Friday finish - Taupe Zig Zag Strippy Four-Patch

Third and final instalment this week just about brings me up to date.  After the holiday, the wedding, the ongoing lack of computer, the scrappy sewing, I managed to fit in a trip to NEC Festival of Quilts and had an operation.  Oh, and my youngest got his A-level results and is off to university in 3 weeks... quite a busy summer.

I'll show you my finish first (linking to Crazy Mom Quilts: Finish it up Friday) and then a few Festival pics of much more accomplished quilts.

This is my Taupe Zig Zag Strippy Four-Patch which I resurrected and blogged about here, so this is a relatively quick finish (not counting maybe eight or so years languishing in the cupboard, of course).



I decided a while ago that I really must complete a few more of my many outstanding projects and being accountable on this blog really helps.  So I have been hand quilting whenever I have been away from my sewing machine, and with nothing else to sew on our holiday in Cornwall I got quite a bit done.

Since my op (planned and all fine, feeling surprisingly chipper) I have had even more excuse to sit around and do nothing strenuous, so I have FINISHED the quilting - hooray!
The quilt measures 55" x 59", with 4" four-patches and 8" borders.

And here are my two helpers:

So that's another crossed off the list, but so many more lurking: I can see that I will have to have a mammoth machine quilting session before too long to catch up, though I am itching to start some new quilts with the fabric I have bought this year at the various shows I have been to.

Which brings me on to the Festival of Quilts in early August, the biggest show we have in the UK, though I am  sure it would be dwarfed by the American shows.  Anyway it was a terrific treat to go along again, to soak up all the creativity and acquire a little more material to nourish my own.

I didn't take many photos and I have mislaid my programme so cannot credit the following (but will edit this post and add in details when I find them), but I did want to share these images with you.

As I am renewing my interest in paper piecing, and I love blue, I was especially keen on this quilt:

Fabulous fussy-cutting and quilting.

I also liked the refreshed version of the historic Mrs Billings coverlet:

And a version of Stonefields (colours are a bit off as my camera chose to use flash) but this is a fabulous quilt:

At the show I bought a kit for this small coin purse from Pinwheels, using iridescent Oakshott (I think from the Lipari range) and  it made up in a trice - so nice to do a small project in between the bigger ones:

I should have put a scale marker in the picture - the squares were 2 1/2" unfinished so the buttons are about an inch in diameter if that helps.

And finally, my lovely friend Marian made me some notebooks, having been on a bookbinding course.  She may say they are far from perfect but I love them; the handmade papers have the same appeal as fabric.





That's all, folks - enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend!