The finished quilts

I had an amazing week of sewing. It had been a long time since I had taken a class. I've used books, and internet patterns and you tube videos for ages. Sitting in the class with others working along side does focus your mind in a way that it sometime isn't at home. There was no housework to do, no meals to prepare or clear, and no everyday life to get in the way.
Taking the class also got me to undertake something that I had shied away from previously in my quilting. I made a quilt using templates and with awkward angles to piece. I also cut the entire quilt and placed it on the design wall before I started. Being able to stand back and look from a distance meant that I could be happy with the layout before the careful sewing began. Admittedly being able to stand upstairs in the barn and look down at the design wall helped .... and I'm unlikely to have that advantage again in the near future.

Watching others plan their quilts too was fascinating, seeing different fabric choices and colour variation extended my thoughts and ideas for other quilts. Four of us decided to piece Chris' Medici quilt, and I'll share them below.

This is Anne's quilt - she had a beautiful green and blue peacock style fabric (that I didn't get a picture of, sorry).  She decided that machine sewing the long rows together was just not fun- so sat in the orchard/garden and hand sewed some of the rows. I suspect she got the best view for sewing to!

This is mine, the border fabric is a William Morris pattern. The corner is hidden by the quilt I'll share tomorrow. 

This is Marcia's quilt, she has completed over 150 quilts! She has a love for teals and aqua's and came with a suitcase full of fabric. A great way to use old suitcases and travel to retreats. I love the tonal progression in her fabric choice.

This is Paddy's quilt. By putting her pieces on the design wall to begin with she could see that she 'lost' some of the blue centres, so was able to add some gold and the alternating gold and blue I think is very effective. Her corners were born of frustration, and look amazing.

I'll share some of the other projects tomorrow. TTFN.

Les Cerisiers

Southern burgandy at the beginning of september

What an amazing week of weather

I think that we got the last of the summer, with daily sunshine, temps in the high 20's.

Les Cerisiers "the cherry trees" is near to the village of Montmelard, and the highest hill in the area.

Narrow country lanes, good for walking (not so much fun to drive , better after the hedges were trimmed) and viewing the country side.

Nearby is the medieval town of Cluny which had an enormous abbey in the middle ages. Only one tower still stands, there were originally 4 (i think) and it must have been quite a sight.

Back to pictures of sewing and fabric tomorrow.

Return to the blog

Well it's been some time
Life has been rather frantic and I kind of gave up on the blog.
Just back from holidays I wanted to post some pic's of my month away and in particular write about my amazing week quilting with Chris Porter at Les Cerisiers in Burgandy.

Chris is former editor of British Patchwork and Quilting, had published many books and taught around the world about quilting. An amazing teacher to have for the week.

Les Cerisiers is run by Janice Barnett at the Really Big Dream company, its about 1 hour from Macon in the southern burgandy countryside. And to put it simply it is just a gorgeous place. A large barn for events, comfy rooms to stay in, scrummy food, and a pool to stretch those aching muscles.

This years theme was Quilts under your feet- inspirations taken from the tiled floors in Venice and elsewhere. It's given me something new to look at in churches and old houses. As well as looking up at the walls and ceilings, look down and there are the most amazing designs. Many of which are quilts waiting to be constructed.

The pre course instructions had given me lots of fabric to find/ buy. Chris tends to use tone on tone fabrics, which I had very little in my stash. She uses a lot of Stonehenge fabrics which resemble stone and blend really easily. I packed all the fabric into one of the vacuum bags to reduce the space it took in my luggage. Sadly I could do nothing about the weight and had about 4 kg worth of quilting supplies in my suitcase. Ok for a dedicated week away, not so good for a long trip to europe. Amazingly when i un vaccuumed the bag the fabric was uncreased, so no extra ironing. Perhaps this is the way to go?

So what I thought that i'd share today is the work in progress. I'll share some pictures of Les Cerisiers this week and the finished quilt tops later.

Sun charms quilt

Hi

Here are pics of the first quilt that I finished on my new sewing machine- it became a gift for a good colleague. He and his wife had their 2nd baby in January, I hope that it gives them much pleasure.

The pattern is from Amy Smart- her blog Diary of a Quilter is fresh modern and simple - Thanks Amy for the pattern. The fabric is Whimsy from  Heather Mulder- it's a selection ordered from her website as the FQ shop included all the pinks and reds and i really wanted a gender neutral colours to make this quilt. Thank you Heather for lovely fabric.

Here are some pics- taken with the phone, so not the best quality. But a lovely quilt to make and easy to quilt - 1/4" either side of the main seams. Finished size was about40 x 52", with the addition of the small white borders, the white on white has small dragonflies....too cute!

Photo Challenge - days 13+14

Day 13 Inside your bag

 

Inside my very own hand made crochet bag. I've made some progress on my squares- it's a project for slow weekends on call or sitting on the sofa in front of the TV. Haven't had much time for TV lately, but will slowly get there. It's been good to learn to crochet.

Day 14 What you're reading

 

The Veg cookbook from the river cottage is awesome, even if the Beetroot tarte tatin got really really strange looks at work. I made an eggplant and green bean curry this week, it was delicious. It's a vegie cookbook written by someone who likes meat and doesn;t want to find meat substitutes. The veg just stand on their own feet. The kitchen gardens book is just gardening dreaming, I don't have the time, space, soil or water to produce such amazing gardens - oh and the possums might enjoy them too much!  

Almost half way through the challenge- wow!

Photo Challenge - days 7-13

Here are the next days of the challenge- I'm quite enjoying this, I anticipated taking lots of crafty shots but that's not how this month has worked out....

7th: Favourite

 

My favourite cross stitch- and biggest. I completed this when I was a student and had it framed about 7 years ago when I lived on the Gold Coast. The pattern was from a book I found in the public library. It was 9 different butterflies and they were grouped on  a gorgeous fire screen. Not much use for that here but the framer was fantastic and picked matting and a frame that I wouldn't have chosen myself - but he'd been recommended and I trusted his judgement- I am so glad that I did. It's hung in my bedroom ever since.

8th Your Sky

 

Summer arrived- hot sunny days- this is the neighbour's frangipani tree- just say's summer doesn't it?

9th Daily Routine

 

I should have left by now- all to common!

10th Childhood

 

I did all of these as a teenager- and am glad I now have somewhere to hang them

 11thWhere you sleep

 

The bug spray is for the annoying mossie that tried to bite me 3-4 nights ago- and it was on the ceiling when I tried to squish it- too high- so the spray came out

12th Close Up

  

G+T for farewell drinks at the Bell, for one of our lovely registrars. Hope she has safe travels to WA. A lovely catch up with everyone after work and a great cool change to the weather.

Di

Photo Challenge - next days

 

Day 3: Something you adore

This was tricky- so many things, would it be my sewing room, or the oil paints I have just dug out of the cupboard after many years. Treasured photo's or keepsakes? In the end I opened the fridge and saw the rhubarb that a good friend had given me from their garden. I love rhubarb, it's not that commonly eaten by many queenslanders who sometime look blankly at me if I talk about it. Maybe its just talking about food in general- but here it is fresh garden rhubarb, sprinkled with sugar and ginger before being stewed. Delicious with yoghurt, icecream or as it is. In cooler months good in pies, jam and with custard. Could only be bettered by raspberries- but not a good time of year for them in qld. Roll on the Tassie trip :-)

 

Day 4: Letterbox

Here it is - dilemma to include or not include the number? Well it's kinda big and difficult to crop from the photo. My house is on a hill so the house seems big over the top of it. And yes- I did get junk mail despite the sign :-(

 

Day 5: Something you wore

It was a work day- on call at night so it had to be work clothes. It could have just been scrubs - but I had an ortho list to do and lead to wear- what better choice to cheer you up than the pink butterfly one? Complete with matching back belt - the surgeon had nabbed the matching thyroid collar- but then paisley is so pretty, though perhaps not with the rest of the ensemble!

 

Day 6: Makes you smile

It has to be home. Summer has arrived 31C here today. The pool looks mighty inviting - and makes me smile whenever I get home. I never imagined 20 years ago as a med student in the north of scotland that I would live somewhere with my own pool- and have the weather to go with it. Plus getting home from being on call and away from work always makes me smile :-)