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British Sew-a-Row: Raining Cats & Dogs

Nicola

May 16, 2022

British Sew-a-Row: Raining Cats & Dogs

Welcome to week one of the British Sew-a-row. Before I introduce you to my row, Raining Cats & Dogs, let me remind you of our summer sewing schedule: 16th May - Raining Cats and Dogs with...me - Machine Piecing and Dresden Blocks 30th May - Conversation Starter with Lou Orth - Foundation Paper Piecing 13th June - Royal Row with Yasmeen K Branton - Needle turn hand applique 27th June - Afternoon Tea with Jo Westfoot - Foundation Paper Piecing 11th July - London, Baby! with Son

Spring has sprung...

Nicola

Apr 25, 2019

Spring has sprung...

...the bird is on the wing. Or busy nesting by now, I should think! If you're doing a little nesting yourself, or making a quilt for newlyweds, I may have just the thing: a new quilt in issue 48 of Today's Quilter called Nesting Birds. EDIT: You can now buy the Nesting quilt as a Paper Pattern here or a PDF Pattern here Designed as a traditional frame quilt, the central motif is composed of pieced hearts surrounding an embroidered monogram and this is surrounded in turn by ga

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

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,

Sticking my beak in...

Nicola

Oct 2, 2017

Sticking my beak in...

I had an email from one of my lovely customers, Jessica, this morning. She's been making my To Skye quilt and was having a few problems making the Tystie's beak. As it's one of the fiddlier parts of the pattern I thought a quick photo tutorial might help. Well, it was that or washing the kitchen floor ;-) I'm sure you share my priorities... First prepare your pieces: mark a placement line on the 2½" x 10½" background piece using the small template from your pattern. Please no

Simple Hand Quilting Ideas...

Nicola

Jul 25, 2017

Simple Hand Quilting Ideas...

A warm welcome if you've joined me from the marvellous Moda Bakeshop. Here, as promised, are my favourite tips for those of you considering hand quilting your Woodruff Quilt. Or any quilt, for that matter. I love hand-quilting and find it very relaxing. I particularly enjoy the transformation of three separate layers of fabric - feeling their weight draped over my palm - to one continuous piece of quilted fabric, which somehow takes on a life of its own, feeling lighter in m

Lightbulb moments...

Nicola

Mar 18, 2017

Lightbulb moments...

I was catching up with Edyta Sitar's fabulous YouTube channel, Quilting Window, the other day. Firstly, a little about Edyta: she's a prolific quilter, designer, author, product innovator and teacher. That last word is very important, because her ability to explain challenging techniques with clarity and warmth makes her one of my favourites. I've taken all of her Craftsy classes and watched the series of brilliant tutorials she made for The Fat Quarter Shop. The latter are c

Bookish...

Nicola

Mar 16, 2017

Bookish...

Our prompt for #igquiltfest today was books. I love books. Really LOVE them. They've been a life-long passion and, luckily, one that my husband shares. I daren't count how many we have between us: if it was too big a number I'd be worried about buying more...and that would be awful. Every brief flirtation with a new hobby is accompanied by a frenzy of inspirational book buying (and some serious eye-rolling by my Mum) and as quilting seems to have 'stuck' my shelves are groani

Notions...

Nicola

Mar 7, 2017

Notions...

Are you taking part in the Instagram Quiltfest? It's been masterminded - and I don't think that's too strong a word - by Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side. There's a daily theme for posts throughout March and quilters from all over the world have been sharing pictures with the special hashtag #igquiltfest. One of the prompts was 'Your Favourite Notions' and as I gathered together all the equipment I use regularly I thought it would be a really good topic for a blog post. Clock

So much fabric, so little time...

Nicola

Aug 27, 2016

So much fabric, so little time...

So how on earth do you choose just the right fabric for a project when there are so many - endless - possibilities? If you read my last post you'll know that it was an internet search for fabric that lead me to start quilting in the first place. I wanted something that combined pale duck-egg blues & greens for a new Garden Room we were building and, on that occasion, the answer was to make it myself. And that's often how I start: with a specific room or piece of fabric in min

Binding a Quilt...

Nicola

Feb 14, 2016

Binding a Quilt...

Every quilter has their own 'preferred method' of binding a quilt and there are lots (and lots) of really good tutorials available in books, magazines and on the internet. One more can't possibly hurt, can it? So - for what it's worth - this is mine... For most quilts I start by cuttting 2½" x WOF (width of fabric) strips. For mini quilts or quilted placemats & coasters I might reduce that to 2". Most quilt patterns will tell you how many strips to cut, but if you've alter

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