UK Quilters
It’s that time of year again – Christmas is looming, presents still to be bought/made, decorations to be found in the loft, rooms tidied away ready for visiting relatives and seemingly vast quantities of food to be bought, prepared, and eaten. So – yet again, I’m doing a runner! Seriously? Well, not quite. I teach…
Why do we put borders on quilts? I think it all depends on the quilt itself and where it is going to live when finished. As mentioned before – the border doesn’t have to be the same all the way round the quilt either, sometimes a border is used simply to make the quilt large…
Recently I helped Whitby Art Society deliver a day of activities as part of The Big Draw, an annual drawing event to encourage everyone to get creative. I did decorated pumpkins. One of the other ladies did a haunted zig zag book that gave some amazing results. Children’s drawings are so free. I was inspired…
Some of you may have read some of my stories in the past, there were stand alone episodes about breaking an Olfa cutting mat, how to tackle a Moda Scrap Bag, a charity quilt that got taken to Kosovo on an Aid Convoy & the harrowing story of Grenfell and how a group of quilters…
UKQU has a fantastic range of quilting experts from around the country who, once a year, gather together for the ‘Bloggerati Retreat’. The one this year is due shortly in November and we are certainly looking forward to it. Which brings me onto my plan to write a few Blogs on retreats. (Sewing ones obviously,…
I know, I know! I said it was only ever going to be a 5 part series, but I obviously fibbed, (After writing No 5 of 5 ). So here it is …. The Unexpected Part 6. Sorry if you had been heaving a sigh of relief, but basically tough here it is! My previous…
I’m trying not to write a book here, but it is difficult as my head is buzzing with ideas. So, this time we’ll look at using blocks – traditional blocks, altered blocks and your own designs. Using traditional blocks is where we all start when designing a quilt and, having chosen our block we then…
Makower UK have come out with another lovely range called Cool Cats and within the samples to the left you will find Jumping Cats, Scatter, Parade and a Wavy Stripe. They are in lovely hues and there are some great designs of our feline friends. I don’t like animals in general but I can appreciate…
Yay, it’s fabric time! I’m hugely thankful to UKQU.co.uk for kindly giving me the opportunity to write this product review for the RHAPSODY fabric generously provided by MAKOWER UK. There are twenty-six amazing designs in this Klimt inspired Makower fabric and they truly epitomise the definition of Rhapsody by featuring two highly contrasted moods and…
Christmas in July? None of us like to think about Christmas this early but in British Patchwork and Quilting magazine I usually cover Christmas fabrics, or at least a couple, in the July issue, but why? We all know it takes time to make quilts so if you want a Christmas fabric for a gift…
The dark nights are drawing in, with spring a distant memory. I often wonder how they managed in the past, sewing on an evening, but I suppose they would sew in the day more frequently rather than being chained to a desk. Getting the children to thread needles before they were sent to bed was…
A beautiful set of fabrics from Makower has been sent for me to play with. What wonderful designs and a gentle soft hand to it. All the usual Christmas suspects are here, snowflakes, trees, reindeer etc, but in very different colour ways. Not the usual greens and reds, but a subtler collection including more unusual…
Chris Franses
Judith Clarke
Teresa Barrow
Helen Kent
Ruth Garner
Carol Lightburn