don't worry...

i  haven't dropped off the face of the earth! (because i know you haven't been sleeping, worry about me ;) since the fat quarterly retreat (which was AWESOME & needs it's own post) i've been firmly immersed in family life. i sort of came home with fresh eyes and decided our general clutter and mess in the house is at a level that is too high to cope with even for a untidy sod like me & have decided to have a major summer clean up. every room is a target, i've de-cluttered and gone through every drawer and cupboard in both of the boys rooms ready for a proper re-decoration project when i'm home from festival of quilts. i finished my studio yesterday - the relief of actually *wanting* to spend time in here is such a good feeling - i can't wait to get stuck into some sewing projects! the downside is the amount of black bin bags i've filled - a trip to the tip, methinks! i've got a MASSIVE amount of fabric scraps - every time i came across some i threw them into a big box & i also filled two large bags of them too. i'm thinking of going through them and perhaps selling them on, perhaps for people to use in their improv projects.

which brings us to...the book! i sold lots of copies of 'quilt improv' at the retreat and i'm hoping all the UK peeps have received their copies and are happily getting inspired, the feedback i've had so far has been wonderful and makes me feel so humble. thank you to all the lovely fat quarterly retreat peeps who bought a copy, i hope you love it! i've got several copies here that i will put up for sale when i home from festival.

which brings us to...festival of quilts! i'm there the entire time, helping out my friend yvonne who has a demo stand. i'll have tons of free time though because i'm only there to cover yvonne's toilet breaks...let's hope she has a strong bladder, haha.  i'm planning to really go through the festival with a fine tooth comb this year - i usually miss something brilliant & kick myself. i plan on spending a TON of time at committed to cloth stand which is always a total highlight for me. AND...little bit of a drum roll here, i've got two quilts at festival - the first is a HUGE honour because i entered a quilt loosely based on my fences fabric design into the new juried 'fine art quilt masters' category and it got in! i've been sitting on this news for ages, i'm a little bit stunned. apparently (& i might be wrong!) there were 100 or so entries and around 12 were picked from those while others were invited from 'big names'. so to be included in a lineup that includes diana harrison, pauline burbridge and elizabeth brimelow, quilt artists i've admired for years, is an absolute honour. ekk! exciting!

a tiny smidgeon of the front of 'fences'

and the back. yes that quilting took forever. and ever. the stitching
is quarter inch apart. 

the second quilt has been made from 'ice-cream colours' (although it has a lot of blue & both boys asked when i'd eaten blue ice-cream) i've entered it into the two person category because although the piecing and design was done by me, my mum did an awful lot of shit shovelling (cutting, trimming etc etc) as well as the quilting. and oh my god the quilting. OH MY GOD the quilting. she's a flipping genius with a long arm, i tell you. is it not cool to boast about your mum? well, i don't care if it is. here are glimpses, and i'll show the whole thing after festival, but here are a few teaser shots for now. if you're going to festival, look out for it! if not, i'll be back with proper photos and a pretty funny story. about this quilt, not just a random funny story.

scrumpled up.

on the machine. i haven't eaten ice cream that colour green either.
or turquoise. i may have eaten snow that yellow colour tho.

quilting on the back - this doesn't really do the quilting justice
because it doesn't show a big enough area, but trust me,  it's awesome sauce.

good grief, that was a bit epic, sorry. if you managed to reach the end without dying of boredom, congratulations, i'm impressed!