Throwback Thursday 1st Anniversary!

But first of all I want to say thank you to everyone who commented on my last post - Another Mystery Solved - an all time high of comments! I am so pleased that you liked my quilt.

So now it is Congratulations! to Jenn as she celebrates her first year of Throwback Thursday!

There are lots of lovely projects to view already so do please go visit Jenn 

In May 1983 I was living in Rome having moved there from Norwich, UK where I had spent the previous two years studying for City & Guilds Embroidery. I completed my two final pieces in Rome and then returned to Norwich to sit the three written exams. At that time there was no C&G Patchwork and Quilting and these subjects were included in the embroidery syllabus.  As a keen quilter I felt I had to use my skill for one of my final projects and so my Peacock Cot Quilt was born.

This photograph was taken at the time.

I used silk for the front and back of the quilt with a polyester batting - there was no other choice of batting at the time!

The edging is piped.

It is all hand quilted and I used a water erasable blue marker pen to draw the design on to the silk. Despite dire predictions at the time that the pen would do nasty things to the fabric, this photograph taken today, over 30 years later, proves those predictions wrong!

There seems to be a slight discoloration where the pen mark was but the silk has not rotted away as I feared might happen.

After sitting the exams (and my brothers wedding, conveniently held at the same time!) I had to return to Rome but my lovely tutor Jeanette Durrant put together my work for the  C&G students exhibition.

Here are a couple of photographs taken of my work.

The panel to the left of my quilt was my other final piece - a Roman block of flats with grocery store on the ground floor, plants on the balcony and washing hung out to dry.

A few more pictures of the quilt.

So, it is the first Friday of the month and therefore Friday Night with Friends! I shall be back tomorrow with a report on what I have been up to. Hope you have all had a good Friday.

Throwback Thursday......

.....comes around a little too often for my liking. Another month has gone by already!

Linking up with A Quarter Inch From the Edge  It's exciting to see what everyone has dredged up from the past.

This month I am sharing my second ever quilt, made way back in 1982.

A few close up's - not brilliant as I only have the one photo.

All needleturn hand applique except the map! I think the blocks were quilt as you go and all hand quilting. Machine construction. All cottons, mostly Laura Ashley with some Strawberry Fayre.

I was very fortunate to have this quilt selected for The Quilters Guild second exhibition in 1983.

And that it was shown in colour in the catalogue as many of the quilts were only in black and white.

As the quilt is out on loan it is the picture from the catalogue that I have used here.

Unfortunately I was living in Rome at the time so was unable to see my work in the exhibition - but I did make the local press in what was then my home town, Norwich.

Do go and see what everyone else is sharing and have a great weekend.

Throwback Thursday

It is a while since I linked up with A Quarter Inch From the Edge and

but here I am today with a real blast from the distant past!

In the mid 1980's I had a fabulous holiday in Tunisia touring in a small bus with around 20 French people. This bit was a shock as, having booked and flown from Italy we had expected to be with Italians! Having been living in Italy for nearly three years we had some Italian but spoke hardly any French.

We started in Tunis and visited the coast and the desert, salt flats and film sets - oh yes, and lots of Roman ruins! Of course we were taken to shops and markets selling local crafts and in one place we saw some amazing flat weave rugs which immediately shouted 'patchwork' to me.So I bought a postcard showing some of the designs

and when I got home I turned some of those patterns into a design for a quilt.

And here is the finished quilt

and a view of the border.

Not brilliant photos I am afraid as they are actual photographs - not digital - and I no longer have the quilt.

All hand pieced and hand quilted.

To see all the other 'Throwbacks' pop over to A Quarter Inch from the Edge.

Happy stitching.

Throwback Thursday #5

When Jenn A Quarter Inch from the Edge announced that she was setting up her Throwback Thursday linky I fully intended to link up each month with some of my older projects! Well, you know how all good plans somehow go wrong and here we are in month 5 and this is only my second link up!

Click on Jenn's link above to see what everyone else has come up with from the past.

Jenn asked us for Christmassy things this month - well I don't have a Christmas Quilt but this quilt was made five years ago for a Christmas present so I hope that counts!

The Quilters Guild of the British Isles ran a Mystery Quilt over 4 issues of their quarterly magazine. At that time I had not discovered the delights of online shopping for fabric let alone blogging! So this quilt was all made from my stash and the photograph is wonky but it is the only one I have.

This is just a crop of my original picture. Some of the fabrics are vintage Laura Ashley, some more modern. I did not have quite enough of the gorgeous pansy fabric and had to email the shop where I had bought it and they very kindly rummaged around and sent me an oddment that was tucked away in a corner.

The method of making the centre panel produced some spare pieces which very conveniently made a matching cushion but unfortunately I don't seem to have a picture of it.

So that's it - my throwback - I am now looking forward to going to see what everyone else linked up with..
Hope you have a great weekend.

Throwback Thursday!

Throwback Thursday is a new linky organised by  'J' of A Quarter Inch from the Edge.

 We are asked to show something from the past that we have not blogged about before. So here is my first something from the past!

A few weeks ago a friend here in France posted on facebook this picture.

Which rang a bell with me.This is known as the 'Battersea Shield' and is a Celtic bronze shield covering from around the 1st-2nd century BC which was found in the River Thames in 1857. You can click on the link to find out more about it.

In 1988 I used the design on the shield as the basis for a cot quilt design for my niece Kate and this is it.

Apologies for the poor picture - it is a scan of a photograph but I think you can see the design. All hand quilted. Sorry I can't tell you the dimensions but it is a cot quilt.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else links up with.