Festival of Quilts

I went on Saturday with my boyfriend Hans and my friend Marilyn and what a fabulous show. My personal favourite was the Snake Goddess quilt by last year's best in show winner, Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga. This didn't win anything this year (shame!) though she did win the Pictorial category with another stunning African-inspired scene. The winner's list will be posted on the Twisted Thread website in due course. www.twistedthread.com.

I was absolutely delighted to get a Highly Commended for my own Pictorial Entry 'Genoeg Ganzen' - Dutch for 'Enough Geese'. The background for the piece is a silk/hemp blend I bought at a Farmer's market when I lived in France. The geese are made from a piece of Den Haan and Wagenmaakers' Dutch chintz fabric (google them, fabulous fabric, quite dear but worth it!) with the one seam method, meaning the edges are on the bias so can be curled over and stitched down cathedral windows style. They are also 3D and are padded with wadding to give them further dimension. The silk/hemp background was shaded with markal sticks before being freehand machine quilted.

The name was provided by my Dutch boyfriend - I like the alliteration as well as the sound of it with the gutteral Dutch 'g'. The inspiration came from driving home to the West Country in winter and the sun setting behind the bare trees. Ooooh! Still thrilled to bits about my 'Highly Commended'!!! :-D

Felted piece "The Westering Sun"

Finished! I was going to embellish it further but then decided that the little skein of geese in the sky was enough.
I've done a second workshop with the lovely Tracey and that piece - based on a night sky - is now awaiting stitching treatment. If you're interested in doing a felting workshop in Somerset, just send me an email and I'll pass on Tracey's details.

Frame for felted piece

Here's a peek of the FMQ so far - this Heide Stoll-Weber cotton sateen is a dream to quilt on!

Quilting on felt

I did a felting workshop a while ago - as a student for a change - with the lovely Tracey and created a sunset with merino wool. Now I've started to 'quilt' it and plan to mount it onto a large piece of hand-dyed Heide Stoll-Weber fabric I bought at the Festival of Quilts a couple of years ago. Here's a sneaky peak...

Kaleidoscope workshop - Whitelackington

I recently had my last workshop of the Spring term - my three part kaleidoscope course - and here are some pics of the ladies' beautiful creations!

Bridget's Quilt

Jackie's Quilt

Jacqui's Quilt

Jill's Quilt

Jilly's Quilt

Marion's Quilt

Marjorie's Quilt

Sue's Quilt

Fabric smorgasbord!

I spent the best part of two days cutting out all these 1 7/8" squares ready for the watercolour landscape workshop I'm giving at Whitelackington Village Hall this Thursday. I haven't counted them but safe to say, there are thousands! They're all in groups according to colour and/or type and in my handy Ikea cutlery trays. The slightly larger squares in the box at the top are for making HSTs.

At the workshop, I'll lay them all out in the middle of the table and everyone can help themselves! It'll be like a dinner buffet only much yummier! ''Scuse me, would you mind passing the green florals please?'!

Mandala

Hello everyone,

Well I had a fabulous few days at the Craft4Crafters show at West Point, Exeter last week. It seems that many crafters are become attracted to patchwork and quilting as a hobby and it was great to meet so many keen and willing converts! It was a great show and very busy despite the icy weather - we even had a bit of snow on the Saturday.

I had a few comments about my name - k3n being an abbreviation of Kathryn (this my partner's invention as 'text speak' when we were courting). Most people get it when they realise my given name is 'Kathryn' but to some it seems like some kind of code because of the number in it. One lady referred to me as 'K9' which I found quite amusing. Ah well, what is the old adage - 'it doesn't matter what they call you, so long as they call you!'

My Mandala that I showed a peak of a while ago was indeed finished and here is a picture of it hanging at West Point. I absolutely loved doing the freehand machine quilting on this and was quite sad once the last pebble was done in the outer border! Ah well, on to the next project, which involves Dutch chintz and French hemp and silk fabric, 3D flying geese and oh yes, probably some FMQ!
Take care everyone, k3n x (aka K9, aka Kathryn)