Inspiration is often to be found at the Bramble Patch - that Mecca for all things textile in the heart of Northamptonshire.

At the start of the year I signed up to the Contemporary Quilters Journal Quilt Challenge.  This requires one Journal Quilt each month on a chosen theme - in my case I chose the theme 'Memories'.

I started blogging about this in February - and you may recall that I decided to treat these JQs a bit like a sketch book (or follow a 'what if' approach to the project).

So for the second group of 4 mini quilts I used 'memories of Andalusia' to inspire the theme of the quilts.  You may recall that I prepared some background papers which I blogged about here - and I was a bit concerned that I had cheated a bit!  But this was a sketchbook approach - it's fine!

So the next stage was to take the photographs created in July, print them onto 'print ready' cotton fabric and then quilt.

And here we are.

Laid out on fabrics sun printed using 'Setacolor Soleil' paints.

Memories 5 - The Bath House Floor

Memories 6 - Seville Courtyard

Memories 7 - Cordoba Mezquita

Memories 8 - Spanish Tile

Generally I am happy with these little sketches, although the last one, the Spanish Tile, needs a bit more thinking.  The definition of the Tile Print is lost.

We in the midst of a fruit glut.

And fruit gluts call for jam making.

And just any old fruit jam will not do, so I have been on a quest for the ultimate jam recipe - and I might have found it.


I present:-

• Caramel Apple Jam
• Blackberry Jam with Ginger and Mint
• Blackberry Jam with Ginger and Whiskey

http://cqhorizons.weebly.com/cq-horizons-photos.html


In haste, more from FoQ here (the link above if you want to copy and paste).

The absolutely amazing Horizons gallery. These are all quilts by the Contemporary Quilt Group of the quilters guild.  My own very humble piece is in here.  Hung alongside some real pros!  


Feeling slightly humble! 

Ok

It's about time I did a little report on FoQ 2013 - but where to start?  For as always, in August Birmingham becomes the centre of the known universe!

Well, actually the decision is quite simple.  It has to be with Through Our Hands - the wonderful gallery of work curated by Annabel Rainbow and Laura Kemshall.

You can read all about Through Our Hands on their website here so I won't go into too much detail.  However I am sure that Annabel and Laura will not mind me sharing their poem with you (it is not clear who penned this - but I do love it.  If anyone knows do let me know).

Our father Adam sat under the tree and scratched with a stick in the mould;

And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart,

Til the Devil whispered behind the leaves, “It’s pretty. But is it Art?"

I was blown away.

On the Sunday I also had the privalege to meet Eszter Bornemisza, a hungarian textile artist who, most intriguingly, used to be a mathematician.

I cannot tell you how much I loved her work.  She was selling a book - a catalogue of her output to 2010 - I bought a copy!

The labelling on the gallery was not wholly clear so I cannot tell you the names of these pieces (not Annabel's fault!) so please just enjoy the work and research Eszter on line (or see if you can also find a copy of the book - it is simply called Bornemisza 2010).

I can tell you a bit about this- recycled papers stitched using soluble fleece or film.

And of course Annabel was showing a range of her 'Life' quilts.



And she also 'set up her studio' in a corner of the stand - complete with half eaten choccy digestive and a tea bag!   The clutter made me feel better - you should see my creative space (actually I would rather you didn't!)


10 artists were on show, but I must confess that Eszter and Annabel did it for me.  Having said that I will also add these two quilts by Dianne Cevaal (I follow her blog but had not quite appreciated what a respected artist she was - it does not come across in her blog so well).



I would show you more, but I actually did not manage to take so many photos.  I was concentrating so hard on the work.

Of course Laura and Linda also had work showing in the gallery.  I omitted to photo any of it (apologies to them) but they are good at sharing so I suggest you pop over to their own blogs to see some better images.
Laura is here; Linda is here and they are also involved with Six and Friends here.

Well it is the name of her blog!

And if ever there was an appropriate title, then this is it!

But you can also find more of Hilary on her website. 

Well, our Hilary had a stand at FoQ this year, and I dropped by just as she was doing a demonstration.








Hilary was running on Duracell batteries!  I was flagging before she did and all I was doing was holding the camera!

She is at the Bramble Patch later this month, in case you missed her at FoQ.

I have been on a little holiday - no internet so no blogging (which was a shame as there was so much to share!)

We stayed here.



The middle cottage with the open front door.  And it was definately the teeny tiniest cottage I have ever stayed in.  1 up 1 down is almost an exaggeration, but it was just perfect for 2 people and a dog.


And it had a lovely walled garden.



We were in Angie Hughes country - just a couple of miles outside Ledbury in Herefordshire.

We were there to attend a family wedding.  The wedding was lovely but I won't go mad with the photos here.  Instead I will show you the wonderful venue for the reception - Hellens Manor at Much Marcle.



Hellens is a lovely old manor house, with that crumbly lived in feeling (and a bit of a smell of damp!)


And lovely gardens.




One of the bridesmaids and wedding guests has sneaked in here, and the 'free range' dog (who I presume lives there).

I promised I would not go mad with the wedding photos, but I just had to share the wedding car with you.


 We did lots of walks with the dog (ours, not the free range dog at Hellens) and on one of the walks came across this derelict cottage.


And I could also go mad with photos of Tudor Ledbury (worth a visit for the tudor buildings) but instead I will share this with you instead - a modern gem tucked up an alley off the highstreet.  This is Tinsmiths and it houses a lovely gallery and, of course, textile shop with a fab range of St Judes fabrics.