Wednesday, November 28, 2007

7 Quilts in one Year...


After a period of not quilting for a while, one of our customers, Louise, completed 7 quilts in one year. This was quite a prolific feat and one that we were very impressed by (we won't say what the average number of UFO's is for most of us here but you can probably imagine how difficult it is when temptation is continutally being presented...).

Louise gave us some background to the quilt shown here.

"The fabrics were chosen by my daughter and myself from the 2007 range. I did the design in the style that Elizabeth wanted. She had the idea of the cascade of hearts in the outer 'round'.
The quilt was made quilt as you go in strips that formed the 4 sides, after the central 9 blocks which were quilted in one go. It is hand quilted and the whorls follow the basic design on the background and other fabrics.
Fortunately she loves it and so far has remembered to fold it back when sitting on her bed during the day ( she is a university student)"
Thank you to Louise for sending us the picture and sharing it with us.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Better than Belgian Chocolates...!

We hope that customers have recently received their copy of our latest Newsletter in the post over the past few weeks. The phone hasn't stopped ringing since it started arriving and we have had lots of positive feedback about the newsletter including the email below.


X-OriginalArrivalTime: 22 Nov 2007 13:35:44.0525

Just received my latest newsletter and I had to email to say Wow! I enjoyed it more than a box of Belgian choccies. Well Done!!! to all concerned - now .... how to choose!!


...although some of us here would still rather have the Belgian chocolates to help us process all the orders!


A 62-page newsletter is quite a bit of work to put together (especially for Nik who does most of the writing, editing, scanning, assembling, graphics, creative stuff, plus plays a big part in choosing the fabrics...the list goes on) so we hope you all enjoy it as much as this particular customer.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Compassionate Friends

Irene who featured on one of our previous posts as the organiser for a Compassionate Friends group kindly provided the following information about the Sunray Quilt that the group made and that was on a previous post. Many thanks for filling in the details and providing the link.

"The block is called Golden Glow and was first published during the Depression years. It combines piecing and applique. Golden Glow was the inspiration for our Quilt. It can be found as a Block of the Month on www.quilttownusa.com/Chitra/ggblock.htm . The blocks were adapted and constructed in several ways to suit the ability of the individual. Some were appliqued, some backed and stuck with bondaweb. Handstitching, embroidery, machining and machine embroidery and embelishments were worked on the blocks. Hope this helps."

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Recycle your fabrics with Morsbags!

We came across this excellent idea when treking round a few blogs ...its a great way to use up fabric scraps/old duvet covers/old jeans/charity shop fabrics and make something very useful too plus its good for the environment. According to the News last night Marks and Spencer will soon be charging for their plastic bags so this idea is even more relevant! If you haven't got big enough pieces - just join a few pieces together (with good strong seams of course) and then use your patchwork as you would a "wholecloth" Morsbag.


The aim of the founder of Morsbags was to encourage the use of fabric bags so that we stop using plastic ones, encourage people to get into the habit of taking their own bags into supermarkets and to provide a pattern for people to make their own (visit the Morsbag website for instructions in pdf / word and a demo). For more about Morsbags click here. Once you've made a few for yourself why not start your own pod and do what the Living Coasts group led by Barbara did and give them away! There are pods all over the world so you can also join an existing pod (see their map)

This is Barbara's story...

"In May 2007 I saw it (Morsbags) on BBC Breakfast and was immediately taken by the idea! I joined the website and named my 'pod' Zappers (as in plasticzappers!). I battled on alone for a few months, making bags and giving them away in all sorts of places; and then I emailed the Paignton zoo. They were very taken with the idea and put me in touch with Living Coasts which is another aspect of the zoo, but in Torquay.

Living Coasts asked me to go to their Marine Mayhem Day in the summer which was to highlight the plight of the marine animals and the plastic problem. I made 150 bags for this occasion on my own, and gave them all away at LC.

I had talks with their volunteer co-ordinator and we arranged to have day workshops at the zoo and LC (for volunteers) on the last Wed and Fri in the month. We have had four of these so far which were very successful and we had a handout outside Tesco in Paignton on 13 Oct. and gave away 130 bags!

Our next handout is on Dec 1st and we are working hard to make anough bags for this and for the following plastic bag amnesty during Dec. at LC. when people can come to LC and bring their plastic bags and get a free morsbag (hopefully).

It is great fun to be a part of and also to be helping the environment and the marine animals."


Some of the photos are from the workshop in early October - looks like they had a great time and made lots of Morsbags (as well as fitting in a few coffee breaks to admire the view!).



Like many quilting groups Morsbags is about having fun while you're sewing, meeting with like-minded individuals and doing something creative and worthwhile!

Thanks to Barbara and the Living Coasts group for the photos - well done for giving away so many bags! We think its a brilliant idea!

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Monday, November 5, 2007

Perfect Spirals

If you’re wondering how to quilt your next quilt and perhaps don’t want to do grids or stippling the Perfect Spiral tool can provide perfect radiating spiral or spiral patterned lines.



The Perfect Spiral can mark blocks or backgrounds up to 24" across and the Mini version can mark blocks from 2" to 10". This was recommended to us by a quilter who had seen it used and the results are very effective.

To use it select a pivot point and rotate to mark lines at equidistant intervals. Full instructions on how to use it are included.




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Thursday, November 1, 2007

It must be on every quilter's wishlist....a trip to visit the Pennsylvania Amish in the States. A few people at The Cotton Patch have been lucky enough to go already making the rest of us very jealous indeed!

With the dollar reaching all time highs against the pound this could be just the right time to take that much needed vacation!

One of our customers has sent us details of the quilting holiday that she organises. We haven't been ourselves but it certainly looks like all the major attractions are covered such as Heritage Centre at Lancaster, Lancaster Market, Shopping Malls, visits to Intercourse and Bird in Hand, buggy ride and even...a tour of the QVC studio (!), trolley tour of Philladephia and lots more.

For more information please contact email sales at americaasyoulikeit.com

The document below has more details including the itinerary. Or visit their
website.
/docs/Quilting%20Holiday%20Itinerary.doc

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