PARALYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY

I am very much looking forward to the start of the Paralympics.  I am also hopeful that the weather will cheer up for the next 10 days.  I am sure that it will be so wonderful.  I do hope that anyone who could not get tickets to the Olympic Park venues, gets to go & see a Paralympic event & cheer our marvellous team along
There is one day left for my students exhibition.  I have enjoyed meeting people, there have been some lovely comments & a few sign ups for this next year, which is encouraging given the economic situation here & also the high cost of car parking.  The main town car park was only a third full on Saturday afternoon, a real shocker

Part of Rhiannons cushion machine embroidery, all the black is thread zigzag stitch & the coloured areas thread straight stitch, a very dynamic design

 

Part of Adeles cushion, this item showed a thourough working through of design ideas based on tulips, a very popular item in the exhibition

 

SPRING FLOWERS

Two beautiful quilts designed by myself.  This was a sampler quilt course with a difference.  Most of the blocks had folded and or manipulated elements to them

This quilt is Ruths

This one is Lynnes

I am very pleased with how these have been finished off.  The course ran from January to July & included English & American patchwork.  Curved piecing.  Foundation piecing.  Applique - turned edge, raw edge & freezer paper.  Crazy patchwork & Strip patchwork pineapple log cabin

The pictures show one dark & one light version & they are around 40 inches wide by 54 inches long, made in sections and quilted with my Quilt as you Go method.  I am looking forward to seeing more completed quilts in the Autumn term.

This term I have designed & constructed a patchwork organiser & bag incorporating patchwork & applique blocks.  There is quite a bit of work to do so I am planning for it to last until around Easter next year, as the lessons are fortnightly.  I have seen some of the chosen fabrics & yum comes to mind.

At Festival of Quilts I bought some new Japanese Taupe fabrics & am going to use them to create some more blocks for a smaller organiser, well thats the plan

I am busy designing items & styles for my STITCHED SCAPES course.  This locally is once a month, exploring techniques & products to create innovative textile pieces.  Individual tutorials enable this course to flow under the headline of masterclass with yself as the mentor.

Back soon with more yummy textiles to delight

Sitting here in my sitting room looking out the window and a huge red, white & blue bouncy castle.  My sons business BOUNCY WOUNCY CASTLES, what a year to start this business, the castle is too big for his garden & it is sopping wet, so he has to clean & dry it here.  A lot of hidden work that anyone who hires one does not see.  I wish for a much better summer for him next year, he looks exhausted, he even has all the crash mats to clean & dry, no wonder he has lost alot of weight, looking good x