Flowerpatch Quilters Exhibition 2018

These are some of the beautiful and varied quilts in Flowerpatch Quilters recent exhibition. I only wish that I could show you more, but there were so many entries this year that it made taking good photos difficult. These are simply the photos that turned out OKish.

Starting with a few smaller items:

All at Sea - a cushion by Iris L

and Iris's Little Houses

Another cushion - this is Tina's Round my Garden - I Wish!

Dawn was really inspired by the Twinchies we made at Christmas and these are:
2018 - Year of the Twinchies

and Songs of the Seventies

I hope you can see this well enough to have a go at naming them!

Getting a bit larger with two wall quilts by Teresa:
British Seaside

and Chateau Hexagon

This latter is a Lynette Anderson pattern and the embroidery is exquisite.

This is a primitive style wool quilt by Sue M. called Two Birds in the Garden

And in total contrast Homage to Escher by Iris M.

Pauline C. and Toni collaborated on this next wall quilt - it is called Here we Go Around the Round House and it is inspired by a Charles Causley poem.

Continuing with a local theme we have Liz B's Cornwall

These next two were originally made for an exhibition called Through the Window which was at Cowslip Workshops last year

Pippa made Sunrise Over the Misty Tamar Valley

and Dy, Lois, Melody, Karen, Annie and Monica D combined their efforts to make this delightful garden scene. It represents the garden of Windmill Patchworks where the idea for Flowerpatch Quilters was born.

These next four quilts are full of interest - I would never tire looking at them.

Firstly Karen's Shades of India

Jane's Summer Circus

Chris G's Heart of the Home

and Elizabeth S's Summer in a Quilt

The applique/embroidery blocks in this quilt are so cute

Gradually getting a bit larger now - this is Iris L's Green Daisies

Melody's wool applique quilt Beauty All Round

Pauline C's Wedding by the Sea

and Liz B's door curtain My House

It was impossible to get far enough away to do the larger quilts justice with my camera so this is just a small taste of what was on offer:

Margaret had a flying geese year with her two very different quilts

Jennifer's Guy's Compass Quilt was very large and intricately pieced

and this is Jo C's Scandinavian Ice Flowers

Of course one of the large quilts was our charity quilt Over the Rainbow and we were all so pleased that it was won by Ellen, one of our members.

I've written about this quilt in a previous post. It was beautifully quilted with a hand-guided daisy pattern by Sandy Chandler.

Below was probably the most unusual item in the exhibition - Annie made this headboard for her brother who is an avid Alice Cooper fan!! It certainly surprised a few visitors.

Finally I want to say a big "thank you" to Maggie, Janet and Jane for their wonderful flower arrangements that complimented the quilts so well. These are just a few of them.

Another Flowerpatch year starts on 13th September when we will have a mini workshop on reverse applique. Please bring along a sewing kit to include sharp scissors and a Frixion pen or sharp pencil.

Happy stitching - Anita x

Weather Challenge at Flowerpatch

It was another lovely Flowerpatch Quilters exhibition this year. It doesn't seem quite possible, but I think they get better and better. This year's was even more diverse than usual and in this blog I want to share the results of our very inspiring Chairman's Challenge. This was a piece of work based on a weather saying - we could choose any saying that appealed to us.

These two are Clear Moon, Frost Soon by:

Pauline C.

and Anne B.

with apologies for not including Annie's as my photo had too much reflection from the glass.

These three are Rain before 7, Dry by 11 by:

Pippa

Chrissie

and Ros

This is Sunshine and Shadow by Iris M.

Ne'er cast a clout till May be out by Ruth

Lundy high - fine and dry, Lundy low - rain and blow by Liz B.

The sun has got its hat on, hip hip hip hooray ........ by Dy

Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. by Tina

Snowmen fall from heaven - unassembled! by Karen

When geese fly high it's fine and dry. When geese fly low it's rain or snow. by Dawn

and finally my two entries:

Storm in a Teacup

and If woolly fleeces deck the heavenly way, be sure no rain will mar a summer's day

What a super challenge - I can't wait to hear what Liz chooses for next year!

More posts about the exhibition to follow - Anita x

Flowerpatch Exhibition Preview 2018

The July Flowerpatch Quilters meeting is always the exhibition preview when we get to see the quilts etc. that will be in our imminent exhibition. This year the meeting was held at Cowslip Workshops by kind invitation of Jo Colwill. It's a bit nerve wracking wondering if we have the makings of a good and full show, but Flowerpatch members never disappoint and this year is no exception. So here below is just a peek at some of the entries.

Of course we have lots of piecing

Birds and animals of all shapes and sizes

We wouldn't be Flowerpatch without flowers

Houses

and other loveliness.

Finally, can you see what we have here? All will be revealed - it's amazing and very different.

Also at the exhibition we're indulging our British obsession with the weather, and playing Chinese Whispers!

Let me tell you about our last three Flowerpatch Quilters meetings as I missed writing about them simply because I didn't take any photos.

In April we had a return visit by Lesley Coles who had us doing some improv drawing to design our own quilt.
May was one of our favourite type of meetings - Four Corners. This is when the members are divided into four groups who move around the room visiting the "Four Corners" in each of which is someone showing a particular patchwork technique. Sue explained freezer paper applique, Phyllis had everyone practising their hand quilting, I showed  6 minute circles and Arnolda did Redwork.
June was "Quilts in a Suitcase". These were A3 quilts each inspired by a favourite artist and hired to the group by the UK Quilters Guild. They were so inspiring and all so different.They featured some of my favourite artists like Gustav Klimt, Victor Vasarely, Angie Lewin, ........ etc. Dy, Iris and Chris did a lovely job of displaying each quilt in turn.

Not many days now until our exhibition - it will be our 35th. It starts on Tuesday 31st July and finishes on Saturday 4th August, 10 am to 4 pm each day. It is held at Central Methodist Church Hall, Launceston, Cornwall, PL15 8BA. We have a stall which sells fabric, books and crafts, and refreshments (+ cake) are available. Entrance is £2. On the last day we draw the raffle for our "Over the Rainbow" Quilt raising money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Do come along if you can.
Anita x

Connections / Improv

I do like a challenge and the Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge really appealed to me. This is my entry which measures 12½" square.

It was so nice to use colours chosen by someone else and these were specified as cream, yellow, mustard yellow, navy, moss green and grey. I managed to use all 6 of them.
I was happy with the "Connections" theme and my connections are the green strips, and if "Improv" means that it's a bit random and you keep changing your mind every few minutes about what to do next, then it's definitely improv!

The hand quilted circles on the yellow/grey blocks were a last minute decision

and I couldn't decide which way to have the stripey binding so I cut it on the bias. I had to be careful not to stretch it as I sewed - I usually cut my binding along the grain of the fabric.

You can see all the mini quilts entered so far in the challenge by clicking on this link - 
Curated Quilts Mini Challenge
They look lovely all together on the page

Have Fun - Anita

Flowers - stitched lino printing

With lovely sunny days to tempt me outside in the garden there hasn't been a great deal of sewing. I did manage to finish this wall hanging of stitched lino prints.

Here you can see my original drawing, the lino cut and one of the prints on fabric before stitching.

I usually do the stitching in the evening without much of an overall plan - just whatever takes my fancy at the time. The fabric pieces are applied with fusible web. I use Steam a Seam 2 which has a very good hold and few stitches (if any) are needed to keep the fabric in place. All the embroidery stitches are very simple - straight stitch, french knots (lots of these!), chain stitch, couching and whipped stitch.

I sewed a tiny flange around to bring the three prints together - red around the purple flowers picture, purple around the orange flowers and orange around the red flowers. Then added a neutral border and "strange" binding.

You can read about adding a flange in this previous post.

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday

Happy Stitching - Anita x

Spring Quilt Festival, Exeter 2018

Rather belatedly, due to a lack of phone and internet for the past 3 weeks, here are some of the quilts that I enjoyed on a visit to the Spring Quilt Festival at Westpoint near Exeter.

The first exhibits that I wanted to see were by a group of ladies from Cornwall called the Textile Maids.
These three are by Chris Treweek and, from left to right, are called "Reflection in Holy Well Pool", "St Madron Holy Well" and "Summer Pond".

and this beautiful depiction of "24 hours at Goonhilly Downs" is by Margaret Pellow

By complete contrast these six small square wall quilts are by Radiance Quilters, a group of longarm quilters who challenged each other to showcase the back of their work alongside the front of a quilted pattern fabric. What an interesting and very effective idea.

This row quilt by Kay Edwardes is called Colourplay and looks such fun to make. The hand dyed fabrics are by Nikki Perrington.

The South West Quilters challenge was Reflections this year and I love this quilt by Annie Yeo called "Reflections on Childhood".

Finally, I adore all the wall quilts by Brenda Thomas - they are delightful. These are just two of the many that were on display:-
"The Dog Walking Year"

and "Green".

A great day out and a big thank you to all the people who take the time and trouble to exhibit their work.
Happy Sewing - Anita x

Easter Exhibition at Cowslip Workshops

I thought you might like to see a few of the quilts that I liked at the recent Easter exhibition at Cowslip Workshops.

I love applique on pieced backgrounds and these two wall quilts are by Teresa Dunn:
Biscuit Tin Birds

and View from a Window

I thought this king-size blue and white bed quilt was very unusual - it looks very difficult to piece.
White Cliffs by Janet Beck

I really like the combination of shapes overlaid with stitching in this wall quilt by Sabi Westoby
Layers of Lily 

Finally this Star Quilt made by Parkhouse Quilters will raise money for the Merlin MS Centre in St Austell. 

The raffle will be drawn at their exhibition which is on from Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th June 2018 at the Parkhouse Centre in Bude.

Exhibition season is well underway - it's so inspiring to see other quilter's work - a photo can never do them justice.

Happy Sewing - Anita x