






There has also been some sewing done as I managed to get the postcard finished for a swap with Monica in Australia. I think I am fairly safe in putting a photo up here as she is on holiday in Egypt at the moment so will not get to see it in advance. It was a piece of fabric that I had dyed recently which looked just like a flower garden so I couldn't resist it.



I will either get a lot of sewing done over the next few days or none at all as I am having my fireplace ripped out and a new one out in along with a wood burning stove. It is going to take them three days and although I will be relegated to my sewing room or the computer I think there is also going to be the need for numerous cups of tea and biscuits to keep the workforce sweet. I am not looking forward to the upheaval but I am looking forward to the additional warmth next winter. My main living room is North facing and although it is wonderful when we have a heatwave it can be hard to get really warm on very cold nights. I'll do a before and after pic when they have finished. I will still be able to at least keep up with what all my blogging friends are doing which will be a comfort.

Happy creativity to you all.

Maggi

Where does the time go to?

I can't believe that it is two weeks since the last post. They say that time goes by faster when you get older and if that is true then I must be reaching my second century. One thing I have been very remiss about is not acknowledging the lovely ATC that I received from Heather and also the shimmering postcard from Monica in Australia. I did acknowledge them personally when they arrived but it is so nice to see what other people are making. Thank you both.






I had a major dyeing session last week after finally making a table for the garage which is where I do all my messy work. I had been looking at an 8' x 4' piece of ply for a long time now and debating how to cut it down to a manageable size. Eventually a friend suggested that I use a jig saw but when I opened the drawer to get it out I found a circular saw so three hours and a lot of heaving large pieces of wood about I had my table - nothing special, just functional. I thought I had better show a picture of the garage after getting it all set up and tidy - it certainly doesn't look like that now. Any Mancunians reading this may well recognise the lady on the back wall.



And this is the result of the new table. I decided that I needed some lighter colours and this should keep me going for a while.



I have done some sewing, quite a lot actually, but they have all been journal quilts to try out different techniques ( I seem to remember they used to be called samples) and I have now decided that I need to do something on a larger scale. I have got several ideas and intend to start developing these soon. One that I did like was my first attempt at discharging. This technique has, I feel, a lot to offer.



Going back to the subject of time going quickly I cannot believe that the Jackson Browne concert is this Friday - I have been looking forward to it for so long and it seems to have arrived out of the blue. It will also make for a nice afternoon in Sheffield as an old school friend and I are meeting up to have a meal first.

And finally, Spring has arrived with a vengeance here and we have just had the most beautiful week. Hope you are all enjoying your gardens and your creativity.

It's not just about flowers.

In my last two posts I showed some flower pieces that I had done as a result of Beth Wheeler's Altered Photo Artistry II online course. This has been an excellent course and having done smaller pieces she showed how to create the lovely scaled up versions that she makes. I have done one, again manipulated in Photoshop and have printed it out on fabric ready to to do the stitching onto it. This one is 24" x 11". I am showing it here as it is because if anyone has been thinking about Beth's course the next one starts March 27th. She is an excellent teacher, always ready to answer questions and make suggestions and I would thoroughly recommend one of her courses. If you are not sure and want to know which on might be the most suitable for you you can always contact her and ask her advice.



This next one is only at the experimental stage and has not yet been printed as I am still playing and having so much fun.

Thanks Beth



I am now going to start stitching so hopefully I will be able to post the finished piece eventually.

Be creative.

Maggi

PS. If you do decide to do one of Beth's courses would you please mention my name. Thank you.

This could become addictive

This is my second flower piece done using Photoshop. It is from a photo of a clematis in my garden. This one is also going to the Little Gems project.



No update on the chimney sweep yet. I have left a message on his mobile and his landline but he has not got back to me - does anyone know any small undernourished boys!!
Maggi

Parrot tulip

Still waiting for the chimney sweep to ring back, guess I'll have to try again tomorrow now. I did finish the parrot tulip piece though so it was not a wasted day.

February JQ

I am keeping up to speed with the Journal quilts and finished my February one yesterday. This was the result of a Mystery Quilt that I signed up for in January. Having cut all the pieces and made strips for part two, part three had us sewing half square triangles - they gave us the wrong measurements! I am no longer taking part in this but decided to use some of the strip pieces for the JQ. I overdyed them all in yellow-green but it still didn't look too good so I added some bleach and then did some printing and added some Shiva paints. A few dabs of complementary colour and now I feel quite pleased with it.



I wrote at the start of the year that I was going to get to grips with Photoshop so having finished my colour lessons with Ellen Lindner I have signed up for a class with Beth Wheeler through Quilters Keep Learning. Only two lessons done so far but it is really making things so much clearer. Here is a glimpse of a Parrot tulip that I manipulated and have now started to machine quilt. It is A4 size and so I think it is likely to go to the Little Gems appeal. If any of you out there fancy supporting the Quilters Guild of the British Isles do take a look at the Little Gems project - you don't have to be a member to contribute.



That's all for now as I had better get back to sewing and I am also waiting for a chimney sweep to phone me back. I am having a new fireplace and stove fitted on April 1st - no joke- and have to get my chimney swept first. That should be fun.

Happy sewing. Maggi

Thank you

I have a couple of people to say thank you to today for different reasons. Firstly Micki who sent me a beautiful lace bookmark from her giveaway together with an embroidered postcard for a swap we have agreed to do. They will both be treasured and the bookmark will be used a great deal. Thanks Micki, your card will be in the post on Monday.



Secondly Lesley gave me this award last week.



Thank you Lesley. I now have to nominate 3 other Creative blogs, add a link to them here and leave a message on their blog to let them know they have the award. It is not easy choosing only three as all the blogs I follow would qualify but, in the spirit of the award I have chosen:-

Donna - a fibre artist from Canada who creates beautiful pieces and also has recently posted pictures of her new puppy on her blog - he is so cute.

Micki - an America now living in Ireland. She does beautiful embroidered work as well as a host of other hand work.

Sandra - a dyer and quilter from West Yorkshire. Her blog is both colourful and inspirational.

Do visit these blogs and check them out.

Today's blog is short as I am under pressure to get something finished for Saturday. Will post about that when it is finally finished.

Take care to all my readers

Thinking of you in Australia

To all Australians who are caught up in the horror of the fires, may you and your loved ones be kept safe.

January JQ

I know that it is the start of February but I have finished my January Journal Quilt for the Contemporary Quilt Group at last. The format this year is 6" x 12" which I have found is a really comfortable size to work with. There is no theme we have to work to so my initial thoughts are to explore Photoshop - although that may change. I had a piece of hand dyed fabric that I wanted to use for something and it was just the right size for this project - less than an inch leeway on either side. My Hippeastrum that I showed a bud of in an earlier post had just came out so I decided to play around with that in Photoshop for a while and eventually came up with the placement. The one aspect of this that I agonised over for some time was the quilting. I loved the fabric so much that I didn't want to detract from it so I eventually decided on a complete contrast to the organic feel to the piece and go with straight lines. I am happy with the result fortunately.



This is the Hippeastrum in full bloom - all four flowers were 7" across when fully open.



Like everyone else over here we've had our fair share of snow overnight. I spent two hours clearing the drive this morning ready for going to work on Thursday morning only to discover that more is forecast. Perhaps I should explain that I live in a cul de sac the start of which is a steep hill. My drive is also on a slope. We never get gritted and getting out is as hazardous as getting in as you literally slide down to the junction at the bottom. There have been several occasions when I have had to leave the car somewhere at the bottom. I don't have the option of a day off on Thursday if it is bad so will have to brave the elements at 5.30 am and hope for the best.

This is what I was watching last night and believe it or not there are normally hills beyond the roof in the photo.