More from Nec Birmingham

Hi everyone,

I just got back from a short holiday in Portugal.  Again we travelled by car and went to Lisbon.  It was a beautiful city and we enjoyed it very much.  Then we travelled South to the area known as the Algarve.  We visited the beautiful town of Vilamoura.  My partner remarked how much it looked like Palm Springs in the USA.
This was the first hotel we stayed in, built on 1753 and of course updated, but it was so beautiful.  All of these tiles are hand painted.

This first pictures are replicas of the very famous Chimneys they have in Portugal, l thought these were so cute, now l wish l had bought one

NEC Birmingham

Hearts Desire

My Hearts Desire is coming along.  I sewed while John drove

Now its time to link to Esther Aliu's  WOW before its really too late.
Hope you have enjoyed these pictures, please leave a comment

NEC BIRMINGHAM QUILTS ON SHOW

Hi everyone,  hope you have all had an excellent week.  I have been working on Hearts Desire by Esther Aliu

I have been working on HD ..Hearts Desire by Esther Aliu, had a disaster with the leaves, so took them all off and started again.  Definately correct  now, the are rather different as they are two different fabrics on one leaf, a learning curve for me, even though l have been sewing for years.

This is what the finished quilt will look like.

I thought l would treat you to a few of the quilts and other items that caught my eye when l was in  the UK.

Here are some pictures, there were some 1,400 quilts, so some this week and more next week

Think you will agree, there was a very diverse range, from objects, clothes, to quilts.

There were some beautiful minitures and will look for them for you.

Till then, l link to Esther's WOW

NEC Birmingham Photos, Project,

Hi everyone.....long wait, sorry.

We got back from NEC Birmingham, very happy, such a long journey, but we made it safely despite our Navigation System on the car being fried with incredible temperatures as we drove through Madrid.   It reached 44C , and poor old Flossy (name for the SatNav) just gave up the ghost.  We eventually got her working on and off, the main thing was finding the hotels we had booked in France which was particularly difficult.   Flossy forgot to tell us 3 times we had reached our destination, it was so frustrating.  We have purchased a new one.

Capricho won a Highly Commended at the Show. So my Quilting friend Patti and l were over the moon.  This award equates to HM in the USA.

Picture for you.

There were some fabulous quilts there over 1,400 on show.

Farm Business
Yesterday and today, and probably tomorrow we will be finishing off picking our crop of mangoes.  This year is our biggest crop, over 240 boxes and our farm is not so large.

  We had a few fallers so decided to make Mango Wine, supposedly a dry white, very pleasant brew.  We have 42 Litres bubbling away.

This was the start of it, we have to wait for some time for the results, 6 months to 1 year.  Hope all the hard work was worth it.
I got fed up making pickles, so this was the next best thing.

Hearts Desire by Esther Aliu.

I prepped a lot of pieces for this and one other block, to take with me on the car journey from Spain to England.

I did manage to sew all the leaves down and stems, but the flowers and vase remain to be done.

2nd block progress

The material on the right is my the contrast for scallops and triangles still to come.


Ribbon Tutorial

I will return to this, so l ask your patience in the meantime.  Time has just not permitted.  Thank you

N

NEW Quilt Project and Ribbons

Sorry for the long wait since my last post, l have been incredibly busy, getting ready for our journey from Spain to the UK in a few days time. You can travel with me as we head from Southern Spain (Andalucia) to Birmingham UK.   It will take 3 days, we have made this journey before, so the route is well tested.  Why don't you join me as l head through the centre of Spain, through Madrid for our first hotel stop in Biarritz on the borders between  Spain and France.  Next stop Rouen  France.  Next morning we head for Calais and the boat to take us across the English Channel.  I am taking two quilts with me to show at the NEC Birmingham UK Show, more later.

NEW Project

I know, not another, but how can you forgo the pleasure of making a beautiful heirloom quilt.  When l saw this quilt around 1 year ago, l knew l had to make it.  Its one of Esther Aliu's designs called Hearts Desire.  I am busy prepping two blocks to take on my journey with me, l am hoping to fit in some sewing while l am being driven some 2000kms or more to England.
Progress so far on the first block l decided to try is called Flowers for Me, 2nd Block is A Song for Me.

Here are my pics, l have had to stop at the flowers as l don't have sufficient stash for them.

Thats my progress so far l hope to have it all stitched down by the time l return.



BACK TO OUR TUTORIAL

This week we are going to fill in the middle of the "N" with long and short stem stitch.

A little enhancement to the N where l put a meandering stitch and placed some leaves and a few daisy style flowers.  I attached my fuschia so it was not just hanging there.

 I added a fine line to sew, just random really

You can see it here better where l have used a stem stitch

No l made some french knots ribbon roses

Now some leaves again randomly placed

Here we have my finished piece

Next time l will show you how l finished the case for my needles

Now I am linking to

TO WOW