My Dandelion Clock quilt is finished and ready to share! This all started when I designed a block for the Summer Sampler 2019 using my Freehand Foundation Piecing technique (tutorial available here). I thought it looked a bit like the quarter of a dandelion clock (a VERY abstract interpretation of a dandelion clock!). I enjoyed making …
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 …
I love a bit of improv, or ‘playtime in the sewing room’ as I like to think of it, so when Nick Ball of Quilts From the Attic asked if I would join the book tour for his new book ‘Inspiring Improv’ I said ‘yes please!’ Published by Lucky Spool, Inspiring Improv is a technique …
A lot of my time is spent coming up with new designs for quilts and new designs for classes and sometimes both things at once. I often turn my magazine quilts into new workshops (usually due to student’s requests) but with a full-time teaching studio and three annual retreats I am still always searching for …
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. …
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 …
I’ve had a bit of time away from quilting deadlines since Christmas and this has given me some space for experimentation. This started when I needed a Christmas present for a neighbour and so I stitched a couple of panels of scrappy improv for a pouch. I used up the odd left over class sample …
I have a quilt finish and it is only 11th January! In fact I finished this a week ago but as it’s for a gift I have been waiting to post about it. This is a very long running WIP which I can trace back (thanks to this wonderful blog archive) to the summer of …
My working life is roughly divided into four parts: MyBearpaw Studio and Shop Stitch Gathering Retreat The Thread House Retreat Quilting/Sewing Patterns for publication I always joke that I’m part of the gig economy as I need to run at least four businesses to survive! Actually I am only partly joking and sometimes I can …
This year’s Pantone of the Year colour is Ultra Violet and as usual the lovely Rebecca and Sarah have organised another Quilt Challenge! I entered this for the first time last year and had so much fun that I thought I would try again this year (and also I really like purple!). You can see …