Sewing Classes 2014

We are quite a while away from 2014, but my schedule is filling up fast!

Following on from the successful beginners class on Saturday I have organised more courses in Tetbury which should be great fun!

To find out more about any of the classes below please email me here.

Tetbury Workshops

Make a Patchwork Cushion

Saturday 8th February 2014
10am - 4pm
£45.00 including wadding.

Make an A Line Skirt

Saturday 16th April 2014
10am - 4pm
£40.00 including pattern.

Make an Oilcloth Tote

Saturday 14th June 2014
10am-4pm
£45.00 including all materials.

There are more courses at Prema Arts and Under the Edge Arts in Wotton Under Edge which I will post as soon as possible.

A Birthday Quilt

The last 12/13 weeks have been consumed by my City and Guilds course and work.

In fact I haven't done any sewing for fun for an age... it will be worth it when I submit my work on Friday (fingers crossed).

I then have 2 weeks to pull together a quilt for Midi who chose a wonderful bundle of fabrics from M is for Make way back in August.

After some discussion and looking through mummy books Midi has decided on a porthole quilt, but he isn't sure of the shapes yet.

I learnt this technique at Fat Quarterly Retreat with the fabulous Lu Summers in July. It is great fun and fast so I should be able to get the quilt top done pretty quickly...

Now comes the problem - his birthday is 2.5 weeks away... yup, a VERY tight deadline...

Oh well, I will get going at the weekend when I get 5 minutes peace!

Gloucestershire Modern Quilt Guild

On Thursday evening the all new Gloucestershire Modern Quilt Guild will meet for the second time!

I am so excited that our little group is slowly taking shape - these takes time, but I am an impatient person when it comes to quilting!

We are having out first evening at Prema Arts Cafe, which is going to be our regular meeting place. It is a really cosy building with sofas to sink into and stitch! The lovely Adam who owns the cafe is kindly letting us use the space for fabric gossip and stitching! (It is my most favourite place to go and hide!)

If you live in the area and have an interest in Modern Quilting you are very welcome to come along - and no quilting experience is necessary!

You can email gloucestermqg@btinternet.com for more info!

Hope to see you there!

Sunday Shopping #7

I love finding new to me designers like Denise Urban.

This collection is called Moonflower:

I love the yellows and greys together. The flowers are gorgeous!

You can see it close up at Fat Quarter Shop:

They are so lovely!

You can get them from

Fat Quarter Shop

Another spectacular designer is Valentina Ramos, whose collection of fabrics is stunning and bright:

I love the brightness of the colours and  the intricate designs on the flowers. I need some more vibrant fabrics in my stash and these are perfect!

You can get them from:

Eclectic Maker
Fabric HQ
Hawthorne Threads

I hope you like these 2 collections!

They made me smile and discovering new fabric designers to follow is always a bonus!

Sunday Shopping #6

Today is a day for sitting inside under quilts and watching movies... on the other hand with 3 boys playing rugby, we have spent the morning getting cold and wet...

At the moment they are drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream whilst waiting for the bath to run - there is more mud in the house than on the pitch!

So fabric window shopping is in order to lift my flagging spirits!

First up is the lovely Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille:

It is a collection of pretty pinks, greens and red that make me smile! I love the mix of colours and the delicate flower designs. It would make a wonderful quilt for a little (big) girl.

You can find it at:

The Quilt Room
Honeybee Cloths
Fat Quarter Shop

Another new collection that I adore is Secret Garden by Nel Whatmore.

I adore Nel's fabric and I have used her last collection in a few smaller quilt pieces and a quilt in progress. This collection is full or gorgeous purples, greys and lilacs. So need to get it  my life!

The Cotton Patch
Eclectic Maker
Hawthorne Threads

Continuing the pink and floral theme this week, I love Petal by Tanya Whelan:

I have a few scraps of Tanya's previous fabrics that I have stashed for a while waiting for a plan. Her ginghams are my favourite ginghams ever! Plus this spots look really yummy!

You can get some Petal from:

The Cotton Patch
Quilters Haven
Fat Quarter Shop

I hope you like today's fabric shopping. They are so pretty and delicate, perfect for making into quilts to snuggle under this autumn.

40 Kids Making 40 Aprons....

A few weeks ago the deputy head at my boys school emailed me about making aprons at school with the lovely year 2 (they are all 6/7 years old!)

She had omitted to mention that it would be 40 kids making 40 aprons.....

That is 40..... believe me that 40 small children in a room is a lot of little faces!

So I went along with my lovely sewing machine, lots of pins and scissors.....

I had drawn a template for the girls aprons and we used a sheet of A4 on folded fabric to cut a chefs apron for the boys - no curves allowed here!

There were lots of lovely parents helping with cutting and sewing on of buttons. It was my job to turn the top edge of the aprons and stitch some webbing on with the kids.

All of the class had a go on my sewing machine under close supervision!

I love the enthusiasm this age range have! They loved the speed control on the machine. We sewed at tortoise speed on the short bits and then we went super sonic with the longer stretch across the front! There was lots of 'ooohhhhs, aaaahhhhhs, and wows!'

It was loads of fun! And the smiles on their faces when they had made their aprons was priceless!

City and Guilds Progress 1

So it has been 8/9 weeks since I started work on my City and Guilds.

The first 5 modules are all about the design elements of machine embroidery. They are all about letting go of the creative safety net you sit in and jumping into an unknown world of drawing, painting and colouring..

I will admit I was a bit worried at the start, and in many ways I still am, but the worry is giving way to excitement and creativity!

I started with peppers:

After drawing them I had to take a section of the drawings and enlarge it:

I had to take 2 sections and work with colour to develop their design potential.

The next step was to look at texture through design elements - this was like machine quilting so I really enjoyed this section:

It was great fun working through this part! I could see lots of potential.

Next was cutting up the design and experimenting the pieces to form a final design piece:

Now comes the fun bit.... making embroidery samples and completing an final piece of embroidery.

So far it has pushed my abilities, scared me and made me want to know more.... so a great journey so far!

I have to remind myself daily that there is no right answer - it's not like maths! My brain is struggling with that concept!

Once the embroidery piece is finished I have to pull it all together in my first portfolio on Line Design.

Sunday Shopping #5

The week has flown by again.

We are currently in the middle of an illness bug that is doing the rounds at the boys school, so I have been busy working, Scouting and look after them. Roll on week 2...

So shopping....

No I haven't been spending pennies again but I have been window shopping!

First up is a bundle I bought a couple of weeks ago from Alice at Backstitch. Alice has the most amazing selection of Klona solids. I love Klona solids because they are perfect as a solid colour in quilts, plus I use them for my classes when teaching pouches, purses and clutches.

My supplies were running low so I got this amazing bundle of colour:

Backstitch, Bright Bundle

This made me gasp with joy when I opened it. The colours are amazing!

Backstitch has a wonderful new website and if you order from it this month you will be entered into an amazing giveaway so go visit!

This next collection of fabric is a must have on many quilters lists. In all honesty is growing on me and I think I might need some for my stash so when it has worked itself into a pattern I will have it ready!

Briar Rose by Heather Ross is a lovely collection of fabrics with delicate designs. I would need a little girl to make a quilt for......

You can get Briar Rose from

The Village Haberdashery
The Eternal Maker
Fat Quarter Shop

Hope you like exploring these 2 collections of fabric.

I had planned on updating you on my City and Quilds progress on Friday, but completing as much of first embroidery sample as possible took all of my child free time! Check back tomorrow and there should be some progress pictures!