Great News....

I had a wonderful phone call yesterday from Liz Villalobos. I was a totally surprise to hear that Liz's quilt 'Astrum Pennaeque' had won The Best in Show, Best Bed Quilt and the Best Longarm Award at The Great Northern Quilt Show, Harrogate, Yorkshire. UK. This quilt was pieced by Liz and freemotion, handquided (with the help of some rulers) quilted by me, Kay Bell at Borderline Quilter. I hadn't realised Liz had entered her quilt so I was totally amazed. Congratulations to both of us. Liz, thank you for choosing me to quilt for you.

Grosvenor Shows quickly released a photo showing how well a quilt can look when it's beautifully hung and lit and here it is..... you can also click on the following link to see close up photos of the quilting Liz's Lone Star 'Astrum Pennaeque'.

Sampler Quilts....

It's like buses, you wait for ever then three come along at once....

These quilts were all the same but different, they were pieced in a class last year then all brought to me together to quilt. My customers wanted custom quilting so I quilted them in different ways with cross hatching fillers and feathers.  All had cream backing fabrics and cotton wadding, I used Glide thread in cream.  So I'll just leave you with some photos......

 It seems I only took photos of two quilts here but before they were even picked up I had a customer bring another quilt in the same design....it's waiting a while till I muster up the courage to do another....hehe....need a break first with something totally different....

Festival of Quilts 2014

It's seems so long ago already....Festival of Quilts 2014. Spoiled again, Linzi drove four and a half hours from Aberdeen for lunch, picked me up with my suitcase and accessories for the stand then drove another five and a half hours to Birmingham. We chatted and laughed all of the way. We chatted and laughed all week, six days and six nights of chatting and laughing.

I'm guessing Ellen took this photo of the four of us, Ani, Linzi and Me (Kay Bell), with Sally our new helper.

 I was super excited that my quilt 1514 AKA The Horse won a 'Highly Commended'. There were over 800 quilts entered into the competition so that's a big deal to me.

The lighting wasn't good too many shadows for a good photo, this one had to have flash.

I was also super excited that my customer Liz entered her Lone Star quilt into the Two Person category, we won a 'Highly Commended' for this one too....and it was wonderfully hung.

My friends Julie and George of Heritage Keepsakes dropped by the stand, they had travelled from Australia with their daughter Brooke and her friend. They came bearing gifts of Koala Bear chocolate and  fabric....see the selvedge, 'Under the Australian Sun'. I am so bad at collecting photographs of special times like this one, shame on me....

Just look who I met on one of my walkabouts, my friend Bonnie Hunter no less of Quiltville.com , a fabulous Lady and inspiration to many, many quilters. So pleased to spend a few minutes with Bonnie, believe me Bonnie was in big demand for photo sessions

Linzi's Quilted Henge looked fabulous, such a huge amount of creativity and imagination in these 9 pieces, the stone circle is a quilt in itself . The Henge needs to be seen to be believed it's encrusted with semi precious stones, beads and bling. Subtle machine embroidery and laced leather skins enhance the quilted columns. See more of Linzi's work at The Quilt Quine

I love these ladies in Basques and DM's...

Janneka De Vries-Bodzinga never ceases to amaze me....this quilt is awe inspiring, I gazed at it many times over the six days I was at the show

My very good friend Rhianon had her fabulous butterfly quilt hanging too.

This ribbon worked miniature was a sheer delight to behold and only twelve inches square.

Had to buy some stuff too....

Two beauties hanging side by side by Gwenfai Rees Grithiffs and Annelize Littlefair

This is one of my all time favourite quilts of the show, the Gargoyles are 3D and made from cut, shaped and painted wadding. It's terrific, unfortunately the lighting made my photos of this a little yellow.

The UK APQS Representatives at Festival of Quilts 2014, I'm already looking forward to 2015....

We've been very busy...

This beautiful trip around the world style quilt was perfectly made by Maria who made a wonderful job of fabric choice and piecing, I quilted it with Gala Vine by Anne Bright....love this panto, it's my new favorite.....

 I love scrappy quilts, Kathleen made this beauty and chose surf by Anne Bright, it looks fabulous, I love the block layout that Kathleen chose.

 Kathleen also pieced this Bali Sea Star top, I'm sure this is a Kim Brackett pattern. It looks fab in blacks and whites. We chose Wildflower panto, another lovely finish.

I've still more quilts to show but these will have to wait a while.....

 While I was in Portland, Oregon last year at MQX, I bought this pattern and heavy Kaffe Fassett fabric for my Granddaughter, Fieron.

On Saturday it was pouring down so we found the perfect time to sit and work on this together, Fieron did her fair share of the sewing on my Singer Featherweight too.  

It's a perfect fit, we were so pleased that we chose to work on the size 10 even though Fi is really only a size 8. Fi looks super cute in this tunic. I think I'll look out for some more fabric so we can make up the dress for her to wear with her DM's....

 As if we didn't have enough to work on I also finished up these phone/passport wallets. These are great for quilt shows when you are unloading stuff from the motors and setting up and working on the stands.

They are all the same but different, they are wonderful to keep your entry tickets in the vinyl pocket on the front coz guess what's up next?

Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, UK, the biggest and best quilt show in Europe The APQS UK Reps will be demonstrating Longarm Quilting on stand P18 in Hall 9. That's Linzi Upton of The Quilt Quine, Ani Catt of Crazy Catt quilt shop and myself Kay Bell of Borderline Quilter. Don't be shy, come on by introduce yourselves and try out one of these fabulous machines.