Foxy

I have just finished making a cute little fox which I am going to enter into the pin cushion challenge which our quilt club is holding at our pudding party summer social meeting this month.  The pattern came from a book which I love and was written by Amy Adams.
 I thought the fox would be bigger when I started to make him but an excellent size for the pin cushion challenge, that is if I can bear to stick pins in him!  I might try to up scale the pattern later and make him a door stop size, though I would like to make the gorgeous badger next!

Both projects will have to be added to a very long list. I think this book is great Amy!

 

 I may have to work my way through the book!

Festival of Quilts - Embroidery

There was plenty of fabulous embroidery at the show not only on quilts and clothing but also in its own right.  As always Stephanie Redferns work blows me away and her daughter Choles pieces were also beautiful.  I see a young talent there in the making.  The British artists stand where most of her work was shown was simply fantastic.  I only wish there had been a book to go with the exhibition and I had more time to look at the work.  I  put this wonky photo in so that any one who doesn't know her work can see her style and can look her up.  I shouldn't have been taking photos of this exhibit and so I appologize to her.

My great discovery was a exhibit by some French artists whose work was all wonderful.  I loved all the work but especially that by Judith Mundwiler's.

Lots of techniques were used in her pieces and the subtle colours brought together in a plain contempory frame displayed the work beautifully.  The air condition in the booth made the chiffon on some of the work float in the most beautiful way.

Gorgeous!

Scrap Box Challenge - 6

 The quilt top is finally finished.  I decided to add some appliquéd stars for interest.  I bonded them and zig zag stitched them on.

Festival of Quilts - Quilts

I always stay for two nights at Birmingham  with my sister and some of our friends  in which to enjoy the Festival of Quilts. We always have a brilliant time but this year my sister Sonia couldn't come because she is suffering from a very painful slipped disk.

As always I found lots of brilliant work to inspire me and whipped around with my I-pad on Saturday to take a few photos. I am sorry but I was taking the photos quickly and some are not square. Anyway these are a few of my favourites.

On Green Pond by Judith Wilson.  I have seen this quilt before and think it has a brilliant design, love the colours and it has been made beautifully as well.

   
What a Waste by Mirjam Pet-Jacobs.  I am not normally attracted to darrk themed quilts but this quilt has such fabulous quilted textures and really facinated me.

Billboard for the Soul by Anne Smith.
I love the colours and find my eyes want to keep exploring this quilt. I am a bit bias on colour as my entry into the show was in these colours.

The  Russian Gallery -  Drawing Lessons by Elena Folomyeva. 

This whole exhibit was wonderful and I would love any one of her quilts on my wall at home.  The quilts were very modern and simple in style with minimal colour and gorgeous quilting which was a major part of the design.  Russian quilters are so talented.

Below the Surface by Margeret Owen and Sue Roberts.

I loved the design, colour and techniques used on these three quilts.

One of the lovely country entries for the EQA Competition.  I really enjoyed this exhibit and could have spent much more time looking at all the many small quilts.

One very cute entry from the above competition made by Nelli Textor named New Bird.

My Love for Liberty by Tracy Aplin.

I enjoyed this quilt every time I passed it by.  This photo is a bit dull and does not do the quilt justice.

Eloquence and Integrity by Ruth Parker and  Best in Show.

This quilt just grew and grew on me and I just loved those thin little curved lines and the effect that they created.  The technique used was quite simple but this quilt became more than its parts if you know what I mean.

Scrap Box Challenge - 7

I chose a bright blue fabric with cream stars for the backing and basted the quilt ready for quilting.  I will quilt this quilt top by machine and so have used a basting gun to tack it together.  I have quite a pile of quilts ready for quilting and so it will be a while.  It was quite difficult to photograph!

Cat on a quilt.

I couldn't resist this photo of one of my bengal cats called Himani lying on an old scrap quilt today.  She look very suspicious  of what I am doing.  She hates being picked up and I think she thinks that is what I am going to do.

Scrap Box Challenge - Part 5

I have finally completed the quilt centre and added a strip around the edge of 1 inch squares.

Some of the center detail.

Scrap Box Challenge - Part 4

I have created the first 6 rows and the quilt top is coming together now.  I am an expert at fudging.

Scrap Box Challenge - Part 3

I started to pin up some of the pieces which I had made onto my design wall and add some calico and plain blue squares with a finished size of 5 inches.  I decided to make to centre of the quilt 40 inches by 40 inches and work in 5 or 10 inch blocks and strips so that the pieces should go together without a lot of problem. The more seams you make in a block the more it shrinks and I think that there is going to be a lot of fudging!

   Playing around with blocks and starting to join  a few together.