Stitching News

Fiona's new table runner... Beautiful Batik Hour Glass blocks surrounded by beautiful Batik Flying Geese and the half inch finished inner border of... beautiful Batik fabric... It's going to be a totally Batik Beauty... so it is!

A few weeks ago, when this Art Gallery fabric was delivered (the border print) Enid was with us in class. She declared that just she had to have some of it as she thought it 'Truly Beautiful'  (I've been watching Poldark so I have! ha ha ha) The sandwich was made and the quilting began, so it did!

Brenda Barbara loved her Pineapple Blossom cushion so much... it had been made for gifting, and gift it she did, so she did. Now, Brenda decided the loss was too great, so it was... So she has now embarked on another Pineapple mission... 3 blocks done, 21 to go.

Everyone seems to have gone off on their Jolly Holidays... or doing grand-parent duties with the schools on summer break. Did I say summer? Yes, and it's a pretty darn, cold and wet one so far!
I do hope you are finding a little time to stitch in between all the kiddo chores!

Sue's Tote Bag Workshop

Terrific Tote Bags... 

Don't you love seeing all the different fabric choices?

Another great and very successful workshop.  Thank You Sue.
There will be another Terrific Tote Workshop on Saturday November 11th.

Stitching News

Norma's Hidden Wells quilt progress... once she had finished sewing all the blocks together she laid her lovely quilt top on her bed to see how it looked, good plan... She thought it looked a bit long but loved the way it went up, over the pillow, good... Then decided she wanted to make it quite a bit wider by adding borders only to the longer sides... which she did on Monday afternoon.. and was happy with the result.

So, the funny thing is... Lady Judith had done the very same thing! Both ladies had continued to join their blocks together without watching the shape they were making. The blocks would have made a slightly wider and shorter quilt top if they had 'used their noggin' but you know what... it doesn't matter now, we had a good laugh about it then got on with it... Judith is going to make another 'long' quilt then join the two together to make another "Never Again" large quilt.

Julia's first quilt top made with a Jelly Roll from Moda. She booked a class to see "What to do next"? This is allowed in my very own classroom. Some people love to sew at home and just occasionally need a little guidance... We do that, 'Guidance', if we can! Julia went home with a quilt sandwich and top tips on walking foot quilting.

Rose has been quilting away on this lovely project for weeks and hours... the last stitch was done in Tuesday class. Crusts  were trimmed off and the binding stitched to the front. So, time to sew in all of her thread ends... A great surprise was discovered when Rose looked to the back, she saw the quilted dogs had carefully landed their very own selves right in the middle of squares on the back... She couldnt have planned it!!

Jean Bean finished this fabulous quilt and as a finish we can give out a toot toot toot fanfare! It's one of the fastest finished ever for Jean Bean. There's a reason for that... This beautiful quilt will be given to the London Modern Quilters who have been making and collecting quilts for the Grenfell Tower survivors... such a tragedy...

The label Jean stitched on says it all really... 

and now...
Just a few pictures of some of the new fabrics that have been flooding through my shop door during the last few days...
Just when I had found a place for every bolt which arrived with the last avalaunch of fabric, the delivery men did it again....
Who is ordering all this fabric???

Our Sunday Sewing Patchwork Party

We had an absolutely fabulous day in Checkley Village Hall for our Sunday Sewing Patchwork Party. There are loads of tables so we all had extra space if we needed it. The light is brilliant. Ample parking very close to the doors too. Oh, and I cannot tell you how wonderful the food was... did I mention that we had catering included for this event?... we even had freshly cooked breakfast pastries!  Thank you Sally and Judith for all the hard work, it was fabulous. Your quiches were divine!

My day was spent stitching more of these 22" Jelly Strip Roll blocks. Only two more blocks to make up, I ran out of fabrics but it was just at the end of our wonderful day so I didn't mind at all. Now that I know the pattern works I will share the link with you... it's here .

16 quilters came to play... see all the space!
See the perfect light too. It is a truly great venue...
There's a stage... we could make good use that in the future, hmmm

A view from a different angle... looking toward catering corner!
I have provisionally booked Checkley Village Hall for two further Sunday Sewing Patchwork Parties... one for Sunday 10th September and one in November. More details later

I could go to put my feet up... but there are such a lot of chores need doing..., so I am off down to Quilty Quarters... to heck with the chores!! ha ha ha

I Got This Far...

In between offering fabulous customer service all day yesterday, I managed to work on the brilliant idea... 4 Blocks done. 

I doubt it is going to be finished today though... It's going to be a huge quilt, with 22" blocks... well, that's if I decide to use up all the fabric I cut... I cut way too blooming much background fabric... ha!

What On Earth Am I doing?

It's not like I don't have enough projects on the go at the moment.
There are the two large quilts that I decided to give applique borders for a start! The Hidden Wells one and the small, scrappy quilt that morphed into a giant. Applique is a slow process for me too...
But I found a very interesting Jelly Strip Roll tutorial on YouTube, it looked very easy and rather stunning so I wanted to have a go, as you do...
Friday Quilt Club was quiet this week with only 2 ladies booked for the day and all the Fat Quarters are sorted out so I thought, as I was at the shop by 8am (early birding!)
"Hey, maybe I could have a look at this Youtube project..."

The tutorial called for 36 of the 42 strips of a Jelly Strip Roll to be sorted out into 3 sets of 12 strips. I don't have a Jelly Strip Roll... so I decided to make my own... I chose the fabrics from the shelves in my fabulous, and very well stocked, quilt shop.... To make this project fabric economical, I cut three strips from each fabric so that's 20 cm of each of 12... total 39?

 I obviously can't count to 12 as I chose and cut 13 fabrics (unlucky?) hey ho. Each set of three has to be sub-cut into certain sizes so I started that too. I only got one strip set prepared though as I was playing shop at the very same time... and chatting with Sporty Sue who was helping and encouraging and... interfering! Maybe she counted to 13? ha ha ha

I needed a background and an accent fabric, which was black in my original plan... The tutorial called for a light, plain background fabric... You know me... This very patterned green was a perfect co-ordinator and the Plum? I decided I didn't want black! So then the shop got even busier, I pride my very own self on customer service so I stopped playing with my very own fabrics to help those wonderful ladies choose their very own fabrics. 

It's looking like a quiet day in the classroom today too and hasn't everyone gone on holiday? According to the news they all went yesterday! ha ha ha... and tomorrow is a Sunday Sewing Patchwork Party so, I might just do a little stitching on this great new project. Sporty Sue wants to see a picture of the finished quilt top on Sunday night? Let's see... though it is doubtful eh.

This is what Sporty Sue is playing with, Trip Around The World. Wow did she choose great fabrics... mostly beautiful Batiks... Two quarters done and two more well on the way to completion. Sue's going to put strips up the middles too. I wonder whether she will finish stripping and tripping by Sunday night and send me a photo? Sue?

Stitching News

PM Pam used some of her left over beautiful Batik fabrics to make this fabulous and finished... and co-ordinating... cushion, toot toot toot... Actually it turned into a very good idea as Pam was able to practice how she thought she wanted to quilt the main quilt before committing to it....  it was a perfect design.

As we always encourage, a lovely cushion backing with the very simple method of putting in a hidden zip. It stops the cushion stuffer from popping out like a toddlers tummy when the pajamas are too small! ha ha ha

And this is PM Pam, on the very hot Tuesday, sitting at a table with the sun filled widow behind her as she slowly melted whilst quilting the main, and quite large, quilt... nothing like a large quilt to help you melt on a super hot and sticky day!
This 150 year old lady has stamina!!

Now, don't tell Princess Jackie that I showed you these next two pictures.
Are they just fabulous or what?
The pattern is Spring Bouquet by Laundry Basket Quilts

I thought it amusing when Jackie said that she was doing all the green thread applique first because she wanted to save all the bright colours to last... and that she reeeeeaalllly wants to stitch the pinks! ha ha ha

Krafty Karen, soon to be passing the 100 year age hurdle!!! Has decided to dable in applique. She's starting with one of our hot bargain patterns from Kids Quilts. First job was to decide which sticky stuff she wanted to use.... dilemma time.

Our Rose was also quilting... but not being perched in the window she didn't quite melt as well as our Pam. What a fabulous, bright and fun design this quilt is... I bet we will be tooting it very soon. Don't you love those extremely tactile little black Prairie Pointy bits?

New Sue also started a new project... I think the book is called Eye Catching Quilts and it's full of great quilt ideas. Sue made quite a pile of these luscious leaves with their super slender stalks... These are the easiest leaves of the three different designs she says.

Now then... Gail is making just a few more blocks...
Is that a total of 200? she's getting a little bit of stick from her colleagues over the length of time Gail has been making them, but it doesn't really matter does it?
It will be done, when it is done.
This quilt will be amazing, soon... very soon!

Stitching News

Starting off with a loud tooting fanfare for this fabulous and finished quilt made by Norma... She made it for gifting to a lady who loves green... and it is green... lovely and fresh with the addition of the white fabric. toot toot toot Norma.

Lou Lou saw Queen Jacqui's Advent Quilt at our Sunday Sewing Patchwork Party last month and couldn't wait to get the book to make one for her very own self... she's made a great start and is learning lots as she goes.

Norma is working on her Hidden Wells quilt in between all the other things she is sewing... and that is a long list! You know how exciting it is to start a new project don't you! Poor Norma can't sew fast enough for all of her ideas

Lots of customers are waiting for the workshop list to be updated.
I must apologise for the delay with that... I can't get my head around all the planning.
A few workshops have been added and I will be putting a few more very soon.
So, one workshop added is Cathedral Windows. but The Monday ladies don't want to wait until September so they are learning how to make Cathedral Windows in Monday Class... this is Sheila's so far... good eh!

Zipped Cushion Back

Finally...
I wrote the tutorial that you have all been asking me for...
Click on the tab at the top of my blog and you will see how to get from...
3 pieces of fabric and a zip...

To this...
Have a go... it's easy!!

Sandwiches

Stitching News

 This applique design is one of the Kids Quilts patterns... The quilt was small so Monday Sheila had a great idea... She used one of our pre-cut square packs to make an Eye-Spy border... what a super idea... I wish I had thought of that!

Fran Cupcake finished her machine quilting so it was time to trim the crusts off ready for the binding to be done. Once that job is done, Fran will be adding more quilting and hand stitching and some wonderful embellishing... Fran loves to embellish

Princess Jackie, our First Prize winning applique-er, is at it again...
The most wonderful quilt blocks using mostly beautiful, bright Batik fabrics....
She's loving the new Hover foot in her new Juki DX7

Morning Josie held up her fabulous Hexagon quilt... It was a pattern in one of the British quilting magazines, I don't know which one though. This is the largest quilt Josie has tackled so far, she's doing a great job! Border decisions have been made.

Almost done... The binding needs to be hand stitched to the back, apparently, by the seaside in a caravan! but appart from that, totally toot-able.., All Day Di absolutely loves this project... It's been made for a very special little girl

A very special and very lucky little girl
It's fabulous on the back too.

Brenda Barbara finished her Pineapple Blossom Cushion.
It's a 24 inch work of art!! Brenda has inspired lots of ladies to make a 24" Pineapple Blossom cushion, all for their very own selves... and as this cushion was made for gifting, Brenda will be making another for her very own self! ha ha ha

Not a scrap of fabric left over
Such a fabulous cushion back...
Toot toot toot Brenda Barbara, it's a fabulous finish!