Stitching News

Another fun week in my shop and classroom. The gardeners are back to stitching. Kids are back to school. Nights are drawing in and lights need to be used in the evenings! How quickly it has all changed from long summer days. Christmas Corner is busy tempting people to make things ready for sewing prevention season. Christmas Corner is a little nook full of festive fabrics!

Hours and hours have gone in to this beautiful project and, to be fair, it's starting to feel a little bit endless for Bev. She arrives each week with a little cloud following her... wishing she had finished it so she could start something new. BUT by the end of class, she is totally happy with it again. A sewing Roller Coaster with it's ups and downs. It will all be worth it!

Lesley has started the quilting! She's going to stitch around all of the details to make them pop. Most of the creatures now have eyes too. Little french knots done with metallic embroidery threads. They look like beads at first glance, until you touch them. You know we love to touch a French Knot, so tactile!

Di finished her first pumpkin cushion topper. It's all ready for sandwiching and quilting but I think she will get the next one to this stage first. Such a fun project. Perfect pumpkin fabric for the main border highlighted with a tiny-teeny inner green bit, fabulous.

Sun Bonnet Sue is getting ready for the Autumnal weather. This lovely wall hanging belongs to Deb. She popped in to get backing fabric and wadding so the quilting can begin. It will be done in no time, this lady gets on with it!

There's lots of plotting and planning happening in readiness for our next retreat, with only 5 more weekends to go. It's all part of the retreating fun. Stressful and exciting at the same time. 

As I've said before, this retreat is fully booked. 

I have the Quiltmas Sewing retreat in the planning process too. I am working on a new poster with the details for that. As there are only 6 more places available, at the time of writing this, I might be wasting my creative time! I actually got My Lilly to design the borders of it and it will be perfect for next year if I don't need to use it after all.

It's the best way for us to escape Sewing Prevention Season. We sew A LOT and get looked after very nicely indeedy, thanks to Hawkstone Park Hotel.

Stitching News

Foundation Paper Piecing. Love it or loath it, it's a marvelous method with great accuracy. It's been around for many, many years. Whoever 'invented' it is a very smart cookie! I also think that about the 'No-Waste Flying Geese' method!! Not being a smart cookie helps me appreciate this clever stuff very much.

Sharon Leek feels the same. She is on fire with Foundation Paper Piecing. She's mastered it beautifully. Obviously she has, just look at this block. This is the one she started in class and finished at home.

This is the one she made at home, completely unsupervised! Not that she was supervised in class. All top tips must have soaked in. There's another block in progress too, yellow-ish fabrics already chosen for it. I'm thinking Sharon might a new addiction, who knows?

Our Pam is making great progress with her easy, but you need to concentrate on the fabric colour placement, quilt. Each block looks woven so just one fabric in the wrong place would have needed unpicking, no way round it. Pam didn't unpick any, she aced it.

Do you enjoy the game of "Thread Chicken"

I'm filled with a huge amount of excitement when I play. I sell Presencia threads in my shop (amongst others) it's my favourite thread for piecing my projects, 3 ply, 60 wt. Very strong and fine. I've used them for about 20 years. The cones, each is 125g, last such a long time, obviously, but once the blue cone starts to appear it's sooooo exciting! You just know that you have sewn A LOT!! This was the start of Monday's Thread Chicken Game...

I did a lot of practical sewing. I've been making some bags. Little carrier bags to gift to unsuspecting customers who purchase lovely fabrics in my shop. Just to use up some of my older stash, fabrics purchased in Brazil in the early 2000's. Once they were finished and in the bag! I got back to my very own Foundation Paper Piecing project, this is another Feathered Star block. I will change that centre bit, I don't like it. PMS (Pleasing My Self) because I can

Emptied! No tears...

Can you believe that I cheated???

It got very scary so I decided to make a bobbin with what remained on the cone.

That's definitely cheating! But it felt so good!!! Call me a rebel, I can take it, ha ha ha

Stitching News

It's been a busy week in my classroom. Our sewing retreat in October is approaching at quite a rate so plans are being hatched as to which projects we want to work on and it never gets any easier! It's all part of the retreat fun, the planning and plotting, the fabric choosing and the project packing. Exciting stuff.

A mixed bag of photos again...

Rose did quite a bit of homework, her hearts were stitched together and she's made the striped border bits, but she didn't sew them on because she wanted to make the quilt larger by adding a six inch border before the striped one. This quilt has inspired Our Pam to start one too.

Lesley has almost finished her applique blocks so has started on the filler units. I think she needs almost 90 x 9-Patch units made of 1.5 inch strips. That will keep her going for a while! 

Foundation Paper Piecing (that's the one where you sort of work backwards and sew through the paper) is like Marmite. People either love it, or hate it. Sharon declared that she is a lover of it. No wonder, just look at the accuracy of all those tiny-weeny bits! She is so very excited with her new project.

Sharon also enjoys English Paper Piecing, That's the one where you sew by hand making tiny hems around papers then hand sew the little shapes together. Both ways using paper to get great shapes but completely different methods. Hope I've helped! They are both a bit Marmite-y

Di continues to make her applique blocks. This week progress was sidetracked a bit as she's decided to make Halloween cushions with this pumpkin design. She will need three blocks now. 2 cushions and one quilt block. Good job she loves applique-ing.

Coby finished her quilt top. The question was, to border? or not to border? As she couldn't decide she folded it up and started to work on her Advent panels, there will be 4 in total. But the Bat's border decision will need to be made at some point!

Paula is very happy with her bed runner quilt. It's a fabulous and finished photo so, trumpets up! Toot toot toot Paula. Look at you changing the original pattern and designing your own quilt! PMS is brilliant fun. Even with help from your new Chatty phone friend!

Lots Of Stitching News

It's a bit of a mixed bag for stitching news today, with me trotting off for fun and shenanigans. Totally enjoyed the retreat in Fleetwood. It's lovely to be sewing by the sea and it was so much cooler there than at home. A 5+ mile walk early every morning helped with the very relaxed, and rather sedentary, rest of the day. Sewing is quite a sedentary sport isn't it. We did have to walk to the loo, the dining room, the bar and to bed!

I had these pics in my camera, they're not in any particular order.

Christabelle has started quilting this beautiful quilt. Just look how cute the little applique details are. I love the stacked plant pots. I'll take a few more detailed photos when it's time to get the trumpets out.

Our Pam gave away a few of her baby quilts recently. The recipients were very pleased with them. Pam's generosity got her into trouble... now she has another commission quilt to make. She chose the pattern and the fabrics and got started straight away, thinking it would be an easy make. You know how that's going to pan out don't you!!

 

Gail continues to make Elizabeth Hartman Dinosaur blocks. 

She's very impressed with the pattern and all it's detail. 

She has to concentrate and label all of the bits.

This is a photo from the following week. Gail had finished the block completely but then decided to change one of the units because the orange-y colour of the fabric was bothering her, it's been swapped for a more purple bit and is looking splendid.

Rose is making a big girl quilt for her little grand daughter. It's a modern design from one of the Annie's Quilting books, this one "One Day Quilts" The heart blocks will be set on point and Rose already decided to make it quite a bit larger than the one on the book.

Princess Jackie finished her pink heart quilt binding at home and, lucky for us, she brought it back for us to admire. We need to polish those trumpets ready for a fabulous and finished, toot toot toot fanfare! Jackie still has plenty of hearts appliqued so there's likely to be another quilt with pink hearts in the future.

While we are tooting, keep the trumpets up. This is Joanne's fabulous and finished quilt, in situ. She is very pleased with herself as she wasn't sure she would manage to quilt such a large project, now she knows she can, so, lets hope there will be many more! Toot toot toot Joanne.

This is Princess Jackie's latest sandwich. I'ts based on the Boho Heart pattern by Jen Kingwell but Jackie Pleased Her Very Own Self and used lots more little blocks. All drafted out on graph paper. Clever chick isn't she! Jackie's going to quilt little hearts all over it.

This sandwich belongs to Cheryl Cheryl. She had arrived for class ready to continue with an ongoing project but quickly put it away and purchased this alphabet panel to make a baby gifting quilt. Fabulous idea! By the end of class it was half way quilted with a beautiful rainbow coloured thread. I have more alphabet panels in stock, should you be tempted?

You might remember my delivery of the Show & Tell Quilt pattern? It's another lovely project from Elizabeth Hartman.

This is it. I sold lots of patterns at the time but, up to now, I don't think any of my customers have made it yet.

Recently, while preparing for lots of upcoming retreats, I decided to start it. I'm going to use different 'quilts' though. More challenging designs, because I can and because I want to!

Here's block one, how cute is this!!! 

It's a twelve inch Feathered Star block, pieced traditionally. 

Teeny tiny half square triangles and fiddly 'Y' seams! 

I might go nuts, or cross eyed making more!

This is the block I made during the Fleetwood retreat but this one was Foundation Paper Piecing. It was not as accurate as my traditional piecing one. I may not use it, I really prefer brighter colours. It can stay as a reserve block for now. That's more PMS!!!

The next retreat I've got organised will be in October from Sunday 18th to Wednesday 21st. It's at Hawkstone Park Hotel, Shropshire again and is fully booked for now, with a short reserve list.

There are still places available for the Quiltmas Retreat from 24th December. Also at Hawkstone Park.
Booking and paying your deposit for this retreat before the end of September is recommended and will save you £20.00 We loved it last Quiltmas and will be very happy to be going again this year. 
If you have any questions about the retreats just email me angiequilts@gmail.com or WhatsApp is good too 07807530441

Please remember that my shop will be closed Monday to Thursday next week.

Open as normal from Friday 21st August.

Stitching News

August!!! As promised! (or rather as I had threatened) I'm here writing another blog post with photos. We have need of your trumpeting skills for this one. It seems the problem I was having with my photos was caused by Google! That and my rubbish skills.

Christabelle is first up with her gifting quilt. Her brother is moving into his very own new home soon and this quilt will be a family gift to him. How lucky is he!

The back is Moda brushed cotton and it feels super snuggly. You can see Chris's quilting very clearly from the back, free motion and walking foot stitching. Toot toot toot Christabelle, a fabulous finish.

This is Gail's quilt, also for gifting. It's Jan Mullen's Stargazy Daizies design. It's not quite toot-toot-a-bubble as the hand stitching needs to be completed on the binding but we probable wont see it again. Gail had Amanda from Stone to do a lovely job of the quilting.

Gail chose this fabulous Art Gallery fabric for the backing which co-ordinates beautifully. Let's give it a fanfare anyway, it's almost finished and is definitely fabulous. toot-itty-toot.

As I missed a couple of weeks blogging, we need to zoom ahead to Jackie's sandwich making. I wrote about her appliqueing the hearts to background without solid plan and as if by magic, the result of our brainstorming appears! Isn't it wonderful! Once Jackie makes a plan there's no stopping her.

This sandwich belongs to Joanne. The original design, in the Material Obsessions book, was all set on point but Jo pleased her very own self and set them in rows, as you see. Perfect pointy-points everywhere and lots of scraps used. Jo will be quilting this all by her very own self.

Bev's been appliqueing vines and flowers for her borders. It was time to review how they were shaping up so I pushed the tables together, sandwich style. Bev wants to work on the borders at our next, and rapidly approaching retreat. It's a rubbish photo because the most finished borders of beautiful flowers are over the table where you cant see them. You will have to wait to see them. 

More progress for Lesley's quilt. More fish, more birds and lots of bubbles have been added. Lesley wants to embellish a bit with embroidery threats. Some of the creatures will have eyes and fancy bits. Lesley must be feeling confident about finishing all that because she purchased the backing fabric.

Catching Up

 Almost a whole month has flown by. It's been too hot for heavy thinking!! That and fighting with my computers tics. I hate the updating. Now I can't make some things work at all and as to where the photos are going pfffft, anyway, here goes...

Our Jean Bean has moved away from town, to a new place, far, far away. (not so far, I'm adding drama!) But she's coming back up to these here parts to join us for Quilting Retreats, which will be great. Just before she left town, she decided to make a test block or two so she will be good and ready for our October retreat. Which is amusing as there are 3 months or so, with lots going on until then. I'm thinking remembering how to piece the block might not be totally successful!

Pam is working on another Elizabeth Hartman quilt design. Here's the link..

https://elizabethhartman.com/products/cottontails-quilt-and-pillow-pattern

Pam decided to start with the flowers as they looked easier.

Jackie had spent time appliqueing hearts onto the background fabric with no real plan, I think she has 2000 heart blocks! We brain stormed a bit. What size quilt to make? Will there be other blocks,? What size blocks to work with? How many more pinks? that kind of thing. There is a plan!!!

This is also Jackie's project. Bright and beautifully pieced, as always. This quilt top has been set aside for a bit, waiting for a sandwich making session. The pink heart quilt is needed first so all stitching time will be used on that one.

Turtles and octopus have been added to Lesley's quilt. A few more fish too. It's coming along nicely. The shapes are tricky, especially the octopus, but worth all the fiddliness.

Di completed another block, so that's 2 of her 12 done. Can you see she stitched lots of lines to make the books look more book-ish? It took ages but Di didn't care. PMS !

If I can figure out how to get the photos to appear, yes there are more in my phone! I will post again before another 4 weeks passes by.

Meanwhile, I have seats available on our coach to the NEC Festival Of Quilts, £25.00 each but there are no entrance tickets included now. You can order them online or purchase them at the show.

Stitching News

The weather people say we're winding up for another heatwave in these here parts. My advice for you is to stay cool, indoors and sew! It's very wise advise you know.
Steady progress is happening with many projects in the classroom but people pack up so quickly at the end of the day, too fast for my memory and camera! 

We're all enjoying watching Lesley's progress with this wall hanging. All the animals are stitched on and the tree is finished, though there are more birds to add I think. The brightly coloured fish have started to swim in too.

Mary's been working on these applique blocks for a while and is almost finished. She wanted to play with the layout as she had decided not to follow her pattern instructions, PMS Pleasing Mary's Self !!!!!

The original pattern has many borders and filler bits around each block, see in the picture? Mary didn't want to do all those bits. A few mathemisms were needed and a bit of careful re-sizing of the blocks, but we did it. It looks completely different!

Jackie has finished almost all of the units for her Gypsy Wife/Boho Heart inspired quilt. Jackie designed her version all on graph paper. Lots of the blocks are teeny-tiny, she started stitching the millions of thin strips together, it is looking sooooo good, very bright too. I just managed to take this picture as it was being folded and packed up for home, with the promise that I can take a better picture next week.

This customer kindly brought in her finished quilt to show. I love when that happens, very satisfying to see my shop's helping to make beautiful projects 😇The pattern is by Robin Pickens and called 'Beanstalk' When the customer came in search of the backing fabric, we had a conversation about making a pieced backing to use up the beautiful fabrics left over from the top. Obviously, I can be very persuasive!

Wow, look what she did. Absolutely fabulous, perfectly co-ordinated with the front and very much finished so, you know what to do, trumpets up!!! Toot toot toot. The quilt will be sold in an auction to raise money for a very good cause. Gosh, I don't think I would want to part with it.

Stitching News

Half way through June already!

The lovely long days are great for creativity and, apparently, gardening. 

Norma put the final stitches to her beautiful wall hanging. Then she decided she wanted it to be large enough to be used as a lap quilt. Adding the two borders brought it up to a good size. Norma chose the backing and quickly prepared it so that it could be delivered to Amanda in Stone the next day, when she was to be picking up her finished quilt. 

Lesley added lot's more animals and more of the green tree bits. I was going to say leaves but they are very big leaves in the grand scheme of the design of quilt. They must be bunches of leaves?

Di started another new project. The idea was to practice a design, this one is about twelve inches, that could be made much smaller for use in a Postcard challenge, which is about six inches by 4 inches. The end result looks great but it was tricky enough at the large size, Di will go back to her drawing board for the postcard.

Gail finished her cushions so we need our trumpets polishing. The block is Card Trick, a very popular block that's not always as easy as it looks if you want those pointy points all accurate. Toot toot Gail, fabulous and finished, complete with covered zips!

As I mentioned, Norma has been to Amanda in Stone to pick up this beautiful quilt. Apart from the background and sashing blue fabric, it's all been made using Norma's stash of scraps. I can't quite believe how many quilts Norma's made to use up said scraps, and the bags don't seem to reduce in size! It just needs the binding now.

Pam also went to Amanda in Stone to pick up her quilted quilt. She went with Norma, they are a mischievous pair when together! Pam's quilt is huge. What a performance it was holding the quilt up for the photo as only short ladies were available! All but three of the coloured fabrics are different. Can you spot the three that were repeated? This quilt also needs binding, which I was informed by message yesterday, has been stitched on ready for a hundred evenings of hand stitching.