A Finish

My second finish for the second quarter of the Finish A Long has been this long slow quilt, purposely so to take some hand sewing to Bourne Quilters meetings.  This is the Doll Drss Up quilt, all finished.

This consists of 6 printed panels, 5 of which are shown here, which I embellished with embroidery, ricrac, lace and buttons. I then bordered with 1930's retro fabrics and hand quilted the backgrounds to the dresses with cross hatching.  I then made 4 Dresden Plate blocks which were also hand quilted with cross hatching.  In January when at Farnham Maltings I found some red fabric with white spots with was perfect for the binding strips to join the blocks together and binding the edges.

The only thing I though more about was the back.  As you can see I had the same fabric for 3 backs of three of them. I should have looked at different fabrics for the backs, but was too late to change this by the time I was putting the quilt blocks together.

The finished quilt is 38" square.  

As for block no. 6 of the 6 printed panels, this was made into a cushion last year.

Good to have this finished at last

Malvern Quilt Show

Last Saturday on our way back home to Poole we stopped off at Malvern again. This time it was for the Quilts UK show there.  The Showground was still clearing from the previous weekend's RHS Spring  show and there were a few exhibits still left from that.  This is a busy show, I'd bought my ticket in advance and a lady from one of the coach parties had spare tickets so bought one for David and he came as well to look around and left me later to have a look around and shop.

The quilts were lovely but there wasn't as many competition quilts as I thought there would be. Further non competition display quilts were in the marquee attached to the Showground building. There were a lot of traders packed in the remaining space and as I said it was busy and crowded around the traders.

I did manage to get some photos. Let me say here that I cannot attribute who made these as I didn't buy a programme (which was silly of me). If anyone can identify them please let me know.  But below is the champion quilt by Moira Neal, which also won the themed category gardening theme.

Below is a Passacaglia quilt.  I have to admire the person who made this. Too much of EPP sewing makes my eyes go funny for me. The detail and the fussy cutting done is just brilliant.

Another wonderfully detailed quilt, wholecloth and added textile with free machining.

Another winning quilt in its category, views of Orkney(?). The detail and stitching in that large wall hanging.

This was one of the collection of quilts, I like the little Kantha stitched blocks by Gilli Theokritoff

Also 2 small quilts with a clever use of shading with fabrics

Some fabric purchases made, mostly from Kaleidoscope.  Here's a pic below with fabric from my visit to Castle Quilter's shop earlier in the week on the left. Stocked up the stash for a while.

So that was our holiday done.  We've got a weekend away coming up at the end of June and a bit more holiday will booked for August and Festival of Quilts.

More Holiday Pics

Continuing the holiday theme we managed to see 3 more National Trust places, catch a glimpse of Flying Scotsman and ending our holiday by stopping of at Malvern again on our way home.

Wednesday we visited Attingham Hall and Benthall Hall, both not far from Telford, it was rainy that day but it didn't stop us visiting the walled garden at Attingham

Just a lovely display even on a miserable day.

Benthall Hall had a church beside it with a sundial on its wall but was somewhat difficult to rely on it to tell the time!

Getting back to Shrewsbury we stopped by Percy Thrower's Garden Centre, which was originally owned by his family but is now part of a garden centre chain.  But I couldn't resist this pic

Is this spade big enough?

I actually got to a quilt shop near Oswestry one day.  Castle Quilter's is a shop and workroom above a dental technician's in a small village that had castle ruins 

I bought some fabric there, mainly traditional prints, and low volume to add to my stash.

After a visit to Oswestry, another castle, this time just inside the Welsh border at Chirk, which had a really lovely gardens.

The rhododendrons and azaleas looked really fantastic.

On Friday we went to Shrewsbury town and from the castle tower a growing crowd were gathering to take photos of this

The Flying Scotsman on its way from Carlisle to Cardiff which stopped in Shrewsbury.

That's all for now.  I'll be blogging about Malvern Quilt Show soon.

Back from Holiday

David and I spent a week away near Shrewsbury in Shrophire. From there we visited Malvern Flower Show at the Three Counties Showground last Sunday and by yesterday went back again for the Quilts UK quilt show.   We also visited the Welsh Highland Railway for a return journey from Porthmadog to Caernarfon, saw the Tailor's Quilt In Wrexham, 3 NT Properties, a quilt shop (with a castle nearby) and also Shrewsbury itself.  That's a lot in one week!  I may break this up over this week with a few blog posts rather than big post here.

The B&B we stayed in is in Leaton, just outside Shrewsbury, called the Old Station, which is beside a still working railway line so there were trains about every half hour and a level crossing too, but we got used to that. 

Our first outing was to the RHS Malvern Spring Festival.  Just lovely weather for the day as it was so sunny.  A few lovely outdoor gardens and the large floral marquee to explore and lots of photos taken, with the backdrop of the Malvern Hills.  Here are just a few pics.

Lovely garden sculptures

Victorian style exhibition inside the Floral Marquee.

Gorgeous display of carnivorous plants 

The school gardens with the theme of Out of this World. Top left isn't a school garden but I couldn't resist this pic of stick men sculptures by the shed.

As this was the beginning of our break we couldn't take any plants, which was a shame, but it gave us ideas for the garden and it was an enjoyable day out.

On Monday we went to Wrexham and nearby NT property Erddig, not far from the town.  David took lots of pics, but I was interested in the gardens and items around the house.

I was amused by the sign in play area called the Wolf's Den, in the bottom right picture. There is a resident wood carver and the pic in the top left if a carving.

In the town at Wrexham Museum there is a small display of The Tailor's Quilt, which is in the quilt collection of the Nationak Museum of Wales, together with some mini quilts by local quilter's, influenced by The Tailor's Quilt. Unfortunately I don't have photos of this.

Tuesday saw us go on a trip to Porthmadog to get a ride on the Welsh Highland Railway to Caernarfon and back.  The weather was miserable but by the time we took the journey back to Porthamdog the skies cleared.

The engine is South African and coped well with the tight curves on the line.

A bit difficult to show because if the reflection from the window, but this shows the map of the line on the table between our seats.

We enjoyed a Welsh afternoon tea, Bara Brith, Welsh Cakes and even Welsh tea.

When back at Porthmadog we saw the train come in from the Festiniog Railway

So a really good day out.  More to come soon.

Some May Stuff

Last weekend has been a busy one but still a little time to sew.  I caught up with a February subscription box from The Bramble Patch.  I had a job to keep up with monthly boxes, though lovely surprises of fabrics and pattern, few bits and bobs but with my own projects too it got all too much and had to stop.  So this is what I made

From a lovely collection of coastal themed fabrics from Makower, the pack of the seaside town fabric with eighths of others to make this cushion.  I used the wavy decorative stitch on my machine to quilt it.  There are small pieces of fabric to make another front but will have to use some of my stash to make the back, but that's no problem.  This was quick to put together in the end, just an afternoon. Why didn't I make this sooner?

Progress was made with the crochet tea cosy that was in the making last week, another finished item!

Here it is modelled by my blue teapot

and in use last Thursday evening

This was a pattern from Crochet Now magazine issue 14

As I'm getting more into knitting and crochet I'm using Ravelry more and if you want to follow me I'm on there as suewilduk.  I've been to logging my projects there and following a few online groups.

I've watched quite a few You Tube vlogs (or podcasts) of several knitters and crocheters.  The latest word I've come across is bi-stitchual - one who knits and crochets.  I've enjoyed learning new techniques in both disciplines.  These are the ones I'm currently following

Crafternoon Treats  - Katherine, a crocheter from Yorkshire who also does yarn dyeing with locally spun yarn.  She also has some short tutorial videos too.

Cherry Heart - Another crocheter and pattern designer Sandra also has tutorials on her blog and also is the designer for the new CAL coming up soon in Crochet Now

Sew Sweet Violet - Jools who sews, crochets and knits (mainly socks - theres a growing sock collection!)

Simply in Stitches - I've recently discovered this knitting tutorial podcast presented by Tina who has demonstrated sock knitting using short circular needles and is currently working on a top down knitted jumper.

It's so easy to get carried away with iPad in hand and using earphones to "waste" time watching You Tube!

Over on Instagram (I'm identified there as @suewilduk) some lovely crochet inspiration has come from The Patchwork Heart who has made some lovely colourful blankets and I loved the Beautiful Shells pattern that I had a go too, so this is my sample.  Not sure yet if it will get bigger....

I've been typing this on the computer this evening, hence all the links, which I can't put on when composing this on the Blogger app on the iPad.

David and I are going away this for a week's holiday from this Saturday.  Going to Malvern Spring Garden show and then back to Malvern the end of next week for Quilts UK.

Another Month Passes

It's May already. I've posted already about my crochet blanket and there will be another on the way.  Crochet Now Magazine have a new Crochet A Long (CAL).  I managed to get a pack of yarn, Scheepjes Colour Crafter acrylic before they were sold out and the pack is ready and waiting for the first set of instructions in the next magazine.

Meanwhile the magazine has Tea Party design challenge and I've been crocheting a tea cosy from the pattern in he magazine.  This cosy is in two halves to begin with, then joined at the top. Here's one half of this.

On Saturday I went to a workshop at Pauline's Patchworks in Dorchester.  After a busy month at work. I could only go to a workshop held on a Saturday and felt in need of a bit of social sewing. I liked the look of this 'mystery' workshop subject of which was announced earlier this month. I should have bought a layer cake pack, but instead opted for cutting out 10" squares from stash.

This was called Ups and Downs and (I thank) a variation on Delectable Mountains block.  I sewed some of the blocks by the end of the workshop and more were done when I got home and then on Sunday afternoon. After ironing this afternoon I laid them out of the bed.  It's effective when strips of the same colours (not the same fabrics ) merge together, so it looks ok but will have to juggle the arrangement of the blocks.

There is always something to learn at a workshop and as well as the technique I learned about a product called On The Dot which are repositionable markers.

These marked out the correct width of the strips to cut on the ruler, which takes out the guesswork of measuring and making the incorrect cut. It was handy on the square ruler, which has half inch measurements on 2 sides and it is so easy to pick up the wrong side and cut the incorrect size of square.

Being a Bank Holiday today I had a sort out of my fabrics having pulled out and cut up a lot before the workshop and to also give my room a good tidy up.  Looking a lot neater by this afternoon I then had some time to do some embrodery, which I don't do that often.  This is the second of 2 mini hoops with  a cactus picture. This was for my colleague, who bought the magazine, Molly Makes, which had the kits. The hoops are tiny, just 2" across.

It'll go with the one I made a few months ago.

Weekend before last I went to Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta with my Mum. I didn't buy a lot there but I did see a felt making kit to make a couple of brooches.  Wet felting was quicker than I thought and made 3 small pieces of felt and cut out the pieces today to make one flower brooch. It's joined with a bead in the middle.

Now armed with a bit more knowledge about wet felting and having had the sort out, this'll be something I may do a bit more of the the future. I've still got a fair bit of wool roving from when I used to have the needlefelting machine which I could use.

So that was my weekend, but at least a short working week this week as I won't be working on Friday.