Goodbye Dad

18/8/1925 - 27/3/2009

Rest in peace

Region 4 Banner

Coast



Each region of The Quilters' Guild of the British Isle was asked to make a banner to hang in St Anthony's Hall, York. Upcott valley Quilters volunteered and today it was handed over to the regional coordinator. The brief was to make a two sided banner that reflected our region. Region 4 includes Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We went round in circles to start with because we had so much choice. We decided that the one thing they had in common was they all have sea/coast and also the land/countryside was important. To simplify it further we split into two groups This worked well I worked on the coastal side. We started by thinking of the elements. Surfing is very popular in our region especially Cornwall. The ammonite represents the Jurassic coastline which stretches from Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in Dorset to near Exmouth in Devon. Bishops Rock Lighthouse which is of the Isles of Scilly was chosen to represent the many lighthouses that protect our rugged coastline. Finally the Mayflower sailing into the distant flying the flags of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

Country


This side was worked by the other half of the group. The cow is a Devon Red or Ruby and the sheep is a local breed. Eden was an easy choice it is also built in a disused quarry. Quarries can be found all over the region Portland Stone and Bere caves are two examples. Derelict tin mines are a common site in Cornwall. Finally we could not leave out the Cerne Abbas Giant, a very well known feature of Dorset.
I apologise for the quality of the pictures( and the spelling) please feel free to ask me anything about them.

More Snow

I was working in my workroom last night and thought it was raining until I looked at my skylight and saw it was covered in snow. When I looked outside it was snowing really heavily and there was about two inches of snow on the car. It was still snowing at midnight when I went to bed. I didn't sleep too well because I new I had to go to the hairdressers today, so at three I got up to have a look and I have never seen such big snowflakes about the size of a 50 pence. I think the snow would be between four and six inches deep but the sun is really strong today so it is melting quite quickly. I got to the hairdressers OK although the snow was deeper in places on the way. I apologise to the visitors here from abroad, it is just so unusual for us to get snow and when we do everything comes to a standstill. Here are a few pictures I took from the kitchen this morning.

Upcott Valley Quilters Challenge 2009

Another year gone and another challenge completed. For the last two years Upcott Valley have had a fabric challenge. Each member that went to the Festival of Quilts last year chose a fat quarter of fabric. They looked at them and chose one. A fat quarter was then bought for each member. The size was chosen and this year it was going to be made in landscape format. The fabric has stripes in different colours so we decided we could each choose one of the other colours to work with. I chose purple. One other fabric was also added a pale aqua blue. The embellishments and stitching could be in any of the colours from the challenge fabric. They will be on display at the quilt show being held at Westpoint Exeter Devon this weekend.