New look website seems to meet with approval
Well the big move happened! and on the whole pretty smoothly; thanks to all those who helped test the site and pointed out typo's and other horrors. I thought I would share some of the nice comments we have had: I love your site for information and fun. Janice Brilliant – new website is great, much easier to navigate around, clear and packed with information.Thank you. Carol The website is excellent and I'm having great fun exploring its nooks and crannies!
Kind regards Sandy Hi I love the way you have organised the new site ,brilliant you can get quickly to where you want to be for help so so quick .
Thank you Liz Wall Have really enjoyed looking round the new site.
Colours of Autumn
As quilters don't we just love inspiration: here are a couple that I wanted to share of the Buchart Gardens in Victoria BC, Canada:
Busy weekend sewing with the girls
A group of 8 of us had a wonderful time at the Ramada Inn Hotel on the Hogs Back; naturally we spent most of our time sewing so didn't really take advantage of the swimming pool/spa complex but we really enjoyed the food and the hospitality - which was excellent. What did we get up to? Well here is one that Margaret finished: and I managed to make a start using the new Sew Simple Pinwheels from Karin Hellaby (we are going to do this to camera - so keep watching!); it was fun and quick - just what I like as you know!
New Films in the can
Had a terrific day yesterday filming new content for the site: Matt and Dave were there of course and we filmed the various sections that will make up into Your First Sampler Quilt series; we used gorgeous fabric donated by Makower from their Botanicals range (for which we are very grateful) and we hope that the programme will appeal to both beginners and those with some sewing/patchwork skills as we give alternatives for each or the blocks.
Royal School of Needlework celebrates being 140 years old!
The Royal School of Needlework, the pinnacle of British craftsmanship, celebrates 140 years of keeping the traditional art of hand embroidery alive This year the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) celebrates 14 decades of teaching, practising and promoting hand embroidery. 140 years ago the RSN’s first student enrolled on 5 November 1872 and today over 1000 students a year learn traditional hand embroidery on our thriving education programme whilst our Embroidery Studio continues to offer a unique UK-based service for hand embroidery commissions and restoration projects.
Quilt retreat in Amarillo – Texas
VAL: I met Kendall while she was visiting/shopping at(!) Creative Quilting and if anyone is planning to be in Texas maybe for the quilt show this might be of interest to be tacked on the end – great value it would seem once you are there! From Kendall Harman:
The next quilt retreat I am organizing is Oct. 26-28.
S.A.Q.A. 2012 Benefit Auction
This auction started at 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific time on 10th Sept: its being held at www.saqa.com and it is a reverse auction of 288 glorious small works of art crated and donated by SAQA's members to raise money to support SAQA's exhibition, education and outreach programs. Three groups: Group 1 starts Sept 10th Group 2 starts Sept 17 Group 3 starts Sept 24 and a special group will be auctioned at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas from Oct 31st-Nov 4th.
The Great Northern Quilt Show (31st Aug – 2nd Sept 2012 )
Val: Had a really lovely weekend up in Harrogate – such a pretty town – and the weather was kind. Saturday was spent wandering round under my own steam – its been a long time since I was just a visitor to a show; bumped into a lot of friends/contributors to our site such as Sylvia Critcher; Sue at Daisy Chain; Lynette our very own ‘Stitch Witch’ ; Hilary from The Silk Route to name but three and Jennie was busy there too - teaching; – and of course like all visitors I ended up spending money!
Quilts in the Cae Hir Gardens
Karen from Karens Quilts and Finish My Quilt says it was a wonderful weekend despite the heavy rain Saturday morning. below are photographs for the three winning quilts. 1st. 'A Cactus Wreath' by Gerda Bryant. 2nd. 'Bee Happy' by the Twine and W(h)ine Group 3rd. 'Spring Summer Autumn Winter' by Gillian Trickey We had so many requests to make this an annual event that, so next year the dates will be 2nd, 3rd and 4th August.
Owls on the move
Moving from Surrey to Peterborough these lovely owls don't look any worse for wear and we wish them well in their new home: (thanks to Sarah for sharing Twit Wit and Woo) - click here for the pattern by Gail Penberthy available through Daisy Chain Designs.
Festival of Quilts 2012 at the NEC, Birmingham
A bit like Christmas – so much build up and then all of a sudden it’s all over! As always though a great selection of quilts, (one from the Doughty stand) shopping (here’s the Creative Quilting stand in all its glory) and inspiration; and again as always not enough time to do it justice; Watch out for the new products that I picked up on my wanderings going up onto the site including the new book from Janet Clare; new patterns and kits from Karen Hellaby and some great new patterns from a company called ‘Kids Quilts’ Dates for next year are: 8-11 August 2013
Japanese Folded inspiration
attached is from your videos...lovely project...really enjoyed it ...Lyn Two sides of the same quilt - really lovely - inspiration and workshop from Lesley Brankin.
Tote Bag Finished
Lyn love's Fridays and look what she did last week: .tote bag finished...used some beautiful Amy Butler fabric ...decided the twist didn't lend itself to this one...maybe the next!!!...Lyn
Its just Paper – but not as we know it
By Canadian paper artist, Calvin Nicholls There is nothing simple or ordinary about his paper art. Where we would simply use a piece of paper and a pair of scissors, Calvin uses everything you could possibly think of to carve, cut and rip perfect details onto his creations. The motifs are all wildlife, and that must be one of the hardest categories of things to make with paper since there are sometimes impossible details on animals.
These details are amazing!
A PATCHWORK OF PEOPLE
What is it all about?
Craft, Company, Community, Heritage and being creative.
But more than that. We are slowly working together to put together a set of 30 vintage quilt squares from 1933 found in a small town in Texas.
Each square has a hand embroidered signature and we are going to be creating a quilt out of the squares using techniques like hand stitching, sashing and embroidery.
Look what was made with the London prize fabrics:
I got the idea from Boxed Squares in Lynne Edward's book Stash Buster Quilts. Lynne came to Jersey last autumn to do workshops for my quilt group - Caesarea Quilters. Have done few workshops with Lynne now, she is a mine of information and very funny. Very much like Jennie and the two of them have to be my favourite tutors.