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)

Sneaky peek

I AM going to finish this for the Craft 4 Crafters show at Westpoint next week - some pretty extreme FMQ but I am loving it!

Happy New Year!

Well my 2012 has started with a vengeance! My workshop schedule is well underway, I had great fun teaching my first class at Midsomer Quilting last weekend although I got told off by Chris for helping myself too liberally to the coffee pot! Seriously though, it is a wonderful, friendly place to teach and I am looking forward to my second workshop there on April 28th - I hope Chris remembers to buy in extra coffee!

Midsomer Quilting's third quilt exhibition at the Radstock Museum is being hung as we speak and will open on 1st February. I delivered my contributions last Saturday (four of my quilts have been selected for inclusion) and was honoured to learn that the little quilt I made for MQs recent Fruit Challenge in aid of CLIC Sergent was among the 15 voted for by visitors so will hang in the Radstock. Thank you to all who voted for mine! I think I'm now allowed to say it was the undersea scene - 'Fruits de Mer'.

I have also been asked to have a stand at the forthcoming Craft 4 Crafters exhibiton at the Westpoint Arena in Exeter, which I am delighted to do. This will run from the 2nd to the 4th February, for more details see their website http://www.craft4crafters.co.uk/. The organisers tell me that patchwork and quilting is fast becoming one of their most popular sections so I am looking forward to being there and flying the flag so to speak! I will of course have quilts on display and will be doing some demonstrations throughout the three days. I have committed to finishing a new quilt that I have been working on especially for the show so once I've posted this, it's back to slaving over a hot sewing machine!

New Year's Resolution? To be more disciplined about posting to my blog! Take care, all, k3n x



Fruit Challenge at Midsomer Quilting

Hello everyone. I haven't posted for a few days for which I am very sorry! In my defence, in between workshops and talks this week, I have of course been busy with Sirius the new puppy. He is doing very well - in a week he has learned to 'sit', 'heel' and walk on the lead. I fear he is more intelligent than I am - perhaps I'll teach him to type then he can blog for himself!

I had a very enjoyable afternoon on Tuesday with the Quirky Quilters so thank you to them for having me! Also my two Christmas workshops this week were great fun, despite the sewing machine gremlins striking nearly everyone during the Tuesday evening session - but it's good practice for me to find my way around different models of machines. But why oh why can't manuacturers standardise where they put the presser foot lever? It' s very embarassing groping around the back of a strange machine only to find that some bright design spark has decided that on this model, they'll put the lever to one side! Aaaargh!

I am delighted to have been asked to teach a couple of workshops in the New Year at the wonderful Midsomer Quilting at Chilcompton near Bath. I love going there, it is such a treat and the coffee is always on! If any of you live or are in the area I would strongly recommend a visit. I also made a little wall hanging for the Fruit Challenge they are hosting to raise funds for CLIC Sargent - a very worthwhile cause supporting the families of young people with cancer. I heard from Midsomer this morning that entries have been numerous and of a very high standard, and from such noteworthy quilters as Alicia Merrett, Dawn Cameron-Dick and Lynne Quinn. Many of the entries will be offered for sale by secret auction with proceeds going to CLIC Sargent. If you can. please do visit the exhibition at the shop and support this wonderful cause. It runs from Thursday 1st until Tuesday 6th December from 10.30am until 4pm and admission is free. Details of how to find the shop are available on their website http://www.midsomerq.com/index.html

Confetti

I've been meaning to try this for some time, then my artist friend and neighbour started talking to me about alliums one day and how they looked like fireworks and she gave me a photo of one. So this got me thinking...

I started with a square (12") of a pale green batik and spray basted it onto wadding and backing. Then I drew a circle lightly in pencil. I got a handful of scraps out of my purples box,chopped them up with the rotary cutter and spread them out inside the circle. I used lots of different shades, dark and light and bluish and reddish. When chopped up, the colours blended beautifully like paint. I laid a square of organza over the top and pinned in place then freehand stitched around the circle. Then I trimmed off the excess organza about an 1/8" from the edge of the circle. I then FMQd radiating lines in lime green and purple from the centre out and stitched little purple florets along the purple lines. I stencilled gold floret shapes in the 'border' with gold shivastik (I used a stencil I got from a carboot sale - it is actually starfish!), then pebbled in pale green over the top to give some texture. Then I hand stitched a pale green bead in the centre of each FMQd floret and bound in a dark purple batik. I really enjoyed making it and confetti is definitely something I will do more of - if nothing else, it's a good way of using up those scraps too small for anything else! I am teaching a workshop in the Art Centre in Ilminster on Thursday 12th April 2012 and confetti will be the subject - it is such fun!

Close of my exhibtion and Christmas Workshops

Just wanted to say that my exhibtion at the Meeting House in Ilminster closes this Saturday. I have been so thrilled with the way it has gone and would definitely like to work with them again in the future. I will be going in at midday on Saturday to take it down so last chance to come and have a look if you haven't already!

Also, I am running Christmas Workshops at Whitelackington Village Hall near Ilminster on Tuesday November 22nd from 6.30pm until 9.30pm and Thursday 24th November from 10am until 3pm. I can take a couple more people for each if anyone would like to join us. We will be making various styles of fabric bowls both simple and complex, a little trinket box, tree decorations and some quilted mats. All abilities are welcome. See my website for details or contact me here via my blog. I'll post pictures of what we've made after the workshops but here's a little taster...