Forgotten Heros?
Many of us make quilts for our military hero's but one of our viewers, Dr Jacqueline Jeynes written an amazing book entitled 'Forgotten Pensioners of War; FEPOW's and their stories'; she was inspired to write this by her own father The book is a testament to everyone affected by the long, savage imprisonment of our military personnel in the Far East 1941-45, many of them like my father, just teenagers.
New Video Layout
We have recently upgraded and improved our video system on the website, as some of the eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted. It will also help those of you who may have recently experienced difficulties seeing the videos, caused by browser updates. For those of you unsure about the new controls, here's a picture to help you, but if you still need help just click here to contact Juliet with your queries.
To try to keep you in touch
Here is a lovely comment from one of our viewers: Hi, as a member of this brilliant club , I would love to win this month's giveaway prize Thank you so much for your hard work, it is much appreciated. It keeps us in touch with the quilting world.
Kind Regards
Carol and it is what we aim to do - So keep watching for more from Jennie, Angela Daymond, Paula Doyle and myself as we share new workshops and some of our favourite things.
To mark or not to mark- that is often the question
We are talking about quilting here; and I have always thought that if I can avoid adding any marking lines to my quilt that's the best option - nothing to remove and therefore worry about. However in today's world and if, like me, you can't draw, then marking can become necessary and there are many marking pencils and pens and chalks on the market for us to choose from - the latest of which are the Frixion Pens.
Festival of Quilting 2015
Back home, exhausted but happy after five full days at Festival helping Isa at Creative Quilting on H17 ; always great to catch up with everyone and everything and see so many wonderful quilts - and not all of them entered into the competition - there is always so much inspiration on the stands too. Sadly I failed to take a camera that had any power (!) but that didn't stop me shopping both for myself (threads and fabric) and for Justhands-on.tv !!- so keep an eye on the shop for LOTS of new products from lots of our contributors, which include Angela Daymond; Janet Clare; Lina Patchwork; Lorna Bateman; the return of Mandy Shaw and a lovely new pattern from Kjersti Smith featuring Dinosaurs.
Cringe-worthy moments for a quilter – recognise any?
Shared with me by a quilting friend, so I now share it with you: https://www.allpeoplequilt.com/how-to-quilt/quilting-basics/10-cringe-worthy-moments-every-quilter-understands Sadly only some of these we can fix with little workshops on the site! however, I do recognise them all!!!!!
Magna Carta Quilts on display at Guildford Cathedral
Paula Doyle joined myself and the boys from Communicate TV and showed us round the finished quilts -they are really amazing. 8 of them plus a backing mosaic representing the River Thames. Sponsorship is still needed so if you would like to have a square embroidered, click here for more details. The film will be coming to the website shortly.
Fabric Copyright
This is the content of a newsletter item that my friend Isa at Creative Quilting sent out and it's worth a read by anyone and everyone who loves fabric! I usually very much enjoy writing my newsletters, telling you about all the new things we are doing, the new fabrics and the up coming shows. However, this time, it is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this one.
Filming with Jennie Rayment
Well it happened! We got a date in the diary when we could catch up with the ever-busy but very talented Jennie - and at one of our favourite studio venues - Marsh Farm Hotel at Royal Wootton Bassett - we have been there 21 times now!! Great videos and workshops filmed, with both Jennie and myself contributing AND we found out about Jennie's new book- !!!
Filming in Devon with Anne Baxter
We had a lovely day with Anne filming some great workshops. Came back really inspired and with the help of some new Fat 1/4s designed by Lewis & Irene I made a start on the Magic 4-patch. You will have to wait a little longer for the 'show & tell' and a bit longer too for the workshop itself - but you will LOVE it!
American Museum in Britain, just outside Bath
Had a brilliant day here filming their current exhibition Hatched, Matched, Despatched - & Patched. Val trying to look professional! and here with Kate Hebert, Curator The exhibition runs until 1st November but if you aren't able to get there in person, you will be able to watch it from the comfort of your own armchair in September - it will be one to watch for sure!
Weekend Retreat at Midhurst
Busy loading the car to join Jennie Rayment and Sarah Soward at our weekend of sewing delights at Midhurst, W.Sussex. (Husband to be left in charge of cat and watering the hanging baskets - wonder if he can cope!!!) Watch out for pics of our results next week. If you would like to escape for a weekend of sewing pleasure, in a lovely hotel, check out our option in October (3-4th) - at the Legacy Hotel: click here:
Game of Quilts
Hilary Gooding and Jan Allston are looking to create 12 teams of 4 to take part in a pilot project at this year's Festival of Quilts (August 6-9th at the NEC, Birmingham) The aim is for each time to start from scratch and complete a quilt during the day. The quilts will be donated to Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity at the end of the Fesival.
May Bank Holiday weekend
Well I have a husband who just loves sport - but these days it's more from the comfort of the sofa ! This weekend has been dominated (in our house) by the snooker so I got to be useful in my sewing room. First I enjoyed using the new bundle of 10" squares from Oakshott, in Autumn colours; I made this simple slash and sew quilt, and then quilted it trying out some free motion in the style of flames.
Sewing for Momentum
We had a lovely day Saturday 25th April with a hall full of ladies sewing quilts for Momentum - fabric and wadding had been donated and Valerie came with lots of quilts to act as inspiration: here are just a couple - the rest are still works in progress! the lovely star quilt is made from old shirting - isn't it great.
Filming with Kathleen Laurel-Sage
We were joined today by Kathleen who loves to free machine embroidery using chiffon and gauze and water soluable stuff to create 3D flowers as well as cut-work. Amazing work and you will be able to enjoy workshops with her soon here on the site. For more information about Kathleen visit her own website: www.kathleenlaurelsage.com