Author Archives: Maggie Ball

Cowslip Workshops, Launceston, Cornwall, UK (2)

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Last week’s blog introduced you to Cowslip Workshops, a wonderful quilting destination near Launceston in Cornwall, UK. There is a delightful quilting store and a cafe (see last blog). Here I highlight the classroom and the beautiful quilt hanging on the classroom wall. A variety of classes are offered throughout the year including patchwork and quilting, felting, knitting, embroidery, and willow animal sculptures. Usually the maximum number of students is eight to allow enough space for everyone and plenty of individual attention. Jo Colwill, the store owner, teaches many of the patchwork classes and also brings in regional and national teachers. Jo is on the right in the photo in a second, smaller classroom with a student. Here she demos the Bernina sewing machines that she sells.

The beautiful quilt hanging on the back wall of the classroom was made by Jo and she regards it as one of her best works. The applique and hand quilting are exquisite on this gorgeous piece. Here’s a full frontal and a couple of close-ups.

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Cowslips Workshops, Launceston, Cornwall, UK (1)

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During my recent trip to Cornwall, UK, I had an unexpected treat after my UK quilting friend, Lesley Coles, told me about Cowslips Workshops. My sister and I went there, and oh, what a gem of a place! This Patchwork store, classrooms, cafe and exhibit space are located on a picturesque farm a couple of miles outside Launceston. Store owner, Jo Colwill resides at the farm and has turned the place into a regional patchwork destination infusing her love of fabric and sewing as well as running a fantastic cafe serving delicious teas and lunches. Here’s a visual tour of the store and cafe. In next week’s blog I’ll illustrate the classroom and the current exhibit in the converted barn.

The store is small but the space is well used. There is a wide selection of fabric, quilting notions, books and patterns. The attractive quilt samples hang from the irregularly shaped walls and ceilings. There’s also delightful whimsical pottery for sale.

Here’s the popular cafe, where the fare is all locally baked and the produce locally grown as much as possible. They even have their own garden growing fresh vegetables.

The lovely quilt on the wall of the cafe, depicting the local church, St. Stephen’s, was made  by the store owner, Jo Colwell.

 

Solar Eclipse Day!

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Corona II: Solar Eclipse by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Port Townsend, WA was named one of the 100 Best American Quilts of the 20th Century. I had the good fortune to see this amazing quilt in a display at Houston in which those top quilts were featured and again in Paducah. The rich colors and composition are fantastic. It is now center stage at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY,  which is located in the path of totality for the national solar eclipse. At 1:22PM tomorrow, August 21st, Paducah will experience over two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day as the shadow of the moon passes across the sun.

Here in Western Washington, we will have 92% of totality around 10 a.m. I’m planning on observing it from the top of a mountain ridge in the Olympic Mountains and have my viewing glasses ready to go. Wherever you are, I hope that if you are experiencing this natural wonder, you will wear safety glasses to view it and enjoy it. If you aren’t in the appropriate geographical zone, you can at least appreciate Caryl’s spectacular quilt!

Summer colors

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I’ve just returned home after a vacation in Italy and UK. In Italy, where the weather was sunny every day, the colors were so rich and vibrant with heavy saturation. In Tuscany we stopped by this beautiful field of sunflowers to take photos. I love the yellow against the the blue-blue sky and the way the sun shines through the upper petals of the flowers.

I stayed with friends in Northwestern Italy in the Piedmont area. We visited the nearest market town, Aqui Terme, and enjoyed the abundance in the local farmers’ market. The produce was so fresh and delicious. These colorful peppers are very inviting and when looking at the composition of the photo, I like the contrast of the striped coverings over the stalls.

In the UK, the hydrangeas were in full bloom and spectacular in the West Country. This one was at my niece’s farm in Dorset. Look at all the different shades in a continuum from blue to pink.

As a quilter, I feel inspired by array of natural colors in these flowers and vegetables, and I’m sure that this adds to the store on which I draw when designing my quilts.

Pendleton Woolen Mill, OR

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In May, when I took a road trip to Northeastern Oregon, I went on a tour of the Pendleton Woolen Mill. I’ve always admired the Pendleton products and was interested to go there to see how it’s all done. Check out this video to see the process.

The mill was founded in 1863, over 150 years ago. I was impressed by the scale and the rate of production from what is now a highly mechanized mill. The woolen fleeces are dyed, carded, roved, spun and wound onto bobbins. White yarn is also dyed into over 500 different colors. All of this takes place, before you even get into the weaving of the blankets in beautiful intricate patterns, many of which are inspired by Navajo and other Native American patterns. These designs really appeal to quilters like me and are inspriing!

The machines are huge, make a lot of noise and are incredibly fast.4.25 million pounds of raw wool is processed every year. The looms are computer programmed and automated to make these complex designs, but set up requires skilled labor and all the blankets and rugs are manually checked for flaws.

After touring the mill, I perused the “seconds” room where wonderful bargains may be found. I succumbed and bought a beautiful blue blanket which was half-price, like the ones in the stack in the photo. The only thing wrong with it was that it was made 4″ too short.

 

 

BARN: Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network

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I recently visited the newly opened BARN facility at 8890 Three Tree Lane, Bainbridge Island, and was very impressed. BARN’s mission is to build and support an open, inter-generational community of artisans and makers who are dedicated to learning, teaching, sharing, and inspiring each other with creativity, craftsmanship and community service.

Their goal is to create a true community center, using craft as a magnet to bring together people who would not normally know one another or have opportunities to collaborate. They want to connect seniors eager to pass on skills they spent decades learning with young people just starting out, and longtime islanders with people who have just moved here. Working side-by-side, participants will share tips, ask questions, and lend a hand when needed, gradually building trust and new friendships. Community service projects done in BARN’s workshops will widen the circle of connections even more. The result will be a more resilient community—one where people have hands-on skills and are committed to helping one another.

Years of planning and fundraising went into BARN. The project was initiated by a group of woodworkers who wanted to share studio space, tools and expertise. The woodworkers have spent hundreds of hours making all the cabinets, tables and more. BARN has 25,000 square feet of space including 11 studios: Woodworking and Boat Building, Metalwork, Welding and Sheet Metal, Jewelry and Fine Metals, Glass Arts, Fiber Arts, Printmaking, Book Art, Writers, Kitchen Arts, and Electronic and Technical Arts. Members may use the studio space and the equipment. Classes are open to members and non-members and various organizations, such as the Bainbridge Island Modern Quilt Guild, can meet there. This is an awesome place! Here’s a picture of the Textile Arts studio, mostly focused on weaving with several looms available for use. There are one or two sewing machines, but so far, the space is not really set up for quilters and there is no work wall. It’s early days and quilting is not currently a priority, but who knows, one day they might get a long-arm sewing machine.

Awesome Elephant Quilt

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My good friend and long-arm machine quilter, Wanda Rains, recently completed this delightful elephant quilt. This appliqué pattern is by Edyta Sitar, Laundry Basket Quilts. Wanda hand-appliquéd the elephants and just for fun, turned one elephant facing the opposite way from all of the others.

Check out these detailed shots of some of the elephants. I love Wanda’s choice of fabrics and all the elephants have eyes. The checked corners in the blocks and border and the dark sashing strips make a pleasing setting for this herd.

 

 

Quilt: Serenade for Anne and Denise

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I’ve recently completed a quilt that I’ve been working on for a few months, just in time to take it to Italy to give as a gift for dear friends who moved there in April. I’m so excited about going to visit them and the quilt is a surprise. By the time this blog posts, I will be in Italy. This busy design includes very personalized fabric choices. Anne is an accomplished musician and Denise is an electrical engineer. There’s beer for Denise and prosecco for Anne. The grand pianos and piano keys are a major feature along with the flowers for these avid gardeners.

The large flowers are the new ones in Italy, (Anne and Denise and the flowers they will plant) and the small classical flowers are the Italian ones. Here’s a closer shot for more details. They love cats and have one which traveled with them from US to Italy. After completing the quilt, I realized that I omitted any reference to their sporting allegiances, so I added the Seattle Mariners compass, appliqued on and visible close to the center of this picture. The Seattle Seahawks label appears on the back of the quilt (see below).

In this picture it is a little easier to see the three different blocks in the quilt: Snowball, Jacob’s Ladder and Shoo-fly. The detailed shots below show the corner blocks in which I used technology fabric for Denise. Denise generously gave many hours of her time to completing all kinds of technical projects at our church, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on Bainbridge Island. She made tremendous improvements to the lighting, so the fabric with light bulbs seemed most appropriate. The shots also nicely illustrate the grand pianos. One of my students brought some of this grand piano fabric to my Bargello Quilts with a Twist workshop and fussy-cut the pianos for her blocks. They looked great and I loved the fabric, so I found it on-line and ordered it for this quilt.

I long-arm machine quilted the quilt with the help of my good friend Wanda Rains, using her long-arm machine. Wanda helped me with the set-up on the machine and advancing the quilt after each pass of stitching. I quilted in a watery meander pattern. The back of the quilt is yellow and sunny; sunshine and water to nurture these new flowers in Italy.

 

Highland Quilts, Athena, OR

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In May, on my way to the John Day quilt show, I spent a day teaching at Highland Quilts in Athena. I met the owner, Elaine Shaw, when I taught last year in Walla Walla. She was enthusiastic about my work and asked me to contact her anytime I was visiting the area. Athena is a tiny rural farming town between Walla Walla and Pendleton. Elaine’s shop is at 312 East Main Street, (pretty much the only street), and well worth the small detour off the highway if you are passing. Here’s Elaine outside the store and inside.

We had a cozy class of 10 students at the back of the store for my Bargello Quilts with a Twist workshop. Elaine had made a beautiful sample for the class, which was hanging in the store, along with the quilt she began at my Kaleidoscope Puzzle Quilts workshop last spring. These samples really make a difference in promoting my books and patterns in the store.

The store is one large room with a good inventory of fabric as well as the essential notions, books and patterns. The upper walls are lined with beautiful colorful quilts to inspire. Elaine will give you a warm welcome and you should enjoy this gem.