Filming with Carolyn Forster
What a great day we had together with Carolyn last week and we have some really lovely workshops ready for editing; Carolyn spent the day sharing with us her 'Joy of Sewing' and we have a whole series of workshops on how to sew patchwork by hand - a great alternative to EPP and not a stitch in sight! She also showed us how to design cable quilting which you can customize for your own quilt size; there is a super quick layer-cake bag and a wonderful woven scrap quilt too (see picture below).
Twiddling, Fiddling and some Magic too -A Weekend Retreat in Henley on Thames
What a super time we all had; there was sewing for two days at the Lady Sew and Sew warehouse in Henley and then dinner at the Red Lion Hotel in Henley followed by the hilarious talk from Jennie Rayment. The sewing schedule was, for me as a tutor, a little different in that I only had to prepare to teach for a one-day workshop - teaching half the delegates on day 1 and then the other half on day 2. There was a little Magic 4 from me, and some Twiddling and Fiddling from Jennie and from the delegates point of view they got the benefit of both of us without having to move!!!
40 Minute Scrap Quilt – 1,000,000 views and counting…
We have some amazing news - Valerie's 40 minute quilt video has taken the internet by storm and has been viewed over ONE MILLION times on You Tube - making her our very own internet phenomenon. Some of you may have already watched Valerie's 40 minute scrap quilt video - it's an amazingly quick and easy quilt - that's great for anyone to make.
Filming day with Jamie Malden of Colouricious
We had a fascinating day filming some block printing workshops with Jamie Malden of Colouricious last week. As you can see from some of the pictures below (taken by our very own Matt), Jamie is a big fan of ethnic patterns and designs and hopes that she can inspire people to use modern methods with traditional techniques. The workshops will be coming to the site soon, but you could check out our Facebook page to catchup with our Facebook Live video that Dave filmed on the day as he has a chat with Jamie
Happy New Year to you all
We hope that 2017 will be an inspiring year for you; one where maybe you start a new project or indeed just allow yourself to sit back and be inspired by the varied and talented contributors we have. Do take time out to watch the interview with have with Hilary Beattie that took place on our stand at the West Country Quilt & Textile Show where she conspires to get us all 'playing without guilt.
One happy retreater
Elizabeth Betts of Popular Patchwork magazine was one of the delegates at our recent retreat weekend at the De Vere hotel in Buckinghamshire. Apparently, like many of us, it had been years since she'd found the time to have two days of consecutive sewing for herself and as one of her newly made retreat friends said to her '... it's a perfect way to spend a weekend in October' So, for a participants view of one of our retreats, click here to read Elizabeth's article that has been published in December's edition of Popular Patchwork.
West Country Quilt Show Update
An amazing time was had by all at the West Country Quilt show last weekend - 11/12 and 13th Nov Valerie's demonstrations of scrap quilts, table runners and crazy patchwork were very popular and we got to meet and interview some of our regular contributors like Kate Findlay, the Stitch Witch, Vanessa from Lady Sew and Sew, Izzy from Creative Quilting, Angela Daymond, Nancy Adamek, Chris Porter and Mary Gamester to name a few.
What did you do with that extra hour at the weekend?
Well this is what I did - another version of my 40 minute scrap quilt Of course layering, quilting and binding takes just as long - but this is a really delightful quick and easy quilt to make and you can see this latest version when you visit the West Country Quilt and Textile Show 11-13 Nov. BS34 8QZ We will be on Stand 92.
De Vere Denham Quilting Retreat 8-9 Oct 2016
What a great time we had; here are some pics of the girls at work in Sarah's class and what they were working on; they all gone at least one top done!!! and some lovely comments from delegates (who are now safely back home) I had a lovely weekend , thank you for organising it.Thank you too for the lovely goodie bag!I have sent my booking form and deposit of £50 today, for next year,2017, I wanted to say ‘thank you’ to you and all the team for a great weekend. It was enjoyable to meet all the different women, to see their work and to spend concentrated, dedicated time on producing something lovely. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the weekend. This was my first retreat and it was wonderful. To just be able to do something you enjoy without any distractions was great I just want to thank you and Maggi for a super relaxing weekend.
Filming day at a Fluff-a-torium in Dorking
What a brilliant day we had - Matt Dave and I - in Dorking with Gillian Harris in her shop Gilliangladrag at Fluff-a-torium in West Street. Gillian is the queen of felting so we got to learn how she makes wet-felt; adds some decorative needlefelting; learnt about the kits she sells and then a great tour of the shop -so keep watching!
Fun with Kathleen Laurel-Sage
Had a really lovely day yesterday being the 'student' in the Wonky Houses class that was held at Creative Quilting (Bridge Road E.Molesey) ; Front and back and FINISHED!!!!!! We all had a great time and Kathleen is a really fun teacher who loves sharing her skills; we will be inviting her to share her soldering skills at a Justhands-on.tv retreat soon - so keep in touch!
New Subscription Web Pages
Some of you have noticed that when we send you an email about subscribing to the website, sometimes the webpage you go to looks a little bit different to what you expect to see at justhands-on.tv.
The reason behind this is that we are using a new subscription system for fixed term subscriptions (ie 1,3,6 and 12 month packages) to make it easier for you to subscribe.
Bold Geometrics from Love Patchwork & Quilting
Love this pattern designed by Emily Dennis and in issue Thirty Eight of this magazine; plan to raid my stash but how much easier it will be to make with my Tri-Recs ruler!!!
Festival of Quilts 2016
For the first time since it started I was not on duty and took the opportunity to wander round snapping pics of quilts, catching up with people (sometimes literally bumping into them!) and shopping - what a great day. Here are a few quilts that caught my attention (other than those in the winning gallery of course! which we have posted on our Facebook page - click here) An entry from Kate Crossley (do you remember her stunning clock from a previous year?) A detail of the winning quilt's stitching - amazing; however in the early years this would have been done by hand - no other comment other than to say rather than taking weeks that would have taken years.
What’s it like on a Justhands-on.tv Retreat
Have you ever wondered what's it like on one of our retreats? Well now you can hear from some of the people who attend these fabulous sewing weekends. Why do they go? What do they get from them and why do they keep coming.... Click here for more details of our upcoming retreats in March April and October 2017
Filming with Sylvia Critcher
What a great day we had with Sylvia learning about her new book and seeing all the wonderful samples she made for it. The book claims to have 10 projects in it, but the quilt alone has 9 patterns and then there is the winter table runner which I just fell in love with - full of snowflake patterns so great value for money - keep watching for the workshops!