#PetitFour

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Block of the Month progress report...

Nicola

Feb 11, 2020

Block of the Month progress report...

This week I sent out the February Midsummer Sampler block of the month parcels. We are now over halfway through our programme, so I thought a little update was in order. Thus far we have concocted a Victoria sponge for our beautiful Cakestand, learned about the surprising history of the Dovecote, wassailed in the new year at Orchard Cottage, taken a trip into the past in a Shepherd's Hut and treated ourselves to a delicious Bowl of Strawberries... ...there are still a few sto

Making plans...

Nicola

Mar 31, 2019

Making plans...

I'm busy planning for this year's Festival of Quilts so in my Spring Newsletter I asked my lovely subscribers for their thoughts on quilt kits. I wondered whether they ever bought them, and if so, whether they're drawn to large quilts, small projects, or block of the month programmes. And the results of the survey? Well… opinions were pretty evenly split *pause for laughter* I really should have known! However, I managed to twist my ankle quite badly last weekend, so I've ha

The Sailing By Sampler...

Nicola

Jan 17, 2019

The Sailing By Sampler...

Welcome to a new Petit Four tutorial: my finishing instructions for the Sailing By Sampler quilt. As before, the tutorial is for those of you making all eight blocks but, of course, you can double up your favourites or substitute other Petit Four blocks to your quilt. The design for the blocks and the setting evolved together and I loved the idea of the Whale and the Lighthouse 'escaping' from their squares. As I mentioned in my last post, the blocks remind me of happy holida

Introducing the Sailing By Sampler blocks...

Nicola

Jan 16, 2019

Introducing the Sailing By Sampler blocks...

I am so happy to be to introducing a new series of Petit Four blocks to you, inspired by wonderful memories of seaside holidays. When I designed the blocks for the Spellbound Sampler, I had a vague idea of creating a series of sampler quilts inspired by the seasons. So if the Spellbound Sampler represents autumn, then the clear, clean colours of the Sailing By Sampler signal spring and the sense of adventure evoked by brighter weather and a sparkling sea stretching to the hor

Spellbound sew-along: week 10

Nicola

Aug 1, 2018

Spellbound sew-along: week 10

It's the final week of our summer sew-along and for those of you looking for the border and finishing instructions, you can find them here. In addition I have some wonderful eye-candy for you this week. Grab a cup of tea - heck, bring the pot - and prepare to be spellbound by the work of our sew-along participants: In weeks 1-3 we made a Gothic Gatehouse, a Pumpkin and a Moon & Star block. A few of us were sewing with Pepper & Flax, but I was most excited to see what other fa

Spellbound Sew-along: week 9

Nicola

Jul 26, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: week 9

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 steps 1-3

Spellbound sew-along: week 8

Nicola

Jul 19, 2018

Spellbound sew-along: week 8

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 between a pair and is often heard as winter approaches and they protect their fiefdom. You can find the block here. The Owl is our penultimate block and will make use of all the techniques we've learned over the past seven weeks. Including the snowball technique that we used on our first block, the Gothic Gatehouse, which we'll be adapting to crea

Spellbound sew-along: week 7

Nicola

Jul 11, 2018

Spellbound sew-along: week 7

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 legs a

Spellbound sew-along: week 6

Nicola

Jul 4, 2018

Spellbound sew-along: week 6

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 slightly lop

Spellbound Sew-along: week 5

Nicola

Jun 28, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: week 5

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 dyin

Spellbound Sew-along: week 4

Nicola

Jun 21, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: week 4

Toadstools Beloved of childrens’ book authors, the Toadstool has long been imagined as the home of various pixies, fairies and elves. The origin of the name itself is shrouded in mystery and the Oxford Dictionary describes it as "late Middle English: a fanciful name". Beatrix Potter depicted them quite literally, as stools for toads, in her beautifully detailed illustration for The Toads Tea Party. If acorn-cups were tea-cups, what should we have to drink? Why! honey-dew fo

Spellbound Sew-along: week 3

Nicola

Jun 14, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: week 3

Moon & Star Our enchanted garden is lit by a waning crescent moon. Far away from the constant glow of streetlights, moonlight makes the familiar unfamiliar and the sky is suddenly full of twinkling stars. You can find the block Moon & Star 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. CUTTI

Spellbound Sew-along: week 2

Nicola

Jun 7, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: week 2

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 Spellbound

Spellbound Sew-along: week 1

Nicola

May 30, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: week 1

Gothic Gatehouse When designing the blocks for the Spellbound sampler I pictured an abandoned garden at dusk in late Autumn. As nature reclaimed the vegetable patch and insects feasted on the last of the wild flowers, birds would be roosting in the trees and bats in the forgotten corners of tumbledown buildings. This block, the Gothic Gatehouse, is the entrance to our enchanted garden. EDIT: Although the sew-along has finished, you can still use the weekly posts as a guide an

Spellbound Sew-along: preparing your fabric

Nicola

May 22, 2018

Spellbound Sew-along: preparing your fabric

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. It's just over a week until we start making our Spellbound Sampler, so I've started to sort through my Layer Cake to assign prints and colours to each block, using the notes I first shared here as my guide:- I first divided my... Layer Cake into brights, li

Spellbound...

Nicola

Feb 6, 2018

Spellbound...

Edit: All of the posts & tutorials from 2018's Spellbound Sew-along can be found here. I've finished my Spellbound Sampler Quilt at long last. I've really enjoyed hand quilting it over the past few months, although it was frequently put aside while I tackled Christmas gifts and magazine commissions. After stitching around the motifs I chose a zig-zag for the individual block backgrounds, echoing the border. When it came to binding I chose a delicious coral stripe from the fab

Present and correct...

Nicola

Jan 8, 2018

Present and correct...

I love making Christmas gifts but the secrecy required nearly kills me, so it’s really good to finally share what I was making in December...and it all began last Easter... In April Mark, the boys and I spent an idyllic couple of weeks in Anguilla and Antigua with Mark’s family. I took my Pennine Star quilt with me to make a start on the hand quilting and it will forever remind me of lazy days sitting under the veranda, gazing out over Barnes Bay as I stitched. There may have

It's all about the timing...

Nicola

Dec 23, 2017

It's all about the timing...

We rarely have snow in Shropshire, but this month it arrived right on cue as I joined the Moda Bakeshop chefs in their Countdown to Christmas. Each day in the run up to Christmas we have been posting a fun festive block, to be used together in a sampler quilt or individually in smaller projects. Sort of like an advent calendar without chocolate...which is slightly disappointing but it does involve fabric, so that’s OK then ;-) My design was inspired by a sprig of Holly and I

Festival Cushions...

Nicola

Nov 6, 2017

Festival Cushions...

The next tutorial I want to share with you uses just one Petit Four block and is based on the cushions I made for my Festival of Quilts stand. It's a quick, fun project that makes a 14" x 24" cushion: perfect for cheering up a bed or sofa. I made mine using my Honeybee Hive block and a new-to-me fuseable batting product by Quilters Dream called Fusion - bought here - which is ideal for small projects like this. I've tried similar polyester-based fuseables, but I find them unc

The Spellbound Sampler...

Nicola

Nov 2, 2017

The Spellbound Sampler...

Welcome to my first Petit Four tutorial: finishing instructions for your Spellbound Sampler blocks. My directions are aimed at those of you making all nine blocks, but there are also notes, at the bottom of the post, for adapting the setting to make a table runner with just three blocks. And next week I'll be posting a tutorial for a cushion which uses just one. When I designed the quilt I knew that some blocks would need light backgrounds and some would need a dark contrast,

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