Tula Pink came to town

Hello, hello.  Sorry for the blog pause - we have been away for the week at the end of the Summer Holidays.  It was only to Center Parcs which, to those who have not had the privilege of emptying their wallets there, is basically a very expensive Butlins with lots of cycling up hills.  It is not restful but it does keep the children entertained most of the time, so it is a fair trade off.  For example, they did a bit of pottery painting:

Before we went away, I had a lovely evening out in swanky Knightsbridge where Tula Pink herself had come to see the LMQG in a pub.  The first part of the evening was a traditional pub meal, albeit with untraditional entertainment - the bar staff had inadvertently left Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies on the telly which threatened to put many people off their Fish & Chips.  I don't have a gratuitous picture of what they were showing as I don't want to be responsible for anyone needing therapy.

After dinner, the evening did not disappoint as Ms Pink was in fine fettle and entertained us all admirably.  I don't think you would ever be bored with Tula in the room.  Here she is just starting her talk:

You can tell Tula is cool before she even opens her mouth.  Her glasses are way cooler than mine, for starters.

Tula began by explaining how she designs, which is a very interesting process, not only from a technical point of view but also the way that she develops the images with a story in mind.  To demonstrate this, Tula brought along one design from starting sketch through to finished fabric - totally fascinating.  She also brought as many quilts as she could stuff into a suitcase, including this beauty from her new Hallowe'en line Nightshade:

Now from this wide shot it might look all pretty and pink / magenta / turquoise but check out the close up with skulls & crossbones, lightning bolts, all set off with spooky spider web quilting - genius:

And it gets better - check out the back!  Tula gets her quilt backings individually made on Spoonflower so her signature quilt is guaranteed to be unique. This backing is a blown-up version of one of the 3 witches featured in the Nightshade fabric / storyline:

Tula also brought along her original Space Dust quilt, which was even more stunning in the flesh:

Again, the quilting is imaginative and complementary - close up you can see 2 rocket jets coming out of the bottom of the meteor to propel it through space.  Another gratuitous close up:

It really was an honour to have Tula as our special guest.  I think we all agreed that it was an evening to remember.  Thanks Tula!

G x