Surprise, Surprise....

I have to thank Janet-Lee and Mary again....my quilt Inner Circle - Flower of Scotland came home quickly and smoothly, safe and sound with two ribbons.....yes, two Faculty Ribbons. The first from Sheila Sinclair Snyder and a second ribbon from the wonderful Irena Bluhm, a lovely lady....thank you for the recognition Ladies......and just look at that, everything is colour co-ordinated.

Well, stuff happens and I've had a few deadlines to keep but now back to reality....

My MQX West Portland 2013 Part 1

I know it's been a while, I've been a bit 'jet lagged' or under the weather not sure which.....

It wasn't planned that way but on my birthday I set off on a journey.....from Edinburgh via Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam to Portland Oregon.

My room mate and now good friend Maryna from South Africa met me at Portland airport. Maryna arrived 2 days earlier so was already rested and ready to go.....shopping, so more or less straight of the plane I was at the Lloyd Centre Shopping Mall. It was a beautiful Fall day, much warmer than cold Scotland, the warmth and the fact that I had missed a nights sleep took affect quite quickly. An early night was in order, we had a very quiet room at the Red Lion Hotel, just over the road from the Convention Centre.

Convention Centre Portland, this is the vied from our room at the Red Lion hotel

Monday found us shopping and sight seeing in the Pearl district where we found Powell's famous book store which takes up a whole block and then some and Dr Martens boot store on the adjacent block.  Maryna has found Starbucks, literally as there isn't a Starbucks in SA.
I had a plan for Tuesday to visit Fabric Depot, they were having a 30% sale....WOW, I knew this place was going to be big but never ever dreamt it would be colossal. I had told Maryna we were going to visit a quilt store, we were a little overwhelmed and wandered around aimlessly for a while. I'm sure we were wandering around with dropped jaws in awe of all the fabric. We quickly came to our senses and spent some money???? I met a long time 'internet friend' right there in the store, Donna and I just met and started chatting like we had known each other all our lives.....

On Tuesday evening we were off to the 'ice cream social', where we got a sneak peak at the classes, Tutors and new gadgets on offer and a bowl of delicious ice cream.  The highlight of the evening was of course meeting up with Janet-Lee and Mary and the belly laugh of listening to their wonderful singing.....

Wednesday was the start of classes, Maryna and I went our separate ways  but checked back later to discuss and share information.
On Wednesday evening we attended the Awards Ceremony and although a little disappointed not to receive an award  I was thrilled for the winners. We surveyed the winning quilts and met their makers and more friends along the way. There were some fantastic quilts, this is a very stiff competition.

The winning quilt 'The Shell Collectors' by Bethanne Nemish was awesome and Bethanne is a real sweetheart, she is another long time internet friend from MQR.

My good friend Donna with her fabulous wholecloth won a 2nd prize.

Me and my friend Jerry Granata (we go way back....lol...) and his fabulous mini wholecloth Petit Plume.

This is still Sneak Peak night, (I managed to catch Jerry before he headed off to classes the next day).

Me and my friend Jerry with my painted wholecloth ......

The next day I was very excited to be told by my friend Julie from Australia that my quilt was displaying a Faculty/Teachers Ribbon given by Sheila Sinclair Snyder of Licenced to Quilt in Eugene Oregon, so I rushed over to take a photo here with my very good friend and room mate Maryna Kat from South Africa....

More photos later.......

Inner Circle, Flower of Scotland and Festival of Quilts 2013

Before I left home I uploaded photos of my show quilt, inspired by the theme for this years Scottish Quilt Championships in September which is Celtic Inspirations I started this quilt with my own design and drawings way back in January and have been working on it between customer quilts ever since, it's been off and on the frame numerous times it seems. Lots of design work on paper, then marking the quilt. The only place I could lay out fabric for a quilt this size is up in my loft where I had to be careful not to get other marks on the fabric and it was SO cold back then.

I started the quilting with the border and lyrics which are the first verse of 'The Flower of Scotland', the unofficial Scottish Anthem, there isn't an official Scottish anthem...

O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see
Your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen.
And stood against him,
Proud Edward's army,
And sent him homeward
Tae think again.

The Circles were next...a bit tricky but eventually I got them done, then the flutes of the thistle and the spiky leaves, then all the fills...

It's white cotton sateen with a green mottled backing fabric, lilac binding with green piping.
Cotton batting with a layer of wool on top, I used MagnaGlide bobbins with White Glide thread with Green Superior Metallic around the leaves, the quilt measures 75 x 79 inches approximately.

I painted the details with Inktense Pencils and added a few Lilac and green crystals to add a bit of sparkle.

Here it is 'Inner Circle, Flower of Scotland'

OK, Linzi, Ani, Lily LaPink and I are already here at Festival of Quilts.....we've been busy setting up the stand for APQS Longarm machines.... if you are coming to the show be sure to check us out on stand P14, near to the food outlets, don't forget to come over and introduce yourselves we will be pleased to see you....

Before

 After