How to quilt?

Happy Saturday everyone,

I think this is my first "Work in Progress" post for this year. I have been so busy with work and lots of other things that I haven't done much quilting lately.

But I have been working on these blocks for a QAYG quilt. The top will be in pinks and oranges and the back in greens, blues and yellows. All the blocks are 14". I have managed to finally put all the block sandwhiches together and am now stuck. I can't decide how to quilt them before then sewing the sashing on and making the rows and the full quilt.



I keep going back and forth on how to quilt them. I can't do free motion quilting on my machine so it will have to be some sort of straight organic lines or zig zag or boxy lines. Argh. I just don't know. Any suggestions?



Would love your advice one this. I am just too indecisive myself.
Have a lovely weekend.
Nadine xx

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"Reflections on Colour" Exhibition

Hello everyone,

just to let you know the exhibition is now open to the public. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hang the larger quilts as they did not hang straight and we were not allowed to do anything to the walls. I had planned to use small velcro pieces in the bottom corners and attach the other side with white tack to the walls to make sure the quilts hang flat, but it turns out the white tack leaves dark patches on the wall, wo we couldn't use it. How does on hang a really large quilt without it getting wavy and swaying every time someone walks past? I normally use them as bedquilts or lapquilts, I never hang them up so maybe I am doing it all wrong?

I managed to hang 2 smaller quilts and 7 paintings so that's not bad.









I took some photos of the show, including pictures of Carol's (http://www.fibredance.com/) and Sandra's (http://www.diverse-threads.co.uk/4825.html) artwork but they all turned out a bit blurry due to the bad lighting conditions and I just haven't got a chance to go back and take new pictures. Sorry.

Would be great if you could see the show, if you are in York you could easily take a quick trip to Grays Court. The food there is amazing. It is also a pretty posh hotel very close to the Minster.

So if you get a chance to see the show let me know what you thought of it.

Lots of love,
Nadine xx



the quilts:




Some of my paintings, one of Sandra's and the large wallhanging is Carol's


Carol's and Sandra's Artwork:

Happy New Year!

Hello everybody,

I wish you all a happy and healthy and very creative new year.

I hope you survived the holidays without too much damage, I am still recovering from food and (a little bit of) booze (am not much of a drinker). I love Christmas but I also loathe the holidays and the stress involved and it makes me cringe every year to see the amount of money people spend of presents. This year especially it made me so mad to see how children received big expensive gifts and were not able to appreciate their value at all, they treated them without any respect, and especially without any respect for the time their parents had to work to afford to buy them such gifts. They were broken and dirty and thrown in the corner within a day or two. I can just shake my head in disapproval and think I would do things differently if I had children.

But as I don't have any I will have to let people spoil their kids into a life of material obsession and lack of respect for things and what it cost to produce and then buy them.

Sorry, rant over.

But on another note, I have just listed this original painting in the art shop. It's an acrylic painting on canvas paper sized 13" x 13". I am trying very hard to simplify and paint smaller and not necessarily on canvas anymore.

Close ups:







I hope you like it. It was a lot of fun to create and I am currently in a proper painting rush, especially with the upcoming exhibition at Grays Court.

And speaking of which, I better get back to work, I still have frames to fix and curtain poles to adjust for the quilts.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Nadine xx

Merry Christmas and a happy new Year!

Merry Christmas everyone,
have a lovely holiday and enjoy a festive meal and lots of presents.
And a happy new year with lots of new creative pursuits and adventures.

Love, Nadine

"Reflections on Colour" Exhibition at Grays Court York

Hello everybody,

I have some great news, I will have an exhibition with 2 friends and fellow textile artists at Grays Court in York from Saturday, 7 January to 2 February 2012. My very talented Graphic Designer boyfriend did the poster. I hope you can see that he managed to add proper watery colour reflections. How cool is that?

I am exhibiting both Quilts and Paintings, if I can figure out how to hang the quilts properly that is. We are not allowed to make new holes and they just redecorated so I am wondering how exactly it will work. I bought several thin curtain poles and clips to hang the quilts with, I was very reluctant to attach a sleeve for hanging as all of my quilts are reversible and I don't want to ruin the back. Let's see how it will turn out.

I am also exhibiting paintings and am actually painting new ones to go into the exhibition. I did a large oil painting yesterday, an abstract landscape colour study, because the title of our exhibition is "Reflections on Colour". See what we did there? I love that title, it can have so many meanings.

Grays Court is actually a great venue and has an excellent restaurant especially popular for afternoon tea. We have the whole house and will exhibit in a special exhibition room but also in the hallways and the staircase I think. So if you're in York come and pop in, it is a bit hidden and very atmospheric, just as everything else in York. Very close to the Minster actually.

So I'll keep you posted on that.

Very exciting. Oh, but so much to do.

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone.

Love,
Nadine xxx

We have 3 winners!

Hello everybody and thanks for entering the Giveaway,

it's great to meet you all and I hope to get to know you better over time. When I have some time I will check and see if you have blogs and follow back and I am looking forward to snoop around your crafts too :)

The giveaway is now closed and I have drawn 3 winners by random number generator and the numbers of the winning comments are:


which means Gill won the Merry Matryoshka (I have decided who gets which prize by the order they were listed in the original post)


which means Leah Baird from The Sleepy Dreamer won the Art Print


which means Pippa Parsons won the Paper Garland.

Congratulations to the winners!

Please send me an email with your address (nadinesaupe@googlemail.com) and I will send your prizes off either tomorrow or Monday at the latest and hopefully you should get them soon, maybe even before Christmas. Fingers crossed.

It's back to the sewing machine for me later today. I am currently working on a new quilt and I will share some work in progress pics with you very soon. I might actually need your help with some design questions, as usual I cannot make up my mind.

Best wishes from York and have a lovely day.
Nadine xxx

Blog Hop Party and GIVEAWAY

*** The Giveaway is now CLOSED. Please do not comment anymore. The winners have been drawn and published. ***


Hurrah. what a great idea.

Welcome to the Blog Hop Party


and Sew, Mama, Sew's GIVEAWAY DAY.


I am combining the two big Giveaways and can't wait to meet all of you lovely people and discover new blogs. So please come and say hi. I am hoping you like my blog and will stay a while.

The Giveaway will last 10 December - 17 December. The winners will be drawn by random number generator so make sure you use all 3 of your chances to win.

I am giving away 3 items each one celebrating one of my Etsy shops and arty crafty pursuits.

1st Prize is a Merry Matryoshka from my Quilt Shop


2nd Prize is an Art Print from my Art Shop


3rd Prize is a Christmas Designer Paper Garland from my Papercrafts Shop


You have 3 chances to win and for every chance you have to leave a comment on this blog post:

1. First Comment:
Have a quick browse and tell me what you like best in my Etsy shops.

2. Second Comment (extra chance)
Tell me you are a follower of this blog (as you can see this blog is very new and is not getting much love at the moment.)

3. Third Comment (extra chance)
Tell me you are a Facebook fan (or have just "liked" my Facebook page).

If you leave all 3 comments you increase your chances of winning one of the 3 prizes.

So good luck everyone and now wheres the bubbly? Let's party.

Lots of Love,
Nadine