Southampton Quilters Show – 22nd Sept
This was a lovely event and we had a great time – met lots of friends; lots of members; saw lovely quilts; bought fabric – what more does one want?!?
This was a lovely event and we had a great time – met lots of friends; lots of members; saw lovely quilts; bought fabric – what more does one want?!?
I have attached a picture of the quilt I made for my final quilt when I did City & Guilds with Jenny Last at Windsor. I did enter it in the National Patchwork Championships in 2000 (the year I completed the course). It was also the year it was held at Olympia and I got an award of merit for it.
Val: If you missed me being interviewed on my local radio station don't despair there is a 'listen again' option through the computer and the link is www.bbc.co.uk/i/p00kvf2w/ You can hear all about my passion for sewing/quilting/patchwork (which won't surprise any of you) but you might not have known some of the other stuff I get to talk about!
Val: Wow this month seems to be rushing by - I suppose that’s what happens if you take a few days off; we had a lovely few days in France and the weather was superb. This Saturday, 22nd, you will find me at the Second Southampton Quilting & Textile Art Fair being held in aid of The Society of St.James (which is a Southampton Charity) and The Goedgedacht Project (a South African charity) at the King Edward VI School in Southampton (SO15 5UQ)– it runs from 10am-3pm and as well as traders there are displays - with the theme of ‘Africa’- and demonstrations; so do come along and say hello.
Summer came and went and we are now into that [...]
Hi Jenny & Valerie, after watching this week's video on Chenilling, it prompted me to send you this photo.
It was our W.I. (Brill) entry in the Bucks County Show this year...notice the green grass is chenille that I learnt from one of your earlier videos
Unfortunately we didn't win but it was fun to do anyway.
Val: What a super day we all had filming at Hever Castle (in Kent) yesterday – Country Life at the Castle it is being billed as and for the first time in 20 years it is so much more than just a quilt show; obviously for me the quilts were the star of the show (all from the Quilters Guild members of Region 2) (as well as the shopping) but there was lots of other stuff on display and to enjoy – plants from the estate; a basket weaver, dog trainer, a man who forged stuff from wrought iron, weaver, spinners, felters, - PLUS the wonderful grounds of the castle to enjoy.
We have started the month with a great idea from [...]
Val: This is one of those dates in history that everyone knows where they were - just like the day President Kennedy was shot and Princess Diana lost here life. I can remember not only where I was back in 2001 when the dreadful news came through but also where I was last year - I was in Canada - and since I was over in North America the TV was saturated with coverage of the events of rememberance; how much more so will they be this year? I was very moved by those events of rememberance but also fascinated to learn of the way quilters have dealt with this tragedy and the significance and value that has been granted to them by the government and the American people; The America's 9-11 Memorial Quilts project was initiated by Jeannie Ammermann to honor victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Val; Some of you may have heard that Bizview.tv as a company is no longer trading but I have to tell you that the boys are alive and well; Justhands-on.tv will continue to have close links with Dave & Matt (and the cameras) as well as Paul, so for us its business as usual. We have lots of wonderful plans including visiting the Festival of Quilts on Sunday 14th August with the cameras; the event at Hever Castle in September and Jennie and I will be together later in August to film the new Block of the Month programme (which is coming along well in my sewing room!)
Jennie and I had a wonderful day filming on Tuesday – all seven parts of our new block of the month programme and I have now given the quilt a name (!) – Rosebud Fayre - which is also the name of the range of fabrics that we used; designed by Gail Kessler for Andover and distributed in the UK by Makower, these fabrics have been mixed with some of the Makower Itsy Bitsy range.
Max was so taken with the pattern he found of Owl on the Daisy Chain stand at the National Patchwork Championships in June that he couldn't wait to get the sewing done.
He chose the fabrics too (good choice!) and while Twit is finished and obviously much loved, Wit and Woo are still works in progress. (Mum's supervision time is being taken up with sewing on name tags!)
Val: Finally got to downloading some of the pics from our journey at the Festival of Quilts and couldn't resist this one - parked at home it not only took up most of the driveway but also gently grazed the lower branches of my neighbours trees, and I needed steps to get into the back too!!! (Isa says that if I get to drive next year we might get one with a tail lift!)
Dates for next year's Festival of Quilts are 16-19 August 2012
Val: Thankyou Derek for getting back to us with this:
"Its not my fault its the computer - it made me do it !" (ROFL) that's what I say about my sewing machine! I have just finished watching the video on Free Motion Embroidery and wanted to say thank you to Jennie for the video I have tried Free Motion Quilting on my Janome with disastrous results - I could never get the needle to perform a nice smooth curve or a straight, straight line.