Giveaway - Triple Treat!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

 You could win one of these!

Well It's just over 3 months since I started blogging regularly and it's time to celebrate with a little giveaway draw for my quilting friends near and far! I'm offering of one of these 3 little gift bags which will be filled with a trio of quilting goodies for three lucky winners. I'm not telling you exactly what the contents will be - that would spoil the surprise!

 I'm 'borrowing' Kim's method from Bitty Bits and Pieces for recording entries.

You can earn an entry in the draw by leaving a comment on this post but you can increase your chances of winning by collecting points and sending me an email. Here's how you earn points:

3 points for adding  a post on your blog with a link to this giveaway

3 points for having Cotton Cocktails on your blog list on your sidebar

3 points for being or becoming a follower

plus one bonus point for commenting on this post.

Now tot up your points ( I'll be checking!) then copy and paste the following into an email and complete the details. Send it to me: quilthaze (at) googlemail (dot) com

   Name

   Email Address

   Blog Address (if you have one)

   Points earned for blogpost, blog list, follower, comment (delete as appropriate)

   Total points

I'll be drawing the lucky winners in one week's time on Sunday 1st November. Good luck everyone!

Friendship Bag

My lovely friendship swap bag has arrived!  Poor thing - she got delayed  in the post so took a long time to get here but arrived safe and well. Isn't she adorable? I just love the colours that Julie chose and the strawberry pincushion is so sweet even Mr Photographer was impressed! The card is hand made too.  Thank you Julie for such a thoughtful gift. I'll use the bag to keep my hand sewing project safe next to the sofa - perfect!

PS You can see more of Julie's work at her blog - Homespun Fiber.

Mr Photographer's Albums

I've mentioned Mr Photographer a few times and he has been busy recently uploading photos to an online album for others to see. He has some lovely views of the Lake District and North Yorkshire which I would love to interpret in quilts. You can view his albums by clicking here then click on each photo to see a slideshow - please leave a comment on his site if you like them. I think he's very clever but then I would say that wouldn't I?!!

I Passed!!

 'Crop Circle'

I finally took my work for my Diploma in Patchwork and Quilting to college today to be 'signed off' so I have officially completed - hooray! The photo above is of my quilt which was one of 3 pieces I had to design and make from scratch. It measures 60 inches square and was made with my hand dyed fabric (the background) and batiks. Here's a closer view:

 The other two pieces were this foundation piced miniature made with silk fabrics measuring 12" by 12":

 ....and this bag which features a photo of a flower which I manipulated in Photoshop and printed onto cotton fabric:

There was a lot of other work involved too, such as research into the history of patchwork and quilting, work on mathematical patterns and reseaching the work of comtemporary quilters as well as presentation books on how the above three pieces were designed and made - phew! Many thanks go to my tutors Diane, Ann and Sue for their expertise, guidance and patience.

I'm really pleased to have finished all the work and now am looking forward to catching up on all my other WIPs!

New TV Show in the UK:Talking Threads

Hurrah! A new stitching and fabric crafts TV series is starting here in the UK. It sounds really inspiring with demonstrations  by UK  artists. It's also available to view online. Here are the details that were sent to me:

Talking Threads Episode 1 - Jill Kennedy - Wednesday 14th October on Sky 171.

Tune in to watch Talking Threads on:

Sky 171 (My Channel)

Wednesday 14th Oct 19:00 GMT

Repeated	Thursday 15th Oct 05:30 and 12:00
	Sunday 18th Oct 12:00

Talking Threads is within the Country Channel slot on Sky 171.

Also available to view online, anytime at Country Channel.tv from 14th October.

Nearly all the featured artists in this series are embroiderers but still it's a start - there is nothing else like it in British TV as far as I know. Let's hope it is successful and then perhaps we can see more UK quilters on our TVs. Here are the artists featured in this series:

• Angie Hughes – www.angiehughes.com
• Linda Miller – www.lindamillerembroideries.co.uk
• Gilda Baron – www.gildabaron.com
• Anne Griffiths – www.pocketmouse.co.uk
• Jill Kennedy – www.jillkennedy.com
• Fay Maxwell – www.fayandkay.co.uk
• Myfanwy Hart – www.myfanwyhart.co.uk
• Di Wells – www.diwells.co.uk
• Kim Thittichai – www.kimthittichai.com

Let's support this venture and encourage the producers to do more in the future!

Kim's Dresden Plate Giveaway

Kim is offering a new giveaway on her blog Bitty Bits and Pieces - this gorgeous Dresden Plate charger. She has just had the pattern for this, a napkin and table runner published on Moda Bake Shop - clever girl! Visit her blog to see all her lovely projects.

P.S. I am planning a giveaway of my own in a couple of weeks time so come back here soon too!

Creativity in the Dales

I've had a wonderful day with friends up in the Yorkshire Dales. We met up at Charmian's beautiful cottage tucked away in the dales. She is very fortunate to have a studio (pictured above) in the converted barn and invited us for the day. We have formed a new textile group to carry on the creative work we did at college last year and now intend to meet regularly. Here's the inside of the studio which is amazing.

 The studio is a treasure trove of fabrics, fibres, beads, paints etc and has plenty of space for us to work together. It was great to meet up again and chat and share our projects. The work on the walls is mostly created by Charmian's very talented daughter Kirsty. Charmian gave us the very exciting news that Kirsty has been successful in applying for a place in a studio in Pately Bridge where she can exhibit and sell her lovely felt and mixed media pieces - well done Kirsty! We can't wait to go along to the grand opening,




Mr Photographer drove me to Charmian's today then went off to take photos of the local landscape. He enjoyed himself too.

Here's a slideshow of some photos I took around the cottage and at a reservoir Mr Photographer and I visited on the way home - what a wonderful source of inspiration!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bloggers Quilt Festival

OK I know some of you have seen this before but the Bloggers Quilt Festival is running from today and to take part you have to blog about your favourite quilt. For those who haven't seen my previous post this is 'Peter's Stars' made for my special brother. It's a full sized twin quilt made with two blocks in a simple blue white and green colourway. I adapted it from a pattern by Karin Hellaby in her book 'Magic Pillows, Hidden Quilts'. Here's another view and a close up:

I free motion quilted the stipple and curved lines. This was quite early in my quilting journey so I was really pleased with the result and Peter loved it too!

Lastly here's the label I printed and sewed to the back:

 There are hundreds of beautiful quilts to see in the Quilt festival. Why not spend a while visiting the blogs participating:

Park City Girl: Quilt Festival - Fall 2009

My First Quilt

My First Quilt

I've been a bit under the weather this week so haven't been doing much sewing. As I haven't anything new I thought I'd show my first ever quilt - a churn dash with sashing.I did this at 2 one day workshops. At the first we were taught how to cut the pieces and make the blocks and sashing. One month later we had to go back with our quilt top finished to learn how to layer and quilt in straight lines using the walking foot. It was a fantastic way to learn. The blocks are 15" square so we made a large quilt (72" square) quite quickly and the teaching was excellent. The quilt is on our bed at the moment and I still love it! Here's another picture of the block:

I had problems quilting with my old 'Jones' machine. I bought a generic walking foot but it didn't work well. The good thing was I ended up buying my first Bernina and have never looked back! I even heard my husband say to a friend, 'It cost a fortune but it's worth it - she doesn't shout and swear at it like the old one!'

Have you voted?

Have you voted in the nature's Best Quilt Contest? You can vote for one large and one small quilt over at Quilting Gallery. My friend QuiltSue entered a quilt in each category - go to her blog to see them by clicking here 
- not that I'm biased you understand!