Class Action

So nice when you re-visit an area and see the results of the class you taught!

Last year, once the West Country Quilt Show had finished, HH and I spent a day teaching a large group of ladies at a village hall somewhere near Bristol (SatNav took us there, I would never be able to find it again!) Nothing unusual in HH and I teaching together, but this time we were teaching two very different classes in the same hall. Despite our initial reservations it all went very well and everyone enjoyed themselves.

So you can imagine my pleasure when I saw these two little groups of quilts hanging in the Bristol Modern Group's gallery space today.

TREASURE BOXES - pattern available on www.littlepatchpocket.co.uk

TREES - pattern available on www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk

Sadly none of them had labels on, I would have loved to be able to credit the makers. What a stunning collection!

West Country Quilt Show!

Two sore feet and one dead drill battery (luckily I had a spare!) and the Modern Art Quilters' Roadshow hits the ground running in Bristol this weekend.

Metaphorically producing a hare out of a baseball cap (hares are much more magical creatures than rabbits, and I would look really silly in a top hat) a blank, white walled space is transformed into a veritable art gallery:

I bit of tidying up in the morning and I will be good to go with demonstrations of foundation paper piecing for anyone who cares to listen. I will be here at the UWE Frenchay Campus Thursday 29th to Saturday 31st August surrounded by our lovely hand-dyed fabrics, patterns and kits as well as other interesting exhibits and stallholders, come and find me on stand G21. Click on any of the photos to visit the Quilt Show's website for details.

I must admit to feelings of trepidation since this is my first time flying solo at a show of this size (they don't let me out on my own much!) but I think I managed not to forget anything important and the only thing that got damaged in transit was the bin:

Oh dear, I don't think it will ever be the same again. This will probably get thrown away on the last day, with the rubbish.

Productive, despite the heat

Some of yesterday's pressing...

Foolishness...

On the hottest (and busiest) weekend of the year, I have spent much of the last two days pressing fabric for packs, as HB is taking the Modern Art Quilters' Roadshow to Bristol for the West Country Quilt and Textile Show on Tuesday.. I can't go, as I can't leave my Lovely Man, but she will have quilts, packs, kits, patterns, and much besides from both of us, and will be demoing Foundation Paper Piecing, talking about the new stuff we have made this year, and generally being lovely, as usual...
And, my Clearance Sale is going well, almost all the purses, books, and big tote bags are gone and there are still a few nice oddments for visitors to the Sculpture Trail (which has two weeks left to run)  So, please come and visit, and gather a bargain or two..

And, just for your delectation, my rainbow of threads...

Kate's Legacy

Three years ago I was lucky enough to spend my time at the Festival of Quilts in the company of Kate Percival as we took our turn manning the Modern Group desk on the Guild stand. We got on extremely well, to say the least (we had a scream!) and became firm friends although most of communications were via email. Sadly, the following year Kate was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive cancer and was too ill to attend Festival having done a huge amount of work towards that year's Modern Group Challenge 'Cottonopolis'. At the last moment a small group of us took over setting up the gallery following Kate's careful diagrams as close as possible; making sure we sent her quantities of photos to make her feel as included as we could despite her been 150 miles away. Between the photos and videos we asked the gallery visitors to make cat blocks for Kate so we could make a secret hug quilt for Kate. Amazingly we managed to keep it quiet and she was surprised and touched to receive it along with the waves of love that were being sent from all parts of the world. We found out just how far reaching her influence was, it became a very large hug quilt!

The quilt accompanied Kate to many subsequent chemo sessions, but sadly the cancer returned and this lovely person left us far too soon.

While she was the Exibitions Officer (sic) for the Modern Group Kate had an idea for a joint challenge for all the specialist groups within the Quilters' Guild. Various friends of Kate were instrumental in pushing the idea forward and this year saw the Joint Challenge gallery come to fruition:

British Quilt Studies Group chose the quilt we would all take as our inspiration

Winners and WooHoo!

Having a great time at FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2019 but, oh, my poor feet! I am sure they are making these halls bigger every day, and the Modern Category of the competition is about as far away from my OAKSHOTT base as it is possible to get while still being in the same county.

A gentle visitor to the OAKSHOTT stand this afternoon

I did photograph some winners today though:

MODERN winner 'Fractured Circles' by Robyn Fahy

My Favourite in the MODERN category (and a Judge's Choice)
this is a detail from 'Triangle Colour Study III' by
Nicholas Ball

WOOHOO: I got a Highly Commended for 'Negative Space'

ART QUILT Winner 'Vertex' by Betty Busby