Jennie and I had a really lovely time at the Textiles in Focus exhibition just outside Cambridge last weekend (more info on the earlier Blog) and it was good to meet so many of our members too. We have been invited to attend the Norwich Bead & Textile Fair on 1st May so hopefully we will see more of you there (more details on the Events page)

The viewing for March started today and we have so much to offer you. The latest videos are always on the Home page of the site, and we start off with Jennie showing how to make a free motion flower on the sewing machine – sewing on air she calls it – and it is such a neat trick.

We also have Maggie Davies giving a truly excellent workshop on Hawaiian Applique. In fact this is so good that we have split it into three parts and they will be loaded up at 2 weekly intervals – enough time for you to keep pace!

I am a fan of the author Jennifer Chiaverini, who has a whole series of books written around characters in the quilting world who are based at a quilt retreat called ‘Elm Creek’; they are a really good, light read. One of her newest titles ‘The Aloha Quilt’ is all about the ladies making Hawaiian quilts and although this is a novel, it also includes some interesting facts about the Hawaiian appliqué craft and the island and I loved it. You should be able to get hold of this (and the others) through your quilt shop.

Later in the month we meet Dawn Cameron-Dick and she gives us another excellent and informative workshop on the use of the different sewing machine needles and threads that are available; did you know that Schmetz alone make 33 different types of needles and each of these has 3-5 different sizes? If they make them, there has to be a reason and now you can find out what they are and when to use them. In addition Dawn guides you through the various weights of thread – thread and needles have to make a good marriage; this is certainly a workshop that you will want to watch again and again. Still on the thread theme Jennie reminds us of how to remove thread safely and avoid expensive repairs.

Towards the end of the month we have a workshop on a variation of the Log Cabin block – Corners in the Cabin, which is very easy and gives a quite different visual effect to this traditional quilt and you can sit back and be inspired by the work of the group, Quiltart 25, who we caught up with at last year’s Festival of Quilts.

And last, but by no means least, we have another in the Inspired Series of workshops this time by Angie Hughes on Velvet. (We have also chosen her book to be the Book of the Month which you can find on the News page and in the Shopping Pages).

https://justhands-on.tv/product-category/shop/books/

As each of these appears on the Home Page, then the video they replace moves into the Video Clips section of the site; while we don’t as yet have a search facility, the videos are grouped into simple categories so that you don’t have to scroll through each one.

We have made a simple change to the site to help you with your forgotten username and password – and we hope that this will speed up the process of getting you logged in. Once logged in you can of course view the videos but if you are just a basic member (the free one) then you will get tasters of some of the videos (marked subscriber videos); to upgrade you just need to go to the Membership Page and follow the link to Paypal – they will accept credit cards, you don-t have to have an account with them and payment is monthly. But we are also very happy to accept payment by cheque and the details are at the bottom of the Membership page.

As a subscribed member you are entitled to take part in our prize give-aways and we have some more strip-rolls from Fabric Freedom ? this time from their Daisy Delight range to give away;

just send us an email entitled ‘Fabric’ to justhandsontvcomp@gmail.com. The prize draw will take place on 1st April. These fabrics are from their current fabric ranges and should be available through your local fabric shop or go to www.fabricfreedom.co.uk for more information.

Justhands-on.tv together with Creative Quilting and Janome are having an open workshop day for patchwork and cards on Mon April 11th to raise funds and awareness for Momentum. Momentum is an independent charity based in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, which supports children and their families in Surrey and South West London who have cancer and life-limiting conditions. More details on our charity page; if any of you are able to come along we would love to have you join in.

Only a Quilter invites everyone to see her sewing room, then says “Don’t look at the mess” – oh boy does that cap fit!!
Happy Sewing
Valerie & Jennie