My Great Quilting Expedition

Have found time to finish a lap quilt made up from blocks completed as part of the Intermediate Patchwork course I finished recently.  The course was great fun!

I ordered a pack of Transfer Artist Paper last week out of curiosity and without any real plan in mind.  Although I am busy making bears for the Teddies Worldwide online show at the end of the month, I found time to play with it. I used a photo of three teddies I designed and made last year as the centre piece of my pinkeep.  I used 1930 reproduction fabrics scrappily to frame the photo.  I added silk ribbon, mother of pearl buttons, beads and lace to complete the heart shaped pinkeep.   Last week was my son James' first wedding anniversary.  I made them a memento of their wedding day and placed it is a picture frame. I really enjoyed creating a little crazy quilt.  I adapted a pattern of Allie Aller's for the project.  The photo isn't great.  There is some reflection from the glass.

I am coming to the end of a free-motion quilting course at Kathy's Patch in Folkestone.  I had a couple of attempts at teaching myself before starting the course, but was completely hopeless!  Luckily for me, Kathy and Jo are very patient.  I think free motion quilting is a skill that improves with practice and I have to confess, that I haven't found time to practice between classes, so have only myself to blame if I haven't progressed as much as I should have! Below are three of my favourite blocks from my classwork. Next week we will be putting the blocks together using a quilt as you go method.  I am really keen to learn this method, as trying to swing a queen size quilt on my Bernina is not my idea of fun!

I am best known as a maker of teddybears, but I have another new passion - patchwork and quilting.  This blog is my online diary to myself.  It will chart my learning journey and I hope, will document my mistakes and  successes in this expedition to 'teach an old dog new tricks'.   I have been learning to quilt for about 9 months, so the first few posts will be a summary of the journey so far. The Beginning While going through my loft last year, I came across a brown manilla envelope containing a bear paw patchwork block that I hand-sewed over thirty years ago.  Somehow, life got in the way and my patchwork never progressed any further. Summer 2012 - First quilt Ignorance is bliss.  Last summer I decided to make a patchwork quilt for my bed...this time using a sewing machine.  In my ignorance, I decided to make a large quilt using half square triangles.  How hard could it be?  I would be cutting up material and sewing it back toge...