Westhope Retreat

Just a few of the projects we were working on whilst away from civilisation...

We enjoyed a wonderful few days.... All booked up for next year too!

Stitching News

Enid marked up her quilting lines before making a small sandwich and cracking on with stitching. This Cross-Hatch design is simple to do and looks great, it also sorted out the ever so slightly poofy centre, which happens sometimes with applique.

New Sue decided to Stitch In The Ditch... she's very good at it too... most of us do a little Ditch Hopping you see. All the quilting was finished by the end of the day.

Jean Bean is having another baby... not her personally of course! The little person will be needing a very special quilt and by george, this is very special quilt... I suspect Beano will not be making the whole thing as in the pattern, there won't be time... Two weeks for one fox so far! ha ha ha

Wooops, Rose asked for help choosing her binding so we decided to teach her the Faux Piped Binding method... Rose likes to do something a little different and wasn't phased at all. The strips were prepared and the hand tacking will be done at home.

Princess Jackie is going to be quilting this Batik beauty by stitching around the detail.... she will have muscles like those of Popeye when she's finished but it will be stunning.

PM Pam just has ends to tie off and the borders to quilt before this Bright and beautiful Rainbow quilt can be gifted. There are so many babies arriving this year, maybe a hundred by the end of the year... which is great news for a little quilt shop!!!

Finished And Fabulous

Mrs. P was delighted with her finished cushion. Though she was most definitely not a beginner, she wanted to make our Beginner Cushion to brush up on her skills... sort of back to basics you might say. There's a lot to learn... there's always a lot to learn... but only if you want to!

There you go Mrs. P... you have a fabulous and finished cushion, just like you wanted, and it deserves a fanfare... Toot toot toot 

Gail also finished her cushion... she's involved on our cushion bombing thing coming up soon... did I mention how excited we are about our cushion bombing... now I hear there will be a murder!!! oh my?

 Gail, your lovely cushion, complete with concealed zip, qualifies for a fabulous and finished fanfare Toot toot toot... hope it's not taken as evidence!

Merrily declared this to be her last cushion! I asked why and she replied
"I only need 6 cushions"... well, it is fabulous and finished and needs a fanfare of toot toot tooting, but... 6 cushions? for me... not enough!!!

Margaret's Stag quilt finished and fabulous from last Thursday. It's been about a year or more in the making so she was super chuffed to see it completed. Toot toot toot Margaret.

Stitching News

Rose has almost finished quilting this lovely nautical quilt.
We were having a little look to see whether any areas needed a few more stitches... it's good to anchor all areas with a similar amount you see... just a few faux seagulls (tick shapes) in the sky will do the trick.

Also almost finished by Rose...The Tortoise(s) and The Hare(s) gifting Quilt... Baby's name and birth details will be added to the clock in the middle What a lovely idea!

Pam is ready for a Toot toot toot fanfare for her fabulous and finished baby gifting quilt. British countryside and earthy colours was the brief and I think Pam's got it spot on...  Pam is on a roll finished all quilty orders rather licketty -split.

Even the back... we love to play with fabrics on our backings.
toot toot toot Pam.

This is a project made with jeans. It amazes me how they can shrink in between wears! Made from plate circles, I thoroughly enjoyed making it many years ago and I decided you might like it too. So I have scheduled a workshop for Saturday 16th June.

You just need some jeans... old is good, a small, round plate. A marking tool (pen) and a metre or more in total of lovely fabric cut into squares... great for scraps... though for my project I used luxurious silk!

Stitching News

Monday Sheila's been watching Susan make her lovely Daisy wall hanging and she decided to make a version of her very own. Jean Bean helped by drawing a great petal shape for Sheilas' applique... this though, will be a table runner... Lovely eh! 

PM Pam continues with her gifting quilt marathon. This baby play mat is on the finishing lap with the binding now on and ready for hand stitching at home.

Tuesday Rose has done lots of quilting on this project already but there were a few areas where quilting was sparse... Chaco marker in hand... Rose will soon have that rectified, tortoise shell markings will be stitched!

New Sue finished piecing her beautiful Batik table runner. She's been able to dig in her batik scraps for lots of those little squares for the 9-Patch units.

We had sunshine!! Brenda Barbara made her lovely Pineapple Blossom quilt sandwich with the beautiful sunshine blazing through the window... A very happy and warm sandwich, not quite toasted!

Christal made loads of HST's (Half Square Triangles) with a Charm Pack she had purchased, elsewhere! We played around with various settings and this on-point was the winner. A lap quilt sized project is required so it will be perfect, with the addition of setting triangles.

Margaret is back at it. This quilt just needed a little more quilting and then the binding. Margaret always machine stitches her bindings so she's a bit of an expert.

Enid finished the blanket stitching on her beautiful Batik petals and flowers so she's ready to decide what to do with the block... Probably a cushion, we love a great cushion!!

Mrs. P wanted to come to the beginner cushion day, but it was fully booked so we slotted her into a daily class. She isn't really a beginner, she wanted to go back to basics to perfect her new skill. Success eh... what a fabulous back to basics cushion front!!

Sandwiches

Beginner Workshop, Cushions