Busy Friday

A very busy day today. I got my homework done for the IWP quilt group. We are almost at the end of our Round Robin projects. This round we had to add some applique. I had so much fun doing my bit on Trudi's Round Robin. I can't show any pictures because all of the projects are 'top secret' until we reveal each one, finished... but once we do that, I will take lots of photos.
I got all the preparation done ready for class tomorrow at Paula's http://www.arcoirisametro.com/

I spent some time on my Scrappy Bargello. I'm now half way to completing the top... just 24 more strips to sew on!!

IWP Quilt Group

Brrrrr..... on a cold, very windy & wet day, we meet for quilting. Wow is is fierce outside today! Last Thursday we were getting burnt in the sun! You can see in this group photo that some ladies kept their coats on all morning!
This beautiful quilt belongs to Luisa. She started it 10 years ago whilst still in Korea. It is all pieced and quilted by hand. Luisa says that she has made other quilts over the ten years, not just this one! We are happy that she finished it here in Portugal before she goes back to Korea in June.
Left to right holding Luisa's quilt... this is Jutta, Sally, Helen, Therese, Luisa, Sue and Anneliese.

Here we are all looking very closely at the machine quilting in Ursula's quilt, after the Jenny Bowker workshop last Friday, Ursula is the first of us to try on a "real" quilt, now we are all inspired to try.


Again, just to prove that given time I can remember names..... left to right, Luisa, Ursula, Therese, Helen, Sue and Anneliese, all hiding behind Ursula's Quilt.. which is double sided, on the back is a Turning Twenty design, but my photograph was very blurred... sorry Ursula!

Quilt Class

Today I went to Paula's http://www.arcoirisametro.com/ . It was a very busy morning with yet another new lady. She was dressed all in blue and chose only blue fabrics to make her table runner, thankfully she thought it was funny when she heard me refer to her as 'the blue lady'. (I had a lovely email from "the blue lady" to tell me her name is Rosália!)
Lots of the ladies are planning new projects now which is very exciting.

This is a Rail Fence Table Runner with the binding machine stitched, now it just needs to be hand sewn on the back and a label. This lady already bought fabrics for her next project.

This is Sandra's quilt, it is very big and bright with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.
In red is Noemia who is working on several quilts at the same time, right in the corner you can just about see the green and beige bed quilt top.

Here are 5 of the ladies hard at work. They didn't notice me with my camera as they were all working away. I called out "smile" so they did... good training! ha ha ha






This is Sofia, she was thrilled to find that her sewing machine already had a walking foot so she was able to get on with quilting her cushions. This time she did 'in the ditch' quilting, but next time....ooooh, we also found the darning foot, maybe Sofia will 'dance with her feed-dogs down'?

Here is another of Sandra's projects. A Log Cabin Quilt made at PIP (http://pipguild.blogspot.com/ )

A New Quilt Shop!

How exciting... Portugal's second Quilt Shop opened today. After weeks of preparation, Ines finally opened the doors to customers. The shop is called 'patch-mania', it is in Oeiras, in the shopping centre 'Galerias Alto da Barra'. There's lots of parking. Of course I went along to take photos to share with my friends.
This is the shop looking in through the window, it is lovely and bright.




Trudi and Garen choosing fabrics.....



This is Ines cutting some of my fabric.

jenny Bowker Workshop, day 2

Another fabulous day with Jenny Bowker in Caldas Da Rainha. Another group of ladies, from PIP's, IWP and Paula's, this time with some customers of Mario's Bernina shop, Casa Felizardo.
I can't remember the names of all the ladies..... I've never been good at remembering names.... but they were all lovely
and that is all that is important!
I just received an email , this is Licinia, Isabel and Luisa.

This is Arabela from the IWP group.

Like Ann yesterday, Anabela broke something on her machine and got to use Jenny's Bernina Aurora! I think she bonded very well with it too.




This is Paula, who was one of the organisers of the workshop. http://www.arcoirisametro.com/


Jenny shows us more intricate quilting and the faces get more serious as they move in for a closer look! I promise you that there was lots of fun and laughter, though you would be forgiven for not believing me from this photograph.


Try this one of Garen and Arabela..... definitely happy, happy, happy! In the background you can see the room full of people, chatting and laughing with machines buzzing along........ heaven!

More happy faces......


This is a quilt that Jenny brought along to show us how she makes lovely small quilts to practice free motion quilting. Once we finish practicing with our 'Fat Quarter Sandwiches', she suggests we should move directly on to quilts... I think it is known as .. "jumping in at the deep end!" and why not!

Jenny Bowker Workshop, day 1

What a fantastic time we've all had over the last 2 days!!!!!
Members of IWP quilt group, PIP's and Paula's ladies from Arco Iris A Metro all came together for Portugal's first ever machine quilting workshop, it was sponsored by Bernina sewing machines. Jenny Bowker was fantastic! We all learned so much about free motion quilting. First Jenny demonstrated how we get the tension correct and how we get started with scribbling, waves, curves, zig-zags and pebbles and loops, then sent us back to our machines to practice. After 20 minutes, we returned to Jenny to watch the next step, which was a little more complex, bigger zig-zag more organised loops and curves, our first flowers!!! and some heart shapes. We had all started to relax when Jenny announced that we now knew everything we needed to know to do all free motion designs. Well of course there was disbelief!!!!

This is Garen showing her practice quilt. If you look closely you can see the loops and waves and even where she has written her name. When we got to the name writing part I think we all had a great sense of achievement each time someone could read it!


This is Sue and Helen ready for action, Ursula is further back, concentrating.
We had a lunch break then returned for part 3, squares, meandering, hearts, clouds even the baptist fan, spirals and echoing.



This is Jenny demonstrating part 4, flowers, feathers, tendrils and different kinds of leaves.
Jenny makes it all looks so easy, and I am sure it is! ... when you know how!!


Ann, unfortunately, had a spring decide to break on her bobbin case which rendered her machine unusable. I did say "unfortunately" but I am not sure that is the correct expression as Ann then had to sit at our teacher's table at the front of the room to use Jenny Bowker's Bernina Aurora machine!!!!! how can that be 'unfortunate'????

Quilt Class

It worked! I went to Paula's with my camera in my pocket AND remembered to use it! Feeling very pleased with myself!
We had a great class today. 2 more new ladies joined us. This photo is of Marina's first quilt to be finished. She started it before Christmas so that explains the seasonal fabrics, this is the table runner that we normally do as a beginner project for those learning to hand piece projects. Though this one was pieced by machine and hand quilted.....

This (below) is also Marina's project, it is already in a batting sandwich ready to be machine quilted after class this weekend. She is also going to our Jenny Bowker workshop on Saturday. This is the back of her head, beautiful hair but too shy to smile for the camera!

This is Noemia with her first project. She pieced the first block by hand then switched to machine piecing, hand work is very special, but it takes so much longer and she couldn't wait to get something finished. Here you can see Paula too, who jumped into the photo at the last minute, she just got back from her skiing holiday, the two tone face was not my camera playing tricks! he he

This is Ines, she was one of the new ladies last Wednesday, she took her quilt home today already in a batting sandwich ready to quilt. She needs to wait for her new walking foot. Meanwhile she is already planning her next project. This is a larger version of the Rail Fence table runner that we teach as the first project for machine piecing, it is very good for learning to cut and sew accurately. And this last photo.... da da, da daaaaaa .....Is the Kaffe Fassett fabric samples that a sales lady bought to Paula's shop today .......... and Paula ordered about 20 bolts of it...... FANTASTIC!!??? There were so many to choose from, of course we wanted them all, they are delicious, but 20 is a good start. I can't wait for the delivery... but it will take 3 to 4 weeks... time to save up a few Euros!

Preparing for Jenny

Today I did all my sorting out and packing ready for the Jenny Bowker worshop this weekend. It feels so good to use all the little bits of batting that I have been saving for years, I just zig-zagged them all together making up fat quarters, then sandwiched them with "why did I buy that?" fabric. Definately busting a bit of my stash! So it feels like my practice squares cost me nothing!

I cleaned and oiled my sewing machine, went through the list of supplies ticking of as I gathered stuff..... thread, bobbins, pencil, book, feet ...... I am ready to go! ...... well, i am getting a little excited now. This will be my first 'real' workshop........ I will need my camera! also need to remember to use it, a bigger challange!

Birte has been busy. here is her latest photo, I believe she is working on the borders now. Square Dance two is already planned with different colours. There is no stopping Birte once she starts a project!