Stitching News, Trying To Catch Up

Farmer Lynda almost completed her very first, very own little applique quilt, and boy has she enjoyed making it... there's another one planned... exactly the same but, at the same time, completely different... it will bee buzzing!

Diane finished her quilting and happily trimmed the crusts away from her lovely kiddy play mat. Binding was stitched on and homework will involve a little hand stitching. About A Boy... a beautiful and fun collection of fabrics and I have them all in stock.

Sister Sue added her inner borders to her Railfence table runner...
She's taking her time to get everything accurate... and her project is looking great for it

Fiona Too, sister of Sue... I know... it's going to be a bit confusing!
 Anyway, more inner borders, this time blue. The outer borders have been chosen by both ladies and we'll see how they look next time.

Brenda Duck finished another Quick Table Topper quilt. She's gone all arty-farty and added rays of sunny sunshine to the centre block... this lovely topper will be gifted.... just as soon as the binding is finished, of course.

Our Sheila finished yet another brilliant bag with an extremely clever way of using up Batik strips... there's a workshop planned and the date will be announced once Sheila has ironed out the instructions... don't tut at me... it was an accident, he he he
Ooooohhh Toot toot toot Sheila, it's fabulous and finished!

The Saturday taster days are getting busier and bookings are getting tight.
We had two more ladies come to pick up basic rotary cutting, scant quarter inch seams, adding borders...

Levelling up, nesting seams, pinning for accuracy, pressing.. my word they learned a lot... sandwiching, quilting.... they'll be back soon as they want to make cushions... with zips!

Morning Judith came to make her latest lovely quilt sandwich... she can't make class anymore with such a busy life but she's continually stitching at home...

This is Morning Judiths baby play mat.. very cute applique pictures taken from two different books... PMS Pleasing My Self... very much encouraged, as you know! Toot toot toot Judith, fabulous and finished!

Another rather unique project from Morning Judith... You can easily see that this will be gifted to a Bassett Hound, OK Maybe the owner really, ha! More toot toot tooting

Angela popped in to show us her latest finished project...a pillow-bag
Cute enough but look what was inside...

Toot toot toot Angela, a fabulous and extremely cute finish
Made with a pattern from the Stashbuster book... full of great patterns.

What a long post... hope you enjoyed it!

Stitching News

Giggly Gillian, as predicted, has decided to keep this most beautiful and extremely cute teddy quilt... She's going to make a different one for gifting... 
Well, after seeing how quickly Rose put the following quilt together... 
who can blame her? Gillian purchased a pack too...

All in a day's work! Yup, Rose purchased one of our pre-cut 6" Square packs, sewed them together and added the borders in  just the one day... not even a day, one class session... that includes fussy cutting the monkey fabric in the borders...
We could call it a Lick-ett-y-Split project eh 

We only have three of the packs left now so, I will have to get my skates on and cut more. We have two finished quilts made up using the packs too, so if you need an even more Lick-ett-y-Split quilt for gifting, you could purchase one ready made... by the hand, and machine, of My Mum Gwynneth.

Lovely Lyn found a sketch of this beautiful Poppy, blew it up, in a sizeable way, and turned it into a perfect Poppy pattern. There's going to be embellishing stitches and beads added too.. All for a perfect Poppy pillow, for gifting.

Gail's not quite sure where she's going with this Twister Heart block. It might be a purple-pillow, it might very well be turned into a purple bed scarf/runner... for sure, she's decided, it will not be a double bed quilt! ha ha ha

Rose Had Piles!!

Rose has been busy... ta daaaaah... How beautiful is this?
She sat for week... after week, after week, after week... quietly (?) piecing her blocks and adding them to her piles during her regular Tuesday classes and then,
this week... it's all together...
It's Fabulous Rose, just fabulous!

Stitching News

Just Edna is following a 'recipe' in a book for this project.
We are struggling with the written and rather wordy descriptions of what do do... fortunately there are pictures!.. plus I have a good idea of how to end up with the right result... time to take the paper foundation off...

String piecing is quite a liberated method of piecing, with very few rules, if any... but, as you can see here, Edna needs the rich blue strips to line up beautifully to frame those hansom hexagons. What a lovely project!

Lady Judith wants to make two baby play mats (quilts) She chose the design from one of the Art To Heart books... the name for the one in the book was JACK... it only dawned at the last minute that we needed to change it and write WILLIAM...
what a hoot when we realised!

PM Pam was at the Twist And Turn Tote workshop on Saturday.
Today she had Sheila's tote bag next to her to help with sorting out the waffle-y bits. Pam made a second panel with the same twist and turn method (top of picture)... but this one will be a posh cushion, what a great idea!

Monday Sheila is making all of her block components before piecing any more together. So most of her day was spent making thousands of Half Square Triangles. The blocks will make a great secondary pattern... we think!

Christabell is also following a pattern from a book. It's been tricky to follow the recipe too. but now Chris has enough of the blocks made to start to lay them out for a sneak peek at how they will look... wonderfully wonky!

I made these two cushions and forgot to show you. I love them!
Art Gallery fabric... luxurious, soft and smooth. The design is fabulous.
The method is simple and satisfying... perfect for my new
Basics For Beginners Classes on Saturdays
An introduction to rotary cutting and sewing the all important Scant Quarter Inch Seam. Try some simple patchwork piecing then make a sandwich ready for quilting.

Obviously, lovely cushions are not just for beginners... they're catching attention from my 'experienced' quilters too... Annbacan ran this up in just a few minutes.

In case you hadn't noticed, it's February! We can all go to the new programme of SPQ, Staffordshire Patchworkers and Quilters... this month the speaker, Barbara Chainey will be showing some of her vast collection of antique quilts and telling us about them. It says on the website that I, me my very own self, will be the trader this month. It's not going to be me though... It's gong to be Jane, we swapped months!

Twist And Turn Tote Workshop

We had a cutting table... How very posh!!
Following cutting instructions can be daunting... not today though...
Sheila talked the ladies through every step... ever so helpful.

It was a great and fun workshop again, thank you Sheila. Not everyone got their bags finished, we all sew at different speeds, but everyone knows how to continue at home. The great advantage of workshops in my very own shop/classroom is that you can always pop back for guidance. In this case, Sheila is available most Thursdays for the ladies who attended our workshop, good to know eh.

 Susan popped in with a lovely little project to show off. She thought that we would like to see what she made with fabrics from my very own patchwork and quilting shop... I have a fantastic selection of a gazillion fabulous fabrics you know!!...

That's not the only reason why Susan came to visit though... she picked up her brand new toy... Juki HZL 600f Exceed... lucky lady, the offer finished now so she was just in time. She even brought two burly machine carriers with her! Oh how the other half live!

Juki... fantastic machines!

Stitching News

Our Sheila finished all the hand stitching on her Quilt-As-You-Go, apartment joined Batik Beauty and I declare that it is Fab-u-lous and Finished Toot Toot Toot!!
I must stress that, even though it looks great here, it's even better in real life... 

This is the back, if there is indeed a back to this quilt? 
Sheila has agreed to allow her quilt stay in my lovely little quilt shop for a short while so that, should you wish to come to see it for your very own self, you can. 
Oh... lets just toot toot toot for the back too!

Di Butterfly is on an applique roll... these plant pots are not for growing mustaches though, he he he... they are the lovely leaves for pretty flowers. There will be a little hand embroidery too, at least for the stems. 

Josie Juki has been wanting to make new cushions for a while. With so many styles and colours of fabric to choose from in my very own shop, fabric choices were tricky... that huge decision has now been made!

Diane made a great backing and, because a few ladies couldn't get to us for the snow... there was room to make a sandwich. 
Di quilted the afternoon away, while the snow thawed! 
What a fabulous quilt... baby arrived already... so there's not too much pressure Di!

Fahmida couldn't get the tension right on her new sewing machine while she was practicing her free motion quilting... So she purchase another new machine... a tad extravagant? Yes! It didn't make any difference, didn't solve the problem at all.  
So she booked a class to get help. The problem was soon sorted out with a new needle and different, good quality thread... sometimes you just need the right tools for the job... she practiced, and did ever so well.

A Tiny Bite Of Stitching News

Rose's piles are growing! She's been making these lovely blocks for a while and soon, very soon, I think we will be spreading them out and having a good look at the plan. Rose is following a pattern from a book... which always helps.

Giggly Gillian continued with her lovely Teddy Quilt. She played with her stitches and decided to use a blanket stitch for her edges... we love 'sticky stuff' applique! Gillian is going to change thread colours as necessary, which always looks great.

We had a busy day and, as I have said before... two pictures are better than no pictures!!

Stitching News

Just Edna, as you can see on her ruler, has started a new project. Beautiful shades of blue and grey will make half square triangle string blocks... but they are just the background for Hexagons... more next week... I expecting that you'll be curious?

Just Jan finished her beautiful bed runner with the twist and turn hearts... she decided to go with only the two twister hearts in the sashing... doesn't it look great... the back has had all the left overs incorporated too, all the tiny, little bias cut squares!... Jan doesn't waste a scrap!

Annbacan and the Coiled Fabric Buckets... She's perfected the shape and has orders galore. This is a great way to use up strips of fabric, levelling-up trimmings, selvage edges and even any/many Ugly fabrics! 

Fruity Rose has a new Juki HZL 600f.. The offer is too good to miss if you are looking for a fabulous new sewing computer... there are only two days to go on the special price, last day for orders is 31st January... Rose says that she Absolutely LOVES her new machine , she started a new baby play mat using our pre cut packs.