Festival of Quilts 2010 Academy Programme

Described as "the largest, most eagerly anticipated event in the patchwork and quilting calendar anywhere in Europe", the "Festival of Quilts" takes place at the NEC in Birmingham during August.

While Quilters who have previously visited know that it provides huge inspiration, with the Victoria and Albert Museum (see previous post) showcasing some of their quilt collection this year in Quilts 1700-2010, we hope that the "Festival of Quilts" also tempts those who don't aspire to necessarily make quilts but for those for whom the art and artistry of quilts, the history or the beauty and colour or texture is enough reason to visit. Last year over 30,000 people visited the NEC from over fifty countries - it certainly felt like it as someone who could not get from one end of the stand to the other!

So if your diary is handy - the dates are:

19th to 22nd August 2010

Opening Hours: 10.00am to 5.30pm (closes 5pm Sun)

For those who want to get on with the "making", one of the highlights is the collection of teachers whose workshops and lectures provide that inspiration to extend knowledge and techniques into new areas.

While the organisers Twisted Thread are able to show the Quick and Easy Workshops programme on their literature The Academy Programme is now so vast that the easiest way to view it is online. We thought we'd give a taster of some of the masterclasses, lectures and workshops that you can sign up for on the Twisted Thread site.
Non Quilters Guild members can start booking from today!

Marti Michell


We are delighted that Marti Michell together with her husband Richard Michell (and seen here with their daughter Stacey who runs Shades Hand Dyed Fabrics) will be joining us on The Cotton Patch stand for demonstrations of her templates and advice on how to Machine Quilt in sections, make a real log cabin...I mean make a Log Cabin Quilt and lots more!



Marti will be reaching for the stars with A Constellation of Star Quilts (Reference 271)

You won’t want to miss Marti’s star studded trunk show. It is full of tips
and tricks for making Evening Stars, Feathered Stars, Kaleido-Stars and
stars you might not think are stars, even Seven Sis-stars. Oh my stars, you’ll be star-struck!
Lecture (1 hour)
Saturday 21st August 10.00am to11.00am

Machine Quilting in Sections / Quilting As You Piece (Reference 294)
You’ll learn the difference, the similarity and how both methods can help you finish your quilts on your home sewing machine! If manoeuvring a big quilt through that little opening in your sewing machine is overwhelming, this lecture has answers! There are always new quilts and tips.
Lecture (1 hour)
Sunday 22nd August 10.00am to 11.00am

Why Use 8 Fabrics When You Could Use 80? (Reference 249)
Who knows whether you have lots of fabric because you love to make scrap quilts or you love to make scrap quilts because you have lots of fabric? It doesn’t matter, you’ll love Marti’s scrap quilt trunk show. Plus Marti will review the top 10 reasons why you need more fabric!!!
Lecture (1 hour)
Friday 20th August 4.00pm to 5.00pm

Kaffe Fassett

Kaffe Fassett - what can you say about a man who has contributed so much to pushing the boundaries of colour within the traditional designs of patchwork that hasn't already been said? So often people know that the colour in their quilt is not quite right but
don't know what to do to make it so...Kaffe Fassett has that talent (as we discover when we try and substitute a fabric in his quilts and find it quite tricky!).

Kaffe is shown (below) with Nik from The Cotton Patch signing books on the stand at the Festival of Quilts in 2009 - Kaffe has his own stand this year but will also be doing book signings on The Cotton Patch stand.

Kaffe is also doing a Soup Supper talk entitled Concentrate on Colourwhich is designed to inspire and motivate. The presentationhighlights works from his latest projects, these include his patchworkquilt, fabric, needlepoint, mosaic, painting and knitting designs. For more details and how to book please visit the Twisted Thread site.

The Kaffe Fassett lecture is designed to inspire and motivate. This year Kaffe will be talking about Diamonds...could be a girl's best friend...

Diamonds (Reference 258)
Kaffe Fassett
Play with colour in design from a Kaffe Fassett quilt structure under the supervision of Kaffe and his assistant Brandon Mably. Most class time will be spent teaching the arrangement of fabrics to develop each student’s own personal colour palette in making one of Kaffe’s original designs. Students will need to bring lots of fabric to play with! Although Kaffe and Brandon teach the same principles of colour, the class structure will be different and you will come away with two totally different wall-size hanging quilt arrangements.
You will be arranging your work on a piece of flannel that you will just fold up at the end of the workshop, ready to take home and sew.
You may elect to keep your projects wall sized or expand them to full size once you return home. The quilts are primarily scrappy so the workshops are for scrappy quilts done in fairly low contrast. Kaffe and Brandon will be taking you through the same process they use for designing their quilts.
1 Day Masterclass
Any Level
Saturday 21st August 9.30am to 4.30pm

Amy Butler

Last but by no means least....Amy's influence on the world of design just keeps on growing. We recently saw that Amy has teamed up with Graham and Brown who manufacture the most gorgeous wallpapers so your next quilt may match your wallpaper! Amy showed some of the rugs she has designed at the Soup Supper at last year's Festival of Quilts - they are a perfect foil for her designs. Wow! So now its quilt, bedding, wallpaper, rugs.... find out what inspires her and her creative process at her lecture. She'll also be available and will be signing her books on The Cotton Patch stand. Below is one of the rugs from her collection -

Inspirations with Amy Butler
(Reference 244 and 274)

Spend an hour chatting, laughing and getting inspired with American fabric and interiors designer Amy Butler. Get an inside look at some fun, behind the scenes imagery and stories chronicling Amy's latest creative adventures through her travels and studio life.

Lecture (1 hour)

Friday 20th and Saturday 21st August

1.00pm to 2.00pm

One of Amy's beautiful handmade 100% New Zealand wool rugs.

2009 Roundup

A dramatic start to 2010 - a blanket of snow covers most of the UK and for those of us who have a sizeable commute to work that means enforced incarceration at home! A good opportunity to do those things I don't have time to do when I'm at the office then such as a roundup of 2009 and postings of some of the photos that never made it even as far as the editing room let alone the metaphorical editing room floor (digital photography has eradicated such terms...it would have to be consigned to bits and bytes of the recycle bin I guess).

And what a year it has been - lots happened at The Cotton Patch with more people joining us. We took on Alison, in late 2008, to help with the backoffice and stock. Bucking the trend of the rest of retail in 2009, craft and especially patchwork and quilting, has just continued to grow in popularity. The media picked up on the "Make do and Mend" theme and Kirsty Alsopp's program "A Handmade Home" became very popular, sparking an increase in interest on the web and our blogs. We took on Rob in October 2009 whose job focuses on warehousing, stock and fabric cutting which eased things as the busy season really took off in November and on the run up to Christmas. It doesn't seem to have stopped since September. We're looking forward to our newest member of staff, Lorraine, starting with us - she begins in January 2010 on web order processing.

The Festival of Quilts just gets bigger and better and this year was definitely busy - moving around the stand on the first day was certainly a challenge! Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett and Marti Michell all proved as popular as ever and with the addition of Sandy Chandler who demo'd the Curvemaster foot it definitely drew the crowds. Hopefully curved piecing no longer holds its traditional fear. Drunkards Path could be winding its way through to a quilt show near you soon!

In October we visited Houston for the Quilt Market - the show for retailers which precedes the Quilt Festival (equivalent to our Festival of Quilts). The great thing is that the quilts for Festival are hanging in the same hall so if we have time we get to see all the wonderful exhibits - this year we managed to stay on the Sunday night after the show. There were some wonderful ones and here are a few of my favourites.

The information provided on this quilt - The Lone Star is by an unknown quilter from around 1845. It is hand pieced, appliqued and quilted. Inset panel prints surround pieced diamonds. The panel prints from around 1815 have been cut in half diagonally and reassembled without interruption of the design. The diamonds of the design include many rainbow prints, French and English chintz, Indiennes prints and other prints typical of that era. The centre is fussy cut.

The connection to the internet out in the sticks is notoriously slow (the words broadband and internet superhighway hardly fit here!) so I'll load some more tomorrow as the weather still looks bad for tomorrow.

Further Tales from the Festival of Quilts

For our final installment of our blog about Festival we've a few more photos of various people on The Cotton Patch stand.
All photos courtesy of Liz Hingley.



Amy and David Butler, Marti and Richard Michell and Kaffe Fassett signing his latest book "Kaffe Fassett's quilt romance".


There are a few blog posts around the net you might like to check out on the Festival of Quilts - one I loved is the Henhouse Blog Great photos and what a fantastic collection of fabrics and goodies to drool over - her choice of book "Material Obsession" seems particularly apt!

Having fun at Amy's class..






All those lovely Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler packets, fat quarters and packs...!











Sandy Chandler going non-stop with curved piecing! She could have made a large King-sized quilt with all those pieces!

More Tales from The Festival of Quilts

It may only be a week and a half since we returned from the Festival of Quilts but already it seems like much longer. Maybe its something to do with the more autumnal weather we're having right now whereas the setup day on the 18th August was so hot we were in shorts!
Here are some more images from the show that we thought we should share.

All photos were taken by Liz Hingley.

Amy Butler signing her latest books and chatting with customers.

Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably and David Butler (Amy's Husband) with Geoff Sewell from The Cotton Patch.

Marti Michell who always demonstrates the Perfect Patchwork templates and rulers with her unique and entertaining style.

Sandy Chandler demonstrated her Curvemaster Patchwork foot to hundreds of people during the four days of the show - showing that no one need be afraid of curved piecing - you just need the Curvemaster, long tweezers and seam roller for perfect results!

Sandy's entertaining and informative style drew the crowds...

Festival of Quilts at the NEC - A Riot of Colour

Few who attended the Festival of Quilts last week could fail to have left inspired and brimming with ideas. Attendance was in excess of all expectations and the quilting community certainly came out en masse to view a fabulous collection of quilts, works, classes, workshops and shops.




Accents from all over Europe and North America could be heard every day. So thank you to everyone who visited The Cotton Patch stands - we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and we look forward to seeing you again next year!


We were fortunate to have the photographer Liz Hingley on the stand on Friday to capture some of the essence of the atmosphere of the show. It was Liz's first Festival and like so many first-time visitors was amazed and inspired by it. Over the next few days we'll be posting some of her images... For those of you unable to make it we hope it gives you the motivation to join us next year!

Anne, Ellie and Nikki helped with cutting the fabrics, setting up the stands (and dismantling them!) and were pretty invaluable on the Rowan stand.

Geoff demonstrated the Little Gracie II, Pinnacle and the new Bernina 8 Series Quilting frame to hundreds of people during the show. Here, one customer is testing out her stippling technique on the Little Gracie II.

More photos will follow. For those of you into social networking you might like to join the Festival of Quilts Facebook group - just follow this link.

Festival of Quilts 2009 - Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett et al

Preparations are well underway for the Festival of Quilts at the NEC from 20th to 23rd August. We are delighted that Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett and Marti Michell will all be joining us again. We also have Sandy Chandler from the States who will be demonstrating the Curve Master, tweezers and seam roller.

Amy and Kaffe will be able to sign copies of their books at the following times. They may be on the stand at other times as well if they are not doing classes and lectures so please stop by on our stand at B25 - we'll have lots of fabrics by the metre, packs and books. There will be some great Show Special Offers so it will be well worth a visit.

Amy's Book Signing Times

Thursday 10:30 - 12:00 and 4:45 - 5:15
Friday 10:30 - 12:00 and 4:45 - 5:15
Saturday 10:30 - 12:30 and 2:00 - 3:00
Sunday 10.00 - 11.00

Kaffe's Book Signing Times

Thursday 11:00 - 1:00 and 2:30 - 4:00.
Friday 11:00 - 1:00 and 2:30 - 4:00.

Our main Cotton Patch stand is just across from Amy and Kaffe at C19 and our demonstrations of hand and machine quilting frames (including the new Bernina frame) will be at B21.

Don't forget that our shop is only 1/2 hour drive away from the NEC so please do visit while you are in the area. The shop is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (20-22 August) from 10am to 5pm. To give you an extra incentive to visit, if you spend over £35 on any of those days get a free copy of one of the following books! (Offer is limited to one copy per customer per day.) For directions to the shop please click here.

The Quilt Road by Kaffe Fassett (Ref 4259, normally £15.95)

A collection of 20 projects to suit all skill levels by:- Kaffe Fassett, Janet Bolton, Keiko Goke, Roberta Horton, Mary Mashuta, Liza Prior Lucy, Pauline Smith, Betsy Mennesson, Brandon Mably and Hilde Aanerud Krohg.
This Rowan Patchwork & Quilting book is styled by Kaffe Fassett and photographed by Debbie Patterson in the dramatic Pennine landscape of Yorkshire, amongst the barns and lichen encrusted mossy dry-stone walls that are so characteristic of the roadside scene in this part of Northern England.

The Impatient Patchworker by Jane Emerson (Ref 4395, normally £12.99)

If you like the idea of giving your home an individual touch, but lack of time, the experience or the ideas, then The Impatient Patchworker is just what you need. Jayne Emerson has created a range of 20 quick-to-make patchwork projects that will transform your home in a matter of a few hours. She includes wonderful mixtures of patterns and colours to create eye-catching but simple textiles, including cushions, shopping bags and purses, table runners, cloths and napkins.

Seven Easy Pieces by Kaffe Fassett (Ref 4057, normally £7.95)

A collection of 7 cool and contemporary projects with beginners in mind. The projects use just 10 Kaffe Fassett fabrics so, if there is any left over from one project you can use it to start the next!

We hope you can visit the NEC in August and if you do, we look forward to seeing you there!

Kirstie Allsopp's Homemade Home - Kaffe Fassett and Quilting

Last Friday all the talk at The Cotton Patch was about Kaffe Fassett on Kirstie Allsopp's programme Homemade Home - Kirstie, having moved on from Location, Location, Location with Phil has turned her hand to rennovating an absolute wreck of a cottage in Cornwall. Her focus has been on using local crafts people and materials to furnish it and recycle where possible. All good!

Yesterday featured an old patchwork quilt (red and green - any thoughts on a date?) that Kirstie bought in a textiles antique shop and she also made a quilt with Cowslip Workshops. Its great to see so many crafts being showcased on the programme and although not everyone will appreciate Kirstie's style we think she's doing a great job!

So if you're new to quilting we hope you find our site and blog useful - but beware - it can be addictive!

Festival of Quilts at the NEC - Setup Day

Well its been a long day (and not over yet) but we are pretty much there in terms of setup for the Festival of Quilts!

We hope many of our customers will be able to make it to the show. Here is a sneak preview of the gorgeous Kaffe Fassett/Amy Butler Rowan stand. Kaffe and Amy will both be signing their books (including their new ones) at stand D20.

Meanwhile across the aisle on stand E20 we have Marti Michell who returns to the Festival of Quilts to give demontrations on the stand when she isn't teaching lectures - there are still spaces on her Stripping lecture on Sunday.

Ricky Tims will be signing his books, DVDs and CDs on stand E20 too so if you would like to meet Ricky who is not only a talented musician and quilter but is utterly charming as well! Please visit stand E20 where we will have lots of his books, DVDs and CDs and a schedule of when he will be on the stand.

We've only had chance for a quick look at some of the quilt galleries. It looks like this year will surpass all previous shows and we thought that last year!

We look forward to seeing you soon...

Japanese Quilt

Keeping with the same Japanese theme, one of our customers in Portugal - Marian, has made many quilts, wall-hangings and craft projects including this one which really took our eye.

She explains
"I saw the collection of Chinese materials in your catalogue some time ago and thought "That's for me" as we have many things from China . My husband started going there on business in the mid 70's and he brought home "reminders of the country" . We were both taken around a Cloisonné factory in Beijing in 1978 - quite an experience . He also visited remote areas where many of the locals had never seen a white man before !
I always buy an extra length of material for the border of a wall hanging or quilt matching the materials I am going to use as I have found that if I leave the choice of edging until the end I can never find something suitable ! Living in Portugal means that I can't pop into the "Cottonpatch" .
The little Cloisonné plate gave me the idea for the design . I did at first consider cutting out a big dragon from the dragon material and letting it climb through the blocks but settled for embellishing the dragons with embroidery and beads instead . It is also a nice way of displaying things like the jade dragon .
Best wishes from a very hot Algarve ,
Marian
PS I have almost finished the Kaffe Fasset "Post card" quilt ! I've used 500 metres of hand quilting thread so far . I cut the templates last September !"

Thank you to Marian for letting us know more about the quilt and we look forward to seeing the Kaffe Fassett "Postcard" quilt soon!

Kaffe Fassett playmat finished just in time...!

Last week one of our customers told us...



"A few weeks back Daniela and I came (on behalf of a group of 7 friends) and bought a selection of fabrics, mainly Kaffe Fassett, from your shop to make a quilted playmat for one of the group's daughters who is expecting a baby in March. Still waiting for the baby but we finished the playmat (design from Quick and colourful quilts for babies and toddlers ed Rosemary Wilkinson)! This is our first project of this kind but we loved doing it and will be back!

Thought you might like to see the finished playmat.


Thanks for your very helpful advice."


The quilt is signed on the back "Annie, Cherry, Daniela, Gloria, Jan, Rosie and Sally. Sun 24th February 2008." So well done to all involved and what a great way to spend a Sunday!

The good news is that we received an email update today -

"Just had the great news that Sarah's baby has arrived! Born on Monday 24 March, 6lb 14 oz and named Jacob.

So that completes the story really - we finished it just in time!"
I'm sure baby Jacob will love the bright colours of the playmat.

The Patchwork and Quilting Guide to Buying Fabric

Sorting out my desk drawers today I found a copy of an invaluable guide - "Reasons and Excuses to Buy Fabric". No date, no author so I can't acknowledge credit where it is clearly due. You may have seen it before but I hope you enjoy it ...it's worth reminding ourselves of why we buy fabric!



1. It insulates the cupboard where it is kept.

2. It is our duty to support the economy.

3. It is less expensive and more fun than psychiatric care.

4. It is useful for covering all empty surfaces where dust may otherwise gather.

5. A sudden increase in the boll weevil population might wipe out the cotton crop for the next ten years.

6. I am participating in a contest - the one who dies with the most fabric wins.

7. Stress relief from dealing with the Fabric Control Officer (FCO, otherwise known as DH or Dear Husband)

8. It is not immoral, illegal or fattening. It calms the nerves, gratifies the soul and makes you feel good.

9. Buy it now before your husband retires and goes shopping with you.

10. It keeps without refrigeration; you don't have to cook it to enjoy it. You never have to feed or walk it.

11. A metre a day keeps the doctor away.

12. YOU DESERVE IT!



And because it feels like Spring is on the way here is the Kaffe Fassett Sunny Frames quilt :-)

Kaffe Fassett Postcard Quilt

Taking a quilt pattern from a book as inspiration and guidance for colour and then making it with your own fabrics is a great way to make an individual quilt but with a more certain outcome! One of our customers - Marian who lives in Portugal, sent us her work-in-progress of the Kaffe Fassett quilt "Postcard Quilt", which featured in Kaffe's book "Quilt Road", in a pastel colourway.

She told us, "I usually make quilts to my own designs but the beauty of the Kaffe Fassett works of art are both inspirational and irresistable . My daughter asked me for a quilt in pastel colours and so I am taking great pleasure in choosing paler colours and allowing them to flow through the quilt . As always it is not just the design but the movement and flow of colours that excites me!

I used to leave part made items on the floor of my sewing room but that was until the cat brought in a small animal during the night and ate it on the wall hanging (back to the drawing board !) Life is never dull, is it?"

She reminded us that a while ago she sent an email which explained why old ladies wear purple and orange. "Because as you get older your eyesight deteriorates and purple and orange appear to be dark blue and pink!"

We're delighted that we've supplied (apparently!) the fabrics to make twenty quilts - we hope that we see the results of many more - purple, orange, whatever... quilts in the future!

Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably Workshops

Alison Baxter who runs Short Courses at West Dean College, near Chichester has sent information on two courses on colour being run at the college in June.

West Dean looks to be a stunning and probably inspiring place to be for such a course and coupled with the knowledge and skills of Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably this should be a great opportunity. West Dean, according to the website, "is a unique community, a creative and rich mixture of artists and craftspeople, conservators and restorers, working alongside gardeners, farmers, foresters and builders. Managed by The Edward James Foundation, a charitable trust, West Dean is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty in south-east England."

Details of the courses are as follows:

TWO COLOUR WORKSHOPS BY KAFFE FASSETT AND BRANDON MABLY

Colour in design – a knitting workshop
June 24 • Brandon Mably • BM1 • £80
Brandon Mably has worked with Kaffe for 18 years and now teaches the knit workshops on colour. After an introduction on interpreting colour, you choose a range of colours and apply them to a swatch using stocking stitch, and also look at texture and pattern. Open to all levels.

A colour class with Kaffe Fassett – Big Diamonds quilts
June 25 • Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably • KF1 • £110
Kaffe and Brandon work together on this one day workshop selecting fabric for your quilt. You are asked to bring a selection of fabrics for this design and by the end of the day, after cutting, arranging and editing, everyone has their design pinned out ready for sewing.

Overnight accommodation is available for the night before each workshop – prices from £53 including dinner and breakfast.
Full details of the workshops are available on our website, where you can also book online: http://www.westdean.org.uk/

A Stitch in Time..

Fine Cell Work celebrate their 10th Anniversary this year. Featured recently on Radio 4's Midweek programme, Fine Cell Work is described on their website as "a Registered Charity that teaches needlework to prison inmates and sells their products. The prisoners do the work when they are locked in their cells, and the earnings give them hope, skills and independence.Savings reduce the likelihood of offenders returning to crime. Prisoners often send the money they earn from Fine Cell Work to their children and families, or use it to pay debts or for accommodation upon release.

The inmates are all taught by volunteers from the Embroiderers Guild, the Royal School of Needlework and the world of professional design. Once trained, they can be responsible for difficult commissions done to deadlines, and support other inmates who are still learning."

The embroidery featured above was a special commission that hangs in Manchester and, quite appropriately, was sponsored by Deans Court Chambers, Manchester. The wall hanging entitled ‘Manchester all stitched up’ was unveiled in December.

After their move to new chambers over five years ago - a splendid Victorian building with an equally splendid reception atrium - the barristers wanted something special as the centrepiece of the reception area. Former Head of Chambers, Stephen Grime Q.C . suggested commissioning a wallhanging from Fine Cell Work.

‘It was a good chance to commission a truly original work and help prisoners at the same time,’ he explains. 'Barristers are normally involved with trial and sentencing. This seemed a good opportunity to do something to help with rehabilitation. Perhaps some of the inmates who took part had been our clients!'

One of the patrons of Fine Cell Work is Kaffe Fassett. From time to time we supply Fine Cell Work with fabrics and theads - it's good to see that the end results are so worthwhile - we thought it worth sharing this aspect of quilt-making that you may not have heard about. They also have a shop, so if you are looking for finished items for Christmas presents...

Kaffe Fassett Quilt

To demonstrate the fact that Kaffe Fassett quilt designs can be used for other things - not just quilts, we've posted a photo from Catherine Corbishley Michel who visited our stand at the NEC last week. She kindly brought in a photo of her interpretation of the Hot Diamonds quilt using Kaffe Fassett and Martha Negley fabrics which is used as a curtain and definitely works in this format. Thank you for dropping the photo into the stand!

Catherine also had a quilt called Five a Day on show in the Large Quilts category.

I remember that last year Catherine raised money for Prostate Cancer research as she works in this field as a Doctor and we were glad to be able to assist by sending her machine needles to that she could stitch a quilt. The resulting sponsorship for her "quilt miles" and raffling the result in order to raise money for this worthwhile cause.

We would love to see more quilts that customers have made and the stories behind them so that we can post them on the blog. You can either send your quilts in (with a bit about how you made it, the fabrics, threads, etc) or post them directly here.

Festival of Quilts - Post Show

The Show met and then exceeded all our expectations. It was buzzing with the energy created from the combination of many factors that make the Festival of Quilts a show that is in a class of its own. That combination came from the wonderfully varied and international audience, a fabulous selection of quilts from the competition entries, the galleries and the stands themselves with, as usual, the quilts being presented in a way that really does justice to the work and talent of its creator. The excellent venue and the ease with which local, national and international visitors can access the site plus the range and depth of the workshops on offer gives participants a greater knowledge and skill of the craft..brilliant!

So thanks to Andrew, Rhonda and the team at Twisted Thread for another excellent show.

The fabric packs of the quilts from Kaffe's new book Quilts in the Sun are now available.

We had the opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones ourselves and some of them will be featured over the next few weeks or so on this blog.

We were fortunate again to have Kaffe Fassett and Marti Michell on our stands and they were joined this year by Anneke den Broek who was demonstrating the needle puller which her husband designed.

We have been busy today unloading the vans and trying to get back to some semblance of normality. For those of you who managed to make it to the show we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Pom Pom's, Yo Yo's and Festival Finalising

Things are very busy here today again - but we still had time for a quilt show of the quilts from Kaffe's new book - "Quilts in the Sun" and before we knew it our office was full! Kaffe will be be doing book signings throughout Festival (timings for these will be on our stand D20).



Adam will be cutting the Rowan fabrics at the show and here he is with one of the quilts from Quilts in the Sun - a snowball design called "Gilded Snowball" by Kaffe Fassett.

We will also have the latest designs and sizes of Yo Yo makers (otherwise known as Suffolk Puff) and Pom Pom makers. Hearts and Flowers Yo Yos have now been added to the Circles (new extra small size is also available) which can be used to accessorise bags, scarves, quilts and more. Here is a selection of the Pom Poms that David (our web designer) and Janet put together this weekend when they had a few minutes spare.

All of the Pom Pom makers, Yo Yo makers and examples of them will be on our stands at D20 and E20 - we hope to see you later this week!

Festival of Quilts Preparation

Final preparations are underway for the Festival of Quilts at the NEC and it promises to be even bigger and better than last year! We really hope you can visit and look forward to seeing you there.

The FESTIVAL OF QUILTS runs from 16th to 19th August, 2007 at the NEC, BIRMINGHAM. Our stands at D20 and E20 will feature lots of offers and products including..

Fantastic offers on Cotty thread boxes - this is a closeup of the threads earlier today whenJayne, our latest Cotton Patch recruit who will be working at the NEC for the first time, was putting together our Cotty thread boxes.

Kaffe Fassett will be signing copies of his new book "Quilts in the Sun". We will have a huge selection of Rowan fabrics, kits of the quilts in the new book, charm packs and special collection packs.

Marti Michell is visiting from the US for the third year running to demonstrate her rulers, templates and books, including her latest book "Kaledioscope ABC's", which is hot off the press. For more information on her latest book and the Kaleido Rulers click here

We will have demonstrations of Daylight Lights, which make sewing a lot easier on the eyes for many crafts (and for reading). We will have some fantastic show offers on selected products including the Ultimate , Portable and the new Clip-on Battery Lamp.

Anneke ten Broek, from Holland, will be demonstrating her Needle Puller, which makes your quilting easier and less tiring on your hands. For more information on the Needle Puller please click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

FESTIVAL OF QUILT CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
If you need to order items to pickup at the show for classes (or just to save on postage!) please let us know by Saturday 11th August so your order can be ready to pickup from the E20 stand. Please specify the day you require it. For web orders put the "Delivery to" address as the NEC,the second line as the date required and the postcode as NEC E20

We look forward to seeing many of you next week at the Festival!