Quilts in four different exhibitions this weekend - all at once!

If I include my sashiko students' work which will be at the Spring Quilt Festval, Exeter, I will have work in four different exhibitions this weekend.  The sashiko sampler is in 'New Quilting' at the Rheged Centre, near Penrith. I'm not quite sure why the exhibition organisers wanted this one rather than the Denman Kannon, which is the more recent of the two, but it is there anyway.

'Sidmouth Revisited' will be at the Quilter's Guild AGM and Conference weekend in Torquay.  I'm not quite sure where it will be hanging, or whether that part of the conference area will be open to members of the public during the AGM meeting itself, which it was last year in Llandudno.

As previously mentioned, my sashiko students' samplers will be at the Spring Quilt Festival at Exeter.  This is the last time they will be shown together in that exact group, although I hope some of them will be able to be shown at SECC next March and perhaps make a trip to Japan together after that.

My other quilts on show will be at the Prague Patchwork Meeting over the weekend.  Somewhat by accident, these quilts all have a lot of machine work on them and are mostly machine quilted, with the exception of 'Solstice' (above - handquilted) and 'King of Hearts' (below - a mixture of hand and machine work).

'Secret Garden' (below) was long arm quilted by Ferret.

There's a little bit of sashiko inspired quilting on the tiled background on 'Fish and Chips' but the rest is machine applique.

'We are the Champions' (above), done for the 'Going for Gold' challenge at Malvern in 2012, and 'Missenden Now and Then' (below) are 100% machine sewn.  I've sent quilts to Prague that haven't been exhibited a lot before.  I wonder if quilters will think they are different to what they usually think I do, i.e. my Japanese quilts?

Spring Quilt Festival, Exeter - photos

At the Westpoint Arena, Exeter on Sunday afternoon, with (from left to right) "Masu", "99 Treasures", various bags from "Fabulous Fat Quarter Bags", the "Hakone Yosegi Sampler" from "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match" and the original version of the Fat Quarter Kimono.

The throw from "Japanese Sashiko Inspirations" covers the demo table.


"The Denman Kannon" was displayed against the back of the "Kasuri Sampler" (from "Japanese Quilt Blocks..."), facing out into the aisle (as I displayed it at Edinburgh), so visitors could get very close to the stitching.


Remember my sashiko workshop with Bristol Quilters a few weeks ago? Hazel brought her finished panel. The rust coloured fabric will be the border.


Rosalind Dixon showed me her version of my "99 Treasures" quilt (you can see the original in the background). Great fabric collection! When this quilt is made with the same colours for the background squares, it is surprising how closely it resembles the original, even when the circles are from different fabric selections. The way Rosalind combined the two shaded fabrics in the border is particularly effective.


Pat Vian of Lioness Quilters, Scilly, had two bags she'd made from "21 Terrific Patchwork Bags". Unfortunately I didn't get to meet Pat (and I hope I read her name correctly from the note Guy left) as I was teaching a workshop. Her version of the backpack is so summery.


Several visitors told me about this lovely quilt by Pat Bennetts, which features kamon crest blocks in both applique and sashiko from my "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match" book. It is unusual to see them done in both techiques side by side on the same quilt.

Pat makes great use of her Japanese style prints in the following blocks, with the print pattern flowing from one part of the design to another in the first block, "Genji Guruma" ("Genji" carriage wheel) -


I had a few things on my shopping list, including very dark plain blue, plain cream and something to go with this panel for a new project (I got a great coordinating woven plaid from Strawberry Fayre).

I was also on the lookout for another Jelly Roll, and (fingers crossed!) the coordinating charm pack, of "Authentic", a typography based print range by Sweetwater for Moda. It only came out last Autumn or so and I hadn't seen it at any of the shows. I hoped I might find it with The Quilt Room or Puddleducks, as these shops stock a wide range of Moda Jelly Roll cuts. Both had sold out of that range ages ago! I got pieces of the two "dictionary" fabrics from New Threads Quilt Shop (I'm sure Meg mentioned that she had some of the numbers fabric but I can't find her website right now!). No one else had it, so I ended up ordering both cuts online from Abbi May's Fabric Shop when I got home. There's nothing quite as good as being able to look at a Jelly Roll in 3-D, so I would prefer to buy them in real life if possible.

Exeter Spring Quilt Festival

I'm repacking the car today and deciding what I'm taking to Exeter. I think I'll go geometric with the quilts - with "Irori" (above - there's a pattern for this), the Kasuri sampler (see last but one post) and "Roman Perdu", a quilt which is featured in "Compendium of Quilting Techniques" (although it doesn't include the pattern). "Roman Perdu" was in Popular Patchwork magazine quite a few years ago, so I probably ought to add it to my pattern selection in the near future. It is a great design for loads of plaids plus some crazy novelty fabrics. Sorry the photo looks a bit dull - I scanned it from the magazine. The photo in the book is much brighter and sharper!

There are extra fabric colour choices for the sashiko workshop too, with brick red, burgundy and blues added.

But the bags from "Fabulous Fat Quarter Bags" arrived home today... I'll see if I can fit a few in, although the book won't be out until next month.

Edinburgh Spring Quilt Festival, Quiltfest and more sashiko

The Edinburgh Spring Quilt Festival was very enjoyable. The new sashiko workshop went down well (I'll take photos of what we do at next week's Exeter Spring Quilt Festival), the Denman Kannon stitching progressed and I met lots of interesting quilters. Everyone seemed very inspired by the quilts on show in the exhibition, including the antique quilts that were at the Malvern autumn quilt show (some wonderful wholecloths among them). I was too busy to buy much fabric, but found a few very specific pieces for projects I have planned - quilt shows are such a good place to find exactly what you need. It won't be long before I'm back in Scotland again (twice this spring) teaching two different groups. The quilt behind me in the photo is "Masu" (please scroll down link page for pattern info) made entirely from vintage Japanese kimono wools and silks. "Compendium of Quilting Techniques" was very popular and I'll be signing copies of that at Exeter too.

I worked on the clouds and halo on the Denman Kannon while I was in Edinburgh. I used a shaded blue - white sashiko thread (I think it was either Olympus or Yokota brand, but as I bought it in 1992 and lost the skein label I'm not sure). The shading helps to contribute to the glowing effect, but I want to add short 1in long lines around the outside edge, inbetween the shaded threads, using the brilliant white Olympus 40m medium sashiko thread I used around the halo edge.
I also began filling in the scales on Monday. After a lot of thought, I decided to stitch a hybrid between masu (stacking measuring boxes) and hishi seigaiha (diamond ocean wave) - details immediately below (from the pattern directory in "The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook"). So the tops of the diamonds have the crossed corners found on masu (the stitches don't cross on the front). Click photos to see more detail.

I considered using the hitomezashi (one stitch sashiko) pattern urokozashi (scale stitch) for the fish scales. However, I would have either had to stitch the scale outlines at half the size (i.e. dividing each scale outline into four) or have very large scales, as shown in this detail from Reiko Domon's quilt inspired by Gaudi's architecture. Only having a small amount of the hand-dyed thread I wanted to use for this section ruled out such dense stitching. I also felt that urokozashi would be slightly innapropriate as an all over pattern on the koi, since it is used in Noh drama for snake demon costumes! I used a single row of this pattern around the halo, but it doesn't read as all over urokozashi there, so I think it is OK.

First section of scales complete-

More scales - these have only 2 pattern rows instead of the 3 rows in the first section, so more of the background fabric shows through the scales in the centre section. Yesterday, I wasn't sure that looked right, but seeing the photos, I think it is the best solution. As the scales at the back of the tail are so much smaller, without enough room for 3 stitching lines and crossed corners, at some point on the fish body it would be necessary to change the number of stitching lines... tricky to get it in the right place. Plus I am trying to eke out what I have left of that lovely hand dyed thread that shades from yellow through persimmon to purple, by including very small sections of plain yellow and persimmon and another hand dye that continues the purple shading along the whole thread.

Before the extra scale details -


After - there's still quite a lot more to complete, but the stitching lines are marked in place.

What do you think? Anne took a good photo of me stitching and you can see it on her blog post about the show. Guy is right about my glasses - he commented that I look a bit fierce when I've got them on !

I went over to Quiltfest yesterday with more supplies of "Compendium..." and the place was buzzing with interest all day. I wonder if other exhibitions in public galleries around here are generating as much interest and enthusiasm? I stayed and stitched on the Kannon panel. I'll be back there on Friday and there is an extra opening day on Sunday because there is an antiques fair on at the Pavilion.