Bloggers quilt festival

Last year about this time I started to get very interested in quilting and started looking at blogs for inspiration. I managed to stumble onto the first bloggers spring quilt festival and oh my word! I browsed around sites for days and days and got completely addicted to the blogs and the quilts that were on display.

I have over the last year made quite a few quilts in a number of different styles but this I think it my favourite. It is a wonky log cabin so I didn't have to worry about getting those horrible seams and points to match (a great bonus for a beginner). I love the colours and I am really pleased with how the quilting turned out. It is wavy lines done with my walking foot but it creates a lovely moment across the quilt. 

I even finally after browsing for so long took the plunge and set up my own blog this new year and have met some wonderful people online. And now a year after discovering it the first time, I've got something to show in this spring festival.





What a different a year makes!

Some serious time wasting

I'm supposed to be doing all the boring houseworky stuff like washing and ironing today. I got up full of great intentions!

Instead - I discovered giveaway day http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=7406 and am now surfing around loads of new blogs. I have so many in my reader that I can't keep up with at the moment but am still looking at these! And entering the giveaways. People are so generous with what they give. Hopefully I'll be lucky!!!

My biggest quilt so far

As I'm not getting any sewing done at the moment I thought I would show off the biggest quilt I've made so far. I did it last summer and it is 70x80 inches.

I've made it for friends in Ireland and it actually has a name "Loony Limerick Ladies". If you ever met the girls it is going to you would understand why.

These aren't my colours at all and it came out a lot brighter than I originally planned. The girls moved into a new home a couple of years ago and last summer was the first time I saw it since they got it decorated and I could see their colour scheme. Reds and lilacs were the main colours so of course I didn't have anything like that in my stash. I ended up buying loads online and once they were all together it wasn't the pastel feast I had originally planned.

I pieced the back as well so it is reversable and a bit calmer on that side.

The quilting was straight line with my lovely walking foot. I had planned to do a freemotion stipple but I couldn't get the cotton I had bought to go. It is yli glazed machine thread but it was thicker than any I had used before and I didn't really like using it. Of course, I had brought 3 spools as I couldn't judge how much I would use and I didn't even use up 1 spool so I have loads of it left over! Typical.

It still hasn't gone to its home as I don't trust the post with it, it will go next time I go over for a weekend. My friends live near my family so I always get to see them when there is a family do on.

This is the only quilt I've made that I haven't washed, mainly because I don't think it will fit in my machine!

V & A Quilts

I finally got to the Victoria and Albert museum today to see their Quilts exhibition. Work keeps changing my shift patterns and I unexpectedly ended up off today. My friend I wanted to go with was also of as it is a bank holiday so off we went.

It was great, some amazing examples dating all the way back to 1700. Some of the details worked by hand were stunning. One took 18 years!

No pics were allowed inside but I took a couple of the building instead. I really think it is one of the best museums in the world. There is always something new to discover and its all dedicated to arts and design.

The garden is lovely but don't be deceived, there was a wind that would strip the skin of you.

This is the grand entrance, I love the glass chandelier, but I would be a bit nervous standing underneath!