Espritpatch

The Festival of Quilts is over and although I wasn't sure whether to go a few months back, I am so happy I went. I had such a great time. I went with my Mum and miss C who at 4 attended her first 2 children's workshops. She absolutely loved it and didn't want us around. She also loved shopping there and bought (with Mummy's money!) some fabric and buttons and beads... She should be busy for a while. Of course, I did some shopping too day 1 and day 2 OK not all of it was on my list, and not all of it is already accounted for but how could I resist! I also met some lovely people and saw some again! It was a very enjoyable girlie week-end! We stayed over for the night, just the 3 of us, which was great too! It almost felt like a holiday. Miss C was very tired when we got to the car on the Sunday night but she really enjoyed herself too. Here are a few quilts that I really liked. I don't know the talented people behind each of these beauties, I am so...

This week-end, I finished sewing the binding on Big Boy Hungry Caterpillar quilt. I am really happy about how it turned out and Big Boy loves it, so does Baby Daughter. So Big Boy slept under his quilt for the first time last night and I know that I now need to make a bright quilt for Baby Daughter. That will be Maisy! On Friday I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Alexandra Palace with my friends. It was great (even though we only really had time to browse the shops) and of course I made a few purchase: a rug for my son, some wool to make a frilly scarf for myself and some for my Auntie as a Christmas present, a fingerless gloves kit for my other Auntie as a Christmas present, some Decopatch paper, some yummy ribbons, two patterns from Australia and of course some fabric to make a few clothes for Baby Daughter. Celine

Follow me around for a brief tour of the Festival and I'll show you my favourite quilts amongst the 100s on display. A lovely quilt for a baby girl and another one for a Pirate boy! Cathi 's amazing Frugal Jane, which looks much nicer in real life: Close-up on a musical Angel A winner - named Potholes I believe: A bright and colourful tree - Philipa Naylor I guess? A lovely view of London made by a Young Quilter (under 16 I believe), see the map of London used in the pinwheel blocks. So clever! Venetian bag Miniatures: My absolute favourite, hard to believe it is a miniature quilt (probably about 10' square) And the winner of the miniature category - simply amazing: A lovely picture of a cold day of winter, did you notice that the background is made of hexies in different shades of white , cream and blue? A postcard of lovely Denmark: and fina...

Thanks to my blog, I received an exclusive invitation to the preview of the "Quilts 1700-2010" exhibition at the V&A, which opened last Saturday and is on until 4th July 2010. So I went along on Wednesday 17 March and I must say I had a very pleasant afternoon. There were some absolutely stunning pieces, and 2 in particular really amazed me. I think a few selected pictures will be worth a thousands words, so grab a drink, make yourself confortable and enjoy your visit Pieces from "The Domestic Landscape" Clamshells bed hangings (1730-1750): detail: Bed cover and single curtain (mid-1700) Coverlet (1802) detail: Coverlet (1797) - one of my favorite (do you remember Dear Jane?...) detail I would think that the middle blocks (in the octogonal medallion) were about 4' and the outside ones about 6'. Pieces from "Private thoughts, public debates" Coverlet (1829): can you see the tacking thread? Coverlet (1803-1805): my other big favorite, look at ...

I have just realised I haven't posted anything since last week, time flies! I suppose I haven't been very productive on the sewing front this week but it has been as usual a very busy week and I am glad I have today off work! Even more since I discovered that I can't even read my favorite blogs during my lunch break at work, access to blogs is sadly now barred :-(( Anyway I sent to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Alexandra Palace last Saturday and had a very enjoyable day once I finally got parked (wasted 2 hours of day for that...) I am proud that I didn't buy too much but still found some lovely things I couldn't resist buying. After my acquisition of the Gingerbread panel last week, I was browsing on the Marcus fabrics website and came across a lovely Teresa Kogut panel that I was so delighted to find on Saturday. So another lovely acquisition! I also bought a lovely pattern from Brenda Walker to make some snowmen/women for the kids and just a little bit of f...

As I hinted in my previous post, yesterday was a lovely and busy day. I managed to piece 2 table runners: a Christmas one for us. The squares I used in the centre are the same one that I used for the Scrappy Christmas blocks swap I did in August. and a close-up at the fabric: and a Cat one, which will probably be a Christmas present for my mother-in-law. I bought the cat fabric a few years back to use the square to make postcards and I have made... one card to date! and a close-up at the fabric: Of course there are not finished but I enjoyed making the tops AND I used all fabrics from my stash which is quite nice. Today I went to an exhibition held by the Icknield Quilters Group . It was really nice with a good variety of lovely quilts. I was very impressed by a quilt made with Dear Jane blocks from 4' to 1' (no, it isn't a typo). Can you see the 4 blocks in the center of star, they are 1' each. I am sorry I can't remember the name of the lady who made it ...