UK Quilters
With the recent changes announced by the government due to the spread of Covid, not many of us were able to meet up with family and friends over the Christmas period. Instead, I have found eight ladies and their families for you to socialise with – meet The Bunco Club. Karen DeWitt has created a…
I have a lot of books – and magazine ’specials’ – with a Christmas theme. Most of them were bought in my early patchworking years when I felt in need of ideas, inspiration and patterns and many were acquired second-hand. Later on they were useful to take into class with me to show students who…
For December, what better than a Christmas and winter story? When searching on Amazon this summer I came across The Christmas Wedding Quilt. It had three authors and three, what looked like, sub-titles listed. Intrigued, I decided to buy the book and see if it would be suitable for the book club. It was. It…
Sometimes you feel an urge to design something different – an applique pattern or a quilting pattern perhaps – but where to start? As I keep telling everyone – I can’t draw; I never got beyond third year in art at school, let alone needlework, so I need to seek help in my book collection.…
Having discovered machine quilting I felt there would be no stopping me. Except for one teeny-tiny thing . . . I can’t draw very well. Not only that but I don’t really ‘doodle’. I do sort-of doodle in that I fill in the loops of letters – the round bits of d and p and…
I have very few of these as hand-quilting is something I just don’t do. My hands just don’t seem capable of holding and manipulating a needle. Its probably because I don’t ever do it – except for hemming down bindings – if I can possibly help it. It also probably stems back to schooldays when…
Last month I showed you my books on hand quilting and promised a peek at my machine quilting books this month. I think next month I will have to continue with quilting books – the ones with ideas and designs in them. But, for the time being, I’ll talk you through the technique ones. I…
I don’t hand sew if I can help it. I’ve never been very dextrous and in recent years arthritis has not been helping. However – I have quite a few books on hand quilting. This is partly because when I first started doing patchwork I thought it all had to be done by hand. I…
When it comes to designing a quilt it can sometimes help to go with a theme – especially for a sampler or a block of the month – such as ‘seaside’, ‘houses’, ‘trees’. You then have the entertaining task of finding blocks that fit the theme, that ‘go’ together, that perhaps make use of different…
Right now we are wondering how to use up all our fabric bits so we can keep sewing even if we can’t go to the shows and shops to buy more (although, don’t forget though that most shops are doing mail order via the web or phone). But it is also that time of year…
Having decided to make a quilt using blocks how do you choose which block (or blocks) to use? Do you find a theme (stars for instance) or look for a name that appeals (how about Cats and Mice?). Perhaps you want to use just one block many times or two blocks alternating but then you…
Last time I told you about my visit to the Art Couture exhibition. Of course a Textile artist needs some new fabrics! I love to participate in the Cherrywood Challenge. In 2018 in the Prince Challenge. Here I am in Houston at the Quiltfestival where I got to sign the Prince books. In the 2019…
