Beautiful Cumbria

The days seem to be whizzing by, not least because I have now committed myself to making two quilts for Festival of Quilts.  I am obviously bonkers and need my bumps felt but, hey ho, a challenge is a challenge, right?

My original piece for the Horizon 'challenge' is simmering.  I made a start on a sampler piece last week at Sit & Stitch and made some mistakes so that was useful.  I think it's going to be a bit of a slow job deciding where all the pieces should fit so fingers are still crossed for completion by the end of the month.  In the meantime I  signed up online for the actual competition part of Festival of Quilts even though I hadn't at that point decided on a design, title, method or materials (all of which have to be put on the entry form).  Anyway, realising that the Horizon quilt is an option and the Festival quilt is now a requirement I've diverted into making a start on that.

When I posted this photo on Facebook this afternoon a friend said it looked very organised but it feels more like chaos to me.  Surprisingly, though, I do have a clearish idea of where I am going with this and unsurprisingly it will be about the sea.  I have had Rayna Gillman's book, "Create Your Own Free Form Quilts" for some time and have been wanting to have a go so I have spent yesterday and part of today making strippy blocks.  

I've made myself a makeshift design wall by covering two canvases with low-loft wadding and when DH finds some clamps he's put somewhere safe I will be able to make them a bit more robust.  So far I've been making up blocks of dark, midrange and light value but this evening I started the exciting part of cutting things up and inserting some contrasting colours.  I havn't a clue how this will turn out but so far I'm haing fun and i's even possible I might get it done in time.

So, why did I title this post 'Beautiful Cumbria'?  Over the Bank Holiday weekend DH and I had a little trip (another one?!) up to Cumbria to attend Ireby Festival again.  We were blessed with better weather than last year and had managed to get a Bed & Breakfast in the village so we were able to go back and have a rest when we wanted (being terrible light weights) and actually managed to see all of the Saturday evening performances.  

Ireby is in a beautiful part of the country and we had a lovely walk on the Sunday to the neighbouring village to listen to Luke Jackson do an acoustic set at Mae's Tearoom.

 This young man is only 18 years old and has been performing since the age of 14.  He writes all his own words and music and his music is individual and powerful.

Backtracking to the actual festival, we saw a great variety of acts throughout the weekend  and our favourites were The Paperboys, a Canadian group who stormed through a lively set on Friday night,

The young lady playing the violin in the clip had been replaced by another in the Ireby set.

Another favourite of the weekend was a young duo Gregg Russell & Ciaran Algar who played two sets, one in support of the headline act on Saturday, Seth Lakeman!

Did I say Seth Lakeman?  Oh yes, he was top of the bill on Saturday.  Ace photographer, DH, cornered the poor man at the coffee van and asked if he would mind him taking his photograph.  

As you can see he obliged.  If you havn't heard of Seth Lakeman you might recognise his piece 'Kitty Jay' that was on the tv quite a lot when it came out.

Seth is a Cornishman so we're almost related! ;-)  His set was loud and very lively and by the end he had everyone on their feet, including us and I was leaping about with the best of them.  Thank goodness though it was only for the last 3 or 4 numbers or I might not have been here to tell the tale!

 Not Seth Lakeman but a group called Ahab.

We were treated to a full moon while we were away and my failed shot through the bedroom window has actually given me a lovely texture image for future work. 

This beautiful church stands about a mile outside Ireby and has the most beautiful victorian gravestones. 

How beautiful is this?  The mountain in the background is Skiddaw.  Before you ask, no, we didn't climb it ;-) A three mile walk to Uldale and back on Sunday was more than enough for us!