Friday Quilt Club

Chrissie Poppins... not a new lady, she was Chrissie B but yesterday she pulled so much fabric out of her bag, which hadn't even looked full, that I decided she must be related to THE Mary Poppins. She, Chrissie Poppins, brought in her scrap fabric collection to make a Mat & Ruler Bag, as you can see... it's an original and extremely practical work of art!

Jenny Barlaston is on a mission to finish at least a few of her PhD's (Projects Half Done) She promised her very own self that she wouldn't start anything new until she had the pile tamed. This quilt is a result of a workshop Jenny attended quite a while ago, what a fabulous way to not cut up a gorgeous fabric!! The bit about not starting anything new didn't work but don't tell Jenny that we noticed!

Helen got rather creative for the borders on this commission quilt. I don't know whether you will be able to see better if you click on the picture? This marks the end of Helen's happy phase, she's working on the Faux Piped Binding now.. she doesn't enjoy the fiddley stuff any where near as much as when she's quilting... but it has to be done!

Friday Quilt Club will meet on Good Friday 6th April, as normal. 10am - 3pm

Thursday Quilt Class

Brenda Barbara started the day doing appliqué, wheels for the tractor, wheels for the trailer... tiny circular shapes are very difficult to make using the Invisible Machine Appliqué method, the Sticky Stuff and Blanket Stitch is looking like a much easier option... she decided to work on her Jenni Rayment workshop quilt instead, Brenda wants to finish this quilt before it's second birthday, he he... Will it be a wall hanging or something bigger?...

Lacey Anne spent the day quilting straight lines on this commission quilt. She had to be careful because the sandwich had been made without securing the backing... a recipe for an uneven backing... using your hands to make a taut Hoop to keep tension good works but it doesn't half make your thumbs ache... ask Anne! It's so worth the effort to make a quality sandwich.

Lizi continued making border blocks for her huge quilt. It's a pattern in the Judy Martin Log Cabin book and incorporates millions of blocks, well it must feel like millions to Lizi. She pins and sews very precisely, every block turns out pretty much perfect, no prrressing or ironing to distort things, finger pressing is quite sufficient.

Shirley Lerly said that you wouldn't want to see a picture of her work again... she thinks it's looks the same every time... I disagree... it's all very well posting pictures of finished tops and quilts but to get a true idea of how long our quilts take to make, I like to show progress, a true time line if you like... a King Size quilt made from 6" blocks takes an age to make no matter how hard you try... Lerly is stitching her blocks into rows now, see how they are all marked to keep the order... clever eh!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

Why make one quilt when you cam make two? Two at the same time is good news... This is Gail's pieced backing for the black and white Pineapple Blossom top, doesn't it look great! By the end of the day it was all sewn together so I feel a sandwich session coming on...

Early Sue has almost finished her little pink quilt, it's just needing a few more minutes on the binding so... Sue started her 10 Minute Block quilt... at first she didn't believe me when I told her how fast this quilt comes together... she does now though... 10 minutes each block and that's all!

Annie Pie is making a 10 Minute Block quilt too. White, with white centres and it will have white lace inserts for the Cathedral-ly window bits... no colour matching needed! It's actually coming along very well, who would have thought there would be so many shades of white though...

Jolly Jo won first prize in a cake competition... I told you about it last week. Now she's entering another competition and she's making a bag. She wanted it to be quite easy to make but look difficult to those who will be judging... William Morris fabrics are busy and Jo wasn't sure they would play nice... but they do don't they?

Chatty Cathy has been making these 6" blocks over the last few weeks.  Now that most of the blocks are complete we needed to decide on fabrics for the last 4 blocks and the only way we could do that was to decide on a layout... fun! We played with several, this the last one, it's coming on a treat. Cathy will make the missing blocks at home ready for next week.

We meet again next Wednesday which will be 4th April.
See you there...

Barbie's Quilt

This is the centre of Barbie's quilt, so I am showing you a WIP, a Work In Progress, it's not quite a PhD, Project Half Done and it most certainly is not a UFO Un-Finished Object... just so you know...
See the light green, shaped frame? That was cream floral to start with... Barbie searched and couldn't find fabric that was exxxactly as she wanted it to be, so she bought the cream floral and painted over it with green Dylon fabric dye... clever isn't she! There are a few more borders to be added yet... I'll keep you up to date on Barbie's progress.

Monday Class, Beginners

I love to teach beginners... from the very first slice with a rotary cutter that hardly cuts any fabric to the 1/2" wide sewing seams and wonky lines, holding of the breath and concentrated quiet.... to the perfect slices of 2" strips, accurate 1/4" seam, mostly straight lines and pupils breathing steadily whilst relaxing and chatting to each other...

It's the very best part of the Quilting addiction, right at the start.
Choosing 3 fabrics and listening carefully to any advice, not that there's much to say as we all have our own 'Cup o Tea'... for the table runners the ladies thought about where they would be using their new projects, that's as good a place as any to start with... what would look good with your decor?

These two ladies, Pam and Judith, chose the very same fabrics... I'm going to keep a close eye on this table... if one lady ends up with a placemat and the other with a single bed size quilt, I'll know they got their fabrics mixed up won't I! ha ha ha
The ladies must have enjoyed their class, they booked to come again next time... One can't wait until next week though... she's coming again today!

Lovely Lyn's Chicken

Lovely Lyn passed the test... not that she knew it was a test! I know for sure that she reads my blog now because she answered the call to bring back her fabulous Chicken quilt for me to show to you. She arrived bright and early on Saturday morning looking very proud of herself. Ta daaa... isn't it great! Such a fun little wall hanging, a bag panel or a great cushion front... A perfect sized project for practising free motion quilting, appliqué and most general quilt making skills, no piecing but we could incorporate a strippy border couldn't we... a great all rounder!
Lyn tried out several different free motion quilting designs and she's 'thrilled to bits' with her efforts... Toot Toot Toot Lyn, we love it!

Jenny's Quilt

Jenny Barlaston finished off her stunning Autumn Leaves quilt with fabulous Faux Piped Binding whilst spending the day at our Friday Quilt Club. The tutorial has been removed from the original location so she needed to 'pick my brains' about how to do it... I'm quite happy to have my brains picked... Sometimes things have fallen to deep to be retrieved but I do my best for you, ha ha ha
Each of the blocks was made into it's very own little sandwich, as were the borders, and quilted individually... then Jenny joined them all together with the apartment method.

Which, as you can see from the back... uses sashing... Isn't the sashing lovely with the nine patch corner stones? and what a great backing it makes, don't you think? If you have trouble quilting bigger projects, this could be the help you need... apartment quilting, whether you quilt your individual blocks or a quilt in two halves, it all makes for a more manageable size and you will have made the whole quilt, all by your very own self!!! Toot Toot Toot time.

Staffordshire Patchworkers & Quilters

Staffordshire Patchworkers & Quilters' 30th Birthday Celebration... That's where I've been all day. They treated us all to a quilt exhibition with demonstrations and retail therapy... Shops!
One of which was yours truly... Me, the one with my very own, brand new. freshly & officially opened, Quilt Shop... Called Angie's Patchwork & Quilting Shop, I thought I should mention it just incase you missed the announcements previously, he he he.
I took a photo of our rather thrown together tables, you can see Lilly there, she was so busy selling all kinds of hand drawn with watercolour highlights cards for all occasions... personalized and extremely cute! See the bunting hanging round our tables?... it was hanging outside my very own quilt shop yesterday for our opening day.. I made it with scraps of all shapes and sizes... it looked fabulous.
Back to normal for a little while now... no more celebrating, no more cake, at least for a week or two....
I am very happy, exhausted yes, but happier than happy can be... I opened My Very Own Quilt Shop!!! I'll try not to mention it again... really I will!

Angie's Patchwork & Quilting Shop

The official opening was wonderful. I had no idea that the ladies were sneaking around behind my back and, it seems, right in front of my very own self, which shows how observant I am!
They had organised this cake to be made to help us celebrate OUR new quilt shop. I know I keep calling it My Very Own Quilt Shop but, in truth, it is Our Very Own Quilt Shop... without the support of all of the lovely ladies and occasional guys, this shop would have remained only a dream.
Thank you everyone for your wonderful support and good wishes... 
Good wishes to you all
Angie, she of Angie's Patchwork & Quilting Shop... woooohooooo!!!

Angie's Patchwork & Quilting Shop

Officially opening today...
Bunting is ready and looking fabulous, scrappy and bright...
Signs were delivered and put up... they look great...
Flyers printed and delivered... very bright indeed
Loo door lock mended... so wooops moments are solved!
Sunshine being delivered as I write this... ha ha ha... we going to have a lovely sunny day, just like the one I ordered for my very own self!!
I know it's a great gardening day... but I won't be in mine... I will be in my very own quilt shop, officially opening... with bunting and ribbon!
We're cutting shiny, red ribbon at 12 noon, if you'd like to take part, you will be very welcome.

Angie's Patchwork & Quilting Shop

Tomorrow, Saturday 24th March will be the official opening of my very own quilt shop. Now...  I know I've been open for two weeks already but this is how it goes... I advertised the shop to be opening from Monday 26th March based on a carefully prepared timeline but... the Landlady very kindly gave the keys one month early and everything went very well, including the weather which was very important, had we had last winter's weather I might not be open even now! We got on so well with everything that It was ready much sooner, so I opened... like a pre-opening open! ha ha ha.
Anyhow, we shall be cutting a looooooooooooong red ribbon at around 12 noon, bring a pair of scissors if you want to help us officially declare My Very Own Quilt Shop well and truly open!!! (fingers are crossed for the signs to be delivered in time!)

Thursday Quilt Class

We had fun, a much smaller group with lots of chatter and laughter. So much so that there's only this one photograph to show you... I chatted too, I can you know... it's my very own quilt shop! ha ha... This quilt belongs to Jolly Jo and it makes up the centre of a much bigger project, much bigger actually... it's from a book that I keep forgetting to take note of. We had '1st prize' winning carrot cake which Jo brought in to share... she really won first prize in a competition... twas delicious and we totally agreed with the judge's decision! ha ha ha.
The Moda Man came to visit so the ladies helped me choose/order another 135 bolts of fabric that will drip into the shop slowly over the next few months including Christmas fabrics... in this beautiful weather we're having the Moda Man had us choosing Christmas fabrics... crackers eh!

Joan The Shop's Quilt

Toot Toot Toot for Joan The Shop, isn't it just stunning! The quilt is to be labeled "Brendan's Choice" simply because her son Brendan chose the quilt for his very own self from one of Joan's magazines. Each 15" block has Log Cabin, Court House Steps for the centre framed by Half Square Triangles (HST's) which I think give the 'Wow'. Joan used beautiful Batik fabrics for the 3" wide sashing which finishes this fabulous quilt off perfectly. Joan pieced and quilted it in two separate halves and finished the whole thing with our favourite Faux Piped Binding, the tutorial for which has had to be removed from T'internet, it got so famous that a magazine bought it!
Fantastic quilt Joan... well done you!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

This quilt belongs to Lynda. Last time she came to our Quilt Cave we had discussed possible designs for the quilting of this Pineapple Blossom... "following the patchwork design by 'shadowing' the colourful strips forms a star" I suggested, Lynda couldn't see the star at the time... but  Boy can we see the stars now, three times over... it's fabulous!

Mystery Margaret jumped right in with her free motion quilting... this is a double sized quilt and she doodled over the whole thing. She has a very simple sewing machine, she borrowed a darning foot and matched up her thread... please do click on the picture and take a closer look... toot toot Margaret it's brilliant! In the picture she's top stitching the Faux Piped Binding, a perfect finale.

Wendy's quilt... now... come on, say it with me... "WOW"
Once again it's the Pineapple Blossom design from Bonnie of Quiltville.com looking completely different from everyone elses. Wendy is quilting the extra wide borders to be added apartment style... this quilt is huge and covers at least half of the stage... it most certainly brightens up the dull grey carpet that it's covered with, he he he

Helen's happy now... She's not a huge fan of patchwork and intricate piecing so, having made her large sandwich she was able to doodle on papers while she invented her free motion quilting design...it took quite practice drawings to get to something she liked... this quilt is for a young dood and everything we came up with looked like flowers to the untrained eye... we sorted it though, she's stitching a very cool design.. I'll show you Helen's progress on Friday.

Oh, I am having fun with Gail's quilt... it's the blacks and whites Pineapple Blossom, the top is finished, if you remember Gail added a pinch of red for an inner border... So, Gail decided she wanted to make a red backing... Playtime... we played with ideas and eventually chose to join several rectangles of 4 different red fabrics with left over  black and white fabrics in-between... you can see it's going to be stunning can't you!

Lizi has finished making her 100 Log Cabin centre blocks (of course I exaggerate a little) She's in the process of making the first of the border blocks. You should be able to see that they kind of spiral round? Lizi does really lovely piecing.. very accurate indeed. Can you see the pins she's using that match the fabrics... How chic is that! Totally Chic-e-zinho (That's a Portuguese expression, ha ha ha)


So, that's Caverswall Quilt Cave for another week. We meet again on Wednesday 28th March. 10am - 3pm, as usual.
Come back tomorrow, I'm going to post a picture of Joan The Shop's fantastic bright quilt... best prepare your WOW's

Tuesday Quilt Class

Gillian brought her quilt top to class finished and ready for a sandwich treatment... It was a perfect size for my new tables and... I hope you can see... it matched perfectly with two of my fabulous, ergonomic, cost a small fortune, chairs... Gillian was quite amused and took a photo or two for her very own self! She had made good progress with her quilting by the end of our day too.

Messy Maureen finished a little quilting then cut her binding.. too small though, no worries as she had quite enough fabric to cut 4 more strips. Binding joined to one long strip, she stitched it to the quilt and took it home to do the hand stitching on the back side. She has some more lovely fabrics for us to play with next time... more curtain scraps... I wonder what we will invent this time...

Lovely Lyn finished the chicken walhanging she was quilting last week... oh I wish I had taken a picture for you... she did some fabulous free motion doodling on it... Please bring it again next week Lovely Lyn? Time to start a new project then. Lyn wanted to make a baby quilt... she studied my newly delivered 80 book assortment, found a perfect one to buy and started work on a lovely Bunny quilt. Very girlie indeed.
More next week....

Wendy's Bargello

Wendy made this quilt a while ago, over a year ago actually so it's almost an antique for the speed Wendy makes quilts, he he he... She brought it in to show us (to show to Maggie in particular as she's making a Bargello quilt right now) that if we only take 'half steps' there's no seam matching to do... It's a method Wendy saw in an Eleanor Burns programme shown here on TV. It's very effective isn't it. Take little notice of the colours, those lights at Caverswall Village Hall make it look rather greeny/yellow in my photo, but it's not, it's creamy/floral and lovely.
We'll be back at Caverswall for our regular Quilt Cave meeting on Wednesday 21st March 10am - 3pm as usual.

Friday Quilt Club

Caverswall Quilt Cave Friday ladies...they're now 'Friday Quilt Club'... in My Very Own Quilt Shop. On Wednesdays we will, for the time being, continue to meet at Caverswall Village Hall.
Here's a photo of the other side of Angie's Patchwork & Quilting Shop, the classroom bit full of busy ladies. There are two higher cutting tables, back ache should no longer happen from too long bending over cutting and slicing fabrics.

 If you do have back pain issues, I have spent a small fortune of my budget on ergonomic chairs... and I do hope you've noticed that I bought all different colours... it looks like a quilty play school!!! The floor looks yellow and grey but it's black and white Terrazzo tiles... extremely cold on feet so you might want good, thick socks if you come to play.

My Mum Gwynneth was quilting all the panels to make a rather classy tote bag. The idea was to have it for sale in my shop but I fear it might never even get a sale ticket... so many ladies were enquiring about it. She's using the free tutorial that's in my head and can be found on my side bar... Angie's Big Quilted Panel Bag, easy, very easy indeed.

Helen has finished the top of her commissioned quilt, she's got the back prepared too so, on Wednesday at Caverswall she'll be making a large sandwich and making a start on the quilting, Helen's favourite thing to do. There were quite a few small pieces left over, enough to make a pillow with, this will also be quilted.

Late Sue started the piecing for her new project, she needs about 30 of these Ohio Star blocks. She had some great, long chains of HST's (Half Square Triangles) running through her wonderful Juki Beast (TL 98), looks like she's following the Shirley Lerly route and wrapping everything in foil to keep it all in order.
Not too many pictures this time... you're most welcome to pop in to see for your very own self how things are progressing....
The Friday Quilt Club will meet again next week 23rd and it's fully booked, wooohoooo!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

Jolly Jo announced a few months ago that she would not settle until she had finished all of her PHD's (Projects Half Done) At the time Jo cursed me for putting her statement in writing here but, knowing that we would all hold her to her promise has given her the uuuumfff she needed to continue. A massive sandwich was made, this blue and white quilt measures 2.5 metres long by 80+ inches, a big job to quilt. I'm sure you will see it again soon...

Gail's Pineapple Blossom blocks have become a quilt centre and the borders are in the process of being stitched on, there'll be a thin inner, luscious red border followed by a simple, plain black frame. Gail's considering a red backing pieced from several reds... which will make it double sided, a two for one quilt!!

You're probably going to think I am mean for sharing this with you, I promise that I'm not... this picture shows...
A. What happens when you don't check your tension before you start sewing.
B. How lovely it is to have friends at your quilt group when you have to unpick stitching.

Here's a little tip...
A. Run a short tension test before you start sewing, every time. 
B. Run a short tension test every time you change your thread or replace your bobbin.

Oh my does our Gilly ever have a lot of patience. She's making a double bed size quilt with the Log Cabin blocks of Lilly's Colours (my black and white quilt in the side bar) see how she's cutting every single component before she starts sewing? The binding clips are brilliant for keeping things in countabubble groups... like 10's, even I can count in 10's. See the kitchen roll tube? Gilly stuffs them tightly with the shavings of fabrics as she finds they're great for lighting fires with... in her living room fire place I mean... nothing suspect!! ha ha ha

Wendy amazed us all, again... last week she spoke about poppies... then last Wednesday we saw her making, what we thought was, an Hour Glass block quilt using various cream fabrics. Saturday she was cutting out pink and green bits... Wednesday morning she brought in this... Oh My! it is beautiful... The green fabric was the right shade but to add a little extra texture... Wendy painted it... Just like that!! I feel a breathless moment coming on again...

We meet again at Caverswall Village Hall on Wednesday 21st March. 10am - 3pm as usual.

Jolly Jo's Quilt

Absolutely stunning isn't it!! You should see it for real...
Sometimes, I just look at a quilt and find myself quiet... very quiet indeed... I'll take a big, deep breath in and hold it, sometimes there are no words to come out but in my head I say "WOW", with lots of OOOO's... does that happen to you?
When Jolly Jo first came to join us, I think her quilt centre was complete, she had all the diamonds made for the borders too, but they were in a hopeless pile... hopeless, as in "ooooer... I don't know how to make it fit, they don't work... I will have to leave it and start something else" Sound familiar? With a little support though, she finished the top, we all thought it was stunning, It's beautiful Batik fabric with Muslin/Calico ... just perfect together... At our Quilt Cave meeting yesterday. she brought it in very proudly indeed, to show us that it's finished, simple straight lines for the quilting... perfect, oh my goodness... this design didn't need anything more... WOOOOOW... it's Absolutamente gorgeeeoso! ha ha ha...now you won't find that in a dictionary.

Tuesday Quilt Class

Uttoxeter quilt group found my very own quilt shop this morning.... This was their first meeting in my new shop. They soon settled down to work. Giggly Gillian finished adding the sashing and borders to her flock of sheep quilt. She purchased the fabric for the borders weeks ago but, after adding the sashing, her borders were too short, just as I had warned her... she bought extra fabric, so now there's enough to make the backing as well, unless Gillian changes her mind, as she is inclined to do...

Lovely Lyn had finished the appliqué stitching on her chicken quilt so she bought a fat quarter of the much loved 'Chicken' fabric and made her sandwich... on the extra height table to stop her getting back ache... it is only a small quilt.. don't go thinking I have giant tables for making sandwiches on. This photo shows the quilting very well, there's going to be 'loop-d-loops all over the background too. Marisabel and Messy Maureen came to play... no pictures of what they were up to though...

... So, I will show you a corner of my very own quilt shop... I love it, I love being there, I love the light, I love playing shop... I love how people are reacting as they come in to look around... see all the "Good Luck" cards?... so many good wishes on my shop counter, flowers and chocolates and all....
The new chairs arrived... they look fabulous!!! More pictures soon...

Tomorrow, Wednesday 14th March, we are back at Caverswall Village Hall, 10am - 3pm... I had to go back to my very own quilt shop this evening to pack stuff to take with me, Fat Quarters and threads, plus a few essentials, like blades, needles and wadding... There will be a much smaller Table Top Shop from now on.