Quilty Quarters

I spent most of Saturday in my Quilty Quarters... Sometimes you just have to turn your back on the housework and decide not to do it! It's not like it won't be there the next day is it?
It's soooo much fun rooting round in my little stash, choosing fabrics for a project with no real end plan
This is one layout idea.. Scrappy Bento Box, see that weird green tiny floral fabric.... I have it in every colour! Why???? Because I was a beginner and thought I needed them all... they're Brazilian fabrics... I've used them all in one quilt and another... they don't seem to want to run out! The Scrappy Bento Box is great for practicing free motion quilting with an all over design .... with a beautiful variegated thread..... lovely.
I need to have some hand stitching ready for this coming Saturday... I don't do hand stitching if I can help it... so, the plan is to be stitching down the binding!! better get on with it I think, it's a tall order but .... if I just keep my back turned on the chores... there's a good chance I will make it! ha ha ha

A Sad Story

About two months ago a lady popped into the Caverswall Quilt Cave with a very sad story. She told me that her mother, Brenda Russel, had been a very keen quilter but had suffered a very bad stroke last year and was now unable to do any stitching at all.
Thankfully Mrs. Russel doesn't actually know or remember that she was a quilter. I know that sounds terrible, but I imagine it would have been such a very cruel thing to have remembered what she loved to do whilst being unable to actually sew... anyway, her daughter asked me whether I would be able to help her sell her mothers quilting and stitching supplies. Of course I would do anything to help a fellow quilter, even though we had never met....
It was quite traumatic sorting through all her boxes though... little messages jotted down on scraps of paper etc. I did sort it and I have been taking it all along to quilty meetings, labelled and priced. There's not so much left now but I shall continue until everything has a new home.
There were a few UFO's too. One of which I will quilt and give back to Mrs. Russel, it still needs a bit of work on the top just yet though.
There was a bag of hexagons too, this is where Dotty came in..... she had looked at the large bag a few times... one week she decided to buy it and to continue making more hexagons... whilst watching Wimbledon! As you can see, there are many different sizes, some tiny, but it is quite special to see Mrs. Russel's work being continued.
I will post more pictures soon.
I'm sure there is a lesson for us here... hmmmmmmm
I am off to sew and hopefully use up some of my stash.... right now!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

We had a new lady join us.... my Mum!!!! She's been coming along to our Caverswall Quilt Cave to help me out and as we weren't too busy this meeting she decided to have a go at the Rail Fence table runner... she did ever so well, got all the strip sets done, cut them into blocks then accurately stitched them into the rows..... she has a little bit of homework to do.... and by next week the centre should be finished... no pressure Mummy!.
Shirley Lerly's been shopping... these fabulous colours will be made into a Pineapple Blossom sofa throw. Lerly made a good start, cut loads of 2" strips of yellows and lots of 3 1/2" squares of stunning pinks and made up one test block... this is a very clever pattern, one of my favourites. I'm sure there will be lots of blocks to see by next Friday...
Brenda/Barbara needed 18 x hour glass blocks for her Chunky Churndash sofa throw, By cutting very carefully Brenda had juuuuuust enough fabric... phew.... that was lucky!
She played with a Bernina baby all day too... they bonded so well!!! he he he

Dotty Maureen was with us but she is working on something quite special so I will post separately about that very soon......

Caverswall Quilt Cave will be open next WEDNESDAY 10am - 3pm... would you like to treat yourself to a full day of stitchy/quilty fun???
Remember my brilliant idea too..... if you have quilts needing to be made into sandwiches...., just let me know and I can put out tables for you....
Any questions??? angiequilts@gmail.com

Quilty Quarters

These are a few (only a few!) of my 'small pieces', some of you might consider them scraps but for me a scrap is less than about 5"... these drawers contain some 'uglies', to be fair, there are lots of 'uglies'....
Anyway, I cut 36 x 5" squares with a quilt in mind, it might not be the quilt I finally make but, hey ho... tis the planned one for now, it's my fabric and I will please myself, thank you... ha ha ha!!
Of course, now my drawer of 2 1/2" strips is full again. I might as well continue 'stripping my uglies'... they don't look as ugly in smaller pieces!
This is a theory I learned from Bonnie over at quiltville.

It's All Day Sewing in our Caverswall Quilt Cave (10am - 3pm) today, so I had better get going... will I see you there?

Hidden Wells

We arrived in Portugal at the end of August 2004 and, because there were no quilters for me to befriend or to play with, I persuaded some ladies, in a well established craft group, to have a go at patchwork and quilting. First we made a Rail Fence table runner, of course... then we made Hidden Wells quilts. I finished this quilt in 2005, as you can see from my label. I state that it was to take the ladies "Up on the learning curve" because of all the things they learned in the process.... from colour combination, accurate folding and cutting of fabrics, dealing with bias seams, careful ironing, matching points etc etc.... I think there were only 5 of us but it was fun to work on the same project for a while.... and then, after that, we became a real quilt group!! and it grew and grew, wooohoooo
'Twas 'now' last year when we left Portugal... I can't believe a year already passed by, but it has... and here I am .... still persuading people to try Patchwork & Quilting.. he he he...!

Quilty Quarters

I'm happy to say that I am all caught up on my household duties, finally! It only takes a few busy days out to upset the balance.....most importantly, I tidied my Quilty Quarters, serviced all the Berninas, which I do every weekend anyway and polished the table tops. I re-covered two old ironing boards that had been given to me by the very kind caretaker of Caverswall Village Hall and they look like new again now.
Of course my clean and tidy Quilty Quarters called out to me " I'm feeling too clean and tidy, won't you come in and sew?'.... he he he.... Ta daaaaa... Another 9" block towards the border of my Portuguese tiles... table is happy, covered in dog-ears, trimmings and tossed unfolded fabric!!! perfect.....

Labels..... not my favourite thing to do, it has to be said.... this time, I stitched words onto the binding... well I have to use the alphabet on my Bernina baby some how! I will use this method again in future, that's if the quilt is to stay with me (and lets face it, most of them do!) these few words are quite sufficient. I know it's not very level, that's because I'd already stitched the binding onto the quilt before I remembered to do it... duh! next time, it will be level-er!!! ha ha ha

A Brilliant Idea?

OK, I have a brilliant idea that you might be happy to know about....
Do you have UFO's at home waiting to be made into sandwiches?
Do you often wish you didn't have to make your quilt sandwich by crawling round on the floor?
Do you put off quilting your project because you don't have space to make your sandwich?
Angie to the rescue...well sort of.... don't get too excited!!!
I'm not suggesting that I do it for you but what I can offer is the table top space.... If you don't want to come to spend a day having fun, stitching with fellow quilters but you would love to use our tables to make a sandwich... do it! !.....Come make your sandwiches at Caverswall Quilt Cave. All you have to do is email, or call me, to tell me you how many tables you need so I can put them ready for you.
Is this not a brilliant idea????

"Quilt Cave Fun Days"... have been soooooo popular and very successful on Fridays.... I'm now able to offer ALL DAY SEWING on Wednesdays too. 10am - 3pm.
You bring whatever project you want to work on and if you need help I will try my very best to help you. Beginners are welcome, I'll always teach beginners.... we can never have too many quilters now can we!!!

Back to my chores now, I am feeling very proud of myself for coming up with such a brilliant idea, he he he

Promoting Quilting

With blazing sun and humidity, the temperature exceeded 30 degrees... and we were standing out in it!! Are we not wonderful people???
Oh how we suffer for our art!!! ha ha ha
We were promoting SPQ, (Staffordshire Patchwork & Quilting) and the Quilt Guild of the British Isles (such a long title?) ... oh, and beginner classes starting up in Eccleshall very soon.
We sold 101 flags attempting to pin-point buried treasure on a quilt, we sold many quilts and fabric goodies... total for our efforts so far is....£255.85.. brilliant! this money will go to the quilt Museum in York... have you been there?....
It's is so much fun talking to people all day.... I asked many ladies if they had ever tried, or wanted to try, patchwork... lots of them had you know.... they told me that it used to be thought of as ... dare I say it??? "Old Fashioned!!!!" but it is so "IN" now... it could be the first time ever in my very own life that I have been " fashionabubble" ( I argue with my 'spell check' all the time, for goodness sakes it questions the word 'Bernina').......
I caught Dotty trying to get into the Mayors posh car!!!! OK, this is a set up but I do declare that she would have taken it for a spin had it not been locked!