Stitching News

You might have noticed that our Merrily makes 'different' quilts. Designs made up and involving a lot of PMS (Pleasing My Self) At the moment she is working on a Quilt-As-You-Go and Apartment Joining project, and yes, that is (was) Merrily's Holiday Tea Towel Collection

Di Butterfly has almost finished quilting with metallic threads. She planned to stitch around every little detail, butterflies and squiggles etc.... As the quilt is stabilized now though, the crusts can be trimmed and the binding can be added, then more quilting can be done after, if Di wants to do more that is.

Farmer Lynda has almost finished her quilting too. The bee fabric will be used as binding, which will be lovely. Lynda made this little quilt with the intention of gifting it but admits to having mean thoughts.... that it's turning into a possible keeper! A Bee Keeper!!!

All Day Di was having fun preparing all the tiny little applique detail for this fun apron, it was all sorted and nearing completion... progress slowed when Di decided to change out most of the fabrics... almost like starting again... it's a good job we promote PMS!!

Sporty Sue arrived with this sandwich. We had a little chat about possible quilting lines and lick-etty-split she set to, drawing on the lines and quilting them. Some lines pleased their very own selves and went in the blooming wrong direction, good job Sue is a dab hand at unstitching!

Nutty Nutter has a fabulous and finished quilt for us to fanfare about... It has been made for gifting and all it needs now is a little label on the back... not to give too much away but, labels can cover up a little blip very well!! ha ha ha
Toot toot toot Nutty Nutter, it is certainly a fabulous finished quilt

Messenger Bag Workshop, The Results

Stitching News

Norma loves bright colours... She's decided to make quilted cushions and each one is being tailor made to be just the right gift, you know... that season that is coming up!

Norma enjoys a more liberated approach to patchwork so has embraced the  'Join it now and trim off the excess' method of making Log Cabin Blocks... It's perfect for Norma's enjoyment,  it allows a lot of PMS (pleasing My Self) and it's just accurate enough to work... Win win!

Carol started this festive project during our recent (and I must admit, mostly wonderful) quilting retreat. She had treated her very own self to the pattern while shopping during our Pilgrimage to the Festival Of Quilts in August... It took a mighty lot of Carol's willpower not to start it before our retreat!!

Susan was going to have a simple backing for her sashed diamonds quilt.... After a little pondering and much (quite a lot of) encouragement (without physical contact I should add) she agreed that all the extra work would be worth it... so now the backing will look fabulous! 

Jean Beano has been making Orange Peel blocks on and off for a long while now... It's her  'Go To' project for in between all others. It's a great idea to have some mindless sewing in progress... by that I mean sewing that has already had all the decisions made or sewing that doesn't need any deciding until all the units are complete. I have a few mindless swing projects on the go actually. Do you?

Another Unicorn... this one is a work in progress for Annbacan. It's been a challenge for Ann and labeling all the pieces has helped her get it just right. She's quite chuffed with her very own self actually, which is a relief!

Pam continues on her creative Marathon... now... I don't like to choose favourites really, mostly because that would be a very difficult task, and who cares about my very own favourites anyway... but the flower on the right here, the fabric and colour choices?... Oh my goodness... it is my favourite so far, I absolutely love it.! 

 Elizabeth Hartman's patterns are so very popular at the moment. New Sue already made the Penguin quilt and now there's a  SLEUTH of bears (I looked that up, who knew?) almost enough for a quilt of colourful bears! Some will have extra characteristics... Fun!

This is another of Pam's cushion flowers, she's a dab hand at the bias binding stems now... even to fussy cutting exactly the bit of fabric print that she wants to use for her stem... She might have had a top tip or two from a very helpful shop owner, who always offers fabulous customer service! 

Christabelle is making a huge quilt using the apartment joining method. Each block is being quilted 'In The Ditch', which Chris is very accurate at stitching, not ditch hopping as most of us do, ha! When I show you the choice for the backing you will be amazed, I was, it's a little fun Quirky-quirkiness.

We have a Sunday Sewing Patchwork Party coming up.
Sunday 28th of October, 9:30am - 4:30pm
Whether you want to do mindless sewing or carefully planned sewing...
Marathon stitching or 'Steady Eddy' stitching?
It's a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!...
And not forgetting the all important and rather lovely chef  and team coming to provide our lunch!!

Fabulous And Finished

Just Edna fancied making a fast to finish project, for gifting. This stylish table runner is a breeze to make. A Moda Charm Pack of 42 x 5" squares, all perfectly co-ordinated for you, is the key to the speed. These are festive fabrics too, so that's one more off the list! Toot toot toot Edna, it's a fast and fabulous finished project.

Four Festive table mats.... all ready for sewing prevention season, which is approaching at an unstop-a-bubble pace. Edna used the 'Quilt-As-You-Go' method to make this lovely set... Although these are fabulous and finished... the set needs two more mats, so, should we toot toot? Lets do it quietly as I can't quite decide!

Tadaaaa... As I predicted, Princess Jackie now has a stable full of large (26 inch large) Unicorn cushions... The grand kiddos are going to love, love, love them...

This is number two and it's been made into a reading pillow....

Complete with a hidden zip and a very stylish book pocket on the back for keeping the 'Book Of The Moment' inside. Isn't it a wonderful idea... A reading pillow! Toot toot toot Princess Jackie, Fabulous and very useful finishes.

Festive Madness?

I have lots of different panels for making Advent calendars in stock in my very own shop. Whether you like the Scandified colourways and style or the more traditional designs and styles. Most finish at 60cm wide and 8ocm long (high)... This particular work in progress ( I also have this in the grey colourway) belongs to Luna Twerly...

All of the panels can be quilted plenty or quilted minimally....
Just a few stitched lines to stabilize all 3 of the layers... Top, Wadding and Backing.
Luna Twerly has gone for it! Lots and lots of quilting with metallic gold threads and little beads and French Knots... can you see?

She's used white threads to embellish too and I shouldn't be surprised that those little red dots have French Knots on them too... We should see this as a Family Heirloom in the making. Luna has a lot of patience for tiny fiddly stitching... Do you? I think that pleasing your very own self is the way to go!!

Stitching News

Lots of these Elizabeth Hartman Unicorns have been made... and are still being made... Almost every finished Unicorn has led to a request for another... this one 

and this one are two such requests... Princess Jackie will need to build a stable soon. One Unicorn is a floor cushion and one will be a reading pillow, complete with a pocket (and a zip) on the back for keeping book of the moment in.

I'm a bit worried about our PM Pam... she's making new cushions with these lovely applique flowers. But as they were in the process she declared that she would now NEED a quilt made with the same style of flowers because she loves making them... I don't know how she keeps up with her imagination.... it's doing a constant Marathon!

Our Gail is making Princess quilt blocks from the Happy Quilts Book, 
She's had lots of fun choosing the fabrics because she knows exactly the right little Princess to give the finished quilt to.

Susan declared... thank goodness it's together!! It's a tricky design with the narrow sashings to be lined up, but now it's looking rather fabulous, and like a Stained Glass Window in this picture. The backing will be tackled next... using up all the diamond shaped that weren't needed, like leftovers!

Fabulous And Finished

Gail finished her wonderful table runner. She made one last year but the Santas seem to have multiplied somewhat!... this runner was made as a special request for a long table... won't it just look fun when THAT time arrives (it's not far off now, 78 days click here to be more precise) Toot toot toot Gail, a fabulous Christmas Table Runner finished with plenty of time to spare.

This is a rare and fabulous finish... It belongs to Longport Lynda. It looks like a beginner cushion but Lynda is well beyond the beginning. It still qualifies for a toot toot toot, even with the zip upside down! ha ha ha And for the Eagle-Eyed... yes that is a baby toy under my table, Little Faye loves coming to my fabulous quilting shop!!

Toot toot toot for another Beginner cushion...
It's great to have a constant stream of new quilters to our monthly beginner workshops, each student leaves proudly, and very happily, with a totally unique quilted cushion. 

 All done with only 3 Fat Quarters, Complete with a very professional backing with a flap, hiding the cushion zip! Not the usual Toddler Tummy cushions!!

Our next beginner workshop will be on Saturday November 3rd.

Beginners Workshop

This Saturday 6th October, we have another Beginner Cushion Workshop.
Here are a few examples from past workshops...

This small project is great for beginners to have a little dabble in all aspects of patchwork and quilting...

Accurate cutting using a mat, ruler and rotary cutter.

Sewing an accurate quarter inch seam allowance with, hopefully, straight lines.

Good general piecing skills with top tips to help with seam matching.

Good pressing technique… a very important skill.

How to make and a small quilt sandwich.

How to quilt and, if there’s still time left we can turn your project into a lovely 18” cushion with my fabulously easy zip inserting method. 

The workshop starts at 10am and we should be finished by 3pm... 

What a lovely way to spend a day... then if you find you are hooked... and that happens a lot... you can start thinking about what to make next.

If you would like to try patchwork and quilting by making a beginner cushion, just email me angiequilts@gmail.com or telephone during shop hour 07807530441