Stitch Gathering 2017 workshops and news round up!

Our workshops for this year’s Stitch Gathering Retreat have just been announced and I thought I would share my two new class samples with you.

As you can see from the mosaic above there is a fabulous selection of classes on offer this year from our new guest tutors, Mandy Munroe, Lucy Brennan and Sarah Ashford, as well as returning regulars Trudi Wood, Fiona Calvert and Julie Rutter. You can read all about our teachers here.

Every year I find it harder to come up with a new class to teach. This will be our fifth event and I have taught at least 2 classes every year. In the end I decided to do just a little more improv this year!

It turns out this will be the fourth year in a row that I have taught an improv technique for the morning class – so far we have had Freehand New York Beauty, Patchwork Portraits, 3D Improv Dresden Plate and now this year – Improv Flowers!

This will be a condensed version (very condensed!) of the 8 week evening class I sometimes teach for my Improv Meadow Quilt. Initially this quilt was begun in a workshop with Anna Maria Horner a few years back and is very much inspired by her work.

In this 3 hour Stitch Gathering class I will be showing students a couple of different improv flower and leaf blocks and also how to make bias stems. We won’t have time to applique and leaves but…

…in the afternoon I will be teaching Appliqueing Leaves and Circles, so some people might want to spend the whole day with me!

Or just come along to the afternoon class and make a start on this cute panel (which I will turn into a zippy pouch as soon as I get hold of a zip!). This is a version of the applique class I taught at the Thread House Retreat where I show students clever ways to prepare fabric shapes for applique. You can read about all this year’s workshops here.

The Stitch Gathering  is now fully booked but we usually get a few cancellations every year so if you would like to join the waiting list then email me through the SG website.

Speaking of the Thread House Retreat, we have just announced the launch date for next year’s retreat tickets! You will be able to book from 2pm on Friday 23rd June (2 weeks today!).
Check out all the info here.

I’ve recently been making another quilt with gorgeous Kaffe Fassett Spring Collective fabric for Today’s Quilter magazine (you’ll be able to see it in August). I made this matchstick quilted zippy pouch with some of the scraps. But I still had quite a bit of fabric leftover and as I like to share the love I am currently giving away 14 Fat Quarters PLUS this zippy pouch on my instagram account! So if you have an IG account why not pop on over and enter, giveaway closes on Monday night, just search for @mybearpaw.

I promise to balance things up with a blog giveaway soon too!

Lastly I wanted to share a letter with you that I received from Acorns Hospice.

Do you remember the Words Quilt that was made from all the amazing ‘ticket words’ that were brought to the Stitch Gathering 2016? You can read about them here. They were made into two quilts one of which was donated to this wonderful place. The other quilt is still being hand quilted by the amazine Lynsey. I would apppeal again for any suggestions for a permanent home for this last quilt when it is finished. Please leave a comment below or email me.

Thanks so much to everyone who took part in the ticket project that year!