Stitching News

Peggy added the borders to her scrumptious, scraptastic quilt top. She followed the instructions from her own book and feels a great sense of achievement for having done so. I always encourage my pupils to save their scraps and left-overs... they're great for multi fabric projects... and, you know, that you pay the same price for all those scraps... so please Don't throw them out!

Diane finished all of her units and was able to stitch them together into rows, watching the design carefully... isn't this looking great... the fabrics are from the About A Boy range... did I mention that I have them all in stock! 

Di Butterfly has a new grand baby and wants him to be brought up correctly... surrounded by nanas quilted goodies! he he. A car seat quilt with beautiful and modern fabrics (Art Gallery) with fussy cut applique hearts should see him right for a while... see the little hearts around the borders too?

Brenda Barbara added inner and outer borders to her Bali Batik Railfence design quilt, my goodness it's a scrumptious quilt... by the end of class this beauty had been sandwiched ready for some stylish quilting.

Sheila's table. She had little batik strips everywhere as she was making her border strips and wanted them in a certain order... Good job she was working in a corner as people whooshing by might have upset the apple cart for Sheila... By the way... in January only this fantastic Juki HZL 600f sewing computer has been reduced to an amazing price. Call me for details and to book a "Play session"

Brenda Duck brought in her finished and fabulous Railfence table runner... she has really enjoyed having it on her table over the festive season and feels very proud to have completed it on time. She started a new project with applique... more next time.

Merrily is very happy with her new Christmas present... From Merrily To Merrily... how wonderful to get a fabulous new sewing machine for your very own self, from your very own self!! No worries about getting the wrong one eh!! Merrily has transformed a simple appliqued project into another masterpiece... more on this also, next week

Stitching News

Jean Bean finished her delicious Star Gazy Dasiez!!! toot toot tootetty toot
A well deserved fanfare for a fabulous finish. There's a very long, emotional and personal story attached to this quilt that we don't need to know...
but what we do need to know is how therapeutic it can be to make quilts for others.
It's really beautiful Jean Bean.

Gail decided to go ahead and join some of her Bento Box blocks together.
There are decisions to be made yet... like what size to make, will there be borders or not... there's time to carefully think about it... but it helps a lot to see the blocks stitched together, it's looking great so far. 

Krafty Karen's been busy over sewing prevention season... but not with stitching!
 The three gifting quilts Karen finished just in the nick of time were very popular with their new owners so Karen was happy.... as she dug into her bag of projects getting ready for her class, this forgotten snowman panel quilt popped out saying...
will you please finish me before next Christmas, pleeease? ha ha ha

Last week I was helping Giggly Gillian with her curved piecing so that she could make this Drunkard's Path design. The pattern in the magazine is beautiful but the templates were "tricky tiny"... there wasn't any fabric to hold on to to achieve a seam allowance. It's figured out out now and Gillian made all of these units at home during the week. Have you tried to make/made this cushion?

Giggly Gillian packed away her Drunkard's Path blocks because she has been asked to make a baby play mat... a bit like a quilt! Gillian chose a pattern from my Kids Quilts collection selection, chose a few key fabrics and then set to, tracing off the design.

PM Pam made a sandwich, it was only a small one... This quilt will be a Draughts Board game, but, of course it will be a Draughts Quilt Game in this case, he he... I think it is called Checkers over the pond? Lady Judith got her hubby, The Wonderful Wood Guy to make the round counters... I will show you next time because I am sure we will be tooting by then.

Just Jan made this heart with the free pattern click here if you would like to make one too. Jan has actually made three hearts and they will be the main focus of a bed scarf/runner... what a great idea!
Jan's ideas for putting them together sounded great... we will see next time

Fruity Rose is determined to get all six of her festive place mats finished for next Christmas, of course she wanted them for the last one but when you work full time... sometimes it doesn't quite work out. The beauty of festive projects is that we never need to commit to which Christmas we are making things for...
There's always another one coming!

Just Saying...

Next Saturday, 17th January, we have the first of our 2015 workshops.
First up is a lovely day making four different Goodie Bags with New Sue.
Lots of useful closures to get to grips with making some great gift giving ideas.

Now, you may well have noticed that I haven't posted news every day? 
I am trying to waste less time so am leaving the computer turned off... it's amazing how much more time I have for other things if I don't actually turn it on.
It does take a while to do my posts with pictures to upload and all, but that's not the problem, it's fun and I enjoy writing for my blog.
My problems come AFTER posting my news... I start to click around blogland looking at other folks' stitching news... there's so much inspiration out there. I click around for what feels like only 10 minutes, oooh-ing and ahhhh-ing at the beautiful projects... then a glance at the clock and it shows me that an hour has passed and I am late! Does that happen to you?
In an effort to get my clicking under control, this is how it's going to be for a while... and I already made two cushions with my clicking time!

Stitching News

Joan The Shop's breathing well so she was able to join us. 
She's continuing with her very beautiful, Stack-N-Whack Kaleidoscope project. Adding the borders to all the blocks with the correct corner stones can be a tricky business... when you've got great conversation to catch up on!

Lou Lou brought her large quilt to class to do the quilting on...
 but put it away, Lick-etty-Split when she saw my lovely new cushion... 
(you haven't had that pleasure yet) she wanted to make cushions too. Here's one ready to be quilted... instant satisfaction comes with a cushion top! 

Barbie made matching cushions with her left over fabrics. The Chunky Churndash quilt was ready to be sandwiched but there wasn't quite enough space to do that job.

Maddie made this fabulous hare for Barbie to use as a pin cushion... it's so large that Barbie may never manage to loose him! It's amazing how pleasurable it can be to stick pins into the plump behind of a hare called Graham!

Sandwich Saturday saw several quilts being pinned. This one belongs to PM Pam, who sandwiched two projects actually... this particular quilt of Pam's is a favourite of mine... I love the Dresden Plate and I love Art Gallery fabrics... win win!!

See, Barbie came back the very next day after Friday Quilt Club to get her sandwiched made... through wind, hail, rain, and all... she battled the elements and even travelled on the rickety bus!!!We quilters show amazing stamina and perseverance when we want our projects done!! ha ha ha

Stitching News

Morning Josie brought her first ever finish in to show us... So
She gets to hear her first ever fabulous and finished, Toot Toot Toot fanfare
Josie told us that she is using her lovely quilt on the sofa.
She's working on a toddler play mat next.

Diane had her fabulous and finished Railfence table runner on full display over sewing prevention season. She made sure that all her visitors noticed it too!! ha ha ha
So thats another toot toot toot on our new year trumpets

Peggy, like most of us, found no time at all to do any sewing over our break... not put off though, she continued with her lovely scrappy quilt making during class. She needed lots more 2" square for the inner borders.

Our Sheila decided to hand stitch her sashing/joining strips. Fully entertained by the goings on in my very own quilt shop while stitching away... what a great way to spend a day? The border designs have been chosen and need making up so the sewing machine will come out next time.

Diane took all her sewing paraphernalia away with her on holiday...
fully intending to make great stitching progress...
unfortunately, she forgot to take any fabric with her! oh no... still, she says she sorted out her sewing area and collection of crafting supplies instead, so the time wasn't wasted. She got right back on track during her day in class.

Brenda Barbara wanted to make a Lick-etty-split quilt.
The Railfence design is lovely and can make up pretty quickly if you used wider strips, as Brenda did... 2 1/2" strips make 6 1/2" blocks... Brenda made all these blocks in less than a day and went home with loads stitched together... in the correct order too!

My Rebel Josie was very lucky and received a lovely new book for Christmas... gotta love a gifted quilt book!... it's Flower Show Quilts, the book Joan The Shop used to make her beautiful Poppy wall hanging, Josie has plans to make many of the patterns, she loves them all and loves applique.

Stitching News

Back to normal routine?... Just as I announced a few days ago... normal... in that I forgot to get out my camera until it was too late... oh dear, that's not a good start to my daily blogging is it...
Still, I did catch two not yet packed up worktables...

New Sue has started to make these beautiful Lone Star blocks. A Moda Jelly Roll, I think it is Hearty Good Wishes is being used with one of the Jelly Roll recipe books... you can just see it in the top right corner of my picture... you can see that it is going to be a fabulous quilt just by this first star can't you... 

This is a whole day of progress for our Jean Bean...
she would have done more but for lovely customers pinging the shop bell and telling us how wonderful my little quilt shop is!!! wooohooo, we know it!...
Now that Jean has mastered the flying geese units using this (Click Here) method she can carry on making them in her very own
stylish studio on the hill.

Any news is better than no news at all so just be happy that I took two photographs... please... ha ha ha

Bumper Issue Of Stitching News

PM Pam finished another Mile-A-Minute and Crumbs quilt...
Very simple quilting on this one proving that quilt designs don't have to be over complicated... Sometimes simple is perfect! Toot toot toot Pam... I love it

PM Pam made this fabulous backing.
Can you see that she used her new at the time Dresden Ruler to trim up her scrappy bits and bobs for a perfect backing insert... I love this a lot too Pam

PM Pam has been productive over the break... no Sewing Prevention there...
She finished the extra Dresden Plates needed to make the quilt longer and they are all stitched in place... Sandwich Saturday has another booking already!

Pam had quite a few 5" squares left over so she decided to make a Tote bag, using the fabulous tutorial which can be found with the click of a tab at the top of this blog
What a great idea!!

 Now just in case you were thinking it is a PM Pam only blog past... there's more...

Lady Judith started a new project. She's using a Moda Little Black Dress 2 Jelly Roll and one of the wonderful books that has patterns for all pre-cuts. Judith purchased a new ruler and spent the day making Half Square Triangles (HST's)

Another new project. This one, Shakespeare In The Batik Park, belongs to Jean Bean... The shop was so busy that not a lot of progress was made during Jeans day... she played shop for me while I got on with helping the others, thank you Jean Bean!

Monday Sheila started work on a very special project. There's only a few blocks to make, 89 more will be just right to add to this one... now that the practice block is perfect that is... top tips helped a lot!

Annbacan was quilting her large blocks ready for joining them together... not with sashing though, she will use the Lynne Edwards method seeing as Joan The Shop has proved how easy it is... it's still apartment joining though... we love apartment joining

Just Jan is using this tutorial to make the Twister Heart block... another new project... Jan will make three hearts then turn them into a bed runner... what a great idea for a gift! Don't you love these smart phones that allow access to the internet Lick-etty-split!!

Lots of new project, Lots of 'catch up' chatter... oh it's lovely to be back!!! We had a lovely day... one of many more... to be sure

Back To Normal...

Hello there... have you missed me?.. don't answer that... I might not like the response... he he he
Well... what is normal?
I probably should say Back to normal routine and, I'm thinking, that it will be a bit like being on holiday after my holiday... sewing prevention season is hard work!! It's been a lovely break though. Lots of family time and walking. I have almost finished my very orange quilt. It's a quilt-as-you-go, appartment joined project and I only need to add the double sided binding to call it finished... good progress... and I love it... It's bright, no doubting that eh... I have done a little bit of Big Stitch hand quilting on my Hexagon project... more on that later in the week, maybe.

Although my lovely shop wasn't officially open during sewing prevention season, I did advertise that I would come to any fabric emergency and I did just that... Barbie was so close to finishing her quilt top and just needed a little more fabric. to repay my generosity I was allowed to take a photo of the project to share with you... I thought you might be missing our pictures? Hasn't Barbie's Chunky Churndash turned out to be fabulous. Sandwich time now... luckily there's  sandwich making day this next Saturday so Barbie booked her slot.

Another fabric emergency was called... Poppy's Mum had enough fabric to finish her quilt top but needed more Moda Bella Solid White, colour 98 to be specific, to finish making up the back so that she could deliver her project to a Long Arm Quilter... Poppy's Mum has quilted her own quilts before and now she's trying something new... I'm sure we will get to see this lovely, funky and modern quilt when it is finished... won't we Poppy's Mum?.. you know we will all be waiting now that I mentioned it... ha!



So, that's it then... back to normal routine it is... see you tomorrow?