Almost off for Easter

Welcome back again - and a special welcome to my first follower - hi there Kath! Why haven't the rest of you become followers?! I thought that it was really about time that I got another post on here, and I thought that tonight was as good a time as any. Seeing that I have a follower convinced me further of that.

Last weekend saw me at Westpoint, Exeter. I went along to the Spring Quilt festival there, and had a great time! I hadn't planned on going along to start with, but Jennifer Trollope told me that I was going, when I attended her class at Step by Step a couple of weeks ago - and I know that I should do what the teacher tells me!! I thought that I was fairly restrained, but I could not resist the bargains: a 10m bolt of cotton for £10 - thank you Doughty's. It was lovely to see the Step by Step stand as soon as I walked through the door, and great to see Jennifer as well - I get such a lovely welcome from her each time I see her. I'm not sure that I have enough adjectives of the same value to express the pleasure of seeing the Angels of Antique Angel there.

So - what was the best bit of the show? That is a difficult one to answer. There were so many lovely quilts; as usual the brightly coloured ones caught my eye. I especially enjoyed the Engineering Quilts, and the journal quilts. There were some very clever pieces, that I particularly admired; it was lovely to see so many pieces by an individual quilter. Some people at the show thought that it was a shame that the focus appears to have moved away from patchwork, and becoming more about embroidery; I think it is refreshing to see quilters moving with the times, and creating their own pieces, rather than simply reproducing the work of someone else. There was a lovely old quilt on display as well, one which still had the paper templates in it.

So, what shall I show you this time? I thought that I should show you the box I made for my step-sister's wedding:

I was really pleased with the way this turned out; I really enjoyed making it, and I was able to use a lot of fabrics that I already had. I did indulge in the lace and ribbons to go on the box, but I didn't use all of the things I bought. Another view shows some of the embellishment: I couched knitting yarns and some gimps (thank you Jennifer for the info about Texere yarns - and they probably thank you too, as I did indulge rather a lot), and I also added some table confetti that I had collected from other weddings, and from cards and presents from our wedding! I was delighted with the 'free motion' embroidery that I did on the panels to start with. It was good to get the metallic thread working well, and not breaking - I used the Marathon embroidery metallic threads for the quilting. I can't remember how much free embroidery I did, if any - it could be that I just turned the fabric to get the patterns. I used invisible thread to couch the gimps, yarns, and feathers. I was a little reluctant to give away the box, but I did make it with Charlotte and Shaun in mind, so I couldn't really object - and I can always make myself another one.

The idea came from the smaller box I had made at a class last year. I decided to make the wedding box bigger - to make it A4 size - to accommodate the different gifts that you get for a wedding. I will be making other boxes of a similar style; probably more wedding boxes, and maybe even some for friends and family occasions - e.g. new baby, birthday present, special birthday present.

Charlotte and Shaun's wedding was great! It was a shame that Keith couldn't join us - I did feel a bit tearful that I was there by myself for yet another family get-together - as it was another Banks family get-together. However; Keith wasn't very well, and he wouldn't have enjoyed himself, and it would not have been fun for him or for anyone else. It was lovely to see the family again, lovely to spend time with mum, Caro and Stu, and great to see Dad, Liz, Charlotte, Shaun, Maisie, Mike and Kate - and Judy too. I was especially enchanted and delighted when Maisie came toddling over to me on Sunday at the Sun Inn Hulverstone, and saying - well - I'm sure I heard her say Auntie Christine. That was a surprise to everyone - and something really special for me. It was great to be able to give Dad the framed cross stitch I'd done for him. So - to finish with - a picture of my neice.... - the day after her mum and dad got married, and her meeting a dog that was really quite a bit bigger than her - and the smile on her face is great! I'd have liked it if I would have got better clarity photos - but children and dogs rarely stay still for anyone!