This is what I've been up to this weekend, slaving away over a hot sewing machine,
under the expert guidance of the very clever Kellie of Don't Look Now. OK, so my piece, yet to be finished, of course doesn't look anywhere near as exquisite as Kellie's (see below), but as a start, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with my efforts.
The genuine article. Look at those beautiful swirls! Just perfect! (She's had a lot of practice, let's face it!) And Kellie was an absolutely terrific teacher, with plenty of great tips and advice on setting out on this amazing road. I had a fantastic time, quilting a la Kellie is so much fun! I'm sure all the other ladies in the class would agree, everyone did a lovely job - I felt terribly inadequate!I did have a few hiccups along the way. Grrr ... tension problems.... grrrr. However, there weren't any tears, even after numerous weirdy beardy things ending up on the back of my practice piece.... I won't post a photo of this, it's far too frightening. Funnily enough these seemed to diminish once I'd got the whole thing about remembering to drop the foot to the halfway mark each time I started out.... But these (unrelated to the beardy mishaps) pink eyelashes look kind of cool, don't you think??
The shell shape seemed to work better for me - but I'm determined to conquer the swirl!!! I will not be defeated!!
Oh dear - so wonky! Or should I say 'stylistic'?
So what's next? Finish the sweet little 'practice piece' and turn it into a cushion... and then move onto a slightly bigger project (European sized pillow). How many leaves in this one Kellie? About 50?? No worries!!
And after that? Maybe this...
Or perhaps this...
(Yes, I'm dreaming!!)And other than the luxury of hours of uninterrupted sewing, the other great thing about the weekend was having my dear friend Bec join me. We hadn't seen each other for 4 years so it was wonderful to see her and she drove 8 hours to get here - poor Bec!! We're both looking forward to doing another of Kellie's classes next year - hopefully Kellie hasn't completely burnt herself out by then and is still going. Going by the number of amazing things she churns out, I'm convinced that Kellie sews in her sleep!!!
Thanks Kellie for a great weekend and for sharing your beautiful quilts and amazing skills with us!
And thanks also to Jenny and everyone at Addicted to Fabric for hosting us. Love this shop! (Of course we had to do a tiny bit of stash-building while we were there. Just a tiny bit.)
And now, it's back to this baby... (14 down, 35 to go! Loving it!)
