Gathering Nuts in .... Edinburgh

Well we got there, we are not sure how, but we got there. And oh wow, wasn't it well worth all the effort. The first (and lets hope it it becomes an annual event) Stitch Gathering took place in the beautiful Morningside area of Edinburgh on Sunday, thanks to the very clever and organised Jo of Avery Homestore.

Unfortunately I was having what I like to call a "technical hitch" so was not firing on all cylinders so despite carrying my camera with me and snapping away, I discovered yesterday that I had forgotten to put the SD card in before hand so I have no photos of the event to show you.  But if you pop over to the SG website you will see the pictures taken by the lovely Jonathan Avery, or alternatively Sheila from Bluepatch quilting has today written a lovely post too which is here. I can however show you the contents of the stonking Goody bag we were all given. I have listed as many contributors that I could see at the bottom of this blog so you can see how generous they have all been.

As you can see it was full to the brim with amazingness, from fat quarters, to a whole box of thread, and from buttons to badges. But the "piece de resistance" was the Frixion Erasable Pen. Oh my goodness. This thing is genius. If you haven't got one you need to head right off right now and order yourself one and your life will never be the same. The idea of being able to erase any markings made on fabric simply by ironing over it seemed too good to be true and a few of us were doubting Thomas' until we actually tried it. It really is like a little bit of magic right in front of your eyes. I fear I am a little too excited by this pen, but you just try it and you will see. 

The lovely Mrs P, who joined me for the day at the Gathering, thinks we should write an episode of "Midsommer Murders" based on this pen, once we found out that the marks come back again once exposed to the extreme cold! how clever is that too. How about some deadly deeds occurring down in that fateful village's local quilt group, with the victim leaving a secret message written in Frixion pen on her favourite piece of stitching. The big reveal could be when she is laid out in front of the autopsy doctor. "It was the Swap Mama who did it!" ha ha ha...

Anyway, I cannot thank Jo and her team enough for a great day, which ran so seamlessly. ( See what I did there?) It was great to put some faces to names from blog and flickr land first of all and then we moved on to the classes. We took the cathedral window pinnie course in the morning with Jo herself, which I loved and will now be itching to have another go at. Then after a sumptuous lunch it was Fiona's Jelly roll class in the afternoon. Truth be told, I have used jelly rolls quite a lot, but thought that Mrs P would enjoy this one so wanted to join her too. Fiona's suggested quilt is lovely and features in the special edition of Creative Patchwork this month. A really lovely quilt. I have gone for a grey and orange theme using some fabric from the Lucy's Crabshack range which I bought in Cannon Beach this summer, plus some others from the stash and am not sure how big it will turn out yet, but will of course report back. What do you think?

I think it will be a good souvenir of our trip and its so nice and fresh on the white background. I have even gone for the trickier piecing of the points, as explained by Fiona, but so far I am in luck with it matching. Thanks Fiona for your inspiration.

Anyway, still a bit to do though as you can see so do pop by to see the final top. In the meantime I have a date with a box of steroids and a week of watching "Homes Under the Hammer". See you soon.

Thank you to all the wonderful sponsors for the Goody Bag contents:   Avery Homestore , Frixion pen, by Pilot, Frister & Rossman thread box from sewingmachines.co.uk, assorted buttons and thread from buttoncompany.co.uk ,Coats Crafts UK,  Rainbow scrap pack from Veryberry Fabrics,  Hexagon Flower Block by webfabrics.net, Liberty Art fabrics, Nairn Oatcakes, Milward needles and pen, Beechwood Quilting, Groves, Robert Kaufman fabrics, Aurifil

Peek-a-boo quilt

Had a great great day on Sunday. It was quilt class day over at Avery Homestore  (also known as Bearpaw classes )which I had been looking forward to all week.  I packed up my pins, strapped down my faithful machine and headed my little old car off to sunny Morningside nice and early in keen anticipation and I am glad to say I wasn't to be disappointed.



Claire deep in concentration on her blocks

The class of the day was the "Peek-a-boo" quilt which makes me chuckle whenever I say it (sorry I know, pathetic isn't it) and is a based on a technique which was shown at a tutorial at last year's Fat Quarterly Retreat in London, rather than some odd fetish for dodgy lingerie.

Jo (there are a lot of us in this piece- just warning you now), our lovely host, has put her own twist on the quilt and so we had a choice to make either the original or her own more grown up petal version. Jo blogged about her quilt last year which you can read all about here, and of course see her great shots of the finished thing. 

 

I went for the original version, which is more for little people as I wanted to use a cracking piece of Japanese fabric which I had picked up in the most amazing shop in France last summer. Three of my new quilting buddies for the day Sasha, Ann and yet another Jo went for the grown up versions and these are a couple of the blocks they made, which as you can see are in stunning colour combos. Really looking forward to seeing how they turn out (apologies for the rubbish quality of the pictures though, but I struggled with the light in our room)

 

I managed just 2 whole blocks and two thirds of another and am itching to get the others finished,  but you know me, too many projects on the go all at once. I will try very hard to come back with the completed quilt really soon - swaps, bee blocks and oh perhaps work allowing.

ps the bottom one is squinty as its not trimmed yet- just in case you think my cutting is really rubbish

Jo does a great job with her classes and you can see more of her stunning work on her blog. And of course don't forget she is organising the exciting Stitch Gathering in August, which is now SOLD OUT!!! Can't wait and hope to see some of you there. 

 

see you soon