It's Valentine's Day this weekend, so I'm posting a little love-letter to our current block of the month programme, the Nutcracker , and introducing you to our cast so far... Sewing with Tilda Fabrics' Merry Little Christmas collection, we've decorated our Christmas Tree, met the hero of our tale, the Nutcracker, his dastardly - but darling - foe, the Mouse King, and listened to both a Grandfather and a Cuckoo clock chime midnight. This month we met the handsome Prince and ma

With spring just around the corner I'll be looking out for sleepy bees waking from their winter slumbers. Even though the weather's still dreary, thoughts - if not deeds - will turn to clearing flowerbeds and planting seeds in the hope of summer blooms in the cutting patch. Which has inspired my new project in the new issue of Today's Quilter ... You may recognise the classic Irish Chain setting from my To Skye quilt. I scaled it down slightly and have loved being able to us

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been experimenting with extra wide, single-fold binding - with some fussy cutting thrown in for good measure - based on a wonderful tutorial by Carrie Nelson for the Fat Quarter Shop  and here, as promised, are my tips if you'd like to do the same.       Deciding on the width of the binding (& other notes)   My first step was to decide on the width of the binding. My measurement was based on the pattern repeat of vertical bands of roses ac

Curtseys at the ready, because I have some rather regal projects to share with you today. Designed to celebrate the launch of Liberty's new Palace Gardens collection, let me formally introduce you to the Royal Posies quilt and it's charming companion, Garden Party Bunting . Liberty commissioned the quilt to introduce their Palace Garden collection at the H&H Americas trade show last spring and they asked me to base my design on motifs from the Royal Posies print in the col

Twenty four bonus half-square triangles really are a gift. When I'd finished making my Christmas Market quilt last year, I had a delicious little stack of HSTs left over from trimming the market stall blocks and, given that there was a Christmas Tree at the centre of the quilt, I decided to make some classic basket blocks and turn them into a matching tree skirt. I'll be honest, that was twelve months ago and I planned to share the tree skirt when the pattern appeared in To

If you like to keep your sewing seasonal - and festive - the Make Time quilt is 20% off this Thanksgiving weekend. I've reimagined our quilt in Christmas colours here - and it actually looks pretty much like my Christmas list! - using Tilda Solids in dove, red, dusty rose, pine, fern green and soft teal, with a dash of grey Tiny Stars and the luscious Carol print from Merry Little Christmas . Y ou can purchase the Make Time pattern bundle here. Make time to do what makes y

I made a presentation to my local guild, the Shropshire Quilters , in September. They celebrated their Ruby Anniversary with an exhibition at the Shrewsbury Museum last summer and it was a treat to be asked to take some quilts along to share with my lovely friends there. My presentation theme was quilt design and I wanted to inspire my fellow quilters to design their own blocks. I took my Twelve Days of Christmas sampler along as an example of how a design can evolve over a

Next week is the final week in our Make Time British Sew-along. Forgive me for posting a few days early - we're off to the Lake District for a few days - but before I share our tips for assembling the quilt, let me remind you of our autumn sewing schedule: - 18th August  - Make Time  block with Jo Westfoot  - explore foundation paper piecing. 25th August  - Tulips, Clouds, Let's Chat, Get Snippy and Book Club blocks with Lou Orth  - explore curved piecing, snowball corners

Welcome to week seven of the Make Time British Sew-along. Before I show you a fun variation of the A Good Yarn block, let me remind you...

Welcome to week six of the Make Time British Sew-along. Before I introduce you to my blocks, let me remind you of our autumn sewing...

Something rather wonderful happened this summer: last year Liberty Fabrics saw my Honeysuckle quilt on the cover of Today’s Quilter ...

I have such a fun quilt to share with you today - which you can find in the new issue of Todays Quilter (number 131) - inspired by the...

Our youngest son lives in London now. I'm not entirely sure how he can suddenly be old enough to do grown up things like move away, but we're always thrilled to visit him there and love his visits home just as much. Which is just what he did last weekend, only I got to travel back with him and spend an exciting 24 hrs in London meeting someone special... ...my lovely Canadian friend Andrea. We 'met' on Instagram back in the day, when we were both doing other things - Andrea w

Did you go to the Festival of Quilts this year? Having missed it last year I was looking forward to immersing myself in Europe's biggest...

In a busy world where our lives are full of work commitments, family responsibilities and the distractions of social media, we're...

After a year away, we're so thrilled to be sewing together again to bring you a glorious new Sew-Along quilt this autumn… In a busy world...

Join me and my lovely friend Andrea from the Willow Cottage Quilt Company in front row seats as we wait with bated breath to raise the...

CakeStand Quilts celebrated its tenth birthday on June the 1st. Technically it's probably its eleventh, as it took me the best part of a...

On the 1st of June I'll be celebrating the tenth anniversary of CakeStand Quilts and, appropriately enough, I'll be with my British...

I'm dipping into my favourite colouring set - Tilda Fabric's Creating Memories collection - for one last time. As I mentioned in previous...

Over the past ten years these posts have been my favourites to write. Some quilts have a more complicated back-story than others and this...

Every year my friend Andrea - from the Willow Cottage Quilt Co - joins me to create lovingly curated parcels for our warm and supportive...

With Easter just a week away we're halfway through our stay at Spring Cottage , so it's high time I shared what our lovely guests have...

I love a pre-cut. Now if, one sentence in, I've already lost you and you're wondering what a pre-cut is, let me enlighten you: introduced...