About Anita
Anita has been quilting since 1982 when she inspired by her needlework teacher at school. Anita was already a dress maker but didn’t enjoy that. Her teacher introduced her to quilting, reigniting her love of sewing.
After teaching for many years in the Early Years sector, Anita came back to teaching quilting in 2018 because she was inspired by the modern themes in English Paper Piecing.
She loves the themes of recycle, reuse and no waste which has led her to scrap piecing projects as the main focus of her work. Anita loves to use up crumbs to make modern inspired quilts and bags. And she is keen to improvise in making quilts, so rarely follows a pattern.
Her favourite techniques include: crumb quilting, applique, EPP, and free motion quilting.
Anita believes that being creative is essential for your mental wellbeing and that sewing daily keeps her grounded and inspired – – allowing her to be more creative.
Click here to watch Anita make Crumb Quilt Strips with a Till Roll.
Signature Technique
Till Roll Crumb Quilting
Top Tips
- Bright colours brighten up homes and lives.
- Beautiful quilts grow from very small inspirations.
- Don’t throw away orphan blocks. Use them to create tote bags to give as gifts or as a special packaging for gifts.
- Practice free motion quilting on small blocks. The size makes it ideal for manoeuvring in the sewing machine.
- For thicker sewing (e.g. orphan square bag with wadding) use purple needles. They power through.
Videos
Books and Patterns
Posts
Lorna Bateman
Teaching and sharing her designs and embroidery techniques is Lorna’s passion. She loves all forms of 3-dimensional, raised and textured embroidery and tries to encompass as many of these in her designs as possible.
Embroidery with Lorna Bateman
Lorna joined Valerie and the film team to share with us her love of embroidery, embellishing and pinweaving; so we have some great films to share with you soon. And here they are surrounded by some of Lorna's beautiful work.