and even more Festival of Quilts

There were many folk at the festival and obviously everyone is trying to get the best shot of these artworks, so sometimes I was only able to take a picture of a portion of the quilt.

I loved the detail of this quilt.


Again, the detail was beautiful. You can click on any of the pictures to get a better look.

Again, this is just a portion of the whole quilt. The use of colour is so clever and the stitching adds texture. Loved it.

More Festival of Quilts

So sorry that I don't have a catalogue so I'm not able to tell you who the quilters of these magnificent pieces are. Photo's will never do them justice but at least those of you who could not be there are able to get a glimpse.

Festival of Quilts

It was fab! Over a couple of posts I'll show you some pics and what I got. In the meantime here are some of the miniature quilts.



You can click on the pictures to see the larger version for a better look at the details.

Spores, spores everywhere

Don't quite know where they've come from but all of a sudden we have lots and lots of mushrooms growing in the garden. There is even a partial fairy ring. Yesterday we found this one.

So I grovelled and got a shot of this angle.

Then Enman picked it up and just look how big it is flattened out (and Enman has big hands too).
This is probably the strangest one ... it looks as if its upside down
These are now pretty common in our garden but just look ... and we'd removed some already.
While I was having fun at the Festival of Quilts, Enman spent the time with his sister, Jo and her husband they've also got a fungas growing ... but this is a fungus of note ... huge
This fungas effectively killed the tree so they had to have the tree 'carcus' removed which involved two cherry pickers, lots of ropes ... you get the picture.

Pets on quilts

This is picture of my Dustyboy. I was given him as an orphan and we loved each other for many years. He was also my quilting companion, he would sit on my lap when I was sewing, lie on top of the fabric that needed cutting or on top of the quilt that was being quilted. Any pile of blocks that were part of a WIP immediately became a cat bed. So, it should be no surprise that when I got up to go and get a cup of tea he took over prime spot on top of this quilt.

The quilt is made of South African made schwe schwe fabric. When I first got the fabric it was washed three times, until the colour no longer bled and then after drying and ironing, cut into four inch squares. These squares were sewn together and looked absolutely awful so I unpicked the whole thing. Then I tried the sewing the squares with sashing and it still looked horrible and so it was unpicked again!. After that the blocks got packed away and lay in the cupboard for about ten years.

One day when looking for something else they got dug up and and I decided to have another bash. Each square was cut into two triangles and a strip of white sashing was placed down the middle and then the blocks were trimmed back to 4 inches.

This time the quilt came together like magic and I was soo pleased with the end result. Do you see that little piece of red sticking out of the pile? Well, it's the one and only red block and I decided to place it strategically where your heart would be when you're lying under the quilt.

As the blocks were done they were placed on the design wall and it looked like a jigsaw puzzle. Each day a space was filled until the whole of the top was done. Once the top was assembled it was pinned and quilted by stitching in the ditch. It is also backed with schwe schwe fabric. Sadly I don't have a photo of the back or the label which was embroidered because you would see that it is called 'She's come undone'.

Before I left South Africa to come to the UK I gave the quilt to my late brother and I know that he used it a lot when camping in the bush. I'm glad it had a loving home and still has with my Sue, my sister-in-law.

Why am I telling you all of this? Firstly, it is probably my favourite of all the quilts I've made, secondly, you haven't seen it yet, and lastly it is my entry into the competition, Pets on Quilts, that is being held by SewCalGal.

Keeping busy

When we were children there was one thing you never ever said: "I'm bored" because in no time my parents would find things for us to do. We didn't have television or any of the gadgets that todays' young folk have and in retrospect it was a blessing because we learnt to cook, knit, sew, garden, clean, do laundry, iron and read many many books. As we got older we were allowed to go into the chicken run and collect eggs and we considered it a privilege. Maybe that's why I still feel so chuffed when I'm able to go into a chicken house and fetch eggs without being pecked or herd sheep so they can be dipped and walk amongst horses in a stable. Our 'Townie' friends couldn't do that but we felt hard done by because they had the cinema just down the road and could all get together by just walking a block or two to someone's house or go for a milkshake at the steakhouse.

So with this background I don't find it difficult to get my days to pass quickly and sometimes, maybe, put a little too much on my plate. Right now I'm doing DQS9, am a member of a VQB, have numerous patchwork tops in various stages, tops that are finished and need pinning and quilting, a family, household and garden, a job and now I've decided to and have taken on doing an NVQ. Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love my needlework. It is what charges my batteries and fills my soul. The NVQ is something I've wanted to do for sometime but circumstances have just never allowed for it. Now, I have the opportunity to do it and need to finish it fast tracked. Apparently, you need to spend time at work doing some of the bits and pieces that go into it but our job just does not allow for it timewise so I'm fitting it in at home and obviously for the duration something else will have to give. Instead of dropping one thing I've made the decision to take a little bit of time from each activity and at the end of the day everybody is happy.

The DQS9 doll quilt is progressing too. After ironing the DQS9 autumn leaves in place it was a pleasure to go shopping for coordinating threads which were then used to stitch the edges down using blanket stitch.

I've decided to quilt it by hand and since it's been some time since I last did hand quilting it's taking time. Some days I get on a roll and then my finger tips get quite sore so it gets put away for a day or two before I pick it up again. The time inbetween is used to catch up on NVQ theory.

The quilting has actually progressed somewhat since this last picture was taken but I don't have another just yet to post.

Hope you're all keeping busy.
Take care