I have just realised that I'd promised more photographs of Sandown quilt show...sorry, I was busy with our two day summer school this week and it quite slipped my mind.  So here are some of Jenny Rolfe's quilts which were in her gallery this year.  Click on the image for further information.

It's the second day of Sandown quilt show and while it was quiet, before the doors opened,  I was able to nip round taking a few photographs of quilts.  Want to have a look?

This quilt, Night Owl by long-arm quilter Joë Bennison, who as on one of our courses recently, caught my eye and that of the judges because it was awarded a 1st in the Longarm Machine Quilting category.  A wholecloth, it is the thread and quilt patterns which tell the story.

Another quilt which uses a lot of quilting patterns was our friend Bec Handyside's 'Spiers Lane' and was chosen as a Judge's Choice by Jennie Raymont. Like me, Becs is a passionate quilter and cyclist and this quilt is of one of her local rides in Hampshire.  I love all the different quilting patterns she has used, I just want to ride off into that sunset!

There were only two items entered into the Wearables Category, and our friend and past C&G student, Melanie Pask, was awarded a Judge's Merit for her embellished velvet corset.

You may have seen that one of the short courses we offer is the 'Recipe Quilt' and this may have left you wondering what it's all about!  The three quilts above, made by Marion, Sue and Debs were all made on this course.  Marion and Sue used some of their hand dyed stash whilst Debs chose to incorporate an orphan applique panel.

The last two quilts for today where made by Jane Wheeler.  One of them won an award in the Miniature Category, can you tell which one it was?

I hope I'll have time to photograph some more quilts tomorrow, so pop back over soon,

Hazel & Terry

...well, not actually.  But believe me it feels like it is at the end of the day!

So, do you want to see our stand unveiled?...here it is - 

Not bad is it?  Where would we be without good old IKEA though?!

Here are some of our lovely quirky hand printed and dyed fabrics ready for sale.  See those white bags?  They are our new workshop kits and here are three happy ladies...

They are proudly  wearing their Sari silk flower brooches they have just made in a workshop with Hazel.  If you would like to make one but can't make it to Sandown this weekend, then come and find us in the Quick and Easy workshops at this year's Festival of Quilts at the NEC in August.  We are also running little foundation logcabin pincushion workshops.  Each last an hour and you receive a kit containing all the fabrics ( which we hand dyed, especially for you!) wadding and threads you will need, you just need to add some wadding ( or sharp sand for a needle keeper) and a few stitches.

Talking of thread and a few stitches, did you spot our new market aprons, specially made for the event?  Using fabric from our hand dyed stash they were quickly run up last night ready for us to keep everything to hand on show day.  We received many compliments too ;-)

To keep staff spirits high we have new snack trays ( from the UKs favourite grocer, naturally) complete with healthy dried mango pieces, strawberries, vegetable crisps,and, oh yes, the cyclist's favourite snack, jelly babies!

It's always lovely when someone we know wins a rosette, this time it was Dot with her 'Dear Jane' quilt.  It has been a long time in the making, Dot started it many years ago with Hazel when she first taught in Yateley.  We didn't have a lot of time to look at the quilts, but we'll try and photograph and post some more before the show closes on Sunday.

However, we did have time to take a snap of the Theme Category though, because we both won a rosette :-)

On the left is 'Shingle Garden' by Terry and on the right is Hazel's paper quilt, 'Not just another pebble on the beach'.

That's all for now, come back tomorrow to see more of the show with us,

Hazel and Terry

The last couple of weeks have seen us frantically busy getting ready for our first ever 'proper' show, and here we are at last - build-up day at the National Quilt Championship at Sandown Race course.  The day was warm and sunny, we avoided the M3 successfully, found an unloading spot right by the nearest door and look...

...we even found our spot!

I know it doesn't look like much just at the moment, 

but give us a couple of hours.  We have tables to put up, a display wall to build

and there's metres of black fabric to pin into place.  But some quilts have already been hung and things are taking shape.  Would you like to see the finished stand?  Would you really?  So very kind of you to want to see...

but I am afraid you are going to have to wait, it's under wraps you see, until tomorrow morning at 10 am.  All will then be revealed, along with the hundreds of quilts put up just for your delight.  

Come and make a day of it at Sandown Quilt Show, tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday, pick your day.  We'd love to see you, so be sure to pop by the stand, stop for a chat, look at the courses we've planned and browse the fabrics and kits we have for sale.  From funky pin cushions, to pretty silk flower brooches and brightly coloured scarves to inspirational fabric packs and delicious (!) threads - Come and join us, be inspired!

Hazel &Terry

Going on holiday isn’t just about recharging your batteries and resting, it's the perfect opportunity to find new sources of inspiration.  Back from three weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam I found I had managed to snap over 2000 photographs, which according to my daughter and her boyfriend seem to mostly be of the food I ate, doors and floors.  Personally I can’t see their problem...

So I thought I would share some of the images with you instead and if you have anything to comment I'd love to hear from you!

That's all for now.  I'll carry on sorting the photographs out, so do come back soon to see more inspiration.

It may be a cold and blustery start to the summer but at least we had a sunny warm day for our Indigo! workshop last week, which is just as well because we dip the fabrics outside!

The morning was spent getting the fabrics ready.

Stitch resists produce lovely results, but do take a long time to do; perhaps it's a winter activity whilst watching TV or chatting with friends over a cup of coffee/ glass of wine, ready for a mega dipping day in the summer!  Then you could make a day of it and come with like minded friends to the next InStitches Indigo! workshop.

We also used folding, pleating, scrunching and soya wax resisits.  Here is Terry modelling the Sew Me Something 'Beatrice' pinafore I made recently.  I used some of our MS1 fabric,  added a soya wax border and now it's ready for the indigo bath.

The indigo process is a bit smelly, so we do like a warm day so we can be outdoors.  Each student carefully made up their own vat and

  then it needs to be left to stand for about an hour before it's magic time...

Indigo is an oxidisation dyeing process and the colour develops as the dipped fabrics are exposed to the air.  When it first comes out of the dye bath it is the most amazing green, how we wish we could capture it at that point!  Then it gradually turns dark blue.  To deepen the colour it's not about the length of time the fabric spends in the dye vat, but how many times it is dipped and oxidised.

Pole wrapped fabrics are a bit of a challenge, so squishing them up as tight as possible onto a short pole is the answer, or rotating the pipe.

Dipping my dress was another challenge, but as I wanted a faded look I kept it on it's hanger and gradually lowered into the vat over several minutes.  I love the way the colour starts to creep up the damp fabric, don't you?

After each dip the fabrics needs to be allowed to oxidise fully and the best way to do this is pegging it out in the sun.  It can then be redipped until the required depth of colour is achieved.  Once the fabrics have been dipped enough times it needs to be left to dry before washing, rinsing and drying.  And of course, the ironing will be a joy (unlike the rest of the ironing basket...)

If you want to see more indigo loveliness then head over to our Indigo board on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/InStitches2014/indigo/

One down, one to go! The winners of the Sandown Tickets giveaway have been drawn and I had the pleasure of phoning Jo G and Joë B on Saturday  to tell them they'd won.  Jo, like me, says she never wins anything and was really excited. Its one of the great parts of this job, as is meeting everyone at shows and on workshops. So if you are coming to Sandown too  next week do drop by our stand and say hello ; we've been working hard to get all our fabric and thread packaged up and workshop kits prepared. 


Hope you all enjoy the show.
bye for now
Terry