Jo Avery – the Blog

The Moxie Report Part 1

About 10 days ago a pallet arrived at Shangri la Farm with all of this!! Yes my Moxie has arrived! This is the new long arm quilting machine by Handi Quilter and I am lucky enough to have one of the first in the UK.  You can read all about the start of my Moxie

With a little help from my friends

As I’m sure most regular readers are aware I run a small business, The Thread House, along with my two quilting friends Lynne Goldsworthy and Karen Lewis. Being a self employed crafts person can be quite a lonely business, especially during this current crises, so having friends to turn to and share any problems with

2020 in Quilts and more

It’s time for my annual round up of quilts made in the last year. And what a year! Not for the quilts, as there has been so few against my usual tally, but for all the changes and trauma that we have had to watch or participate in. It’s strange to think that last New

Virtual Class Samples

What a strange year. My teaching used to involve interractions with real life students and plenty of travel. Now I spend my time recording myself on my phone or teaching groups via zoom where I hear their disembodied voices asking questions from my laptop. Not all of this is bad as I really don’t miss

Aurifilosophy

Back in March, before the world went crazy, I received an invitation from Aurifil Thread to join their band of Aurifilosophers and become one of their certifed educators. The Aurifilosophy programme started a couple of years ago and is now being expanded beyond the USA with new Aurifilosophers appointed in Canada, Australia and the UK. 

Exciting News and an Update on The Schoolhouse!

Time to catch up with my Schoolhouse AND some exciting news I have to share about a new addition to my Sewing Room! First of all I need to fess-up about something and I’m just going to apologise right at the start as some of my dear readers are going to feel very disappointed with

Catching Up With My Temperature Quilt

It’s time to catch up with my ‘Weather Bubble’ Temperature Quilt as I am officially halfway through! I started this project just after we went into lockdown here in Scotland and I wrote all about it in this post here. This has turned out to be such an important part of my daily routine during

Thread Doodling Book Review and GIVEAWAY!

EDITED on 21st September: Congratulations to Marjory Bald who won the Giveaway! Commiserations to everyone else, but thanks so much for entering, and I hope you will all order the book anyway! Marjory I will contact you by email. Carina Envoldsen-Harris is a talened and proilific embroidery designer with a number of books under her

Folk Dance Quilt – the story

A few weeks back I told you about The Thread House Club and our Folk Dance Quilt. Since then I have finished my version of the quilt and caught up with my two partners, Karen and Lynne. Last week Karen came for a visit while on holiday in Scotland. We knew this was the perfect