The Thread House Club and Folk Dance BOM

I have all sorts of news to share here today. First of all the business sale of myBearpaw, the Edinburgh shop and studio I’ve been running for the last 9 years, has now concluded and the new owner Catriona is getting to grips with everything and ordering lots of new fabric! You can follow along with Catriona’s IG account @mybearpaw here or on the existing business Facebook page here. Meanwhile I have started a new FB page for Jo Avery here.

I wrote about my initial plans back at the start of the year here. Catriona came forward very quickly after I announced my attention to sell and we had been working on the transfer right up to the pandamic hitting. I would have posted an update in early April when we were due to conclude the sale but of course everything got put on hold due to lockdown. However with things slowly returning to normal here in the Scotland we were able to return to our plans and the sale went through two weeks ago.

I’m sure I am not the only one who has been doing a lot of reflection during this period and have come out of it (though we are not really out of it, we are just adjusting to the new normal) with a desire for real change. I started the year with some pretty concrete plans but I find I have changed my mind completely about what I want to do.  I am still mulling this over but I will be back to you with more in a month or two.

But let’s talk about my other news!

During lockdown Lynne Goldsworthy returned to the fold and re-joined Karen and I in the Thread House. This has brought us to a whole new level or energy and creativity! Karen and I had been planning to launch a subscription club with a BOM (Block of the Month) quilt for a while now and had pencilled in this September to launch it. But we just couldn’t get the design right. And then Lynne came along and like a magic godmother sprinkling fairy dust on us. Before we knew it the Folk Dance BOM quilt was born!

And we think it is an absolute stunner!

We announced the whole thing a month ago (yes I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now…) with these computer mock-ups.

We are each doing a different colourway version using solids from three different manufacturers. I chose Makower Spectrum Solids but only realised that one of the shades was being discontinued after our launch. This meant I have had to slightly re-colour mine since then. I also couldn’t get hold of all the fabric until recently so I have got a little behind with making my blocks.

Of course speedy Lynne has actually finished her version! And doesn’t it look amazing…

Lynne chose Kona solids for her version and Karen chose Figo Fabrics Colourwork Solids. She is doing very well with her verison and is almost there…

Inspired by folk art symbolism and using a whole host of different techniques Folk Dance is an unusual and striking modern sampler quilt.

Club members will receive a pattern every month for one large block. In addition they will receive a pattern every other month for one of the filler sections. We will be making one filler section every month but there are only six different designs, so each is repeated. We will also provide instructions for finishing the quilt top and suggestions for quilting. Finished quilt measures 60” x 84”.

We have been delighted by the response to our quilt so far, with so many positive comments, including from our fellow quilt designer friends. We thought it would be fun to get them to try out some of the blocks using different fabric so that we could show off the quilt in a variety of styles.

This gorgeous version of my Little Red Rooster block is by Nicholas Ball @quiltsfromtheattic.  Becasue I was waiting for all my solid fabric to arrive I tried out this block using Liberty Tana Lawn (see top of page), I am now hand quilting this for a cushion.

I also tried out my hare block ‘Meadowsweet’ in patterned fabric (bottom right). We were delighted to see these beautiful versions by Krista Hennebury @poppyprint (middle right) and Judy Newman (left), along with Karen’s solid version.

I think this block is proving to be one of the favourites!

Amanda Castor @materialgirlquilts and Angela Pingel have chosen to start with Lynne’s ‘London Town block.

We’re just loving seeing all these versions pop up on Instagram and there are plenty more due soon!

If you are interested in seeing more of these check out the #flokdanceBOM hashtag on IG or sign up for our Thread House newsletter here, where we share weekly updates (at present!).

So what else is involved in the Thread House Club other than the BOM? The full membership includes:

• An exclusive enamel club badge (there will be a new design every year) mailed to your home address
• Access to a private Facebook group where you can view specially created video tutorials of the techniques used in the BOM. This is also a place to ask questions, get advice, and connect with the other members of the Club
• Access to a Quarterly Quilter’s Question Time panel discussion with your three hosts.
• An annual organised swap exclusive to club members.
• Meet and greet sessions with Karen, Lynne and Jo at physical events like Festival of Quilts and QuiltCon
• 10% discount and priority booking for Thread House Virtual retreats.
• 10% discount on Thread House online classes (coming soon!)
• 10% discount off all Thread House physical merchandise and patterns

You can read more on our website here along with an extensive FAQ section. Plus we also have stockists from around the world who will be selling kits for our three solid palettes along with their own custom versions! Check out the stockist page here.

I will be offering a full kit for my Makower Spectrum Solids version from my website here (more on this soon).

Annual Club Membership launches on Friday August 7^th. The BOM starts on Monday October 12^th and runs for a full year from the start to the end of the BOM.

Price:  £70 per year. 15% early bird discount on all bookings before 1^st September 2020 (which brings the price down to £59.50).

I’ll leave you with another stunning version of one of the blocks. This is Karen’s Desert Rose made by Nicole Calver @snipsnippets who is working her way through the blocks using this gorgeous new Ruby Star Society collection.

I’ll be posting more about this soon, once I’ve sewn a few more blocks myself, but I hope this has whetted your appetite and maybe you’ll decide to join us? I hope so!