» Listings for August 2011

1. Birmingham NEC, The Festival of Quilts

   Posted on 9:33pm Wednesday 24th Aug 2011

   So I arrived in Rugby for teatime on Friday with a car full of equipment for our classes in September. Nikki had already been working hard on our stand for two days so all I had to do was pick her up on Satuday morning and walk onto the stand which was looking fabulous:

      

   We had lots of interest and it was great to meet some Rugby students from our taster classes and first Intensive CC course, and I think we have some sign ups for september and day classes which is great! If you haven't been to this show, there are hundreds of competition quilts on display organised into various categories. These were a few of my favourites:

           

   Quilted Doll, folk costume dolls, Hare quilt

   There was some amazing work on display and it was great to see so much creative work going on. It made me want to rush home and make one of my own, but perhaps I should make one for the 'Miniature Quilts' category first! This one must have been the smallest in the show at and inch square:

   

   Packing up the stand was interesting, we had to get a 5 metre stand into my Ford hatchback! There was just enough room to squeeze Nikki in the front seat...

   

2. A busy summer

   Posted on 5:39pm Tuesday 16th Aug 2011

   Well, it's been a busy few weeks so I'll probably run through the events one at a time!

   Well done to all on the intensive Certificate course with me at Hampton Court Palace recently. It's called intensive for a reason as can be seen by the plasters on the fingers of Nuria and Victoria...

       

   The class hard at work mounting...

   

   It was then a mad dash (for me!) up to Birmingham...

3. Some new stitches

   Posted on 10:58am Saturday 6th Aug 2011

   I love learning process and let's face it there is always something new to learn! I spent several months travelling around India and Asia some years ago now, and ever since then I have loved the bright colours, gold, beads, sequins and mirrors that adorn much Indian embroidery. I am currently looking into this further and decided to try and teach myself some new stitches. Here are some samples of my effforts...

   The first is Kutch stitch which involves working a herringbone type structure then weaving another thread in and out of this. I tried some simples ones first then jumped straight into something a bit more complicated!:

   

        

   I think technically you are supposed to weave around the whole grid with one thread without taking it to the back. I think my first attempt may have been a bit ambitious but I think I have gotten away with it!

   The other stitch is herringbone circles:

   

   This stitch was taught to me by embroiderer Surjeet Hussain, a few years ago now when I spent a day with her as part of my apprenticeship training. As well as embroidery, she paints miniature paintings and is also a musician. I was very humbled by her many talents. Like I said, always something new to learn.

   You can see some shisha mirrors in the background, more on these later!