Stitching News

It's been a rubbish week for photo opportunities. The ladies have been making wonderful things... don't get that end of the stick... It's all my fault, my end of the stick! Sometimes, things are going so very well, busy, busy, busy and it's all so very, very inspiring... I actually think I could have been having a little too much fun and I forget that it is part of my very own job to take pictures to share with your very good selves... ha ha ha... but you will just have to put up with me... it's a dream job eh!! So...

Brenda Barbara finished the hand stitching on her little 3D blocks so it was time to join them together... after a few pondering minutes choosing the order, of course. It will soon be ready for transforming into an amazing, and bright, tote bag.

Jeannette Dilly kept up the pace from last week's class... she made more of the appliqué blocks for her Poppa's Digger quilt and, of course, she was working on something else as well.... the piece you see there is part of a bag, a rather lovely bag it will be too.

Sheila had fun preparing her second seasonal appliqué block... some of my lovely new Batik Hand Dye fabrics were just the ticket for Sheila's work... there were lots of tiny and frilly segments to be cut out so it kept her entertained... she was as good as gold!

And Jenny... she got the very lucky job to cut, fold and label more most beautiful Quilter's Quarters,.. those bountiful baskets keep tempting our customers you see! ha
 Fat they were and scrumptious they are!... the Quilter's Quarters... not the customers! ho ho ho

Railfence News

Toot toot toot, Fanfare for a finish!!
Auntie June's Railfence baby quilt baby play mat is totally fabulous. She's taken great care because she want's "to do it right" in June's own words. 

This is the back of June's Railfence quilt... see the fabulous quilting? June has decided to get ahead of an upcoming baby boom in her life...

See... she's got the pink one at the fabulous and finished stage and is currently working on a very blue one... nothing quite like being ready for any colour of baby that might arrive...

This one has been sandwiched with it's fabulous backing and is now ready for quilting.
What a busy lady Auntie June is!

Stitching News

Gail's quilt starts us off tooting for fabulous and finished quilts.
This pattern was in a recent magazine. Gail spotted the Lewis and Irene fabrics on sale in my trolleys at only £6.00 per metre, the colours and designs were perfect so... the deal was done!
 Hasn't it turned out great!! 

This is the back of Gail's quilt, as you can see she made it for Bella
Toot toot toot Gail, your quilt is fabulous... and finished

Keep that fanfare going because PM Pam finished things too. This delightful bag, pattern also from a magazine, has been made with a Charm Pack... coincidently, Pam had the exact one they used in the magazine which made her very happy.
A little piece of Cherry fabric, purchased in my very own quilt shop made a perfect accompaniment to that lovely Charm selection...

Looky-Looky-Looky! A draw string topped bag...
I love this way of 'topping a bag' and what a stroke of luck for Pam that I have a lovely selection of Baker's Twine to choose from, ha ha ha... toot toot toot Pam

Another fabulous and finished fanfare for PM Pams lovely Hexagon cushion.
Pam declared that she will, most definitely, be making more. It's great to have a portabubble, hand project on the go and Hexagons are perfect for that!

Maid Marion arrived with a pile of Teddy pictures, cut from some old fabric, wanting to know what we could suggest to use them up. We tried all sorts of ideas and the 9-Patch won the day. This top was started at Friday quilt club last week and already is needing to be sandwiched. 

Lovely Lyn is working on several projects at the same time.
  This lovely pattern is Owlie from Kids Quilts. It's all done except for one bird beak that seems to have been missed, then it will be made into a sandwich

New Sue decided to give herself a challenge... The strips for these blocks were 1 1/4" wide, which means they finish with 3/4" squares... the smaller the unit... the more accuracy is required... our New Sue... is very, very accurate!

How cute-e-tty-cute is this??... my goodness the quilting and stitching magazines are giving us some great patterns of late aren't they? Giggly Gillian made this beauty with hand stitchery and with Hexagons... she's turning it into a lovely cushion.

Fruity Rose started a beginner class a few weeks ago but decided to make her Railfence table runner a little bit longer... a little bit??? It's quite lovely and will match Rose's room perfectly... that's one big party table eh! This then, is the sandwich... more of a French Stick I think!! he he he

Remember I told you about my new Batik fabrics arriving? 30 I predicted... well, 40 bolts arrived!! Beautiful Bali Batik Hand Dyes, wonderful at £10.00 per metre and Ooooh, so fantastic are the colours... but 

Where will I put them?? Thank goodness for my little trolleys!!

Stitching News

Let's start with a Fabulous and Finished fanfare of tooting for Jeannette Dilly's rather stunning quilt... toot toot toot! You almost need your sunglasses on to look at this beauty. All the background has been free-motion stippled and the pattern was a feature in a magazine, I forget which one.

Jeanette Milly started a new project. It's a Jelly Roll pattern but Milly is using her very own fabric cut into 2 1/2" strips. She's getting some lovely, accurate pointy-point centres on those Hexagons!!

Brenda Barbara brought in a picture of her next project, it was in a magazine, and, once I had figured out how to do it.... there wasn't a pattern you see.... Brenda was stitching away and got on a treat. The plan's make a lovely bag

Poor Jenny Barlaston... we've had lovely customers purchasing our fabulous Quilter's Quarters (Fat Quarters) so she had the job of cutting, folding and labelling more... it's a tricky thing keeping those baskets full... Jenny says it would be much easier to keep up without customers!! I gave her a little talking to of course! ha ha ha

No wonder Dilly makes a lot of quilts... see here?
She started one of her Snowman Collector blocks in the morning and the very next time I looked at her table she had prepared lots of blocks for her little boy quilt... she works so very fast and joins in with all the distractions like tea, giggling and gossip... a multi-tasking wonder woman?

Christabelle popped in to show of her fabulous and finished projects.
This delightful bag was purchased at the NEC Festival Of Quilts in August.
Isn't it cute...

This quilt and the one below are both commission works. The lovely customer will have a choice of which one meets her brief perfectly then Christabelle will have the other little quilt ready for gifting... now that's great service, don't you think?

Cuter than cute... which one would you choose?

I'm A Star!!!

British Patchwork and Quilting Magazine article

Thank You Tuesday Ladies, boy do I feel special!!!

Stitching News

Giggly Gillian had added piano key borders to her alphabet panel last week. With reflection, this week she decided that they made the quilt a little too big... so she chopped them off! PMS (Pleasing My Self) is very much encouraged in y classroom... Licketty - split there was a sandwich... by the end of Gillian's day she had almost all of the quilting done too. 

Princess Jackie has now completed her wonderful Quilt top. Class was at full capacity this week so she wasn't able to make a sandwich... thank goodness we have Saturday Sandwich days in my very own shop... Jackie booked her sandwich slot and then moved on to another project for the rest of her class.

Inspired by one of Christabelle's cushions, PM Pam made this little quilt. She had hand stitched the Hexagons whilst away on a recent trip, they make a perfectly portable project... Pam's little quilt will also be made in to a fabulous cushion...
 isn't it wonderful to be able to inspire someone!!

Gail had been busy... she not only finished her lovely quilt top but she had sandwiched it too! Gail has decided to quilt diagonal lines and got a lot stitched during her day, looking fabulous... pattern from a magazine.

New Sue's latest project. It's going to be a wall hanging to be gifted.
There's a very quirky and fun reason for all those beautifully appliquéd mugs...
Have you got a favourite?

Brenda came for her second class. She's been busy at home making more Disappearing 9-Patch blocks. They were originally to be made into a Mat and Ruler bag but there's a good chance it will become a lap quilt now.

Jean, along with Brenda, is making the Disappearing 9-Patch blocks. It is different fabric to her first class as she jolly well changed her mind on her choice last time... she's gone Bright!

Lovely Lyn cut lots of Piano Key pieces from her left over fabrics. She wanted a good random layout for the colours so decided not to sew longer strips...  there should just about be enough.

Gail, at the same time she's quilting the quilt above, started her next fun project. She wants to make a Bug Quilt. Ladybirds are always popular aren't they... so that's a good place to start. Lovely fabric choices eh...

Stitching News...

PM Pam had the inspired idea of using 4 little 3 inch festive picture blocks from the strips that flood the market at this time of year, my shop included!! to make a superb seasonal cushion. It may look simple but there's a lot of accurate cutting and stitching involved... Fabulous and finished... toot toot toot Pam

Princess Jackie needs a Fabulous and finished fanfare next...
Toot toot-e-tty toot toot
A most beautiful girl-y-grl quilt...
ready to be displayed for the charity auction.

My Rebel Josie flicks from one project to the next... sometimes I can't keep up!! During her class, she noticed one of our panel quilts, we have them displayed on the wall. She liked it, purchased the panel, dug in her stash bag then... Lick-e-tty-Split... had it stitched and sandwiched!

Sheila came to play... Hip operation almost a thing of the past!!
She's doing a little hand stitching as it's still a little tricky to sew by machine... such a beautiful block... beautiful Batiks too!!! I have loads of Batiks for you to choose from.... and 30 more bolts will be here soon!

Brenda Barbara is making a festive wall hanging for her grand children.
It's a lot of fun building up little appliqué pictures and the Art To Heart book patterns in particular are just toooo cute!

Dotty Maureen is making an appliqué project too.
This is the Fairy Tales pattern from Kids Quilts
Dotty had fun rooting through a bag of scraps to find just the fabrics she needed. We have lots of the Kids Quilts patterns for sale... just in case you feel tempted!

Kate finished two of her extra wide borders and was able to find space for sandwiching them... thank goodness for apartment quilting!
Kate's beautiful quilt is growing fast now.

Sporty Sue finished her latest quilt top. When she declared that she wanted a red fabric for her inner border we all thought.... ooooo not sure about that!
But lookey!!! it is totally fabulous

Lady Judith's Lone Star... WoWeeeee!
It's just amazing what all the ladies have done with their Lone Star centres... most were started at Dotty's workshop but I think every one had a different finishing job... as you would expect, Lady Judith's quilt will be huge!

This is another of Annbacan's seat cushions... Loving the colours here!!!
We all love the Dresden Plates, I, personally, think that they are particularly fabulous as cushions...

Another seat cushion, Ann used up lot's of left over strips for this one...
It's rather amazing what can come out of a bag of scraps isn't it?

That's it for today, I have many more pictures... I don't seem able to catch up. We have a lot of family birthdays this month so there's a lot of party-ing to be done... time management goes out of the window!!

Fabulous Finishes

Jeannette Dilly finished her perfectly purple quilt.
The pattern, called Raspberry Swirl, is from a magazine, they made it in ice-cream-pink and chocolatey colours and it's been a very popular pattern.
Jeannette's quilt is larger as she added a few extra borders... 

Here's the back... we love pieced backings!!
It's fabulous and finished toot toot toot

Morning Judith finished her toot-a-bubbly fabulous Skeleton quilt
Isn't he a smart fellow. He's about to be gifted to a lucky young lad.

Morning Judith found this carrier bag saver pattern on-line and saved it in her head... clever that! The pattern stated that it could be made within an hour so Judith put it to the test! 3 hours later it was finished...
Maybe the first one takes a little longer then?