Hever show – Region 2 quilts

These are a selection of quilts from the rest of the show at Hever. I have decided to ration myself to five pictures which has made it very difficult to choose what to show you. I think these are my favorites in no particular order.‘Lime Leaf in Autumn’ by Jane Coombes – This design is adapted with permission from a cross stitch pattern by Rose Swalwell and combines two of my favorite hobbies.
This quilt caught my eye from quite a distance away. I just love the blend of colours and the pixelated nature of the image. Sadly I couldn’t get into a position to be able to fit the whole quilt in the frame. The brown border extends all the way around the quilt the same width. Please do click on the image to see the larger version.
‘Winter Blues’ by Eva Thomas – An inner landscape of the bitterly cold Scandinavian winter climate – overwhelmed by snow blizzards and ice for months on end. Thankfully the anticipation of a new spring (flower fabrics) lifts my spirits.
This quilt grabbed me on several levels at once. The snow on the branches made me think of the lack on quilting in the snow of ‘Do Bears’ the colours made me think of Sweden. I love Sweden so the heart seemed right, and I love winter too. Just fantastic. I love the way the snowflakes are made too.

‘Warm Cuddle Up Under Quilt’ by Juliet Eberle. There is no artists statement for this quilt.
I had to put in two pictures of this quilt as I don’t think it is clear when you see the picture of the whole thing what makes it so good. The quilting is wild, and makes you want to look at it. I stared for ages following the lines about the quilt. Even so I didn’t notice until I was preparing the photographs that the quilting goes over the binding. I wish I had seen it at the time and could have had a look at the back as well. Ho hum, maybe I will see it again somewhere else.

‘Moonflower’ by Heather Downie – Made from silk bought in Bangladesh. Design inspired by a Japanese quilt by Sumiko Maeda and based on the orange peel pattern. Machine pieced and quilted.
I am a complete sucker for quilts with a flow of value or colour. They get me every time. This one also has a really neat pattern, that I wasn’t familiar with. To top it off it is made from truly luscious silks. How could I fail to love this one.

Challenge Quilts – Part 2

I meant to say this in the last post, but forgot. One of the nicest prizes you get a quilt shows is the chance to meet the other winning quilters. I’ve met so many really nice and friendly people while I have been waiting to collect awards. This show was no exception. I got to talk to the winner of the challenge, Heather Downie. She and her husband are really lovely, and I doubt I would have got to talk to them otherwise. People often ask what the prizes for these show are, and really this is the important one. The people.

Firstly, here is the quilt that won second place, ‘Kicking Leaves’ by Jenny Pudney. Again, sorry for fluffing the pictures.
Now back to the quilts that caught my eye. This is the one from Nikki Tinkler. I had been quite upset to find that my pictures or this quilt were all rather shaky, but fortunately I must have forgotten I had taken it’s picture and took this much better one late in the day.
Judges Choice. ‘Falling Falling’ by Nikki Tinkler – Autumn leaves collected with my daughter were laminated and scattered over a strippy quilt. Hand embellished beads, Swarovski crystals, ribbons and yarns. Machine quilted and thoroughly enjoyed.This is my, I don’t agree with the judges quilt. I really felt this one should have got something. So I guess I will have to start a “Ferret doesn’t agree with the judges” award. On the other hand it wouldn’t be any fun if we all agreed all the time now would it. Also I failed to get a good shot of this quilts number, so I can’t be sure which one it is in the guide. If anyone can tell me I would really appreciate it. I think it is by either Ina Verschoof, or Neradah McCarthy.
This is the last one I am putting up from the challenge quilts, and my photo does nothing for it. All the leaves on the trees in the border are seed beads. They did indeed take forever to put on, as I got to meet the maker of this one. I love it. I have to admit to me it is very late Autumn, it has the frosts, and the chill of winter is really just around the corner. I think this is the one I would most like to have taken home with me.
Judges Choice. ‘The Last Leaf’ by Christine Reynolds – I thought about a cool, grey, misty Autunm morning when I designed this quilt. Machine stitched and quilted with hand beading.

Challenge quilts

Having made many attempts to add picture to the last post I think it is time to admit defeat. Here are the winners and a couple others that I liked from the challenge section of the Hever show. I’ve included the artist statements from the guide so you can see what the artists had to say about their work.This is the first place quilt. ‘October’ by Heather Downie – Design inspired by the Ghanaian fabrics which were used for most of the quilt top. Machine pieced and quilted.

Second place. ‘Kicking Leaves’ by Jenny Pudney – Natural fibre fabrics were machine appliqued to a cotton fabric/wading/fabric sandwich. The applied leaves had a wool/viscose wadding to increase shrinkage and the whole was dyed after stitching.

NOTE – the above picture isn’t this quilt. Sorry I was tired and fluffed the picture sorting. The one above is another quilt I really liked, ‘Furry Leaves’ by Anne Moncrieff – Faux chenille machine sewn from cotton fabrics. hand embroidered and quilted over polyester wadding. I will be putting the right picture on the next entry.

Third place. ‘Golden Storm’ by Ferret – For me Autumn is all about leaves and wind . Daily you see the season change and feel the wind blowing away the summer.

These next couple are ones that caught my eye. There were 62 entries in the class, and to be honest I liked all of them. Sadly I can’t put up pictures of every quilt.

This one really feels like Autumn as I see it. I especially liked the little metal spider in it’s web. ‘Autumn swirls and twirls’ by Doreen Mclean – Glorious colours and textures with the wind lifting, swirling and twirling the tumbling leaves which flutter down to rest on the woodland carpet.

Seems like I can’t put any more pictures on this post, so you will have to wait for the next exciting installment.

Hever Castle quilt show

I thought I would give you a quick update of the quilt show. Unfortunately life has got in the way so I haven’t been able to get to my computer, so this is another mobile phone report. On the bright side i can add pictures to this entry as well as the next. Firstly if you are in the south of England and you haven’t visited it I strongly suggest you do. The castle isn’t huge or to my mind impressive but the grounds and ancilary buildings are amazing. The first thing that struck me was the number and size of trees there. The whole landscape was so inspiring i think it will lead to several quilts. I’ve been thinking about some traditional English landscapes for a while but living in London has made getting source photos tricky. It was interesting having a chance to play with some of the art and design techniques i have been learning about. The difference between portrait and landscape pictures is really interesting. I was especially interested in the change in the view through a walkway to the lake. Vertical image with the pillars framing is so strong, yet the same view horizontally with several pillars is so different. I could ramble forever about the gardens but i suppose i should mention the quilts. The show is indeed held in a marquee in the grounds. It is a pretty large marquee, i think there were about seven traders there, 300 quilts and five demonstrators. Not bad for what I was thinking of as a little local show. There was a good turn out in the challenge class and a very high standard. I think the worst quilts in this show in general were much higher ststandard than in others i have been to. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for the judges. The non challenge quilts were not judged, the three winners were chosen by the visitors. Apparently the public were very good about writing comments for the quilts they chose. I hope they can find a way to pass this information on to the makers. Also there were only a couple of votes between the top few choices, so your vote really does matter.When i get home i will upload some pictures. Right now I am running out of battery. I do have to say, they have great rosettes. I really like rosettes and this one is blue and purple with spiky bits, fantastic. Also everyone there was really friendly and welcoming. If you enter or visit just one show next year I think you could do a lot worse than pick this one. See you there.

Sneaky peak

I don’t know if I should really be sharing this, but hey what the heck. People keep warning me that there are others waiting to steal my ideas but really is it that bad out there? Realistically how can I protect my work anyway, given I plan on showing it.

This is my latest creation. It is just the top, I will get to the quilting next week. It really needs to be seen in the flesh, the dark colours are visible but they look different from different angles. Once I have tweaked the picture to bring out the darkest fabric it throws off the balance on the wiggly fabric. So you will all have to visit me, no way around it Alternatively I will have to send it to all your local shows so you can see it there. Oh yes, this piece is called ‘Wait’.

Racing

For those who like to keep up to date with the drag racing. The Top Fuel car qualified second yesterday. Today is more qualifying and they have just run again, she launched well, then started slowing down. Half track the car became a fireball. The driver is fine, I think he is immune to fire he has been in so many without incident. The car on the other hand isn’t looking too good. They are taking her apart right now and I should get an update later. Keep your fingers crossed that they can locate everything they need to run again tomorrow.

Half a nude and a pile of colour

Sorry I’ve been rather quiet today. I’ve been trying to get a move on with the two quilts I need to get done. I do appreciate all the kind comments you’ve left for me. Yes I will take lots of pictures and I will try and get the up here on the Sunday.

So back to the projects in hand. I am about half way through putting together the nude. I have a head, shoulders and arms down to the wrists. Because of the way she is sitting most of her body is hidden so really I only have her legs and hands left to do. Of course hands and feet have far more pieces than any other body parts so they take proportionally longer, but I may be able to get it together tomorrow.

My printing is coming on well too. I am significantly over half way through the image processing and printing. It’s been nice working on the two projects together as it involves a lot of moving around so i am not a sore and achy as I would have been just doing the printing on it’s own. If anyone else is thinking of trying this be warned, it gets through ink at an alarming rate. I know my printer is pretty ink hungry but even so. I put in a new cartridge this morning and the printer is complaining it has run out. I should get another three or four sheets after that, maybe more given I have been using a lot of red and I am now working on green. It does mean that this will be a very expensive project but I am enjoying it, and I think it will work quite well.

Golden Storm – Result

I’ve just had a call from the organizer of the Hever Castle quilt show. ‘Golden Storm’ has won third place. I can’t believe it, especially as at one point I wasn’t going to bother to make it. I guess there is a moral in this. It has done wonders for motivating me to get the current two show projects done. I can now say I will definitely be at the show on Sunday for the presentation. We decided a long time ago that if I show clashed with racing racing came first, execept if I won a prize. So everyone keep your fingers crossed, we don’t want any emergencies at the track.

Computers know.

A computer can tell when you really need to get something done. The software I use to play with photographs has decided it isn’t going to work properly today. Worse still the thing that provokes it is saving the files. So do I save more often because it is playing up, which in turn crashes it more? Or do I try and see how far I can get before it crashes and looses all my work. Hmm, I don’t really like either option.

On the bright side I have all the images I need, they print well, and I like the effect. I did some test prints last night that I could cut up and play with and I thing I am going to end up with a very nice sized piece. If only I could actually get the fabric printed. I need to do at least 14 sheets and so far I have one. Maybe giving it a break will have helped.

Interesting exercise in looking

I’ve spent today looking for colour. Nothing really unusual there I suppose, it is what quilters do, and as expected it did involve a trip to the quilt shop. However I wasn’t buying the colours I was photographing them. I have decided I want to make a quilt using only found colours. I will then print my own fabrics and off I go. I wanted to collect a rainbow which I was thinking would be pretty tricky. Green obviously is easy, it is everywhere even in a city. Purple and orange on the other hand are not what you call natural colours. Knowing you want to collect every colour really changes the way you see the world. I discovered that a lot of people paint their doors and garages bright green or dark purple blue, and that you can get purple wheelie bins. Workmen are quite happy for you to photograph their machines (I really should have got the green digger) and that one of the rose gardens near my house is all from cutting from the rose garden at Regents park. The thing that surprised me most though is how much colour there is. I would have said most things here are green, grey, or brick. It just isn’t so. The whole place is alive even the really built up areas. I have managed to get a full set of colours (at least 12 of each) in one day. I am about to go around the house to get anything else I can find to add more variety, but I don’t need to and I expected to have to photograph paints, and marker pens just to have enough. I wish I had tried this sooner, I know it has vastly improved my ability to see what is around me. Making the quilt somehow seems a lot less important now.