I thought You Might Be Interested....

In seeing exactly what's been going on in your favourite Quilt Shop

I discovered recently, on being allowed into the neighbours garden, that the wall, this wall, at the back of the classroom, is actually completely underground... no wonder it is freezing cold over there... even with the heating on, it's still chilly in the corner... ask those who sit over there!! Some ladies choose to sit there because it isn't too warm actually... those are the Hot Mama's! ha ha ha. The Cold Nellies sit over in the window side with rosy cheeks.

I had to move everything from one side of the classroom to the other. It's always a bit of a shock seeing exactly how much fabric stock is actually on those shelves! It looks lots more laid out in piles... oh and they are achy-shoulder-y heavy to move round!!! but I am a trooper, I do this for you!!

I've had a plan to change my Ikea Billy shelving for a long time... I wanted it to match all of the other shelves in my lovely shop... I can fit more fabric and Fat Quarter baskets on these Ivar shelves as they are taller. So... I called in an expert, Graham. I asked him to help me sort out the shelving and asked how could I insulate the wall... Yesterday we got it sorted. 

Today I will spent the day in my lovely shop putting all the stock back in place... or in a new place... of course I reserve the right to move the colours round... Christmas fabric doesn't need to be right there at the front of the shop any more... It is done and dusted.... How many of you declared that you would start making Christmas things for 2017 Sewing Prevention Season early next year? I am guilty... I say it every year... maybe this time I might just do it, how about you?

Merry Christmas

Angie's Patchwork and Quilting Shop

Today, all day, is my very last day.
I am never ever going to open, ever again...
Oh...this year, of course!! ha ha ha...
Were you worried?

When I close my shop at 4:30pm today, Sewing Prevention will be well under way... I have everything to do, guests a plenty coming for the Christmas Day festivities and not a piece of wrapping paper has been purchased by my very good self, never mind gifting presents/
So, as my shop closes, I hope-itty-hope that all the others' shops are staying open...
I will be the tornado whizzing through the shops with a red hot purchasing card!

I have a joiner coming to work on my shelving in the week between... that's my Christmas present to my very own self, as I always choose... see these posts for the fun of past years...

http://angiequilts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/cold-feet.html

http://angiequilts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/my-christmas-present-reveal.html

All will resume as normal in the year that's just around the corner when my lovely shop will be open to all... that will be Thursday 5th January.

There will be other blog posts though... at least... that's my plan!

Hidden Wells

My Hidden Wells project... 12 strip sets of 7 fabrics all sewn and pressed. They've been chopped up into 48 x 10" squares and some even chopped up again into the triangles... Stitching them together is tricky... but I am a trooper!!! ha ha ha

Fabulous And Finished

New Sue bought in her extremely fabulous and beautifully finished
 Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope quilt WOW!
All those tiny little purple borders! Tricky, but well worth the trickiness!

The back... isn't that lovely too!
Lots of lovely quilting that sets off the quilt beautifully...
Toot toot toot Sue, a fabulous finish! If you're going to our Uttoxeter quilt show in April 2017, you will be able to have a closer look at Sue's quilt and be inspired.
There you go Sue, now you will have to fill in that entry form, he he he

This is also a toot toot tooting opportunity for New Sue. Another fabulous and finished project. Very different from the Kaleidoscope, isn't it sweet. Can you see the little teddy in the basket too, lovely... just lovely!

Princess Jackie's quilt next... a fabulous and finished kiddie play mat in bright and fun, primary colours... the cute applique designs, all done using Moda Bella Solids, are a mixture of internet inspiration and the designs on the fabric 

With the leftover Bella Solid fabrics making a great striped bit on the back... and you can see the quilting better from the other side. Toot toot toot Jackie, another triumph.

What fabulous and inspiring projects, as usual eh!

Sunday Sew In Report.

We had such a lovely stitching day yesterday. Foxt is a little village just outside Cheadle. The Village Hall is quite lovely, cosy and practical with parking a plenty right by the doors. There were ten tables available, you know how machine piecers and quilters need a whole table each don't you!!! So we were few in numbers... 10 tables booked and with one last minute cancellation,  9 had a wonderful day... The problem was the time... it whoooshed by ever so quickly.
We had an amazing lunch, with  a choice of delicious soups made by LouLou with a selection of breads and cheeses and a plethora of sweet things, including Fran's CupCakes, Sheila's mince pies and Annbacan's apple pie with, or without, fresh cream... and it didn't matter where you wanted to put the cream!!! Did I mention that we had entertainment? What happened on our 1st Sunday Sew In, will remain with those who were there .... oh boy did we laugh!
Loulou also had us all entertained with a great selection of Seventies sounds which led to the telling of many stories as memories were stirred... funny, sad and happy... this song reminds me of.... 
Our next Sunday Sew-In will be on Sunday 26th of February, it is fully booked with 20 ladies this time, it's a larger hall, and we have a waiting list already...
You know... It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to know that there are so many people agreeing with me... Isn't social sewing fun!!!

Hidden Wells

There's a lovely (to me) story for this quilt. I made it in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2000... gosh a lot has happened since then. I was a member of Morumbi Quilters...and we all made one. Before we started the project we all went shopping for the fabrics together, 15 or so of us, on Rua 25 De Março... that was a hoot!! We went there very often too... oh I cannot describe the fun of Centro in Sao Paulo.

Now and every Christmas I get out my Hidden Wells Christmas Quilt and position it carefully on my sofa, it's throw/single bed size... and immediately I think about the wonderful time I had with this fabulous group of ladies and how much my life has changed, thanks to them, especially a lady named Jacquie. This quilting journey of mine is all her fault!

Anyway, I have made this design a few times now. Every one has special memories for me. I took this quilt to my shop and lots of ladies want to make it so I have booked a workshop date for February.

I decided to make another Hidden Wells quilt... Monday Sheila made me do it!!!
These are my fabric choices... all cut and ready for today... Alison Glass and Art Gallery fabrics... my favourites at the moment! Yay..

Today... all Day today...
Drum roll please...
It's our first of many, Sunday Sew-In retreat...
I am going to crack on with this project... I have some quilting I want to do and some applique to stitch and some bunting I want to make... I think I have too many projects planned for only 5 hours of sewing... Hey Ho... off I go! ha ha ha

How Many More Sleeps?

Most of us are finishing off projects and winding down in readiness for sewing prevention season.... including me!! ... though I fully intend to 'gear up' rather than 'wind down'!
My lovely fabric shop will be closing soon for two weeks... 
That's from
Wednesday 21st December, opening again on Thursday January 5th.
It might be worth mentioning this to your 'last minute gift buyers'... 
You know who they are don't you?.. I name no-one!!!

As always though... if you need anything... whilst we are closed, you could call me or email and we could make a date. I could meet you in my wonderful shop... 
I can't, and I won't, be responsible for the stopping of any stitching production.

Stitching News

PM Pam finished her gifting quilt top made with the Makower Crafty Cats panel and made a great backing for it. We just managed to get it sandwiched so that Pam can start the quilting... but she had other stuff to finish first, like the large Batik quilt and the Batik left overs cushion... 

Just Edna took my advice and decided to make a practice Festive table runner with the Double Wedding Ring design... we decided to Foundation Paper Piece the arcs, Edna had never tried Paper Piecing before... A new skill has been conquered! After this small practice project, Edna's planning to go huge, really huge!!!

Krafty Karen is back!! This lady came back to class with new, high energy batteries... we could hardly keep up with the productivity! This quick make is needed before Christmas. There's another single bed size quilt ready to be sandwiched on Saturday too, so that Karen can spend our first of many, Sunday Sew-In, Patchwork Party retreat, quilting them.

Carol has made a few starts on this project... she wanted to make Santa Sacks and each design she made didn't quite satisfy her... Now though, she's happy, and I am sure Lewis will be happy. There's another Santa Sack almost ready for quilting too... Carol will be stitching this on our Sunday Sew-In, Patchwork Party retreat, only 4 more sleeps

I've mentioned before how we love to see what customers make with our fabrics... well, not all of these fabrics are from my fabulous, and very well stocked, quilt shop but that doesn't matter! ha ha This project is all done by hand... English Paper Piecing, you know the one? Stitching every piece over paper templates... a LOT hand stitching and a lot of hours.

So, you know I can't throw any fabric away...
In quilty quarters production is up! amongst other things... I made this little kiddie quilt from fabrics left over shop projects... it's sandwiched and ready for quilting

Also in quilty Quarters, I made this little quilt top... I have a plan for a Hidden Wells workshop next year so this quilt will be used as a workshop sample... except that some of the ladies saw it and have already purchased fabrics to start theirs at our first Sunday Sew-In, Patchwork Party retreat.

More Beginner Cushions

Stitching News

PM Pam had blocks left over from making her huge and beautiful Batik quilt so we played with them. It's great to make a cushion or two to give with your gifting quilt, so that's what she decided to do... and there will be more Batik beauties made as there were more blocks and larger pieces of fabric left over too.

For quite a long time now, Princess Jackie has had a bit of bother with her quilting... It's been really tricky trying to get it perfect enough... we have tried everything, absolutely everything, in an effort to sort it out... Would you believe it?... We now found the problem.... Even though the Walking Foot looked like it was doing it's job and working well... it was not. Jackie now has a shiny new one which works perfectly... I wanted to tell you so that, if you are despairing about your walking foot quilting... maybe, just maybe your Walking Foot might not be doing it's job... check out that tool!!

Gail decided on the fabric placement for her Crown Of Thorns blocks... so she started to stitch block units together... We are not going to ask you to spot the mistake... the problem was the conversation... Those Tuesday ladies laugh A LOT and it obviously throws Gail off a bit!!! It's just one row turned about... and it was spotted in good time.

Jeannette Dilly is doing the latest Bonnie Hunter Mystery "En Provence"
The weekly task was to make 221 neutral 4-Patch units. Jeannette arrived for class with strips of assorted neutral fabrics already cut and went home with exactly 221 4-Patch units... and an achy achy back!!! 

Fiona Too wanted to make a table runner with this Charm Pack from Moda... it's a very easy and relatively fast table runner to make but choosing the fabric placement? My goodness, that takes AGES!!!

Brenda Duck is making a gifting cushion. She had purchased a Nautical Charm Pack from somewhere... but like many ladies, she can't remember either 'where' or 'when'... but it was a little bit dull once sewn together... we sorted that out with a Moda Colour Weave fabric border and this fabulous anchor applique!! 

There won't be any prizes for guessing who's making this Quick Table Topper... It's a little obvious eh... It's Farmer Lynda! She's making it to gift to another Cow fan! I'm betting it will look great on Farmer Lynda's, farming friend's table.

All Day Di is making some wonderful colour and fabric choices for her Calendar blocks... we watch her scooting around my shop, choosing and auditioning Fat Quarters... there's a sort of buzzing noise and we think it's from her creative cogs turning a great speed!

It happens every year... once one person starts to make a Quick Table Topper everyone wants to make one!! or two or three in fact. Steph has a festive fabric Jelly Roll so she's making hers with a slightly different method...

Sister Suzie made one too and she wanted to add the Faux Piped Binding to give a fabulous finish... that tiny pop of bright green looks so good... it is a little tricky to do, this Faux Piping... but well worth that fiddle!

Barbie had been asked to make a grey kiddie quilt.
It's not easy to choose fabric with only one allowed colour, Barbie was a bit stumped....
Is grey even a colour?
Why yes it is... a delicate tone or two of grey can look great!
Barbie is happy now... very happy indeed with her quilt.

Pineapple Blossom Cushions

Rose finished her Pineapple Blossom Cushion. Toot toot toot, it's fabulous!
It's one of the methods I learned, a long, long time ago, over at Quiltville.com with Bonnie Hunter. I very often get asked to do workshops for Pineapple Blossom blocks for my customers... They can get the tutorial over at Quiltville but it's still a lot of fun doing a project with others. This 24" cushion is made using 6" finished blocks, I did the mathemisms to make the smaller blocks because not everyone wants to make a larger quilt... Large, and this is large, cushions are fabulous though!!!
Bonnie has already done the mathemisms for you for  9" and 12" blocks 

So here's an interesting thing... 

Rose used a lot of the same beautiful Batik fabrics that I used for my Pineapple Blossom cushion... the difference is that she used the darker fabric where I used the light. Look in this picture... we put them side by side... it's amazing how different they look.

The exact same design. 
The same size blocks and finished cushion.
A lot of the same fabulous fabrics...
Different colour placement and a different quilting design
Different effect.. very interesting?

Stitching News

Josie decided to use her Serpentine stitch for the borders... She enjoyed doing it and decided to stitch three rounds... It's time to trim the crusts off and make binding in Josie's next class. This is a great Charm pack... it's Moda's French General collection.

Kate came to class a few weeks ago asking that question "What design could I make with this fabric?" It's a popular question in my very own shop and classroom. All we have to do it mathemise! We decided on this design... it's easy and looks great... It must have been fun to make as Kate started another quilt top using the very same design.

News From Quilty Quarters

I decided to tidy up... 

Quilty Quarters was in such a state of confusion.... real 'crushing the creative urge' mess.

There were piles of fabrics, other people's scraps, classroom and commission quilt leftovers and must haves so I'll take a bit home and It's the end of the bolt so I need it fabrics on every surface. There were unfinished workshop samples and 'How To's... I have many... "Oh that is clever... I will make a sample to see if it works' and so on... absolutely ridiculous. 

Piles of unread magazines, printed off internet patterns and general scribbled ideas on paper... just piles of it all... My fabric cupboard, when I last opened it, threatened to avalanche, so I had shut the door very quickly and jammed a box against it to stop the drift! How silly was that... It left me afraid to open the blooming doors!

So, I started with the basket cupboard... I've shown you that before... It's tidy now.

I tackled the surfaces, I sorted the avalanche cupboard. I made a huge pile of fabrics that I don't want to save any longer... they are going to be used up as soon as possible!! I made a huge pile of started projects and quilts to be quilted and then colour co-ordinated the scraps and bigger bits of 'other peoples fabric bits... and then... a few weeks later, because all this activity actually has taken about two months!! ha ha ha... not just the one day as it might be understood at this point...

On Sunday afternoon I quilted this cushion top...
Batik blocks made for the  Pineapple Blossom workshop

I quilted the two halves of this cushion back, made with the left over Bonus Half Square Triangles and 'cut too many strips' strips and put in the zip.
Is't it fabulous... you can toot if you want to! It is finished!

 This project made from workshop samples and how to's for Stargazy Daisiez.. I was hand quilting it with Big Stitch style, but I wanted it done so I free-motion finished it. Now I just need to make the back, with a zip  and that will be another cushion complete

I quilted this cushion front... Good old Railfence design...
I took a picture of the back so you would be able to see the cute quilting...

No accuracy here... every boat different
But It is DONE!!!
I know it's ugly but it will be inside the cushion.

I quilted this too... four pineapple blocks
Not very exciting but left overs used up and cushion front done.

I'm eating the Elephant, one bite at a time!!!
oh yes... I cancelled every single magazine subscription too!

Stitching News

Technically, this is not a tooting quilt... it is though, fabulous and almost finished... Rose just needs to watch her TV... so that she can stitch the binding to the back... It looks like she's been very clever... making a blurred quilt takes great skill, ha ha ha Sorry about the picture folks!

OK... now, toot toot toot.... Just Edna's festive lap warmer is Fabulous and finished!!
Edna was going to hand stitch her binding at home. She wanted to make more twiddle mats really, but it's tricky finding somewhere that would love out twiddle mats now... there are so many rules and regulations preventing us from giving them to people, what a shame!... So, she stitched her binding in class instead... toot toot toot for Edna's quilt.

Don't tell Monday Sheila I told you this... it's a blunder secret! OK? just between you and I eh? Sheila's binding is a little wider than we normally use, can you see it? Silly girl was chatting away and didn't notice that she was stitching on a second round of the same border fabric... Sheila is not easily phased... she just made a different kind of binding... Oh yes... good old PMS (Pleasing My Self)

Just Edna made this wreath at home... she's done a lovely job... lots of fabrics stuffed into a polystyrene hoop, a sort of Polo. It feels so luxurious! and you know what... it is finished and fabulous! toot toot toot... this is a great idea for using up little scraps.

Monday Sheila got back to her Pineapple Blossom blocks, I am sure she had made three thousand or so of these blocks... I wonder what she's going to do with them all? I know some were made into cushions... I'll ask her next week and let you know.

Margaret forgot to bring her walking foot to class so decided not to start the Deer quilt quilting. Instead she opted for an quick little job... Makower  Festive Stocking panels are great for just that purpose... fast and easy! Especially just before embarking on the quilting on a much larger project.

Norma needs a toot toot toot fanfare... she finished her three little wall hanging quilts... Norma stitches in a Liberated style and loves every bit of it... from the designing and choosing of fabrics right through to the finish... PMS strikes again!!

Annbacan is making cushions with this, most delicious, Martha Negley fabric... Oh how I love Martha's fabrics... especially this one! But Ann and Monday Sheila purchased every last bit of it... How very mean... anyone would think that was allowed in my very own shop!!!