Angie Quilts

Jolly Jo's Quilt

2012-02-10T07:12:00.000Z

Jolly Jo made this Drunkards Path lap quilt top just after our workshop with Dawn Cameron-Dick back in October 2011... that's only 3-4 months ago but it feels so much longer with saying 'last year'... Jo was very much inspired by the invisible machine applique method so when she got home after the workshop she immediately started work on this. She had wanted to free motion quilt but when she started it wasn't suiting the idea she had in mind. At Quilt Cave we haven't seen this quilt for a few weeks, on Wednesday though, Jo brought it in finished.... WOW!

It's absolutely wonderful... with all the stitching she did and the coloured threads she used... I'm adding this photo of the back so you can see the design very much more clearly... there's a lot of quilting... doesn't it look great! Jo says she's very pleased with the way it turned out, and that's all that matters eh...

Caverswall Quilt Cave, part 1

2012-02-09T06:41:00.001Z

Joan The Shop gifted her purple quilt to Helen already and moved on to a new project. Not that she finished the one she started a few weeks ago, remember the chocolate fish? Joan likes to work on a few quilts at the same time... that's fine, some folk like it that way. I'm watching carefully as this quilt has been near the top of my 'To Do' list for a few months now. I gave a quick refresher demonstration of how to make multiple Half Square Triangle (HST) blocks at the same time, which will come in handy for Joan quite soon.

Lizi started her last set of Log Cabin blocks. First she had a query about her logs looking a little bit bent. I carefully scrutinised, measured and pondered... most of them I could not see at all and the odd veeeeeeery slightly bent log soon straightened up when the next log was added. Lizi is determined to have these quilt blocks turn out perfectly and she's succeeding, it's going to be a stunning quilt!

Last week, Jolly Jo had not really enjoyed using the starch and press your fingers method of turning the seams ready to be invisibly appliquéd. Table Top Shop had just taken delivery of a full display of Sewline items, one of which was the Sewline Glue Stick. Jo purchased one to try and was super impressed with it. She made great progress with the preparation of all the elements of her appliqué picture... she bought a glue stick refill, to be sure she didn't run out, and went home full of good intention!

Dotty Maureen now holds the Caverswall Quilt Cave record for making the smallest sandwich, she still took up two tables though, he he he. She seems to be enjoying making table runners and table mats of late. After seeing Annie Pie's twister project Dotty played around and made a set these, with only 4 small twisters... she will need to search for transparent plates so her guests can see how fabulous their table mat is!

Chatty Cathy is working her way through the blocks in Alex Anderson's beginner book. She wants to practice and perfect her cutting and piecing skills using up her scraps, before purchasing what she calls 'good' fabrics. The practice is paying off, this block was very successful. Cathy has a few projects in mind, in fact she has quite a long list!! who doesn't? We ordered her new sewing machine too... there'll be no stopping her once it arrives, Cathy will be able to sew with straight feeding feed-dogs... that's gotta help eh!

Annie Pie continued with her Chocolate theme. This is a Ten Minute Block of Chocolate quilt, ha ha ha. She's not calling it that, it's just something that I'm thinking ... but it's good eh, and Yummy! Annie will 'Cathedral-ly' turn the edges of those centre white chocolate bits to make them more curvy... with coffee coloured chocolate squares in the centre... is your mouth watering too?

We meet again on Friday 10th February... tomorrow! Please Please remember that you can bring your sewing machines (and any other portable appliance you care to have tested) The PAT Testing Man will be available between 11am and mid-day. £2 per machine, including the cable this time!

6:40am... Oh dear, I just watched the weather man give a local forecast... we might get snowed in over night! I'll have to keep an eye on that.

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2012-02-08T05:32:00.001Z

Lovely Lyn made a lamb sandwich! For the back she chose some fabric with fun little cars in lots of colours so as to make the quilt double sided fun. Can you see the fabulous border fabric too? All tied together with the bright orange inner border. Lyn started to quilt using her darning foot and free motion quilting... she's shadowing the flock of sheep whilst thinking about the background design.

Lizzy brought in her two sandwiches and chose a rather gorgeous King Tut, Tone-on-Tone thread in a sort of mulled wine colour, it was perfect for today's job of quilting. Lizzy decided to stitch in the ditch, not ditch hopping as she's quite an expert by now, of the Churndash blocks and she will probably follow the sashing too. The borders will be quilted once the two halves have been stitched together... and there could quite possibly be a little free motion for the borders.
Marisabel and Messy Maureen escaped the camera so you will have to wait until next week to see what they are working on.

We meet again next Tuesday, 14th February 10am to 3pm... there won't be a lot of romancing but I bet there will be chocolate!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class, Jenni's Quilt.

2012-02-07T19:37:00.000Z

Jenni had been working on this red and cream quilt for quite a long time. She'd never allow me to help her, she used to say that if I did, she would finish it faster and so get to the quilting part, which she didn't really enjoy doing... though, once she got started on it, she was fine. Jenni was quite suddenly taken very poorly at the end of last year and has been diagnosed with an inoperable, advanced brain tumour.
She's still with us but extremely poorly, most of the quilting had been done and I finished quilting the stars over the weekend. Today at Quilt Class we started the morning gathered around the table to tie off all the threads... Jenni had left that job to be done last thing!... but it didn't take us long to sort them all out. At least Jenni will get to enjoy all her hard work, even if it's only for a short while. Her friend will deliver Jenni's quilt tomorrow, along with photo's of us all working for her... Jenni's sure to manage a smile when she sees what we've been up to.

Early Sue's Quilt

2012-02-07T06:06:00.003Z

Here's another beauty from a Caverswall Quilt Cave lady, quilted, bound and finished, well... just a label to add... This quilt belongs to Early Sue. She joined us a short while ago and made a Railfence lap quilt as a beginner project, of course she did, it's my favourite beginner project! Before finishing the Railfence, Sue started this quilt using shirt fabrics... making it up as she went along which means she's a quilt designer, wooohooo!! She left some of the shirt pockets in tact, I guess she will be hiding sweeties in them tee hee It has appliqué hearts, a pieced border and Faux Piped Binding... Sue learned a lot making this one! As usual my photo doesn't show it off all that well, the colours are very much more scrumptious than they look here. It's fabulous Sue, what's next?

My Mum, Gwynneth's Quilt

2012-02-06T08:14:00.001Z

My Mum, Gwynneth, made the Maple Leaf blocks in no time at all... it's a very easy block to piece, it's just squares and Half Square Triangles (HST's) plus that little stem block. Then came the sashing strips, that's where My Mum took the most time, carefully getting the colour strips evenly spread out, trying not to get dark areas or areas too bright... hasn't she done a great job!
She wanted a neutral border but needed the quilt to be quite a lot bigger. The wide cream border didn't look right... whilst pondering our options, I noticed a pile of left over sashing strips... as you can see, Mum sorted out the colours so that the greens run into the browns and on to the orange-y reds. The wide cream fabric was slashed, the colourful strip inserted and Bob's Your Uncle! (actually he's my brother but hey ho!) just a simple 1 inch strip of colour made so much difference... now the quilt is a perfect size and is ready for making into a sandwich... She booked tables for Wednesday!

Joan The Shop

2012-02-05T07:42:00.001Z

I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am... My Ladies are all so talented! The eye candy just keeps coming and it's all so very inspiring... I'm gushing with pride. Joan The Shop has finished this massive quilt, all but the binding that is... isn't it absolutely fabulous.... We were talking and calculated that Joan has been a quilter for precisely 2 years. She joined me right at the beginning We've all come such a long way since then... it's fun to look back... made me smile!
Perfectly placed to the side of Joan's beautiful quilt is my Lilly's Colours quilt... both of these quilts were made from the same pattern, Joan put her own stamp on it though, PMS (Pleasing My Self) I wish you could all see it in person... my photo doesn't even begin to show the story!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-02-04T07:26:00.001Z

All hands on deck for making Wendy's Pineapple Blossom sandwich... absolutely stunning isn't it... this is only the centre of the quilt as Wendy is going to use the apartment method. The borders will be made and quilted separately, measuring 18" wide, and stitched on afterwards. It's a big, bright one!

Jenny spent the day making millions of Half Square Triangles (HST's) You know, I forgot to ask what she's going to do with them so we will have to wait and be surprised next time, one thing for sure, it will be lovely!

We have three ladies name Sue now, Early Sue... she came first, Late Sue, who lives very well up to her name! and New Sue, obviously she's our most recent Sue, if we get another I'm prepared with... Nother Sue! New Sue made Teddy Quads. The recipe calls for a Jelly Roll so we just cut the strips from yardage at Table Top Shop... what rebels we are! Aren't the Quads cute! It's going to be a baby quilt, perfect!

Shirley Lerly continues to work on her huge pink and aqua patchwork. She worries that you might be getting tired of seeing her progress pictures because, she says "They always look the same"... I disagree, putting a true timeline on any project is a great thing, we can appreciate all the hours of work needed to make up our fabulous quilts... real and proper patchwork is extremely time consuming!

My Mum, Gwynneth, is making this Seminole table runner, amongst other things of course... She's made lots of quilts now you know and finally admits that she really is a quilter! wooohoooo, I thought it would never happen! We've all known it for more than a year already haven't we, he he he.

We meet again on Wednesday 8th and Friday 10th February. 10am - 3pm, I know you're itching to come and join in aren't you!!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-02-03T07:49:00.000Z

Joan The Shop had a Toot Toot Toot moment on Wednesday... she finished all all all of the quilting on the last third of her huge purple quilt, it was inspired by my "Lilly's Colours" quilt... wonder whether this will be called "Helen's Colours"? Joining the thirds together with the apartment method calls for some careful trimming, so that's yours truly there doing the trimming... Joan played chicken! She's sooooo happy to be finishing this project.

Chatty Cathy has been trying out a new sewing machine. I had a good look at her trusty old machine and figured out why she was struggling to sew straight lines... you know, her feed-dogs were ski-whiff... they were feeding the fabric on a very slight diagonal, no wonder she struggled eh... see how accurately this block turned out using a machine that sews straight! More trying out is to be done before a decision is made about a new machine, but she's getting there.

Jolly Jo has started a beautiful but quite complex appliqué project, millions of petals and leaves with birds and berries! Each piece has a piece of freezer paper template and Jo is in the process of starch basting the seam allowance in place... it's a great job for burning those fingers... ask Jo, she can tell you all about it! ha ha ha

Krafty Karen continued to free motion quilt her doggy's project. She finished meandering over all the paler parts, tied off all the ends and started the green Chrndash areas using a rather funky Rainbows thread. It's coming along a treat...

Lacey Anne came to play too, we haven't had the pleasure of her company for ages, it was like having a new girl in class, for 5 minutes at least... she soon 'slotted in' he he he. She's making a birthday quilt for her baby grand daughter, multicoloured balloons were added and some very pretty bunting hung over the cake by the end of our day.

Annie Pie made three small sandwiches, once Dotty had finished making hers. If you remember, Annie is calling these wreath style quilts "Circle Of Life" .... this must be the chocolate circle of life... of course!! what's life without chocolate! ha ha ha... imagine the fun (and hip wobble!), circles have no end... yummy!!!
We meet again later today, 3rd February. 10am - 3pm, wrap up warm if you're leaving home won't you!!

Angie Quilts The World

2012-02-02T12:21:00.001Z

Well, not quite the whole World...
A guy from the Uttoxeter press called to ask whether I would mind if they visit our Quilt Class at the Bank House Hotel last week. They had seen this blog and thought the story would be interesting. They came, took loads of photos... some just too close for comfort! They then chatted to us, interviewed my very good self, and told us we would be in the local paper this week, The Uttoxeter Advertiser... here's the article with a massive unflattering photo of yours truly and here's a link to the other pictures they printed in the paper.
You will have to excuse the grammar and I promise I don't talk like what they wrote (ha ha ha) I didn't say some of the things they wrote, for example, Uttoxeter Race Course hosts the biggest quilt show in the area, not the UK, I know that's the Festival Of Quilts... anyway, it is what it is... just so you know... I will be available for signing autographs at Caverswall Village Hall tomorrow, 10am - 3pm... ha ha ha ha

Dotty Maureen's Quilt

2012-02-02T07:42:00.001Z

Dotty Maureen sent me an email on Tuesday informing me that it would be a sandwich day at our Quilt Cave meeting, so I was able to set out 3 of our tables ready for her arrival. The backing fabric was a bit 'pinch fit' but we can work with that, it just means using extra pins. Annie Pie helped Dotty to pin because she is very kind .... and she was waiting for the tables to make sandwiches of her very own, he he he....

Here's a close up of the quilt. You can see all the Twiddling and Fiddling Dotty had to do, she often incorporates Twiddling and Fiddling in her projects, a big fan of Jennie Rayment's patterns. Also, I'd like you to look at Dotty's corner stones... such a simple thing but I was super impressed, she cut the squares on the bias, she's had to be careful not to distort them, they're little devils those bias cuts... but isn't it effective!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2012-01-31T17:44:00.000Z

Lizzy wasted no time at all... first thing in the morning she added 4 corner stones to the borders, an added extra that she decided on right at the last minute... PMS (Pleasing My Self) she was able to make two large sandwiches ready to be quilted, two separate halves that will be joined together after quilting. She'd have made the sandwiches a lot faster if I had cut the wadding the correct width the first time! wooops...

Marisabel was having a little difficulty matching her seams so we did a little investigating. All the strips and corner stones were cut very accurately indeed so we looked at the seam allowance... just a couple of threads too narrow on the quarter inch seams... that's all it was... a little unpicking of one seam and larger seams on others and things lined up much better...

Giggly Gillian appliquéd these 5 sheep and decided she didn't want to make any more... not that she wasn't enjoying the stitching, she just wants to get the quilt finished. The green sheep-less blocks will have flowers appliqued on them... they'll look like a meadow...

Lovely Lyn, however, has a full flock of sheep! Aren't they just lovely!!!! All nine finished and with delicious, orange flowers to munch upon, some sheep walking and some standing still. The orange round the edge will be a 1/2" inner border to a rather beautiful border fabric which will be 5 inches wide.. more pictures next week as Lyn will be making a sheep sandwich, no mint sauce though! ha ha ha sorry Lyn!

We're meeting again next week, Tuesday 7th February... 10am to 3pm

Staffordshire Patchwork & Quilters

2012-01-29T06:00:00.000Z

I thought I would remind you that it's nearly February, aren't I thoughtful? A new month means there will be a Staffordshire Patchworkers and Quilters meeting, Thursday 2nd February 6:45pm start and it will be members night... that's all I know and we have been promised that it will be fun, actually... that's a done deal... put a group of quilters in one room and fun will be had!
When Ann came to Quilt Cave on Wednesday this week, she brought in some of the last few blocks that were donated to her by ladies at SPQ for making quilts for injured servicemen... she wanted our input on the layout for them, we love to help out with layout choosing and we always agree to disagree! ha ha ha...

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-01-28T07:12:00.000Z

It's mean pickings from the camera again this time, we had a great and extremely productive day though, almost a full house again.

This 10 Minute Block quilt belongs to Brenda Barbara, I took a rather artistic photo with a slight angle hoping that you would be able to see her free motion quilting with the light skimming over it, she did such a good job of the quilting. Brenda chose to stitch straight lines in the pieced border... doesn't it look fabulous, a great combination with the churly whirly stitching in the centre!! This quilt will have Faux Piped Binding too...

Helen had a very fiddly day stitching beads on to this block for her Heirloom quilt, she must be a very patient lady, this kind of work would drive me nuts. Helen's going to have to make 3 more blocks, all with these tiny pearl beads stitched on them. Click here to see the book the three ladies are working from, Amazon allow you to look at a few pages too... I bet you say "Wow"!

Dotty Maureen, the proud new owner of a Bernina Aurora 440QE, she's been waiting over 3 years to get one!.. Would you like to know what she did at our meeting... hand stitching!!! he he he. She was Twiddling and Fiddling Jennie Rayment style on this kiddie quilt. She used fabric with a hospital theme and the quilt will be given to a children's ward when it's finished.

Arty Beryl recently donated this quilt top to Maid Marion, this and another a bit smaller. Marion is going to quilt them both and give them to charity, Marion is so generous and is always making something for charity, even sandwiches, he he he quilty ones of course. Dotty Maureen helped her with the pinning, of course.

Sheila has almost finished her commissioned quilt. She only joined us at our Quilt Cave recently and, I think you can tell, she's a long way from being a beginner! Absolutely anyone can come play, it's such a great way to spend a day, chatting, stitching, laughing and wandering round getting inspired! Sheila didn't get the date wrong either, so you don't need to be sending me emails about it, ha ha ha. See Faux Piped Binding is becoming the new normal at quilt cave too!

We meet again on Wednesday 1st and Friday 3rd February, weather permitting as there were talks of snow on the news this morning.
Please take note of the time for this blog post... I slept in! 6:30am, sure beats 1:30am!!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave, part 2

2012-01-27T01:55:00.000Z

Krafty Karen had her first tutorial on free motion quilting only last week, she has good movement, nice curvy curves etc... This week she started meandering over the Hour Glass blocks on her dog's quilt... she was very quiet all day... concentrating I guess

Last Minute Chris is enjoying the relaxed pace she's working at... no rush, no deadline at all for this quilt. She hasn't decided how big it will be yet... just ambling along pleasing herself how much she gets done in a day... I wonder how long this will last... there must be a baby due sometime soon?.., a wedding maybe? I don't think we've ever seen Chris stitching without a deadline before, he he he

Foxy Margaret is using up more of her 'bits and bobs'. She's got wonderful 'bits and bobs' too. She was joining strips together all day. carefully pressing all her seams open because she wanted the project to be good and flat... yup... burnt fingers!

Ann's Jelly Roll blocks are coming along very nicely. She also ends up with some very interesting bonus Half Square Triangles that the pattern in the book suggests she use in the borders... cunningly Ann will make a second lovely quilt with them instead... PMS! (Please My Self!)

Chatty Cathy wants to learn how to do everything... yesterday... very understandable... she's very much gripped, good and tight, with the Quilting Bug. For this meeting she wanted to perfect her 1/4 inch seam allowances and improve her cutting accuracy by making Log Cabin blocks... she was very successful too, this one turned out just perfect!

We meet again on Friday 27th January (Today actually... and yes I was up at this Stupid O'Clock)
23 new fabrics, mostly P&B and Red Rooster, have been delivered so they will be available at Table Top & Under Shop from 10am - 3pm...
Right, eyes are most certainly weary... I'll try again... back to bed!
See you later!! I'll be the one with the biggest bags... under my eyes! ha ha ha

PAT Testing Day Coming Up!

2012-01-26T18:52:00.003Z

PAT (Portable Appliance Test) an insurance requirement, even if your machine is brand new, but a blooming nuisance to get sorted out for most of us. We had a great day last April when I organized a guy to come to Caverswall Village Hall to "Do Us" all at the same time... he turned out to be rather expensive because the machine cables were tested as separate items and then VAT was added to our bill when we were not expecting it.
I've been searching for someone to come to our Quilt Cave to PAT test the machines that missed out last April... it's not easy to find someone affordable to come just for a few machines... but I have it sorted out now.
Friday 10th February 11am to 12 noon. Caverswall Village Hall
The cost is £2 per machine, that includes VAT and the cable this time.
Not just for your sewing machines though, once again, absolutely anything that you need or would like to have tested can be done on this day, feel free to bring anything, irons, extension cables, blenders, kettles, you name it.
If you take your sewing machines to any public building it is a requirement that you have them tested.
Please tell your stitching friends about this date and bring them along to have their machines "Stickered" failing to PAT will compromise insurance of any building if ever anything happened.

Caverswall Quilt Cave, part 1

2012-01-25T19:33:00.000Z

My Mum's (Gwynneth's) leaf quilt, all stitched together and looking fabulous, don't you agree? It isn't quite big enough at this stage so we had a short discussion about various options... Mum didn't want to use a pieced block border because she thinks it's busy enough, besides, she's almost run out of the Autumnal fabrics now... we did have one great idea and she's going to try it out...

Irene very happily held up her latest finished quilt top. It's all her very own design and has been a great learning experience for her. This quilt is going to be gifted to Irene's Grandson and, apparently, it's the same colour as his boat... he's an Olympic canoeist... I would guess that the boat is a canoe then?

Annie Pie has been missing us, she hasn't been able to come to our Quilt Cave for about seven weeks... she busied about all day soaking up the giggles and chatter. Annie is making several quilts of these wreath designs, she's going to be calling them "Circle Of Life"... deep and meaningful... if only I could remember the rest.. Annie help?

Helen had a little break from her heirloom quilt because she wanted to make this lovely door hanging quilt for a friend's daughter. Helen had great fun piecing lots of pink scraps together for the block centres and rummaged in Joan The Shop's bits and bobs for fabrics to join it all together, lovely isn't it.

Dotty Maureen is having a little change around at home and is unable to find her place mats... I suggested she could make some to use while the others are lost... in true Dotty Maureen fashion... quick as a flash... taaaa daaaa... finished in one day!

We meet again on Friday 27th January. 10am - 3pm as usual.
More project photos to follow soon...

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2012-01-24T18:49:00.000Z

Lovely Lyn's sheep, all 9 of them... aren't they fabulous? The cutest of cute things for a baby quilt.. any baby, boy or girl. I wasn't sure the black thread would look right for the blanket stitch but is absolutely does. Lyn said that the eyes were a real fiddle, with them being so small but a pair of tweezers helped out. The border fabric has been chosen... wait 'til you see it!

Lizzy worked on her Churndash quilt. All the blocks are joined together to make the two halves, I don't know whether you remember me telling you that Lizzy is going to quilt this project in two halves and join them together afterwards... this method is proving to be very popular. The borders were added and next week Lizzy will make sandwiches!

Marisabel carefully squared up her Split 4-Patch blocks. It was the best plan really. Some of them had turned out different sizes because of that inaccurately cut Charm pack she had been given. As you can see the sashing strips have been cut ready. There's going to be floral fabric corner stones too...

Giggly Gillian couldn't resist it... she left her "Almost Finished" projects at home so she could start to make a flock of sheep for her very own self, inspired by Lovely Lyn's flock of course... Gillian's grandbaby will be arriving in April I think. This baby play quilt could well be finished by then.

We are meeting again next week Tuesday 31st January, 10am - 3pm as usual.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-01-21T07:52:00.000Z

All photos were taken as ladies started packing up time. Just in the very 'nick of time' I remembered the camera... too late for most projects, darn...
Late Sue's Pineapple Blossom quilt top is sort of complete, isn't it wonderful! Sue is very happy with the way it turned out.....

Sue has 96 Bonus Half Square Triangles left over from the pineapple blocks and she's decided to add another border to use them up. As we saw with Barbies Pineapple Blossom quilt, it looks great with the Saw Tooth borders... the best bit about working in groups, in my opinion, is inspiring other folks with your very own projects... Sue had lots of squaring up to do...

Helen was back on the learning curve... new blocks and I think she will need 4 of these. I'm not sure whether Dotty had done this block because Helen was left to figure it out for her very own self... of course I helped a little bit... a very little bit actually, by George we got it though,

Maid Marion was watching closely to see how we solved the mystery for the new block, soaking up all the top tips as usual... she was working on this centre piece.. she didn't like it at all at first, wasn't going to do it, thought she might as well have a go at doing it, had a go, sort of liked it... going to keep it... actually, quite liked it. Spread that out all day and there you have Maid Marion's decision making process! he he he

Brenda Barbara is cracking on with her 10 Minute Block lap quilt... having her very own Quilty Quarters means she can pop in to stitch at every opportunity... when you have to clear the dining table for the family and then get stuff out again, it becomes a bit of a chore, we all have to do it that's true, but every now and again some of us are fortunate enough to have a special place which means we just shut the door and walk away, do what you have to do then return and carry right on with what you were doing... such a luxury! Brenda was free motion quilting all, all, all day!
We meet again next week, Wednesday 25th and Friday 27th January.
So many new fabrics arrived that I might have to re-name Table Top Shop and call is "Table Top & Under Shop with a bit over there and some in the van".. ha ha ha Building stock ready for the 'real' shop is proving to be very much fun... blooming hard work humping it all in and out of the Big Shiny White Van though... phew!

Caverswall Quilt Cave, part 2

2012-01-20T08:03:00.000Z

Joan The Shop was having great difficulty with her free motion quilting. The thread kept breaking causing her to spend more time tying off ends and re-starting than she spent actually sewing. We tried absolutely everything, admitting defeat we called Phil Morton and he told us it sounded like the timing was out... so, it got packed up ready to go to him for a twiddle/tweak and Joan got to play with My Mum's little Bernina... wonderful progress was made!

Jolly Jo came to play and forgot to bring her project... no fabric, no pattern! Rather than go home to collect it, a 1 hour round trip, she bought a few fat quarters of Christmas fabric from Table Top Shop, cut them up and started to make a Christmas wreath... this one should be finished in very good time for our next festive season... 11 months should see to that!

Last Minute Chris started a new project, she'd like this one to be ready for June, plenty of time... Its Chunky Churndash from my very favourite Quiltville, Bonnie has loads of patterns to choose from, if you like doing patchwork pop over and see for yourself. Chris is making her blocks bigger though, they should finish to be 9 inches. This is a great beginner design too.

My Mum (Gwynneth) continues to add the Log Cabin borders to her leaf blocks, she's run out of a few of the fabrics now so it's time to decide what flavour of quilty fudge we can come up with... she suggested, several times, coming over to my 'private and secret' stash cupboards!!! ooooer...

Wendy The Wizz (just for this post Wendy) finished her 36 Pineapple Blossom blocks already!! She cut 72 x 2" corner stones and sashing strips, grabbed two spare tables and set about getting the whole thing stitched together. She has a great Ricky Timms fabric, very busy indeed, that will be used in the backing... the whole thing is an explosion of colour!

Chatty Cathy made this Quilt As You Go mat for her little dog. It was a great learning experience for her and whilst I can't see many folks wanting to make quilts for their dogs, or cars for that matter (my ladies have, he he he, we practice PMS Pleasing My Self) the good thing is that you are able to say...

"That didn't work too well, but it doesn't matter... it's only for the dog" pressure all gone... if you were feeling any pressure that is. These blocks were already quilted when they were joined together with apartment quilting. This was the back but now Cathy decided it's the front, more PMS!

We meet again in 2 hours time, 10am - 3pm. friday 20th January
32 new bolts of fabric have just been delivered, all from Moda and I will try to get them ready to take with me. Yes I have my phone and camera, before you ask!!! ha ha ha

Caverswall Quilt Cave, My Birthday Surprise!

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000Z

Well now... today is my very own Birthday, 48 years old and loving every minute of it!
Yesterday, at Caverswall Quilt Cave the lovely ladies surprised me completely yet again. A huuuuuge bunch of flowers, a bottle of (sure to be delicious) bubbly, a set of 4 extremely posh wine glasses... and even posher candle in a beautiful holder.
No-one wanted to have their Photo taken really... some opted out and that's fine...

I don't put folks' photos on this blog as a general rule, we like it that way... but this is a special occasion isn't it... so we allowed it... can you guess who is who? I'm not telling!
Happy Birthday to me, in the middle holding my presents (Maid Marion holding my scrumptious flowers) and a huge, huge thank you to all of you lovely ladies, including the ones that couldn't come this time, you make me feel so special and my lovely Birthday card says everybody loves me!!! so for me, special it is... all all all day!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave Part 1

2012-01-18T19:57:00.000Z

Holy Moly... It finally happened... Caverswall Quilt Cave is getting so busy every meeting that I'll have to post about the ladies' progress a bit at a time... at least for now... I won't be able keep up otherwise, everything is so inspiring and exciting and I don't want to miss sharing anything... and today there was no ice on the Big Shiny White Van so I got my own keys from the important pot and managed to remember everything... we have pictures! OK I didn't get good pictures of every project but there's still a lot to see!

First up are the Pineapple Blossom blocks that Gail's working on, stunning aren't they!! She had finished 9 in total by the end of the day so, she's 25 to go, this will be a double bed quilt for a very lucky relation.
I have to say that we all agree Bonnie's Pineapple Blossom quilt is fantastic as a beginner project.

Arty Janet had a little break from this arty farty project over the last few weeks. She says it was a good thing to take a break from it because getting back to it now, she's full of renewed ummph and inspired ideas... joining and slashing and mixing etc... these arty folks are such fun to watch!

Helen's next block for her Heirloom Quilt needed pin tucks.. you should have heard her complaining while she burnt her finger as she pressed the tiny tucks, she did very well actually... totally polite in the language department! Number 10 Bernina foot is the proper one for edge stitching but the supplied number 5 does a great job too, ask Helen if you like, she's an expert now.

Irene also returned to one of her Phd's (Projects Half Done) she marked her quilting lines first of all then quilted them.... it looks like our favourite "Points & Bellies", they're fast and fun to do and use the patchwork seams as guides. This Kate Spain fabric sold out as soon as it came in, you can see why though, tis rather lovely!

Beryl had a day off from her Art College so she came over to play with us... I think she misses us terribly you know. She slots right into our day as if she's never been away. Of course, just because he hasn't been to Quilt Cave doesn't mean she's not been stitching, he he. This is a tiny part of her current project... how cute is he! Appliquéd with clever establishment, fancy stitches and writing... fantastic.

That's it for this session, part two will come along very soon. We meet again on Friday 20th January. 10am to 3pm as usual. Ta Ta For now...

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2012-01-18T07:12:00.000Z

Giggly Gillian created a lot of stitchy homework at The Bank House Hotel Quilt Class. Miles and miles of hand stitching actually... all the way round this queen size, turquoise and beige/brown quilt... yet to be named. Gillian's in very high spirits at the moment and feeling extremely productive... and she's determined to finish off her PhD's ( Projects Half Done) before she starts on her list of things to make next....

This Christmas Table Topper is Gillian's too... she didn't want it to be a thick table runner so she's quilted it using only a stabilizer as the wadding... she's practising PMS (Pleasing My Self) which I very much encourage at every meeting. This project also had binding machine stitched on so that's another 90" of hand stitching.

Marisabel has had a bit of a struggle matching her seams with these blocks... the problem though, was not her own inaccuracy... the pre-cut charm squares were to blame... some of them were too small so it threw out the matching, still... Marisable is learning a lot about quilt fudge (no calories!) I laid out the blocks to get an idea of the end result... fabulous isn't it? There's going to be sashing too!

Lovely Lyn spent the day working on the sheep (please look at the previous post) and she brought in one of her finished cushions, now I am really wanting to make new ones too! All of these fabrics are left overs from Lyn's Log Cabin quilt, she was able to make three cushions from all those bits... I do hope you keep your little left overs, it's surprising what you can make with them you know.

We are meeting again next week, 24th January, 10am - 3pm, the ladies are wanting a spell of meeting every week, which is a reflection on their enthusiasm... they must have had new batteries from Santa eh!

A Top Tip From Uttoxeter

2012-01-17T19:16:00.000Z

Lovely Lyn started a new project, a play mat for her baby grandson. It's to be sheep appliquéd onto fields. Lyn hadn't tried applique before... I think the easiest way is "sticky stuff and blanket stitch"... so that's what we did. This Moda fabric is just perfect as the curly fleece isn't it... The problem came when I was showing Lyn how to do the blanket stitching because we couldn't see the edge of the head on the body... can you see that?...

I pondered what to advise... glasses would have been good for me! ha ha ha... click on the picture and you'll see what Lovely Lyn decided might work... That's the Sew Line air erase-abubble pen!! What an absolutely great tip. Lyn was able to do fabulous blanket stitch following a very visible purple line that will disappear in no time.

This is a hot tip eh? Using air erase-abubble pens to help see blind edges (that does sound a bit daft doesn't it!)... look what a great job Lyn did with her first ever blanket stitch! She went home with a big piece of sticky stuff and everything she needs to complete 9 sheep... Inspired by Lyn's success, Giggly Gillian bought the Moda fabric to make a field of sheep of her very own! More on this project next week.

Story Time

2012-01-14T09:13:00.006Z

You'll never believe what happened... I'm far from superstitious but blooming heck... what a day!

There was a deep frost yesterday morning, Friday 13th January, so I asked my son to pop out to start up the Big, Shiny, White Van to thaw out the windows, I find driving so much easier when I can see through them!
That was the first mistake...
I always leave the last minute things ready for when I leave home ie. everything is placed by the Big Shiny White Van keys so I don't forget anything, see the problem? He took the Big, Shiny, White Van keys from their pot... so I didn't get to pick up important handbag with purse and mobile phone that were with them... I happily jumped into lovely, warm, Big, Shiny, White Van and left home.

Oh dear, almost arriving at Caverswall Quilt Cave, I realised what had happened... but surely I can get through a day without my phone and don't really need my handbag/purse as not going shopping... No Problem then?

Arrive at Hall, set up Table Top Shop, 4 different waddings on the side, set up tables, cables, irons, boards, etc... keeping very warm with all the effort...

Done and ready for ladies... notice I am a little chilly...

Oh Man! heating hadn't come on... see where this is going?...

Can't call caretaker.. no phone, Mum's phone! Yes, use Mum's!!

No phone numbers... all in my phone. I rang all possible numbers placed around Caverswall Village Hall, Artist teacher, Craft Class teacher, bookings lady, Chairman, committee members... trying to find someone with the caretaker's mobile phone number... 20 minutes later, succeeded, 8 calls, but had used up Mum's credit, wooops.

"Keep your coats on Ladies, we have a small problem but I am on the case!!"

Heating sorted out by Caretaker eventually arriving 30 minutes later... phew!! Warming up...

The ladies set about their stitching, beautiful projects, must be photo time... no bag... No Camera! Small panic saved by Maddie. I got to use her camera and she would send photos later... Brilliant! Click, click, click...

"Are you sure this is taking pictures Maddie?"

" Oh yes, just keep clicking, it's a great camera but doesn't make much noise when you're taking pictures"

"OK, but you are sure?"

"I'm sure"

Have you guessed?

The rest of the day ran very smoothly. Cosy and warm, beautiful projects, lots of chatter and laughter... fabulous, as usual.

I received a telephone call whilst I was out walking Madam with 4 legs at about 7pm... Maddie's husband telling me that he was just about to send the photos, but he hadn't found one single photo to send to me, the camera was completely empty! ooooooooooooh... I knew it... I thought it wasn't making the right noises... nothing I could do about it. I'll just write a whole big story about my Friday 13th January and the folks who pop over to my blog to see inspiring photos from Caverswall Quilt Cave can roll their eyes and quickly move on to a more successful blog! ha ha ha

Note to self... Thaw out the Big Shiny White Van yourself!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-01-11T20:50:00.000Z

Wow we were busy today... you must be getting used to how it works by now... the more folks that come to Quilt Cave the busier I am so, the fewer photos get taken... you'll have to come along if you don't want to miss anything!
This first picture is of Joan The Shop. She is quilting a PhD that she started in 2010. Joan found it very uncomfortable pushing and pulling the quilt through the little machine hole to quilt with a walking foot so she could only do it for short sessions... she's just discovered that it's possible to stitch fairly straight lines using her darning foot, no need to turn the quilt at all... and she's on a roll... Go Joan!!!

Krafty Karen added a half inch, dark but bright, green inner border to her Churndash lap quilt which looked fabulous, I would even go as far as to say it was perfect. After that she added a slightly wider border of mottled beige which will have another green strip added after that... it's going to be stunning... can you believe this quilt is being made for Karen's dog? Lucky dog!

Foxy Margaret came with a box of scraps wanting to make up pinwheel blocks and some others that she was inventing as she stitched. Lots of the Half Square Triangles (HST's) are left over form the Katherine Guerrier workshop we had way back in June 2011. Margaret makes fabulous scrappy quilts.

Helen finished all the complicated stitching and fancy bits (that's a technical jargon you know) the piping etc on her second triangular corner... now it's time to start her favourite bit... cross hatch, you know the one with over 300 little ends to tie off and thread in... I'm sure she will tell us all about it!! he he he

Late Sue spent the day joining her Pineapple Blossom blocks together and just had enough time to join all but the last row. We auditioned a few fabrics trying to help Sue choose a border fabric, actually she chose the butterfly fabric instantly, what took a little time was finding the right colour for the inner border... we like to think of that strip as the seasoning, like salt and pepper... fine without it but fantastic with a little sprinkle!

My Mum (Gwynneth) has finished making her leaf blocks and started to add the Log Cabin style border strips, each block has three 1" strips added to only two sides and all the colours are mixed up... quite a challenge if you're not used to scrappy.

One of the great things about our Quilt Cave meetings is that if you usually tend to come on a Friday but you have some life thing in the way, you just come along and join in on a Wednesday and visa versa... that's what happened today, some Friday ladies came to play... what ever the reason, we don't like to miss our quilty, stitchy fun days... and with 2 days to choose from at Caverswall, we don't have to. Switching days is very acceptabubble!
We meet again on Friday 13th January... don't be fooling yourself that it will be quiet, some of the Wednesday ladies will be joining us because they couldn't make it today!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2012-01-11T08:05:00.002Z

It didn't take us long to settle back to work as if we'd never been away... all the ladies were very keen to get cracking with their projects.
I'm happy to tell you that Giggly Gillian was so thrilled with the quilting I did for her that she couldn't help herself and gave me a big hug! Fabulous reward eh... She wasted no time.. it was trimmed up, binding fabric was purchased from Table Top Shop, wadding in the van. This is a huge quilt so there was along trail of binding to be made.

Lizzy's Churndash blocks are finished so she was cutting and piecing the sashings with the blocks to make rows. The colours are beautiful, I don't think you can tell by my picture though, the background cream has a hint of pink and a hint of green, it's perfect with the batiks. Lizzy said she would like to quilt this double size quilt in two halves to make the size easier to manage, great idea.

Marisabel worked on her disappearing 4-patch blocks for most of the day. She is very keen to learn all the tricks and little fudge-inesses that help with accuracy, pointy points, perfect junctions etc... She does a good job already. Marisable has some wonderful fabric combinations in her blocks. Later she switched to her sample of Cathedral Windows for a 'How To' refresher.

Messy Maureen started a new project. She chose it from a book in which the centre was a beautiful appliquéd orchid. I was ready to teach her how to do that... oh no... no need for the applique any more, Maureen had found this oriental shiny fabric and wanted to use that instead... PMS!! We borrowed a large metal service tray from the hotel and soon had the job sorted... to make a perfect circle, you can rotary cut round a hotel tray you know! ha

We meet again next week, 17th January. 10am - 3pm as usual.

Quilty Quarters

2012-01-09T09:03:00.000Z

This quilt belongs to Giggly Gillian. It's a pattern from a magazine she bought whilst on holiday last year. The pattern shows the quilt with curly whirly quilting done on a long arm machine. A lot of magazines do that don't they... It can make us think we have to use the services of a long arm quilter, which can be costly and most have long waiting lists. Gillian hasn't got to grips with free motion quilting, she's not too interested in doing so either, which is fine, PMS (Pleasing My Self) is what we promote. She started the quilting using her walking foot but, each time she looked at the magazine she found that she was wishing her quilting could be curly whirly too, the magazine won! She likes the one free motion design I am able to do quite well, so she ripped out all her stitching and did the 'puppy eye' thing in my direction... guess what I did all, all, all day yesterday... The centre is finished and I'll quilt the borders today... at least that's the plan.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-01-08T05:37:00.001Z

Joan The Shop continued working on her interesting blocks, I can't give you any more information yet... again, from this angle, they do look like fish don't they... Cabbage and raspberries, hmmmm... that would be two of the 'Five A Day' we're advised to eat wouldn't it? Golf could be the exercise... but what of the wine fabric creeping into my picture... vitamins?

Brenda Barbara cut out all of the blocks to make another 10 Minute Block, lap size quilt... can you remember last time she made one... she was enjoying making it so much that she refused to go home at 3pm! This time she used 7 1/2" squares... and we didn't have to help her out of Quilt Cave at 3pm, she has her very own Quilty Quarters to play in at home now... wooohoooo for Brenda!

Late Sue has finished all 24 Pineapple Blossom blocks and spent the day cutting and stitching sashing and corner stones, all 2" wide. She brought her brand new Juki Beast in to sew with... she hasn't had any problems taming her little beastie though, lucky thing, and she's just loving it... he's heavy, yes indeedy, but well worth the extra humph to bring him along to meetings.

Mystery Margaret has been stitching a lot of late. She's finished all the blocks now and was able to trim them all ready for stitching them into rows. The design works like the Railfence but will look more like it's been woven with the size of the strips she used, at least that's what we are expecting... we'll have to wait and see won't we...

Maid Marion worked on her heirloom quilt blocks again. Dotty Maureen makes the blocks first of all, carefully following the instructions in the book... she struggles a little but always succeeds, then... passes on any top tips to Helen who then makes her blocks... she learns a thing or two and passes the tips on to Marion who them makes her blocks armed with all the good advice and top tips from the other two ladies... very smart lady eh!

Helen's very pleased with the way her triangle block turned out... she did complain about having to tie in over 300 thread ends though, she made sure we all knew that she doesn't like that job! Here you can see Helen threading the Trapunto wool through the tiny channel she made, I'll show the good side next time... can you see all the ends she had to sort out? oh... Helen needs three more of this triangle unit, come on Helen.. Marion's catching up, she'll be needing your top tips!

Barbie's project is coming along very nicely indeed... she wasn't sure about the teal blues on the border strips but now, with the blue-ish frame added to the centre panel and the vase cut out and placed there... no need to have worried at all is there, it's really lovely. Barbie is going to hand applique these elements, she does beautiful hand stitching, I bet it will be ready for flowers next week.

Maid Marion not only spent the day working on her Heirloom quilt and getting great helpful advise from Helen... she had her very own helper too... these hands are Dotty's... she's sharing more top tips whilst drawing the bits for Marion to work on, such a smart lady is our Maid Marion.

Ann Little Treasure brought in her minty heart quilt to show us that she had finished it. This was made with a Jelly Roll that was far from accurately cut, you would never know that looking at it now though... Ann is very please with her free motion quilting hearts, she did draw them first and that is absolutely fine, every way of doing things is brilliant if it works... and you can see It Worked!!

We meet again next Wednesday 11th & Friday 13th January. 10am - 3pm. 'Table Top Shop, wadding on the side' will be full to bursting once again as we collected the Big Van back from it's make over... it's extremely shiny and white again, but I'm sure the British weather will have it messed up in no time at all!

Quilty Quarters, Mia Nicole's Baby Quilt

2012-01-07T15:22:00.000Z

I just finished the baby quilt I was asked to make for Mia Nicole, such a lovely name. I've really enjoyed making this quilt. I fussy cut all the little pictures so as to get as many whole animals, insects and flowers as possible. This quilt could be a game too, Eye-Spy springs to mind, or a racing game... first one to find a green snake can choose who wash the dishes! he he he, OK... so a toddler might not want that prize but if anyone would like to play with me... that's what's on offer, ha!
Did you notice the faux piped binding again... I'm not sure I will ever use normal binding ever again, I love the way it looks.

Gilly's Quilt

2012-01-07T06:49:00.001Z

Gilly's finished all of her Christmas stitching, all the helmet bags and things she was making for other people so, she could actually have started something new but there was one last PhD... the Garden Twist. If you remember Gilly spent many meetings fussy cutting the floral curtain fabric to get the more dense flowery areas in the centres of the trellis. Yesterday she worked none stop, that means she didn't go chatting much (which is a very popular thing to do at our Quilt Cave meetings, he he he) and was able to get the borders stitched on and so declaring the quilt top finished, wooohooo... doesn't this quilt look fabulous! I'm guessing there will be a sandwich episode at the next meeting, Gilly?

Dotty's Patchwork Cushion

2012-01-06T20:11:00.003Z

Dotty Maureen has had many happy hours for stitching over the past Sewing Prevention Season, lucky thing... Inspired by the quilt Annie Pie made, Dotty rooted out the magazine with the pattern for the Union Jack and made one for her very own self. It turned out much smaller than Annie Pie's though as it used tiny little Half Square Triangles (HST's)

Dotty decided to make it into a car pillow... this is the back view. It's more of a cushion pocket so Dotty can change the size of the cushion she put inside, she could even store a quilt in there if she wanted to. This project came in very handy for Dotty, her favourite soft chair had disappeared from the village hall so she nipped out to her car and was sitting on her very own soft cushion... good and comfy, in no time at all!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2012-01-05T19:30:00.001Z

We're off.. back to normal with a full house for our first Quilt Cave meeting! The ladies started the day with a chorus of Happy New Year chatter... like we had been away for 6 months.. tee hee.
Joan The Shop started a new project, here are two of the blocks and ... no... they aren't chocolate fish! I'll tell you more about these as Joan produces more blocks.

Krafty Karen finished off her Churndash blocks, the hour glass blocks are all done too so she was able to get her lap quilt top stitched together. It looks very nice with the rich green fabric. I'll show you the blocks stitched together next time.

You would be mistaken if you thought there wouldn't be any more Christmas stitching... Chris, you know her... "Last Minute Chris"!! She said that there were still two days of Christmas left and she would have this sofa throw finished by then...

The first photo is of the back and this one is the quilt top, there was quite a lot of discussing about which should be the top and which side would be the back... we agreed that Chris should turn it over regularly to please us all!

Arty Janet was making these mats for Christmas but ran out of time, but she's not stopping, they will be finished off no matter what, I don't remember whether she told us for which Christmas though, he he he.... she did more free motion quilting and added more bindings.

My Mum, Gwynneth, hasn't had much stitchy time over the holidays, it was sewing prevention season after all... so during our meeting she continued to make these leaf blocks. We laid them out to decide what colour blocks to make next, next time we can decide on the sashing colours and styles.

Jolly Jo spent quality time shopping at 'Table Top Shop, wadding on the side'. She's decided on a new project and wanted to get all the fabrics at one time, she chose them, we cut them and then they were stored in the going home bag... back to table top shop then... Joe purchased a further 3 fat quarters and made a Quick Table Topper in just a snip of time... she declared that she would surely make more of them!

Helen has been commissioned once more, to make another appliqued banner with special symbols, she did tell me what they are called but I forgot already, Kenji, Kanji, Kangi... no matter she almost completed it in the one meeting, just running out of time for the binding, which will be the faux piped variety... our favourite!

Chatty Cathy had been stitching at home... she's learning how to do Quilt As You Go and Apartment Quilting all at the same time. There's quite a bit of accuracy needed with a little math but she got there in the end... it's all a little fiddly too but worth it if you need to quilt smaller areas. Cathy's jury is still out on this method, he he he

It's a very rushed post, you probably noticed that... time is ticking by too fast this week... so much to be done!
We meet again tomorrow at 10am for more stitchy fun... Table Top Shop is a little smaller this week because the big van is at the garage having a face lift... can't fit so much in the little car... back to normal with more new fabrics, next week though.

Quilty Quarters

2012-01-02T13:35:00.000Z

It's a good job this quilt has been personalized otherwise I might be tempted to keep it... I love it. Extreme pink-i-ness, massive cute-ness appeal and totally fun to look at with all the little picture centres. I've started the quilting using the wonderful Juki Beast, there's a good way to go yet and I would be really happy to get this quilt finished before the end of tomorrow... race on!

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T08:23:00.000Z

Are you fed up of hearing it yet? Really, I do wish you all a great, fresh and new year ahead... Healthy, happy and fun... wealthy would be good too eh, so I wish you that as well. I wish you lovely, long, happy stitchy hours and buckets full of inspired, crafty ideas, not that my buckets aren't still overflowing from the year we just left! ha
This year 'Table Top Shop, wadding on the side' will be graduating, I bet you already guessed with the very obvious clues I have been posting. I'm going to be opening a real and proper Patchwork & Quilting shop. The re-modelling work is due to start in the second week of January, there's quite a lot to do, walls to be knocked down, floors to be laid etc., so it will be after March for the grand opening, I'll keep you updated... I don't have exact dates as a lot of the work, like the new roof, is very much depending what the weather folks send us... gosh, I hope it's not even close to what we suffered last year. So, that's my very exciting news.
For now though, Table Top Shop, wadding on the side will continue to grow and will be at Caverswall Village Hall, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am - 3pm, during Quilt Cave meetings actually, the first of which is this week... Wednesday 4th January, see you there?
Right, for now... it's back to Quilty Quarters for me, catch you later...

Quilty Quarters

2011-12-30T17:59:00.000Z

A few more hours in Quilty Quarters and I'm almost done with the centre of this baby quilt. It's in three sections at the moment. I need to finish the blanket stitching on the name... actually, I haven't started stitching the name yet but the lovely hearts are done, I love 'sticky stuff n blanket stitch' appliqué, don't you? Once the name is done the three parts will be stitched together and a three inch border added... and then the backing, oh, and the sandwich will be made, the quilting will be done with free motion, the binding made and stitched and lastly the label to be made... I wonder whether people who order custom quilts actually realise how much goes into making them? hmmmm... not very likely is it, good job I love what I do eh!

Quilty Quarters

2011-12-29T09:27:00.001Z

Halloooooo! Gosh I thought I was never going to get into my Quilty Quarters... I hope you've had better luck finding a little pocket of stitchy time... Yeeeeha, we're almost back to normal. Still, it's only once per year isn't it... sewing prevention season I mean. Now though, I have to make a baby quilt, the lady ordered it on 21st December and would have liked it before Christmas but I just couldn't do it. I've started it now though. It takes a little longer to get all the pieces ready when there's fussy cutting involved... but soooo worth it...

I have to make 42 of these boxed squares, they finish at 5 1/2"... I'll try to stay in Quilty Quarters a bit longer today, I am all caught up with chores and I haven't heard a any other plans being made for my time. Hope you get a little stitch-y time for yourself... Catch you later...

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-12-22T08:34:00.000Z

What a wonderful day we had... festive hats, silly musical ornament adoring machines and tables and a very cheery atmosphere filled the room (even the heating worked!) as we stitched all, all all day long... very much fun indeed. We had a rather wonderful Pot Luck Lunch followed by my most favourite present game, oh did we laugh!!! It's my most favourite game to play...

Gail brought in her finished festive cushions and table runner quilt to show us. She's thrilled to bits to have her new walking foot, it means she is able to continue sewing at home. She's debating whether to make a king size quilt next or whether to play safe and try a double bed size... hmmmm, I know which one I would choose as my second quilt project.

Lynda made a good start with her new project, I hope it's not needed for a Christmas present. She loves all the bright colours and will make a Pineapple Blossom quilt. She cut out lots of 2" strips so that she could mix them up, the pineapple-y bits will be pale blue, you can see the fabric, it's the 3 1/2" square in the middle at the top of the picture.

You won't be surprised to hear that I didn't take many pictures, I forgot... We had a lovely day, we have such lovely ladies you see. This is the last Caverswall Quilt Cave post of this year. Most of us will be enjoying "Sewing Prevention Season" for at least few days... you can be sure that I will.
We meet again on Wednesday 4th January, 2012... weather permitting, of course!

Just left to wish you all a happy and healthy last few days of 2011... I'll post again about Quilty Quarters or any other quilt related things that happen, if they happen, oh... of course they will happen!!!
Happy Holidays!!!!

The Exciting News...

2011-12-20T10:23:00.000Z

Remember I told you there might be exciting news coming soon?
Here I put the links to a couple of older posts that might give you a little clue as to what's coming up in the very near future...
http://angiequilts.blogspot.com/2010/02/angies-mini-shop.html
http://angiequilts.blogspot.com/2010/11/angies-quilt-cave.html

Quilty Quarters

2011-12-19T09:03:00.001Z

42 x 15inch squares, just the right size, that was my plan. Except with 1/4" taken from each side for the seam allowance, they're 14 1/2" each, which leaves the backing short, duh!... I rooted and rooted in my draw of 2 1/2" strips (it's the blue plastic draw you can see on the shelf to the left there) I found an abundance of red strips... problem solved... a 5" wide strip added to each side before the last round of squares and it's going to be just perfect.
I have to use those steps to reach the top, the quilt is about 90" x 100"
See the 3 cushion bases on top of the plastic drawer stack, they've been waiting for patchwork covers for 2 years now! The fact that they are in Quilty Quarters means I must be thinking about making them eh... I've a commission quilt coming in to be quilted tomorrow and I want to quilt and finish this crumb quilt, it's called "A Trip Down Memory Lane" a huge quilt, before I even start rooting for the right fabrics for the cushions... busy, busy, busy...

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-12-18T08:01:00.000Z

This is Lynda's quilt. Simple Half Square Triangles (HST's) all facing the same direction... stunning... we don't always need fancy or complicated designs do we... this is a Quilt Cave favourite! Lynda added a piano key border with wider strips but decided to make them much thinner, because she wanted to, wooohooo PMS (please my self) strikes again! The extra work paid off as it looks fabulous.

Barbie was cutting out hundreds of strips in teals and pink fabrics, not a colour combination she chose, it's a family request. Barbie needs four of these braid strips 38" long, they will be the border to a rather beautiful vase of flowers done with appliqué, sound familiar? This is Barbie's second and there is a third quilt ordered.

Helen is putting a lot of creative juice into making a very personal project. She's used appliqué, trapunto and embroidery to make the designs. This is a tribute to a friend and each of the designs has a meaning, and yes that is an aubergine! She's adding the faux piped binding, black trimmed with the purple... perfect.

Mystery Margaret is making a large quilt using only neutral fabrics. It's been on her list for a while. She saw the design in a shop, though there it was red, white and blue fabrics, but she instantly knew it was the perfect design for the effect she wanted. It's basically a Rail Fence design with the alternating blocks having either three wide or five thinner strips, I'm expecting it to look almost woven?

Maid Marion worked on her Heirloom quilt block. She had to do some quite intricate stitching on this one, following the tiny petal bits in the centres and they have sheer fabric over the top of them... tricky... Marion's Bernina baby is almost a year old... she used the knee lift (Hands Free System) for the first time on this block and... oh yes... she loves it!... doesn't know how she managed without it, ha ha ha.

Wendy finished up the quilting on her very own Quick Table Topper, doesn't it look chic! The silver fabric that's shining there is super silky but hasn't been a problem at all. If you notice, Wendy has added a border to her topper... this project is so flexibubble! Looks like we can do anything with it and it still looks great.

We meet again on Wednesday 21st December. It's our last meeting until January 4th so we will be stitching the day away, having a wonderful Pot Luck lunch and playing a daft gift game, like a Christmas/End Of Year Party... so Table Top Shop will be staying home for this meeting.

Annie Pie's Quilt

2011-12-17T14:01:00.001Z

Annie Pie finished what she calles her "Triangle Quilt" it's the one she started during our Katherine Guerrier workshop back in June. One left over block? Use it in the backing... i think you'll have to agree... this looks great

Chatty Cathy's Quilt

2011-12-17T07:03:00.002Z

I'm sorry the front view is a little blurred but you can see the design quite clearly... it's the 10-Minute block that's been very popular of late. Remember Cathy made this quilt with recycled fabrics... what fabulous backing we made just by changing the direction of the stripe and there was enough fabric to bind with recycled fabrics too... doesn't the quilting show up a treat!!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2011-12-16T06:38:00.000Z

Lovely Lyn wanted to learn how to make Cathedral Windows. I just happened to have a step by step sample made up so, quick as a flash... Lyn was able to see how to do it... Watching carefully was Marisabel... she purchased a fat quarter from Table Top Shop and ran up a sample too... No picture as she made her sample rather blurred... he he he
Messy Maureen was making table coasters from scraps... her house will be sooo quilty!

Marisabel had been very impressed by my Christmas Cactus wall hanging, it is rather stunning Toot Toot Toot... actually, if you buy the paper piecing pattern and follow the instructions it can only turn out stunning. Marisabel went to the site where the patterns are and chose this lovely daisy pattern... she had no teaching from me... she taught her very own self how to do paper piecing! Clever huh!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-12-15T15:52:00.000Z

More catching up with the photos... Early Sue had a great idea of adding hearts to her purple shirt quilt. There weren't enough fabrics left over to have a heart in every square, besides, I think it might have looks really busy that way... a little random spreading of the hearts came out really well, don't you think.

Irene has gone back to working on her grandson's quilt. These strips will be part of the piano key border... one of my favourite kind of borders and great for using up any extra yardage (I guess we should say metre-age?) Irene sewed long strip sets before cutting them into these segments... hoorah for speed piecing!

Krafty Karen is making a small lap quilt. She needs 12 Hour Glass blocks, which were done last week, and 12 Churndash blocks, each measuring 6" that she was working on this week... cute eh! This quilt should be a fast finish now that Karen has her New Juki machine at home... no pressure Karen... ha ha ha

This shouldn't shock you... not one tiny bit, the newly re-named "Last Minute Chris" decided there's need for another Christmas finish... my goodness she puts herself under pressure... This sofa throw quilt needs 8 Ohio Star blocks, each one 9", some lovely sashing and a little cunning border treatment, maybe... depends how much sleep Chris needs! Ho ho ho.

Quick Table Toppers

2011-12-15T11:30:00.000Z

Here are a few pictures from both Caverswall and Uttoxeter meetings.
Quick Table Toppers, the ladies have made hundreds of them....

This one's Wendy's, done with QAYG (Quilt As You Go) for a Christmas gift though made to use all year long as it's not Christmassy at all, the colours are brighter than they look here.

I think this one belongs to Chris The Foot, she started three or four of them last Wednesday and needed them all in the post on Friday! Last Minute Chris could be her new name now that the foot it fully mended.

Lizzy from Uttoxeter class decided she needed a few extra Christmas treats for friends, Table Toppers to the rescue!

Joan The Shop made several Toppers, she added 6 place mats to each making the full table sets. She's getting a bit fed up of binding and corner turning, she's getting plenty of practise though eh. One more set to go!

Another made by Wendy, this one is for her very own self, tis very chic indeed. Black and silver, party colours? and the silver fabric is very silky shiny!

I'm not positive who this one belongs to but I have a feeling it's Shirley Lerly's, maybe it's Chris's? It's been made with QAYG, looks like it was made with bigger sizes too... lovely.

This belongs to either Shirley Lerly , I think it is Lerly's hand (which means I am wrong about the one above) or Chris, though it could be Foxy Margaret's? Obviously I'm loosing the plot.. can't keep up with the Toppers, sooo many!

There are more too, luckily I don't have pictures of them all... how confused would I have been then?

More pictures later....

Blooming Computer

2011-12-15T07:33:00.000Z

This is just to keep you updated... what a blooming palava with this blooming computer. It's back here...and it's been stripped of everything... and I mean everything... I am now rooting rooting and more rooting looking for all the CD's for stuff to be reprogramming. My camera is over 5 years old and I've moved house three times since installing the stuff to get the photos from camera to computer... you think I can find the CD?
It must be here somewhere!

We've had some great quilty meetings at both Caverswall Village Hall and at Uttoxeter Bank House Hotel, it's a shame I can't show you the lovely things the ladies are producing.
I've got the most exciting news to share with you all too... just a few more " T's " to cross and an " i " or two to dot and I will be able to tell you all about it!!

For today, I will carry on rooting for my computer stuff, it's not easy rooting with all your fingers crossed! ha ha ha

Blooming Computer

2011-12-12T16:30:00.000Z

I am still computer-less... not strictly true as I can use this one... it's Dave's in our/his freezing cold garage/hanger. His computer doesn't have the right size 'hole' bit for my camera card thing... I don't like wordy posts really, I think patchwork and quilting stuff is very visual and definitely needs piccies
The computer doctor says he can't know when the blooming computer will finish updating, it's just a waiting game, waiting, waiting, waiting... no fun at all!

Tomorrow is the last class of this year for the Uttoxeter ladies... remember last year, none of the last classes happened because we were all snowed in!... a bundle of joy aren't I!!! ha ha ha

Blooming Computer

2011-12-08T15:30:00.002Z

Once again my computer is in the computer hospital having a bit of major work done, as soon as it's sorted out I'll show you what the ladies have been making... it might be Saturday though... loooooooong time without a computer.... back soon

Update... Monday, they will try to get the computer back to me by Monday...

Raffle Prizes

2011-12-07T06:33:00.000Z

Caverswall Village Hall committee members are very much dedicated to keeping the hall for villagers' use as much as possible. I joined the committee when I started to hire the hall about 18 months ago. They run lots of events in order to raise the necessary money to keep the hall open, village halls are not cheap to run. Bingo evenings, monthly dances with live bands, the friendship group, raffles etc. During December the raffles are rather more extravagant so I was asked to make a little something to be used as a prize for two of the events. These two Christmas Wreath quilts will look lfabulous with a lovely poinsettia plant in the centre, don't you think?

Shirley Lerly's Gift Quilts

2011-12-06T05:48:00.001Z

Aren't they just wonderful?!
All three of these gorgeous lap-size quilts have been made for sweet little girls as gifts from Auntie Shirley Lerly, who is "Chuffed to bits" with how they have turned out. Each quilt is exactly the same yet they look completely different... only because of the colours. All of the HST's (Half Square Triangles) have the same large print patterned fabrics (Westminster) partnered with their different colours which lead to the border choices...

ooooh heck.. it's hard to describe...you know what I am trying to say? Fabrics look different with different partner colours, bits pop out according to the colour they sit with.
The back of each quilt is quite lovely too, proper 'girly and cute'! They are sure to be loved and snuggled up to lots by those lucky little girls.

Quilty Quarters

2011-12-05T06:16:00.040Z

Saturday morning I decided to tidy up my Quilty Quarters. I started with the ironing board, ironing the pile of clothes waiting on top and all the shirts hanging from it... putting the ironing board away makes Quilty Quarters look bigger, tidier and makes it easier to open the doors on the cupboard containing most of my fabric stash... big mistake? Oh yes... I started rooting, rooting, rooting. Maybe it's time to prepare for sandwiching my crumb quilt? Yes it is!! I found several pieces of fabric that would have been good, but if I used them, I wouldn't have them any more... yes, I have issues! I decided to make a pieced backing with reds. I calculated that 6 x 7 of 15" blocks should be big enough... 42 x 15" squares... shockingly... I have more than 42 red fabrics!!! I'm working on it, cutting one 15" square from each fabric... I'll bring you a progress report as it happens.

SPQ Chairman's Challenge Winner

2011-12-04T18:28:00.000Z

As promised, here's a picture of the Chairman's Challenge Quilt that had won more votes than any other last Thursday evening.
It's our Wendy's, hooooooray for Wendy!!! Her initials are VWL, the colour choices had to be based on those initials. So, here we have Violet, White and Leaf Green. Wendy says the idea for the design began whilst looking through a garden catalogue. It's based on the Clematis Macropetala which, in plain language, means 'multi petalled'... according to my email interview with Wendy... tee hee. It's made using 'sticky stuff appliqué', the shading on the Clematis has been skilfully and beautifully painted, note the beaded centres too, they're the 'W' White. Isn't it beautiful! No wonder Wendy won the vote!

SPQ Chairman's Challenge

2011-12-04T08:49:00.002Z

This is my entry for the SPQ Chairman's Challenge... Remember, I chose Acid & Watermelon for Angela Whiston. It's the applique Christmas tree that so many of my ladies were thrilled to be making last year from a book belonging to Dotty. The little blocks are 4", quite fiddly and the colours are all hand dyed fabrics, even the striped border, I didn't dye them especially, they were in my stash, I think I dyed them in Brazil, does that make them antiques? You can see I used the Faux Piped Binding yet again, I was stitching it as I put on my shoes to go, very last minute!
I had no idea that there would be voting on the quilts, I thought they were just for a fun display. When the time came for us to ponder and stick our bits of paper on our favourite... no-one chose mine... no shocker there, the colours are rather attacking to the nerve endings, like drinking lemon juice you might say... I wasn't about to be done though... I stuck my own sticky vote on my very own quilt, I love it and, you know me... that's all that matters! ha ha ha

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-12-03T08:17:00.000Z

Giggly Gillian, Lyn and Marisabel all came to play, They are all Uttoxeter Tuesday ladies. Gillian's large bed quilt top was ready to be sandwiched and we really don't have space for such a large sandwich at Uttoxeter Bank House... There's loads of space and lots of tables at Caverswall Village Hall and we're always happy to please in the sandwiching department.... Bottoms up and all hands on deck for pinning.

Brenda Barbara finished adding sashing, pieced backings, purchased wadding,(Hobbs 80/20) from "Table Top Shop wadding in the van" and made two Christmas Tree Skirt sandwiches.... actually, Brenda stood chatting to me while Dotty Maureen made her first sandwich... much to our amusement!! Dotty is almost always on hand to help make sandwiches!

Late Sue continued to make Pineapple Blossom blocks with her gorgeous multi-purples and green fabric. Each block will be 9" finished. Sue's working on her accuracy... because she wants to... carefully cutting, stitching, prrrressing and measuring at every step... it's paying off too.

Kate completed the second of her 18" borders and added it to the centre with white sashing. If you remember Kate is making up this king size quilt using apartment quilting, more commonly known as Quilt-As-You-Go, though for me that means doing the quilting as you stitch the patchwork... hey ho, doesn't really matter what we call it, it just makes a large quilt more handle-abubble, and therefore, do-abubble! he he

Wendy's friend has a huge table so she needs a giant 'Quick Table Topper'... I think the centre square was 12" and the strips are 2 1/2" wide. Wendy chose to do "Quilt-As-You-Go"... you have to fiddle about to keep the runner from going wonky... not a problem normally as we can fudge it back to be straight, but with QAYG you don't have that option... Wendy's didn't need fudging... she kept it good and straight.

I have pictures of Shirley Lerly's fabulous finished gift quilts, my Chairman Challenge quilt and the SPQ prize winning wall hanging to show you, I'll save that excitement for another post though.

We meet again on Wednesday 7th December, 10am-3pm. As there's no meeting in the Quilt Cave for Friday 9th December, Wednesday will be like a party as the Friday ladies join us for their weekly fix... good job we have loads of space and tables!! I think it's quite exciting indeed as we approach the festive season...
8 New fabrics arrived for Table Top Shop, wadding on the side... fun fun fun.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-12-01T08:52:00.000Z

Wendy started this quilt at our last meeting. She had a specialist ruler, beautiful fabrics, a pattern and a vision. Perfect recipe? Yes, of course... throw in a dash of expert advise about "Y" seams, a few top tips involving drawing lines, prrrrrressing and bias cuts (Toot Toot Toot) and Voilà... a perfectly flat, quite complex, rather stunning table centre finished off with lovely quilting and, our very favourite, Faux Piped Binding.

Gail finished the last bit of quilting by 'ditch hopping' on both sides of the cream inner border then adding two lines to the outer border using the guide on the walking foot. She trimmed all the edges perfectly and made her binding... traditional binding, so she has some hand stitching homework which is not a problem at all. She went home with her head whizzing with ideas for quilt number 2.

Here's a shot of Joan The Shop's work table... busy, busy, busy. She has piles of Quick Table Toppers and even bigger piles of matching place mats. They're all very quick and easy to make... until it comes to the binding. Joan wants each one to have the Faux Piped Binding, which is super easy but boy that's a lot of corners to turn and so many very Brilliant Binding joins to perform. One thing's for sure... she will be a master at binding after all this practicing!

Chris The Foot played with her Bernina Baby's BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) all, all, all day. She's quilting round the detail on her bird picture fabric. It's making the picture pop out in all the right places. She completed the quilting but had left all the ends to tie off later.. whilst babysitting, great idea, I wonder whether she'll have "Pop & Crisps" too, I remember babysitting and they almost always left goodies for me! ha ha ha!

Irene finished adding the sashing to her Poinsettia blocks. This is now a table runner, rather stunning it is too. As you can see, she made a sandwich and worked on the quilting. It's a great, and easy, appliqué design and Irene has ideas for other flowers, Sunflowers in fact... same shape, different colours, fabulous!

Jolly Jo had finished the Drunkards path quilt at home so her first job of the day was to make a sandwich. Jo practised her free motion quilting skills on a sample piece, she practised a lot actually, once you get started doodling and meandering with free motion... the clock races forward... have you noticed that too? She did have time to make a good start on her Drunkards Path quilting though, shadow quilting with the walking foot to start with... the free motion will be added later.

Krafty Karen joined us with her brightly polished, virtual TRUMPET, woooo hoooo and Toot Toot Toot? she did indeedy. This quilt looks absolutely fabulous. You need to click on it for a closer look. Karen came to Quilt Cave in June with a bag of animal prints and animal picture fabrics, mostly fat quarters, and asked what she could do with them. Of course she didn't want to cut the pictures up so, we started her off with fussy cutting, moving on to frame the blocks with whatever took Karen's fancy... you have to agree, she made a wonderful, fun filled quilt, It's destined for a very lucky young lady! Well Done Krafty Karen!!

We meet again on Friday 2nd December, tomorrow.... 10am - 3pm as usual, Yes, more new fabrics arrived for Table Top Shop... becoming a habit eh!
After that we meet on Wednesday 7th December but please please... Please remember that there's NO QUILT CAVE MEETING NEXT FRIDAY, 9TH DECEMBER.

Quilty Quarters

2011-11-27T09:06:00.001Z

There's nothing quite like a last minute decision... a sudden burst of "I want to play too".
Next week sees the start of another month which means there is an SPQ meeting. Way back in September the Chairman handed out packs containing a fat quarter of black fabric and instructions for us to make a quilt that had to incorporate the black fabric. You can find the details of the challenge here. I had a pack given to me but I left it on my table and it was taken by someone else so, I thought I could get away with not bothering to make an entry. I find myself today with no customer quilts to work on, all of my PhD's are sorted out and I have a full day of Quilty Quarters fun planned. The challenge is to use colours starting with letters from our initials... blessed with only one name, I am Angela Whiston... A & W... I rooted and rooted.... I chose Acid-Green and Watermelon, now to choose what to make with it... ready, steady Go!

******************
7:30pm... have made something quite wonderful, even though I do say so for my very own self, toot toot. I just need to quilt it, bind it, make a label and 'secure it' to the back. The hard bit?? I have to keep it secret until Thursday.. woooohoooo

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-26T08:03:00.000Z

A very rare photo of me, myself, sewing... did you recognise me?
Joan The Shop came to play, I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have her looking so well after all that time in hospital. She's just been on holiday so she had a lot of catching up to do... in a quilty, social, chatty way I mean. She was almost out of time for sewing her binding on so, I stepped in, pushed the speed button to 'FULL' and finished it for her... Can you see the shiny glow from my halo? ha ha...

Maid Marion is continuing on her Quick Table Topper marathon, she's made lots of them. They're all quilted and Marion decided they will all have the faux piped binding, ... oh how we love this method, the tutorial is so easy to follow too, click on the link to see it.

Late Sue's got piles!... Piles and piles of pieces that is. She decided to do all of her cutting in one session (or two) so that she can have a stitching marathon next time. Lots of people work this way. Sue used the binding clips to keep her piles in 10's making it very easy to keep count. She had one binding clip controlling her hair too, I think this was their original purpose really.

Barbie quilted all of her borders following the triangle Saw Tooth edges. After trimming the quilt she made binding and had just enough time to get it stitched on ready for the hand stitching to be done at home. Barbie is very happy to be almost finished with this quilt... she has orders for three other quilts... not this same design, much more complex projects involving floral appliqué!

Dotty Maureen finished her 9-Patch corner stone blocks and, as predicted, made a quilt sandwich. She didn't really need any help because it's a relatively small quilt. She's also working on another quilt, all hand pieced and hand quilted, Quilt As You Go or, as I like to call it, apartment quilting.

Helen is making a personalized water bottle cover. She tried free motion embroidery first, which was fine. Now she's trying the design using appliqué.. the sticky stuff, raw edge style of appliqué. When both methods are done and finished Helen will choose which she likes best for the water bottle cover. It could even be double sided?

Brenda Barbara was joining blocks together for one of her two tree skirts. The red sashing strips look great don't they... Brenda's feeling very excited... there's a new carpet being delivered for her new sewing room... it's almost ready for her to hide in with her Bernina baby, just in time for it's first birthday!!

Krafty Karen couldn't wait until next week to finish up her binding so she came to play for an extra half day... she did it too! All stitched on to the back, corners perfectly mitred and then stitched on top...Yup it's the faux piped binding again, so easy to do by machine... there's no need to stay right on the edge of the binding... you follow the ditch-line.. and there's room for wobbly lines too.. just match the threads and no-one will see it, fantastic eh!

We meet again on Wednesday 30th November & Friday 2nd of December. 10am - 3pm as usual.
Please remember there's NO Quilt Cave Meeting on Friday 9th December because the hall is being used to give a Christmas Party for the Residents of Caverswall.. aren't they lucky!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-24T06:14:00.000Z

Krafty Karen finished the quilting at last week's meeting but we didn't hear any "Toot Toot Toots", not everyone likes to 'blow their own trumpet', (not a problem I have, ha ha ha) This is quite a large quilt and we have to remember that it's only Karen's second project. Not only that, it's her very own design, a little guidance from yours truly, yes... but it is all Karen's work and she did a fantastic job! She made Faux Piped Binding, a lot of it as it's a loooong way round this quilt edge... she started to stitch it on and announced that This Quilt WILL be finished next week...
Will you polish your very own trumpet Krafty Karen?

Chatty Cathy had been busy at home... she had successfully quilted all of the curved lines that she had drawn last week so she decided to add more. Out came a cardboard template.. I think you should be able to see in the picture that Cathy is quilting a smaller curved shape just inside the other. There'll be quilting added to the Cathedrally window-y bits too.

Arty Beryl came to play, this is a rare treat these days as she took herself off to full time art college in September. She wanted to play talking... whoooops... I mean free motion quilting! ha ha ha. Oh I think Arty Beryl is missing our Quilt Cave meetings. By the end of the day she had all the basics to free motion, now it's just practice, practice, practice in between homework, of course.

Annie Pie was quilting the quilt she started at our Katharine Guerrier workshop back in June. Obviously she isn't sewing at this photo moment... she's sitting next to Wendy and Arty Beryl you see, they are catching up... swapping ideas, sharing photos and discussing possible projects... Annie Pie's head will burst one of these days, he he he.

Dotty Maureen made 9-Patch cornerstones ready to add to the borders of her purple and teal quilt. Cornerstones are a great way to fudge borders when the fabric isn't quite long enough... no-one would ever know that they had not been planned to be there right from the start... except for me telling you all that is, he he he. Once these are stitched on it will be sandwich time for Dotty.

This is only a small selection of what's going on at Caverswall Village Hall, you'll have to come visit if you want to see everything, it's all very inspiring!
We meet again on Friday 25th November 10am - 3pm, tomorrow actually... 13 new bolts of fabric arrived, a mixed bag from Maywood Studio, very lovely indeed... there's an absolutely gorgeous purple I have my eye on!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2011-11-22T20:31:00.001Z

At the top of this picture you can see Giggly Gillan's latest project... a Quick Table Topper. She took her time with the fabric cutting because she wanted it perfect... that's what she said, 'perfect'. She almost finished sewing it together too, and it did look... perfect!
The black and white table runner belongs to Lovely Lyn. Each block is identical but looks very different only because Lyn varied the placement of the light, medium and dark fabrics, cool eh! Take a closer look, exactly the same they are!

Messy Maureen made a sandwich with her liberated Quick Table Topper, she then quilted and bound it... it's a very poor photo, I seem to becoming an expert at the blurred shots... ha ha ha... It must be because I am rushing, how hard can it be to keep a camera still for a split second? Obviously , very hard!! Marisabel was quilting her Wreath Wall hanging, she had trouble with her metallic thread breaking and we tried all kinds of solutions, nothing worked. hey Ho... not giving up yet!
We meet again on Tuesday 6th December. 10am to 3pm, and the class is/will be full. Full of ladies, full of fun and laughter... as always.

Quilty Quarters

2011-11-21T08:24:00.000Z

Whilst piecing these scraps together over the weekend, I decided that I really didn't want a quilt made with the bonus half square I got from this quilt. It was a colour thing... I've now used up ALL of my 1 1/2" squares and I'm very happy about that. The little 9-Patch units had to be trimmed down to 3" so they would fit with the HST's. Can you have too many aprons?
Evidently not!!... and this one has been made with all the bits that would have been 'chucked away' by a none scrap collector.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-20T07:22:00.000Z

Jolly Jo needed to switch days to join us on a Friday, there're a few ladies who switch between the two days, it's not a problem at all. Jo's quilting her chicken quilt. All the main blocks have stabilized with 'ditch hopping'. She's using the 'hand quilting stitch' on her sewing machine (sounds a bit strange doesn't it) to quilt the detail on the chickens. There might be a bit of fancy background stitching in the yellow bits... we'll see next time.

Brenda Barbara's had a very productive time at home. She has enough of her Courthouse Step blocks to make two Christmas tree skirts. Here we were deciding... To sash or Not to sash, quite the question. I love it all busy with no sashing and everyone, yes everyone else preferred the blocks with sashing. When a decision is difficult, we can all gather round to share opinion, hopefully to help... though it looks like I was no help at all, ha ha ha

My Mum Gwynneth was using the number 4 stitch on her Bernina to make tiny wave-y lines through the colourful stripy bits, it looks good doesn't it? She managed to almost finish all the quilting.... she gets a lot of interruptions though... she is our cashier lady, that way I get to carry on having fun helping the ladies with their projects without bothering with the important stuff, like money!..you want to shop at Table Top Shop??? Come on over, you will meet my Mum.

Shirley Lerly, if you remember last week she was making the Faux Piped Binding, using only one colour... it makes machine stitching the binding soooo much easier, you see, there is a 'ditch' to follow as opposed to trying to get the stitch right on the edge of the binding. Anyway, it was extremely successful and Shirley will definitely use it again. Some ladies don't like hand stitching at all and we're always looking for ways to make it a little easier.

Sheila came to play too. She's already an experienced quilter so she's not really coming to be taught... she enjoys the meeting as much as everyone else though. It's fun stitching the day away with a bunch of quilters?
A group of quilters?
A class of quilters? or maybe...
A giggle of quilters?? Yes, I like that one
A Giggle Of Quilters, that's what we are... ha ha ha
We meet again on Wednesday 23rd and Friday 25th November, 10am - 3pm, as usual... dare I tell you that more new fabric came for Table Top Shop.... or course I dare, we love it eh!!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-19T07:13:00.000Z

Computer is back with me for the moment, seams it was virus ridden... hey ho, here we go... pictures from Wednesday at the Quilt Cave.
The purple one at the top is Early Sue's, she's quilting using her walking foot and stitching 1/4" away from all seams, it's looking great. The second quilt is Lacey Anne's floor tile project. Now there are more blocks stitched together you can imagine it as a floor, can't ya!

Maggie pieced all her blocks together to make up the Christmas tree, it looks three dimensional doesn't it... she decided not to add a tree trunk, I think she made the right decision, the red pot is perfect to finish it off. Maggie made her sandwich ready to do the quilting. This will be trimmed to the shape of the tree, a triangular wall hanging, very cool. I expect it will need a piece of dowel across the wide tree bottom, otherwise it'll keep folding forward.

Chatty Cathy had all her hand stitching finished on the Cathedral-ly window-y bits so was able to mark up the top ready to quilt... it's much easier to draw the lines on the fabric before sandwiching, so that's what Cathy did. We made a cardboard template to help Cathy keep the curves even.

Helen continued to do free motion quilting on her grandmother's hexagon quilt. She's doing a beautiful job of it too... Grandma would be proud to see all her years of hand stitching finished this way. Helen loves doing free motion quilting.

This belongs to Chris The Foot. She quilted with Sulky metalic gold thread and it looks fabulous. As you can see, Chris machined the binding in place ready to be stitched to the back at home at home... she had another sandwich to start quilting, a picture or two on a wall hanging... I'll show that next time...

We met again on Friday 18th, see... my post is behind times, the future was already done when I wrote this... ha ha ha

Computer Illness

2011-11-16T20:48:00.001Z

I just want to let you know that it looks like I've been had... My computer's not working properly, it's doing weird stuff and not doing what it usually does. Things have gone, disappeared from their usual places!!!!
If I go missing for a while it's a computer doctor thing and I'll be back as soon as I'm back... you know how it is with computer stuff... how long is a piece of string?
There is another computer, Dave's, in the cold garage/hanger, so I will be able to read emails n stuff, he's coming back from Angola tomorrow so it might cost me a block of Chocolate, he he he!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2011-11-16T08:24:00.000Z

A selection of our most popular project... The Quick Table Topper.
It's extremely easy... well, once you've made the first one it's easy... everyone seems to get a little unnecessarily confused with one part of the process. Once the pattern is understood... then it's very easy. Almost everyone goes on to make at least one more, most make several. They give instant satisfaction, fast and fun project, great for giving as gifts... there'll surely be more to come.

Marisabel made a sandwich and started quilting her Christmas Wreath wall hanging, another of our popular small projects. Not as easy and fast to make as the table topper but nothing too complicated either. There's a bit of fiddly marking and cutting with scissors but the sewing is easy enough. Simple quilting is enough as the basic pattern does it all. This quilt of Marisabel's will be finished with the faux piped binding we are all loving since I found it here.

Giggly Gillian's quilt centre is complete... she's adding the border strips... 1/2" of dark brown followed by a 3" of a heavier, sumptuous, turquoise and chocolate pattern. Next Gillian will add a 6" border of piano keys using all the fabrics that were used in the quilt centre. It's getting bigger by the week.

Lizzy finished her Table Toper patchwork, sandwiched and quilted it and made the binding and stitched it on... so fast that she actually cut out all the fabrics ready to make a second one.... I told you, the ladies are loving these fast finishers!!! ha ha ha... It's great to see less traditional Christmas colours don't ya think?.. winter colours look fab too... and then there's the 'not Christmassy at all' ones....

Messy Maureen, if you remember, brought in some curtain material ages ago. We had made up a quilt from it and a few weeks ago Maureen brought in the left overs... very few and funny shapes. She wanted to make the table runner.... it turned out great... each strip varies a little in width, the little squares following through the centre are all different colours too.... Messy Maureen loves the more liberated approach... she's fun to work with you know... anything goes!

Lovely Lyn doesn't want to start another big quilt until after the festive season. She wants table mats (Joan The Shop, look what you started with your fancy dinner sets!) she wants chair backs, she wants more extravagant table runners... so, starting with black and white she's going to make sampler blocks so each table mat will be a different design made using the same fabrics... well, that's where we started, lets see where we go next time...
We meet again on Tuesday22nd, that's next week. 10am -3pm, as usual.

Quilty Quarters 2?

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000Z

A lady asked me ages ago to sell her Bernina and her Horn Sewing Cabinet for her. I couldn't find anyone who wanted to purchase, which is a shame really, it's been months and now the time came that the lady needing it gone... so...

ta daaaaa...
meet MY new cabinet and My new, old 1000 Special Bernina...
These Horne cabinets are so clever, the machine can be used at the height you see here making it a flat bed, which makes quilting much easier or, with the flick of a lever the machine can sit at table height. There's a second workspace that comes up as you pull the drawer unit out, they live in the gap underneath , you can just about see wheel tracks on the carpet there...

The work surface to the left folds over to be the cabinet top and the door can be closed when all is put away... like this, impressive eh!
This will not fit in my Quilty Quarters, well, don't let that put me off eh... This is the room where I store Table Top Shop, wadding on the side, you could say it's Quilty Quarters number 2!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-12T07:23:00.001Z

Barbie had a most unfortunate day. She happily quilted for hours adding to the quilting she had already done at home during the week. Something made her look at the back of the quilt, probably as it was nearing completion... the tension had gone mad! Barbie's machine often does this but Barbie was very cross with herself for not keeping an eye on the tension... She spent the rest of the day un-picking most of the quilting, what a drain of a job...

Chris made two sandwiches, both wall hangings... we have to love small projects for the sheer convenience of their size.... First to be quilted was Chris's Christmas wreath wall hanging. She used her BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) as she meandered all over the background fabrics.. I just noticed Chris's watch there, quarter to two, So, that's what time I took the photos!

The centre of Kate's beautiful blue and white appliqué quilt is finished so we had a few moments pondering the "mathemsims" of adding the large borders, 22 inches wide so they can drape over the sides of the bed. We had already planned to use the apartment quilting method. The sashing/joining strip needed to be finished at 2" wide so we had to make sure we left enough wadding to fill the gap.... we did a great job, it was perfect... 3 sides to go!

Dotty Maureen finished adding the strips to her Quick Table Topper, she sandwiched and quilted it... not that she had done it quickly, for some reason she had struggled, you know... given all the complex and fiddly things Maureen makes... maybe this project was, plain and simply, just Too Easy... is that possible?

Late Sue feels that she might have lost her Mojo... we have to get it back don't we... It's not just the early dark evenings, though that seems to be getting to everyone lately.... We decided that Sue might enjoy going back to basics with a completely new project, learning all the little fudging tricks to get the accuracy she desires... she seemed to perk up a bit from the moment she decided to choose new fabrics, ha ha ha... that'll do it!

We meet again next week, Wednesday 16th and Friday Friday 18th November. 10am - 3pm, as usual.
Please note... There will not be a Quilt Cave meeting on Friday 9th December as the hall will be hosting the annual Christmas party for the residents of Caverwall.. what fun!

A Local Event

2011-11-11T06:52:00.002Z

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-10T08:57:00.001Z

Arty Janet arrived with a book, it had pictures and instructions and she wanted her project to be exactly the same as the pictures. So, she shopped for the perfect fabrics, in Table Top Shop wadding on the side. You might think "So, what's the big deal?"... for most of us it's quite easy to follow a set pattern and a lot of us try to make our project similar rather than like the patterns... for Janet it was a self inflicted challenge, "Stick to the pattern"... she's a real and propa artist and finds it quite a job not to go off on a creative journey, we could hear her head whirling as she worked, ha ha ha.

Gail had been stitching at home so, after a little sorting out of the design and a little trimming of tiny slithers to level up the edges she was ready to add borders to her Railfence table runner. An inner border of 1/2" cream and gold followed by an outer 3" border of the lovely black with Christmassy stars n things. Next week she will be ready to sandwich and quilt.

Krafty Karen continued quilting the borders on her fabulous animal quilt. She feels it's become the never ending project... she's moved house and had huge renovations in the new home so, poor thing can only quilt at the Quilt Cave... it's coming along very nicely though, thing is, Karen is growing a long list of things she wants to make next.... ha ha ha, I know that because she's been collecting fabrics for them... how strange!

Chatty Cathy, what can I say... she has the fastest growing "To Do" list of all quilters I ever met. She brought in her 10 Minute Block quilt top, sorted that out and will take it home to do the Cathederal-ly Window-y bits by hand. She brought in scraps to start this hexagon quilt, inspired by the talk at SPQ last Thursday... she has a Quilt-As-You-Go project picked out and wants to get it started, she's designing a football tribute quilt and she wants a Hexagon hand piecing project to work on in between all this.... and the list grows, fast-ly!.. I can't keep up!

Early Sue had stitched her purple borders to the quilt centre at home so, all she had to do was piece fabric for the backing and was ready to make a sandwich. Irene had sorted the tables to make her sandwich so, a quick call out for help and all the ladies came rushing over to carefully put safety pins in... I love how we can do that... many hands make for fast pinning! (There must be an old proverb saying just that!) Sue had plenty of time to make her sandwich, with the help of Dotty... queen of pinning!

Annie Pie had made two Autumnal Wreath wall hangings so they were sandwiched first thing and set to one side to join her Quilting queue. Next, Annie wanted to add a spectacular bubble-y border to one side of her Bargello quilt top... apparently she woke in the madrugada with a vision! ha ha ha. She purchased 'sticky stuff' (Steam-a-Seam 2) from my Table Top Shop, raided the kitchen looking for different sized circles and came up with this... absolutely fabulous!
We meet again on Friday, 11th November.... 10am - 3pm as usual.
Today, this morning actually, I am off to deliver the tie quilt... wish me luck?

A Local Event

2011-11-09T08:07:00.000Z

Quilty Quarters, Another Commission Job

2011-11-07T19:08:00.002Z

A lady asked me to quilt this scrappy quilt for her a little while ago. I've been taking it to Caverswall Quilt Cave with me, thinking that if we got a quiet day I could sandwich on the fabulous tables there. Well, that didn't happen so, once again, all my furniture was pushed either to the side of the room or out of the door and I crawled around on the floor for two hours!... You know... I think the more floor crawling I do, the easier it gets... I stood up without a creak!
This one is half way done, quilted with free motion on the Juki Beast. After making the tie quilt, the 'Juki Beast' and I are very best of friends, ha ha ha
This quilt is the same design as my 'Pink But Not Too Pinky Pink' quilt, lovely isn't it... very easy to do. The back is pieced too, I'll show you when I finish the quilting.

Quilty Quarters, The Commission Quilt

2011-11-06T20:11:00.002Z

It's finished... woooohooooo!
This picture was taken outside as the sun was going down this evening so we needed the flash on, it altered the colours a bit. I had to ask our neighbours to help us hold the quilt up... 'tis a bit heavy, 120" wide x 96" drop... There are 3 of us and we are standing on a small wall. I'm very pleased with the result, I think it looks fabulous, Toot Toot Toot.

Lynda's Quilt

2011-11-05T06:53:00.000Z

Isn't it just fabulous!!!
This is only Lynda's second quilt, she's absolutely thrilled with it and I don't blame her. The colours in the picture don't look quite as bright as they actually are... All the fabrics are plain cottons, which Lynda had been collecting for a while... Take a look at the quilting too, diagonal lines through the main blocks with uneven zig-zags on the border rectangles, all done with bright yellow thread... a brave move that has completely paid off... This quilt a gift for a very lucky young guy.
Right now Lynda is working on quilt number 3... it's got millions of triangles!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-04T19:53:00.000Z

Joan The Shop has taken the very popular Quick Table Topper to a whole 'nother level... Dinner table sets!.. There will be rather posh Christmas lunch tables at the homes of Joan's family this year, I think they're all getting a set! You would think Joan would be happy making these quick to finish things, but no... she's decided they are very fiddly... actually, she's probably right... there's a lot to do, binding every one, turning corners and joining the ends with the rather fabulous method found here but it will all be worth it.

Helen's Grandmother, which, of course means Joan The Shop's mother, made this enourmaous hexagon quilt top years ago. It's a complete coincidence that Helen bought it to work on only the day after the SPQ talk about hexagons, hey ho... This quilt is about 2.4 metres by 2 metres, massive. Helen made a sandwich with the help of everyone else and wasted no time at all, starting the quilting... an all over design that is evolving as she goes.

Late Sue (living up to her name today!) made her sandwich first of all with the Jelly Roll quilt top then set it to one side to be quilted at home. She had decided to make a wreath wall hanging... she cut all the squares ready for making the base bit, which she started to stitch together but I'm not sure how far she got with it... Sue took it home with a copy of the template... we should see the progress next week.

Barbie added the final borders to her Pineapple Blossom quilt top, unfortunately that meant it was too big for the piece of fleece that was planned for the backing. No worries as it can be used for something else in the future... Barbie chose a different fabric, from "Table Top Shop, wadding under the table" and was soon ready for a sandwich.. all hands on deck again!

Kate finished quilting the centre of her beautiful quilt... "Wooohoooo"... That's what she shouted! She is so relieved, she's one of the border pieces quilted too so, next week we can add it to one side... apartment quilting, tis truly marvelous... such a help being able to quilt big bits then add them rather than one enormous quilting job.

Brenda Barbara worked the whole day all by her very own self and produced lots of the Log Cabin, Couthouse Step blocks for her tree skirt. She's moved on to a different fabric for the centres now and they will all be mixed in to the final skirt. One of the great things about Christmas-sy fabrics is that most can be 'chucked' in together eh.

Gilly's tree skirts are coming along very nicely indeed. This, number one of three, had the bias binding strip added today... a very technical operation it seems... Gilly likes everything to be perfect, and that's just fine... we do love PMS (pleasing My Self) and if you want perfect you shall have perfect.... slow and steady... and perfect!

We meet again next Wednesday 9th and Friday 11th November, 10am to 3pm, as usual.
New fabrics are due in from Moda for "Table Top Shop, wadding on the side, in the van and under the tables" We have 5 different types of cotton and cotton blend wadding now... there's sure to be one you like!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-11-03T05:55:00.000Z

Today photos have all been taken by the Quilt Cave Ladies... I didn't get time to snap anything... I just shouted up a few times, can somebody take a picture of that!! 'Twas a very busy, fun and productive day.
Dotty Maureen stitched the centres in to these blocks by hand, I think that's what she said anyway. For some of the sashing strips Dotty used Invisible Machine appliqué. She's not over impressed with it but at least she tried it.

Jolly Jo told me off for telling you about the statement she made last week. She feels that now The Statement has been shared with blog land, she has to stick by it. She bought enough wonderful wadding to make three sandwiches... race on! Here she's marking up her appliqué chicken quilt top ready for quilting. There's a Drunkards Path lap quilt and the larger diamond-y batik one too... three quilts, I'm sure there will be more... Jo treated us to cake this week, yummy scrummy, home made cakes... delicious they were... Thank You Jolly Jo.

Irene continued to work on her blue cat quilt top, it's getting bigger.... in the meantime she produced this appliqué poinsettia. Later in the day it had a centre too, it looked fabulous.

Chatty Cathy has decided that all of her 10 Minute Blocks will be the same... just like this one but... she's finding it a bit of a puzzle getting them to work out in the right order... it's so easy to get them in the wrong order. We came up with a cunning plan though and she went home happy with everything in it's right place.

Wendy made a table runner with Christmas fabrics, it's on the ironing board here, waiting to be prrrressed, or had it been ironed? Let's hope those wavy edges are a bit of camera trickery... Wendy has a few fudging technics up her sleeve though, so we won't worry about it.

Chris The Foot finished her Autumnal Wreath and has decide to make one for every season, obviously this will be her Christmas holiday wreath, I wonder whether Chris will finish it in time... you know what she's like for leaving things 'til the last minute. There'll be one made for spring and one for summer too.

Annie Pie popped in to show us her finished patriotic quilt. I think it was Helen who took these photos, front and back... ehhhhem... she must have been waving at imaginary royalty as she took it eh, ha ha ha, a little bit blurred but you get the idea don't you.
There were other photos, it was quite exciting plugging the camera card in to see what photos the ladies had taken... while waving at the imaginary royal visitor! ha ha ha... most were a little bit blurred, but thank you ladies, I enjoyed them.
We meet again on Friday 4th November. 10am - 3pm, as usual... Kettle Corner will be re-stocked and ready for you should you like to come on over for a fun day stitching... or come shopping at Table Top Shop, wadding under the table... that's a fun thing to do too.

SPQ Evening

2011-11-01T08:14:00.000Z

We enter November today which means it's time for another 'First Thursday Of The Month'.
Staffordshire Patchworkers & Quilters meet at Walton Community Centre on Thursday 3rd November at 6:45pm for the full programme.
This month's speaker is Ann Jermey with a talk entitled "What's Wrong With Hexagons?" I'm expecting it to be very interesting.
You don't need to be a member of SPQ to come, the cost is only £4 per person.

Quilty Quarters, The Commission Quilt

2011-10-31T18:41:00.004Z

The top and bottom borders are on. The quilt is so big now that I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing... but most of it is here. The colours show up really well with good light, which you're not having in this picture because Dave and Mike are holding the quilt up touching the ceiling and it drapes over the floor, so the light is blocked out... still, you get the general idea don't ya!
The side borders haven't been started yet, I've cut a few of the squares but life keeps getting in my way. I'm thinking it might be finished over this next weekend... that's if the bolt of black fabric arrives in time... I ran out of plain black but it's on it's way... There are 5 metres in this backing so far and I need 5 more to complete, plus the best part of one metre for the three miles of binding.

Quilty Quarters, The Commission Quilt

2011-10-29T13:58:00.001+01:00

The centre panel is complete, the bottom panel is too, ready to be added to the main bit... It's getting very big now.
Here I am sandwiching the top panel. I know we normally pin from the centre outwards but this fabric doesn't like it done that way. I started at one end, making sure I keep things square and level, pushing and holding the excess silky slide-y fabric tight as I pin, because if I don't it springs back up. A blooming job it is! Can you tell it doesn't interest Molly at all! ha ha ha.
This panel is about half quilted at this point, lunch break!
Hoping to piece the other two side panels this weekend, I will be happy to finish the whole thing as soon as I can, it doesn't half make a mess with all the fraying.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-10-29T07:12:00.003+01:00

Barbie's Pineapple Blossom quilt top is almost complete... complete as in finished and complete as in completely fabulous. All of the bonus HST's (Half Square Triangles) are going to be used in the Saw Tooth borders. It's a rather stunning quilt, don't you think? There's going to be a little 'Mathemizing' to calculate those coping strips, you know how I love 'Mathemisms'!! ha ha ha

Late Sue has been working on this project over the last few meetings. It's a Jelly Roll pattern, which means it could be done with any 2 1/2" strips really. Sue did use a Jelly Roll and, as I usually find, the Jelly Roll wasn't very accurate so there has been a lot of necessary fudging... by the time it's finished, no-one will ever know, one good thing though, Sue learned lots of helpful fudging tricks along the way.

Brenda Barbara decided to put her Jenny Rayment quilt on one side for a little while because she just realised that she's on a "Time Budget" for making Christmas projects. She wants to make two tree skirts first of all. This one will be made using Court House Step, Log Cabin blocks, 24 of each... one done, 23 to go! The great thing about Christmassy fabrics is that you can put any of them together...

and no matter how busy it looks, the project will be perfect for Christmas...
Maid Marion was worried that her fabrics were too busy when she started this Quick Table Topper... as you can see though... it's just fabulous. Marion almost finished the runner in one day. Once you know how the pattern works, it is possible to make these table toppers in only one hour, including the quilting but not including the binding.... hmmm hand stitching, that can take weeks eh! I must admit the faux piped binding is my very favourite way at the moment, all done by machine, wonderful, fast, effective... perfect! Marion is going to quilt her topper with gold metallic thread.
That's it, four ladies in total, a quiet yet highly productive day.
My Mum (Gwynneth) made a sandwich with her Wimbledon quilt, so she can count as lady number 5, ha ha ha. We meet again on Wednesday 2nd and Friday 4th November, 10am - 3pm, as usual.

My Mum, Gwynneth's 'Nother Quilt

2011-10-28T07:08:00.004+01:00

After borrowing one of my brand new books, that I haven't even looked at yet! My Mum (Gwynneth) started a new project... first off she needed to cut an assortment of 8 1/2" squares. Each one then gets cut into strips, something like 3", 2 1/2", 2" & 1 1/2"... I can't remember exactly, I can see that doesn't add up, but you get the idea. Next she mixed them up, following the pattern instructions, of course and eventually stitched them together in rows... as you see here, then she added the wide sashings and borders. She's very happy with the way it turned out.
My Mum (Gwynneth) doesn't make scrappy quilts, she says she doesn't 'get' them... that's fine, it can take a little time... and it doesn't matter if she never 'gets' it, cause she's making em anyway, it's a posher version, 'A Multi-fabric Quilt', ha ha ha... this design has been a scrap users' favourite for many, many years...
So, that's another top ready to be sandwiched... guess I know what she'll be doing today!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-10-26T19:45:00.001+01:00

You're going to have to trust me, we had another great day, busy and productive. We had visitors popping in for Table Top Shop shopping too...
I don't have many photos to share with you in this post... silly camera must have been feeling a little off colour today... it made the pictures all blurred.. silly camera! ha ha ha. Here's a little of what happened today...
Shirley Lerly finished another of her gift quilt tops. She has three, all being made at the same time, all are made with the same design yet they look completely different because of the colour scheme Shirley used. The backing for this particular one is pink with tiny little daisies all over it, very sweet indeed.

Jolly Jo had many jobs on the go... she was adding the calico borders to this diamond quilt top, choosing fabrics for her hen quilt borders... which sounds easy but it was quite a challenge. She was also adding quilts to her list of things she wants to make and at the same time... She made a statement... it went something exactly like this
"I am going to finish all of these quilts BEFORE Christmas" brave lady eh... though she didn't actually say which Christmas!

Chris The Foot's been having fun with her BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) She's done tiny meandering stitching over all the background fabric and on the centre fabrics. Then she changed to her walking foot in order to shadow quilt the pin-wheels in a gorgeous ginger-y brown thread. The inner border of forest green has been 'ditch hopped' on both sides too. Chris will bind this wall hanging with the faux piped binding.... boy do we love this binding! easy... very easy!

Chatty Cathy arrived with a big smile on her face... I guess it's hard not to smile when you're carrying such a fun Mat & Ruler Bag. It certainly turns a few heads.
Another reason for Cathy to be so happy... she's finished her Railfence table runner. She made it extra long to suit her table which is great, there are no rules on sizes after all. Now Cathy has started to make a 10 Minute Block quilt... she's had her eye on them for a few weeks now. Cathy's will be blue-y fabrics, recycled bedding actually.
I saw a You Tube video with the 10 Minute block done with Railfence blocks... very, very cool I thought. have a look won't you?
We meet again on Friday 28th October. 10am - 3pm as usual. Come along if you like... see all the projects for your very own self... I'm sure we can tempt you with something...

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2011-10-25T20:53:00.001+01:00

In the blog post before this one you will see that Lovely Lyn wrote an Ode To yours truly... she says that she doesn't write poetry normally, she just felt inspired to do it this one time, which she should reconsider... This lady has talent, don't you think... with such interesting subject matter to help her of course!!! ha ha ha... seriously, I think it's brilliant, Thank You Lovely Lyn.

This is what Lyn made today, a Quick Table Topper, with rather stunning fabrics... ooooh those blacks are very chic! all purchased from Table Top Shop, wadding in the van. Lyn was very surprised to have completed the quilt top in one lesson, she trimmed the edges and got it ready for sandwich making too... and went home very satisfied with her achievement.

Messy Maureen placed a bag of small pieces on the table stating that she too wanted to make a Quick Table Topper. I wish now that I had taken a picture of the ingredients we had to work with. After much fudging and careful cutting we (I) found just enough bits to actually make a runner... this is the progress by lunchtime... Messy Maureen had an afternoon of volunteering to do at the charity shop and had to leave early, so we'll get this project finished next time.

Giggly Gillian is still making 6" HST's (Half Square Triangles). She's sewn them into Pin-wheels several times only to unpick them when she gets home. She adds new fabrics and swaps things around.. this project has been requested by a family member so Gillian feels a little pressure to get it just right... Hopefully, this time she will be happy with the fruits from her day... she says she's happy with it all now... we'll have to wait and see.

Marisabel made binding for her Quick Table Topper and stitched it on. The hand sewing can be done at home so it was folded up and put away. Can you guess what Marisabel is making next? The Christmas Wreath is proving to be so popular, easy, fast and fun.. always a winner. Lovely Lyn will make one too....

We meet again next month, Tuesday 8th November 10am - 3pm and it looks like we will have a full house again... a sign winter is creeping in and the gardens don't need titivating ha ha ha.

An Ode To Angela, Written By Lovely Lyn

2011-10-25T20:19:00.000+01:00

She wears a patchwork apron and drives a big white van,
Her sunny disposition hides her cunning plan.
To lure you into quilting and all that it entails
Angie won’t give up on you - she never ever fails!

She knows that once you’ve tried it, you’ll never be the same.
Like her and many others, a quilter you’ll remain.
This hobby is addictive, it will not let you go -
There’s always a new fabric that you just have to sew.
Until the scraps of cotton that you have cut and sewn,
Into a lovely pattern have miraculously grown.
She stops and checks and has a look to see you’ve done it right

“Its all so very easy” she quips with great delight!

But now I want to warn you before you get involved,
Be wary of the dangers this hobby will unfold.
Your housework gets neglected - the gardening forgotten -
While you in frantic panic search for the right cotton.

And what of all those funny names Angela has created?
I’ll name a few and you will see our future now is fated!
There’s Dotty Maureen, Early Sue, Chris the Foot and Jolly Joe,
Krafty Karen, Joan the Shop, Annie Pie - there’s more to go -
Brenda Barbara, Messy Maureen, Shirley Lerley and Giggly Gill
Arty Beryl, Marisabel, and now I’ve nearly had my fill
Of trying to remember names and getting them to rhyme
It has become impossible to fit them all in line.

So remember what I’ve told you - be sure you cannot win,
Once hooked you’re hooked for ever - from one called Lovely Lyn!

My Mum, Gwynneth's Quilt

2011-10-24T06:54:00.001+01:00

What a difference a border fabric can make... I saw the beginnings of a quilt on a blog a while ago, by that I mean that I saw a few blocks, ha ha ha... As per usual, I couldn't remember where I had seen it. I told My Mum (Gwynneth) about it and, as she was available to start yet another quilt, she decided to have a go...
Mum... "What do I need?"
Me... "2 colours that contrast well, as many fabrics as you like, but just 2 colours"
Mum chose the one green and the one purple, only one of each colour... she doesn't get the scrappy thing, YET!
Doesn't matter, they contrast well, the pattern shows up really well so they will look great.... but she started to call it her 'Wimbledon Quilt' once she realised that she had used Wimbledon colours, ha ha ha
When it came to borders, nothing looked good.... until we draped the quilt top over 'Table Top Shop, wadding on the side'... this leafy fabric was a perfect match... throwing in the inner border of Moda Swirl in Christmas red set it off a treat, don't you think? No more Wimbledon Quilt, we're thinking of something else to call it now...

Quilty Quarters, The Commission Quilt

2011-10-23T08:11:00.000+01:00

"They" decided that the 'Wall Hanging' should be 10ft wide with an 8ft drop... 10 and 8 are small numbers until you multiply by 12!...
120" x 96"... the size of a huge bed quilt, but slippy, slidey, silky fabrics with a mind of their own... I came up with a seriously cunning plan that should help me manage this.
In the photo you will see I have the centre done and sandwiched. 14 x 10 of 6" blocks. It took me 3 hours to make the sandwich as it had to be very well pinned to give me maximum stability. I've started quilting this bit. Once it's done I'll make the 3 block wide, 18" borders, quilt them and add them to the main centre with 1/2" sashing... apartment quilting... thank goodness for It at times like this!!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-10-22T08:49:00.000+01:00

Dotty Maureen has finally cut into her very special fabric, the centres of these blocks... she bought it as soon as it came to Table Top Shop because she 'Loved it'... now who would do that? As usual Dotty is workin on more than one project... She spent her Quilt Cave day quilting, ditch-hopping black lines with black thread... Dotty has a lot of patience, this is a monotonous job!

Gilly was piecing borders for three tree skirts. She had started making them with 'Quilt As You Go' (QAYG) as suggested in the magazine but it was distorting as she stitched, making the pattern fall away from it's intended shape. We had a little chat and decided it would be more accurate to piece the whole border before quilting it... it worked!!

Brenda Barbara finished all of her border blocks... here they are in place with the coping strips... doesn't it look fabulous! We played about auditioning corner stone ideas and decided on half square triangles of the bright paperweight fabric and that lovely delicate pink one. Brenda has decided this will be a wall hanging... she has a bit more hand stitching to do on the twiddly fiddly bits but this project could be ready to sandwich next week

Barbie had unfortunately misplaced a few important fabrics for her Pineapple Blossom project making it difficult to finish all of the blocks... she doesn't worry though, the quilt will be one row shorter and she's perfectly happy about it... PMS (Pleasing My Self) Sashing and corner stones were added to much of the quilt during our day. Looking good Barbie!

Maid Marion was very happy to be able to make a Caterpillar sandwich... ha ha ha. This quilt is a commissioned project and she would love to have it finished as she has so many other things on her list of things she would love to make... she's a very inspired lady!! Every new project she sees adds to her ever growing list, don't tell me that doesn't happen to you!

Jenny Barlaston popped in to use our tables to make a quilt sandwich. Sandwiches are much easier to make on tables... there's still a little back ache but no where near as much as you get making floor sandwiches, oh and the kneeeees.... ooooh it helps a lot with knees too. This is Jenny's Christmas Wreath... this isn't what she was sandwiching though, these projects are small enough for a kitchen counter sandwich.

We meet again on Wednesday 26th and Friday 28th October, 10am to 3pm, as usual... be careful if you come though.... there are lots of inspiring projects in our Quilt Cave... you might go home with your very own Long List!!!!

Harvey's Quilt

2011-10-22T08:16:00.001+01:00

Helen, very kindly, offered to do the quilting on this project for Joan The Shop, her Mum. The quilt is being made for Harvey, Helen's son... Joan's grandson... are you keeping up? It turned out to be a very heavy quilt which, we can only presume, is because of all the seams on the back. Joan used a cross-stitch pattern to piece the winner cup... It's turning out to be a spectacular quilt... don't you think? What a lot of work involved in it, I bet Harvey will love it!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-10-20T06:01:00.003+01:00

Hiding behind her latest project is our Annie Pie. This is Annie's second Bargello quilt, it's a commission for a guy she knows... he's bound to be chuffed to bits with this quilt... boy are those colours stunning. The fabrics are very difficult to work with, cutting soft, open weave fabrics is hard enough without it being necessary to cut 1" strips and sew them without distortion... Annie's doing it though.
Here's a snippet for you... Annie has been coming to Quilt Cave pretty regularly since May 2010 when we first moved to this hall actually, she made 21 quilts already!!! woooohhoooo!

Helen wanted to try free motion quilting an all over design for this second fund raising quilt. We had a little chat, I shared a few top secret tips (so don't ask! ha ha ha) She practised a bit on paper then made a Fat Quarter sandwich... practised on that until there wasn't any space left on the Fat Quarter then plunged in on the actual quilt... she loved doing it... I think she may even have been singing!! She finished it in about an hour! Good Job Helen... Just binding now... and a label, don't forget the label... there's a queue of ladies waiting to buy a raffle ticket now.

Wendy made millions of tiny Split 4-patch blocks in neutral colours, not at all her usual 'cup o tea'... once the blocks were sewn together, Wendy didn't like the project at all... so she unpicked.... hmmm what to do with them? I 'interfered a bit'... I had seen a rather cool picture on t'Internet... I sort of drew the design and Wendy agreed to have a go... can you see it taking shape in the picture? Scrappy stuff might not be something you enjoy... but if you do, your sure to like this, I know I do... Wendy hasn't made her mind up yet... Hey ho... let's see what happens eh...

Lovely Lyn has done all the basic stitching on her 10 Minute Block quilt... That's me holding the quilt for the photo... I could have tucked myself carefully behind the quilt for the shot but hey... That's my new super posh apron there, it's made with the same fabrics as Lyn's quilt top... why would I hide me? ha ha ha. Lyn's going to do the Cathedral-ly Window-y thing with those centre squares and that's all hand work so it should keep her good for a week.

Chris (The Foot) made a sandwich with her Autumnal wreath wall hanging and set up her machine with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) She tested out the tension of the stitching and started the quilting... simple meandering, fun to do... I've heard some professional free motion quilting teachers say that meandering is dated and boring... well... we don't care, we LOVE it!!! Chris has another wall hanging almost complete made with Christmassy fabrics this time. The wreath wall hanging is a fast fun project... perfect for presents!

Look... Wendy made one too... also in traditional Christmassy fabrics. They really are lovely aren't they, these small wall hangings finish up a lovely size, perfect for hanging on an internal door... not outside, that would be silly... or would it... such temptation... do you trust your postman? I have received many emails asking about them, the wreath not the postman, ha ha ha... stunning and simple.. seems people love that idea.

Early Sue couldn't stay to play with us but she's been stitching at home. She popped in for a few essential things she needed from "Table Top Shop, wadding on the side and in the van"
This lovely quilt started out as a Railfence table runner, Sue's turned it into quite a funky lap quilt. The centre is quilted so she's only the top and bottom segments to quilt now. Next project for Sue is a Mat & Ruler bag in gorgeous fabrics... I'll show them to you next time.

Many more things I could show you but that's enough excitement for one post I think.
'Table Top Shop, wadding on the side' had another 30 new bolts of fabric added after my big shopping spree over the weekend... wooohoooo so much lovely fabric!!!
For those of you waiting... the Freezer Paper and Sewers Aid came along with more notions. The ladies who ordered starch from Dawn can pick it up when they are ready, she sent it to me.
We meet again on Friday, 21st October. 10am - 3pm, see you there?

Marisabel's Bargello Wall Hanging

2011-10-19T19:46:00.001+01:00

Marisabel finished her Bargello Wall Hanging, rather stunning isn't it!
Click in and have a closer look won't you... can you see any evidence that she's a beginner?
NO... I will answer for you, because you won't find anything.
Of course... Marisabel doesn't think it's very good, she points out an odd little thing that isn't quite as accurate as she would like... she doesn't feel like she can Toot Toot Toot, so I am doing it for her!

Here's a picture of the back, this is a great way to use up any of the strip set that you have left over. You can see the lovely quilting better from the back, very easy to do, the Bargello doesn't need anything complicated... it's simply stunning enough...
Come on ladies... shout with me...
IT'S FANTASTIC MARISABEL!!!!!... Toot, Toot, Toot... You did a brilliant job.
What's next?

Presenting My Quilts

2011-10-18T07:02:00.000+01:00

Today I will be presenting and talking about some of my quilts to the Ladies Friendship Group at Caverswall Village Hall, a small group of lovely ladies. I call my talk "Quilting The Alternative Sandwich"... only because when people call to book ME (toot toot toot) they ask "What's the talk called?" The fun starts at 2pm, if you would like to see it, come on over... I think there'll be tea/coffee and biscuits afterwards.
I can't take all of my quilts, I tried that a few times and, even if I rush through the piles as fast as I can and talk so fast that you miss stuff... it still takes at least one and a half hours. I have so many and I love to show them all... I've decided to take only the quilts that I made while living in other countries. That should trim the talk down to just about an hour. What it also means is that there will be enough quilts to make a second presentation of quilts that I could call "Sandwiches Made In The UK" ha ha ha
The photo you see above is the one I used in this post ... I'm happy to report that things have progressed!

Quilty Quarters, A New Commission Quilt

2011-10-16T07:42:00.001+01:00

Last week I was invited to a meeting, a very important meeting... There was talk of them wanting me to make a wall hanging using tie fabrics. They requested that I take in a few quilts to the meeting to show my work... "How many would you like me to bring? I have about 60!"... I took 10 wall hangings with me... some traditional, some a bit more wacky but all fabulous and lots of different colour combinations. They loved them, they could see I am good at what I do (Toot, Toot, Toot!!)
The conversation after loving my quilts....
Them... Yes, we would like you to make our wall hanging...
Me... Do you have an idea about the design?
Them.. Oh yes, 6" squares.
Me.. That shouldn't be too difficult (thinking I could have it finished within a week)
Them... We would like a black border too.
Me... Piped with yellow maybe? or just plain black?
Them... Plain black, not too wide.
Me... OK, I'll do it... (thinking 'piece of cake really')
Them... Right, we want it 8 ft square, though we may increase that to 8ft x 10 ft after we've measured the wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's the box of fabrics... now, how long do you need to do it?....

Holy Moly.... How long do I need to complete this wall hanging??? More than the week I had mentally planned during the meeting, that's for sure!
They need it ASAP. We (they) suggested a target of the end of November... I can only try.
Yesterday it took me 6 hours to tame, sort and fussy cut 3 x 6" blocks of each of the 92 soft, stretchy, silky tie fabrics... luckily they're all new tie fabrics... thank goodness I don't have to unpick and sort out worn ties... so 18 x 6" blocks wide by 18 x 6" blocks long, 324 blocks... I'll keep you informed of my progress, if you're interested.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-10-15T08:30:00.001+01:00

Another very busy, fun day. It felt like we were only there for an hour,... woooosssh the day flew by.
Barbie continued making blocks for her Pineapple Blossom Quilt, it's her second one... this pattern is great fun to make, she enjoyed making the first one... so she's making another with different fabrics. Barbie needs 24 of the Pineapple blocks, she must be almost done because she was choosing sashing fabrics later on.

Brenda Barbara's project... PMS (Pleasing My Self) and making it up as she goes along... 4 more of these 4" blocks are needed to complete each side border... once they're done Brenda can decide whether to make 4 more for the corners or whether to do something else, quite different in the corners... no decision has been made... she'll just 'go with it' next time!

We had a sandwich marathon at the start of the day. 1 large one for Joan The Shop, 3 tree skirts for Gilly, 1 lap quilt for Shirley Lerly, 1 medium sandwich for Little Treasure Ann, probably more... I can't remember... Dotty Maureen always lends a hand when someone is sandwiching/pinning but once she was dismissed she cracked on with her own work... the black ditch hopping! Looks like she's been purchasing more Patchwork & Quilting books too eh!

Jenny Barlaston couldn't resist coming to see how to make the Wreath wall hanging, it's proving very popular. As you can see Jenny's using traditional Christmas fabrics. by the end of the day she had all the blocks cut out, pinned in place and ready to sew... it goes together very easily, you just have to be careful as all the edges are bias... oooooher!

Shirley Lerly started the day at Table Top Shop, 4 different waddings on the side... choosing border fabrics for her second lap quilt, we tried all the obvious choices, blues and pinks, greens etc but nothing was perfect until we almost gave up and placed the top centre next to purple oooooh, very nice! How about a stipe? Peeeeerrrfect! Looks fabulous eh!

Helen brought in a second pile of blocks that were donated for the fund raising thing she's doing soon. There were enough blocks for two lap quilts and there's still enough for a very small one or a cushion cover, no decision there yet, anyway... by the end of the day it was finished and, yet another sandwich was made. Quilting time.. Helen love's to do the quilting, whether it be ditch hopping or free motion... loves it far more than piecing.

Little Treasure Ann (She's the treasurer of the SPQ!) had her sandwich ready good and early in the day so was able to make a good start on her quilting. She's shadow quilting just inside the hearts, it makes them puff up lovely. Once the hearts are all done, Ann will decide whether to do more quilting or not... decisions, decisions

Of course there was a lot more stuff going on... this is only a little taster of it all... We meet again next Wednesday 19th and Friday 21st October, 10am to 3pm, as usual you are most welcome to join us... that way you won't miss anything at all!

Caverswall Quilt Cave, part 2

2011-10-13T18:38:00.001+01:00

After my demonstrations making this wreath style quilt, we have a few ladies making them now.
This one, in Autumnal colours, belongs to Chris (The Foot)... First of all, the squares are cut to 5" each then joined together as you see here.. you can add as many fabrics as you like keeping the background squares the same... The centre 5 squares also need to be the same as they form the centre of the wreath... add a 3" wide border strip.

...from here the template is needed. You have to draw round it placing the wonky diagonal cross exactly over each junction...... then you have to cut out each little block and place it on something to secure the order. Chris pinned hers to a piece of fabric to keep them safe...
It would only take one whoooosh of a lady passing by or the flip of a quilt being folded, to have the whole thing turn into a puzzle... Are you following all this?
By the end of the day she was at this stage. She will stitch them together at home... at least that's the plan!

We had a new lady join us, she's already an experienced quilter. She's passed by the village hall many times and seen us having fun but could no longer resist the temptation to spend a fun day stitching...so we welcomed Sheila.
With her already knowing the basics Sheila was able to jump straight in without making a Railfence quilt, he he he. These are her wreath squares all stitched together,

Christmas designs in traditional reds and greens with lots of glittery gold. Doesn't it look great?
Sheila pinned her blocks to a piece of felt, normally it would be enough to place the blocks onto the felt as they stick quite well but for the journey home....better to pin them. Sheila enjoyed our company and says she'll be back for sure. Actually, most people say that, wooohooo!

New and rather gorgeous fabrics have just been delivered for "Table Top Shop, 4 different types of wadding on the side"... Do ya think I can add any more words to this travelling shop?? he he he
For shopping... pop in to Caverswall Village Hall Wednesday or Friday, or both!
Every week between 10am and 3pm if you want to see what we have to tempt you.

Caverswall Quilt Cave, part 1

2011-10-13T07:30:00.001+01:00

Jolly Jo thoroughly enjoyed the workshop with Dawn Cameron-Dick, on Saturday for the Swynnerton session. Totally inspired since then, she made this quilt using Dawn's Invisible Machine Appliqué method to join the quarter circles to their background squares... a very useful method indeed. After purchasing some rather wonderful new wadding from 'Table Top Shop, wadding in the van', Jo made a sandwich and quilted the day away using her walking foot to do 'Ditch Hopping' which is always a popular choice at the Quilt Cave.

Dotty Maureen had taken her workshop samples home after the Friday session... they were not quite finished but, with her workshop papers, Dotty figured it all out for her very own self. She decided to join the four small class samples together to make a little quilt, which is a lovely reminder of her fun day. The bunny needs a nose and an eye but, apart from that it's finished. Dotty spent the rest of the day quilting her Stained Glass Window quilt... she's going round all the black lines now, cursing me for the idea as there are lots of ends to tie off... woooops!

Wendy made this very cheery Christmas wall hanging using the tried, tested and much loved 'Stick it down and Blanket Stitch the edges' method of appliqué... Sometimes the visible stitching just enhances the work, don't you think? Wendy also came to the workshop on Friday, we didn't just learn how to sew shapes to our work, there are other useful options for Invisible Machine Appliqué too... Wendy used her new skills to make the mitred corners on her borders... who'd a thought of that? Don't the borders look fabulous!.. actually I have used this method before but I thought it was cheating... hey ho. I've been Pleasing My Self (PMS) for quite a long time... woohoooo!

Krafty Karen, and before you say anything I know she looks like she's a convict in a sweat shop! ha ha ha... it's the stripes that do it! Anyway, she continued to quilt her animal quilt with the walking foot. She's using the Juki Exceed Quilt & Pro Special that we have on loan... it's great to test a machine very well if you are considering purchasing one... so far she's happy with it, a few more test days to enjoy the machine before Karen makes a firm-er decision.... It has a great size 'hole' and brilliant lights you know.

Early Sue, who actually owns her very own Juki Exceed, continued to work on the borders of her Railfence quilt. She made a lot of Square In A Square blocks with the intention of adding them as a border... but the plan has changed now, there will be a double row of the blocks at the top and to the bottom of the quilt... creative PMS!! (Pleasing My Self)

On the subject of PMS (Pleasing My Self) and creativity, Arty Janet came to play. It's rather exciting to watch her working away. She doesn't want any help, in fact she refuses it... she doesn't know what she wants except that it WILL be a quilt when it's done... she doesn't know how to do it... but that's just the way she likes it... she's thoroughly enjoying the processes, the brain ache etc... I have to say, those borders are rather gorgeous...

I thought I would show you a bit of the 'nitty gritty of Helen's Heirloom quilt project, we saw more of this side all day this time as she had to tie off all the threads. The quick way I had shown her last week hadn't been as successful as we had hoped... way too may end to leave them all 'dangling', even though all this part will be covered with fabric when it's finished. The front is beautiful and almost finished... just three more of these to make... if Helen can muster up the stamina! Joan The Shop came to play too, I'll show you pictures of her quilt very soon, she will be making a sandwich on Friday... it's a quilt you've seen before and Joan is on a mission to finish it, now that she's out of hospital she has a list of things she wants to make... a looooooooooong list! he he he

We meet again on Friday, 14th October... 10am to 3pm.. we have 4 different types of wadding to choose from, all at very competitive prices... come over any time during our meeting hours if you need any!

Uttoxeter Quilt Class

2011-10-11T20:53:00.000+01:00

Messy Maureen finished quilting her Diamond Jubilee raffle prize and made just enough binding for it. She had to dash before she could stitch it on though as she was doing yet another 'stint' at a charity shop in town. Messy Maureen does a lot of volunteer work, hat's off to her eh! The binding will be white so as not to spoil the colour scheme, Red White And Blue, I bet the Queen would be chuffed to bits to win this table topper!

Marisabel has been 'globe trotting' but she's back with us now... she trimmed up her Bargello Wall Hanging, made her binding, stitched it on and had another little lesson to get the join perfect. Then she put it away as she can do the hand stitching at home. She started cutting all the bits ready for a Quick Table Topper... Knowing Marisabel, it will probably be finished for next time we meet!

Lovely Lyn continued working on her 10 Minute blocks. She's decided to make a lap quilt with them and will add the extra 'Cathedral-ly window-y' bits to all of the junctions... it proved to be a little tricky because the fabric placement is quite important with only using 2 colours for the background.

Gillian continued to work on her 'thousands' of HST (Half Square Triangles)... she was threatening to start sewing them together when next we meet. Which will be 25th October.
The ladies wanted to meet next week but I am unavailable because I will be presenting my quilts once again in Caverswall Village Hall... it's only £2 to get in if you would like to go too... the money is all for a good cause, but I forget what it is right now... hey ho... it should be fun...

A Sewing Lesson

2011-10-10T09:56:00.003+01:00

Not really a quilt related picture I know. Dave, now back from Ghana, asked for a little stitchy help in his workshop/garage. I was able to sew a rubber fuel pipe into a piece of 'old sofa' leather to get a good rounded, full look... using my Bernina baby and the the zipper foot... worked very well! He then described the thread and colour he would like to do the visible stitching, I thought... Perle Cotton... got loads of that, he can have a metre of two, no problem...!
He tried to describe the stitch he needed to make, to get the plane cockpit (yes that is a pilot doll!!!) looking authentic... said stitch had to be sort of double making a sort of loopy thing...
I was thinking... 'sounds like a petal stitch to me'... there are very few embroidery stitches I know how to do, Petal Stitch and Blanket Stitch, Running Stitch, Back Stitch and those 'little knotty things'... so he was lucky!
Those tiny rivetty hole things (technical speak!) you can see are so small that a needle barely goes through them, they're used for Dolls' House furniture... The needle had to be very long and very thin with an eye big enough to take the Perle Cotton.... I showed Dave how to do the... extreeeeeeeeeeemly fiddly sewing, through the rivetty things, wooden cockpit and real 'old sofa' leather... he spent many hours doing it and he's very happy with the results. The needle looks like a banana and the thread has dirty finger prints all over it... hey ho... he's happy and I don't hand stitch any more anyway!... so all is good eh.

Swynnerton Village Hall, Workshop Day 2

2011-10-09T08:48:00.000+01:00

Swynnerton Village Hall is another great venue for workshops... Lots of tables, wonderful 'Kettle Corner', great light, very posh, comfy chairs and toasty warm radiators... which was fabulous as we looked out of the huge windows seeing the gale force winds and sideways rain!! Perfecto!
The workshop was, again, fantastic, everyone participated with gusto and all were thrilled to bits with what they were learning... and boy were they learning a lot, I hope our memories can keep it all in!
Dawn Cameron-Dick is nothing short of a brilliant teacher full of very, very useful information and she makes it all so simple to understand... a big bonus!
We're going to have her back again to teach us more brilliant stuff... she's a very lovely lady and had very posh shoes too... I'll let you know details as soon as I have them... not about the shoes, I mean future workshop arrangements... ha ha ha
What a fabulous few days I have had, I love these workshop weeks... so much fun, hard work but fun, fun, fun!!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave, Workshop Day 1

2011-10-07T20:10:00.000+01:00

As you will no doubt expect... we had a superb day with Dawn Cameron-Dick and the Invisible Machine Appliqué workshop... 18 ladies learned lots of new tricks, made their machines do things they didn't know they could do... we laughed, we ooooohed... we ahhhhh'd, we also puzzled and pondered, stressed a little... unnecessarily in the end, all the usual stuff.
This is the only picture to share, can you see the room buzzzzzzzzing?

Quilt Cave, In Ghana?

2011-10-06T17:35:00.000+01:00

Dave is away, in Ghana on a business trip he says. He's endured thousands of miles bouncing around on dirt tracks... of course he had a more colourful description when he telephoned. He just sent this picture for my blog of, what he says, is a "Quilt Cave"... you know, looking closer, he could be right, that lady is folding something quilt like... backing maybe... ha ha ha ... of course I jest, but it was a good thought from so far away.

Caverswall Quilt Cave

2011-10-06T06:23:00.000+01:00

Lizi is giving the game away now... it's obvious that she's the daughter of our Shirley Lerly, see the foil packaging for those beautiful Log Cabin Blocks? ha... a big clue! Shirley was telling me how lovely it is to be able to stitch and chat away with her daughter, she's right. You know we've had folks ranging from 15 to 78 in our Quilt Cave and we all have great fun... it's just a number really, it's all about the stitching!

Jolly Jo's quilt is coming along wonderfully.... I hope you can click to look closer at those tiny little quarter inch squares that make up the hearts... they were appliquéd in place with a lovely, very visible, blanket stitch... it's all pulling together very nicely indeed, don't you think?.. as usual it looks very much better in real life than it does in my photo, crisp blue and white... always a winner.

Dotty Maureen started her day shopping at the Table Top Shop... she chose a wild fabric for the backing of her Stained Glass quilt, it's called Pollen from from Rowen fabrics, I hope it doesn't cause Hay Fever! Dotty made her sandwich and spent the day doing free motion quilting... meandering between the black sashing.

Shirley Lerly has been busy making HST's (Half Square Triangles). Starting out with two 5" squares, you must know the easy method... right sides together, draw a diagonal line down through the centre, sew 1/4" seam on either side of line then cut through the drawn line and prrrress... really easy, for quick & fabulous results. Shirley finished the top, chose the backing and is ready to make a sandwich. She's going to make three of these lap quilts... they'll all be the same... but different!

Annie Pie cut her strips and numbered them to keep the right order... what would we quilters do without masking tape? When it came to the stitching Annie had to do it very carefully because the fabrics have quite a loose weave... she'll have to be even more careful with the prrrressing, they could quite easily "wonk" (ha ha haaaa...great word!!! you know what I mean right?) Fantastic colours, oh.. almost forgot to say, this will be a very chic Bargello quilt.

Wendy was playing with sticky stuff... I know we're having Dawn Cameron-Dick come to do a workshop with Invisible Machine Appliqué but this project looks fabulous done with 'stick in down', raw edge appliqué... just needs a little thought so as not to have the letters turn out with the mirror image, which often happens to me! Not Wendy though.. she's much too clever to have that happen to her! I wonder what it will say when it's all finished? ewwwwwww... I just guessed! he he he

Foxy Margaret remains determined to use up most of her huge scrap collection, she has some beautiful fabrics in there. She continued to make up various blocks following the worksheet/handout that she was given at the Katharine Guerrier workshop we had in early June. This is going to be a stunning scrap quilt, I'm quite sure there will still be scraps left over for Foxy Margaret though... really... she has loads!

Lacey Anne has been taking and collecting more photographs of floor tiles. As you can see, she's designed her second quilt using one of the tiled floor pictures... All of the main blocks are done so Anne worked on making the sashing strips, sticking firmly to the photo. Here's Anne's first floor quilt if you missed it, it turned out stunning, Anne sticks to the colours as closely as she is able to.

This is My Mum's (Gwynneth) Christmas Wreath project, her second actually... it's the one I used to do the little 'How To' demo for the ladies... very fast little project that I'm sure we will see more of over the coming weeks.

During our meetings everyone works at their own pace. Mostly everyone works on a different project, all are differing sizes with many different and inspiring colour combinations... How long does each project take to make?... well... how long is a piece of string? We don't run with a strict formula. We practice PMS all the time... Pleasing My Self... it's the only way!