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Folded Star Cushion

Valerie originally showed this pattern as a folded potholder workshop but Joy turned it into a delightful cushion that co-ordinates beautifully with her quilt.     I finally finished the pillow that I wanted to make to match the quilt I had done last year.  I ended up putting the design on like an applique after i got it done because my pillow is square not round or hexagon.

2014-03-19T00:00:00+00:00March 19th, 2014|Categories: Community, Show and tell|Tags: |Comments Off on Folded Star Cushion

Can I watch on my Kindle and/or Smart TV?

Our thanks to Shelagh for the following information about watching on her Kindle: I have downloaded dolphin browser from a link on this page ( www.groovypost.com/howto/install-flash-player-kindle-fire-hd/) the page also had a link to download Adobe Flash Player. I have just viewed the tasters on your site successfully. I thought this information might be useful if you need to give advice to others experiencing my initial difficulty.

2014-03-17T00:00:00+00:00March 17th, 2014|Categories: Community, Q & A|Comments Off on Can I watch on my Kindle and/or Smart TV?

How to Sew an Heirloom Quilt (by machine)

Just spent 4 days (away from home!) on a workshop with Pauline Ineson;  absolutely brilliant - no quilt to show but LOTS of samples, notes and I learnt SOOOOOO much about my machine. (as did everyone else there).   If you want to know more about this quilt (and her other award winning quilts) then we interviewed her at the Festival of Quilts back in 2010 and you can watch it by clicking here: You can also purchase her book in the shop AND there is also an Heirloom Starter Kit - so what's stopping you!

2014-03-12T00:00:00+00:00March 12th, 2014|Categories: Blog, Community|Comments Off on How to Sew an Heirloom Quilt (by machine)

Hearty Good Wishes from Janet Clare

We had a great filming day yesterday and were joined by Janet Clare who showed us her wonderful new range of fabrics - inspired by her Hearty Good Wishes book; are't they gorgeous! Distributed by Moda - should be in the shops soon.   More to come - so keep watching!   Picture taken by Matt Bigwood www.matthewbigwood.co.uk
www.flickr.com/photos/mattbigwood/  

2014-02-28T00:00:00+00:00February 28th, 2014|Categories: Blog, Community|Tags: |Comments Off on Hearty Good Wishes from Janet Clare

Does the size of the stitch matter for hand quilting?

No it's the even-ness that  is important and makes it look nice;   want to know more then you should give a few minutes to watching the workshop given by Paula Doyle for heirloom quilting: click here: For larger stitches, and utility quilting then Carolyn Forster has given us a couple of workshops:  Amish Waves and Big Stitch UtilityQuilting.

2014-02-24T00:00:00+00:00February 24th, 2014|Categories: Community, Q & A|Tags: |Comments Off on Does the size of the stitch matter for hand quilting?

Is a pieced back to my quilt a good idea?

So now thinking of doing a pieced back.   Is that a good idea?  I have 15 10" squares left. I was going to cut more out of the border and binding fabric I have left.

Problem 1: How do I cut a 10" square with my ruler?!

Problem 2: If I do 5 squares by 8 squares is this big enough for the back...or should I do 6 x 9?

Problem 3: How on earth do I position the back under the front so it lines up?

Or should I scrap this idea!

2014-02-14T00:00:00+00:00February 14th, 2014|Categories: Community, Q & A|Tags: |Comments Off on Is a pieced back to my quilt a good idea?

How to cut a 10″ square

How do I cut a 10" square with my ruler?! Answer: To cut a 10" square with your ruler (and I assume your board) try:
either 2 rulers to make up the 10" and cut a strip: OR use your square ruler: OR cut a 10" strip using the board to count and then cut across in the opposite direction (as you would smaller squares) but again using the board to count -
NB:  ALWAYS put your fabric to zero on the board and not to 1" !!

2014-02-13T00:00:00+00:00February 13th, 2014|Categories: Community, Q & A|Tags: |Comments Off on How to cut a 10″ square

Winter Olympics, Quilts and Knitting

Who would have thought those three words would appear together in the same sentance?! I first noticed the influence of quilts when Putin was giving a press conference to the BBC and a few others - the design was behind him on the wall and here is part of the explanation: Sochi games’ press release: ”The Olympic patchwork quilt, developed by Bosco’s creative department and given to the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, will be the official Look of Russia’s first Winter Games.

2014-02-10T00:00:00+00:00February 10th, 2014|Categories: Blog, Community|Comments Off on Winter Olympics, Quilts and Knitting

Printing images onto fabric

I wish to make a cot quilt for my expected grandchild and would like to make some of the squares personalised by printing images from my computer onto the fabric. I see there are several methods of achieving this and wonder if in your experience you could recommend a tried and tested way. As this is for a baby, it will obviously be subjected to washing so the method needs to produce waterproof squares   Answer: As far as I am aware the fabrics that have been designed to go through your printer for use with your computer work well - and I am not aware that the brand makes any difference.   These should be readily available from your quilt shop (or www.creativequilting.co.uk).

You could also use  a method which uses fixing ink - but that is a little messier - but used by the textile girls a lot and I think produced by a company called Electric Quilt (who design computere software) and I know is stocked by The Cotton Patch and possibly Art Van Go as well as they are great suppliers of all things required by textile artists.

2014-02-04T00:00:00+00:00February 4th, 2014|Categories: Community, Q & A|Tags: |Comments Off on Printing images onto fabric

Does the Microtak gun make holes in the quilt?

Well its a yes and a no;  the original gun did have HUGE tags that made really nasty holes and I refused to use or stock them (I owned a quilt shop at the time);  however the current generation has a much smaller needle and tiny tags which hold the layers better since we have moved to flatter wadding and don't make holes in the fabric.  I use them all the time and despite having several 000 in each box seem to be constantly running out!!!!

TIP:   do invest in a tack remover as well as this will keep your quilt safe from little snips from your scissors and also stop you being tempted to use your best scissors to remove them (and spoil your scissors) NB:  all these products are in the shop

2014-02-03T00:00:00+00:00February 3rd, 2014|Categories: Community, Q & A|Tags: |Comments Off on Does the Microtak gun make holes in the quilt?
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