Too soon to mention the 'C' word, that is...Christmas. Those of you of a more organised ilk will have the whole thing underway by now and...

This is the second year that the Moda Bakeshop have hosted their wonderful Quilter's Summer Camp and this year we're at the beach. Since June the Bakeshop Chefs have been sharing their beautiful blocks along with their favourite seaside memories. Today is my turn and where else would I whisk you off to but Cornwall? Photos from our trip to St. Ives earlier this month... My block is based on that perennial British favourite: the Beach Hut. The place where we wriggle into

I've just put the last few stitches in the binding of my Sailing By Sampler. It's been pouring down whilst I've stitched and I've been...

I briefly mentioned a few of the key fabrics I used in my Kitchen Garden quilt in my last post and a few of you have enquired about the...

I’m blaming Trish. You see, just before Christmas I shared a tutorial for a Dala Horse block on the Moda Bakeshop, as part of their...

Welcome to a new Petit Four tutorial: my finishing instructions for the Sailing By Sampler quilt. As before, the tutorial is for those of...

This morning I put the last few stitches in the binding of my Wintersweet quilt...just in the (saint) nick of time. You might remember the cushion I made as part of last years Moda Bakeshop Countdown to Christmas. You can find directions for making the quilt in Part One of the tutorial, here, ideas for fabric selection and quilting in Part Two, here, and a handy, downloadable PDF of the pattern, HERE. I have so many lovely things to share with you in 2019, but until th

Have you been opening the Moda Bakeshop Advent Calendar this year? My fellow Chefs and I have been rustling up some Christmas treats for...

If you didn't catch Part One of the tutorial - which has the pattern for piecing your top - you can find it here. This time I'll be sharing my hand quilting plans and a downloadable template. But first I thought it would be fun to look at a couple of colour options for your quilt. Simply changing the background colour creates a more dramatic quilt. You could try the Moda Bella Solid in Etchings Slate that I used on my Spellbound Sampler, or opt for one of the delicious line

Do you ever see fabric and think ‘I really must make something with that’? Silly question, you’re quilters, so of course you do. Well, a mere glimpse of Joanna Figueroa’s Christmas Figs and I started sketching. The design I was drawn to is an old one, the Irish Chain, which alternates plain and nine-patch blocks. I love Irish Chain quilts, they manage to be homely and elegant at the same time with a lovely balance between pieced blocks and negative space. The earliest exampl

A very warm ‘welcome aboard’ if you’re joining me from the Moda Bakeshop , I hope you’re enjoying this month’s Building Blocks series and...

Cobweb The Garden Spider builds her delicate web - often over twelve inches in diameter - every single day and although we may be squeamish about it’s builder, no one can deny the beauty of her work. You can find the block here . EDIT: Although the sew-along has finished, you can still use the weekly posts as a guide and sew with a group of friends. You can find the Spellbound Sampler pattern book here and on Amazon, or the PDF Pattern Bundle here . CUTTING... Follow step

Wise Owl Is there anything quite as eerily atmospheric as the call of an owl? But the t’wit t’woo of the Tawny is, in fact, a duet...

The Raven The subject of Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic poem and revered, often feared, in folklore, the Raven is one of our most intelligent, long-lived and loyal birds, mating for life. Young Ravens leave their parents in Autumn to find new territory and a mate of their own. Our abandoned garden will be perfect. This week we will be using a new technique: bias strip applique, which is a simple and effective way of adding fine detail to our blocks. In this case, the Raven's leg

Moonlit Bat No Gothic garden would be complete without a resident Bat, circling through the darkening trees at dusk before retreating to the Gatehouse attic to wait out the winter. You can find the block here . We will be using techniques that we've explored in previous blocks - snowballed corners , dresden fans and simple embroidery - but this block does differ in one respect: it's constructed asymmetrically to accommodate the wings, so some of the units will look slight

Merveille du Jour When I started drafting a bat block for the Spellbound Sampler - we’ll be meeting him next week - I realised what wonderful wings I could make with traditional dresden fans. And then, of course, I tried to think what else I could use them for: birds’ wings and cobwebs, yes, but surely not butterflies or moths? Although most British butterflies and moths are hibernating or migrating by the end of October, there is whole family of moths who emerge in the dy

Toadstools Beloved of childrens’ book authors, the Toadstool has long been imagined as the home of various pixies, fairies and elves. The...

Moon & Star Our enchanted garden is lit by a waning crescent moon. Far away from the constant glow of streetlights, moonlight makes the...

Pumpkin A familiar symbol of autumn abundance, the Pumpkin is an essential part of Thanksgiving feasts in Canada and the United States. The seeds were taken back to Europe by explorers and by the end of the C17th it had found it's way into our fairy-tales, as Cinderella's magical carriage. The pumpkin block from my first sampler EDIT: Although the sew-along has finished, you can still use the weekly posts as a guide and sew with a group of friends. You can find the Spe

Gothic Gatehouse When designing the blocks for the Spellbound sampler I pictured an abandoned garden at dusk in late Autumn. As nature...