I'm in the middle of a lot of things at present, which means small projects are all I can manage at the moment. I like to be busy, and have gradually got into the habit of having lots of things on the go at the same time. 
Last weekend I taught my Reversible Sun Hat workshop at one of my favourite places, Midsomer Quilting. For the past few weeks I have been preparing for this new workshop, getting the patterns right, making samples and ensuring everything would go smoothly on the day. As the hats are small this worked well in my 'small projects' category. Teaching a new workshop for the first time is a mixture of excitement and nerves but I am delighted that all the hats all turned out fabulously and everyone had a thoroughly good day. By the end of the afternoon there were 4 completely finished hats and 6 that were almost done.  As you can see below, there were lots of hats in lots of different sizes - some finished, and some still floppy and under construction. They all looked fantastic!
​You can see more about the hat's workshop by clicking here. 

This Saturday I am going to be teaching again, but this time at another of my favourite places, Pauline's Patchwork.  I'm going to be teaching how to make a small art quilt that takes its inspiration from the traditional favourite 'Grandmother's Garden'.  The two quilts below are my interpretations using tesselated hexagon shapes to create the garden. This week I have been busy preparing the samples, stamps, fabric paints etc. to make sure everyone has a great day. You can see more about this workshop by clicking here.

Another small project I have started to think about is the annual 12 x 12 challenge hosted by Midsomer Quilting. Each year in November/ December they challenge anyone who has a link with the shop to create a small 12 inch square quilt on a given theme. Here is a link that will take you to the 12 x 12 challenge web page where you can link to all the previous challenges:
www.midsomerq.com/12x12ex.html
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Over 700 - yes you read it correctly, seven hundred quilts that have been entered into the various challenges. Many of these have been donated and sold to raise funds for Dorothy House and CLIC Sargent, two very worthwhile local charities. This year the theme is 'Where in the World?'  I think this is a great choice as it is easy to think of all sorts of places or things associated with places that would be a great fit. 

This week my mum and I started our quilts - another 'little' project.  Here is a sneaky peep at part of my mum's quilt. She has chosen to do some needle felting as well as some quilting. I really enjoyed watching how she made it.  

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​Mine started life as a doodle, which I  turned into an idea for a little quilt along the lines of one of my Doodle Birds. Here is a glimpse.....

So - although you have only had a teaser so far, can you tell where in the world our quilts are from???

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I've been up to these last few weeks - I'll post the completes 12 x 12 quilts once they are finished.

​Thanks for reading.

I recently spent another fabulous day with the members of Walton Textiles, this time making beautiful rose gardens. We had a lot of laughs and everyone was tremendously productive, in fact by the end of the day everyone had pretty much finished their curved-pieced quilt top and covered it with sprays of flowers.  

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The nice thing about this workshop is that the pieced quilt top builds quickly. Once you get the hang of the technique of cutting and piecing the gentle curves (not difficult, just different!)  you are off. In just an hour or so everyone had their quilt top done. 

By lunch time everyone had a fabulous quilt top to work on.
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After lunch we began adding the flowers. There are so many different options..... We discussed size, shape, colour and layout before everyone got back to work.
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Amanda began quilting her fabulous quilt top towards the end of the afternoon.

I hope you agree, they are all fantastic. I know that at least one is destined to become a cushion, one a wall hanging, one a table runner and another is going to have a twisted log cabin border added. Ladies, I am looking forward to seeing them once they are finished!

To find out more about the 'Garden of Roses' workshop and download the accompanying brochure, please clickhere. 

Thanks for reading.

Wherever you live in the world, I don't think it is possible to have missed the fact that there is a new force at the top in the USA. Whether you like President Donald Trump or not, he is the elected leader of what I think is somewhat laughably called the 'Free West'. Personally, I do not like how he behaves, how he treats others or what he stands for, but that is my personal opinion and I do not push it upon anyone else.
Just after the U.S. election results were announced a huge wave of anxiety washed over a large proportion of the American population and many others in rest of the world. I am one of those people; not an American citizen, but an outsider who is seriously troubled by the things President Trump is saying and doing on behalf of the American people and the impact that will have on everyone in the world, not just those within the borders of the USA.

Back in February, just after the U.S. elections, a group of quilt artists called The Artist's Circle created a call for entry to an exhibition to protest their concerns about the words and actions of their new President. You can read more about them here.

As I learned more about the new President's proposed January order to indefinitely ban Syrian refugees and temporarily ban all other refugees and travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries I decided to enter my quilt 'We Walk Together...' into the exhibition (it is the same quilt I entered into Quilt en Beaujolais last year which won a 1st prize ribbon). I find it impossible to understand how anyone could react this way. I have listened and tried to understand the arguments put forward in support of such a ban and can only conclude that it is inhumane and diametrically opposed to the way humans ought to treat each other. 

By the end of May, (when President Trump's travel ban still had not been put fully into action due to legal challenges) I was informed that my quilt had been selected to for the exhibition. It was a day of mixed emotions. I was pleased that the quilt would be part of the exhibition and yet filled with sadness and a feeling of helplessness that this quilt should even exist. A superb catalogue of all the quilts selected to travel is available for purchase via Amazon, designed by Judy Coates Perez and Indigo Perez.  Click here or on the cover below if you are interested in finding out more or purchasing a copy.

Back in June an article in Hand/Eye magazine ran which gives some more background to the exhibition. You can read more about it here.

You can also view all of the selected quilts by visiting the Threads of Resistance blog below:

                                           http://threadsofresistance.blogspot.co.uk/

Each quilt is accompanied by the artist statement and a voice message which explains a little more about the quilt. It is a fabulous way to see and understand the raw emotions felt my each artist. Be aware, however, that it is possible you may disagree with messages on the quilts or be shocked by the images and language portrayed. Part of the stated aim of this exhibition is to "shock us out of our comfort zone and into action....these quilts (are also giving) voice emotions and ideas that for too long have been deemed unacceptable if spoken by women. Here, as women and men united, we speak together.....(because of our love for our country) silence is no longer an option.
If any of it offends you then you have the absolute right to pass comment in a civilized way and look away. 

My reason for this perhaps unusual comment above is that an unintended consequence of this and other protest exhibitions has arisen. The issue has been widely discussed in quilting circles on social media, but if you are not aware of all this then here is a quick summary. 

A group of quilters in the USA who have been described as 'Socially Conservative' chose to form a secret social media group so they could air their feelings privately, possibly in ways that would probably alienate some of their other acquaintances if their unguarded sentiments were made public. I wish to stress there is nothing wrong with people expressing their opinions, and people are entitled to their personal views and preferences. Indeed, I have learned there are many such groups in existence from all political sides. Unfortunately this group of quilters, among other things, also chose to take physical action against other quilters just because they disagreed with their viewpoint. This is where I feel they crossed the line. Members  of the secret group talked themselves into a downward spiral, and did some pretty despicable things. They sent complaints to an exhibition which had put out a call for quilts protesting against the Trump presidency (this one); they contacted the sponsors of a well known 'liberal' quilter to suggest that she should be dropped because of her opposition to Trump; they sent homophobic messages to gay artists; they contacted quilting trade shows, asking organisers to cancel classes run by quilters they thought were 'too liberal'; they also suggested to each other the idea of boycotting certain quilters, and reporting them to the American tax authorities so that they would be tied up in tax investigations. I even got an email telling me to keep my nose out of things that as a foreigner don't concern me 'or else'! (I did wonder with a smile what the 'or else' might be for the nanosecond before I hit the 'bin/trash' button) All their targets were chosen because of their support for things they considered to be liberal causes and those who publicly supported the 'Threads of Resistance' call were fair game. 

So, if you disagree, that is fine by me, but lets not allow things to get personal. Let's listen to both sides of the argument and maintain a civilized debate.

​​​The exhibition received over 500 entries, which is an extraordinary number for such an art call. Obviously not all could be accepted to travel to the multiple venues (click here for details) but every entry can be seen on the Threads of Resistance website by clicking here. I've looked at them all and they form an incredible body of work.

​There are also a number of other exhibits protesting President Trump's administration's actions and policies. Here are links to those I know about.

http://www.unitedwequilt.com/

http://www.fl3tch3rexhibit.com/

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/58e0a729e4b03c2b30f6a745

The Threads of Resistance exhibition opens next week in New England - I am really looking forward  to hearing the reaction and the reviews once it opens. My thanks go to all those who were bold enough to bring this exhibition to reality. 
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​Thanks for reading
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