Festival of Quilts (overload!!!)

Make a cuppa!  This is a LONG blog!


I'm still shattered after four days working on the Kids Quilts stand at the Festival of Quilts. I had a great time. Met loads of lovely people, caught up with some that I haven't seen since last Festival and generally had a ball. But it is exhausting!!

The lovely Christine & David

Christine and David travel up from New Zealand to show their gorgeous quilt designs and showcase the ranges of fabrics that Christine and daughter Rachel design for RJR fabrics.

 Thier stand is always so bright and cheery. And so well lit. David has a thing about lighting, which makes the colours jump out, but it is soooo hot with all those light bulbs glaring at you!

 Bugs A Lot is one of my favorite patterns

Festival is always really busy, and most of the time looks like this

But because I am working, I get to go in early so have a good chance to walk around when it looks like this....

I won't ramble on, but here are a few photos of the quilts that I really liked

The Quilters Guild competiotion

simple design

really effective quilting

 This one was my favourite
          

 Close up detail

 One of the winners

 and some detail

The Miniature Winner

8" square - amazing!!

                                 

                                     

Must finish mine like this one!

                                  

 Modern Mini's

 Best in Show

 This was the Your Quilters winner! Ages 12 - 18Years!

 And I got to meet the lovely Lissa Alexander from Moda

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 My Boy/Man will be thirty this week so we had a bit of a bash.
His sister made the cake - it was scrummy - and full of E numbers!!

 It was so funny to see the two little ones scrambling under the table as all the sweeties bounced onto the floor when it was cut!

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I made friends with my sewing machine this week. It was good to just sit and play whilst DH worked like a trojan in the garden!

The bunting triangles were trimmed

 And 10 sets of bunting are now ready for the sales table.

 I also had a major tidy in my sewing space.

Honest - this IS tidy!!

 And started this months Mini Mania project

 My unpicker became my new best friend!

 But after two days!! I have got it together

sneaky peak of the reverse

 The reveal is at the end of the month but there is not much more to do.

I hope next months is just as much fun!!!!!

Wildlife Gardening

 We trooped over to Lamport Hall on Saturday to attend a Wildlife Gardening course put on by Lamport Gardening Academy

A short slide show started the morning off ( well, after the coffee) with lots of suggestions of plants that can be grown to attract all sorts of wildlife. Ideas too of how to be rid of some of the nuisance bugs (greenfly/black-fly etc) but still be kind to the garden visitors.

Our Tutor had pre cut and drilled the wooden house structure that just had to be screwed together and then filled with all sorts of buggy goodies.  

                       

 Mid morning we filled our coffee mugs and headed out for a stroll around these beautiful gardens.
The Hall was developed from a Tudor Manor and is now best known for its classical frontage. This was started by John Webb in 1655 and completed in the eighteenth century, to the design of Francis Smith of Warwick.

The walled garden covers over two acres and is planted with great swathes of plants. I had attend another course here in June and could easily compare the change in the garden

The beginning of June

August 1st.

 In June the predominant colurs were blues, purples and whites but this week there were lots of yellows, fiery oranges, pinks and reds.

We all decided that someone should build a viewing platform to get the best view of the blocks of colour.

looking back towards the west facing side of the Hall

a small formal spot

the Gnome home

Just off the main courtyard, as you walk toward the walled garden, you pass an old Victorian brick wall.
Behind the wall, this beautiful (even though it is completely dilapidated) greenhouse sits, just waiting for someone to love it. And I did love it!!  What I would give to have this in my garden!

 Turned a corner and found Mrs Gnome sitting on a "tree chair!"

 Anyway - back to the Old Laundry to furnish our newly constructed house.

 Even though we had added a roof to the little building.... some of us got a bit carried away and added more to the rooftop terrace!

 Finished off with more beverages and a slice of cake to celebrate someone's upcoming BIG birthday!

Our little buildings were very proudly and carefully transported home to become the butt of more than one darling husband's jibes!



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Don't forget to check out the August Mini Mania Challenge pattern 

photo from Charise Creates