CHARM ABOUT YOU

I spent two days at the Festival of Quilts this year and it was fully all about friends for me. It's like a quilty friend reunion and this post is going to be unashamedly about the people I met and the friends I saw... with quilts and cool finds interspersed throughout. If you are looking for a blog post featuring all the beautiful quilts that were on display, this isn't it (sorry). You will certainly find pictures of all the quilts on social media, like here.

Friday

After a fun road trip down with my friends Michelle and Rachel we arrived in Birmingham (a bit later than expected thanks to traffic) on Friday and I went straight to find my friend Nicky. She made this amazing Expanding Universe Quilt with signature blocks from quilters that have contributed to Siblings Together.

My block is a cornerstone in the top right of the quilt but I'm too short to properly point at it. Cue the first of many friend selfies...

Next on my to do was visit my colleagues and friends at the Janome stand and of course to see the awesomeness that is this quilted jacket made by talented Lucy Engels.

I am madly in love with every aspect of this, the colours, the collar and cuffs, the log cabins and the texture of the quilting. It's the only quilted garment I've ever truly wanted to wear!

I also had to visit my friend Charlotte, we have known each other since we were in an online quilting bee ages ago and it's always nice to catch up. We also compared bee tattoos and I admired her beautiful bee dress!

settle down for a good long read because you're going to want to stay for the quilts...

I had a fabulous weekend away mid-March in Oxfordshire at the Sewcial Retreat organised by Purple Stitches. This wasn't my first time, I taught there last year - you can read about that experience here - and was very fortunate to be asked back to teach another class this year. I was thrilled because I know how good it is!

Same as last time I decided not to take my sewing machine and just concentrate on hand sewing projects. I took some epp and cross stitch to do, nice slow sewing! I taught a curved epp class and will post more about that at another date because I do have a new pattern in the works.

The number one priority was something a bit different for me, visible mending. My eldest daughter found there was somehow a rip in a new pair of jogging bottoms, she hadn't even worn them once!! She was upset because she really liked them but I told her it could be fixed. It was a strange shaped rip, though nothing really that unusual in our chaotic house - clothes get put in piles and moved around so it could have been anything that caused it. 

Set in a beautiful location just outside Oxford, I spent the past weekend at the Sewcial Retreat organised by Purple Stitches. It was completely fabulous! I got to spend time with quilty friends, as well as meeting lots of inspiring new people and they were all sewing gorgeous projects! I really enjoy seeing works in progress and there were recommendations for various sewing patterns, so more projects have been added to my 'to sew' list.

Trudi Wood and I were teaching at the retreat. I taught my new English Paper Pieced pattern - the Cube Row Quilt, which will be available to buy soon. I had really nice feedback from the group and I'm looking forward to seeing people create it!

There was a fabulous trunk show by Trudi, with so many of her gorgeous quilts, interesting stories and tales of lessons learnt!  

I have to admit to being completely in love with this quilt. It's vibrant, bohemian vibe makes me really happy. This is the kind of quilt that would cheer you up on dark nights and add lively colour to a room.

The pattern is the Ripples from the book Sew Jelly Roll Quilts & Gifts by Carolyn Forster. I used a jelly roll of True Colors by Heather Bailey - with great graphic prints and rainbow colours.

You can watch the Sewing Quarter demo here.

I chose to quilt a diamond motif in the centre using red, purple and blue Aurifil thread. I used different weights of thread too to give a subtle shift in texture.

The quilt looks even better 'in use', folds and drapes show off those lovely prints.

The pattern is simple but striking and it was made easier with the Creative Grids Multi-Size 6" Flying Geese & 45° / 90° Triangle ruler - that's a mouthful! But I've been using this ruler a lot and it's incredibly handy for so many quilt blocks and patterns. If you're looking to add to your collection then that's a great choice because it does so much.

Now I have to be totally honest, there were more triangle sections than you can see in the quilt. I pieced them together and set them to the side of my machine. Went off to do something, came back and kept on sewing strips, completely forgetting the triangle strips that were on the other side of the table. Doh. When I realised I unpicked one row and ended up piecing them into the edge. Sadly I didn't have time to unpick more so those triangles didn't make it. It doesn't effect the finished quilt though and you'd never know if I hadn't told you!

This week I finished another #icecreamsodaquilt block. I am enjoying using all my Liberty scraps and this blue one has some hidden Hello Kittys!

Finally I wanted to let you know that I will be teaching at the Sewcial Retreat next March! In a beautiful setting, not far from Oxford it's going to be a fun weekend of sewing and relaxing. Organised by Purple Stitches you can get all the details of the retreat here.

Penny Chattey

Julia Attwater

Jenny Ladbrooke

Alison Mayall

Did you have a favourite quilt from Festival of Quilts this year?