A Month in the Country BOM Quilt - Ta dah!

I'm so delighted to be able to share my finished A Month in the Country quilt from my year long Block of the Month in Today's Quilter!

It's in the new issue, number 28, which came out yesterday. Unfortunately my copy hasn't arrived yet but I can share some of the lovely images from the mag.

Stitch Gathering attendees got a special exclusive viewing at the event on Sunday. Here it is hanging behind our pop-up shop.

This is a very personal quilt for me as it charts our life here at Shangri la Farm through the four seasons. There is also a lot of hand applique in the blocks so I wanted to give it a proper heirloom treatment when it came to quilting.

I didn't think my poor old hands were up to hand quilting the whole thing so I began by FMQing a selection of leaves over all the sashing strips (Kona Snow).

I then hand quilted all the blocks as much as I could with Aurifil 12wt threads in subtle shades, mainly by outlining the motifs.

I love all the birds depicted, I feel inspired to do a bird applique for a workshop next year, what do you think?

I used a Heather Ross Mendocino print (with fishes) for the backing, which seemed appropriate with all the wildlife on the front!

Action shot below of me finishing the binding.

I didn't manage to get any decent outside photos (but luckily the magazine did that gorgeous styled garden shot above!) before I had to send this off, but I did take this one on our bed.

Jonathan says this is his favourite of all the quilts I have ever made - praise indeed! It's definitely a bit special to me too.

And I'm hoping to turn this into a series of course at myBearpaw Studio next year, so watch this space!

Did you sew along with this BOM? Do you have a finished quilt to share? Please send me an image if you do, I would love to feature it here!

Meanwhile I have news! I will be following this Today's Quilter BOM with a new Block of the Month that starts next month!!!

And this time I will be running a Quiltalong too! Look out for more details next week!

Sneak Peeks and Hand Sewing

I've entered a bit of a frantic period with lots of magazine commissions due all at once, lots of teaching in the studio, and the Stitch Gathering coming up on Sunday - eeek!

Normally I wait until I have lovely finished project to chat about over here, but alas I have nothing finished I can show you at the moment. So instead I thought I would share all the sneak peeks of the secret sewing I have been posting on Instagram, plus some new adventures in hand sewing...

I can't wait to share more about this new project I am working on using Tilda's Harvest fabric (I can in about 5 weeks time!). I haven't worked with Tilda fabric much before and I absolutely love it!

The fabric feels gorgeous and looks so good that I hardly need to do anything to it to make something beautiful. I'm really enjoying using these pretty pastels and more muted shades (for me!).



This was my fabric pull for a new hand sewing project. The palette was inspired by my new Anna Maria Horner collection of Aurifil 12wt threads that I obtained at Festival of Quilts (I won't say bought as it was a freebie 😀)

Here's a sneaky peek at the hand quilting on this project. I loved using the 12wt, it glides through the layers so effortlessly and is easier on my hands than the number 8 I've used previously. I've ordered some for the shop (including the AMH box) and they should be in any day now.

My latest quilt finish uses Denyse Schmidt's new Washington Depot fabric. It's such a fabulous collection, classic DS style and colour, and also available at our online store here! 

I'm totally in love with this new quilt and can't wait to show it off (at the end of the year)!

In the meantime I had a little fun with my scraps. I had a rare weekend day off week last Saturday, and made these two improv panels.

Of course you can probably work out by now where this is going...

Yes, another tendril pouch!!

I am acquiring quite a collection!

In fact...

Here comes another one!

Everybody loved the last one I made using Outback Wife fabric so I thought I would try the other design I have in this line, and this time with circles instead of leaves! This fabric is Elaine in orange.

And talking about that rare Saturday off a week or so back... I actually had time to get my paints and brushes out and do a bit of design doodling.

It's something I love to do but never seem to make time for. But I took myself off to the Tiny House and had a blissful afternoon being creative. I was chuffed with the result!
(note to self: MUST DO THIS MORE!)

I liked it so much that I used it as inspiration for this applique hand quilted panel. I am going to turn this into a fabric storage pot, and while I'm at it I plan to turn it into a Tutorial for you all! This will hopefully be later next week, so stay tuned!

It's time for another new project! This is for another magazine and a new one to me. This won't be published till next Spring but there is a fair bit of hand work involved so I've started early.

And also because I was longing to do a bit more applique after finishing that last panel above. I just love appliqueing circles, especially in these bright cheerful colours!

I am really enjoying my hand work at the moment, and my hand and wrist issues seem to be under control. Maybe it's because of all the lovely Aurifil thread I am using along with those super fine Tulip needles?

The right tools can certainly make a lot of difference!

Almost Black Quilt

Presenting 'Almost Black', a new finished quilt and a bit of a departure for me.

This got sent off earlier today to Festival of Quilts as my entry to the Modern Quilt category.

I've been thinking for a while now about how to make applique look more modern and minimalist.

My recent mini (for the Pantone Challenge) 'Greenery Shoots' was an initial experiment which I have extended here.

I started off using just dark grey, charcoal and black fabric and making panels of what I always call 'scrappy improv', basically lovely playtime in my sewing room!

The first few had too much contrast so I started using just black and charcoal.

Folks were very encouraging on Instagram and a slowly pieced together bigger and bigger panels. It's a bit like working on a giant fabric puzzle.

I even asked for some suggestions for blocks that I could 'improv-up', and Tatyana Duffie suggested a churn dash and Cheryl Arkison suggested some wonky letters, so I created the word 'night' which was a bit of an indication of the design I had in mind.

When I posted this photo of the finished top, quite a few people wanted me to leave it like this and just quilt it, and I did consider it (briefly!). But anyone who knows me would understand that not including ANY colour on a quilt is just not going to happen.

My plan all along was to applique different coloured circles in lines that would appear as coloured 'fairy light' against a night sky.

I prepared three sizes of circles and spent time appliqueing them in three rows (some nice summer weather luckily coincided with this hand sewing!). Using Aurifil 80wt really helps stitches disappear!

I did think about just one or two strands but, after consultation with my quilty advisers (Lynne and Karen) I decided to go for three, as odd numbers are always best (according to Karen!).

Can you see that I have left a gap in the top strand of lights? I do like a little 'oddness' (like the one pink leaf in Greenery Shoots) and I decided to leave a space as if a bulb had just blown, and to hand quilt an empty circle there. But someone on Instagram (Kim Moran-Jones) suggested appliqueing a grey circle instead and I loved that idea (thanks Kim!)!

I really agonised over how to quilt it. I wanted the dense texture I had achieved with matchstick quilting on my Greenery Shoots mini, but didn't want to do straight line quilting (my Pfaff machine, though wonderful at FMQ, really struggles with straight line as the integral walking foot isn't up to it). So I ended up with this kind of woodgrain type thing, wavy lines but all done with FMQ. 

I didn't want to quilt over the circles at all, I love how they stand out when quilting happens around them. Somebody asked me if they were padded the other day. The answer is no, but they do look a bit like they are!

I used a variegated grey Aurifil 50wt for the FMQ, one of my favourites, number 4670.

When I had finished all the machine quilting I hand quilted around each circle with a pale yellow perle cotton 12, to give the appearance of a 'glow'. The blown bulb, now an appliqued grey circle, has a very faint glow (it's very recently blown!) achieved by using Aurifil 80wt in cream.



I had deliberately left space between some of my quilting lines to add some hand quilting. It's quite subtle as I used an ecru perle cotton number 12, but I really think it adds to the texture and interest.

I love the fact there is so much to look at in this quilt, even though the background is kind of dull. I think that makes you notice more because there is so little distraction.

I used a scrappy binding made of the same blacks and charcoals, I just wanted something to blend in really.

I'm really pleased with how this worked out, it's pretty much as I saw it in my head when I first conceived it. Actually it's a lot better!

And I have more ideas for this sort of 'applique on improv' look, so watch this space!

Oh and do any of you recognise the reference (from a British sketch comedy show) in the title?! It's a family private joke in our house and what my husband said when he saw me working on this!

Stitch Gathering 2017 Tickets - Quilted Postcards!!

It's that time of year again, when the secret Stitch Gathering Ticket project I have been working on is finally revealed!

This will be our fifth event in October, so that means I have had to come up with FIVE different ideas for this so far - phew! Talk about making a rod for your own back (which is quite a violent metaphor now I think about it...)!

This year we are asking all our Retreaters to make a QUILTED POSTCARD, and then to swap it at the event with a secret partner (partner's info going out next week!).

And to help you out with this very creative project we have designed and printed some exclusive (and rather cute IMHO!) fabric stamps!!!

Drawing these little stamps was such fun! I started off with a bear king and a cat queen (because stamps often feature the head of state and in my Stitch Gathering world these would obviously be bears and cats!). And then I drew a little landscape and some buttons and a patchwork Dresden plate.

Scanning my Sewing Room for inspiration I spied some of Aurifil thread so I included those too. Then I was starting to run out of ideas so I decided to feature parts of the four quilts that have been used as our 'quilt of the year' on our Stitch Gathering branding.

Then Jonathan got involved and offered some of his Tiny House designs! We also had a myBearpaw flower logo but part of that got cut off by the printing.

We got Spoonflower to print this for us, as they did with our Stitch Gathering Text fabric last year. Such a great service and with cheaper and quicker postage now, as they have a factory in Germany!

From last Friday the stamps and instruction letters started to arrive with our Retreaters and by now most of them should be there so I can spill the beans. Everyone received a random selection of three stamps.

As in previous years this blog post will cover some initial ideas for making your ticket project. Of course I expect our Retreaters to totally out do any ideas I have, as they do every year!

I started with a little bit of improv. I had a leftover block from a recent quilt I made with Kaffe Fassett (I can share this next month!). I sliced this up and inserted some strips and generally mucked it up a little!

Then I added some yellow 'teasel heads', just lightly gluing them on. I drew around them to finish the teasel effect. It is based on this zippy pouch which had hand embroidered teasels over improv.

Then I had a try at free-motion embroidery! I've not really done this much before (I did some numbers once for an advent quilt), but I think all the FMQ I  have done made it an easy start. Quite pleased with how this looks, though maybe I should have made the stems more prominent.

I think the back maybe looks more interesting!

I finished this first postcard by sewing a back on, pillowcase style, with RST, leaving a gap and turning inside out. I added some random straight line quilting including around the outside, close to the edge, to close the gap.

I then needle-turn appliqued a couple of my stamps to the back.

Then I moved on to some FPP.

I was trying to find a pattern that needed a 100% or 200% enlargement, which I would then ignore and just make a mini version of. I think this could work really well if you have a pattern like this already, perhaps in a book?

But after trawling through some back issues of Love Patchwork and Quilting I found these arrows as past of a Lynne Goldsworthy BOM block. The pattern was 'actual size' in the magazine and I realised that three of them would work perfectly. And I've always loved Lynne's arrows!

So I chose a little ombre range of fabrics in three of my favourite colours, along with a low-volume background, and off I went! After a some decision making I opted for the layout above.

For the back I found some printed instructions from a fabric Noah's Ark that I must have been hoarding for around 25 years! I used the machine to applique the stamps with a zig-zag stitch. This time I 'layered-up' as if it was a real quilt and used a little 505 to hold it while I added a half inch grid.

The lines are quilted with Aurifil 80wt.

I then added a thin single-fold binding (see my tutorial for this here) in a charcoal fabric.

Next up was a little more improv, this time straight out of the scrap bag, along with a little fussy cutting.

I brought back some of the Rifle Paper Alice in Wonderland fabric by Cotton and Steel from QuiltCon and I haven't used it yet. So I took a little Cheshire cat from it and framed it in red. I even included a little selvedge!

I then finished this the same way as the first postcard before tackling my usual matchstick quilting with variegated pink Aurifil and added hand quilting in perle cotton. Somehow the quilting has made that cat look a little sinister!

I needle turn appliqued a couple more stamps. to the back.

So here are the finished quilted postacrds!

And here are the backs. I used some printed quilt labels for the first and last ones. The hand quilting on that last one has appeared as lines ready for a message!

The idea is to write a message to your swap partner but I will keep these blank for now and they can be used as spares if necessary. They are all around 5 x 7in which is the maximum size we have asked for (anything between 4 x 6in and 5 x 7in).

I also asked that they be landscape in orientation, though having made a few now, I really don't think that matters too much, so knock yourselves out retreaters!

So far the feedback from Retreaters has been very positive, and they seem to be relishing this new creative challenge - hooray!

Everyone's finished tickets will be handed in at registration on the day of the event (to gain access obviously!), and then during the morning classes, my wonderful helpers will display them in the large conference room where we have our lunch so that they can all be viewed (like a mini exhibition!). Towards the end of lunch everyone will be asked to SWAP! They will then grab their postcard and go off to find their secret partners!

So watch out on social media for these little works of art appearing. I can't wait to see what everyone does!