Naze Tower textile exhibition
Val: Earlier this week I went over to Essex to visit the Naze Tower (CO14 8LE) where my friend Hilary Davies has a textile exhibition - on the 6th floor. This is a truely amazing building, built 1720-21 by Trinity House as a 'Navigation Mark' to aid shipping and now is a tourist attraction with the added bonus of exhibitions on each floor. www.nazetower.co.uk The current exhibition runs until 5th September and well worth a visit BUT if you are travelling by car round the M25 anticlockwise be warned of the horrendous traffic problems around junctions 27/28/29 (and if you have satnav get it to help you round them to join back up to the A12).
Don’t want to use Paypal?
Val: If you really hate the idea of Paypal (and we know many of you do) you can pay for your subscription, and indeed for your shopping by cheque. We can offer you membership at £18 for 3 months; £36 for 6 months and £60 for the whole year. You just need to contact us with the details, and we'll do the rest. We are never far away from answering the emails.
Now we are one
Val: Well here we are August 1st and we have celebrated our first birthday; and what a journey! Hard work but fun and we have learnt a lot from all those lovely tutors on the site. Of course Jennie and I get first viewing not only at the filming but also at the editing stage and we hope that you have been just as excited by the workshops and tutorials as we have.
What people say about us
Val: Here are some really nice comments we've received so far: INSOMNIA! Who cares. With this site I am happy as a pig in muck!
Just spent a very happy couple of hours, it's now 3.20 am so will try the bed once more. Thanks for helping to keep me sane! Julia My 14 year old granddaughter is taking Textiles as a GCSE subject and she and I are working on several home projects, so I'm sure the new additions to my stash will widen her horizons for choice of fabrics.
National Patchwork Championship weekend
Val: Well what a weekend we had; hubby and I were at the show at Sandown Racecourse, Esher in Surrey with our Justhands-on.tv hats on and it was such a pleasure to meet so many of you. I was also helping on the Creative Quilting stand - and boy were we busy there too, and then on Sunday I was there with the boys from Bizview.tv filming for the future - we met the new girls from Coloricious who make DVDs for the mixed media textile side of our business; Claire from Hannah's room did a great workshop for us using paints and shaving foam - you need to see it to believe it, but really great; Jennifer Trollope came up with a very clever colour workshop to use up our scraps into a very appealing kaleidoscope effect and using pritt stick (or similar!) and we had a truely terrific interview with Jacquie Harvey who is a very talented handquilting artist and her christening gown won the overall Championship rosette as well as the Handquilting rosette and the Wearable art rosette.
Endorsement from Karin Hellaby
Val; Karin Hellaby, quilter, author and owner of Quilters Haven said this : I do hope you will take a look at this fast growing site and consider becoming a member. With your help it can only get better and better! Why not email the link to all your quilting friends worldwide to let them know that here is a site that is showing what is going on in the textile world in the UK.
How to Make Tumbling Blocks Patchwork
Val: Tumbling blocks are a traditional favourite and often done over papers; it is based on the light/medium/dark theme to give dimension. In this short video our Jennie shows you how to make this pattern without papers and shows you the technique for insetting the seam, which works for both machine and handwork. One of the quilts on display at the current V&A Exhibition shows a scrap version of this - so now you can make your own!
Prism Textile Exhibition – Evolve, Evoke, Expand
Val: Well what a GREAT day we all had yesterday at this exhibition and I'm rushing to share it with you just in case you can fit in a visit - it ends tomorrow Sat 5th June at 7pm. The Mall galleries are just by Admiralty Arch in central london; the content of the show is breathtaking and very varied. If you can't get there, don't despair as you will be able to see much of it with us and it will be showing in August; so whether you get there or view it with us you are in for a treat; these girls push the textile envelope to new boundaries.
Garage forecourt encounter leads to patchwork furniture.
Val: Interesting who you can meet in a garage forecourt. I was on my way yesterday morning to a sewing day with friends at a location in Wimbledon, SW London and on the way stopped at the garage for an early cappucino. My dark blue Volvo now has the www.Justhands-on.tv written across it and because of this I was approached!!!
Volcanic Ash!
Jennie: Well ... our Valerie has eventually got to France - short vacation there - she was off to Lanzerroti (spelling!!) but planes not flying so had to cancel - this is second time this trip has been cancelled - last was due to snow! Anyway with luck she is languishing in France enjoying the lovely weather- I have been left in charge!
Midsomer quilting
Val; Jennie and I spent a really LOVELY day at this delightful quilt shop in N.Somerset; De and Chris made us all, and that includes the boys from Bizview.tv, most welcome and we had a really FULL day filming lots of stuff to share with you later - including a workshop with Judi Mendlessohn - and an interesting insight into how to layer-up a fullsize quilt and film about their Gammill Long Arm Quilting machine with the Intelliquilter.
More from the Exeter Show by Grosvenor Shows
Val: As well as viewing the amazing quilts on display, we stopped by and spoke to the girls at Step by Step Patchwork, famour for their superb range or Japanese fabrics; Strawberry Fayre were there with Jennie's Beach Hut jelly roll quilt and their amazing range of plain fabrics; and we said hello to Jo from Villavincrafts who not only runs a shop but also has some holiday cottages - so a great place to go for a retreat maybe (midnight shopping maybe!!) - all coming soon.
Spring Quilt Festival in Exeter by Grosvenor Shows
Val: what a great weekend; went down to the quilt show in Exeter run by Grosvenor Shows and got some great films of quilts, traders and the young Joshua Patton (aged 6) who entered his small quilt into the SouthWest Quilters challenge. We stayed in a great B&B at Payhembury - Yellington Farm (www.yellinghamfarm.co.uk) - which is part of the Devon Farms programme; under 30 mins from the show and the breakfast was to die for (the boys from Bizview tv work better on full tummies I've found!).
More from Mandy Shaw and Jennie Rayment
Val: Mandy Shaw shows us how to create festive bunting for your home (or garden or any reason at all) and Jennie Rayment gives us tips on how to make 3D patchwork flying geese units; these only have ONE seam and NO triangles - how great is that.
Workshops from Helen Deighan and Paula Doyle
Val: more weekend patchwork fun with Helen Deighan and her braiding discs - they do look like fun and also Mini Mosaics with Paula Doyle - what a great idea; you will definitely want to go and try this patchwork idea out as soon as possible.
Tucks & Textures with Jennie Rayment
Val: Under the new idea of new films each week, ready for the weekend you can see Jennie Rayment demonstrating how to work tucks and texture; simple, honeycomb, add colour to the edges and much more. Also a great interview with Mandy Shaw - did you know that she and Jennie had history?!?