Thursday, 29 April 2010

Phew!

So to York to the Quilting Museum to see the latest exhibitions. The Breakthrough exhibition with quilts made by members of the Contemporary Quilt group was stunning and we were fortunate that Margaret Ramsay, one of the members with a quilt on display was there to give a talk about her work. It was very interesting hearing about how someone goes about things and handling samples, but also heartening to meet a very pleasant person who was generous enough to share her secrets! Margaret uses her photos and drawings as the basis for her designs and uses many different techniques and mediums to get the effect she wants. The piece in this exhibition was made from an old Durham quilt, with applique, stitching and acrylic paint and it is a stunning piece of work.

The other exhibition, Inspired by the Past also contained some very interesting and clever work. I particularly liked Sarah Impey's "Family Circle" which had been inspired by finding a sampler stitched by a Great Grandmother and also the huge jumper quilted to look as if it had been knitted!

I would have liked longer looking around, but Sandra and I were quite peckish, so we went to the Italian Deli next door for lunch. Sitting outside in the garden in the sunshine was truly lovely. This garden is open to the public and would be a lovely spot for a picnic on a nice sunny day! Next time!!!

Then a brief walk around the wall to Goodramgate and on the way back to the bus stop, a look into Holy Trinity church which I hae never seen before. It is a tiny church in a lovely peaceful setting well away from all the hustle and bustle going on outside in the street. All the original wooden box pews have been retained and it had a lovely cheery atmosphere.

A great day out, and apart from splashing out on some artichokes in the deli, no money spent!

It all helped to take my mind off today and the visit to the Breast Screening Centre for a follow up after my mamogram last week. The letter they sent me was very vague, but I had convinced myself that my days were numbered. Strangely, my worst worry was the fact that poor Dave would have had to clear out all my stuff and would at last find out how much I had spent on fabric, yarn and shiny stuff! Fortunately, my excesses will remain my secret, at least for now, as they decided that I had a cyst and drained it there and then! So I consider myself truly lucky and can now get back to my various projects without the sword of Damocles hanging over me!

Logging onto the CQ yahoo group, I saw a post about a new site at the V&A where you can upload your own photos to make a pattern for a patchwork quilt! Had to have a go and it's great. Another new project! Just what I need! You can find it at http://www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/quilts/patchwork but make sure you have plenty of time as it is quite addictive!

Sunday, 25 April 2010

Catching up at last

Where has April gone? Suddenly I'm up against the deadline for the CQ Journal Quilt challenge and am rushing to finish! Taking time out for a visit to Clitheroe on Tuesday may not have been such a good idea, but it was a super day for driving over the moors! I had never been to Clitheroe before, but it is a lovely little Lancashire town and reminded me of visits to Chorley all those years ago in another life!

Sandra and I went to see the Textilia 111 exhibition at the Platform Gallery and were very impressed. This group is quite small, but very talented and the pieces were all very different. The gallery is also very well stocked with lovely jewellery, bags and other hand crafted items. Then to Molly's Cafe for lunch and a stroll through the castle grounds before heading back home via Embsay Mills for much needed fabric!
I decided we needed to see the moors, and we certainly did that, ending up driving along a gated road through a farm yard!

What a beautiful day out! Pendle hill looming at us. Lapwings, Redkites and even a Buzzard overhead. Blue skies and signs of Spring everywhere.

So my March JQ, long planned did not take long to stitch. I am sticking to the theme of raw edge applique with curves, but for this quilt I decided to use some of the decorative stitches on my machine rather than free machine embroidery. The design was inspired by seeing fields of daffodils and winter wheat on our recent trip to Cornwall. I used a piece of Indigo dyed fabric for the sky and it worked very well and it really looks like a March day. My mitred corners will probably not stand too close an inspection, but I am quite pleased with it.












For my April quilt, I decided to stay with the curved piecing theme but I was a bit stumped for a design. In the end I decided to just use the colours in the fabric and the curves as the design to reflect all the lovely colours of Spring inspired by a visit to Caerhays gardens on Easter Sunday. The Camellias were all out, and some of the Magnolias were beginning to come out, but seem to have been knocked back by the bad winter. On our way back to the cafe, we turned a corner and were confronted with a magenta Magnolia that just seemed to leap out at us.

So now I can relax because all I have to do is finish my postcard to Kay, my Batik challenge quilt for Sandra, a birthday outfit for Isobel........ Why do I do it?

Just because I love it!!!