Monday 6 December 2010

200th Post Giveaway

Yippee, here we go, my 200th blog post!

Thank you to all the wonderful fellow bloggers I have met (some in "real life") since beginning my blog; you encourage, inspire and support me and I value your friendship.

This is the first quilt I ever made (with the exception of a planned hexagon quilt that became a cushion cover when I was about 12 years old). 
There is so much wrong with this wallhanging, called "Cornish Seas", that I'm not even going to start but it was the beginning of my passion for patchwork and quilting.  One day I will make a new, improved version of "Cornish Seas" but I'm not ashamed to have the original, made in September 2006, hanging on the wall of my bach in Norfolk.  It was inspired by the sea, of course, and also by a stained glass window in a church in Penzance, Cornwall and some glass sculptures I saw in a gallery in Mousehole, also in Cornwall. 
Since then I have designed and made quilts, followed patterns to make quilts, collected enough fabric to last me for the rest of my life and beyond, enjoyed quilt exhibitions and workshops, met some wonderful people by virtue of our mutual interest in patchwork and quilting, introduced others to our obsession, been involved in swaps and online quilting groups....so many lovely things.  So to all my partners in crime I say a massive "thank you".

This brings me to today's question, the final one for my giveaway.  Thank you very much for taking the time to post comments in answer to these questions, it's been fun for me to learn a bit about you, I hope it's been fun for you too.

Here are the rules:
  • All my lovely followers get an entry in the giveaway.
  • Everyone who answers today's question gets an entry.
  • I will ask my lovely grandson, Sam,  to pick a winner from all the entries on Friday 10th December 2010 at 3.00 p.m. GMT.
So that's a possible six entries in the giveaway.
Good luck.

Oh, nearly forgot!  Today's question:

How did you get started in patchwork and quilting?
(If you are not a quilter please tell me why not!)

And what will the lucky winner get?

I shall make up a goody bag for you and it will include the fabric postcard I promised you in September,
One of the packs of 25 pieces of recycled Liberty lawn fabric from Kim Porter at Worn and Washed Fabrics that I bought at Chilford last month,
Also from Chilford, a kanzashi kit from Euro Japan Links,
To add to your stash I'll include a "Birdie" charm pack from Me and My Sister for Moda which will just right for starting on a springtime project after Christmas,
and a FQ from The African Fabric Shop,
There will also be a few extra bits and pieces included in the goody bag, and judging on the answers to question two there had better be some chocolate too!  I hope there is something there to tempt you all, it's just a way of saying thank you.

11 comments:

  1. This has been such fun - thank you
    Apart from the obligatory hexagons in my teens I didn't start until just before my mum's 80th birthday when I decided she would like a lap quilt (and she did!)
    Gill

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm... When I was younger my Uncle died so my Aunty came to live with us and taught me to embroider(I was about 8) My Mum sewed a lot of our clothes and I loved to play with the scraps! When my children came along, I would sew for them and one day I saw a friend who had just finished her first wall hanging and something went !!!!!! inside... then I spotted a quilting magazine at a local book shop... and well the rest is history! Needless to say I don't sew much anymore(clothes that is) and I so avoid mending! Thanks for the fun questions, and lot's of inspiring posts, I look forward to the next 200!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on your 200th post!
    It was actually a snow storm which led me into quilting :-)
    I was downtown shopping on a snowy Saturday when the wind suddenly got so strong that I had to seek shelter at a hotel. Thinking that I might go in to get some coffe, I came across the local guild's quilt exhibition and was really blown away by all the wonderful quilts. I made new friends, signed up for a class, did a bit of shopping, and a new chapter of my life had started :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah 200! Congrats!

    It was my grandmother's quilt that I had on my bed as a teenager that inspired me to try quilting. I showcased it on the last Blogger's quilt show with my first quilt!

    ReplyDelete
  5. When I was away at university, I started rock climbing. This caused me to re-connect with some long-time family friends who were also climbers. I was amazed with Anna's ability to sew amazing parkas for her hubby and kids. She offered to teach me how. Her home was 1.5 hours from school and my parent were 1 hour. Both would feed me and let me do laundry. I started going to Anna's more and more. She's an AMAZING seamstress. Ski Jacket completed, I continued to show up for quilting lessons. The rest (25 years of it) is history. I also met my husband (of 20 years) at her house on one of those trips as well. Good things happen at Anna's.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My Darling Mother-inLaw who is no longer with us gave me Margaret Rolfes Patchwork for Children for Christmas 1990 when I was Pregnant with her first grandchild. I made the Zoo Quilt. Learnt many techniques making that quilt. Collected many fabrics too and a lot of colour. It is still being used. That is the quilt I put all the hands of the family on the back ( each persons hands fabric was their personality) as sadly by the time the quilt was finished this wonderful lady was no longer with us. Her hands are on the quilt though and she was around for a lot of the journey of the quilt too.
    Cheers
    Lynne

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tempted oh my goodness I am drooling!! Liberty, Moda, Japanese and African..... delightful. Unfortunately I do not quilt although I may have to try a wonky one maybe one day. I have one eye that is long sighted and the other is short sighted so as I age it is getting impossible for me to judge whether or not things are straight or in alignment.....quilting and hanging pictures really do require this skill I'm afraid. That does not stop me from enjoying all the beautiful creativity out there and loving the wonderful fabrics that are available to us these days.....such a selection! Happy 200th posts and many more to follow :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well done Lis,200 and I think I've read every one. Heres to the next 200. I 'm very pleased to say it's all Mitch's fault that I quilt. We were on holiday in Cornwall driving along when he said,"There's a patchwork show in that church do you want to go in?" I had never seen the sign. We went in and I was completely blown away by what I saw. When I came out I just knew I had to make quilts. So as you know I did.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Liz, Congratulations, thats an amazing number of Blogs, good for you!!! I'm still trying to find out how it works.

    My introduction to quilting was watching my golf partner, who would after each game pull out a tin full of hexagons and start stitching while we all had the usually drink and verbally replayed the game stoke by stoke! (Golfers will know what I mean by that and this stitching activity was thought to be rather odd!) Being a sewer I was fascinated at what she was doing and asked if she would show me how to do it .So that was the beginnings of a 20 year obsession. While we no longer play much golf but we both know that any time just sitting talking can also be a great time to stitch.

    Warm wishes
    Yvonne- the ragpicker

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Lis, this has been fun. I hope you've enjoyed all the comments. Well done on reaching 200 and here's to the next 200!!
    As for how I started well...
    I've always done some kind of crafting but when I was at school I had a holiday/weekend job at a guest house where they had a pair of 'cathedral window' cushions and although they were quite plain and unremarkable I was intrigued as to how they were made and went on to make one of my own a few years later. I did no more patchwork then until a few years ago when a friend invited me to join her monthly quilting group - and the rest is history. I'm hooked!!
    Teresa x

    ReplyDelete
  11. About 10 yrs ago, I saw a Kimono quilt wall hanging in a small fabric store in my (then) neighborhood. Since I am of Japanese heritage, anything related to Japan, I am intrigued with. I bought the pattern and made the quilt. it was my 1st attempt at quilting. I am now working on one of my 1st graders (I have a set of 6 yr old twins) A-B-C (classroom)quilt. each child has made 2 blocks with a letter and pictures corresponding to the letter and it's my job to put it all together. My daughter's teacher, usually has her mother do it, but since she knows I love to sew and make things, asked me if I wanted to do it. well, of course I said YES....(what was I thinking???) and it's currently under construction, along with many other Christmas ideas....eee gads, I'm glad the teacher said she didn't care when it got finished!
    Love your blog(s) and thank you for it!
    (your new follower) Dee

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your lovely comments, ideas and opinions, they make my day. Thank you for visiting Piece'n'Peace,
hugs, Lis x