For the first post of the year, this seems strangely out of order, but that is probably because I am late finishing it. On the other hand, it is really not out of order at all, because this quilt is a very special one and a memento of our beautiful old Sunday School House, here in Yorkshire. We are moving!
Read MoreIt began on December 1st with a tiny paper scroll and it ended in March with a beautiful quilt that pays homage to the movie ‘You’ve Got Mail’. In truth though, it is about so much more than that…..this unexpected and wholly original project has a wonderful story that belongs only to this quilt and our family and is set to become an heirloom for generations to come.
Read MoreHello and Happy New Year to you all. I must admit to being a little tired after a hectic but really lovely family Christmas and my plan is to approach January at a slow pace. Taking time to recalibrate and think about what is in store for 2023, both in and out of the sewing room.
Read MoreMaking a book quilt has got to be one of my absolute favourite things to do…being as I love books and I love making quilts…and the idea of combining patchwork and embroidery with literary gems that are close to my heart makes this project such a fun project to work on. It’s going to be not just a quilt, but an embroidered wall hanging laden with literary references.
Read MoreOnce everything was done and dusted, I am just over the moon with this project. I would definitely make this pattern again and I just know that this quilt is going to be used and treasured and hopefully in lots of sunny day photos of family days out. When I look at holiday snapshots from my childhood, my Mum is often wearing the same sundress year after year and I like to think this quilt will turn out to be like that, in all the pictures, soaking up the sunshine and happy family times.
Read MoreWhen you finish a big project like this…especially one that you have wanted to make for a long time, the satisfaction is immeasurable. Every time I look at it, I feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that brings me a lot of happiness. This is the real joy of a hobby like this and I truly believe that being creative, whether it is painting or ceramics or sewing or cooking or gardening, is the way to find peace and calm within yourself. It has been a great way to finish up the year in the sewing room and I am prodigiously proud of this quilt.
Read MoreHello and welcome to Autumn. It is such a glorious season here in England and perhaps I appreciate it more because of all the years we lived away on overseas postings. When we first returned, I was immediately struck by how the seasons here are so clearly defined - in both Russia and Sweden, Spring and Autumn were barely a whisper - it just seemed to go from Summer to Winter in a matter of weeks. I remember how we would return to Moscow after the summer holidays, ready for the start of school and we would still be in cotton tops and then a sort of grey stillness would descend upon the city and the temperature would drop by the day over just a couple of weeks and soon and then it was Winter. The trees that lined our boulevard seemed to shed their leaves in a single shake and all was calm and in waiting for the first snow. Here in Yorkshire, Autumn has time to really show off it’s golden hues and wild heathers and the colours make me want to start on new projects. This year, I seem to have excelled myself in lining them up!!
Read MoreSometimes the idea for a new quilt design just comes out of nowhere and it’s hard to fathom the chain of thought that sewed the seeds - in this case though, the idea came from two distinct sources that just happened to coincide in a creative explosion at almost the same moment and with an unexpected suddenness.
Read MoreIt’s been a while since I did a new quilt pattern, but I was really inspired with this one, because it is actually useful too. While I have been watching the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC tv, I was thinking how wonderful the studio haberdashery was and I thought about how I could use this happy image to make a quilt and then it struck me that it could be a ‘pattern tidy’ as well. I don’t know about you, but through all these months of lockdown, I have accumulated quite a few quilt patterns both printed and pdf’s and as always I am full of promise to make them all. Sound familiar? Well this way, you can have a charming quilt to hang on your wall and somewhere to keep them all - there is a pocket for the smaller printed patterns and one for pdf’s. What is more, you can customise it for your sewing room or craft space and use scraps from favourite fabric collections or themed prints and make it modern or vintage.
Read More…..and as the boat approaches through the last church-crowned islands …….so the whole scene seems to shimmer - with pinkness, with age, with self satisfaction, with sadness, with delight. The navigator stows away his charts and puts on a straw hat: for he has reached that paragon among landfalls, Venice.”
These sentences, paraphrased from the opening pages of the most wonderful book ‘Venice’ by Jan Morris (first published in 1963) for me, perfectly sum up why I love Venice so much and why I wanted to capture a little bit of it’s magic in a sewing project.
Read MoreAs a finished project I think this is the most wonderful little quilt, a mixture of old world charm, freshness and nostalgia. It is true, what they say, that what you read as a child, stays with you forever and these books are certainly firmly lodged in my heart and now I think so is the quilt.
Read MoreDo you love ‘Outlander’? I am as they say #Outlanderobessed’! Well maybe that is a little strong but did you know that there is actually a hashtag for it!!! A relative latecomer to the whole thing, I was immediately swept up in the whole time travel idea. As a fan of historical fiction, I suppose it was always going to be a winner, for me, but it is just a fantastic story to read and watch and laden with glorious Scottish scenery and tartan fabrics ….. perfect for snuggling up with under a quilt on a winter’s day. After beginning Season 1 on amazon, I started to read the book and uncover this whole ‘Outlander’ world on the internet. I watched an interview with the author, Diana Gabaldon and was absolutely enthralled with her story of how she came to write these books. Did you know that her initial inspiration came from on old episode of Dr. Who from way way back when Patrick Troughton was the Doctor and his side kick was a guy in a kilt. I am always full of admiration for people who write beautifully crafted stories that so clearly have the most enormous amount of research behind the carefully placed words. Outlander seems exceptional in this respect. Its creator is both a scholarly, industrious and immensely talented and I have say, if I had the chance, she would be on the top of my wish list of people I should love to meet. At least two of my kids have had J K Rowling on the top of their lists for years and with the discovery of Diana Gabaldon, I understand.
Read MoreMaking Embroidery Modern
