2013 - A Year in Review Part 2

Happy New Year!

 

I had planned for 2014 to start with slightly more calm than the beginning of December.  But that was not meant to be.  Hey ho, at least there won't be a dull moment!

 

So anyway, that's why it's taken so long to finish my review of 2013.  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments about all my makes of last year.  Now I want to share some of the event highlights, of which there were many.

 

The year started with the most wonderful gift a quilting girl could ask for, from my wonderful husband.  I am truly grateful and I have used my Bernina nearly every day.  (Thank you too Chrissie, for all you help and advice with choosing it).

 

 

Shortly after the arrival of my wonderful sewing machine, I attended a two day screen printing and portholes workshop with Lucie Summers here in Jersey.  Thank you  Sue for inviting me, I had such a ball.

 

 

Next on the agenda was a day trip to London for the Kaffe Fassett A Life in Colour Exhibition.  Here's one of my favourite quilts, and I really want to have a go at this design, isn't it just gorgeous.   

In July it was another trip to London, this time for the Fat Quarterly Retreat.  That was just 3 days of awesomeness.  I met SO many wonderful people, learnt new skills, drank cocktails, bought far too much fabric, went to Liberty for the second time in 2 months and made loads of new friends.  (Can't wait to do it all again in 2014!!) 

 

 

This trip was swiftly followed by the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.  Oh my goodness, it was fantastic, and I even got to meet one of my quilting hero's, Tula Pink.

 

I'm pleased to say I also managed to have a holiday with the family; we went to France and had a wonderful week of sun, swimming and sightseeing. 

 
So could my year get any better?  It certainly did.  My wonderful, dear friend Julie, who has been my blogging/emailing friend for over two years, came to visit me, all the way from Australia.  It meant to much to me to finally meet her, and the 4 days that she was here went far too fast.  I can't wait for the day that we meet again.

 

 

The year ended well too.  I ran a little parent and child craft class at my house as part of a Promises Auction at my daughters school, and had such fun teaching new skills to Christie and mum Cleo. 

 





 

And finally I had a chance to relax for Christmas in a gorgeous cottage in Wales with the family before 2014 began. (Will blog soon about the Tula Pink needlepoint that I started, I love it!)

 

It really was a great year for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed looking back and reliving all the special moments.  I hope you had a happy year too and I hope that 2014 brings you happiness and all you wish for too.

Sarah x

Only 97 days till....

Guess what??!!

http://www.xmasclock.com/

So I thought it high time I put my Christmas fabrics (there, I've said it!) to good use. 

I bought these lovelies at the Festival of Quilts, (which you can read about here) and I've made a start turning them into some festive bunting. 

I've decided to make two types, one with some lettering, and some with applique shapes and maybe, just maybe, a little extra embellishment.  I'm making good progress but you will have to wait and see how these ones turn out ;-)

At the Festival I also purchased these gorgeous ribbons and buttons. 

Aren't they just the cutest!  And a complete bargain too at a £1.00 for 2 metres.  I'm looking forward to putting these to good use, but it remains to be seen if they will feature on the bunting. 

 

In other news, I have 2 children off sick at the moment.  So that's my sewing day yesterday out of the window.  Both will survive, I have one happy boy who is well on the road to recovery and a very subdued daughter :-( I think we've entered the winter sickness season a little too early!

 

But on a positive note, it's less than 2 weeks until I meet one of my oldest and dearest blogging friends, Julie from Thimble Fingers!  I've known and been emailing Julie for over 2 1/2 years now, and although we live on the other side of the world from one another, (she's in Western Australia) we've become firm friends.  And tomorrow she is heading to UK shores for 2 weeks, before making the trip to Jersey to come and meet me and the family.  I'm so excited (and a little nervous) I can't wait!  Julie's work, in particular her embroidery is inspirational, so I highly recommend grabbing a cup of tea and looking through her blog and admiring her beautiful work. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Sarah x

Linking up with:

Where can you find masses of mind blowing talent, all under one roof? The Festival of Quilts 2013 of course!

It's taken a week just to edit all the pictures.  There really was some serious  talent going on at this year's Festival of Quilts.  And I was lucky enough to be there for two days, sucking up all the inspiration and trying not to blow the budget on all those gorgeous fabrics, threads and notions that were surrounding me at every turn. 

 

 

 

If you couldn't make it this year, then read on, as I'd like to share just the tip of the iceberg of quilt awesomeness with you.  And if you did go, then read on anyway, as there was so much to see,  you might not have seen it all.  (I know I didn't, I'm going for 4 days next year!)

 

First up for me was meeting the wonderful, talented, Tula Pink.  I was so excited to meet and chat with her, and she signed a copy of her latest book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.  I even had my photo taken with her.  But I look so terrible (I got up at 5 am that day) that I can't show you.  So here's one of the gorgeous City Sampler quilt instead.   Trust me it's prettier. 

 

I arranged to meet the lovely Lucie for lunch, and low and behold, our beverages were at the front of the shelf waiting for us. 

 

Ok so technically not the correct spelling of Lucie's name but we were happy ;-)

 

And talking of Lu, look at her stunning quilt that she entered into the Fine Art Quilts Category. 

 

 

You can't see all the wonderful quilted detail (sorry about that) but it really was breath-taking and so much work.  Lu you are a genius :-)

And I had the pleasure to meet the very lovely, and oh so colourful Brandon Mably, who you can see here dabbling in a spot of knitting, which just so happens to match the colour of his shirt. 

I loved Katy Jones' Dresden Quilt, isn't that shade of purple just to die for! 

 

And here's the best of the rest.  I've done my best to cite credit, when I know the maker and for the rest I've just watermarked with 'Festival of Quilts 2013' rather than my own watermark. 

 

 

This quilt was in the European quilts section, and it's hard to believe, but this is all EPP.  Just mind bogglingly beautiful. 

The miniature category defied belief.  The detail that was squeezed into such a small space was incredible.  And each mini was so unique and beautiful, not to mention cute.  Some of them were really tiny.

 

 

This below was the Miniature Category winner - even it were a full sized quilt it would be awesome, but for it to be so tiny was just breath- taking.  

 

 

Here's another winning entry - a quilted boat - I mean who has an imagination to come up with these ideas, just incredible! 

These teeny tiny log cabin cushions were all sewn together to create an impressive rainbow wall.  My goodness so very many hours must have gone into this, and such a fabulous use of colour. 

This sun quilt was amazing.

And this tiger was so lifelike, it was hard to believe it was a quilt.  And can you see the quilting?  Incredible. 

 

I was completely in love with this waistcoat.  It was only small, but I just loved the colours, the detail and the embellishments.  The steward told us that the colour was actually painted on before being quilted and then echo quilted.  This is a technique I'd love to have a go at some time.   

I loved this water lily quilt as it reminded me of Monet's impressionist paintings. 

 

I was completely taken with this hot air balloon art quilt.  The detail was incredible.  It even had a real working clock in the bottom left hand corner.  Simply stunning. 

 

And this Dr Who quilt is one I searched up and down for the aisles for. I knew it was going to be at the Festival and just had to see it for myself.  I'd read the story of it's conception through to execution here and when I heard it was coming to Birmingham I was very excited.  And here it is! 

 

I'm desperate to make a pixel quilt some time soon, perhaps not quite on this scale but I have a few ideas up my sleeve that I would love to try when I get spare (ha ha) second. 

 

Well that's pretty much it for my F of Q roundup.  I hope you've enjoyed it, and perhaps it's inspired to you go next year, if at all possible, or at the very least to push the boundaries of what you are capable of achieving.  I know for myself that I came home feeling so fired up to push myself; there are so many techniques and skills that I want to learn and develop, and one day I hope I will. 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by,

 

Sarah x