Quilt Exhibition

Morning all. What a beautiful day it is. The weather forecaster told us last night that we were going to be spending the day under a blanket of cloud, but it's glorious out there! Fingers crossed it lasts.

So today I wanted to share some pics of one of last week's adventures with you. On Friday my friend Christine and I went into town to see a quilt exhibition that was on. It's running in Gordon Gallery and showcases the work of quilters associated with Mission Hall Quilts, our local quilting / fabric shop in Derry. Here are some of my favourites:

I loved the 3D flowers popping out from this quilt. It's something I've never tried to do myself but the effect is impressive.

The piecing in some of these quilts had my eyes turning green(er) with envy! Every seam was perfectly aligned which is very satisfying to look at if you're a perfectionist like me!

I think the black in this quilt makes it come alive. It really picks out the symmetry of the design.

Although I'm a massive fan of symmetry (maybe I've mentioned that a few times before!), I actually love that every block in this quilt is different to the next. The neutral colours keep it from looking busy.

This one is my favourite - I love the colour combination, I'm a big fan of batiks, and it's so intricately quilted.

This one appealed to me because the patterned fabric in the background has a kind of mosaic effect. I'd never think of doing a repeat this big with only two fabrics but it really works.

And this one was Christine's favourite. I haven't seen many art quilts in the flesh so to speak, and this one was really beautiful. I must admit it's something I'd be nervous about trying myself.

The exhibition is showing until June 26th so if you're in Derry and have a little time to spare I do recommend checking it out. Whether for inspiration, or just some fabric eye candy, there's bound to be one to suit everyone. And if you fall in love with one and have a few quid to spare, a fair few of them are for sale!

And I'll finish up by saying good luck to my lovely friend Christine who moved back to Bournemouth on Saturday. Come back - we miss you!

New Quilt

I love every process of making quilts. From choosing the fabrics:


To sewing them together into strips:

To pressing and sewing the strips into something more substantial:


And ending up with the finished quilt top:

Well, I'm almost finished. I still need to sew on the border but that shouldn't take more than a few minutes. And maybe the use of the word love is a bit excessive when it comes to pressing the seams. Ironing isn't one of my favourite past times, but as ironing goes, pressing seams is the best kind.

Now I'm not too confident on the actual quilting part, so I'm gonna spend the rest of the day practicing. I would absolutely love to hand quilt all of my quilts but it would take too long for it to be profitable. I'll save hand quilting for gifts and special occasions! Anyway it's back to the sewing machine to finish off this border.

Wordless Wednesday

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A Productive Day

Well the blog has had a makeover. Do you like it?? I do! A massive thanks to Dionne over at The Ink Studio for her amazing work. All the graphics are completed and uploaded so it's time to get this show on the road! I spent my morning doing all of that and ordering stationary etc. and I've even found time this afternoon to get my squares finished for the new quilt.

Back to the sewing machine:

And voila, a completed pinwheel square!


Would you believe me if I told you all of my seam are this perfect? How about if I smile innocently and flutter my eyelashes?? Thought not. Although if the seams were all perfect then it would lose the handmade touch, look too manufactured. Keep telling yourself that Nerys!


Anyways I'm off to the ironing board to give these a quick run over before trimming them and sewing them together. But before I go I just want to say that the lovely Jessica from Imagination in Flight has given me The Circle of Friends Award. A perfect end to this gorgeous day! Basically you blog about 5 things you absolutely love and pass the Award on to 5 deserving blog friends of your choice. I'll be doing that tomorrow then!

New Quilt

Yesterday I started making a new quilt out of the prettiest fabric ever. I've had this fabric for quite a while now, I absolutely love it cause it reminds me of pajamas. I cut it into strips,

sewed two together,

then added a third.

Stacks of spotty loveliness!

Here's where I've reached so far.

I even started making some hexagons to applique out of the same fabric.

As a rare treat I'll have the car this afternoon so I'm planning a trip to the out of town fabric warehouse to pick up some thread and plain cottons. Until then it's back to the sewing machine for me!

Quilt Top

So I woke up today and just had the urge to sew. I hopped out of bed and popped next door to the "sewing room" and was there for an hour before my belly started to grumble for blueberry porridge (which by the way does not taste too fantastic when made with water instead of milk!) and a cup of tea.

After breakfast I was back up for round 2 and I eventually finished my quilt top! Now I didn't start it from scratch - I had already cut the squares and sewn a little bit of it but it's been sitting waiting for me to get going for about two weeks.


I decided to go for a trip around the world pattern this time as I absolutely love symmetry (sometimes to the point of obsession) but I think next time I might add in a few plain colours .Now it is quite busy and it reminds me of one of those optical illusions where if I get closer to it I'm gonna see an elephant pop out or something. But it's so pretty and overall I'm very pleased with it.

And before I go I'll share with you one of my recently discovered favourite things:

Freesias smell absolutely divine. I can't get enough of them. Every time I walk past the vase (which is a lot) I can't help but stick my nose in the bouquet and take a sniff. BF gives me weird looks but I don't care!