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LBQ (Life Before Quilting)

I was born and brought up in the UK, in Dalton-in-Furness in Cumbria, at the southern tip of the Lake District. http://www.dalton-in-furness.org.uk/ Dalton is an ancient settlement and was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Daltune. During the 12th Century, Furness Abbey was built 1 mile away, and Dalton became the site of the Abbot’s market and fair, and his courtroom and gaol. This resulted in the town becoming the Capital of Furness in Medieval times. Henry VIII destroyed the nearby abbey during the reformation. Dalton-in-Furness was the birthplace of portrait painter George Romney 1734 – 1802. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Romney_(painter)

MY QUILTING JOURNEY

I started to quilt in 1983 when we lived in Dorset, a county in the SW of England, on the English Channel. I was at a local craft show, minding my own business, when I saw the appliqué quilt that a local teacher, Jenny Dove, was exhibiting. I’d never seen anything like it before and was drawn to it, to savour the impact of the colours, the combination of fabrics, the delicacy of the design and the texture of the quilting. Jenny uttered those immortal words ‘Why don’t you come along and have a go’ and I did! I attended a one-day workshop to do a traditional Topeka block and then continued at night school 2 terms and made my first quilt.

APPLIQUE SAMPLER 90” x 108” BIRD’S NEST 16” X 16”

I was a total beginner and so was desperate to learn. I only knew how to do appliqué at this stage and so all the blocks were done by this method. The patchwork block ‘Bird’s Nest’ below was made by appliquéing all the squares and triangles onto a plain background! I knew no different. I certainly had a lot to learn.

QUILTING 2010

I always work on several pieces of work at once, something on the design wall, another under the machine and a third on my lap. I just turn to the one that suits my frame of mind during my ‘play’ (I could hardly call it work!) time.

I always need a hand project on the go to sew on my lap in front of the fire. At the moment this is a Sampler quilt, being taught by my friend Jennifer Ellis at the Gresford craft group to which I belong. Each block is made up of one repeated shape and here are the first blocks, machine pieced and hand appliquéd. I am using only 2 colourful fabrics, one for the background and the other for the appliqué shapes.

GRESFORD SAMPLER 1 (2” squares)