Stitching News

Just a little bit of stitching news this time as we haven't had classes for days and days and days... at least that's what it feels like... I don't call it sewing prevention season for nothing!

This quilt has been made using memorabubble fabrics, like So-n-So's shirt, skirt or dress... It's appliqued and embellished with little memories too, like birth date, time and sibling's initials. It's all hand quilted too, such a lovely memento... a brand new family heirloom?

Geoff popped in to show us that he's been stitching over the  last few days... finally he has a Mat & Ruler bag, as is becoming expected, Geoff did change the shape and syle of the bag....

And made it double sided to boot... he's running out of scraps now though...

Jenny Barlaston has managed a few hours stitching, but she stopped to realise... she  needed border fabrics... given that my very own quilt shop was open and waiting for her... this quilt will be finished in no time at all... just as well as it's a 2012 Christmas present!

I think I'm quite safe in saying... that everyone who's visited my very own quilt shop so far, loves my Christmas present!!  Woooohoooo for my Patchwork Floor Tiles!

How Many Days Till...

I had intended to get this cute Santa appliqué finished before the start of December... I didn't quite manage it... he's been sitting in My Shop waiting for me to sew the button berries on and a couple of seed bead eyes, and waiting for the numbers to be made to tell us... 'How many days till'

Yesterday, Saturday, I closed up shop early, covered everything with plastic ready for the painters to come then ran home to make at least a number one... I got quite 'into it' so I'm well in advance for 'How Many Days Till Christmas 2013!

I have missed playing in my Quilty Quarters... it didn't take me long to start rooting and making a mess! I hope you get to have lots of stitchy fun over the next few days, even though we're entering Sewing Prevention Season, he he he

Festive Finishes?

Afternoon Judith popped into My Very Own Quilt Shop to get a little advice about finishing her festive stockings... are they cute or just very cute? There will now only be two finished for this year... the list of 8 had to be revised... 

It's quite obviously obvious that we need more notice about the arrival Christmas Day so we can get our projects finished on time eh! So...
With that in mind, I've decided to offer a series of workshops called "Is It Too Early To Start?"... The first Christmas inspired workshop will be in May... there's time to add more should it be necessary... Check out the workshops list by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog, it might be a good idea to check back there over the coming months because the list isn't finished...

Stitching News

Morning Judith has finished the top of her Log Cabin quilt ahead of her self imposed schedule so she popped in to make a sandwich, eager to crack on with the quilting... 

This is the quilt backing... what a great idea to put folks names on the back of their quilt. Unlike Jean Bean who appliquéd her grandson's name, Judith decided to paper piece her letters... a little more tricky... didn't she do well!

PM Pam... 'The Cushion Queen'... honestly... Pam declares every cushion to be her last but the requests just keep coming... no surprise really as they are rather fabulous, I want one too but I will try to find time to do it for my very own self, he he he

This is Helen's Christmas Table runner... a new Helen that is. She purchased two Charm Packs and, after deciding on the fabric placement, stitched them together... with a 5/8" seam allowance... the great thing about squares... so long as the seam allowance is constant .. it works!

Shirley Lerly's Giant Quilt

Shirley Lerly's turn for a loud trumpet fanfare... Toot Toot Toot!!
What Giant Beauty it is too... this beautiful quilt measures about 96" long and 90" wide, carefully quilted... all by her very own self! on a normal, domestic sewing machine using her walking foot... Shirley told me that she's not much for green, so she chose to make a green quilt so that she didn't have to run the risk of wanted to keep it as she was making it to be gifted... ha ha ha... that's one way of dealing with it eh!

Barbie's Applique

Barbie decided to take a short break from hand stitching the bits and bobs to her quilt top. Instead she added the inner border so that she could stitch on the Braid border... which is Barbie's favourite thing about the whole project... it's been made and waiting to be stitched on for over a year! he he he...

Usually I crop the photos good and close around any featuring project... but with such a fabulous background, I decided to leave this one untouched...  quilts on the wall of My Very Own Classroom this week and will remain there until the painters arrive next week... if they remember to come.

Stitching News

Diane has lots of festive buttons so she pieced this little Christmas tree wall hanging, once it's quilted it will be receiving one or two hundred little embellishments...

Maid Marion spent her day making up these little gift pockets... going for a record breaking quantity... she finished 10!

Jenny was also making little Christmas novelties but, in a box right next to her machine, I spied this lovely Santa appliqué waiting to be finished... isn't it cute!

Stitching News

Lots of Christmas-sy projects are very near completion, which is just as well with only a few days to go... but none of our ladies ever said they were making stuff for Christmas 2012... They just said 'Christmas'

We've seen lots of stockings in various shapes and sizes using several different piecing methods...  with many different fabrics too...

New Sue finished sewing her strip sets, stitched them into tubes, cut them all up, unpicked a seam or two and is starting to create her design, it's as simple as that. This will be another amazing example of a Bargello quilt.. to be sure

Giggly Gillian is really enjoying making her Scrappy Bargello quilt,  fudging and seam flipping  are very useful things to know about!

Princess Jackie never tried applique before but she's loving the results, and no wonder... she's creating quite a beautiful quilt here. Clever fussy cutting of her fabrics is making all the difference too. Just in case you were wondering, this pattern is available here

Caverswall Quilt Cave

We had a truly great day at our Caverswall Quilt Cave Christmas Party... I very rarely put pictures of people on my blog... well, it's all about the quilts isn't it... here's a glimpse of some of our lovely ladies... can you guess who is who?

Almost 30 were able to participate in the day... what an incredible atmosphere there was... buzzing machines with lots of chatter and giggles.

 We had a special treat as this year (and definitely will again in years to come) we were catered for...  We had a delicious, very posh, salad buffet  followed by extremely delightful desserts... Thank you Rose! Of course there was more chattering as we devoured the goodies but the main sound to be heard was "hmmmm" or "Hmmm oooh hmmm" it was so delicious....

And then... we cleaned up the dishes, made a cup of tea and re-gathered to play my most favourite silly game... oh my goodness, how we laughed. It's the third time we've played this game in our Quilt Cave...  you can rest assured that the ladies have learned well how to be really ruthless... my sides still ache!

We're all done with 2012 meetings and we've decided to start our 2013 quilt meetings from February.. so our next meeting will be

Wednesday 6th February 2013. 

It seems like a long way off really, but remember, there are classes almost every day in My Very Own Classroom in My Very Own Quilt Shop!!

Tuesday Tootsday Treat

I know I'm always making excuses for my camera... it's a very simple one that only ever gets used on the automatic setting... and, considering everything... it does good at picture taking, good enough for my blog blurb, most of the time... Sometimes though... if only I could do a quilt properly proud by owning a super-duper camera and, more importantly,  knowing how to use the darn thing.... 

it's time for that quilt to be 'done proud'

I give you Tuesday Tootsday...

Maid Marion finished her Heirloom quilt... 

You will have watched her progress if you have been reading this blog for a while. It Is Stunning.
It weighs a lot too... all those layers, all the embroidery... the Trapunto and ribbon and lace and cording

 The folded 3 dimensional bits... the sashings and pin-tucks,  beads and bows and quilting... there's so much to look at... I really tried to get a great photo and I am hoping you can click on the picture to see the detail better. We're all wishing Maid Marion had kept a tab of how many hours she worked on this labour of love... hindsight is a wonderful thing... no matter now though... it's finished and it's a beauty...

Toot Toot Toot Maid Marion!

Stitching News

Matthew proudly held up his quilt... a Railfence table runner...  it's not quite finished, I bet you can see all those threads that need to be tied off and threaded through... do you save your thread finishing to be done last or do you stitch them in as you go?

Longport Lynda came up with a great way to use up scrappy strips of fabric... a draft excluder snake! The prettiest snake I ever saw... embellished with left over lacey bits too.

These beautiful appliquéd aprons have been a hit... The pattern can be found in the 'I Believe' book  PM Pam made both of these as gifts... they're Man size... Look out guys!

Another floor cushion? Oh yes... PM Pam decided to make another, this one will be gifted to a very special guy and his new puppy... how sweet is that! The finished floor pillow measures 28"...

Just like this one... 28" square of soft fluffy feathers and quilting...  This  cushion feels so luxurious to touch, Pam says she's not making any more... I think she's been heard saying that before! ha ha ha

Stitching News

Chatty Cathy has the centre of her Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope quilt finished. Now she has the borders to quilt up ready to be added, apartment style, isn't it looking fabulous...

Diane started making this Mat and Ruler Bag (tutorial on the side bar) last week. When it came to making the ruler pocket we had the rather inspired idea that she could stitch all the fancy stitches on her machine and number them... she will always have a 'real life' reference as to how the stitches will actually look.

Ann Baker decided to go 'back to basics'. When she first started to come to class, she had something she wanted to finish...so we finished it... then she moved on to make approximately 100 other quilts... I exaggerate... Ann decided to do the beginner project, Railfence design... you can learn a lot of things making this quilt.

Sheila finished her winter-y appliqué cushions and, I have to say, they look even better than the ones in the book!! Embellished with ordinary buttons clustered here and there... Toot toot toot Sheila.

Brenda Barbara is stitching against the clock... she would like to have these stockings ready for this very next one Christmas... see how she added a little piece of ribbon embellishment...

As Sheila had finished her cushions, she packed away her Juki machine and spent the last half hour hand stitching these Hexagons.. a very portable project indeed.

Sporty Sue's blocks.. are they not gorgeous??
Sue had purchased a Batik Jelly Roll from my very own quilt shop... it was a Moda one but, and I am not sure why, it measured 2  3/4" wide. The book was designed for 2 1/2" strips so, I spent an hour or so levelling the strips for her.. have you ever seen a Moda Jelly Roll with 2 3/4" wide strips.
All is turning out very well now but, what a palava doing all that trimming!

Staffordshire Patchworkers And Quilters

Thursday 6th December...
The first Thursday of the month means it's SPQ night tonight. Not only that, it's the 'Christmas Party Members Night' doo... not that you have to be any kind of special member to go... just the very fact that you turn up means that YOU are a member! How cool is that! You just pay the £4 each time you turn up... I do believe though, that as it's a party night... we don't even have to pay to play.
There's usually an abundance of mince pies... very traditional, tea and coffee and some very fruity punch. There will be traders in attendance, Angie's Very Own Patchwork and Quilting shop included.
There will be the grand revealing of the quilts made for the Chairman's Challenge... did you make something? I did... it's small, a bit of a twist and... fun! Of course it's fun... I made it... he he he
The weather man forecast snow for Staffordshire... hmmm, let's hope it stays away for our Christmas bash!

Stitching News

Now... breath out! ha ha ha...
 Did you take a sharp intake and then hold your breath for a while when you saw this photo of Rose's absolutely STUNNING Bargello?? .. that's what we all did when she stood on the photo snapping step... Toot-etty toot toot Rose!!! Who would have thought  just moving strips up and down a bit could create such a design... but it does!

Toot toot tooting now for Krafty Karen's giant , not so quick, Table Topper. Karen used scrumptious batiks for this lovely quilt... can you think where she purchased them from? he he he... Someone is going to be amazed when he opens his Christmas surprise!

Giggley Gillian is going to make a Scrappy Bargello quilt and to get used to how it all works she made a cushion to be gifted to, what must be, a very special cat! Gillian is working on the real quilt now... more on that as it happens.

Jean Bean is determined to finish all of her PhD's this side of 2012. She was supposed to be hand stitching the binding on her Kaleidoscope quilt to help with the task but we found her shopping for her new project of 2013!

Lovely Lyn was adding a selection of borders to her Charm Pack quilt. Adding a 1" strip then trimming it to a half inch is a very accurate way of making a quarter inch inner border so that's what she did with the red fabric.

New Sue was very much inspired by Rose's Bargello quilt... well, who wouldn't be?
Sue cut all of the strips she needed and has this one strip set 'strata' complete and good to go... just 3 more hours of stitching long straight lines should see the 'B' strata ready too.

Tuesday Tootsday

Today we're tooting the trumpet fanfare for Jean Bean. This splendid little quilt was made using the Square Dance template. Jean added loads of borders... she practised PMS (Pleasing My Self) and made it up as she stitched. The red background has some amazing 'Pebble' quilting. This 'splendid' quilt will be available as a workshop in Angie's Very Own Classroom in her Very Own Quilt Shop at the beginning of 2013.

A Tote Bag Workshop

I had a brilliant idea... we could use a Charm Pack to make a great tote bag using the instructions for the Big Quilted Panel Bag (tutorial on the right side bar). PM Pam purchased a Charm pack, a metre of lovely blue fabric for the lining and a metre of interfacing, all from you know where! and made this fabulous Tote  Bag... Pam was my Guinea Pig as the idea was in my head, no pattern... we've ironed out all the 'What If's" now... So...This Tote Bag will be available as a workshop in Angie's Very Own Classroom in her Very Own Quilt Shop at the beginning of 2013.

Just Like Felt With Walnut Inks

That's the title of Jane Lockley's workshop held in My Very Own Classroom on Saturday. Here are a few pictures taken by Jenny Barlaston who was left in charge as I went out and about for the day...
I gave my very own self A Day Off!!!