There are several Norwegian blogs that I follow, and one of these bloggers, Hanne Schneider, has been very busy making a beautiful "Just Plain Nuts" quilt. I have been following the progress that Hanne has been making, and was so excited when I knew that her quilt was going to be displayed at the FoQ this year, on the Innova longarm quilting stand. The quilt is pictured below, with Merete Ellingsen, who has done a wonderful job with the longarm quilting. It was simply stunning, and both Hanne's quilt and Merete's quilting received lots of admiring comments during the show..... .....also while I was at FoQ I met another Norwegian quilter, Julia Kvamme. We were in a group that had met for lunch, and she told me she had a quilt displayed at FoQ, so of course I wanted to see what she had made - it was a beautiful quilt, called Monsterbølger (Monster Waves). She told me that this depicts the monster waves that appear from nowhere in the ocean and can sink a ship. Julia had entered this into the NQF (Norway) and it won 1st prize in the Traditional class and also was the winner of the audience award. I loved the colours and curves, and she had used some beautiful batiks. It was a wonderful quilt, and I was so glad when she agreed to let me take her photograph with it!
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Well I'm off on my travels again - do you remember last year I went on the most wonderful trip to Yorkshire? I stayed at a superb B&B - Highfield Farm at Driffield - the food was wonderful, the service was excellent and the rooms were lovely. I was part of a group of quilters who were on a course with Philippa Naylor - she is simply the best quilt tutor I have ever been on a class with. This year we are going to be taught by her for 5 whole days!! We are doing a course called "Drama and Detail" - studies in composition, colour and contemporary machine appliqué. I'm just trying to squeeze everything I might "need" into my sewing box. And why oh why is my bag of fabrics bigger than my bag of clothes??!! Oh and Mr F is really happy about me going off on my hols - it means that at least for this week he can walk about barefoot without fear of treading on a needle or a pin!! Anyway I'll be back to tell you all about it next weekend. Until then, Au Revoir!!
Another one of my projects from the past - this is a wall hanging called "Valentine Bouquet" and was designed by Hilary Gooding. This was a kit that I bought from my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, and is uses the "Hearts and Flowers" range of fabric by Makower. The finished size is 48"..... ...this shows a close-up of the roses in full bloom and the rose buds. This was my first major attempt at machine applique - and I don't think it looks too shabby!! This wall hanging is completely machine quilted with a cream variegated quilting thread, using a mixture of cross-hatching, straight row quilting and finally free-motion quilting. I suppose I should've really shown you this one in February!
Well what are you doing to day to celebrate worldwide quilting day? I'm taking my youngest daughter to Sew and So's at Bungay as she really NEEDS some of Lynette Anderson's beautiful Hollyhock Garden fabric. She's promised to treat me to afternoon tea at the Earsham Street cafe as a treat too! She's making a bag as a gift for one of her colleagues, so I suppose when we get home we'll spend the evening sewing with her new fabric - oh dear it's a hard life, but it has to be done hehe!! I've been searching for ideas of what to make one of my friends for her birthday. Last year I made her a make up bag, so this year I thought I should try something different..... .....I raided my collection of cream fabrics, printed off a photograph onto fabric, added some vintage lace and a few old buttons from my button jar..... .....and lots and lots of quilting - as well as some regular common-and-garden cross-hatch quilting, I even quilted some very arty free motion angular spirals!..... .....and of course it just wouldn't be complete without one of my very own www.nicolaforemanquilts.com labels to the back (just in case she ever forgets who made it for her)!! I secured this by sewing all around the outer edge by machine - and a little bit of hand sewing to secure the binding to the back and it was finished..... .....and here is the completed pillow. I've filled it with a feather pad. I'm certainly going to make some more of these cushions. (My mum has got a special birthday coming up, and I've got a few ideas of crafting her something with some piccies of her and my dad from their younger days). Anyway, Happy Birthday Claire - hope you like this! And no your cats CAN'T sit on it!!! A few weeks ago I had an email from a lady who I knew through quilting, Lesley Mcdonald, and she told me she'd been to a longarm quilter to get one of her quilt tops completed, and had I heard of J-Quilts - well, I hadn't, so Lesley sent me the details, and today I went off on a jaunt to East bergholt to meet Jeanette the longarm quilter. Janette spent a long time with me discussing colours of thread to use, types of wadding, and the overall dedsign to be used on each individual quilt. I forgot to take my camera with me so I couldn't get any pictures today, but believe me when I say Janette's work is FAB-U-LOUS - her studio is divine, (and can you believe this Heather that she has even more spools of thread than I do!!) and she has some amazing quilts on display. I am so excited to think what she will do with mine..... .....I took a grand total of FOUR quilts over to Janette - firstly there was this very simple quilt made with a layer cake (Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda), that I'd added a couple of stitchery verses to. I bought both the backing fabric and the wadding for this quilt from Janette too..... .....then there was this batik quilt that I had made about 3 years ago and never actually got around to quilting myself - I'd already bought the backing fabric from Quilters Haven ages ago, a very deep purple batik..... .....this appliqued and stitchery quilt "Butterfly Garden" (pattern by Leanne Beasley) - I bought a beautiful Benartex soft green floral extra-wide fabric from Quilters Haven for the back of this one, and bought the wadding from Janette that she advised..... .....and finally my "Tail-Feathers" quilt, another one with lots of applique and stitchery (pattern by Natalie Lymer) - again, the extra-wide quilt backing was from Quilters Haven - this time Luna Notte in cream by 3 Sisters for Moda. Janette was really helpful in advising which wadding and which quilting design would work best for each quilt - I can't wait to see how Janette will make these quilts will come to life! A few weeks ago, I wrote a blogpost about this baking cloth - my blogging friends May Britt and Hanne had this on their blogs - and I ordered the pattern and kit from NorthernQuilts. Well, I made a start on the stitchery - this linen was beautiful to sew on. I finished the stitchery this morning.... .....then added the inner border, blocks and outer border - it was so quick and easy to make..... ..... and in no time at all it was finished!! I quilted it very simply, "stitch-in-the-ditch", and then just "cross-hatched" across the squares. It matches my very large pink pastry bowl! My friend Brenda bought me this pastry bowl a couple of years ago, and it's great for baking bread - next time I bake some, I'll have a very pretty baking cloth to cover the dough. About 4 years ago, my local quilt shop "Quilters Haven" ran a monthly programme called "Stash Pot Pie". Each month, some very enthuisiastic and excited quiters went along with fabrics from their stash to make a quilt - and this particular pattern was called "Queen of Tarts" and was taught by Karin Hellaby. This was one of my first "big quilts" that I made and it always reminds me of my favourite pudding, Lemon Meringue Pie, as it is so sharp and sweet..... I've added the words "sweet dreams" to one of the setting triangles - this was taken from a book by Nancy Halvorsen called "The Winsome Baby". I try to add stitchery to most of my quilts, sometimes on the quilt top, and sometimes on the reverse as a label - and now it has sort of become my "signature". When life deals you lemons.....make Lemon Meringue Pie!! This has to be my absolute favourite pudding - tangy sharp lemon, with sweet meringue topping - crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. You just can't beat home-made puddings, and a few simple ingredients turn from this... ...into this!! Delia would be proud of me. We had friends round for supper last night, and it proved to be a big hit. As you can see my friend Wendy thought it was delicious - and says when can she come round for supper again!!
Last year I started a BOM called "Tail Feathers" by Cinderberry Stitches. Every month it arrived from Buttonberry beautifully wrapped in tissue paper with a neat little gingham ribbon tied around it - well, I made an impressive start and each month completed the block before the next one came and things were going great until month 5 - I sort of lost my sewing mojo, and then every month the packages were put away in a box..... in August I dusted them off, and decided to get on with it - here is the centre block - a mixture of piecing, appliqué and embroidery. And here is the finished quilt top - the fabric used is "Patisserie" by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. Now to get it quilted!! I made the most of the autumn sunshine this morning to get this photographed :)
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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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