Knit and Stitch show.

Last week I had a few hours here and there for sewing or knitting so I tried to make good use of the time. On Monday I made a start on the quilting of the happy quilt. I marked diagonal lines across the quilt at 3 and a half inches and managed to get them all sewn over the week

I would have like to have marked up the lines for the opposite diagonal but I ran out of time however as the new academic year settles down and the students settle into the course there will be more time. I'm hoping to get the quilting finished this month if possible as I have another quilt I want to start.

In an evening, after dinner I have been alternating between knitting the scarf for my grandson and making hexie flowers and adding them to the Grandmothers garden quilt. My grandson is very excited for his rainbow scarf and I've promised to knit him a hat to go with it. He wanted a large pompom on each end of his scarf but my daughter told him they wouldn't fit well inside his coat so the scarf will be finished with tassels. On his hat he wants the biggest pompom I can make. I don't have a really big pompom maker so I'll have to resort to the good old fashioned method of two pieces of cardboard.

On the photo the blue, indigo and violet look very similar but they are quite different when seen in person. I also found this cute dinosaur fabric in orange to use in the hexie quilt. There are so many fun fabrics in the quilt.

On Friday I wasn't working and I had tickets for the Knit and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace or Ally Pally as it is known in London. We travelled by train so no hunting  for a parking place or getting held up in traffic jams. As we walked up the hill from the station I spotted these two trees already for Autumn.

The show is a mixture of stands selling all you could want for your sewing, knitting and other crafting needs and displays of quilts and embroidery, including some graduate shows. I wanted to get some more sashiko threads and some fabric for the border of the Christmas quilt. Obviously I bought more than those items but once home I put everything away and forgot to take a photo. 

I loved this fabric piece by Carmen Mardonez titled Green Mural. It had both me and John thinking of summer meadows with wild flowers scattered throughout.

The next piece is called Thoroughly Odd by Woo Jin Joo 2023. Woo Jin explores imaginary creatures. This piece was made from an old jacket, viscose thread embroidery, wire, rattan and wadding.

Also by Woo Jin this piece is titled 'People Who Deny the Existence of Dragons Are Often Eaten by Dragons. From Within. 2023 Made with an old jacket, viscose embroidery thread, wire, rattan and wadding

This final piece by Woo Jin is titled Dusk Dokkaebi, made in 2022 using a shirt sleeve, viscose thread embroidery and wire.

All of her work was strange but fun. Woo Jin is a Seoul-born mixed-media artist working predominately with textiles and embroidery. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2021 with an MA in Textiles, she has since been exploring the intersection of craft and art in her London studio.

The artist of the next piece is Anne Tuck. The piece was made in 2004 and titled Transition. She was inspired by the movement of grasses in the wind and wanted to capture the transition from blue skies to sunset

This piece is by Pauline Burbridge and titled Honesty Skyline 2015 The quiltscape is inspired by the natural landscape visible from the artists studio in the Scottish borders. It uses circular honesty seed pods and fabric rubbings of red hot poker leaves to create the design.

Shenna Norquay created Twelve Feathers in 2017. She wanted to recreate the stunning amount of colours found in peacock feathers. many different colours of embroidery thread are used together on top of the wooden Indian block printed feather designs.

A close up of some of the feathers

Rowena Reamonn created this piece titled Kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame... 1998. It is inspired by the colours and themes in Claude Monet's painting of his garden in Giverny.

These three pieces were created for the Embroidery Guild members challenge. Colour Rhythms 2025. Unfortunately the photo telling me who made the pieces didn't come out properly and I can't read the names. If anyone knows who stitched them please let me know and I'll add the information to the post.

The following piece were by Margaret Nicholson 1913 - 2006.  Margaret followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, father and brother by becoming an artist. Her chosen medium was embroidery.

The following sketch and embroidered piece was by Audrey Walker. Audrey Walker was an accomplished textile artist, embroiderer and teacher, who was active from the 1970s in the United Kingdom. She became known for developing an innovative style of embroidery based on fine threads applied by machine and by hand, to create striking figurative wall-hung works of art

First the sketch,

and then the embroidered piece.

I'm not sure who this piece was by 

John and I really enjoyed our visit to the show, including our lunch of fish and chips. On the way home we passed this Virginia creeper that had turned a beautiful shade of red.

and I also received a photo from my brother of his boat. It has been out of the water having the hull repainted and new anodes fitted. This happens every 5 years to keep the hull in good condition. My brother lives on this boat and this major maintenance wont need to be done again until 2030.

Yesterday evening I prepared 4 KG of pickling onions ready to complete the process today.

At this point I still had half left to do. It took me about an hour in total and there were no onion tears, just sore fingers.

Today I'm planning on working on my embroidered table cloth. I still have two full sides to do but I'll be working on this part today.

I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching link up. Dp pop over and see what everyone has been working on.

Take care 

Lyndsey