Di Ford and Petra Prins

South West Quilters treated all the groups and individuals who had made quilts for their very successful "Saints of Cornish Churches", to an afternoon talk by Di Ford and Petra Prins, held at Cowslip Workshops. There must have been about 200 ladies present and after a very interesting talk when Petra showed us her collection of antique quilts, sharing her knowledge of dating quilts by the fabrics and dyes used, and Di explained some of the methods she uses to create her beautiful quilts, we had the added delight of wall to wall quilts in the barn, made by Di, Petra and some of their students.

These are the antique quilts displayed on a table after the talk.

Just look at the tiny triangles used in this quilt in the centre of the table!

This has to be my favourite of Di's quilts on show. I love every single border.

And this is Di's fussy cut hexagon quilt - an inspiration.

This is one of Petra's quilts that I particularly like.

The exhibition is still on until Sunday 22nd May 2016 - it's amazing!

Happy Stitching
Anita x

A Trip to Japan at Flowerpatch

What a delightful evening at Flowerpatch Quilters last week, when we accompanied Mary on a virtual trip to Japan. Mary and Iris like to celebrate their special birthdays in style and earlier this year they enjoyed a quilting trip to Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan.

They visited the enormous quilt show held in Tokyo for two of their days. The vast majority of the quilts were hand quilted and the stitches were exquisitely teeny tiny. Also embroidery featured in a lot of the quilts. Mary brought along lots of photos for us to see the huge variety of impressive work.

They also took part in two workshops namely Shibori - knotting with fine string and dyeing, and a stenciling workshop.

These are pics of some of the items that Mary brought to the meeting - I love the socks!

The white flowers on blue is some Shibori work.

Mary and Iris wanted to buy kimonos whilst there and were directed to a local thrift shop where they found a lovely selection. Mary brought both along to show us and told us about the experience they had of being dressed in a kimono themselves which involved numerous different layers of clothing and lots of wrapping with sashes.

We were all enthralled and Mary dealt with all our interruptions and questions with great humour and patience. It was a fascinating evening - thank you Mary.

The Cornish Cottages charity quilt is now finished and tickets are on sale at Cowslip Workshops. This year our charity is the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

...with thanks to Wendy and Hilary who are behind the quilt teetering on a picnic bench!!

The Charles Causley small quilts will be on display in Launceston library from Tuesday 17th May until the  first weekend in June.

Cowslip have a beautiful exhibition on until Sunday 22nd May 2016 with quilts by Di Ford, Petra Prins and their students. One not to miss.

Parkhouse Quilters of Bude EX 23 8LD have their exhibition from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th June 2016. Always well worth a visit.

Happy Sewing - Anita

Little Harbour Workshop at Flowerpatch

A hands on evening for our Flowerpatch Quilters April meeting when we started to make a little harbour fabric picture.

The idea for this came from a card designed by Emma Valenghi, that I had pinned to my "things to do" board in my sewing room, for at least 2 years. I HAVE to sew in the evenings or else I fall asleep in front of the TV, so with no other sewing planned I cut a piece of calico approximately A5 size; grabbed my bin of tiny, tiny scraps; armed myself with scissors and pins; and I was ready to begin.

This is the original card (minus a sailboat that I used as a tag!) and my first attempt.

I didn't use any sticky for this first one apart from  windows, doors and chimneys, but found that other small pieces shifted as I sewed on the machine. For this next one I also used some Steam-a-Seam 2 to fix the narrow roofs and I put fishing boats in the water.

This third one has hills in the background with a rather wonky chapel and an engine house

And my fourth has sand beneath the wall and wind turbines on the far hill.

Oh, what fun!

At Flowerpatch everyone was given a set of instructions, a piece of A5 size stiff calico and a little Steam a Seam 2 with instructions for using. We all provided scraps of fabric to use and share.

So here is a bit of a tutorial:
This is the harbour drawing which gave us an idea of what we were aiming at, but which didn't have to be followed exactly.

All fabric is cut raw edge - no seam allowance needed because this is not supposed to be really neat and tidy :) . The houses at the back are put on first and pinned in place, followed by the ones in the front row.

Next comes the road, wall and water; and then everything is tacked down. The calico is backed with wadding before all the little pieces are sewn down by machine. The middle picture is about as far as we got on the Flowerpatch evening and I must admit it doesn't look very inspiring, but what a transformation when you start to add windows etc.

In the first picture of these two I have stuck on all the windows, doors, narrow roofs and chimneys with the Steam a Seam 2. The second picture is after a couple of hours of hand sewing - methinks so much nicer and this time I added a seagull on a pointy roof.

This is how you use Steam-a-Seam 2
Peel apart a little to see which is the sticky side and draw your design (in reverse) on the back of this side. Cut out roughly around the design. Peel off the backing paper and lay sticky side down on the back of your appliqué fabric. Finger press firmly but DO NOT IRON now. Cut out on the drawn line. Peel off the paper and lay the appliqué piece on your backing fabric. You can move it about as you like until you’re happy, then iron it on permanently. No need to even sew it down!!


Lots of ideas were being bandied about as to how this little picture could be adapted and some I heard were - night time scene, blue fabric for the sky, a friend's house in a terrace for a gift, street scene, etc etc.

My printer friendly instructions are more comprehensive and include the harbour drawing.

Next meeting is on 12th May when Mary and Iris will be telling us all about their adventures on their "Quilt Trip to Japan".

Happy Fabric Fun - Anita x

Quilt Festival in Exeter - Saints and Stitches

My final post about the Spring Quilt Festival at Westpoint, Exeter last weekend.

This time I'd like to show you some "Stitched Art" by two of the Textile Maids.
These two are Cornish Cream and Seed Bank by Sue Hooper

And these are Autumn Night and Poison by Margaret Garood

Two people with very different styles - both very thought provoking.

The exhibition was the last chance to see all the Saints of Cornish Churches quilts displayed together. This has been a brilliant effort by South West Quilters with the quilts shown at four different venues in the past year and a half.

This is St Roche by Jackie Hodges

St Adwenna by The Material Girls

St Stephen by Jo Colwill of Cowslip Workshops

and finally St Thomas the Apostle by Flowerpatch Quilters

Just four out of 35 superb quilts.
And a brilliant Spring Quilt Exhibition 2016 for the Westcountry. - Anita x

Quilt Festival in Exeter - Devon Quilters

More beautiful work from the Spring Quilt Festival at Westpoint, Exeter. These are just five of the quilts made by some of the Devon members of South West Quilters, not that I didn't like all the others, but some pics turned out better.

So we have Morris Florilegia by Beryl White - and I think this was my favourite of the whole show

Outside the Cabin by Diane Coop

Baltimore Papercuts by Helen Clarke

Nature's Garden by Jean Stetson - sorry about the diagonal shadow, but it's such a gorgeous quilt I had to include it.

Celebrating Three Score Years by Myra Hodges

Wow - they are all lovely and the applique particularly is amazing - such patience and skill.

I must try harder!!  :)   - Anita x

Quilt Festival in Exeter - Nautical Inspirations

Some friends and I had a super day at the Spring Quilt Festival held at Westpoint in Exeter. The exhibits were brilliant again this year - ever better and better, and it was lovely to see a lot of hand quilting.

There are lots of quilts that I'd like to show you - I took so many pics, but in this post I'll just show my six favourite entries in the Journal Challenge which was "Nautical Inspirations". Each little quilt is the size of an A4 sheet of paper and each entry has to have two quilts.

Longstone and Souter Lighthouses by Brenda Cupryna

Looking Out and Back by Brenda Thomas

From the Stars to Satellites by Dawn Fenn

Pea Green Boat and Blue Riband by Delyth Mattingly

Stern and Bow by Pat Train

Around the Seashore - Stephanie Aplin

Devon Quilters belonging to SWQ and some of that hand quilting next time. - Anita x

Small pouch with flap

I do like making small gifts for my friends particularly when they have a special birthday. I really like this Lynette Anderson embroidery design which uses simple stitches to great effect and the little blue bird is delightful.

I have lined the pouch with blue fleecy fabric and my friend is using it for her reading specs.

The method for making up the pouch is very simple and I made another some time ago which I use for my rotary cutter.

This one is lined in cotton fabric and I like the way that it closes with the flap tucked under a ribbon loop.

And here is a bit of a tutorial for making a similar pouch. All the measurements can be changed to suit your own requirements.

You will need:-

Pouch fabric front – 4" x 7"

Pouch fabric back and flap – 4" x 10½"

Lining fleece fabric – 3¾” x 16½” (make this a little longer if you’re not using fleece)

Wadding – 2 pieces slightly larger than the pouch fabric pieces.

A piece of ribbon ¼“ longer than the width of the pouch fabric pieces.

I have made my back from two pieces of fabric so that the apples are always up the right way when the flap is closed - how's about that for forward planning?!!

The fabric pieces are laid on the wadding and quilted, then excess wadding is trimmed off and ¼“ of the top front edge is turned in and pressed.

The ribbon ends are sewn onto the sides of the front approx 1” down from the top edge.

Lay the pouch front and back  right sides together matching up the short bottom edges.

Sew these together along the sides and bottom keeping the top edge of the front still folded.

Fold the fleecy lining fabric right sides together to make a pouch just a tiny bit shorter than the outer fabric one. There is no need to fold the top edge of the front unless you're not using fleece for the lining.

Check the size of the flaps and adjust as necessary so that the lining flap is a tiny bit shorter than the pouch fabric flap.

Put the two flaps right sides together and sew around. 

Trim across the corners for less bulk and turn the right way out. Turn the outer of the pouch right ways out also, and slip the lining inside.

Top stitch across the top front edge of the pouch by hand through the lining and the outer fabric and top stitch around the flap.

This is a link to a page of printer friendly instructions with line drawings.

So much quicker to make than write about I assure you!!
Happy Sewing - Anita x