Monday, April 13, 2009
Spring is here - at last!
I was astonished to see that I hadn't updated this blog since the end of last year. The awful weather we have had this winter has been quite useful as far as staying indoors and quilting is concerned and I have achieved quite a lot. However, now the spring weather has arrived, it is lovely to be able to get out and about and see all the flowers in the garden and quite difficult to be disciplined about doing some work.
My main piece of work this year, 'Lux Aurumque', will be on show at Malvern next month. It is the only quilt show in this country it will appear in this year, thanks to the changes in the rules for the Festival of Quilts, which will now hold back any winning quilts to tour the other Twisted Thread shows until the end of the year. This means that if, like me, you enter a quilt into Houston and it is juried in, you would now be prevented from sending the quilt to that show and thus (according to the IQA rules) be banned from entering their competitions for another two years. Although there is now little chance of my smaller quilts from winning prizes at FOQ as the large and small categories have been combined, I still have to make sure that I am not put in a compromised position. So, I apologise, in advance, that you will not see 'Lux' at the NEC this year.
However, some very exciting news allows me to say that I hope that the quilt will be featured in a book of projects which I have been asked to write by Country Bumpkin Publications (the same publishers of Inspirations magazine), so in time, you will be able to see it at close quarters without having to travel to a show. For those of you who loved 'Flora Grande' at the FOQ last year, I am also pleased to announce that the pattern and instructions is due to appear in another book on embroidered quilts by Country Bumpkin in Australia and I will keep you informed of publication dates etc when known.
Like buses, offers come along in a rush and just three weeks ago, I was asked to prepare a presentation for some London publishers for a book entitled '200 Questions and Answers on Hand Quilting'. This will be presented to their clients at the London Book Fair next week and if successful, will keep me out of the garden all summer.
I am very much looking forward to my visits to the Sanditon, Vectis and Aldwick Quilt Groups next month as well as a return to a stay in the Chichester Harbour area which Bob and I love.
The on-line Block of the Month course I am providing for the Tradtional Group of the British Isles, comes to a close next month and I will be sad to lose the monthly contact I have had with members but, as you can see, I will be busy with other things. However, I am really looking forward to meeting up and putting faces to the names I have grown to know well over the past nine months, when they bring their finished quilts to the FOQ for me to see.
Recently, I was very excited to be told that 'Tomorrow shall be my Dancing Day', originally proposed by the Traditional Group, won the QGBI members' vote to represent the UK in the 'Excellence in Europe' exhibition at the FOQ this year.
I continue to be contacted by quilters and sewers from all over the world who read the magazines I have written articles and projects for, which delights me enormously, as well as the daily banter I have with my quilting friends on our Traditional Group on-line forum. Long may it last!
Happy quilting,
Jacquie
My main piece of work this year, 'Lux Aurumque', will be on show at Malvern next month. It is the only quilt show in this country it will appear in this year, thanks to the changes in the rules for the Festival of Quilts, which will now hold back any winning quilts to tour the other Twisted Thread shows until the end of the year. This means that if, like me, you enter a quilt into Houston and it is juried in, you would now be prevented from sending the quilt to that show and thus (according to the IQA rules) be banned from entering their competitions for another two years. Although there is now little chance of my smaller quilts from winning prizes at FOQ as the large and small categories have been combined, I still have to make sure that I am not put in a compromised position. So, I apologise, in advance, that you will not see 'Lux' at the NEC this year.
However, some very exciting news allows me to say that I hope that the quilt will be featured in a book of projects which I have been asked to write by Country Bumpkin Publications (the same publishers of Inspirations magazine), so in time, you will be able to see it at close quarters without having to travel to a show. For those of you who loved 'Flora Grande' at the FOQ last year, I am also pleased to announce that the pattern and instructions is due to appear in another book on embroidered quilts by Country Bumpkin in Australia and I will keep you informed of publication dates etc when known.
Like buses, offers come along in a rush and just three weeks ago, I was asked to prepare a presentation for some London publishers for a book entitled '200 Questions and Answers on Hand Quilting'. This will be presented to their clients at the London Book Fair next week and if successful, will keep me out of the garden all summer.
I am very much looking forward to my visits to the Sanditon, Vectis and Aldwick Quilt Groups next month as well as a return to a stay in the Chichester Harbour area which Bob and I love.
The on-line Block of the Month course I am providing for the Tradtional Group of the British Isles, comes to a close next month and I will be sad to lose the monthly contact I have had with members but, as you can see, I will be busy with other things. However, I am really looking forward to meeting up and putting faces to the names I have grown to know well over the past nine months, when they bring their finished quilts to the FOQ for me to see.
Recently, I was very excited to be told that 'Tomorrow shall be my Dancing Day', originally proposed by the Traditional Group, won the QGBI members' vote to represent the UK in the 'Excellence in Europe' exhibition at the FOQ this year.
I continue to be contacted by quilters and sewers from all over the world who read the magazines I have written articles and projects for, which delights me enormously, as well as the daily banter I have with my quilting friends on our Traditional Group on-line forum. Long may it last!
Happy quilting,
Jacquie
# posted by Jacquie Harvey @ 11:35 PM 
