September is the start of another Flowerpatch Quilters' year and, after a very successful exhibition, we are full of enthusiasm. Next year's charity quilt is already well underway and we're also making decorations for the Christmas Tree Festival in St Mary's Church, Launceston.
We were delighted to welcome textile artist Cat Rowe to our meeting. Trained as an artist, Cat had lots of tips to share with us, but first a little look at some of her textile pieces, all of which are small works.
I love these vases of flowers
and these are two designs for greetings cards.
Cat said that she lays her fabrics on the backing until she likes the picture design, and then photographs it and prints out a version or two. Then she can draw her sewing lines onto the photo as a reference when she's at the sewing machine. What a brilliant idea!
Cat loves to make sketchbooks and these are always her first port of call for a new design. She carries pen, paper and camera wherever she goes because you never no where or when the next idea will come. Much of her inspiration comes from our beautiful county of Cornwall - coast and moorland.
These are some of her sketchbooks.
Another string to Cat's bow is the commission work that she undertakes. She also tutors workshops and sells patterns of her designs. Do take a look at more of her work, etc. with the link below:
Cat Rowe - Textile Illustration
Thank you Cat, you certainly inspired us and I for one will be armed with pen, paper and camera in the future!
Next meeting is on 12th October when our speaker will be Lesley Coles and we will be presenting a cheque to Cornwall Blood Bikes.
Happy Stitching - Anita x
Finally I have got around to looking at all the photos I took when at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham. This was almost a month ago and my very first visit to the exhibition. I certainly wasn't disappointed and in two days I only just managed to see all the quilts and stalls, and, of course, took oodles of photos. It's been really difficult to decide which I would like to show you as everything there was absolutely brilliant. Nevertheless here is a small selection.
Firstly four larger quilts:
Linda Forey's Diamonds are Forever - such precise piecing and lovely use of the stripey fabric for the squares in the corners of the blocks.
Rebecca Handyside's A Year of Colour - very effective use of rainbow colours in a simple design.
Sylvia Borrows British Day in Town & Country - you could never tire of looking at this quilt
and HMP Bullingdon Boys Two Man Cell - this was definitely a surprise exhibit!!
Now three wall quilts:
Mary Mayne's Seed Heads - I love all the colour and quirkiness.
ExDC Quilters Amsterdam Houses - what a brilliant Idea for a group quilt and so much intricate detail in each house panel
and Linda Anderson's Morning Mist - I just couldn't stop looking at these raindrops made with shiny fabric circles and precise shading.
Finally two small wall quilts:
Judy Beevor's No Place Like Home - a foundation pieced row quilt
and Hannie de Beer's New York Beauty Garden - it made my heart sing!
A big "Thank you" to Denise of South West Quilters for organising the trip - it couldn't have been better.
Rainy days means lots of sewing :) - Anita x
Flowerpatch members have enjoyed supporting the Charles Causley Festival in Launceston again this year. The small (approx A5) hangings below were displayed like bunting during the Festival and at our Flowerpatch exhibition. They depict some of the buildings in Launceston.
In a previous post I explained how I turn a photo into a line drawing.
That completes the posts showing quilts, etc. from our exhibition and you can view all the other posts by clicking below.
Large Quilts
Flowerpatch Exhibition
More Quilts
From Photo to Textile
As this is my last exhibition post I'm linking up with Crazy mom Quilts Finish it up Friday
Happy Stitching - Anita x
As promised here are some of the larger quilts on display at Flowerpatch Quilter's exhibition at the beginning of the month.
This first is My Whimsical Quilt Garden made by Dy - from Piece O' Cake Designs
and Liz B's Back to Basics, made for a friend.
This is Melody's Rotherfields Greys Minus One - from a Di Ford design
and Discovery by Sue M - from a Petra Prins design.
Here is Monica D's I did It Janet! - about 15 years in the making and well worth the wait!
Finally the Bluebell Quilt - a group effort made by Ann, Brenda, Dawn, Phyll, Ruby, Sheila and myself.
Each little square is just 1½ "
and the bluebells are embroidered with variegated thread.
Yet more to come from the exhibition next post! - Anita x
Here are some more photos from our Flowerpatch Quilt exhibition and I see that I missed some of the lovely wall quilts in my last post.
These are Karen's Blooms, Birds & Berries and Pippa's Blue Square
Arnolda's Zak's Quilt and Elizabeth's A Hug for Ruth
and two charming flower pics in Annie's cushion and Lois's Daisies
Our exhibition is in two large rooms one of which is themed. This year the theme was Leisure.
Next time I have pics of some of the larger quilts to show you.
Happy Sewing - Anita x
After the excitement of Flowerpatch Quilter's 5 day exhibition followed by a 2 day trip to the Festival of Quilts, my feet have finally touched the ground and I can share some of the beautiful quilts that I have seen.
Firstly at Flowerpatch where, yet again, we were delighted with the response to our displays by the many visitors from all over the Westcountry and beyond.
These are some of the wall quilts, but by no means all:
Annie's Farm Life and Iris L's Mariner's Compass and Joy of Life
Cherrie's Oliver's Snowman and Nina's Skipping in Springtime
Liz B's Sea Horses and Pixie Land
Tina's Hearts and Jane's Lauren's Quilt
Sue M's Shoo Fly and Star Quilt
Sue S's Sunflower and Japanese Folded Patchwork
What an amazing and diverse collection of quilts - there's always plenty to inspire.
Lots more from Flowerpatch exhibition next blog post.
Happy Stitching - Anita
A recent exhibition by a Cornish embroidery group called "Textile +", inspired Dawn, Annie and myself to make small wall hangings from photographs. I thought that I would share them with you as the process was such fun and the results very interesting - especially to us!! They were on display at the Flowerpatch exhibition last week.
We each had to choose a photograph from which to make our textile hanging and then hand the photo to the other two for them to do the same. We didn't let each other view our finished works until they were all done - nor did we discuss what we might be going to embroider, etc.
These are the results:
My photo is a fence post on the cliff top,
Dawn's photo is a field of bales
and Annie's photo is a door with peeling paint
All the wall hangings are small - A5 size
I hope that by sharing these I may inspire you to do something similar with your friends and finally use those photos that have been filed away for future reference! I was so pleased to do something at last with my photo of the post and rusty barbed wire, which I took some years ago at Hartland Quay.
Happy Sewing
Anita x
