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...

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...

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

Never was a workshop so poorly named. It was a gloriously sunny day when I taught a group of lovely friends from my local quilting group,...

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...

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...

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...

Are you ready for a summer sew-along? My lovely friend Andrea - from the Willow Cottage Quilt Company - and I will be making a Spellbound...

Back in December I was writing about the serendipity of snow and about things that happen just when you need them to. Well, a few...

EDIT: You can now buy this pattern as a PDF here or as a Paper Pattern here . As an idealistic architectural student - many (many)...

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...

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...

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...

EDIT: You can now buy this pattern as a PDF here or as a Paper Pattern here. My subscription copy of Today's Quilter arrived last week...

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...

Edit: All of the posts & tutorials from 2018's Spellbound Sew-along can be found here. Welcome to my first Petit Four tutorial: finishing...

There has been lots of thoughtful discussion on Instagram recently about making what YOU really love, combining projects and fabrics 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...

I promised you a detailed post on preparing for and exhibiting at the Festival of Quilts and here it is. I'll apologise in advance if...