News From Quilty Quarters

I made this... Hour Glass Blocks framed by Flying Geese

Then I made this for the back with all the Flying Geese I made too many!!

Then I finished this beautiful Batik Pineapple Blossom cushion front

Then I made the 24" cushion back using all the left over strips
and the brilliant Bonus Half Square Triangles 

And then I made a cushion from left over nautical fabric

And then I made another cushion front because there were rather a lot of leftover Nautical fabrics

And then I started to make the backing for this top I made a while ago...

and then I found this pile of leftover strip sets all from the project above
and the workshop we did with SPQ and Jan Hassard...
so... that's where I am up to...
inventing a great backing that doesn't look like I made it with scraps!! 

It's amazing how much you can achieve in between Mum/wife life chores, wallpaper stripping, food shopping, dog walking and feeding thousands of hungry people!!
Did I say I was on holiday??? They weren't listening were they!

Stitching News

Susan finished her third quilted chair back... I told you the story already... about the triplets. So this is a little unusual, let's give a toot toot toot fanfare for a fabulous finish that we have seen before and tooted before, but it is a new project! I wonder if the mums of the twins and triplets thought the same thing when they were arriving? ha ha

Farmer Lynda was very happy to hold up her fabulous Fairy quilt top. She pieced together a lovely backing too, but there wasn't enough room to make a sandwich so that's a job for next Thursday... there's not going to be a regular class so the tables should be clear and avail-a-bubble for Lynda, just the ticket!

Beth told me that she's had a fabulous few classes and she's thrilled to bits with her new found skills. She's so pleased with her beautiful cushion that she started to cut fabrics to make another one, I suspect that won't be the last either... toot toot toot Beth.

Next up, LouLou's gifting project... With hand stitched words? Nooooo, Loulou doesn't hand stitch (not yet anyway) she did the written bits on her Juki with stitch number 9... don't they look great. It's amazing what we can do with Tear 'n' Share paper... that's what it seems to be called in these here parts! ha ha ha

This customer is having fun with her fabrics making a delightful dog quilt... for her dog! That's a good idea for your practice project isn't it... even if your pooch could see anything you didn't quite get 'spot-on' he wouldn't be able to tell you!! Not that this lady needed to worry, she's done a fabulous job so far.

Susan made most of these Mile-A-Minute and Crumb blocks after attending one of my fun workshops. 11 blocks finished and set on one side not knowing what she would do with them. Susan decided to crack on and make number 12 block... giving her enough to make this fabulous quilt top!! Didn't we do well choosing that superb sashing fabric!!!

Just as I predicted, PM Pam is almost finished with her latest project... and what a bright and happy Wow of a quilt sandwich it is... Tropical in fact! This pattern is super easy to work... I think it would be great for a beginner too... accurate cutting is needed of course but easy to piece...

So I took this Artsy Fartsy picture just because it made me smile
A, because I love Pam's quilt, pattern and beautiful Batiks (all from my very own shop!)
B, because I hung my Christmas Fabric Chain (like a paper chain but made from fabric) at the window recently and just look how absolutely fabulous it looks on Pam's project! it's also proof that the sun was shining for 5 minutes

Gotta Love A Bank Holiday Weekend!

Angie's Patchwork and Quilting Shop,
3 Queen Street, Cheadle in Staffordshire, ST10 1BQ...
Well worth a visit!... 
But not until Thursday 1st September because it will be closed until then.
Yeeeeha for Bank Holiday bridges!! It's going to happen like this...
Saturday 27th August closed = one side of bridge,
Sunday 28th Closed, always closed on Sundays though.
Bank Holiday Monday 29th... closed,
Tuesday 30th August, closed = the other side of bridge,
and, as you already know, we're always close on Wednesdays... Though on Wednesday 31st there will be a meeting of the Lace Group as normal.
See that?
Just two bridge days makes a total of 5 days... almost a week for me to rest and relax, not watch the clock and maybe do a little stitching for my very own self!!

I hope you have a great Bank Holiday looooong weekend tooooo!

Stitching News

Let's start off with a fabulous and finished quilt.... Princess Jackie made this beauty to be gifted to a little one... look at the brilliant binding!!! Jackie's blaming me for all these kiddos, she says that once she learned how to make quilts everyone she knows had a baby or two so that they could have a special quilt made by a 1st prize winning artist!!! toot toot toot Jackie, it's another triumph!

Keep you trumpets up... Toot toot toot for New Sue's fabulous and finished Pineapple Blossom, quilted cushion... at 24" it's a scrumptious size for snuggling up with and co-ordinated perfectly with the Kaleidoscope quilt that's not quite finished, all will be gifted at the very same time.

Krafty Karen's 200 year old, blue and white, jelly roll sampler blocks are looking fabulous, even better than that... they are starting to look like a quilt top! Sashing and corner stones are pulling everything together so Karen is enthused to get it finished before another 100 years pass by! ha ha ha 

PM Pam arrived for her class last Tuesday and saw I had printed off this pattern.. She loved it, loved the colours used and decided to make it... I don't know what happened after that, Jean Bean helped Pam choose her fabrics... Boom!!! colours! Boom!!! Batiks!! nothing like the pattern really... Pam got this far in the one week... I Love IT!!!

Remember that pile of Batik Beauty strips our Jean Bean cut last week? This is her prototype block... the curved Log Cabin. We could have searched the world and found all the calculations already math-emetised... but no... we have done it the hard way, with inchy paper and tracing paper, coloured pens and pencils and an eraser... it's very satisfying indeed, this re-inventing of wheels!

While I am here I will just poke a small reminder that my shop will be closed on Saturday 27th August for the Bank Holiday, loooong weekend, all the way until it re-opens on Thursday 1st of September... which is an SPQ (Staffordshire Patchworkers and Quilters) meeting day/evening... I am to be the trader of the month so if you want me to take anything just for you, just let me know...

You Have To Laugh...

We shouldn't really laugh though.... It's a blooming pest of a thing for Susan, I was going to write "It's a bit of a bugger" but I thought better of it! Let me tell you about it...
This Book, one of many by Nancy Halvorsen, has some lovely ideas in it. There are several extremely quirky projects for chair covers... and we love them. Susan works in a primary school... though not as a teacher so it seemed to me to be a very lovely and kind idea that she had... to make a chair cover for the birthday kid!... especially when there are a few sets of twins in school so Susan knew at the outset that she would need to make two... to keep it fair when it was the twins' birthday. She made the chair backs and they were fabulous, bright and cheery and, as you can imagine, the kiddos, twins and all, love them. Yesterday Susan came to class armed with fabrics and The Book... telling us that the school had had a set of triplets enrolled to start school in September... ha ha ha.... she had to make another chair cover! What are the chances of that happening? We laughed, but Susan wasn't sure she wanted to.

Free Motion Quilting For Beginners, Workshop

And at the very same time... we made more I Spy Quilt packs!!

Bank Holiday Week...

Please take good note that there's a Bank Holiday coming up...
It's the very next weekend in fact...
On Saturday 27th August... 
My Quilt and Fabric Shop will technically be closed...
but,
For you... to help YOU with your stitching... and because I offer great customer service.... I will be there for you... you will need to book appointments... email, call or message on Facebook and I will come running... there you go...
Like I said, great customer service!!!
 Shop will be closed for... 
Bank Holiday Monday 29th, 
 Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st 

 I hope to be stitching for 5 whole and entire days!!!
 Today is Free Motion for Beginners... pictures later...

Stitching News

 This two block design has been a challenge for Carol... doesn't it look complicated... Oh, now wait a little minute... Is it a one block design with two different colourways? I will investigate and question her later... I'll get back to you on that one.

Wing It Rose, that's her motto... don't worry she says, "I'll Just Wing It"
Finished her fabulous quilt top. Have you ever put a Moda William Morris design, fussily cut too, with a modern Beautiful Batik? Who would have thought the two would play so well together... we cleared a few tables for Rosie to make a sandwich... there's a bit of a time constraint for gifting this one.

Now this is a work of art... believe me!
Our Jean Bean has gone off on a tangent... after visiting Festival of Quilts on Sunday... on our extremely well organised coach trip it has to be said, she got all inspired for her next project. Two full days of planning and plotting, scribbling and sketching, choosing and cutting (and attending to our lovely customers of course) has created this pile of Batik Beauties... exciting eh!

Thank You

I thought you, especially those who helped my Lilly by completing her survey recently, would like to know that she has done it. Her dissertation is in the bag... She's given her very own self a day or two away from writing... and my goodness has she done a lot of writing!!!
Then she will proof read it and maybe tweak an odd bit and then she will be able to call it done, for good. Wooohooo, go Lilly!!!!

Just Edna's Pineapple Blocks

Just Edna decided to make 4 cushions from her 16 x 9" Pineapple Blossom blocks... what a great idea! Each one has had a different border fabric stitched on, making them exactly the same... and a bit different to boot... each cushion also has a secret and hidden zip added to it's back that co-ordinates perfectly too, a triumph! We will be tooting these very soon, I am sure.

Oh My Goodness, The Talent!!! Let's Toot...

First up, a fabulous and finished quilt from our very own, first prize award winning, Princess Jackie. Toot toot toot and toot-etty-toot-pip!! Firstly... I can't believe how little time it is since I told you that Jackie had started this project... It is beautiful, cute and funny-quirky. It's a lovely pattern from here, and Jackie has done it proud. Oh... let's toot just again.... toot toot

This customer came last week with the 3 parts ready to make a sandwich and now.... It is Fabulous and finished and ready for us to give it one of our fabulous fanfares... toot toot toot! So, I have to tell you something now... blowing my very own trumpet actually... the lady told me that it was my very own idea for her to use the pattern twice on the very same quilt... and I thought that it was she who was the genius!! ha ha ha

Another customer came to show us her Fabulous and Finished, grandson gifting quilt. We have made this quilt up as she's gone along... and she is very pleased with the result... she even has a plan to make a co-ordinating cushion with the left-over fabrics.... wonderful!... on the right road to getting back to patchwork and quilting... after giving it all up almost 9 years ago, Boom!!!

Stitching News

Di Butterfly has mastered the art of No Waste Flying Geese, have you tried this method yet? It is quite brilliant you know. The method has been re-written and You-Tubed by many people so others must agree. It's a regular tutorial in lots of magazines too. 

Norma came back from her jolly-hollies and wanted to make a second 'beginner' cushion... obviously you can't really be a beginner twice... once Norma got started she realised how much she had remembered from the first cushion and went home very pleased with her very own self!

Remember Dave? He got his very own Blog Post and caused many delighted ladies to email me... like a fan club! So the story continues here... Dave's Mum, Lena, came for her very own beginner class and decided to make a tote bag, rather than a cushion... she got both sides made and had a great morning.

Beth also saw Dave's cushion and so she booked her very own self in for an afternoon class, it was a quiet afternoon so she was able to advance very quickly... these are Beth's very own fabrics, not from my very own quilt shop... This week, after seeing Beth's cushion, her Mum will be joining us to make her very own first project... it's like a game of 'Tag'... I wonder who will be 'tagged for a turn' next?

Brenda Duck came for sandwich Saturday... she had a bit of a shock... as we got everything ready for pinning, the size of the quilt surprised Brenda... as we pinned it then moved the quilt over to pin the second half... she went all of a doo, ha ha ha... the full size was realized!!
"What was I thinking?" she exclaimed... ha ha ha