At our last guild meeting we were truly blessed to meet the ever inspiring Michelle Yeo. Michelle brought with her about three suitcases of her beautiful quilts so it was a day of ohhhhs and ahhhs as each one was so beautifully pieced and quilted. These photos are just a few, as some of the time I was a quilt holder lol.
Michelle's passion is to design and create quilts using antique quilts as her inspiration and she certainly sets the bar high. Many of her quilts involve quite complex piecing. The results are stunning as you can see from these photos.
Michelle also kindly shared with us her family life, juggling her passion with her part time job, her design process along with tips and techniques she uses. We were simply amazed at how many quilts she has made over the years! But every ounce of spare time is focused into these quilts... many of which are hand pieced! Our guild is looking to book a workshop with Michelle in the near future.
I purchased her new book 'Of Needle, Thimble and Thread' which she signed for me and a pattern called Chester County. The book is great value containing 18 of Michelle's patterns.
I've always admired reproduction fabrics but felt a little daunted by them. I thought Chester County, with its foundation piecing (which I love) would make a great first quilt and introduction to the world of reproduction fabrics. We never stop learning and from Michelle's book I have also learned a new method of foundation piecing using freezer paper.
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| Border fabric |
This was my resulting purchase.... mmmm yep, I went a little overboard but this will set up a little collection for me. I will no doubt have enough to make Chester County but also play with a new design I'm working on for Crystalbrook Cottage. Many of these fabrics are from Karen Styles' new range called 'Victoria Park'. As many of you know, Karen Styles is actually the owner of Somerset Patchwork. Also the pinks in this collection I might use in my Dear Jane quilt that I will start one of these days (you know, in my SPARE time lol) in pink/brown/cream.
In other quilty news, I managed to finish my son's pirate quilt a few weeks ago... the finished top had only been sitting in the cupboard for the last.. oh... 5 years.
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| Pirate quilt |
Every now and then he would ask about it but the truth is, its only recently, actually since our Pauline Rogers quilting workshop, that I have been happy enough with my quilting to quilt it myself. I FMQ it with rolling waves which turned out more like flames - either way it looks great!
I'm proud to say its done now, off the UFO list and onto his bed. He loves it and uses it all the time which warms my heart. He's 16 now, much older than when we first put it together... he even sewed some of the blocks... but he still loves it.
Also, Vintage Happy has been put together into a quilt top now.
I've purchased the backing, wadding and binding and am looking forward to seeing it complete. These fabrics, called 'Vintage Happy' by Lori Holt (Riley Blake Designs) were purchased in a fat quarter bundle and I added a few extra fat quarters to get the size I wanted. The pattern design is by Cluck Cluck Sew and I absolutely love it. Its busy, but it really does make me happy! I have some bits and pieces leftover (love those bonus scraps!) so I have a few ideas in the works ;)
Well thats all from me for now, next post I will show you my Harry Potter quilt that I am slowly working on and a little quilt show that was held at our local botanical gardens last month.
Until next time,
Yours in Stitches
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