Making Monday - Look What Other People Made!

I wanted to write this post last week, but I just wasn't in a fit state to string words together. The last few weeks have been particularly groggy and unproductive. I've only managed a couple of rows on the Westknits mystery shawl since last time (and the final clue came out today).
My grand achievement for today was 'making' dinner, and that involved feeding pizza, garlic bread and salad to the oven and/or the appropriate slicing device, and I'm not sure that that really counts. It doesn't feel like much to be proud of. Writing this might be a greater achievement.


Since I can't celebrate what I've made today, I'll celebrate other people instead. Last weekend - 12th and 13th August, I went to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.
My friend Kirsten

had a couple of quilts on show, including this 'grow-bag' baby sleeping bag

complete with dummy. I have a strong suspicion that her daughter will be a happy little ladybird when that quilt gets home!

Gillian Cooper had a gallery of her 'Unsung Muses' work (that's her, viewed through one of the pieces is the first picture)

What about the raw materials?
Everything around us is made. Some of it is made organically, as plants grow. Plant fibres can then be processed, in large factories, primarily by machines, or in smaller factories, with more manual input...

Micheal Oakshott of Oakshott Fabrics sources Oakshott's range of fabrics from a weaving cooperative in India, providing the weavers there with a steady stream of work - and providing quilters with some fabulous fabrics to work with:

On the right-hand side of the Oakshott stall is the blur of activity that is Helen Howes, who designed and made a lot of the kits and samples that are on display.


Finally, one of my favourite quilts. It's small (about 30cm square, I think), quite simple, ad a cheery splash of colour:

I've got quite a lot more photos, but the lighting in the exhibition hall varied from orangey sodium to almost daylight, depending on the weather at the time, so some tweaking will be required to make them presentable!

Gosh. I think I have another achievement - this post is more than I thought I could manage.

See what other people have been up to this week at http://theyarnyard.co.uk/blog/category/making-monday/