This weekend (Dec 3rd/4th) the whole of the UK seems to be covered in white snow making it look like pictures from Christmas cards – however if you are having to deal with it, either by travelling or shovelling – we do hope you are managing to stay safe and warm. Stay indoors and enjoy Justhands-on.tv!
With Christmas fast approaching we appreciate that time is of the essence but there is still time to be creative and we have a few quick-to-make workshops for you to enjoy as well as some super films.
We start off the quick workshops with Anne Baxter and her Rudolph wallhanging,(I know this is a revisit but many of you may have missed it and don’t forget that to get great results an open-toed appliqué foot makes a HUGE difference; you can find it on the Patchwork accessories page if you’ve not got one ) plus you can now download her companion pattern for the Wibbly Wobbly Tree (doesn’t it look different in the more dramatic colours).
Kim Thittichai shares with us her ‘Hotspots’ for fast decorating onto fabric – in her case a t-shirt – and Mandy Shaw makes a cupcake pincushion for us – a brilliant small present for any sewer, and cupcakes are so IN at the moment (still!!!)
Later in the month I thought you would just like to find time to sit back and be inspired, so we will be showing you the delights of ‘Ruby’ the newest addition to the Husqvarna range of sewing machines that has been promoted here in the UK since August (launched at the Festival of Quilts); you can sit back and enjoy an interview with Jacquie Harvey – winner of the National Patchwork Championships back in July – showing us round her exhibition of works often inspired by 18th century designs but range from quilts to wearable art.
Christina Henri is going to take you on a journey to Tasmania with her Roses from the Heart Exhibition that was on display at the Festival of Quilts and the thousands of bonnets being made all over the world and co-ordinated into this memorial for the founding grandmothers of Australia and Tasmania;
and I make no apology for repeating the stunning ‘Shipping Forecast’ film that shows the work of my quilting friend Delia Salter – I really love this and it gives me goosebumps every time I see it (and again many of our new subscribers will not have had the chance to see this first time round!)
As always, to really get the most from the site you do need to be a fully subscribed member (otherwise you will often just see the tasters) which is just £6/month (US$10/month) payable monthly through Paypal or if you are in the UK you can pay by cheque; full details are on the Membership page of the site and what a wonderful gift an annual membership would be – just £60.
To quote Philip “This is an ideal Christmas gift for her (his wife!) as she enjoys your programmes so much”; gift vouchers are available – again either through Paypal or by cheque directly from ourselves – so what are your waiting for? – gift problem solved!!
Talking of gifts I found a few little stocking filler ideas that I have loaded onto the fabrics & kits page of shopping pages but here is just one – the little angel:
https://justhands-on.tv/product-category/shop/kits/
and if you want to chuckle Mrs Bobbins is the answer.
https://justhands-on.tv/product-category/shop/books/
Many of the items on the shopping pages are not available on the highstreet and indeed, the current Book of the Month, has been put together by two friends in the NE of England;
there are over 20 fresh and exciting useful projects from quilts to cushions; inspired by the rich heritage around the Beamish Open Air Museum, beautiful photography of the Colliery region of England, combined with fun rhymes, receipes and anecdotes make this another unique gift idea; as is the Sewers Heart that I mentioned last month and how about that Golf hat for the man in your life?
I was recently fortunate enough to attend a couple of workshops given by Philippa Naylor (award winning quilt artist who we have featured on Justhands-on.tv) and she was a mine of information about threads and sewing machine needles and we do plan to share some of this information with you soon; in the meantime, however, the following quote sums everything up quite well.
Only a quilter would put hundreds of pounds worth of fabric into her fabric stash because she might find a use for it sometime but doesn’t replace a 50p needle on her sewing machine.
Happy sewing
Valerie & Jennie
www.Justhands-on.tv
P.S. Any of you out there in Facebook land we now have our own page; not sure I really understand how it works but you need to ‘like’ us and my friend has over 100 now – would be nice to get there too!!
