First Purchase on Etsy

I registered with Etsy a long time ago with the intention of selling some handmade items.  I have to admit that I still haven't done it.  Tonight, I went on the site to read about the ins and outs of doing this, but instead got drawn into the lovely items that are for sale.  I just bought these pretty vintage spools on jinxxy and it was very easy to pay using paypal.  I think I'll use them to hold my embroidery thread.

Vintage Wooden Spools

So why not jump in and have a look for something that takes your fancy.

Bye for now
Sandra

New Quilt

I have started putting the sections of my new quilt together.  It's hard getting the time for this when the kids are home on their holidays, so I have been doing my sewing late at night.

Rail Fence & Flying Geese

3", 6" and 9" blocks

Friendship Star has been added

I have been thinking about ways to quilt it when I'm finished.  I bought a new foot at the Festival of Quilts for my Bernina which is for quilting in the ditch.  It's a sole plate which will click onto my walking foot.  It has a blade which will nestle into the seam and so, hopefully, make the job much easier.  So I'll have to try that out.

But as it's very late, I'll have to say bye for now.
Sandra 

   

The Festival of Quilts

I came back from the Festival of Quilts late on Saturday night, exhausted but happy.  It was fantastic as usual.  Lots of amazing quilts, exhibitions and stands.  I am really pleased with all my purchases and I will put some of these in a later post.  The holders of some of my favourite stands kindly allowed me to photograph them for my blog, so here we go.

Fiddlesticks Fabrics

 I bought some wonderful fabrics here.  Karen's shop is in Ballyclare so I'll have to visit soon.

The Aurifil stand had some good price deals for the show.  As I always use it for piecing, I treated myself to a cone and a couple of pretty 40w threads for quilting.  

Aurifil

I had a lovely chat with Sherry of Irish Quilting magazine which proved to be very popular.

Irish Quilting

 I also met the very gracious Jennie Rayment who kindly allowed me to photograph herself and her quilts.  I bought two of her books, 'Foldy Rolly Patchwork Pzzazz' and 'Serging for Softies'.

Jennie Rayment

The Irish Patchwork Society had a wonderful exhibition to mark their 30th Anniversary and one of my favourite pieces from this was by Elaine Doyle called 'Birchfield'.  I also met lots of the girls from the Eastern Branch.

'Birchfield' by Elaine Doyle

The Tentmakers of Cairo had a wonderful exhibition.  It was mesmerising to watch the gentleman sewing with such speed and skill.

Cairo Tentmaker

Cairo quilt

One of my favourite exhibitions was by a Russian girl called Marina Mamonova.  Her quilts had so much texture and I found her work very inspirational.  The photographs won't do them justice.

'Broken Dreams'

'Bay of Joy'

'Bay of Joy' close up

The circles above were made with woven strips.  It gave so much texture to the piece.

I was delighted to see that an Irish girl had made this amazing winning quilt.

'Dear Jane, It's the 21st Century'
Valarie Mullally, Ireland
Winner Contemporary Quilts
2nd Prize Amateur Quilt of the Year

My friend Margaret Ashford from Derry made this amazing miniature four-poster bed with the little married couple reading the papers.  One is our local paper The Derry Journal and the other is Irish Quilt and Craft Magazine from The Fennel Shed.

Relaxing

 And finally, the winner of the miniature section was a wholecloth quilt, with trapunto and free motion quilting.

Kumiko Frydl
'Blue like a Wedgewood'

These are just some of the things that I liked at the Festival of Quilts this year.  Another brilliant show. 

See you soon.
Sandra

The Festival of Quilts

I'm finishing off my packing to head off to the Festival of Quilts for three glorious days with my friends Ann and Maeve.  This will be my third year to go and I can't wait! 

We always make a new bag to take with us and this year mine is made from French General fabrics.  One side is Lumiere de Noel and the other is La Petite Ecole.  The pattern is by Penny Sturges.

French General Bag

If any of you haven't been to the Festival before, I highly recommend it.  I'll let you all know how it went when I get back.

See you soon.
Sandra

New Blocks

I have been meaning to post these new blocks since Monday and at last here they are.

Nine Patch

Whirlwind

Half Square Triangles

Brown & Gold Churn Dash

Blue Churn Dash

Assembled Section

I don't know a lot about cameras, so I'm trying to learn.  Taking photographs indoors at night doesn't work well, so I try and take them either near the window or outside during the day. 

My camera is showing some blurring on the left side of some photos and I don't know why.  So I think I will borrow Alan's camera to go to The Festival of Quilts next week.  I got my programme in the post yesterday, so the show seems really close now.  Can't wait!!!

We all headed to the beach this week and had a great day.  We went to Buncrana in Donegal.  We had a lovely day, it was even warm enough for the kids to go in the water.

Buncrana

The water was very calm.

Lough Swilly

Rocky Outcrop

Time for a picnic.

Charlie enjoyed himself too.

After our picnic we headed off to Mamore Gap for a drive.  It's a long time since we were there and because the weather was so good, the views were amazing.

Looking back at Lough Swilly

On top of Mamore Gap

Going down through the gap

Fantastic views

I live in a very beautiful country but sometimes it takes a trip like this to remind me just how beautiful it is.

Hopefully I'll be able to post photos of my finished bag soon.  My friends and I always make a new one for going to The Festival of Quilts.

See you soon.
Sandra