Another day - Another Quilt show

This time it was Bristol Quilters 'Quiltfest' Exhibition. It was a last minute decision to go but after arranging with a friend to go by bus we set off in bright sunny weather to visit the exhibition which was being held at Badminton School near Durham Downs .

On arrival we were not disappointed, there were far too many quilts to show you them all here but this is a small sample of what we saw.

This wonderful Log Cabin is called 'Purple Haze and was made by Helen Clark.

The next two are both by Kate Sullivan first is 'Jade Garden' a Split 9 patch

and a Lady of the Lake block used to make this quilt called 'Warrior Odin' made using Oriental fabrics.

One of my favorite quilts was this one made by  Ruth Ellams as it typify's the true spirit of quilt-making,

called Joanna's Quilt the label explains the thoughts behind it and I quote.. A quilt made for my daughter to take to University. Machine pieced, hand quilted (Kantha style) Fabrics include Liberty Lawn combined with up-cycled fabrics from my daughter, myself and my Mum. 
Here's a close up for you to see the 'big stitch quilting'.

Next are a couple of general shots of smaller exhibits

The next one did not have a lot of information as it was an antique quilt, the label simply stated 1880's Log Cabin. Ottawa Canada. It's colours are still very vibrant considering its age.

and finally this may make you smile, there was previously a project in Bristol to make a Bra Quilt to promote awareness of Breast Cancer and someone obviously is still at it!!!

So what else has been happening around here? Apart from all the mundane day to day stuff I not been idle, I have finally finished stripping down, cleaning and oiling my old hand sewing machine. Its a Singer and looking up the serial number on the internet I established it was made somewhere around 1922. I wont bore you with all the details but this is what the silver looked like before

and after cleaning

I really enjoyed the whole process and was ably instructed from a U tube video by Lizzie Leonard I now have the machine sewing but I'm struggling to get the tension right.

I have been sewing, one project I can't say too much about as its a surprise gift for a friends daughter, but to give you a taste here are some sneeky peeks.

The outer fabric

Inside

Today after a request from Mum, I made her a knitting bag from some of my scrap fabrics, it  measures about 13" x !5" and looks like this.

I also repaired some jogging pants belonging to Little H, 

we bought 2 pairs of these when she broke her leg as she could not wear her usual stuff due to the huge plaster cast. I cut the leg off on one pair and then with a view to up-cycling them I opened up the seam and removed the cuffs of the second pair. DD is now delighted to announce that H has had the ALL CLEAR from the consultant and after 13 weeks in plaster life can finally return to normal. so I have turned the cut off pair into shorts and the other has been returned to normal with a little sewing today.

I'm still working on the Textile Embroidery book idea and now further inspired by what I have seen on Pinterest and at show on Saturday I bought a gift pack of materials from the trader Batiks n Beads in readiness for my next Textile Book project.

Oh! and I'm still knitting of course, but more on that later.

Once again it is bedtime and as I have to be in town before 9am tomorrow I'm off to bed.

Night Night.

Lx