Stitching News

I have a few wonderful projects to share with you...
A few months ago Shirley attended one of the Beginner Cushion workshops. She thoroughly enjoyed. A few Thursday classes later she had made a table runner. She was hooked! We heard we were going to be shut down so she purchased a book and a few Fat Quarters to keep her going for a few weeks! ha ha ha, well none of us expected this situation to last this long did we.

Months later... Shirley has finished her first ever quilt top, woop woop... She is a gardener too so, like many others, time has been used outside... tisk! Didn't she do well!! She has purchased the backing ready to make her first ever sandwich... watch this space.

Princess Jackie made an appointment and came shopping. She brought this quilt to choose borders and backing fabrics, of course I had to take pictures... the cutest bees!!! Some little details have had the faux Trapunto treatment and the embroidery detail is beautiful.

Jackie also brought in this absolutely amazing project. The colours are so bright and cheery. Jackie had started to make pieced blocks ages ago, with no real plan... during lock down  she was inspired to work on it. It is a fabulous and finished, absolutely beautiful quilt so... toot toot toot Jackie

Of course the back is fabulous and you can see all the quilting Jackie did. Just wonderful, thank you so much for bringing your quilt in to visit my photo step Jackie.

You surely can't have missed the latest news about Covid-19. 

I will continue to offer shopping appointments, it's all worked out well so far, good and safe!

Thank you for shopping in my wonderful, very well stocked and now Quite Tidy little Quilt Shop. 

You just need to call me 07807530441 

You can book appointments in advance and most of you are doing that, or just call me before setting off to come shopping and if I can help you, if I can let you in, I will.

Remember to use you very own loo before coming as my facilities are strictly NOT available for you... Where do you think I put all the stuff to make the shop look tidy!!! ha ha ha

I Spy Six Packs

In between offering excellent customer service in my shop, I've been cutting lots and lots of six inch strips of fabric to sub-cut them into 6 inch novelty squares. Each of the Six Packs contains 31 different fabrics making them perfect to play "I Spy". You only need 30 squares really but I like to put in one extra just so that you can have a spare. £15.95 per pack. With two packs you could make a pairs game! One pack for the quilt and one pack to make little quilted counters... that idea just came to me, genius?

 My Mum Gwynneth helped me sort them out ready to put in packets for you. Thank you Mum. 

Stitching News

A couple of projects to show you. I'm finding the new Blogger system tricky to use. I'm hopeless with changes to computer stuff... could be an age thing? My head is rather full of fabric, projects waiting and colour choosing... so there's no room for learning technology, ha! I can't even get the writing to be the same size... there's no hope!

Linda succeeded with her quilt making marathon. As a teacher, she knew she only had her summer holiday do get it done and boy did she work hard on it. It's a Jelly Roll pattern, from one of the many books, but no Jelly Roll was used, Linda used yardage and cut up the 2 1/2" strips, all by her very own self. She was able to choose every fabrics and it worked out way more economical too.

And the back.... Taa daa Beautifully co-ordinated. So we can raise those trumpets, this is a fabulous finish so here we go... a toot toot toot fanfare for Linda... good luck with the getting back to school too. 

Farmer Lynda made a second Elizabeth Hartman Llama pattern project. This one is going to be a grand baby pushchair quilt. Lynda is going to add a lime green grunge strip to the top and the bottom before sandwiching and quilting... She will be keeping this one for her very own self!

There you go, I can only find these few pictures. I know I have taken more. They must be here in my computer somewhere, ha ha ha ... I''ll have to ask my Lilly to help me find them....

I have been trying to sort out the new Quilty Quarters... what a job!
A total pleasure and a blooming chore, both at the very same time.
These are a few of my hand dyed fabrics. It's ridiculous to have dyed so many fabrics when I avoid using them... so I am going to, use them all up that is... don't hold your breath though, I never said WHEN!!

If you are still here... Just to clarify about my shop... 

I am continuing to operate my appointments system with hand washing on arrival.

It is working very well. 

I am truly sorry if you have turned up without an appointment and you couldn't come in because someone else was shopping... We have to be safe. This is all I can do to keep us ALL safe. 

If no-one is in my shop, or due to come shopping, when you arrive without an appointment, of course I can let you in to browse. But pre-booked appointments will always get priority.

All you need to do is call me 07807530441 before heading over to check the situation.

Hope to see you all soon.

A Few Things To Note

It's a Bank Holiday Weekend, which always disrupts us.
I'm going to continue using appointments and virtual queuing to keep us all very safe.
Please call me, 07807530441.

Monday 31st Bank Holiday Closed.
September:- Tuesday 1st closed & Wednesday 2nd closed.

From Thursday 3rd.... open daily from 10am to 2pm, unless there are appointment outside of those hours.

Classes and workshops are still on hold and will not be happening in September. It is still not safe enough.
Any updates will be posted here on my blog.

Temptation Trolley or Rooting Rack

In between giving excellent customer service and keeping things as safe as I possibly can with my one person at a time virtual queuing system, I've been sorting. You know what that means don't you...
I can't find things!
The shelves are looking might tidy though it has to be said. Lots of the cardboard bolts had only a short piece of fabric on them so they have been added to the temptation trolley, except were so many that my little trolley was quite overwhelmed. I purchased an old fashioned rack, you know, for drying and airing clothes, it was just perfect, so I now have A Rooting Rack, I know, very cool and I should have remembered to take a picture for you eh!

I'm trialling bubbles in my shop. That means that IF you are from the same household or you have been bubbling with a friend or family member and you both wish to shop, two people can come in at the very same time. Please only do this if you are both shopping though... that doesn't sound good but the fewer people that do actually enter my shop, the safer we will all be.

There are a few items out on the tables with reduced prices, like quilt hangers. Just to clear a few little spaces.

It's time to be working on your Festive projects  (that's like Christmas stuff, but I was trying not to use the C word!!) I have had a good sort out in Christmas Corner. There are lots of festive panels for you to choose from, including Advent Calendars, large stocking panels and the ever popular, mini advent bunting stockings. 
Now it sounds like a shop advert so I'll stop... I will let you see for your very own self when you pop in.

Stitching News

 

Linda only came to my very own shop to get these fabrics about a week ago and already she was back to choose backing fabric and to get her wadding. The pattern is from one of Linda's Jelly Roll books, I think she's going to make every quilt in the books as she finds them very easy to follow.

Princess Jackie's quilts always leave me with a dropped jaw WOW!! they're stunning. She fussily cuts all the applique pieces so they have extra details. Jackie says it makes a blooming mess of your fabric though... funny shaped holes all over it! Toot toot toot for another fabulous and finished quilt.

This is the back, you can see all the quilting detail too. 

Yes, as you might have spotted, the photo step is still being used but with no-one to help hold the quilts up, they have to have floppy corners, ha ha ha better than no photo at all eh.

Blogger has changed a few things so I'm getting frustrated with it, I don't like change... because I am lazy I guess, I don't mind learning all sorts new and different things and methods in patchwork and quilting but I really hate learning how to use the computer stuff.

Social distancing, hand washing, face coverings, virtual queuing and appointments are still the way shopping is happening in my lovely and very well stocked shop.

I've been tidying, sorting, stock taking and re-arranging... a lot... I can't find anything now, ha!

The First Three Weeks... Quilty Quarters

This is something I was going to blog about at the end of April but I was so busy painting and grafting on my new Quilty Quarters that I forgot. I found these pictures in my perfect purple camera along with those in the last post. So, better late than never, I'm doing it now.

You will remember that lots of NHS staff were being called back to the front line at the beginning of our Covid 19 battle. I was out on Thursday evenings clapping tearfully with everyone giving our grateful thanks to our warriors.

A close family member to my Lilly, had worked for many years in ICU but had recently taken a career change to a different, calmer department. Obviously she too got called back to her old ICU department. Lilly relayed information to me, about how frightened all the staff were, worried not only for themselves but for everyone they know. It was so much more worrying hearing it from Lilly than from the news bulletins, and they were bad enough to watch... My applause seemed so empty, I was bursting to do something more.. 

If you are a quilter this might make sense to you... I really wanted to make a quilt to gift, to say a proper thank you. Obviously, I would never be able to make a quilt for every NHS member!! So my victim was chosen, I had a focus. and boy did I focus!! 

I asked my Lilly for a few details... floral or wacky? girly or bright? modern or traditional?... it's a bit more tricky when you are making a quilt for someone you feel connected to but you don't actually know much about them!

The answer... Quite girly, floral but loves lots of colours... I think this fit the brief!! 

I had one of my Floral Angie's Six Packs at home, they follow me up from my shop you know!!! and I had a Tilda Charm Pack (a sample of the fabric range) So I framed the 5" squares with a lovely, solid off-white to make them all up to 6"... the rest is a bit obvious

It took a couple of weeks from start to finish.
All day, every day... with nowhere to go, no-one to talk to.
No schedule to keep... lots of PMS (Pleasing My Self) it was quite easy really.

A mixture of Free Motion quilting and Walking Foot Ditch Hopping...

With hearts and loop-itty-loops...

The back.

The label with a little poem waiting to be stitched on.

A quick trip to the Post Office and my work was done. 

I felt so good making the quilt. I had to hope the lovely lady I was sending it to didn't think I was a bit weird for making a quilt... gifting her a home made quilt to say thank you for looking after people I don't know... it does sound strange now... but I loved making it and gifting it... I felt much better for having done it.

The lady received it a few days later, she loved it, she understood my why!... That's all that mattered in the end.

Stitching News

Over the weeks since my shop was allowed to re-open, I took a few photos, mainly with my phone, as we do these days.These photos though, were taken with my perfectly purple camera but my routine of blogging and picture taking has disappeared so I forgot all about the photos. I finally remembered to bring my camera home to look. 

Brenda Barbara had been busy using up her beautiful scraps. This is a great design for scraps. You can't beat a large, multi-fabric project can you? Unless you don't like playing with scraps, like our Beano. It's this pattern in much brighter and happier colours. Well done Brenda!

I know you have seen this quilt already, it was a floor photo shot. Now we get to give out a toot toot toot fanfare for All Day Di's William Morris prints quilt in it's full glory held up proudly from the photo step... 

This is the back so you get to see how Di quilted.
It's a fabulous finish Di, lovely binding corners too!

This lady came to buy backing fabric for this fabulous quilt top. The fabrics used are a mixture of American and British themes. She had such a lot of fabric left over that we came up with a plan for the back without purchasing any more fabric... yes I know I am a shop and I could have sold her 3 or more metres but she had enough left over fabric to make a pieced backing so that's what I advised, great customer service!!. 

Farmer Lynda finished and gifted her cushion already but I took this picture when she came in to buy the fabrics to make the Llama into a cushion. Such a smart fellow. Lynda's making another Llama now in different colours.

This is another of Our Pam's hospital gifting quilts. They have to be 24 inches in both directions for the unit Pam is supporting.  So we need a toot toot toot fanfare for a beautiful and fabulous finish.

And another from Our Pam. She's always super pleased with the quilts when she holds them up. Made with such care and genuine pleasure... Toot toot toot Pam... But, between you and I, she still has some huge projects on her back burner... Don't be thinking we have forgotten about your piles Pam!! h ha ha

I love this quilt. It is one of the best little projects I've seen using the Peter Rabbit Panel available in my very own shop. The customer used up stash scraps to make up the Half Square Triangle border. It's fabulous and finished, toot toot toot.