Rather too close to the wire (2 days from deadline), I completed my red & white quilt and sent it off in the post to the Festival of Quilts.  I’ve entered two pieces in the open competition.

This quilt – Polonaise.
 

It has taken weeks to make – each circle of stuffed shibori takes hours and hours of hand sewing, then all the quilt construction has taken a week or so, as it is all hand stitched except the front side of the binding. I fully intended (in January) to make this by early June. If only I didn’t have a living to make….

This was the first quilt like this I made – a tiny one for Whip Up Mini Quilts a couple of years ago, which itself was based on a cushion I used to make.

The red & white colourway is one of my all-time favourites so I thought I’d use it again, but in reverse. The gorgeous wool fabric was from Clothkits (although it was an oddment) and the stuffed shibori (bobbles) are made from organic cotton voile. The binding is organic cotton sateen sheeting.
You can’t really see in the photos, but the actual quilting around and between the cut-out circles is all hand stitched circles.

I’ve also entered this cushion for the quilted objects category. The pattern for this cushion is appearing in the latest issue of Stitch – the really good American sewing magazine.

Also appearing at the Festival of Quilts… ME.

I’ve got a stand booked, a small cosy space filled with my work. I’m on stand Demo B, which, as the name suggests, is a place where I will be doing demonstrations. Each day I’ll work on a different fabric manipulation technique (although I’ve not decided which yet!) and I will have lots of my work for you to see first hand. I’ll also have a stack of books – both mine and others I have contributed to and new kits and patterns using innovative & exciting fabric manipulation techniques as well as my beginner-level sewing kits using recycled wool felt.

I’m also going to be promoting my new courses in Leicester, Stafford & Cambridge from beginners sewing right through to fabric manipulation masterclasses for all levels. Scroll down the website – it needs updating… there’s Autumn workshops at the end and I’ve got a few more to add soon.

I’ll post a lot more about the courses soon. Life’s been a bit hectic with family stuff recently, but I’m back on track with blogging now, and will keep posting new & interesting things once or twice a week.