South West Quilt Show

Yesterday we hung our display at the 

South West Quilt Show held at 

UWE Bristol

westcountryquiltshow

This is the last showing of  this body of our

work for this year.

Just a few photos of our work 

in it's new setting.

If you can get to UWE then you're in for a treat,

A Little Bit Of Upcycling

For years I have had this brilliant

wooden cutlery caddy.

It's a great size and has housed all my

little niff naffs on my sewing table.

It is very old and has been passed down

in the family and as a result was

looking a wee bit tired.

I had already removed the green baize from inside

the compartments.

Side pieces in place, good strong card covered

with wadding and fabric.

All the side linings in place....looking good.

In go the base pieces.  Once again, strong card

covered in wadding and fabric before being pushed 

down in place.

All done......

Now it's got a whole new lease of life.

Just waiting for all my sewing niff naffs

to go back into it.

Don't ya just love upcycling! 

Exhibition Update

Wow, what an amazing week we had 

down in Bradford On Avon in the beautiful

West Barn.  A more perfect setting we couldn't

have asked for.

We hung the work on the Monday and

opened to the public on the Tuesday, and they

came to visit us in a steady stream all day.

From Wednesday on it was incredibly busy.

In all 688 visitors came through the doors

to see our first exhibition.  

We claim no responsibility for the medieval banners hanging from 

on high.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to remove them.

We can be seen next at the South West Quilt Show

being held at the University of the West of England

13th - 15th November.

Unfolding Stories

So here we go.

With only 2 weeks left

before the exhibition we are 

all working our little socks off

finishing our pieces ready for hanging.

If you're in the area why not 

pop in and say hello.  

I'll be in the gallery on Tuesday.

Finished!

Yeah, my lovely new work room is 

all finished and decorated with 

a lovely new floor laid down.

 

Such a light and airy space to work in!

All I have to do is look up to watch the clouds 

go by!

All that's left to do now is to

re-sort everything to go back into the new room

and to order my new storage unit.

On A Different Note

Well it's been a busy few weeks here in the 

Bainbridge Household.  My little studio, that was

attached to the side of the house is no more.

My studio looking very old and tired. And suffering

from a very leaky roof.  

Sadly it had come to the end of it's life, the roof

was starting to sag and leak.

In it's place I now have the most 

amazing space to work in.  It's twice the size with

a vaulted ceiling so I have display space high up.

The Studio has the front door sited within it

to make it easier when Open Studios comes round.

My lovely big windows have also been refitted.

Inside I have a massive vaulted ceiling

with sky lights.  As it's south facing it will

be flooded with natural light.

All plastered and ready to go!

The only thing left to do now is to get

the paint out and add the finishing touches!

A Sneaky Peek At Things To Come

I have been a little quiet on here lately due

to the fact I have been busy working

on the latest series of pieces.

The Contemporary Quilt Group I belong to

will be holding an exhibition in Sept in the 

beautiful town of Bradford on Avon.

It will be our first exhibition as we only formed

a year ago........exciting times for us.

So here is a little sneaky peek of what 

I have been up to...

Dates and more info for the exhibition will follow 

nearer the time so keep popping back.

You can check out our Contemporary Group 

by clicking the link below.

Contemporary Quilters West

It's Arrived!

My postcard from Australia has arrived!

Maureen wrote

"I chose to represent 'CREATE' as

a crazy quilted embellished garden."

Isn't it fab, so much detail.

Crazy Patchwork with cretan stitch, buttonhole stitch,
an embroidered willow tree and bird house.
It really does embody an English Country Garden.
I love the addition of the little face

in the corner.

Thank You Maureen.

Here It Is!

So it is time to send our postcards.

Mine is now winging its way to the 

other side of the world to a lady in 

Australia.

Here it is .....hope she likes it!

ARE YOU IN?

GREAT BIG STITCHED POSTCARD SWAP

I'm in, Are you?

www.dowhatyouloveforlife.com/swap

One Down, 11 To Go....

Number one in the series of Journal Quilts is 

done, all bar the cutting and binding.

As I'm not sure how I want to finish

them yet I shall leave the finishing off

for now.

An Experiment in Thread Sketching

For our Contemporary Quilt Journal Quilt Challange

 this year we have to make an 8" sq mini quilt each month,

theme etc to be decided upon individually but each piece

must have a line that cuts through it from one 

side to the other.

So I have given myself 2 challenges.

The first is to use up some 

of the many pieces of fabric I have experimented 

on! Some have been dyed, some printed on in

various ways.  Many of them reside in my

'What on earth am I going to do with

this  piece!' box. 

The 2nd challenge is to improve my

thread sketching skills and to learn

to let go the regimented 'I must

follow the line and be neat' mentality!

I started by sorting and stacking my fabric into

 seasonal colours, Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter.

As good a starting point as any.

SPRING

The proceeded to tear the fabric up

into strips and lay it down on my wadding

any which way I chose before adhering

it all down with 505 spray.

SUMMER

Once stuck the pieces were then stitched 

down with a zigzag stitch.  

AUTUMN

All that is left to do now is to 

let loose and stitch the birds on before .....

WINTER

Adding a few hand stitches to finish it all off.