Checking in again

Hello Everyone. Sorry I haven't been in Blogland for quite some time but I've been having a very busy time. I visited the US in October for a month before, during and after the birth of my two beautiful new twin grand-daughters,  Rachel Elizabeth and Eva Lee. Back home to the UK  for about a month. I'm writing this from Virginia , here to help out for another two weeks.
Quilting hasn't stopped though- two butterfly quilts for the babies and a snuggle-up quilt for a friend who's ill. Then there's a block of the month and of course a whole flock of dragons in progress. Hopefully some photos will follow soon. So if you've been interested in my blog and been a bit fed up with me, I'm sorry!

This is the first group to have a go. It was good to see that quite a few men wanted to try too.

A New Venture

Had a lovely time lately playing with flower hammering. I've seen Jane Rollason at lots of shows and did some as part of my City and Guilds Course. Now I'm heavily involved in starting up a social group for retired and semi-retired people which will contribute to living well in the third age. We hope to provide lots of opportunities for social, physical, creative, spiritual, charitable and intellectual pursuits, meeting together on a weekly basis.


Hammered and waiting to be stitched



Free motion quilting stitches

Thursday was Launch Day and I'm pleased to say 20 people attended. I decided to teach flower hammering to a group and I was
delighted at how many people wanted to try. This is my sample which I stitched with free motion stitching. I've spent this afternoon doing some more hammering to take as samples next week. Would you believe, the leaves of some weeds gave really nice results!

Harrogate Show

Had a lovely day on Sunday at the Great Northern Quilt & Needlecraft Show at Harrogate in Yorkshire. This event is much smaller than the Festival of Quilts but a good day out none-the-less. What's really good is meeting up with lots of friends. A bonus this year that 3 of our Circular Seagull Group Quilts were being exhibited. Well done to everyone who got them finished!

Anne's Seagull

Davina's Quilt

Michaela's Quilt

A few of us went to a demonstration about Wonderfil Speciality Threads.  Wonderfil is a Canadian Company which had been recommended by some Skipton friends. This was very interesting and , I have to say, I learned a lot about the different weight of threads. So I am now armed with a selection of lovely threads and dying to try them out.

I took lots of photos, of course, and ,as usual, Sheena Norquay's work caught my eye. I fand her a most inspirational craftswoman who creates the most beatiful work from sea and sand. Have a look at these.



Sources of Inspiration.

This is a gift bag which I think would make a lovely cot quilt.
I've got a passing interest in cot quilts since I'm soon to be a granny to twin girls. Now that is inspirational! 

I took these two photos of pictures in a friend's house. I love the colours and patterns and I'll save them for the day when I've got loads of free time  as a source for quilts.

Here we go again!

Today I am going to start planning and designing a new quilt. This is for Emma, my great neice. She is 5 and has told me she'd like one with dragons! So I've been on a dragon hunt and I've come up with some quite nice friendly dragons which I think will do the trick. What do you think?

Dragon 2

Dragon 1

Dragon 5

Dragon 3

Dragon 4

They look a friendly lot. I've started designing the quit layout and as I go on I'll choose my favourite dragons....or they might all end up featuring!

Hurricane

Thinking about our family, friends, quilters and others who may be anxious today with the hurricane threatening the Eastern seaboard. x

Having a new machine means lots of playing to try out all the different features. Playing with the stitches is just Phase 1!

A Surprise!

Look what was delivered today. Grace's mum and dad have sent these beautiful flowers to say thank you for Grace's quilt. How very kind and very unexpected.