Will You Be Sewing?

Love it or loath it, it's happening! Sewing Prevention Season has already started. Are you packing up your sewing paraphernalia to make room for guests?

With only 3 weeks now until Our Merry Quiltmas Sewing Retreat, I feel quite relieved, and lucky, not to be joining the crowds in the shops. I do love a humbug though!

There are 4 spaces available on the Merry Quiltmas Retreat.

I know it's a bit last minute, sometimes you just need to grab that opportunity.

If you would like to join us, the offer is there.

Payment would need to be made in full on booking.

I'm hoping to organize another Merry Quiltmas retreat for the next Sewing Prevention Season too, planning 2026!!

I'd love to know whether you would be interested in that. Consider it Market Research xx

This is our Christmas Day Lunch Menu, just to tempt you.

Stitching News

 That's it then folks, December!! Sewing Prevention Season has crept up on us all. Classes are busy, my shop sounds like a little sewing factory with all the machines stitching away, it's a lovely noise!
A few sandwiches have been made, quite large ones. 

 This pattern is called Notting Hill, from Cotton Street Commons. Diane's very much enjoyed making it. With her left over fabrics she's decided to make matching cushions. Di is already quilting the cushions. She decided to stitch them first, the quilt will probably be quilted during our Merry Quiltmas Sewing Retreat.

Josie's sandwich. Everyone who has made this quilt has chosen quite different fabrics and colour themes, and they all look fabulous don't they. There are quite a few Tilda fabrics in Josie's quilt too. She's going to start the quilting in her next class.

Christabelle has stopped all production on her other quilts to get this one made and finished first. Is't it fabulous. Lots of bright colours, perfect for the little fellow it's being made for. The pattern is from the book Happy Quilts by Antonie Alexander. Such a lot of lovely patterns in the book.

Rose finished this quilt top and spent a few minutes Stay-Stitching around the edges. An important thing to do when there are lots of seams on the edges. If you don't do it, the seams might (and usually do) start to undo as the quilt is being handled, pushing and pulling it through the sewing machine hole, while quilting it.

Ann is ready for her first Toot Toot Toot fanfare for this fabulous and finished quilt. Ann has an embroidery machine which she used to stitch the lions head in the bottom right corner, very clever. She already started to make another quilt with the same design, but in a different colour theme. 

Considering that I've declared many times that I am NOT purchasing ANY more fabrics in my shop, it won't surprise you to know that over 40 new bolts have been delivered in the last 2 weeks, what am I like. Don't answer that!

My shop will be open as normal for the next few weeks, right until the very last day which is Saturday 20th December. 
If anything unplanned crops up I will let you know. 

There are still 4 places available on Our Christmas Sewing Retreat if your plans have changed and you decide to join us, payment will need to be made in full. There's no time for taking deposits now. It's packing time!!!

Am I driving You Nuts?

It's a very brief post, just to remind you about our
Sewing Prevention Season antidote and tonic!
I don't mean to pester you all about this, not really.
No-one will be preventing us from sewing this year!
There's still time to treat yourself.
BUT now there are only 5 weeks left to plan your projects.

I have 4 places remaining for this Quiltmas Retreat.

You can email me with any question angiequilts@gmail.com

Also, please remember that my shop will not be open on Saturday 22nd November.

Stitching News

I have actually managed to collect a few photos. I really must get back into the habit of taking pictures, I think I talk too much, then I just forget, nothing new there. Classes are really busy at the moment. New victims have been coming to learn this wonderful craft of Patchwork & Quilting, and fabric collecting, which goes along side doesn't it.

I'm a bit late showing you this lovely project. It's Christabelle's and she made into a gifting cushion. The photo got hidden in my phone and popped up just this morning. It's one of the free patterns gifted to you on the Tilda's world website. There are so many to choose from, you will have to have a scroll through the catalogue. It's called Kimono Girl and is a PDF

I had a Sandwich Saturday, on a Friday again! Princess Jackie came, eager to get her sandwich done as it needs to be quilted and finished in good time to be gifted for Christmas . Jackie hasn't stuck to the original pattern though. She has used all the sizing but she's chosen to replace a lot of the blocks with more intricate blocks, because she wanted to and because she can!! It's still very obviously the Boho Heart though.

Merlot came to choose backing fabric ready for sandwiching this wonderful Monster quilt top. Doesn't it look great fun with her fabric choices. Most of which were already in Louise's home stash. I doubt this project even put a dent in it, ha!

Christabelle is ready for your trumpets to be polished. In the original pattern this quilt didn't have any sashing but, pleasing her very own self, Chris decided she wanted sashing and tiny little corner stones, so add them she did. It looks really good. With the addition of the Faux Piped Binding we can give a huge fanfare for Chris's fabulous and finished quilt toot toot toot 

Mary was so very pleased to have finished quilting her King Sized quilt, it was a monster! She was delighted to be able to start a new, much smaller project. She's never tackled applique before but, I think it is fair to say, she is smitten. From tracing the shapes and understanding about the order of things, gluing, placing the shapes, carefully pressing and to the blanket stitching, all of it, she loved it.

With such awful weather, I hope you didn't get too much damage in the storm, I had chance to do a bit of quilting on this, my Colourful Black quilt. I'm going to need a lint roller when it's finished. Can you see all the fluffy bits of wadding on the black fabric, like peach fuzz?

It's fewer than 6 weeks to go until sewing prevention season kicks into gear. 

I do still have a few places available on the Quiltmas Sewing Retreat, which I am ever so excited about. I have, I think, decided on one project to take, more on that later, plus I might change my mind, because I can!

Toot Toot Toot For Me!

 During our March retreat, at Lickey Hills, I completed all of these 6" blocks, over 130 of them actually. I had cut all the pieces and put them into little 'block kits' ahead of time, so it was just a great and quite mindless, sewing project to do while being entertained by everything else going on at the retreat. Mostly talking!

I took my time finger pressing all the seams in the right directions so that I could twiddle the middles. Do you Twiddle your middles? No-one will ever see this in the finished quilt, But I will know! The blocks were put on one side when I got home, waiting for their turn in my project queue. 

The book had the blocks set on-point, like this and I liked a lot, in the book. 

But I didn't like this setting in my choice of fabrics. I can't explain why, it just didn't please me, and you know I like to Please My Very Own Self.

So I played with the blocks and decided I preferred this setting, straight and smart.

I love my design wall for this very purpose. With my decision made,

it was time to sew them all together. Continuing to Twiddle My Middles so it all lay good and flat.

The left side all sewn up first. 

4 blocks by 12 blocks

Almost half way done! 

By this time it was July, I made the sandwich on my classroom tables. 

A perk that's very handy! I pinned in a 6 inch grid, just following all the block junctions. And then my sandwich sat on my sofa, waiting. And a bit more waiting.

The day before the last retreat in October, the wonderful one at Hawkstone park, I had prepared all my stuff:- Juki machine, sewing projects, crochet project, favourite sewing chair, toothbrush and clean knickers. Then, with the weather being so lovely and mild, I was able to pack it all into my car the night before we left. I don't usually do that as I don't want my machine getting cold. The problem was, I'm so used to packing on the morning we leave that I felt I had forgotten something.  So I started packing some 'Just In Case' stuff. I bet that's not news to you.

It turned out to be a great decision. I took my sandwich to quilt. I Quilted it from 9am through to 9pm for three whole days, and a bit of the last day, stopping only for refreshments, meals and, of course, loo breaks. I was surprised how long it took but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. 

Then, at the last Checkley Sunday Funday, I got the binding sewn on. 

So, Trumpets up?

Toot toot toot, I have my fabulous and finally finished quilt to show you. 

I've already gifted it to my lad, that's him holding it up for my photo. Luckily, he loves it!

Stitching News

November!!! A calendar quilt from the Art To Heart book, Count On It. A fabulous pattern book. I thoroughly enjoyed making all of them. Mine were made quite a while ago now and still I love changing the little quilts each month, displayed in my lovely quilt shop.

But blimey, how did November happen? It's always a shock to my very good self when they make us change the clocks. If I was an Apple Cart, I would be well and truly upset, ha! Home life is so very busy at the moment. I reached one of those, "Stop the world, I need to get off" times. Going on the sewing retreats and thoroughly enjoying the freedom of time, has taught me a lot. This is not a dress rehearsal, you only got the one life, enjoy it! 

I haven't taken many photos in the classroom. I've been kept busy helping the ladies produce fabulous work. Going with the flow. There are some lovely quilts being made. Some are quite challenging too. Hopefully we will be tooting some of them soon.

For now though...

 Foundation Paper Piecing creates lovely pointy-points. 

Deb came to try it. I had quite a few top tips to share making it a bit easier. Not everyone enjoys Foundation Paper Piecing, it's like Marmite!  Deb took to it though and decided to make a couple of practice star blocks. which she made into cushions with covered, zipped backs.

Aren't they good! 

Toot toot toot for your fabulous and finished, Festive cushions, Deb.

Di finished this lovely quilt top during our October Sunday Sewday. She started it for our last retreat at Hawkstone Park and has thoroughly enjoyed working on it. She's making a few co-ordinating cushions now too. This is the pattern  it's called Notting Hill. A few more quilts with this design will be made soon as Di's project has inspired others to make it too.

I took delivery of the new Elizabeth Hartman quilt pattern in my shop last week and Pam was first to purchase one. She was very excited to get started. She returned home and cut out all the fabrics so that she could stitch the first block at Checkley, which she did.

Our Norma has been working on this project for a while. It's from the book Material Obsession, which is only available as a used copy these days. Well worth the investment though. There are lots of HST (half square triangles) needed for the sashing on this particular design, which has driven Norma nuts!!

I finished my crocheted blanket. It's 1 metre by 1.20. 

I'm surprised how heavy it is. 

Toot toot toot to me!

I have finished another quilt, one of the black ones. I'll post about that next time. 

Those of us going to the Quiltmas Sewing Retreat (for sewing prevention season) are already plotting and planning our stitchery happiness. Did I mention how much I enjoy a sewing retreat?

Another Retreat Is Planned

                A Merry Quiltmas

Sewing Retreat

4 days of uninterrupted sewing time

in the company of like-minded folk

24^th to 27^th December

At Hawkstone Park Hotel, Shrewsbury

Cost per person £495

£70 non-refundable deposit, payable on booking.

To include a lovely menu of: -

Festive Fayre on Christmas Eve

Christmas Day Lunch, with all the trimmings

Normal menu for 26^th & 27^th

En-Suite, Double Rooms, no need to share.

Unlimited use of a lovely, light sewing room

 Hot drinks & bottled water

Full Breakfast Buffet

 Light lunch (except Christmas lunch)

& 3-Course Evening Menu.

Contact Angie for further information or to book.

Catching Up

Already it's time to tell you that my shop will be closed next week as we will be going on yet another Quilting/Sewing retreat on Monday 6th October. My shop will be open again on Saturday 11th and back to normal for a while. The shop is buzzing with folk making plans for all the projects they will be working on. Even though they know, very well, that they are taking way to many, me included! 
I contacted the hotel this morning to confirm numbers and discovered that there are still a few rooms available, so if you have been pondering on the idea of joining us, it's not too late. 

My shop and classroom have been ticking along very nicely and I have a few photos to share with you...

This is Bev's lovely bright and happy project.
We had to make the sandwich in two stages as there weren't enough spare tables. 

She couldn't wait to start the quilting.

This is a new project for Our Pam. She planned to take it as her retreat project and decided to make a start before we go. After making these blocks, Pam concluded that it's too fiddly and she would need to concentrate on it, so she's starting another project now and leaving this one at home! You are not surprised are you?

Cheryl Cheryl started a new project. She had enjoyed the Foundation Paper Piecing while making her New York Beauty quilt so she and Deb decided to work on this new project together

This is Deb's block taking shape very nicely. She hadn't tried Foundation Paper Piecing before so it was a good opportunity for me to share a few top tips, I like doing that!

This is Rose's finished gifting quilt. 

Fabulous and finished Toot toot toot

Look at the back, it's splendid!

This is Rose's favourite baby gifting design.

Jean Bean came to use my tables for laying out the blocks of her Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope blocks, she wanted a good spread of the colours. This fun method of stacking and whacking the fabrics is so satisfying

Once the layout was chosen we put all the setting triangles and sashing in situ .

Wowsers this is going to be an amazing quilt. 

My Wild Flowers Grow Free quilt is finished!! Toot toot toot, this picture was taken before I had the binding attached but I promise you it is actually finished now. I had made the sandwich in May of 2024 then put it to one side, a dangerous manoeuvre!

I found my cutting table!! It's been missing for months, ha!

It didn't even take long to put everything where it should be, why do we do that?

There's been great progress on my crocheting too.

Stitching News

My shop will be opening with normal hours now for a few weeks. By now, you must be getting used to my quilting life with lots of retreats while practicing for my retirement? That's what I'm doing, practicing for my retirement. Don't hold your breath though, it will be a while yet.

        ********************

Sewing Retreat October 2025
Hawkstone Park Hotel, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 5UY
The hotel is set within a Golf Course, quite lovely.

Arriving Monday 6^th from 10:30 am until late-ish afternoon on Thursday 9th

The total cost is £485.00 (£70.00, non-refundable deposit is included) 

The retreat includes Single occupancy accommodation, unless you prefer to share.
Full Breakfast menu, 7.30am - 9.30am
Lunches @ 12.30pm & 3 course dinners served @ at 6 pm 
Tea and coffee, biscuits & bottled water and there is, of course, a bar.

There are no restrictions to hours of sewing. If you can sew for 24 hours, go for it!

Please feel free to tell your sewing chums, so long as they are independent workers.
This is a 'Sew your own thing' relaxed retreat.
You don't have to be a quilter to join us, any sewing is just fine.

          ********************

Lesley came to refresh her patchwork and quilting skills. She had made a few things in the past but work took over so she wasn't left with enough time to continue her quilting. She's retired!! And is very happily back with us on the wonderful dark side! A beginner cushion is a perfect refresher project

She went home with a lovely, quilted cushion, complete with a flap-covered zip. 

Fabulous and finished, toot toot toot. Welcome back Lesley.

A Wonderful Retreat

We enjoyed another great retreat at the Hillscourt Hotel. They looked after us very well and we got on with our stitching. It's as simple as that, insert a very big smile! We set up our machines and projects, discussed all manner of things that had happened during our retreat prep and the journey over. Someone always gets lost but we won't talk about the M6 Toll Road any more. After a couple of hours sewing we all went for lunch so I snapped a photo of our sewing space... Lots of space with excellent lighting.

It all looks very tidy and organised here but by the last day we had covered the area and all of the tables in fabrics and sewing projects. Our supplies were very well spread out, as we always do, " Have space, will spread and fill!" The room had a few design walls this time, they were very useful. My intention was to take a few more pictures as the days went by, but I forgot. 

I remember telling you that I had been knitting. I got this far with the jumper then stopped because I don't like the sewing up part.

Day one of my sewing retreat was spent sewing the jumper parts together. 

I'm very pleased with it and I'm hoping it fits Faye.

Sewing, is sewing! It is a fabulous and finished project too.

The rest of my retreat time was spent making up these blocks. I only need 20 in total and I have 7 completed. All the units are made up and triangles have been cut ready, so it's really just the sewing them together, but I do like pointy-points to be very accurate, so it takes time. I think two more retreats should see them all finished. I'm in no rush.

I've just noticed the Jumper co-ordinates very well with my design wall!!

***************************

Right... with all this talk of sewing retreats, I should remind you that our next one still has a few places, should you be interested? The details are:-

Sewing Retreat October 2025
Hawkstone Park Hotel, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 5UY
The hotel is set within a Golf Course, quite lovely.

Arriving Monday 6^th from 10:30 am until late-ish afternoon on Thursday 9th

The total cost is £485.00 with a £70.00, non-refundable deposit when you book. 
We have started to collect the full amount now though.

The retreat includes Single occupancy accommodation, unless you prefer to share.
Full Breakfast menu, 7.30am - 9.30am
Lunches @ 12.30pm & 3 course dinners served @ at 6 pm 
Tea and coffee, biscuits & bottled water and there is, of course, a bar.

There are no restrictions to hours of sewing. If you can sew for 24 hours, go for it!

Please feel free to tell your sewing chums, so long as they are independent workers.
This is a 'Sew your own thing' relaxed retreat.
You don't have to be a quilter to join us, any sewing is just fine, especially little jumpers!

Catching Up

I seem to be doing that a lot lately don't I? Catching up. No apologies though, having fun is obviously disruptive. I'll try to get organised before the next retreat, which is only 5 weeks away, then I'll be back to square one and trying to catch up again. 
There are a few photos, so here goes: -

Christabelle came to make a lovely quilt sandwich. It was another Sandwich Saturday, on a Friday. This is a free pattern from Tildas World called Daydreamer. Not the easiest piecing you will ever encounter, it says on the pattern "Difficulty rating *** " but Chris is always up for a challenge, it paid off didn't it.

Sharon Leek finished her Stained glass Window quilt. It's been on her 'To Doo' list for a while and she is super chuffed with it. What a lovely bright projects it is. Those beautiful Batiks are perfect against the black sashing. Sharon quilted this during our July retreat. Toot toot toot, it's  totally toot-able, fabulous and, best of all, finished! Though she might very well add a bit more quilting.

A requested workshop.
A few ladies wanted to learn about triangles and, if there was time, a bit of applique, so I booked them in on a Friday, that's what Fridays in my classroom are for at the moment, special requests and sandwich Saturdays. Lots of top tips were noted whilst all sorts of making triangle methods were practiced. From the simple and traditional way of cutting squares in half and sewing them together, to lots of other ways we've learned over the years. People are very clever thinking up different ways of achieving the same thing, like the No Waste Flying Geese (this one is my favourite method)

 Here are a few of their results, all in blue fabrics from my home stash. One day they will run out!

I think the ladies enjoyed the workshop. They went home looking happy, and tired!

You'll be thinking that you've seen this sandwich before, and you have. It belonged to Princess Jackie. She had done quite a lot of quilting on the original sandwich but she wasn't happy with it. It was riding and not staying put. So, she un-stitched it all and came to a Sandwich Saturday, yes... on Friday! to remake her hexagon sandwich. This time Jackie will quilt with Big Stitch quilting, by hand, using Perle Cotton #8. It will be beautiful and it will keep her knees warm while she stitches!