Blue?... Do You Love Blue?

So... On the week that we were due to travel to Westhope, you know... the place where we went for our wonderful stitching retreat... (I might have mentioned it before?) Anyway... that week, my big old jalopy of a vehicle broke down, reaching the point where it was going to cost more money to repair than it was worth so... we had to hire a car to take me and all my toys to Westhope... such a beautiful car came for me... I loved it and it fit all my stitching toys in easily, and there was a lot of stuff. 

When I returned from my retreat... for one reason and another... I decided that I would take matters into my own hands and I went car shopping with my, very car enthusiastic, eldest and only son... and yesterday...

My beautiful, Quilty Blue car arrived... Beautiful Blue I tell you....
To celebrate the arrival of my beautiful Blue car I am going to take one whole British pound off the 'per metre' price of any blue fabric in my wonderful, and very well stocked, Quilt Shop...
You will have to have read this to know about it though... and you will need to tell me that you love the colour of my new car!!! ha ha ha

Stitching News With Tooting

Sporty Sue, in between being very sporty indeed, has completed one quarter of her Trip Around The Batik World... of the sewing journey... not running variety. This quilt is going to have a punch of dramatic Wow me thinks!! Like I said... this is only one quarter so there are three more of these to make.

Speaking of WOW... Princess Jackie is ready for a toot toot fanfare for her fabulously-fabulous and finished, wall hanging sized, quilt... with Faux Piped Binding to finish it off perfectly. There's a lot of tiny detail and hand stitched embroidery embelishment in this project... and WOW is The right word!!

I'm not sure whether you know (ha ha ha!) we went to Westhope Collage for a wonderful long weekend retreat recently... I might have mentioned it? Maybe once or twice... While we were there, PM Pam was scrounging our scraps of fabric... now we know why... she made a Westhope Memory Cushion, a lembrancinha. 

PM Pam has made a start on festive stitching too.. after declaring there were only 25 Tuesdays until Christmas... click here to scare your very own self... Only 24 Tuesdays now Pam.... but you do have a fabulous festive finish so, toot toot toot

PM Pam again? Yes... another toot toot toot is required for Pam's fabulous and finished alphabet Kiddie Play Mat style of quilt... I hope you can see the quilting? If we shadow quilt around letters, lots of them are reversed on the back, so...

We had the cunning idea of quilting only guided by the numbers and letters... making funny/unusual shapes instead... doesn't it look great on the back? As is usual with lots of my very own lovely customers... Pam made good use of her left over fabrics toot toot toot Pam.

Fran Cupcake is ever so good at quirky work... Guided by her trusty Janet Clare book she made all of these blocks with a certain little lady in mind... all of her favourite things are in the blocks, just wonderful!... now ready for sandwiching so Fran can have fun quilting it.

Woop woop!!!! Gail had enough blocks to start joining them together!!
I think Gail thought the day would never come... ha ha ha. No trimming of blocks was necessary because Gail has made every block perfectly... she found that hard to believe but it is true!

Wise Words?

It's another Sunday Sewing. Patchwork Party today.
We get to stitch all, all, all day with friendly chatter and a few giggles, no doubt.
We have a lovely lady coming to prepare a fabulous lunch and we'll have cake!
 Woop-woop!... Sounds very retreat like doesn't it!!!
And so off I go... I need to pack and prepare!!

Another Advert For 10%

You might be tired of me saying this (?) but I really feel that I have to tell you, confess, once again... 
Lots more fabric arrived!!! 
and there's another shipment due in later today!!! I am finding myself hiding when I see a delivery van arrive!! 
I even got Carol to sign for the fabrics that arrived yesterday! 
I think I am in denial, ha!
I have had to fill up not only one 'Temptation Trolley', 
but TWO 'Temptation Trolleys'... Yes 2!
More Bitty Bolts (Bitty Bolts = bolts with only small amounts of fabric on them) have been found/created and placed on the "Temptation Tables"
So, even though we emptied a lot of bolts already, the 10% off for finishing a bolt has to continue for a few more days... 
No wonder I can't sleep!!!

Crumbs And Mile-A-Minute Workshop

Today I went out and about. PM Pam and I were invited to go to teach a workshop to a lovely group of quilters over in Market Drayton, Shropshire... It was a hot and sticky day really but that didn't dampen the fun. These are some of the scrappy blocks they made... Lots of the ladies didn't want to go home, they wanted to continue sewing so Pam and I left them to it. Thank you for the invite ladies, you were a fun bunch... lovely cake too!!

Quilty Quarters

Actually the picture was taken just outside the window of Quilty Quarters... which was wide open to stop me from melting!!  Can you see me in the shadow? What a beautiful weather weekend!! And we will continue to slowly melt for a few more days yet... fabulous! So, my Hidden Wells quilt borders are all on and finished for now... I have a plan for a further border but the scrappy quilt I was working on before will have it's borders stitched first... then if I have had enough of applique after that... this quilt won't be finished with plan A but finished with plan B... ha! Pleasing my very own self again!!! The picture doesn't show quite how bright this project is... the colours are all vibrant really... Alison Glass fabric plays beautifully with Art Gallery Fabrics!!!

I had more fabric delivered to my very own quilt shop... We are loving these alphabet panels with their co-ordination fabrics... all with lower case letters!!! As requested many times...

Q is for quilt!

Woof!!

More of the Scandi Advent panels came, I ran out you know!!! Nothing like a bit of festive stitching while you slowly melt!

2 of my customers have upgrades their sewing machines to the wonderful Juki DX7 so they are looking to sell their Janome sewing machines This one at £175.00 would be perfect sewing machine for anyone just starting out. It does and has everything you need... even the extended sewing table... As does the 607 model which is also for sale.

Stitching News, With Tooting

Queen Jacquie is first up with a totally toot-toot-able, fabulous and finished project. She attended a workshop recently to get this started. At 26"-28" a fabulous and luxurious cushion! Setting blocks 'On Point' always makes thing larger than planned, especially in this case... but it looks so good!!

Princess Jackie finished her fabulous and quirky Under The Sea quilt... beautiful bright colours, expertly appliqued. It's a Fishy Fishy Fishy quilt pattern from The Red Boot Quilt Company though Jackie omitted some of the original designs to keep control of the size. PMS... gotta love a bit of Pleasing My Self!!

Lots of people have been learning the No-Waste Flying Geese method in the classroom... such an impressive method and easier than easy!! So Jackie wanted to try too... A fabulous backing was created!!... Toot toot toot Jackie... another amazing quilt!

New Sue announced the finish of this cushion... very happily. She reminded us that it was started a very long time ago... sometimes, real life gets in the way of our productivity and we just have to 'go with the flow'... I think she is back on track now... so we give our Toot toot toot fanfare for this fabulous and finished cushion... with hand quilting to boot!

PM Pam spent her morning quilting... she usually sits near the window during her classes and if/when that sun decides to shine, it's a little warm over there... especially with a large alphabet quilt draped over your very own self! So, by way of a change in the afternoon and to learn how to free-piece letters, Pam made this festive treat!

New Sue declared that it is taking her longer to make this little Doll Bed quilt than it takes her to make a full sized kiddy quilt... and I believe her!! but it is going to be a very lovely little bed for that dolly.

I've had notification (warning!) of more fabric deliveries, including Batiks, one small box is due today actually... not to mention 2 more rolls of 120" wide wadding, more rolls of Bosal In R Form, and a new Juki DX7 sewing machine for a lovely customer... also due in today... I have no idea where I will put it all... and I will not worry about that now... it's too late!
BUT... I am going to continue to take 10% off the price of your fabric piece if you empty an entire bolt for me. 
I have filled the terrific trolleys with 'bitty bolts' for you, including lots of Christmas/festive designs, so you can easily find bolts with not much fabric on them... but the offer does include all of the fabrics in the shop.

Kids Quilt Patterns have 25% off the marked price... and there are loads to choose from.
All Lazy Girl bag patterns (my favourite bag patterns) have been reduced in price, substantially... because the warehouse had a clear out and I scooped them all up!!
And... just because I can (and I have to!) my Temptation Trolley has been filled up with very tempting temptation!! fabrics starting at £5.00 per metre in fact.

It's very warm and sunny here in the Staffordshire Moorlands so you gardeners will be happy!!... Have I tempted you enough to come shopping for fabric and patterns??
Have a lovely day what ever you do... won't you...

Lovely New Fabrics...

Stitching News

Monday Sheila's wall hanging... Wow is it bright and happy...
We love seeing the same project made in different colour choices... When Sheila was in the process of choosing her fabrics, right at the background piecing stage, she wasn't sure about that bright green... But now? She loves it... we all love it! Toot toot toot Sheila, it's a fabulous finish.

Farmer Lynda all but finished her lovely Lap Quilt... We can't quite toot for it yet though as it's not technically finished... The crusts were trimmed and the binding was stitched on to the front... but Lynda decided to do the hand stitching at home and moved swiftly on to making her next masterpiece. 

All Day Di was super chuffed with her border fabric choice... it was stitched on lick-etty-split as she realised there would be enough space to make her quilt sandwich... we had a cunning plan... it's an 'open sandwich' as there's no backing fabric yet.... Di is going to quilt around the letters first, then we will pin it to a backing... that way the letters won't be reversed on the back! How smart are we???

Woopwoop.... Brenda Barbara finished all sixteen of her 6" beautiful Batik Pineapple Blossom blocks and just about had time to sew them all together, it's scrumptious isn't it! Brenda is making a large cushion for gifting so there's a sandwich and a bit of quilting to be done next

Only a few ladies came for Friday Quilt Club last week, so we were able to allow PM Pam to pop over and use a few tables to make her gifting quilt sandwich... This quilt needs to finished lick-etty-split as baby is coming very soon. You know we will do anything to keep you stitching!!! Our customer service is fantastic!!! Did you know??

Our Westhope Retreat is now a distant memory... two weeks have passed already and we are now talking about the next year's retreat, 2018!!
This year the ladies got together to make up a fabulous gifting hamper of goodies for me, to thank me for organising the retreat... Fran Cupcake made this wonderful little bag for me in one of my favourite fabrics, Thank you ladies and especially Fran Cupcake... and yes, I do still have some of that fabric in my very own shop... It's a very quirky-bright-fun-favourite fabric isn't it.

Crumbs & Mile-A-Minute Workshop

No scrap too small... what a fun workshop!

It's definitely a messy play day!!!
We will schedule another Crumbs and Mile-A-Minute workshop...
They very well might just be my favourite workshops!
Except that no-one buys fabric!!! ha ha ha

Here We Go Again... Updated!

I am in another shelf space pickle!!!
I've gone and done it very well this time.
New fabrics have arrived, more fabrics are due in on Friday, including Batiks!
I've already got the terrific trolleys full, they are all over the shop"Trip Risks!!"
I could cancel classes and used the tables for displaying the new fabrics but, and I'm just guessing... I would not be popular!!! 

I do love having too much fabric for you all to choose from... but, once again, I have no choice... 
Starting tomorrow, until panic sets in (and you know it does panic me when we sell too much fabric!!)  
Empty a bolt and I will take off 10% from the cost of your fabric piece.
There are quite a few bolts with very little fabric on them, especially blue fabrics, you could bag-a-bargain!!
AND
There is still time to purchase Kids Quilts Patterns with a saving of 25%

Oh dear... I need to go lie down in a dark room now !

Update...
I knew I would start to panic... 
Yesterday I had to give 10% discount on many many bolt ends, thank you for that it really helps my shelf space pickle... 
but... 
Since when did 4- 6 metres class as a Bitty Bolt?? Customers shouldn't finish my beautiful,larger bolts just because they want to... should they?... And they smile as they watch me grimace!!! But they took me at my word and made me sell it to them... and now I ran out of some of my favourites... oh, ohhh
We are doing it again today... 
Where's that dark room??

Stitching News

 Lets start with a few finished projects...

Krafty Karen's up first... made in two separate halves and joined after all the quilting was done... but you probably can't see the joins... which is the plan. It's Karen's favourite method... a great way to make larger projects, and now, it's a fabulous and finished totally-toot-able quilt...Toot toot toot Karen!

Jean Bean has a fabulous and finished quilt too. Baby is already in our world so it's just as well. Note the great borders... floating squares on point... saves a lot of tricky joint matching... I hope you noted Jean's Faux Piped Binding... some people on t'internet are calling it Magic Binding.

A quirky backing too... I do love a quirky backing don't you?
The quilt is mostly made with scrumptious Art Gallery fabrics
Toot toot toot Jean Bean... a rare and fabulous finished quilt.

New Sue made this fabulous and finished project. She was stitching it on our recent Westhope Retreat. The fabric is a Moda Linen blend with cotton and it is very luxurious to touch and to work with. The back has a covered zip. Toot toot toot Sue, it is truly lovely.

I think you can guess who this project belongs to?
Princess Jackie made this quilt sandwich at Westhope... there are many rooms with many tables there so it was a perfect opportunity ... it's another fantastic, colourful kiddy quilt.

Rose also worked on this fabulous quilt at Westhope and continued on Tuesday... aren't those little Prairie Points wonderful!!!  I think they tie the whole thing together wonderfully... Clever Mr. Black! Clever Rose!

Princess Jackie spent her day quilting this intricate floral wall hanging... boy this lady had a lot of patience... such detail and every bit will be quilted around! I know.... ! Not sure I could stay calm enough to do all of that!

I'm out of time as I better get down to my very own shop... I have deliveries due today... oh dear!