Stitching News

Just Edna is making great progress with her commission quilt. Several rows are complete and the secondary pattern that these blocks create is really popping out. Funny how we get illusion of curves from long straight lines!! Tri-Recs Rulers are fabulous!

Annbacan was going to use up the black and white fabrics to make a charitable gifting quilt. They were already cut into 5" squares when they were given to her. She needed a background colour to contrast with them... I chose burnt orange... Annbacan wondered why!! Now she loves the orange in the project, so she will be keeping it!

Christabelle embarked on the making of a ByAnnie's Diaper Bag... ByAnnie projects are a bit of a journey! She is using this wonderful soft canvas from Art Gallery... It's extra wide so Chris was able to fussy cut all the bits... she had to concentrate and use her noggin!! Teamed up with Alison Glass rich and buttery yellow fabric for the contrast... gives me excited goosebumps!!

What a fabulous gifting idea!!
Jean Bean decided to gift a kit to a special young lady...
A book with all the things to make one of the projects in it.
Beano hopes to infect another youngster with the quilting virus!!

Inspired by all the Hounds that our Beano has been making over the recent weeks, New Sue decided she needed a dog pound of her very own... not a weighty pound... a housey pound! There's another baby being baked and he will need a quilt.

Princess Jackie has quilted all of her applique shapes and done lots of In-The-Ditch stitching (it's like Ditch Hopping only more accurate!) but there were still a few open spaces to address. Jean Bean designed a lovely butterfly and a few music notes that would suit the job perfectly, Jackie just has to stitch them now. 

Ta-Daaaaah... What a fabulous quilt.... An Ombre of Swans!! Can you see the Ombre... light blues at the top gradually getting darker blues near the bottom... Very arty-farty, and the regal black fellow going the opposite way... The pattern is another from Elizabeth Hartman and Rose added her Wing-It flare, especially with the quilting...

We found this perfect Art Gallery Swan motif fabric for the backing which ties it all together brilliantly... Toot toot toot Rose, it's a spectacularly Fabulous and finished project with two-tone binding to boot.

Stitching News

Linda came back to my lovely, and very well stocked shop, to choose more fabrics as she's decided to add borders to this little project, started at the Quilt-As-You-Go workshop recently. It's going to be a gifting quilt for a soon to arrive little bundle... What a great gift!

Brenda Barbara finished all of her cushion tops and has them all sandwiched.
Quilting has commenced already and each cushion will have
Brenda's signature border stitching design!

Judy has also been making cushions...
Can you believe that she puts all this effort in, including the designing of the foundation paper-pieced mini blocks, to make cushions for her dog!!
It's a doggie pillow!!!

See what I mean... such beautiful designs... granted, they are made with scraps and leftovers from other magnificent projects but all the time and effort??? She must love that dog a lot! On the other hand... what a great way to practice you piecing skills!!!

PM Pam has been having a 'Good sort out'... I'm sure we all do that from time to time. She came across a box she thought was stuffed full of fabrics but on further investigation she found all of these Log Cabin blocks, already sewn into numbered strips... So close to being a completed quilt top and placed in a lovely container and completely forgotten about... Pam has no recollection AT ALL of even making the Log Cabin blocks!! 

Kate Tunic Number 14

You know I love a Kate Tunic. If you have been to my very own shop you would have, most probably, noticed that as I practically live in them, they make excellent workwear. I still have to follow the instructions in the little booklet and every Kate turns out a little different... without me even trying!
This time I made a version without the middle front gathers... I got brave and I decided to do a FBA (Full Bust Adjustment). I also added larger, pleated pockets, not to match the boobage though, ha!
My new Tailors Dummy wouldn't alter the Boobage bit without making everything else too big, so I put a good fitting bra on her and stuffed it with wadding hope the window cleaner doesn't come when she's Kate naked!! 
It turned out OK... Art Gallery Knit fabrics feel so wonderful and luxurious and they're very easy to sew clothing with.
These darts are a bit low really, at least I hope they are and it's not my boobs that are too high!!! ha ha ha I'll make another version soon, see if I can get them in the right place. That will be Kate Tunic number 15 though!
Dress making is soooo different to quilt making!!!

Stitching News

Nuttie sent this photo. The quilt was to be gifted so there wasn't time to bring it to my very own shop for a perfect purple camera photo shoot... no matter, at least we get to raise our trumpets to give a toot toot toot fanfare for the fabulous and finished, feathery friend artwork... Well done Nuttie, I love it and thank you for taking the time to send the picture.

Keep those trumpets up please! Here's another opportunity ....
 PM Pam finished yet another fabulous gifting to charity quilt, Toot toot toot Pam. Scrumptious Moda Lawn prints make it feel super soft and cuddly too.

This isn't quite finished as there's still a bit of hand stitching to be done on the binding. Yyyyyes it is a Festive make... It's all go on the festive makes at the moment, Christmas Corner in my very own shop has been a bit busy! Well done Linda, a lovely gifting project made with your Bargello quilt surplus fabrics. 

Beginner Workshop

Another fabulous and fun, very successful workshop... 

Good basic Patchwork and Quilting  skills learned and a cushion to take hope... with a zip!! All three ladies have been well infected and have plans to make quilts next, Boom, mission accomplished!!

The next Beginner Cushion Workshop will be on Saturday August 3rd.

Stitching News

Jean Bean had a count up and only needs to make two more hounds to have enough for a large square quilt. Each hound will be getting it's special little character detail added, don't you love the eye patch? Jean's also in the process of naming all 9 pooches. There's going to be a Molly!!!

PM Pam's commissioned quilt is coming along very nicely, it's a top already and it turned out to be larger than I thought we planned... but the customer is always right... I wonder whether Pam will name all of those Teddies?

Princess Jackie made another extremely cute little sundress... she's enjoying doing a bit of  dressmaking and has plans for more wearable makes. Toot toot toot Jackie, another fabulous and finished little project.

This quilt top is also Princess Jackie's.... she says it's just a quick quilt and more muted than she usually makes? I'm not so sure... it's very colourful and just as beautiful as any other. By the end of the day the borders were on and a sandwich was made.

Our trip to the Festival Of Quilts will be on Sunday 4th August. It's coming up very quickly.There's a different company selling the tickets this year so it's a bit more tricky for me to guarantee last minute tickets.
You will need to book and pay for your places on the coach as soon as possible if you want your entrance ticket to be included for £25.00. 
Once I confirm ticket numbers and order them, there will be Coach Only places left @ £15.00. You will have to purchase tickets on the day when we arrive at the show, I think they will be £17.00

Stitching News

Lou Lou added little kisses for the eyes of her beautiful Batik Fish, by hand!!! Embroidery Lou Lou!!! who would have thought? A sandwich was made, quilting commenced and binding was made. She had a very busy day indeedy.

Just Edna has been commissioned to make a double bed sized quilt. She'll need 25 of these blocks. After making a few changes to the pattern and to the piecing method and then the finding of Edna's wonderful, super thin and sharp pins... which helped Edna find those lost quarter-inchy pointy bits... she's now on the right road to success.

Edna also needs a celebratory fanfare for this Fabulous and Finished gifting quilt... it's a bed runner for a soon to be married couple... Toot toot toot Edna...
(Dear Edna, I won't tell anyone about you having to unpick the binding and the unpicking of a number to change the date to the day it will really happen, your secret is safe with me!)

Carol had a great idea... she made a quilt top, you saw it... the one with a magical tree full of owls and other things from nature... but, after sandwiching the quilt, Carol couldn't quite decide what design she wanted to used to actually quilt it... so she made this cushion in a similar design so that she could practice... That is a brilliant idea! Not only is this a fabulous and finished, totally toot toot toot-a-bubble quilted cushion, that big quilting decision has been made too!

This is the back of Carol's fabulous and finished cushion.
Toot toot toot Carol.

Stitching News

Di Butterfly finished her Snakes and Ladders game quilt top. She saw the idea in a magazine but  the links to download the applique designs didn't work so we had to improvise and draw the snakes and the ladders... which shouldn't be a problem but neither of us can draw well, We nailed it!

Merrily made a fabulous quilt backing for this fish pond quilt and was able, as you can see, to make a Koi Carp sandwich, no lettuce needed!! ha ha 

Luna Twearly has been busy in class and at home.... I think she's got her very own self a little bit addicted, she says making blocks and learning stuff is all consuming! She's making random blocks, with no real plan. Gotta love a challenge.

All Day Di has also challenged her very own self... unlike Luna, she is not enjoying it and will never make another of these Elizabeth Hartman patterns, confirming that she will not be a Unicorn making addict! ha ha ha Don't give up Di... you CAN do this.

Beryl The Peril (who has a brother named Denis!) Is making this Charm Pack Tote as a gift for a favourite friend. Just the handles to be finished now.

Enid had made all these flowers once before already, in more muted fabrics... she had a moment a few weeks ago and decided she wanted all of the flowers to be brighter colours, so... she started them all over again...now they really are bright and beautiful, and Enid made them all!

Sister Susie and Fiona Too are making a gifting project together. They both want to learn how to quilt blocks individually and to join them with the apartment joining method. Not only that, they have both decided to learn free motion quilting. 

After setting up the machines and doing a little bit of practicing, and I really do mean a small amount of practice, they took the plunge and got on with it... very steadily stitching Free-Motion-ly and both doing very well indeedy.