Jo Avery – the Blog

Countdown to Christmas!

Proper thinking about Christmas is still a few weeks away for me, but we’ve already started some of our Christmas workshops at myBearpaw studio. Yesterday we did Christmas Angels and had a lovely day creating pretty handmade ‘dollies with wings’. Here is the angel I made along with the rest of the class. Her name

Gossip Girls

Issue 7 of Love Patchwork and Quilting is currently dropping through subscriber’s letter boxes (though not yet on the news stand), so I think it is now safe to share my skittle dolls with you. The photo above is from the magazine, I always love the way they style things. And they do look like

Angels and Snowmen

Phew! Things have been a bit hectic around here recently and therefore a bit too quiet on the blog. So I thought I would do a bit of a round-up post to tell you all what I have been up to. First of all I have been doing a lot of classes, including a new

Christmas Crafts and a special Mini Retreat Day!

We’ve been feeling very festive around here this week as we prepare for a bumper season of Christmas Crafts! Not only do I have some new Bearpaw Christmas Craft Classes to share with you, but we’ve also gone and organised a new Stitch Gathering Mini Retreat Day!  We just couldn’t wait another year to do

Getting ready for Fat Quaterly Retreat!

I’m off to London a week on Thursday for the second Fat Quaterly Retreat and looking forward to it even more than the last one! I think this is because I am more relaxed this time and less nervous about meeting everyone and what to expect. I am taking part in another Sample Swap, this

I think I’m going to need more socks!

I was a very lucky girl and got 3 awesome craft books for Christmas. I love getting a new book full of projects that I just can’t wait to try! I hope to share projects from all of the books with you over the next few weeks, but first up, I’m going to play with

A hearty Goodbye to 2011…

… and Hello to 2012! I am just hoping it will be an improvement on 2011 which was a pretty pants year as far as I was concerned, but it did have lots of good points too. And look at all the quilts I managed to actually finish! I am very impressed with myself. Of

Meet Sally!

I’m busy thinking up new classes to teach next year, and one of the subjects I’d like to tackle is a simple rag doll. I did make up Annalise earlier in the year from scratch, and lovely though she is, I felt I could improve and simplify her. So I am pleased to introduce Sally!

Royal Wedding Giveaway!

As some of you may have noticed, we are having ‘a bit of a do’ in the UK on Friday. Yes, it’s the ROYAL WEDDING!! I am really looking forward to Will and Kate’s forthcoming nuptials, and I want to share this with you all, especially my international followers, as I don’t want you to

Hand quilting with Lynz and Julie

On Saturday I had the great pleasure of a visit from not one, but two blogging friends! Here is Lynz from Domestic Light and Magic and Julie from Forest Poppy (with me in the middle). Don’t we look happy? That is mainly down to the yummy chocolate cake we are devouring! Julie made the most