Stitching News

After joining the ends on the binding of her blue and cream lap quilt, Giggly Gillian finished her little bird cushion. The branches are made with very fine Ric-Rac which as been hand couched in place with hand stitched applique flowers and bird. There's more detail on the cushion back too... what a lovely gift.
Two finished projects in just one day!

Gillian spent the rest of the day quilting her Blooming Bargello by following the rise and fall of the design with a most beautiful variegated King Tut thread.

Princess Jackie finished the centre of her Pineapple Blossom and made a final decision on the border.
With quite a few Jelly Roll strips left over there were several ways to border this lovely bright quilt top. You're only seeing half the quilt here.

Rose laid out her chosen fabrics for the next project...
it's not a Bargello but having made two Bargello quilts,
Rose knew exactly how she wanted the colour scheme to work.
It's another pattern from Rose's Jelly Roll book but, again, not using a Jelly Roll.

Beginner Progress

Susan finished her lovely table runner and pieced a great backing for it.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time to make a sandwich...
Oh boy those minutes passed quickly... all day long

Same for Audrey, both borders added...
One finished table runner top, plus one pieced backing,
wadding to fit perfectly, but we simply ran out if time.

Lyn finished stitching her blocks together,
carefully and very accurately... just as she wanted them to be.
She just had enough time to stitch on her inner border.
The outer border will be red with gold snowflakes... next time though.

Sheila made a very long table runner, she had doubled up as homework!
Most of the borders were stitched on
so we'll be making a looooong sandwich next time.

On another table there were large quilts being quilted... they kept the ladies nice and warm!!! he he he There were blocks being trimmed and applique being stitched... There were more beginner progress pictures I could have taken... but there wasn't time even to remember the camera...
 never mind pressing the 'Take a picture' button! he he he

My Very Own Quilt Shop

Beautiful flowers to fill an ugly space near the steps
A big thank you to Jean Bean who not only did all the planting but she looks after them all the time... dead heading, watering and generally titivating with them. Thank you Jean Bean!!

Cheerful bunting gets hung out every morning to show you that we are open.
Right now it's made from scraps of fabric, my favourite. 
Often the blinds are tilted to deflect the lovely sunshine.

I know it's not the prettiest building in Cheadle from the outside... 
but as you pass through that little white door...
it's a delight for your eyes!!!

Shop Closed

My Very Own Patchwork & Quilting Shop will be closed for one day, today.

As part of my package to use Caverswall Village Hall for our Quilt Cave meetings, I have to remain a member of the Caverswall Village Hall Committee. It's a registered charity so we are always trying to raise funds. One way to do this is to 'Man the doors' at Leek Show every year. That's why my shop will be closed for the whole day today. All folk who could have opened my shop have volunteered to help at the show, aren't they fabulous people!!

The Show makes for a great say out so, if you are going... lets hope the rain waits while we play!

Stitching News

Lady Judith finished her pink and white Stargazy Daizy quilt top... taddaaaa
It's huuuuge so she had to book herself 8 tables in Caverswall Quilt Cave so that she could make her sandwich. Jean Bean and me, my very own self, helped her get the layers as straight as we could. This quilt is very heavy!!!
The blue, yellow and white Daisiez quilt top belongs to Marilla, she brought her top in to show the 'progress so far'... It's great to see the two quilts together, exactly the same but completely different.

I haven't had a lot of photo taking time this week.... seems everyone wants to learn how to make quilts!
When beginners come to class they get my, almost, undivided attention.... 
I believe, big-ly believe... that the cutting part is the most important bit... so I hang on in there till the folk can rotary cut... you can sew the straightest seem in the world but if you cut wonky in the first place... nothing lines up!

The Rail Fence design is a very forgiving little number... perfect for beginners.
7 this week all went home very happy with what they had achieved... some have homework and others will only work on their projects whilst in class... either way is fine. If it makes you happy, it works for me!

FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2013

FESTIVAL OF QUILTS 2013

NEC Birmingham

Sunday 11th August.

Only a few seats left

Coach leaving Cheadle, Staffordshire at 9am 

Picking up in Tean and Uttoxeter en-route.

£14 per person, payable when booking your seat.

Entrance tickets also available, only £10 each

New Sue's Toot Toot

New Sue finished her group-ly wall hanging.
As you can probably see, she chose William Morris style fabrics, they look lovely with the overall design, don't you think.
This quilt is already hanging in Sue's house so it's being admired by all.

A little closer shot so you can see the extra detail on the little pot... Suffolk Puffs! 

Once again New Sue is ready for the next month on our calendar...
August, just around the corner actually. 

Just so you know, I won't be mentioning the SPQ (Staffordshire Patchworkers and Quilters) meeting for the very first Thursday of the month because, and I don't really know why, they don't meet at all in August. Their next meeting will be on Thursday 5th September when the speaker will be  Carolyn Forster 'Quilting on the go'

Stitching News

Jean Bean has decided to make another special little girl quilt.
A new book can be very inspiring can't it?
This delicate heart fabric is a favourite so Jean purchased the rest of the bolt.
Which fabrics will go where? hmmmm

New Sue also started a new project, this one with a Jelly Roll.
Sue's been wanting to make this quilt for ages and had put it on her to do list...
trouble is, she needs to gift it in August...
she should have had it nearer to the top of the list eh!

Princess Jackie's new project, soooo cute-etty-cute.
For now I don't think Jackie is making the whole quilt... but there's time for that decision to change.
Look what happened with her Snowman Collector.

Krafty Karen continued piecing  her sampler blocks.
These two were an experiment to see whether Karen enjoyed the more complex piecing...
and she does!
So a large quilt will be made!

Princess Jackie purchased these fabrics only last Tuesday.
She went home with a rough sketch of a pattern idea from Me Myself and came in this week with the centre already stitched and needing borders! I wonder how many stitching staff she has?

Taking a more relaxed option, Lovely Lyn quilted simple diagonal lines on her kiddy quilt and luxuriated for the afternoon, with her feet up on a spare chair... hand stitching the binding whilst being gently wafted by a floor fan... like a day at the spa!

Stitching News

AnnBacan is making the very same pattern as Joan The Shop, who was inspired by Wendy's poppy quilt. See how we feed each other with ideas, great eh. Ann shrunk her pattern though, it's 25% of the original, a lot more fiddly but she wanted small panels for a table runner... we must suffer for our art eh!

PM Pam was making a quilt from the book Pillow Pop. The pattern was written by Jen Carlton-Bailly. It was very frustrating for Pam because the measurements are not correct, not all of the panels worked out to be the correct length so she had to improvise, not what you want to do when you purchased a new book... but it turned out lovely in the end.

Longport Lynda made this bag with an Amy Butler pattern. She said the instructions were not very clear so she had to put them on one side and carry on with her very own common sense. The fabric is an Indian Batik, very reasonable at only £5.20 per metre. It, and Lynda, made a lovely bag, don't you think?

Christabelle needs us to toot toot for her finished quilt.
Cute cat themed fabrics because the quilt is for a new kitten...
It's a small quilt... great for practising new designs... Made in just one day.

Christabelle's also quilting this lovely project.
It's all been stitched around the blocks to stabilised everything so now she's quilting hearts on the little Hour Glass blocks... looking good.

More New Quilters

I'm getting lots of enquires about beginner classes of late so we have steady trickle of new quilters. On top of that it seems folk who dabbled in quilting in past years have decided to come back to it... I ask

 "Have you done any patchwork before?

" No" they reply... "well, not really, not properly." Hmmmm what is properly? If you cut it up and sew it back together... that's PATCHWORK! ha ha ha 

We had four new ladies yesterday, Monday, here's what they made.

I must have done something right as they will all be back next week for part two. Borders and sandwiches. Maybe even quilting?

Quilty Quarters And More

It's official, I am hopeless! I finally decided that I couldn't, and wouldn't, use any of the five beautiful pieces of fabric that I had chosen for a pieced backing for my blue and pink quilt. I went rooting and shopping in my very own quilt shop instead and found a perfect 5 metre piece of French General fabric. It felt like it had too much seizing on it though, which would stop my masking tape sticking and doing it's job so, after cutting the length in half and stitching it to the correct size... I decided to wash it... whilst waiting for the wash cycle and for it to dry... I became domestic goddess and cleaned the house from top to bottom I started another quilt! woohooo... seems the mojo returned eh, 15 minutes of forced stitching every evening has done the trick!

Scrappy Trip Around.
Very, very easy to make and using 2 1/2" strips from one of my scrap boxes.
 No stress over rooting and choosing... though I still set my favourites on one side!
Aren't they fabulous blocks!!

OK, I know you're going to notice that this picture isn't really Quilty Quarters...

Once the backing was washed, dried and pressed... and very big 

I popped down to my very own classroom with it's very own table department, 

pushed 6 tables together, because I can... the quilt only just fit!

Oh dear... I couldn't resist it... when I got home...
I spent the rest of the afternoon quilting on the Juki Beast (TL 98)

On Saturday, after the Golly Girls workshop, I stayed in my very own classroom and finished piecing the backing for my Trip Down Memory Lane quilt... It's my Mile-A-Minute and Crumbs quilt and it's even bigger than this one. If life allows...it's going to be my next Sunday sandwich... 8 tables will be required

Mad About Appliqué Workshop

What a lovely way to spend a day, making the cutest Golly Girls... drawing, cutting, deciding, stitching, choosing, chatting, laughing... look what the ladies made...

Something I did notice... only little project bags were needed... and only one each!!

Barbie's Stitching News

I don't think Barbie has ever been quite as excited about a new quilting project as she is about this one... she's making appliqué flower blocks and they are sooooper cute... Barbie's chosen appliqué method is "Sticky Stuff and machine stitching" which gives instant satisfaction in the 'Happy -Me' department!
Speaking of Sticky Stuff... advert time!
In My Very Own Quilt Shop, for your very own convenience you know... I stock three different kinds, because we all have our very own favourite Sticky Stuff... There's Heat and Bond light, Bondaweb and now, back in stock after months of waiting... Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite with it's new, improved they say, recipe and posh packaging.
Which, if any, is your favourite?

Stitching News

Michelle My Belle almost finished making her perfect blocks. Each one has had very careful consideration as to which fabrics go where and very careful treatment with pinning and stitching.
Now the decisions will continue for the block placement...
Remember, we do this for fun!

Barbara BB just could not decide which fabric to use as her binding... we were no help at all as we all liked a different one... Jenny Barlaston suggested we make faux-faux piped binding so that we could choose two fabrics each... Happy with the most popular idea, that's what happened. You will see the result next time, you can spot that there was red involved though eh

Lyn Scatterpin kept all of her pins in her new little pot... she says they are way too marvellous and much too expensive to be scattering around under the table! ha ha ha Lyn's got almost all of her four patch units ready plus a million HST (Half Square Triangles)

Merrily's Statue Of Liberty is complete... Choosing the background fabric was tricky and why choose only one when two looked great? The enormity of the quilt has now landed "Splat!"... it's much bigger looking at it for 'real'... no worries, we shall apartment quilt with one method or another.

Claire finished stitching her beautiful strip sets at home so chopped them all up again in class. She likes accuracy for her junctions... and she got it... thank goodness for pins!... On to the borders next time.

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ROAD TRIP...
We have a few seats left for our coach trip to the Festival Of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham, Sunday 11th August. Leaving Cheadle, Staffordshire at 9am and picking up in Tean High Street and Uttoxeter bus station on the way. Call me if you would like to join us... 07807530441 to reserve your seat at £14.00 and/or to purchase an entrance ticket at only £10

Stitching News

Toot Toot Toot for Krafty Karen's finished Festive quilt... (a Christmas quilt really, but I din't want to remind us of that with it being the MIDDLE OF SUMMER he he he... Karen used two Charm packs for this beauty... see the faux-faux piped binding?
 Karen  was very lucky and found herself a little binding Elf!...
Wouldn't that be a helpful thing?

New Sue finished the last bits of quilting on her group-ly project. She's going to be stitching on the binding next, trying to keep the very pointy-points on those outer triangles... it's tricky!

Fran Cup Cake is on a roll with her little tree quilts... see the centre one there... already has extreeeemly cute lights stitched into place.
 Fran's been playing with fancy stitches and couching too.

Giggly Gillian set up her Bernina Baby for a day of stitching then decided to hand applique her pretty little details. I expect the sewing machine enjoyed it's day out, he he he Such a lovely cushion, don't you think?

Krafty Karen started a new project.
 It's from the Jelly Roll Sampler book (yes I have more copies!)
Each block will be in blue and white... not a Jelly Roll though...
Karen's cutting her own 2 1/2" strips from yardage... because she can!