Progress at last

I have finally put my Kaleidoscope Frenzy together and I'm in the middle of mounting it onto it's background, hence a few loose threads still showing at the bottom of the picture.

I've also had a successful attempt at making my Christmas Cracker sample ready for the Fabric Gifts and Treasures class on Tuesday.

Wild Flying Geese

This wall hanging started with a free-form design of swoops and swirls.

This was enlarged and reversed to create the master template. Some of the sections were filled in with Flying Geese-type designs.

The Foundation Pieced sections were constructed first, then the large background areas were cut out using Freezer Paper templates.
Joining the pieces together, with all those curved seams, involved lots of pins!

And here's the final result........

Another Kaleidoscope Frenzy

I know I've posted a picture like this before, but that was just a try-out, and in fact I got the sizes wrong.
Now I've made another 16 blocks. Here they are all laid out together, although I really plan to space them out with some plainer blocks in between. Then I think I'll do a plain black border, with some little Grandmother's Flowers appliqued all around.

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Tumbling Blocks cont'd

And here's the first few hexagonal blocks laid out, just to check that I'm getting the desired effect. I'm happy so far!

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Tumbling Blocks

Inspired by one of my students, Rose, I decided to have a go at a full Tumbling Blocks quilt, not just a block in a sampler quilt, which is all I've done with them up 'til now. Here's a box full of scrappy diamonds, tacked over freezer paper and sorted into lights, mediums and darks.

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Quilting Holidays in Italy

Alistair and I spent a week in Italy in June sorting out the details of the Quilting Workshops that we'll be holding in Umbria next summer.

Click on Quilting Holidays in Umbria Italy if you are interested in joining us or would like further details.

All Churned Up

Just finished number 2 on the list. Quilt top only; not layered and quilted yet. Made from a Layer Cake - Hope - using the Churn Dash block. Pattern coming soon.

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One down - ten to go

Started off today with eleven things on my to-do list. Just finished the first one which was to put together these four blocks, which will eventually be a cushion cover for the guest room.
They were made using the Freezer Paper method of Applique - one of the Alternatives that I teach as part of my Block of the Month class.

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Photo at last

I've had the Appliqued Flowers and the Ribbon Border on this quilt for a little while now, but hadn't got round to photographing it.

Now all I have to do is find time to quilt it!

Frozen Cabbage

Very frosty here this morning.
Alistair is learning to use a new XDCAM-EX1 camera that he's hired to video the Burgess Hill Springtime Classic Cyclosportive tomorrow. He took some great shots in the garden. I love this close-up of the frosty cabbages.

I was busy till late last night trying to organise my workshop calendar for the rest of the year.
Free-Motion Machine Quilting is my most popular class,

so I have slotted in four dates for that and will probably have to add a few more before the year is out!
There are couple of Bag Workshops

 and a repeat of the monthly classes for Applique Alternatives (10 different techniques)

and the Mariner's Compass Quilt (need to get a better photo - there are big appliqued flowers on the white bit now and a ribbon border around the outside).

Pack Up Your Troubles

I woke up at about 4:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. So 4:30 found me sitting at the computer writing a newsletter about the latest Kansas Troubles Fabrics.

I remembered that there's a block called Kansas Troubles, so I played around with it in QuiltPro4 and came up with this design, which I've called Pack Up Your Troubles.

You can buy the pattern for £5, or better still, order a couple of metres of the Kansas Favorites Fabric and we'll send you a FREE copy of the pattern.

Jelly Roll Part Two - at last

I've been stock taking for most of the day - Year end coming up.
However, after that I decided I deserved some sewing time.
Having taught a Jelly Roll class yesterday with two students making the Star-Crossed Quilt and the other student making the Basketweave Quilt, I thought it was about time I got my own sample of the Basketweave Quilt finished off.

From one single Jelly Roll, I used half (20) the strips to make the Star-Crossed Quilt and have just used up the remaining 20 to make this one. I used the same co-ordinating fabrics in both quilts so they could go on two single beds in the same room (if we only had a spare room with two single beds in it!)
Of course, you can see I haven't got around to attaching the borders yet, but that's for another day.

If you haven't seen the other Jelly Roll Quilt in the gallery then here's a reminder of what it looks like:

Kaleidoscope Frenzy

I'm working on an idea for a new workshop. It'll be called Kaleidoscope Frenzy. Here are 18 of my kaleidoscope hexagons; I have another 18 to make.

I've worked out some great tips for getting the hexagons just right and for the centres to all be perfect (well nearly!).

Maybe not a great choice of fabric, since it was predominantly green, but it's all a learning curve.
I'm planning to insert some other hexagonal blocks and will use those to bring out the other colours - orange, pink and black.

Watch this space for progress!

Buckeye Charm and Pocket Bag

Back in September / October I was making this quilt and I wanted to share it here, but couldn't in case my Mum saw it. It was a surprise gift for her and David's 25th Wedding Anniversary.

Well now they have it; it's on their bed and goes beautifully with the colour scheme in their bedroom.
It's the Buckeye Beauty block and is made from two charm packs, hence the name - Buckeye Charm.

Over the weekend I have been working on an idea for a new bag design ready for a workshop in March.

This one has a row of three pockets on the outside, another double pocket inside and nice long handles so that it'll go over my shoulder.

Haven't got the patterns sorted yet, but I'm working on them and they'll be available on the web-site as soon as they're done.