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

Stitched lino prints - Birds

I always like to have some hand sewing to do in the evenings - it stops me falling asleep in front of the TV! When I was lino printing these birds on cards for Christmas, I also did some on fabric for stitching at a later date. They are so relaxing and stress-free to do and yet never boring.

This small hanging is just 6 ½" x 13".

I sewed one of the lino prints to the back of the quilt.

After sewing on the binding I remembered a tip about sewing triangles into the corners for a hanging rod. Of course these should have been sewn in with the binding and hopefully I'll get it right next time. Nevertheless I went ahead and sewed them on anyway.

I cut two 2" squares and folded them into triangles. I would have cut larger squares for a larger quilt.

I placed them in the top corners, tacked them down and sewed the binding over the raw edges making sure that the stitches went through the triangles and  caught the backing. 

I'm chuffed with that - it makes a really neat finish. I would have used the same fabric as my backing, but I wanted you to be able to see my triangles. Triangles can also be sewn into the bottom corners for another rod to keep the bottom of a wall quilt nice and straight.

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

Happy Stitching
Anita x