Jo Avery – the 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

3 New Quilts and one is already a Prize Winner!

Back in January I finished 3 quilts. Now it’s March and I’m finally getting around to posting about them here! And one of them has already won a prize! I wrote about The Thread House Academy, our new online teaching platform, in my last post and this, followed by the Scottish Quilting Show in Glasgow

Wonky Curves and a Win

I’ve been taking a break from making large quilts this year and instead have been working on smaller projects and embroideries.  I’m enjoying exploring more of my favourite techniques (improv piecing, curves and applique) and slowing things down with some hand stitching. Towards the end of last year I taught my Embellishment evening class which

Festival of Quilts 2019 Report

Amazingly a week has already passed since this photo was taken! I am finally getting round to writing my Festival of Quilts 2019 Report post. Okay guys, sit tight, let’s get going, we have a lot to look at! Yes that’s me above being a steward for the first time at the Spotlight@40 gallery. If

Modern Crewelwork Aurifil Thread Collection

I am so excited to announce that I have a new Aurifil Thread Collection!  This is my third collection box and this time I’m concentrating on their gorgeous 12wt wool threads. It will be officially launched at Festival of Quilts next week but we actually already have stock available to purchase right now at our

Spotlight at 40 Quilt

Settle down everybody for today I have quite a quilt story to tell… I should have written this post 3 weeks ago. The quilt was finished and photographed and I had started to write the blog post and was waiting for photos to load when I went back to check a little detail and discovered

Pop Art Bloomfield Mini Quilt

The Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles is celebrating it’s 40th birthday this year and they are marking this in many different ways. One of them is the 2019 Specialist Group Challenge. One of the antique quilts from the guild’s collection, the Edwin and Mary Bloomfield Coverlet, has been chosen to be reinterpreted by members.

World Wide Whispers Quilt

Last year I was asked to take part in an international group quilting event called World Wide Whispers.  Have you heard of Chinese Whispers Quilts before? I had and had always thought it an intriguing idea. I will explain exactly what this involves if you keep reading. This was called ‘World Wide Whispers’ because it

QuiltCon 2019 Report

I can’t believe it is already two weeks since I was in Nashville! Since I got back I’ve been busy catching up with quilt deadlines and being ill with what I suspect was a ‘plane lurgy’, so it has taken me longer than I expected to write up my 2019 QuiltCon report post. The photo

Festival of Quilts 2018 Report

Yes… that IS me and Kaffe Fassett! This year my Festival of Quilts adventure began (at 8am!) with an appearance on the Sewing Quarter.  And if you read my last post you will already know that the other guest that day was none other than the legendary Kaffe Fassett – one of my biggest design