Bloggers Quilt Festival Spring 2012 - The Windows Quilt

 
Hello everyone,

for this year's Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by the lovely Amy from Amy's Creative Side



I am showing you my Windows Quilt. I used the Quilt-as-you-go-Method again, and as usual I made a reversible quilt with the same pattern but a different color scheme on the back. I decided on this quilt because it is quite different from my usual quilt designs, I have done something more modern and more free-style than ever before and definitely want to make more quilts like this one.

I used a lot of different fabrics in shades of orange, pinks and reds on the top with various fabrics in greys, whites and beiges. On the back I used greens and blues and a splash of yellow. I ended up using 16 blocks and each one measures 14" with the final quilt measuring 56" x 56".



It took me a long time to decide how to quilt it and I ended up with sort of half circles in different directions on each block. I didn't want it to look too uniform and made sure the lines are always irregular and skewed on each block. I am very happy with the quilting and I think I will use that pattern a lot more in the future. Unfortunately, I can't do any free-hand quilting on my machine, it just doesn't let me. So I am stuck with straight or wavy lines, which is fine with me to be honest, although I'd like to try something new and I'd really like to quilt pebbles, I love that look.

Close-ups:

 

What do you think? Do you like it?

And now you should check out all the amazing quilts on Amy's blog. I know what I"ll do all weekend. Have a good one.

Lots of love,
Nadine xx

Baby Boy Woodlands Quilt and 3 more in the shop

Hello everyone,

it's time to show you my latest quilt, a gorgeous baby boy quilt using lots of woodlands fabrics by Riley Blake and a mixture of other cute fabrics depicting owls, woodlands animals and forests.

 


I used one of my favorite colors, a deep jade turquoise green to contrast the blue, green and yellow shades. And once again I used a lovely aqua blue fleece on the back.

 



I have just listed this one in the Etsy shop along with 3 more quilts:

The Central Park Baby Boy Quilt




The "Where is the Princess?" Maze Quilt (reversible)




And the Geometric Solids Quilt




What do you think? Do you like them? I love them all, especially the ones with soft fleece on the back, they are so snuggly, I wish I could keep them all for myself.

Lots of love,
Nadine xx

My new quilt display

As you might have seen in my last post about the Etsy craft fair I have found a towel rack which makes a great quilt display. It is fairly wide and can either hold 5 or 10 quilts depending on how they are folded.

I love it but to be honest I could use about 4 more of these. And now we have to find a good place for it. Where should we put it? we don't really have a wall it can lean against.

The rest of the quilts will have to stay in the wooden quilt box. I think I'll have to come up with a rotation so all of them are displayed at some point.

How do you store your unused quilts? Do you stack them on a chair? or keep them rolled in the cupboard?

(I think we really need to win the lottery so we can buy a house, our flat is simply too small to use/display any quilts. I wish I could have a whole wall displaying my quilts. Maybe one day. Fingers crossed.)

Lots of love.
Nadine

My First Craft Fair. Pheeww.

Hello everyone,

who is that handsome young devil behind that gorgeous stand, you ask?

Yes, we survived and made it back from Seaham after our first craft fair yesterday. The Keep Calm it's a Show & Sell Etsy craft fair organised by the lovely Paula and Dave from KCCO on UK Handmade.

We were so nervous, well, I was really nervous about getting a rental car to drive up there and really didn't want to get a big car again. But we were lucky, I had a Vauxhall Corsa and it was perfect. This is definitely the kind of car we'd buy if we can ever afford it.

I think we did a good job with our stand, given this was our first craft fair, we managed quite well I think. I had invested in some display stands from Ebay so the prints and owls and cards would stand up rather than lie flat on the table.

 Quilts and plushies next to the stand

Odd Owls, Peculiar Penguins and Merry Matryoshkas. They got loads of attention but nobody bought them. I will list them in the shop soon. (need to take the pictures first of course.)

Art prints, cards ...

I attached one smaller hand sewn quilt to the back of John's painting racks.

I used my new towel rack to display some baby quilts and had a few larger quilts on a chair just in case someone asks for a larger or bed sized quilt.

Some pendant necklaces which premiered yesterday, nobody has seen these before and I will add them to the shop when I have the time.

Magnets, sold some of those

and a bit of art

The craft fair was great fun, the crafters and artist crowd was amazing, we had a nice community atmosphere and I met so many lovely people, such as the lovely Ezra from Knitella who came all the way from Manchester and sold some gorgeous knitwear.

I also met Claire from Baloolah Bunting who makes really unusual bunting which looks stunning, especially outside when the sun shines through the intricate designs.  

John from Lucid Curiosities is so talented, his paintings and Gothic art mixed with some native American inspired jewellery were absolutely fascinating. His stand was right next to mine and we spent the day chatting when the customers were sparse.

The lovely Shona from The Wood Muse had her stand right next to John's and sold hand carved spiritual wood statues, Dreamcatcher jewellery and much much more. Shona had brought her guitar and was singing for us, sometimes Joni Mitchell and then some Take That even. It was one of my favorite things from the day.

Nancy from Boho Raspberry shares my love of gorgeous designer fabrics and sells really colorful handbags, totes and pencil cases etc. Her stand was a feast for the eyes.

Stephanie from Rocker Doll Jewellery had the most amazing Gothic necklaces, I was really tempted by a pendant necklace with a book that opened up and revealed a clock inside, very clever.

I also met Kate from Oopsie Daisie Delights who had a gorgeous stand covered in all things vintage and very unusual crochet and cross stitch gifts.

OK, I have to stop here for today and leave some other lovely crafters from the fair for another blog post. But please go and check out these amazing artists and their websites or shops. You won't regret it.

I enjoyed that aspect of the fair the most, meeting new people and fellow crafters. There were not very many customers, even though I just saw a count of over 600 I find that very hard to believe, and my stand was right by the door and they all had to pass me (unless they came in using a different door). After around 12 it was very quiet despite all the marketing we all did and the amazing job Paula and Dave did in organising it. I did not sell much, not a single owl or plush toy which is what I was expecting, but nevertheless it was well worth the expense and great fun.

So now I need to find other craft fairs in the region that I can sign up for. I will definitely do this again when I have the time.

Lots of love,
Nadine

Keep Calm it's show &sell Etsy craft fair

Fancy a day out by the sea? and maybe some arts and crafts too? Well, I've got the solution for you. Come to our Etsy Sellers craft Fair in Seaham tomorrow. I'll be there selling whatever I can, quilts, paintings, plush owls, magnets, cards, art prints and necklaces.

My first craft fair, fingers crossed it all goes well. am most worried about the rental car and finding Seaham, tbh.

Lots of love,

Nadine

The world map quilt and a pickle

Hello everyone,

I am in a bit of a pickle. I have finished the World Map Quilt top and it's HUGE, I mean humongous. At the moment it is so bit that I can't actually show you cos our flat is too small. And I have no idea how to baste the thing. Will have to move some furniture out of the way. Oh I am dreading that.

It is 82" wide and 46" tall (ca., can't actually measure it properly) and is made with lots of lovely Kona solids. So what do you think? What do I do? Should I add some more fabric at the bottom and the top making it more square? And how do I best baste this? Next time I make this quilt I will definitely use QAYG again.

Lots of love,
Nadine