Welcome to Jo Avery's Blog!
Pop Art Dandelion and a Quilted Jacket
I managed to (sort of) have two weeks off at the start of July. Running your own business from home means it’s hard to take a break without physically leaving home but I live in such a beautiful place that I don’t want to go anywhere else! So instead I try to avoid emails and …
15 year Blog Anniversary and the Alice Caroline Sew Along Festival
15 year’s ago today I wrote my first ever blog post! Huge thanks to all my blog readers who have joined me on this journey, for all or some of the last 15 years!! I remember so clearly asking my then teenage sons for help and we actually had such a fun time together setting …
A Forest of Poplars!
I’ve spent the last few weeks getting ready for my next online class for The Thread House Academy. It’s my first of this academic year and it’s Poplars! You can read all about the original Poplars Quilt, and it’s genesis, in this post here, and also the first batch of Poplar class samples I made …
Beech Canopy Quilt
I have a finished quilt to share today, one that I started about a year ago. This is Beech Canopy and it was inspired by looking up at the tops of my favourite beech trees from below in the spring. I love that fresh green colour and the way the sun sparkles through them. I …
Social Bite Village Quilt Drive 2024
Time for an update on donated quilts for the Social Bite Village Quilt Drive. This is actually the first one I’ve posted since December 2022! I took a lot of quilts at the end of 2022 as I knew my impending building work and house upheaval would mean I wouldn’t have space to store quilts …
Three Spring Cushions and their Template Packs
Back in the summer of 2021 I launched a series of block designs in collaboration with Crafter’s Companion. I wrote all about it here. These were packs of die sets that worked with their Gemini die cutting machines. Since then we have been planning a further collaboration to produce template sets for applique designs. It’s …
Supernova Stardust Quilt and other new Academy 2024/25 samples
Today we launched the second year of our Thread House Academy. The first year has been a wonderful experience for both students and us! And now we have a whole new programme of classes planned for 2024/25. I thought I would share my classes here. We have three themed terms and the first is ‘curves’. …
The Dream Birds Are Here!
The Dream Bird patterns have finally flown into view and can now be purchased as PDFs from my website here! Four years ago I launched my first PDF patterns with my first 4 bird applique patterns. Somehow these real life birds have now evolved into imaginary ‘dream birds’! I first started creating these back in September …
Temperature Quilts for 2024 and a Moxie upgrade!
I have temperature quilt projects to share and exciting news about the new Moxie XL! Regular readers will know all about my passion for Temperature Projects. You can read about my original Weather Bubble quilt here and since then I’ve completed a temperature embroidery and started (and then aborted!) a temperature crochet blanket. I’ve started …
The Hills Are Alive and Quilts of 2023
It’s that odd time of year between Christmas and New Year when time seems to be more elastic and when I traditionally post a review of all the quilts I’ve made in the last 12 months. Every year my quilt total gets less and less! In many ways I think this is a good thing. …