I'm back!

Well I am back from our holiday down in the Algarve, where I managed to get a bit of sun. I even went in the sea this year, the water was lovely and warm! Then I dashed off to the UK for a couple of days to see my family and visit the Quilt Festival in Birmingham and catch up with Angela and Garen, my friends who used to live here in Portugal.

There was so much to see at the show in Birmingham. I took so many photos, which will be impossible for me to show all of them here, but what stuck out for me was a quilt made by Pauline Ineson called Floral Dimension, in the category of Traditional Quilt, which she won. It was described in the catalogue as "The 3 dimensional flowers and French nots were all created by machine. No Painting drawing or invisible thread used." Here it is. It took me a few attempts to get this photo, as so many people had to have a close up look at the work in the quilt.

And here are a couple of close ups of the blocks.

So beautiful.

I also fell in love with Miniature Quilts 

which has 128 points to the compass! And here is one by Dorian Walton exhibition which measures approximately 15 cm x 19cm finished!

Anyone for a cake!

and what about this for a bag ladies.

I could go on and on to show you the 100+ pictures I took and it wouldn't show everything that I saw. I am sure that each year there are more and more talented people taking part in the competition. The starting age is 5 years of age. People from all over the world take part in this competition as well.

And all the shops that were there...... just as well I set a limit as to how much I could spend or DH would not be very happy with me.But it wasn't enough, as always, each time more things that you must have!

Well back to preparing projects for the coming months and dare I say it Christmas projects!

Wednesday's Class

Well this Wednesday we had 9 ladies, so it was a bit hectic in the morning. Mariya joined us to get on with her father's quilt, she leaves next week for Bulgaria to celebrate her father's 70th birthday. She says that she gets a lot more done at class than at home, no interruptions from DH and DD. And here it is, just has to finish sewing the binding at the back by hand.

Fernanda made a jornal cover (no picture), Sandra continued working on her X Blocks and her mother Lucinda was using a panel of chickens to make into a picture to hang in the kitchen. One of my ladies that had begun the Bargello projects turned up to continue but found that her left hand which she had fractured still wasn't strong enough to grip the ruler, so she will leave it until September and it should be all well.
And we had 3 ladies which had come all the way from the Algarve for the day one wanted to do the X Blocks we had done last week, another was a complete beginner and the other was creating a throw for the sofa.

That is it in workshops until the 1st September. It is too hot here at the moment to do any quilting.
I shall be taking a holiday down in the Algarve with DD, as my DH is working abroad. And then I am off to the UK to the big Quilt Festival in Birmingham and hope to meet up at the end of the day for a chat with a dear quilting friend for whom without her encouragement and support I would not have started quilting and be teaching today.

X Blocks Class

Yesterday the ladies learnt a new technique using the X Block Ruler. The quarter inch is very important in this project, as a couple of my ladies found out. But we got there in the end.

Everyone used different fabrics and here is a close up of Fernanda's.

 And Marya is undecided whether she will make it even bigger as a christmas tablecloth or leave it as it is and use it as a tablerunner. All depends on DH allowing her to spend some more money!

 

And here are Lucinda and her daughter Sandra's, who will finish putting the blocks together at home, ready for next week to add the 1st border and the 2nd border which is made up of the leftover cuts, there is no waste in this project. But Lucinda (the brown and beige) may decide she wants to make it bigger for her bed. She recently took delivery of a new sewing maching. These ladies only started patchwork about a month ago.

This is mine before it was quilted and binded.

Also Marya brought the quilt she is doing for her father and this is how far she has got.

 She was hoping to spend today putting the last row of framed blocks and adding a few more applique designs where there are lots of squares. She hopes next week to do the quilting at the shop.

Workshop

Yesterday I attended a workshop which was held at Quilt Cave, you can find details here and our teacher was Vicki Miles who used to live here in Portugal a couple of years ago and was spending her holidays here and had offered to do a workshop.
The workshop was called a Hexagonal Spiral Quilt. All the pieces have been lazer cut.

We all brought a contribution to lunch, it is called pot luck! It was really lovely as you can see.

And after this we got back to working on our spiral blocks. By the end of the day I had managed to get this far. Only another 8 rounds to go.

Today's Class

Well today was where the ladies could work on their own projects. Mariya was still working on the lap quilt she is going to give to her father for his 70th Birthday. Here are some of the applique blocks which we were trying to put together by introducing squares in between the framed applique blocks(with some fudging Angela).

Lucinda and her daughter Sandra decided to spend the day making bags!

And here is D.Manuela's Bag using a new product that was at FIL this year. It is called Texture Magic, which shrinks your fabric in this case by 15%. It sold out at FIL, but Paula is arranging to get some more in.

I think after todays making of bags, I shall be happy to take a break from teaching bags until September at the earliest. But the ladies here in Portugal love making bags!!!Back to more traditional patchwork.

Sunday

Yesterday I managed to find some time to go down to my sewing room/DH study to work on an up and coming project we shall be doing in the shop. I decided to use, yes, Christmas fabric that I bought at FIL. Even though it is still hot here and for some reason down in the basement it seems hotter.
Got all my strips cut and sewn together. Here is a sneak picture of the fabrics.

All will be revealed at class this Wednesday so the ladies have an idea what to choose in colours for the 21st July. If you are interested in coming contact Arco Iris A Metro to reserve your place.
I know I said I would post some pictures of FIL but it was so busy on the stand that in the end the camera stayed in my handbag!

This last week

I know that I haven't posted anything for a while, the reason being besides Wednesday's class I have been helping out at FIL which is very tiring but lots of fun playing shop. Also the weather here has been 40º +just here in Lisbon, which has left me and lots of other people with little energy.
Last Wednesday there were few ladies, because it was very hot to be doing quilting. Two of my ladies (who are beginners) were finishing off their Bow Tie Bags and Maria was working out how she was going to put all the applique blocks she had done together and choosing fabrics to use.
Aldora brought in her completed spiral table topper, which she had altered slightly to her liking.

And together we managed to create a bag that she will use to put her beach towel in for the beach. Just a few ends need tiding up.

Things should be back to normal next week, with class on Wednesday 14th July, where you can bring the project you are working on or start something new.

ARTS AND CRAFTS FAIR AT FIL, LISBON

Yesterday I played at setting up shop with Paula from Arco Iris a Metro for this years Feira Internacional de Artesanato at Expo, which runs from 3rd July until 11th July. Doors open at 3.00pm and close at 24.00pm, every day.
There will be stands with arts and crafts from Portugal, as well as from around the world. It is a very popular fair and I am really looking forward to being part of it. So today I shall be helping on the stand to sell everything to do with Patchwork and Quilting. There were lots of lovely things we found in the boxes as we unpacked them, so people will be in for a treat. And I didn't even get chance to see what fabrics were going to be sold, as I had to leave and pick up Sara from summer camp.
Tempation not to buy anything is going to be very hard. I really really will try NOT to be buy anything..... but it is going to be very hard!
If I get a chance I hope to be able to post some photos in the next couple of days.

Wednesday's Class

On Wednesday some of the ladies started making the bag shown in my previous entry, but by the end of the lesson still had a way to go. There were quiet a few pieces to cut and this took a while. Should have some photos next week!
Fernanda brought a tablerunner she had made and put her own stamp on the back by painting a design.

And here is one of my new ladies first attempt at making a rail fence table runner.

Wednesday's class

Last Wednesday's class was where the ladies could finish their projects or ask for help on something specific they wanted to learn, which we call "Livre" which translated means free to choice what they want to work on. I do this once a month, so people get a chance to catch up on their work.

Sofia brought in her finished project from the Mystery Class we did and as you can see it wasn't reds!

Here are the ladies busy working on their individual projects.

And Maria showing Sofia how she uses the blanket stitch on her sewing machine for applique.

And Sofia's finished project with a little help from Maria.Here are some of the designs Maria has used from her Singer sewing machine to make a duvet cover for her daughter.

And finally here is Manuela working on her bag.

Here is a picture of Marta's finished bag that she sent me. She is pregnant and the baby is due any time. Like 10 days and she found time to come to class to make a bag!

She used what she had at home to make this bag.

We will be doing this bag on Wednesday. So if you are interested in making this bag contact Arco Iris A Metro here to confirm your place and what you need to bring with you.

Mystery Project Class

Yesterday I did a mystery project whereby last week the ladies received instructions to sew 8 strips of fabric starting with a light fabric and ending with a dark colour, a bit like Bargello and that was all they were given. And this is what they had to make.

Here is Regina's in reds and blacks

And Paula went for creams and browns

and Manuela hadn't yet finished cutting all her pieces, but chose blue.

Fernanda had only sewn 6 fabrics together but then added red in the middle and used a different method.

And we had a show of her runner which will be put on the floor!

This isn't all of it! And also she painted the back with special paints which puff up, which become rubber (like on non-slip soled socks you can get, not explaining it very well). The picture doesn't do the work justice.

In the afternoon I had another group of ladiesm but no pictures as they weren't ready to show. Sofia brought her kaleidoscope, so that she could choose the border and binding. Her mystery project is in blues, I am slowly getting her to use other colours besides REDS.

And Mariya was working on the surprise present for her Dad, which we can't show yet. She brought her circle jean project which she has turned into a cross the shoulder bag.

And this is the project for this Saturday afternoon at Arco Iris a Metro.

Until next time.

Wednesday Class

Today I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures to show what the ladies were doing. They brought their old jeans and some squares of fabric today and got down to cutting cirlces from the jean fabric. Here is my picture along with a cathedral window panel.

Some are going to make a bag from the sixteen panel and others a pillow. A couple are thinking of making it into a large quilt. The idea for the blue jean circles comes from here.