Festival of Quilts 2009 Birmingham UK

I am just going to start blogging pictures of quilts I took at the Festival of Quilt show. I hope you enjoy them as I post. These are some of the small 12” x 12” quilts for the Contemporary Quilt Group Celtic Connections.

Walks in the Woods

Recently a favorite quilt of mine, the original "Walks in the Woods", was blogged about at
Del Quilts. I sold this quilt right after it was made and never got a really great picture of it. That just goes to show you that you should always photo quilts right after they are finished. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading about it.

Clanadonia

This is a group called Clanadonia that we saw preform on the street in Edinburgh at the On the Fringe Festival. They were great to watch. One of my favorite authors is Dianna Gabaldon, her series the Outlander takes place in Scotland and is about an 18th century kilt wearing Highlander. Brett just thought I liked the look of these rough and tumble Scottish men, he was probably right.

Hickory Nuts

 

 

 

This relates to nothing at all, except that I love the way the sun played with shadow on these Hickory Nuts I brought up from the woods for the squirrels that live in the tree in my backyard.

Festival of Quilts

Laura and I are having a fantastic time at the Festival of Quilts here in Birmingham, England. We are seeing lots of friends and enjoying the show. We haven't seen the quilts yet, but plan on walking around the show this a.m. before the crowds get there. I will post lots of pictures when I get home.
Our friend Mai-Brit won an award in the miniature category, you go girl, and Pat Holly and Sue Nichols won best of show!! We thought of going up and accepting the award for them but were too shy :)to do so.
This is a great show to come and visit and what we really like about the venue is it is so easy to get to, you can fly directly into Birmingham Airport and walk right to the NEC where the show is being held. There are several great hotels right here, so you don't even need a car to get around. ANd the train station is right next to the airport, so you can take off from here and go around the UK after the show.
The other thing that is so interesting about this show are all of the "gallery" opportunities for individual artist or groups to display their work. If you are thinking of trying a something a little outside of your box, think about coming to this show, you won't regret it.

Machine Quilting

It seems like everyone is interested in Machine Quilitng these days. And why not. We all want to get better at this part of the quilting process. I will be teaching Machine Quilting twice this fall, once at Quilt Festival in Houston and again at the AQS show in Des Moines IA. I hope that you can get to one of these great shows and if you have an interest in some easy ways to do Machine Quilting you will take my class.

Here is a sample of just “some” of the things we will learn in class.

See you there!

 

 

Dancing Trees

Here is another class I will be teaching in Des Moines in October, we will use deckle rotary blades to create the unique look to these dancing leaves. Students will use my hand dyed fabric, so the colors will  be rich, warm and very  inviting. I have lots of deckle blades for students to try, so there is no need to rush out and buy one. Of course you will fall in love with the texture that these blades give to the fabric and will want to add them to your stash of great tools.

I know you will Dance out of this class full of ideas and inspiration.

Sunset Pines

Sunset Pines is one of my favorite classes. In this class we create this free form collage style quilt using my hand dyed fused fabrics. We create stripey units that surround the background rectangles and insert our own version of “Sunset Pines”. This class is fun, it’s easy and it is liberating. I hope you can take the class in Des Moines in October at the AQS show.

Laura and I will of course be in Des Moines in October. I will be teaching several classes that I have already blogger about and in our booth #516 as well. We will have all our gorgeous hand dyed fabrics, thread and patterns. As well as hand dyed silk and precut squares of hand dyed fabric. It is sure to be a great show and not something you want to miss. See you there.

It’s Good To Be Green

I love leaves and I love making them in my quilts. It’s Good to Be Green is a class at the Des Moines quilt show where we will be “piecing” these elegant and easy leaf shapes using freezer paper and two values in my hand dyed gradation fabrics. This is a great opportunity to try something different using gorgeous fabrics and an easy process.

Des Moines AQS quilt show

I will be teaching several classes in Des Moines this year. If you are thinking of going and taking a class check out one of mine.

I am offering several new classes that have never been taught before and are geared for the three hour time slot.

Blooming Fun is one of my new classes. In this class we will use free form cutting techniques to create the background and border. Then using decorative rotary blades we will cut up our leaves. At the end of the three hour class you will have a small quilt top ready to hang in your home. I will discuss machine quilting as well. Check out the great feather quilting in the border of this little gem. I hope to see you in class.

Fons and Porter Magazine

Spring Rain will be a featured project in the Sept/October issue of Fons and Porter Magazine. Seems like an odd time to feature this little quilt but who am I to quibble with the powers that be.

I designed this quilt after driving to Paducah a couple years ago. You know when you leave upper Illinois in April we sometimes still have snow on the ground. We are lucky if the Daffodils are blooming! But as you drive down highway 57 straight down the state of Illinois, as each hour passes the landscape turns greener and lusher and the red buds are beginning to bloom. By the time you reach the end of Illinois and pass into Kentucky the dogwoods are blooming and everything feels fresher and cleaner and spring like. I always love driving to Paducah in April.

I hope you enjoy this project.

Festival of Quilts 2008

Last year this time Laura and I were getting ready to go to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. We are again getting ready to go to the Festival of Quilts UK. I have been packing up boxes and making list and checking them twice. There is a lot of little things to remember.

Here we are in our "stand" at the Festival of Quilts. This was a very fun show and we had a great time hanging out with the locals. This year we are both teaching classes as well as working our stand and working in the SAQA stand.
My husband and I leave next weekend, we will driving around in Scotland for a week before I have to report for work. The temperature in Scotland hasn't hit 70 degree's in the last week. I think I will pack some long underwear!
If you are coming to the quilt show in Birmingham please be sure and stop by the stand. Stand #B4. See you there!!