Colour

I'm one of those people who responds really strongly to colour. I love bright colours, the brighter the better, mostly! Pink and orange is my favourite colour combination, and subtlety is not really in my palette. However, it has been such a beautiful autumn so far, and I can't help but be drawn to some …

My FoQ quilt

Laura - I'm not entering a quilt for the Festival this year as I sadly ran out of time, so I thought I would talk about my entry for last year. I decided to enter a quilt for the Quilters' Guild challenge on the theme of 'Free'. Every year there is a theme and only …

Oh my it’s cold this week

Anyone else feeling the cold?  We've had hail, snow, freezing winds.  So top of my to-do list are these adorable handwarmers from Rae Ann Kelly.  They are super-cute, ....and super-cozy!!  They're also valentine themed so perfect for today!!  Click on the image to take you to her tutorial.

Fantastic freebie!…win a copy of ‘The Textile Artist: From Art to Stitch’ by Janet Edmonds.

Book publisher SearchPress are giving away a copy of the wonderful book 'The Textile Artist: From Art to Stitch' by by Janet Edmonds. Don't miss out on this fab freebie...all the need to do is email: youngishquilters@quiltersguild.org.uk stating your name and membership number. The winner will be contacted on the 14th February! If you're not …

7 days till Christmas: Boxing Day Sales!

When the rest of your family is rushing into town to spend their Christmas money, you know what's really important. Grab some hot chocolate. Settle yourself down at your laptop, and hit the Boxing Day sales quilter's style! Fabric shops join in with Boxing Day sales too, and you can get some great fabric at …

11 days till Christmas: Winter Wonderland

A bit of wintry inspiration from Hallstatt in Austria: pattern, colour, decoration, and just general mood. Don't you think these icy greys and whites pair very well with that light brown colour of wood? And maybe the reflections in the water above, or the wood stack, could be the inspiration for a very original quilt.

14 days till Christmas: Scandinavian ‘paper’ baskets

I just discovered these Scandinavian 'paper' baskets whilst re-reading an Astrid Lindgren book of Christmas stories ... Yes, there I go again with the Danish/Swedish influences, but my mum really likes Scandinavia, so a lot of my Christmas memories are quite Scandi-heavy, alright? These are really easily made out of two different colours of paper …

18 days till Christmas: Alternative Christmas tree

If you don't fancy all that pine needle mess when the tree is taken out after Christmas, or need multiple trees to Christmasify your house, how about a fabric alternative? One option, as above, is simply to decorate a tree-like structure with bunting or patchwork quilted stars. If you're not that fussed about it being …

19 days till Christmas: Patchwork decorations

Here is a nice thing to do with leftover bits of fabric: patchwork decorations. As you can see, they don't even need to be Christmas fabrics in order to create a Christmassy feel! I chose to make stars, but you could also make little Christmas trees out of triangles. Or, if you enjoy appliqué, the …

20 days till Christmas: free motion quilted tree decorations

We found an amazing tutorial on Devoted Quilter's blog - making use of scraps of fabric and wadding and one of our favourite techniques - free motion quilting!  Her full instructions are here - and when we saw this we just couldn't wait to make our own, and here it is: This was so quick …