Wednesday's Class

We had a busy day yesterday at Arco Iris Ao Metro, especially in the morning. Maria brought in her finished Xmas stocking and another she had made at home using applique. There is still a third one to be made.

Maria and Fernanda decided to make some christmas stars and they spent the best part of the morning stuffing them, Maria couldn't believe how much stuffing you needed to add to the star. They had a good time chatting,though. Sorry no pictures. Carmen continued with her Mariner's Compass pillow. It was also a day for people to finish their UFO's. Manuela brought her New York Beauty project and we spent the best part of the morning deciding which fabrics to add. This was one of the options.

And she finally decided on this combination.

In the afternoon Manuela stayed on to continue with her NYB quilt and another three ladies joined the group. There was Helena and a new lady who wanted to make purses,

and another lady, whose name I am sorry I have forgotten, again, who was unable to make last Saturday who wanted to make a fabric journal cover, sorry no picture.

We meet up again next Wednesday for a full day on making a bag and if the ladies finish their bag in time there is an additional project they can make with the remaining fabric, BUT only if they finish their bag.

Xmas Stocking Class

Well we have finally started doing workshops on Christmas projects. We had 6 ladies who wanted to have a go at making an Xmas stocking using the crazing quilting method.

They had to forget some of the rules of normal patchwork to create the front, which for some was difficult. Here is some of the mess this project can generate.

And here they are busy working and there was a lot of chatter!

Had to take this one of Manuela sewing standing up!!

The only person who I managed to get a photo of the front of the stocking was Fernanda, but she wasn't able to stay for the afternoon, as she had to go off and teach painting.

The remaining ladies still had some homework to do (TPC in Portuguese), so hopefully on Wednesday 20th October we will get to see some finished work! OK ladies.

Well this saturday we are making fabric journal covers, so don't forget to bring a book, diary or a notebook to cover. Hopefully my voice will be better by tomorrow, as I have managed to get a sore throat and cough. Lots of hot tea with honey help, plus my usual antibiotics should do the trick.

Today!

Today, I was in a creative mood, but first I had to go through my fabric stash to see what I could use or could part with using, without having the tempation to go out to buy more fabric! I didn't realise just what I had stored away in my boxes. It was lovely just going through it!! Hope DH is not checking in on my blog. I must, must stop buying fabric and use what I have. But it is so difficult when you teach in a shop and new stock keeps arriving and Paula and Manuela saying have you seen this that arrived today.
Anyway I can't show you what I have been creating, as it is not quiet finished. Sorry.

Wednesday's Class

Yesterday there were 7 ladies working on their projects, of which 3 ladies decided they wanted to make a bag. Sorry no photo.

Mariya was still working on her Mariner's Compass and now that she is happy with the colours she is going to add some more blocks to make a lap quilt.

And she also in the last week been making these oven mites.

And this lady (sorry forgot her name) was doing in the ditch quilting around the star section of the block.

And last but not least, Lucinda made this star. She was going to add the finishing touches at home.

And finally next week's all day workshop will be on making this Christmas Stocking.

Those of you that are interested, please contact Arco Iris Ao Metro to reserve your place.

Must apologies for the gaps, still getting to grips with the changes!!

Mariner's Compass Pillow

On Wednesday we had a full day workshop on making this pillow using foundation piecing and a small amount of paper piecing.

Here is one of Carmen's quarters and Maria's deciding which background fabric to use.

And Teresa popped into the shop in her lunch break to show what she has been working on.

The one on the left was from a free block of the month by Gail Pan last year and the quilt on the right was various blocks from Block Party by Marsha McCloskey. Teresa is a very talented lady.

Maria brought in her finished purse that she is giving to her daughter, Antonia, who always says that her Mummy never makes anything for her, which is so untrue.

Well I am back at the shop on Saturday 2nd October from 3.00 pm until 6.00. The first Saturday of the month is usually for beginners or those ladies are are working on a project and need some help.

Wednesday's Class

Yesterday was where anyone who came could work on their UFO's or try a technique from a previous class that they were not able to attend. So I was kept very busy helping everyone out. Hence only two photos were taken from the whole day.
Helena who had not been able to come for a few month, brought her Kaleidoscope Quilt to work on and we managed to arrange it in an order she liked. She is going to have it as a long table runner.

And here are a few of the ladies that came in the afternoon.

The shop now runs two groups on a Wednesday. The morning group is from 10.00 until 1.00 and the afternoon group runs from 3.00 to 6.00. And the space I think is a lot better for everyone, so everyone can be together rather than spread around the shop, as before.

Next Wednesday we have a full day workshop (10.00 - 6.00)on Mariner's Compass, with a combination of Paper Piecing and Foundation Piecing. Anyone interested please contact Arco Iris.

Just to let people know beforehand that there will be no afternoon class on the 6th October, just in the morning from 10.00 to 1.00. Sorry.

Saturday's Purse Class

Saturday afternoon we had 6 ladies for the purse class. They were a fun group of ladies who really enjoyed making this purse, so the only picture I managed to take was at the end of the class.

One of the ladies decided towards the end that she was not going to add the metal purse frame, but instead use it as a clutch bag for a forthcoming wedding she is going to.

We also had two ladies who were beginners doing a Rail Fence table runner.

Wednesday's Group

We were busy ladies on Wednesday. The lesson was on how to applique! They wanted to use the quickest method and so they had a go a using Heat n Bond Lite and using zig zag on the machine, as most did not have the blanket stitch, which I am lucky enough to have as I am a proud owner of an Aurora 440QE.
Here are a couple of photos of the ladies busy at work.

This was the first in our monthly workshops on Christmas projects.
Tomorrow afternoon, we have another chance for ladies to make the purses, that I showed in my previous blog.

Wednesday's Class at Arco Iris Ao Metro

Before the summer holidays the ladies had shown an interest in making a purse, based on the one I had made for the fair, which showed people what they could do with magic shrink 15%. Here is mine, which I no longer own, as it was sold!

And so the ladies set to work on designing their own purses. And here they are Fernanda's and Lucinda

and Mariya's

Just to let you know that is workshop will be repeated again on the 18th September. If you are interested contact the shop to reserve your place.

I forgot to show you a picture of what Fernanda has decided to do with her Kaleidoscope Quilt, it is going to be a duvet cover, when she has been to Ikea to get a king size black sheet for the back!

And the news of the shop is that it has finally been changed around to make it more friendly for the ladies. We have an area for sewing and then a separate area where the ladies can cut their fabrics.

So come and visit us at Arco Iris Ao Metro.

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.