Out & About
Last week we met Lady Sew & Sew, who have a new warehouse location in Henley on Thames which is open to visitors/coach parties by appointment. They run lectures and workshops there too and have Amy Butler visiting later in August as well as Tracey Chevalier– author of The Last Runaway – in September.
And today we get a tour of The Bramble Patch – a quilt shop of some 27 years standing in Weedon Northants.
Anne Wilcox takes us round and we find out that they design their own patterns and kits, run a long arm quilting service as well as having free Friday demos on useful subjects such as binding. Several of their kits and patterns are just a click away in the shop!
Click here for Kits and click here for Patterns
Quilts in Cae Hir Gardens exhibition is being held this weekend (1st 2nd and 3rd August) in the beautiful RHS Partner Garden in West Wales. Check out the videos of our visit last year (it was a little wet in the garden but that didn’t deter us!) Valerie sent in a quilt which she hopes will stay dry!
Workshops
We hope you are enjoying revisiting the Circle Slice Ruler with Angela Madden as well as Twiddling Tucks with Jennie – oldies but goodies (the workshops, not the quilters!!!)
And Janet Clare shows us how she makes a simple monoprint which was the basis of her drawings for her Hearty Good Wishes fabric – a great idea for the children to work on.
All the above folk (along with many of our other contributors, hundreds of other stall holders and textile artists) will be at the Festival of Quilts in the NEC Birmingham, this coming week – Angela and Jennie in the QIA section, Janet Clare can be found at G4, The Bramble Patch (N4) and Lady Sew & Sew (E9 and F11) are in the main hall and Valerie will be helping out on the Creative Quilting stand (H17) The show runs from Thurs 7th Aug – Sunday 10th Aug : for tickets and/or more information you can visit www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk
Blogging
Valerie has been busy in the Blog this month with an eclectic mix of comments that we hope you find interesting: for instance there’s one about Hampden Park in Glasgow, which was once covered in quilts, but is now hosting the athletics; another about quilters taking up the poppy challenge; feedback on the Water Water exhibition organised by Kate Findlay and an item about tulle pleating with the quilt artist Benjamin Shine.
Book of the Month
August’s Book of the Month is Quilters Diary for 2015 with free p&p in the UK for the month of August; it will not only keep you organised but has lots of lovely full page illustrations from a wide range of well known patchwork artists.
Site Upgrade
We hope you will have noticed that we have now made the website more user friendly for all our users and especially for those on iPads and Tablets (you can now use your normal Safari and Internet browsers); For more specific information click here.
Subscription
Once you’ve tested the new layout on your iPad or tablet, to subscribe to the full workshops – not just the tasters and tips – then it’s really very easy to do; there is no long term contract; the minimum payment is just £6 for one month and this is all handled by Paypal. If you would prefer a short term fixed membership then why not try us for 3 months – only £18 and again just a click away.
Midsummer Quilt Mystery Gallery
The Mystery Gallery is now up on the website and available for subscribed members to enjoy – You’ll find a link to it in the workshop notes of Part 10. Thanks to all of you who took part and shared – and the workshops are still on the site so it’s not too late to join in and send us your pics!
Final thought:
Reasons to Buy fabric: Reason 8:
It is not immoral illegal or fattening; it calms the nerves, gratifies the soul and makes you feel good.
Do you think the more you buy the better you feel?!?!?
Happy Sewing
Valerie & Jennie
