Hello ....

Hello Everybody.

At the last meeting I was the idiot who suggested it might be fun to have a series of posts here introducing ourselves, so here I am writing the first one.

 

My name is Sue and I am a quiltaholic.  That covers it really, but just in case you’re interested, I think a little more information might be in order.

I certainly did not grow up surrounded by craft, and my first project was an apron, started during needlework lessons at school, which I never even managed to finish.  I have dabbled in knitting from time to time, and used to enjoy doing crochet, but I don’t do either of them nowadays.

I used to like traditional styles of quilts and fabrics, such as this one, which is my first ever quilt

  

or this, which is my version of a Braid quilt

but over the past year or so I have changed and now I love the same type of designs but made in modern colours.

 

         

  

  

I’m very lucky because I don’t work so I can play with my sewing machine(s) almost every day.  I have three machines, Baby Brother who comes to meetings, workshops, etc with me; Big Brother who is a straight stitch semi-industrial machine with a larger throat and Big Bertha, my longarm machine.

I was once asked what my most invaluable quilting tool was and why.  I think they expected me to say it was my sewing machine or my rotary cutter, but actually I think it’s probably my computer.  I use the computer to design quilts, write patterns and also to drive my robotic longarm machine. 

I am lucky to have my robot by the way, since I am totally unable to do freemotion quilting.  There are not many of these systems in the UK, so here is a picture of Big Bertha,

and if you visit this post on my blog you can see a very short video of her at work, 

I love designing quilts and I have had designs published in patchwork and quilting magazines,

  

and have also had a book called Pick Four published.

I had no background in writing or publishing, (other than writing my blog,) when I got this crazy idea that I could write a book, but luckily for me the publishers Martingale & Co seemed to think I could do it.

I have also been asked where I get my inspiration.  That’s an interesting question, and I wish I had an interesting answer, but the truth is that I don’t know, ideas just seem to pop into my head from nowhere.

I blog at Quilt Times, and I would love for you to come and visit me over there.  I try to have some fun there, and for a few years I ran a Christmas Quiltalong 

with virtual friends (and some real ones too) all sitting down and sewing on Christmas projects.  One year I also ran a mystery quilt, and another year I issued a Christmas challenge to every one.  I also ran a year long quiltalong where participants were all making Lone Star quilts (a sneaky way of getting myself to start and actually finish one).

  

I really must get that quilted now.

My perfect day would be to quilt all day, with someone in the background doing all the housework, cooking etc for me.  It’d be good if they could also bring me coffee and chocolate at regular intervals.  Well, I can dream, can’t I?

Thanks for reading this.  I'll see you next Saturday at our Sew-In.

Show and Tell

Our January sit and sew day was an inspiring start to the New Year! We spent most of the day just sewing and chatting and having a nosey at what everyone else was sewing - perfect! At lunchtime we had our usual show and tell with some fabulous quilts. Helen's quilt above is based on the Giant Vintage Star tutorial by Jeni Baker and makes great use of fat quarters in a quick to make quilt.

Here's another of Helen's

Beautiful hexagons from a layer cake and the free 'Hexagon Park' pattern on Moda Bake Shop -just stunning!

Jane's quilt top uses simple blocks - squares with a triangle pieced to two corners, in a lovely gentle colour palette.

Sue brought along a great scrappy colour block quilt  above and her take on the 'Low Volume' quilt many of us made last year, shown below

Liz had also finished her Low Volume quilt and the off centre spiral quilting looked great!

She was working on this stunning star quilt and trying to decide how to quilt the stars. We all liked the backing fabric and will be visiting the store where she bought it soon!

I loved this applique design made by Sheila but she said she wasn't keen on the technique used - raw edge applique!

Quiltsue of 'Pick Four' fame brought this stunner from a Kim Bracket design. I think I spot more that 4 fabrics in this one Sue!!

June is one of our newer members and sews quilts for Project Linus. Here's a fun idea for children made from scraps of novelty prints:  

And a brilliant frog quilt:

Margaret who also joined us recently had pieced this scrappy quilt. 

And although not a modern quilt we all admired the embellishments on this crazy patchwork:

Last but not least another beautiful scrap quilt but I can't remember whose it is - sorry! If it's yours please add a comment below!

We also spent a bit of time talking about and looking at Pinterest for those not familiar with it, and discussed how we can use Facebook, this blog and new (to some of us!) Instagram etc. Please 'like' our Facebook page, look out for our tag #yorkshiremodernquilters on Instagram and visit our Pinterest boards. Check back here for some guest blog posts from our members in the near future!

Hazel

Show and Tell

Earlier this month we had another lovely sit and sew day with 16 of us spending the day sewing and chatting, sharing projects and enjoying a delicious 'Fuddle'! Our show and tell was as spectacular as ever with stunning quilts and works in progress. Janet and Jackie treated us to an explanation and demo of crumb quilting with lots of examples to admire. The photo above is of Janet's finished Trip Around the World started on a previous SASD and made entirely of 2" squares of red, white and blue fabrics.

Here are some of the crumb and scrappy blocks on display:

Davina also brought her Trip Around the World to show:

And here are more fantastic quilts from our show and tell:

Sewing machine cover

Pumpkin Table Runner

Medallion Quilt from a pattern in 'Love Patchwork and Quilting'

Whacky Houses

I'm afraid I didn't get photos of all the quilts so apologies to everyone I missed. You can see more on our Facebook page where Liz is keeping us updated with news, photos and events. If you have photos to share you could add them to our Flickr page.

Our next SASD will be on January 18th, 2014 at Deepdale Community Centre Bosoton Spa. I'll be posting more details in the New Year. So until then

Merry Christmas!

Hazel

Crumb Piecing on Saturday 7th December

Our next Sit and Sew Day is this coming Saturday at Deepdale.

This month I will be showing lots of examples of crumb quilting with some block patterns for you to try if you wish.

If you want to join in just bring some scraps to play along!

We are also having a bring and share lunch as well as the usual awesome show and tell!

Here are some examples of crumb blocks:-

 Also a lovely example of a crumb quilt.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Janet x

Sit and Sew Day News

Hello! Hazel here. Sorry for the long silence but I've been busy enjoying the summer and I'm afraid I've been neglecting my blogging duties! The Harrogate Quilt Show starts tomorrow and that signals the start of the Autumn term is imminent!

We'll be meeting more frequently from now on - about once a month. The first will be on Saturday 21st September at Deepdale Community Centre,  Boston Spa just south of Wetherby and a stone's throw from the A1. We'll meet from 10am to 4pm and you can either work on your own project or have a go at making a quilt similar to Andrea's quilt pictured above.

For those of you planning to stock up on fabrics at the show the requirements for Andrea's quilt are:
For a small version (30" square approx) you'll need 11 pieces of fabric 13" square in neutral prints or solids and one 13" square in a bright colour. Andrea added sashing and a border to hers so I guess a metre for the sashing and half for the borders should just about do.

For a larger version  (60" square)  you'll need 33 neutral 13" squares and three in the bright fabric. You would easily get three 13" squares from a half metre of fabric.

Please let me know if you are planning to come to the SASD as space is limited at Deepdale and we don't want to run out of tables!

Enjoy the show if you're going. Hopefully I'll post lots of photos in a few days time.

Hazel