It was great to see so many friends at the Festival of Quilts this year, and I had a few ladies stop and say hello who follow my blog too. I was so pleased to meet Carol at last, and her friend Marion - I follow Carol's blog, Stitch Awhile, and we've been in contact via email and blog for quite a while now. Then the following day I met a lovely lady called Heather and her friend Karen - they also follow my blog!! It was so lovely to meet all of you, even the ones who said "hello" then disappeared into the crowds!
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It's not only the quilts that are wonderful to see at FoQ every year, it's also a chance to meet up with friends that I only see once a year!! Here's Teresa and Holly - yes I know I see Teresa more often, but I only get to see Holly at the FoQ!! They were both manning the Quilters Haven stall. And I also got to meet some famous fellow bloggers too - Katie has a super blog that I've been following for AGES and she's great fun..... .....on Sunday Philippa Naylor was at the Bernina stand, talking about needles and threads and demonstrating free motion quilting. She asked if anyone had any questions and one lady called out "what is the meaning of life"? - Philippa's reply was quick off the mark - "a husband who's away alot so you can spend lots of time sewing - then everyone's happy!" - hope Mr F is reading this!! I also met up with my friend Helen every day for a cuppa and a natter about the quilts, and she had made this beautiful jacket that was displayed in the "Quilting Creations" section..... .....Alice met the very lovely Tula Pink, who was happy for a quick photo after signing a copy of her book - an early birthday present for Alice - what a lucky girl! Oh and look - I actually met Hilary who I blogged about when I saw a fantastic exhibition of her work when I went to the Spring Quilt Festival 2013 at Duxford, back in March this year. She was doing demo's and her energy and enthusiasm was boundless! I was exhausted watching her, and she was really lovely too - oh AND she's just written her first book too!..... .....last but not least I met Ann Rowley AND Stuart Hillard, who both took part in the BBC Great British Sewing Bee a few months ago - Ann was the winner of GBSB and was so nice to talk to - and Stuart was absolutely charming - and I loved his shirt made with Tula Pink fabric! (I even told him about the quilt Alice has made using the same fabric!).
I belong to a few quilting groups on Facebook, and some of them are Norwegian ones. It was great to meet up with some Norwegian ladies that I have been in contact with through FB and have admired their quilts (and followed some of their blogs!) and at last I have met them too!! This is Inger Lise, who had seen a photograph on one of these groups, of some pins that I use with thin "button" decorations on the ends, and she managed to buy some of these from a stall at the quilt show! Anyway, a group of Norwegian ladies and me had arranged to meet up for lunch and as you can see we had a great time - lots of good food, and lots of laughs too. It was great to meet up with Heidi again too, who I had when I stayed in Norway and when I went to Birmingham a couple of years ago too. Hei hei Heidi and Inger Lise and Julie and Annik and Grete..... .....if you are in this picture, please leave me a comment!! It was lovely to meet with you all, and Annik and Julie met me again for lunch the following day! Hope we can meet up again another year for lunch again ;)
Last year I made a very special cushion for a very special friend, using a picture of her with her mum, who had sadly passed away earlier that year. I never really appreciated how much Fran liked it, until she asked me if I could make another one, using a picture of her with her mum, for her aunty Margaret's birthday..... .....Fran emailed me a picture of her with her mum, which I then formatted into gray scale ready for printing onto a sheet of EQ printables fabric. I gathered together a collection of cream and white fabric, and some lace and sketched out some design ideas, and set about making it up. I quilted the whole of the cushion in a mixture of straight rows, and angular spirals..... .....I had a good old rummage in my button tin, looking for an assortment of old buttons that would compliment the fabrics that I'd used. I made a covered zipper backing, using a soft grey floral fabric. I also used a piece of this fabric with some white and creams for the scrappy binding too. And then one of my labels was added to the back for the final flourish. The binding was stitched in place by hand. Well Fran was really pleased with this, when she collected it yesterday, and I hope her aunty Margaret is too!!
Do you remember this baby quilt that I made at the end of last year?? It was made with a range of fabric by Riley Blake Designs, called "Happy Sunny Skies". Lots of my friends were expecting babies and grandchildren, and this quilt was sent off to Norway - my friend Hanne (hei hei Hanne!!) was already a grandmother to a very handsome baby boy, Henrik, (hei hei Marthe and Henrik!!) and then in April, Hanne's daughter Sofie had a beautiful little girl called Emilie - isn't she just perfect??
Do you remember a few months ago I made a baby quilt for my Norwegian friend Hanne's daughter, Marthe, who was expecting a baby boy? Well here is baby Henrik - he is a few months old now, but here he is, a very handsome fellow, and as you can see he looks very happy laying on the quilt that I made for him! Marthe's sister Sofie is expecting a little girl soon, and I need to post a baby quilt off to her too!!
Well I certainly have been a very spoilt girl this week - firstly my friend Debs made me a BEAUTIFUL bag and scarf, then secondly just LOOK what I received on Friday!! Two of my friends came to visit with their new baby (he is ADORABLE) and bought me lots of treats to say thank you for making Elliott a couple of "welcome to to the world" quilts. There was a bottle of fizz (and wild hibiscus flowers to put in it) and gorgeous smellies to pamper myself with and edible treats too - even a jar of homemade jam! Each of these goodies was individually labelled with a little message - "to support me through many, many more sewing days". These very naughty girls know me so well! Booze and chocolate and hand cream - what more could I want? They even bought Mr F a bottle of Adnams, "as I probably sewed so hard I forgot to make him dinner"! I was very lucky, and shall put all of these treats to very good use - (although not sure if Mr F will get to drink to Broadside or whether it will get used in a fabulous steak and ale pie!!)..... .....it was SO lovely to see them, and Elliott, although as you can see he wasn't as interested in the coffee and muffins as we were! I scoffed my cake down as quickly as possible so I could get lots of cuddles with him, and can't wait to see him again soon! Well I'm home at last - after a very pleasant albeit long train journey to Birmingham (I even took a can of G and T and a glass to have with my sandwiches on the train - I do like to travel in style!) I finally met up with my Norwegian friends Hanne and Eva. We spent a couple of days together at the Festival of Quilts, and after a quick tour of the trade stands, I left Hanne and Eva to continue shopping while I was able to admire the quilts and quilty things on display. It had been a whole a year since I'd last seen my Norwegian friends and it was lovely to meet up with them again. Sadly the days went by very quickly and I had to say cheerio to them this morning. Another long journey home by train today (made much more tolerable with a small bottle of wine with my sandwiches!!), and I will be back to work tomorrow. Luckily Hanne and Eva don't fly back to Norway until Monday, so they were able to have one more day at the NEC - lucky them! oh and of for those of you who are interested, I'll add lots of pictures of the quilts I liked the best to my blog over the next few days. What an absolutely FAB day out we had yesterday when Mr F and myself travelled up to London for a day out with friends. I'd got my patriotic bag all packed and ready for the journey! We travelled by train and tube, and were due to meet our friends in a pub in Westminster - the view of Big Ben when we walked up the steps leading out of Westminster underground station was awesome! Anyway, the marathon was on (due to that little sporting event otherwise known as the Olympics!!) and as the route was right by the pub where we were meeting our friends, we even managed to see some of the runners - it was great to have been there and see it in action! The crowds were amazing - very high-spirited and all having a great time cheering the runners on..... .....anyway, after a glass of Pimms and a quick catchup (oh and me managing to get locked in the loo!! - but that's another story!) - we planned to saunter down to the Thames to catch the clipper boat to Greenwich. It look a little bit longer that planned to get to the pier, but saw lots more runners and the atmosphere was incredible. Once on board the boat, we saw all the sights that a trip along the Thames has to offer, such as sailing under the Milleneum Bridge and past the Tower of London, and we saw the Olympic rings that decorated Tower Bridge..... .....we finally arrived at Greenwich, and had a very interesting guided walk and heard all about the history of the buildings and the Cutty Sark and Kings and Queens and palaces and famous naval men and explorers - (many thanks to our tour guide, Roger). The buildings were incredible, and the tour was great way to spend the afternoon. The next stop was having something to eat - we went to a lovely Spanish restaurant in Greenwich and devoured plates and plates of Tapas - delicious!! It was great to spend time with our friends, and all too soon the day came to an end. and it was time to say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. The weather was glorious, and strolling across the bridge on our way to the tube station was great - looking down the Thames at all the sights we'd just sailed past. Oh and we even got to see Tower Bridge opening up to let a Chinese Junk pass underneath - what an amazing sight that was! Luckily we were able to get an earlier train home, so got back home just after the closing ceremony had started so watched the rest of it on TV - we'd seen the Olympic stadium when we were on the train, so it was great to think we'd been to London and been part of those crowds on that incredible last day of the Olympics. Thanks Paul and Gill and Vanda and Owen - see you again soon - but how on earth are we going to make our next meeting more exciting than being in London with the Olympics going on!!?? My dear friend Fran has got a VERY special birthday this weekend and it deserved a very special present. I was lucky enough to meet Fran's wonderful mum last summer soon after the arrival of Jasper, and I have super memories of her rolling around my living room floor with him - and she had as much boundless energy as that wretched puppy! Fran's mum passed away a short while ago, and I wanted to make Fran a unique present using a picture of her mum - but didn't want Fran to know anything about it - it was TOP SECRET!! But oh the power of Facebook - I was secretly able to message one of Fran's bestest ever friends (thanks Georgina - we'll be getting signed up to join M15 next!!) to join me in a little bit of espionage - well anyway, Georgina and me hatched a plan - she duely emailed me some piccies, and I chose a black and white photo that I thought would work with the idea I had in mind - and here it is finally revealed - Happy Birthday Fran - hope you have the best birthday ever - ohhhh and looking forward to joining you next weekend for birthday celebrations with the OT girlies at Milsoms.
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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