Cloud

This is my holiday project for this year. I was sold it by The Nimble Thimble when I was last there, the beginning of August. It was something a bit different for me. I can crochet but generally I don't. I like lacy shawls, but I don't often make them. Still they were impressed with the pattern, the samples were lovely and there was a crochet expert in the building. I ended up buying the project and actually two extra balls of wool.The pattern is called Cloud and is from the Rowan book 'Misty in Light and Shade' by Kim Hargreaves. It is supposed to make up a 60" x 30" triangle from 4 balls but I fancied a bigger wrap to use in the van so I started with 226 stitches. I could have gone a bit bigger as it truns out but the shawl is still a good size, too big to photograph to be honest. I had to wait for a hook to start this project. It calls for a 9mm which is pretty hard to get but the ladies at the Nimble Thimble got them in for me. It's the first time I jave used a wooden hook and I loved it. I think it was quicker and easier to use than the metal or plasic ones. I made this shawl in 3 days and loved every minute of it. I've already been in touch with the shop about my next project. When I was there I saw broomstick crochet for the first time. It looks fun and I want to play. My broomstick is already on order, I am sure they will be able to find me some suitable yarn and a small wooden crochet hook too. If you fancy having a go at this pattern the shop has it on special offer at the moment and even if they have sold out of the hooks again they will happily order them in for you.

Wolves

Today I've taken a day off quilting to visit some wolves. This is one of the European girls who were by far the most obliging for photography and even so the framing leaves something to be desired. The Canadian wolves were the least helpful hiding in the trees, we saw two of the three and maybe the ears of the third. At least it's been dry, though to get good pictures I think I need to come on one of their special days.

Selecting thread

It's not often I get a customer quilt I can talk about, but today I have exactly that. This quilt belongs to Susan Briscoe and is for a book she is working on. She is sending quilts to a range of quilters to show how different quilting can change the quilt. I'm really looking forward to seeing the results. This is the first one I am doing. We had a chat about possible quilting patterns and ideas, but as I said, she is looking for variations so isn't giving too much guidance. I did say I would pick threads close to the fabrics but a shade or two off. That's fine until you get to the border fabric. The first two threads I picked a possibilities are the two to the right. The quilt is fairly subdued tones so I thought a slightly greyed colour might work. I tried the brown(ish) one because the quilt had a lot of brown in it and the green because Susan had mentioned the green in the border when we were talking. I don't like either of them on the quilt they both look too bright to me. I was still thinking about green, the pattern I am putting in the border is of plants they are green, and the border fabric has bright greens in it. The second from the left was the best green I came up with. Darker greens tended to look very blue on this fabric and that was right out. I quite like the lime green varigated but it is loud. It woulkd make for some real 'look at me' quilting. That's fine in the right place. Is a pattern I've just invented on a subtle quilt it? No, I didn't think so either. I actually gave up on the border thread for a while and selected the threads for the rest of the quilt. In the process I spotted the leftmost thread. For me it is the perfect combination of bright visable and subtle. It will show enough but not overwhelm the quilt and it picks up the autumnal feel of the quilt. I have my winner. This process is pretty much what I go through for every quilt. I often end up with a long row of possible threads and spend quite a while picking the right balance for th quilt. Sometimes I get lucky and there is either an obvious choice or it's not too critical, but more often it's a matter of trying out lots. The worst part is even having laid the thread on the quilt like this you sometimes get surprises. I had one where two of us had done this and come to, what we thought, was a good answer. I started quilting and after about 5 minutes was certain we were wrong, the thread looked horrible. I had to unpick and try again. Fortunately I did better the second time. Yes, I have started the quilting, and this time the thread does work.

I’m getting there

Monday was pretty much a write off, but I am now getting back into the swing of things. Tuesday I went and fetched my machine parts and paid their customs charges. APQS had done a great job of properly itemising the goods on the declaration so I only paid for the things I had bought not the replacement patr they had sent. It’s a little thing but it can make a big difference to how much I pay in duties. I’d not been looking forward to replacing the hook. Last time it took several hour, two people and a fair number of injuries. This time it was less than an hour and I did it on my own. The machine is now much happier. I will admit I am doing a few simple quilts to be certain before tackling the more tricky ones I have waiting.

Yesterday I spent chasing down entires for other quilt shows and trying to get everything ready. I have been quite bad at putting lables on quilts recently and for US show I have to do it and do it right. ‘Nude with Rope’ Does already have her label but ‘Greek Fossils’ wich is heading to Innovatuions with her doesn’t so I need to sort that out ASAP. My dress is also up for consideration for a juried show, so I figure I will put it’s labels on while I am doing labels on the off chance it manages to get in somewhere. I also printed out the forms for Veldhoven, it must be a good show as it has now been recommended to me several times. I missed entering this year because of the amount of work I was doing. I won’t make the same mistake again (I don’t want to incur the wrath of certain parties).

If you do know of any good quilt shows I should be looking to enter please do let me know. I’ve heard a rumour of one in Norway, which I would love to be true. I belive there are a few in Europe, although one of the French ones had terms I can’t sign to and I can’t remember which it is. Are there any open shows in Canada or Australia? I am determined this is my year to push out to other countries, so feel free to give me a kick up the backside to enter your favourite shows.

Please and Thank You

The Festival is over and I’m back home with my cat’s. I can now get back to something like normal I am now on the scrounge. If you came to the fashion show and have any pictures of my outfits do you think you could you get in touch. The downside of modeling your own clothes is not being able to get pictures.

I’d also like to thank all the people who have helped me get through the show. Those who have provided practical help and moral support. I don’t think I could have done it without you.

I did very well with my spending this year. I only made one unplanned purchase, Helen Deighans braiding book and braid plate. I love making cords and some of her flat braids were lovely and I think will be more useful than the cords. Certainly I’ve had fun with it so far.

In the planned shopping I visited Heide Stoll Weber. She dyed the fabric I used for Greek Fossils. I am now looking for bigger pieces of cloth to make bigger but similar quilts. She is a star and it taking on the task. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.

I also went to see Starr Designs. This is the company who sold me the kit for Holiday Starrfire last year. I have a plan to make a double wedding ring quilt with their fabrics so again I needed to special order yardage.  It is a lot easier to select fabrics when oyou are face to face, but now I understand how they refer to the different colours I think it will be easier in the future. My next simple quilt project will be another of their kits, the new one, Wild goose chase. Being me, I don’t want a small quilt, so I had to buy more than one kit, but I think it will also mean I can make myself more quilting space. I’m really looking forward to having a play with the design. I think it will come out looking very similar but with a bit more quilting area and a lot larger. I enjoy their klits because they let me relax. The kits wortk and the fabric is lovely.

Birmingham NEC

It's worrying, it feels far too homely here and it doesn't feel like it's been a year. If you're in the Crowne Plaza keep an eye open and say hi if you spot me. During the day I will be on the Patchwork Corner stand except for Sunday when I will be teaching.

The end is in sight

I’ve tunred the longarm off and it won’t be back on now until at least Monday. I may have a chance to change the hook assembly before I use it again and from how it’s been behaving today it would appreciate that. The hook is now in the country but I have a chance to get it until Monday. Most of my things are packed ready for the off. I’ve got one piece to finish assembling tomorrow before I leave. I am hoping I will drive to Birmingham at a civilised time but I’m not betting on it yet. I keep adding more things to my packing list and I am very pleased I am taking a van this time. However even with a van I don’t think I am going to have much spare space. Ho hum, things always expand to fill the space available right?

I’ve had to call it quits for tonight because all my hammers have gone into hiding again. I swear one day I am going to buy a crate each of claw hammers and club hammers, there can only be so many a house can eat. Anyway I will go and enjoy an abnormally large amount of sleep, night night.

Up’s up’s and more up’s

I spent Friday and Saturday at the Nimble Thimble in Buckingham. It meant one heck of an early start after a late night (well early morning if you want to be precise). Friday was speed quilts. I was concerned that it wasn’t going to work out as none of my students had prepared their fabrics and wadding. Still they got down to work and two beginners (one of them in her first week of quilting!) pretty much finished their cot quilts in the day. That’s pretty good going and great data for me, so thank you very much ladies.

After a quick trip into town for dinner we got set up for the evening talk. That should have been pretty simple but the hall had overbooked and someone else was using it during our set up time. We had been assured this wouldn’t be an issue, they would only be using one half of the hall….wrong! So already running late we finally decided to ask if we could set up while they finished what they were doing. It did bring in some new features of setting up a talk. Communication with hand signals doe swork when you are dealing with people on the same wavelength but having to have a spotter was a new one on me. You see the group who were in the hall were sparing martial artists. Not ideal for putting up quilt stands but they were careful, we were careful and it all worked.

The talk went down well. I managed to borrow not one but two men to help hold up my quilts and the audience seemed pleased. I got a surprising number of new and sensible questions. Also several people could see Dawn and Dusk as looking quite Macintosh, I had thought I was the only one who saw it that way and it was nice to be proved wrong.

From there we moved on to the pub. One of the shop owners lives right next door to a lovely old pub complete with cats (her’s but they like the putb too). After showing the regulars my postcards I went and fetched Nude with Rope, and we displayed her. Wow! What a response. I couldn’t believe how enthusiastic people were. Bear in mind these weren’t quilters just ordinary people out for a drink on a Friday night, but they got it, and loved it. It has inspired me to try and find a way to get my quilts in front of more people. I don’t know how but I really want to do it.

Saturday I was back at the shop for another workshop, Autumn Leaves. I had one of my beginners from the Friday an experienced art quilter and a teacher looking for ideas for her students. This wide range of requirements lead to me changing the format a bit but I think it worked well. I came up with a new smaller design for the beginner who demonstrated the leaves for the others, and tried decorative machine stitches for her quilting. The teacher left with a variation on the class which I think will work well with children or any group, and the experienced quilter nailed my technique for binding. I hope they will have all found the day really useful.

Fabrications Issue 67

On the way home I stopped off to meet another of my students from The Nimble Thimble who has a horse nearby. She was practicing on him so I got to see him in action. Goodness he is lazy, but when he moves he is lovely. Yes I might have plans for this at some point.

When I got home I found my copy of Fabrications Magazine had arrived. Cool, something to read. However even cooler is the little picture of Phoenix Rising on the cover. Better still there are two more pictures of it inside along with Herd Mentality (currently in the US at the World Quilt Shows) Bad Rain and Daughter. Isn’t that just a great way to round out the weekend? Well no, I finished the parts for my daywear for the International Evening and got it together as well. I think that counts as a productive couple of days right?