#inspiration

From my sketchbook: Tulips from Amsterdam

Nicola

Jul 8, 2020

From my sketchbook: Tulips from Amsterdam

EDIT: You can now buy this pattern as a PDF here or as a Paper Pattern here. I first visited Amsterdam as an architectural student and was totally enchanted by the impossibly tall houses reflected in a maze of canals. I revisited it through the pages of favourite novels, stepping back in time to Amsterdam's ‘Golden Age’ of the 17th century with Deborah Moggach's Tulipmania and Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist. Photo credit: Today's Quilter; quilting by Jayne Brereton at Quilte

Nicola

Oct 2, 2019

PATTERNS

From my sketchbook: Winterlilies

Issue 54 of Today's Quilter is on your newsstands tomorrow and it is full to bursting with amazing Christmas projects, so I feel very honoured to have my Winterlilies quilt in such wonderful company. This is such a fun quilt to make: simple enough in its construction for a beginner, but flexible enough in its layout to engage more experienced quilters. The block is based on a traditional log cabin design - with a twist - so I looked to antique log-cabin quilts to inspire some

Nicola

Sep 21, 2019

TUTORIALS

Is it too soon?...

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 be powering through your Christmas gift list. You must tell me how you do it (I'm asking for a friend). But, as the new school year begins and the nights start drawing in, if your thoughts ARE turning to some Christmas sewing I thought I'd do a little round up of Christmas tutorials. There are some small, quick projects, as well as some ide

Nicola

Aug 13, 2019

IN OTHER NEWS

Festival of Quilts 2019...

I’ve unpacked, caught up with my emails and restocked the website, so it’s time to look back at the whirlwind that was this year’s Festival of Quilts. I had a slightly bigger stand this year, which gave me a bit more wriggle room and the utter extravagance of a table (I know...) for my new quilt kits. Luckily my technical support had the presence of mind to take before and after photos. Taking centre stage this year was my newest pattern, Hazel, which was a big hit with Festi

Nicola

Aug 6, 2019

PATTERNS

From My Sketchbook: Roosting Birds

If you have the latest copy of Today's Quilter - issue 52, with Jo Avery's beautiful appliqued quilt on the cover - then you may have seen my newest project, Roosting Birds, which is an exploration of the Tree of Paradise block. Like lots of classic blocks it goes by multiple names, so you might also know it as the Pine Tree, Christmas Tree or Tree of Life block. Many traditional blocks, like the Tree of Life block, were inspired by the things that early quilters saw around t

Nicola

Jul 20, 2019

PATTERNS

From my sketchbook: Hazel

I first had the idea for this quilt when I was making my Make Sail quilt, way back when...Laying out the homeward bound blocks it occurred to me that the arrow units could be arranged in lots of different ways. At first I thought of stars. I even wrote up the pattern. And then I realised someone had beaten me to it: the lovely Bonnie Olavsen - of Cottonway and Bonnie & Camille for Moda - with her Merry Christmas Darling pattern (which is wonderful, by the way). So I set that

Nicola

Apr 27, 2019

IN OTHER NEWS

Colouring Quilts: Spindleberry

The garden is wreathed with blossom at the moment. It's such a lovely time of year - I have a May birthday, so I might be a bit biased - and I'd love to capture the freshness of new leaves, delicate blossom and the promise of early summer in a quilt. And then I remembered that I'd designed an alternative colourway of my Spindleberry quilt - called, appropriately enough, Spindleblossom - and thought it would make a good subject for the #colouringquilts series. Both PDF and Pa

Nicola

Mar 15, 2019

IN OTHER NEWS

British Traditions...

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles. The Guild was established in 1979 to "...bring together quilters in a spirit of friendship and learning, (to) promote quilt-making in all its forms across the UK (and) as an educational charity (to) preserve the heritage of quilting and work to ensure a vibrant future for the craft..." Anniversaries are always moments of reflection and there have been some thoughtful pieces written in the Gui

Nicola

Feb 25, 2019

IN OTHER NEWS

Colouring Quilts: Forget-me-not

The Forget-me-not quilt is a celebration of the versatility of the humble nine-patch...and you know how much I love a nine-patch. Now, making it was not without its tribulations - I wrote all about that here - but the resulting quilt has a freshness that reminded me of it's namesake. So, basically, it's the perfect project for spring and both PDF and Paper Forget-me-not Patterns are £5 throughout March. You can try out colour schemes with a free downloadable colouring sheet h

Nicola

Feb 20, 2019

PATTERNS

Everything in the Garden's lovely...

Whilst I'm always excited to see my Postman deliver the latest copy of Today's Quilter, this month I've been waiting rather impatiently because I couldn't wait to share my latest project with you: the Kitchen Garden. Image shown with the permission of 'Today's Quilter' When my lovely editor, Fiona, suggested a row-by-row quilt on a garden theme I immediately thought of walled gardens and old-fashioned allotments. My friend Lou, on Instagram (@thelittleredrobin) has created a

Introducing the Sailing By Sampler blocks...

Nicola

Jan 16, 2019

PATTERNS

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

Nicola

Nov 27, 2018

PATTERNS

From my Sketchbook: Flower Baskets...

You may already know how much I love basket quilts, so when Today's Quilter approached me to design one for them I was mustard keen. I decided to combine my baskets with a Nosegay or Bride's Bouquet block, which gave them a distinctly floral look. My Mum is a wonderful flower arranger, so I grew up with baskets, bowls and trugs of flowers for every season. A home - for me - must have flowers, whether it's a jug of garden roses or potted Hyacinths in the winter...or a quilt of

Nicola

Nov 2, 2018

IN OTHER NEWS

Colouring Quilts: Day Out...

There's always so much to do before Christmas but I'm still temped to add just one more project and come November I can't resist starting a new Christmas quilt. If you're just the same let's think about a quick, colourful one: Day Out. Both PDF and Paper Day Out Patterns are £5 all this month. You can try out colour schemes with a free downloadable colouring sheet here and share your colour schemes - and fabric pulls - on Instagram using the hashtag #colouringquilts Just cha

Nicola

Oct 4, 2018

IN OTHER NEWS

Colouring Quilts: Vintage China...

This is the first in a new series of posts that explores the easiest way to make a quilt truly your own: your choice of fabric. There may be lots of reasons that we are drawn to different fabrics for our quilts: the decor in our home, the favourite colour of the lucky recipient, or the season. Do you make any seasonal changes to your decor? As quilters it’s a fair bet that we have more quilts than we can display, so changing them with the season is a lovely way to rotate quil

Nicola

Sep 22, 2018

TUTORIALS

Wintersweet Tutorial: Part One...

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 example

Nicola

Jul 13, 2018

PATTERNS

From my Sketchbook: Sprig

EDIT: You can now buy the Sprig quilt & Posy cushion as PDFs here or as Paper Patterns here. The lovely people at Today’s Quilter have included my latest project in issue 38, which you can find on newsstands now or download digitally, here. The idea for this quilt has been sitting in my sketchbook for a while and is inspired by an old Laura Ashley wallpaper design called Cottage Sprig , which many of us - of a certain vintage - will recall from our teenage bedrooms. It had a

Nicola

May 25, 2018

PATTERNS

From my Sketchbook: Auriculas...

EDIT: You can now buy this pattern as a PDF here or as a Paper Pattern here. I have a new quilt in issue 36 of Today's Quilter this month, it's called Auriculas and was inspired by the Regency Auricula Theatre at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. Auriculas have enchanted gardeners for hundreds of years: their distinctive form and exquisitely dainty flowers with brilliantly-coloured, velvety petals are instantly recognisable, so I thought I'd share a little more about the history of

Nicola

Mar 23, 2018

PATTERNS

From my Sketchbook: Hearth & Home...

EDIT: You can now buy this pattern as a PDF here or as a Paper Pattern here. As an idealistic architectural student - many (many) moons ago - I fell in love with the Arts & Crafts movement. Established at the end of the C19th, the V&A describes it as "a movement born of...a concern for the effects of industrialisation: on design, on traditional skills and on the lives of ordinary people. In response, it established a new set of principles for living and working. It advocated

Nicola

Feb 6, 2018

TUTORIALS

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

Nicola

Jan 8, 2018

PATTERNS

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