Anything Happening?

I guess its about time I updated you on what's been happening now that I have recovered from the Festival of Quilts.

The show was really busy and was the best show I've done there. It was so busy that for the first time I didn't get to see all the quilts! I usually manage to have a quick whizz round them first thing in the morning but this year I only managed to see about half of them. And as for the galleries, well I haven't taken a look at those for years.

 

It's always nice to have some new fabrics in for the show and this year I managed to get some great new texture prints in from Robert Kaufman. It was touch and go whether they would arrive in time but I'm so glad they did.

They are called Fusions Textures and are really rather yummy.

 

 

Twenty eight colours are in stock and on the website.

 

I also introduced a few new patterns at the show, all showcasing the batik pre-cuts.

 

First up is Strip Race Interrupted, a really quick quilt to make from a Bali Pop.

 

 

Next we have Snap Pop Squared which uses a Bali Pop and Snap pack.

 

 

And finally we have Square Up which uses Mini Treat pack from Timeless Treasures. These offer different design possibilities because they have two of each fabric in each pack.

 

 

I love working with these pre-cuts now and am working on a couple more designs at the moment. The next Bali collection from Hoffman is due for delivery in October, which is all of just over a month away now!

Playing with Bali Pops

Ok I confess!

 

I now have an addiction to working with pre-cuts!

I also now have a pile of five quilts that need quilting..........

 

I've been practising my machine quilting skills by finishing off a quilt top that I made when I had the shop.........which was three years ago this summer! Where has the time gone?
The quilt was going to be a beginner's quilt kit that was going to contain everything a newcomer to quilting would need to put the quilt together and quilt it. And I think now that I've finished it........well nearly......just a few more ends to sew in and add the binding..........that I think that's what I will do still. I'll have to get some new fabrics in for it as I made it with fabrics from the Satinesque collection from Robert Kaufman and I have a feeling this is no longer available, but any tonal prints will be fine for it.

 

 

I actually used my free motion foot to quilt this spiral design, which was a bit silly as it would have been easier to use my walking foot. But on the other hand it did improve my control of working with the free motion foot.

But I digress!

I had quite a few Bali Pops left over from the 5th collection and wanted to get these sold as the delivery of the new 6th collection is imminent. I also seemed to have quite a few of the Macaron Bali Pops.

So I plucked up the courage and cracked open a packet. It's actually a lovely colour pack this one, felt like I was in the Caribbean when I was stitching it.
And this is the result; a simple nine patch quilt but I'm really pleased with it!

 

Now to get on with some quilting.....................

Oh dear...........

Hmmm despite saying I would try and blog more, it's been two months since I last wrote a post. I think the main reason is that quite often I just don't have the time to sit down and write something; once my working day starts there is mail order to catch up on and then editing for the magazine.............and then the day is gone!
So I think I might become an early morning blogger. I tend to get up quite early, usually thanks to the cat. And this seems to be the quiet time for me to sit down and think about 'stuff'. I often post to my personal blog at this time so my new resolution is to try and do the same for this blog!

 

I have a shipment that is ready to come over from the States but I want to bulk it out a bit with maybe some new waddings. Just trying to decide which one! I already stock Hobbs Heirloom and Polydown and was thinking of stocking something to compliment these. Do you have a favourite?

 

Unfortunately I have just had an order cancelled for some fabrics (that I've been using a lot recently).........because I didn't order them from the official European distributor. Nice to see a free market economy working there? So I guess I will have to re-order them from the official source.............

The next post might just have something interesting to say, including an update on my machine quilting skills!

 

Happy quilting