ACQ EXHIBITION - 2012

Our group's exhibition this year being Jubilee year was given the theme of Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend. It was our 5th exhibition and our most successful to date breaking all our personal goals and raising a grand total of £2,720 which is being donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care.

We are lucky that the hall we use to sew in has a stage and this becomes the focus of our exhibition and we dress it according to the theme. Kate was in charge of this and decided that it would be a street party with diamond quilts as backdrops. It looked amazing when it was up. Star quilt is by Kate. Please note the beautiful diamond hexie quilt below. Ahem! they were just pinnned to the backcloth.

All the items on the party table were fabric (apart from the jubilee tea cakes from M&S), yes, even the mugs and that glass of juice. The gala pie slices looked good enough to eat.

Royal Crown Ranson ( all made by Kate) brought out specially for the occasion, limited edition. The cakes on the cake stand were fab as were the quilt sandwiches. Jammy dodger looks good enough to eat too.

View of the stage from the other direction. The large black white and red quilt is by Sarah Covey and the lovely quilt on the left is by Janet Kittow and it won a much deserved Viewers Choice ribbon. The stage was festooned with bunting borrowed from Corfe Quilters and the ends were anchored down to sewing machines, one from the 50's and the other end from the latest model.

A section of a quilt by Annette Peters. Loved the colours.

Juliet selling raffle tickets. The quilt was donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care and offered to us to raffle. It was a large quilt and the first quilt that this lady had made. Sorry, do not have the lady's name. It was won by a lady from Corfe Quilters.

This was my personal favourite. Just loved the gentleness of it and would love to own this one. Pretty, pretty please Ann Eckley!!!

A UFO by yours truly and I will finish it. Displayed in a quilt frame. My husband came to collect me at the end of the first day and on walking past this quilt he ran his hand over the top of it and said "this is nice". Bless, it was a long time since he had seen it and had forgotten it was mine.

Janet doing an amazing job at the raffle.  Every prize a bag and there were some fabulous ones. Some came away with more than their fair share - Sarah Covey!!! The bunting was made by Pat Sumner.

Sue Ford visiting from Corfe Quilters. Corfe were very generous in their help with setting up their amazing new quilt frames and items for display. Thank you ladies (and gents ).

Loved the prettiness of this quilt by Emma Kirkpatrick. Emma is the daughter of Ann Eckley. Talented mum and daughter.

Tea ladies?! Delicious cakes. Diane, Judith and Judy and Janet Kittow on the right.

These two children's quilts were made by Janet Daniels.

Pretty flowers adorning the tables in the tea room.

Loved this little one by Marilyn Mann.  .

Marilyn was the exhibition co ordinator this year and she did a fabulous job. Well done to everyone for all the hard work, stitching, making and simply giving. A big thank you must be said to  the menfolk who helped and Fiona's son Will has become the official roady. He did a sterling job getting up and down ladders.

Apologies for  not showing all the quilts but they were all worthy.

Happy Stitching.

Love Shirley.

A New Start

Want to know which project I went with and started? It had to be the beautiful Petra Prins boxed set as it had all the fabric ready and waiting. On taking the instructions out of the box I thought ha! problem! Instructions in Dutch. Then I found the French instructions but, then came the English version. Phew! Could have needed a bit of help. All the pieces were cut out using freezer paper and placed in position just so I knew where they would go.

The instructions just gave a diagram as to where to place the pattern pieces but I like to use an overlay for positioning. This meant a few hours drawing all the pieces into position on tracing paper and marking the centres. Now I am all set to start and excited at starting something new.

A new start also includes these beautiful hexagons. I am feeling a little bereft at not having any left to prepare and after a little browsing on the internet I found the perfect idea. In my mind I could see this in very soft greys and taupes and I then had a lightbulb moment and a use for a pack of Japanese Taupes layer cake called Evening Mist by Sentimental Studios that I had been hoarding for quite some time. I love to have a coloured drawing of how I think the quilt will look and use watercolour pencils. I now have a worksheet telling me how many hexagons I need and what size it will be.

There is such a beautiful range of shades in this pack. One 10"square yields 16 squares  and therefore I can make 4 lozenge shapes. I decided to make them scrappy in appearance. As of yet I haven't decided on a filler colour but I am thinking a soft mauve will do them justice.

Playing with ideas and what would happen if I set the hexagons on point around a centre hexagon. It produces a lovely feathered star effect. Not sure I could go with this idea as I really wouldn't want to piece all those tiny diamonds and triangles. Feel free to borrow the idea though if it grabs you.

I am slowly stitching all the sections together now for the daisy quilt. You will notice that there are no papers in the back. I have learnt that the papers tend to flip out as you are sewing and they really are not necessary. Because the stitching is  on the inside corners of the fabric it is all held in place and they join together so much easier. It becomes quite unwieldy trying to manouvre the twists and turns with the paper in place but this is so much better and quicker and I am all for anything that saves time.

Apple County Quilters

This coming weekend of  23/24 June is the 5th Exhibiton of Apple County Quilters.  It is well worth a visit if you are in the vicinity as they are a talented bunch of ladies and they make great cakes. They can be found at Bradford On Tone Village Hall near Wellington, Somerset, 10am - 4pm.

Sadly, for two years worth of work since the last exhibition I do not have a lot to show other than a box of hexagons and the unfinished Dollies.  Lurking in my sewing room was a cushion started ages ago and with a bit of effort I have finished it and it is ready for action and will go to one of my nieces when it is over.

The only quilt I have is the little New York Beauty wallhanging. I had to get it back from the wall of Dotty Dolly's shop where it has been hanging for ages. Trying not to feel too much in anguish at not having much to show I am going with the positive tactic that in 2014 I should almost have enough for a one woman show. Had better get a move on then and get some finishes done.

 The baby blackbirds flew the nest and this one flew out right past me and landed on the floor by the fence. His little legs look way too spindly to hold his body. This little bird and his family inspired Lisa from Cubby House Crafts to design a stitchery. Do go and have a look if you haven't already seen it, you may have to scroll down a few posts. Lisa is so talented and one day is going to produce a book of her stitcheries. I am waiting and hope to be the first in line for a copy when it happens. No pressure here Lisa.

I have to let you into a little secret. Rachel gave me instructions on how to post the YouTube video to my last post and it went amiss and posted to Glorious Applique blog. I can tell you that it came off there right rapid. It would have given them a shock when they were expecting some wonderful applique and got some dude proposing to his girlfriend. Hope you went and had a peep at the video as it was unashamedly romantic and makes you laugh and cry. Who says romance is dead?

Happy Stitching.

Love Shirley.

A Proposal

Rachel showed me this this afternoon and thought I would share it with you. Nothing quilt related at all but sheer joy just the same.


MAKE SURE THE VOLUME IS ON AND CLICK TO PLAY AND STAY TILL THE END. 

ENJOY.

HOW COULD YOU REFUSE?

             

                                               

Love Shirley.

Empty Nest

Now that the Dollies have flown the nest it means I have an empty box ready and waiting. Just look at those hexagons.  Surely a finished top means I can start something else, right?


Now, what shall I fill it with.......

Will it be this lovely band sampler called St. Neots by Susan Smith  from Patchwork on Stonleigh. Australia. Lots of fussy cutting on those hexagons and English Paper piecing. Such a pretty quilt and a length of hankerchief linen  is ready and waiting for attention.

Will it be this - Pickled Onions by Chris Serong from Threadbear, Australia. This has my pulse racing and itching to start. A bolt of cream fabric awaits me at Dotty Dollies.

 Will it be this one, also from Threadbear, Australia and is by Megan Carroll and called Hertfordshire. This one takes a bit of thinking about as I need a lot of repro  fabrics and a suitable centre to start me off. Again lots of hexagons and some fussy cutting.

Or.....

This one came from Jo at Cowslip and is a Petra Prins quilt and even comes in it's own box with a beautiful selection of fabrics and in colours that I would not have normally bought. I love it though and it was a bargain. Greatly reduced and as I had admired it the last time I was at Cowslip and regretted not buying it it simply had my name on it and came home with me. The name of this quilt - Providence.

Fabulous selection of fabrics. So which one shall I choose to stitch next?

Decisions, decisions.


Whilst I have been pondering such choices I have been busy stitching hexagons and watching the Diamond Jubilee events on the tv. The concert outside of Buckingham Palace was amazing and the best bit for me was Madness performing Our House on the roof of the Palace. The frontage was transformed with this changing cover showing various houses and the people inside them. I haven't tried it but I wonder if you googled it whether it would be on You Tube. Brilliant. The Queen did her best to look like she was enjoying it all despite the fact that she must have been very tired and worried about the poor old Duke of Edinburgh who that day had been admitted to hospital. Three cheers for the Queen I say.

Happy Stitching.

Love Shirley.

EDIT - Have just googled YouTube and if you type in Madness at Buckingham Palace you should find several versions to choose from. Do watch it - amazing.