2 more past the finish post.

This is going to be a very quick post, life's suddenly got incredibly busy, but I wanted to share my latest two finishes with everyone.

Finish One is my Kingfisher which I started in a workshop with Anya Townrow:

 I'm thrilled with how he's turned out! I'm especially pleased with the shading on his back, and with how well the quilting went. I was aiming for a watery feel to it, and used a YLI blue/multi thread. I'll be using this one again for Hannah's Guide quilt.

 Finish two is Candy Boxes, a commissioned bed quilt. Nice gentle loopy quilting with free motion hearts interspersed throughout it in a pale pink Robison Anton thread. This should be off to its new home tomorrow.

And just because it's nearly Easter, here's a chocolate cake that Hannah made and iced herself. Not so much of it left now!

I'm on leave from work next week and with a combination of Easter and the Royal Wedding, I'm using 4 days' leave and having 11 away from work. I've decided that during my time off I'll be trying to finish as many projects as possible. I'm aiming for a finish per day but not all of them will be full sized quilts. I've got a couple which just need threads burying, 2 which need to be layered and quilted, 1 to be quilted, and at least 1 to finish piecing. I'd quite like to get a head start on my sample pieces for Sound Stitchers Christmas in June 4-Corners evening, and also make up a couple of notebook covers from the pattern I bought at Anya Townrow's workshop.

We'll see how the finishes line up, I'll count up in the afternoon of May Day Bank Holiday.

Breaking my workshop duck

This weekend, it was the regional day of the Quilters' Guild UK. Three of us from Sound Stitchers were able to get to both days events. Saturday morning saw us eagerly listening to a talk by Linda Chilton a spectacularly talented embroiderer, and after lunch was Anja Townrow talking about her quilting journey. I don't know how the organisers had managed to book two such excellent speakers, but I'm really pleased that they did!

Linda showed us some of her pictures, and passed around samples of painted felt, her children's Christening gown, and sample pieces of her work. She told us how she layers up chiffon to produce a misty effect, and kept us entertained with her exploits at craft fairs around the country. After her talk, we had the chance to watch her work on a piece, so we could see close up how she works. To see some examples of her work, do click the link to her website, it's well worth a visit....make yourself a cuppa first as there's plenty to see on there.

Lunchtime gave the chance to shop with Step by Step and Villavin Crafts...and I shopped! I didn't get a chance to get a photo of my first purchase, it was a roll of 9 neutral strips 5 inches wide. I needed them for a commission quilt, so they're all chopped ready for sewing later today. My other buys were 4 half metre peices of Japanese fabrics, and a gadget for making yo-yos...never even thought about buying one before, but it was half price, so why not. My friend Sandra bought the smaller size, so we can mix and match. I also picked up a few FQs of kingfisher coloured fabrics, ready for the workshop on Sunday.

Anja spoke in the afternoon on her quilting journey "From Tulips to Triangles", and kept us all entertained and amazed in turn. She's an enthusiastic speaker, and very self deprecating. Not what you might have expected from such a known "name", there were no airs and she was more than willing to point out mistakes and fudging in her award winning quilts. I'm so glad it's not just us mere mortals who do that!

The three of us were back again on Sunday for Anja's workshop "Pondlife". We had a choice of pattern, and she guided us through foundation piecing, bonding the finished piece to a background and applique. Hugely enjoyable, and though I've done foundation piecing before, I still picked up quite a few tips. We were also encouraged to sample some of Anja's thread collection on a sample applique piece to get a feel for her methods.

Here's my kingfisher,all ready to be appliqued down, trimmed to size and have his borders attached. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I even got all the tree pieces from one piece of fabric left over from the fist bundle of bits that I bought when I first started quilting! The majority of the orange is my own hand dyed fabric, with just the narrow strip on his under belly borrowed from Sandra.