FoQ 2012....Post 3

I had real difficulty choosing from my catalog of photos, but wanted to include a few more before I move on... 

Hawthorn sky by Roberta Le Piodevin

I love the simplicity of this quilt and the background quilting, very effective, won 2nd Pictorial Quilts

'In the Middle of the Night' by Angela Rudolf , Germany

Lots of space for quilting, it won a well deserved 'Highly Commended'!

This should have won a prize, look how the swirls were strung together with beads....

 Double Damask by Liz Jones Leominster

Perfectly executed border treatment, winning a 'Judges Choice'. 

Greek Fossils by Ferret

Close up of the intricate quilting done by Ferret.

Me with my Swoon taken by my 'Bestest Quilting Buddy' Janette

Of course there were many more beautiful quilts to see, I could have carried on forever if blogger wasn't acting up photo wise.

FoQ 2012 post 2

I'm now home again and back to the grind.....thought you'd like to see some of my favourite quilty photos from Festival.....

Ostrych by Linzi Upton

This is my very good friend and roomy Linzi's Norse series quilted on a variety of fabrics which I am guessing would be rather difficult to quilt and sew. The fabrics include satin, gold lame, lurex, taffeta and silver lame, all with a very small gold piping. These quiltlets have a wonderful touchy feely quality, shame the white glove lady didn't think so too when I got 'my hands slapped' for touching/straightening them....lol...?  The motif's are all Norse symbols, the detailed quilting leaves a wonderful definition which was lit beautifully, that's a rarity at Festival of Quilts. Quilted on an APQS Lenni.

Bouquet with Tudor Roses

I loved this miniature, it has so much detail, look at all those points, with 3D roses and a tiny, tiny yellow butterfly in the upper right corner....it can't measure more than half an inch....

It won a well deserved 3rd prize in the Miniature category

Glacier Star by Janet Lee Stone and Janet Lee Santeusanio

Wow....did you read the caption....that's Janet Lee and Janet Lee!
Well, guess what? We had the pleasure of Janet Lee Stone's company for dinner on two evenings. Janet Lee was visiting the show to meet up with her friends Ani and Lillian and see her wonderful quilt win 2nd place in the Two person category. But the 2nd Janet Lee is the Janet Lee who owns and runs the MQX East and West shows...that's 'Machine Quilters Exposition' a show for machine quilters. It really is a fabulous quilt, Janet Lee's choice of fabrics and colours was stunning and Janet Lee's quilting enhanced the piecing to perfection.....did you keep up....lol....it was great to meet you Janet Lee....

Cock's Comb by Marjo Stoeckart-Van den Bor

I love this cockerel the detail of the feathers and the eye are wonderful.

Dreamcatcher-Caught a Dream by Birgit Schueller

Although Birgit has not been to the Arizona Desert I have and so this quilt caught my eye straight away.....look close in at that wonderful background quilting stitched on an APQS Millennium....fabulous!

Robyn's 21st Birthday Quilt by Brenda Smith and Janette Chilver

This sampler quilt was quilted by my bestest quilting buddy Janette...look at those evenly spaced scrolls and leaves....well done Janette, it was great to meet up and spend a day together at the show. Quilted on an APQS Lenni.

Cowslip Workshops....Scandinavian Journey

I love this traditional style quilt pattern but of course it was the quilting that caught my eye, beautiful feather scrolls and background quilting.

Flourish by Kay Bell

That's me you can see more info on this quilt here, it was great to see my own quilt hanging in the show, should have maybe entered it into a different category but was thrilled to receive good feedback from the judges.... hey ho!

If I get time I may upload more photos later in the week?

Stitchin' Heaven at Festival of Quilts 2012 ...post 1

It's stitchin' heaven here at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.... UK, that is! The APQS stand/booth has been really buzzing and we've met lots of friends old and new..... Here we are on the stand.....

Mark Ani Linzi & Kay

Here are a few of the winners.....

Best in show....'The Dumb Belles' .....Quilter's Olympics

Best contemporary.....Byland Pieces by Linda Bilsborrow

Best Art Quilt....Silencis by Olga Gonzalez

Best Pictorail Quilt....Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga

Best Two Person Quilt....Nostalgia by Elke Voelker-Kobusch and 
Sabina Schroeder

Quilters Guild Challenge...Britain, what it means to you....Laura di Cera and 
Cherry Vernon-Harcourt

Some Quilts from Younger Quilters

Best Wearable Art.... Birgit Schueller....APQS

Stitchin' Heaven on the 697

I met some friends at their stall who looked extremely busy.....actually they were having a very sucessful first show....

Yesterday,  I had a class with Tula Pink, a very talented young fabric designer and got to see quilting by Angela Walters 

Pieced by Tula Pink  and Quilters by Angela  Walters

Today I had a wonderful class wiith Pascale Bebronne on pieced circles..... 

This one is by Pascale Bebronne

More photos to follow......soon.....


 

Still 'Swooning'.....

 

Remember this, it's my 'Swooning' quilt, well, it's now quilted and I sent it off to Festival of Quilts in a box!
That was more than two weeks ago now, it's a bit like sending your kids off to school for the first time releasing your quilts into the wild, I just hope that after being stuck in a box for a couple of weeks that it hangs well at the show, I'd be happy with that!

I thought you'd like to see some in progress photos so here you go, first on my Millie....

I used a ruler for the stitch in the ditch and straight line fill, drew out a template to get the placement of the spine in more or less the same position within the blocks, then all feathers and curved fills are freemotion, handguided.

Here it's being blocked, layered first onto a  sheet, then pinned into the carpet and sprayed to really soak it..... stand back and watch the magic happen when everything pulls together and lies flat.....hopefully? 
You can also do this by soaking your quilt in a bathtub too then laying out and pinning down. You would definitely want to soak in the bath tub if you had used a blue marking pen, this time I didn't so it wasn't totally necessary.

Still pinned down and drying off... I used a contrasting dark gold thread and double batting of Hobbs 80/20 and Quilters Dream wool. 
This will be a quilt to be used, I wanted a quilt a bit like a bedspread that comes down to the floor on my Queen sized bed and it really does that finishing at 96"x 92".

Last step was adding the piping and binding, I already have a really good set up for that but it still pulls on your shoulders quite a bit?

I forgot to take a full shot of the quilt with the binding all finished.  
Well, that's not strictly true, by the time it was bound I was running late and it had to be boxed up in a hurry ready for the courier.  All being well, I'll get a good photo of it hanging in Birmingham, that's as long as it isn't all crumpled from being in storage with the logistics company???

Jelly Rolls and Pantographs....

A perfect combination.....
There are lots of lovely jelly roll patterns out there. I was lucky enough to quilt two recently for two different customers, they were both beautifully pieced and laid lovely and flat. I have a couple of jelly rolls lying around, doesn't everybody? After seeing these two lovely quilts I feel inspired to make a make a jelly roll quilt too!

First was Tricia's quilt in pinks and purples, Tricia chose Tickle and a silver/grey thread which really enhanced the backing fabric.

Gillian chose a Primrose pantograph and cream thread for her lovely 'cactus baskets' quilt which was a perfect choice.