Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 21 - 2017 i Today's Quilter

As I give the project pages for this issue a final check before they go to press, I’m struck by how “fabric-centric” many of the designs are. For most quilts we’re required to cut hundreds of small fabric pieces. However, the projects this month employ larger pieces, putting the print and palette of each fabric centre stage. We all have fabric in our stash that we want to remain intact, so our cover star design by Carolyn Forster might be just the project for us. Carolyn selected gorgeous vintage-style florals for her hexagons; I’m sure you have something equally as striking in your own collection. Pam Lintott’s Seventh Heaven quilt is also the perfect way to showcase a fabric, either using a Dessert Roll as Pam has, or cutting generous…

THE 60-DEGREE TRIANGLE is one of the most versatile shapes in a quilter’s arsenal of techniques. As well as creating a quilt that demonstrates the striking effect of simple equilateral triangles, it can also be used to form diamonds, hexagons and tumbling blocks, to name just a few. Pam and Nicky Lintott have explored these ideas in a number of beautiful quilts over the years, and were keen to share their findings with Today’s Quilter readers! We visited Pam at her shop, The Quilt Room, to look through the many quilt designs she has. Laying out all the quilts to view together, it soon became apparent that as always fabric choice and placement also play a huge role in achieving the desired effects. The dark and light fabric in the…

“With this quilt I put a new twist on a classic by using large-scale hexagons to create big, bold flowers. The scale of these blooms is great for showcasing the wonderful bark cloth fabric, which I sourced both new and second hand. The fabrics in the main quilt are from the Outback Wife Collection by Gertrude Made for Ella Blue Fabrics in Australia. This is a great way to buy new vintage fabrics, and I think the oversize hexagons really showcase these gorgeous prints. “The new vintage-style bark cloth works really well with fabrics that are true vintage, and there are great sources of these original fabrics on eBay. The ones I used for the binding were from Suzie’s Vintage and Handmade shop. Keep a look out for vintage fabrics…

Brenda has written two other historic quilt books: Dear Hannah, in the Style of Jane A Stickle and Susanna Culp 1848. When she saw Jane Stickle’s quilt in Richard Cleveland and Donna Bister’s book, Plain and Fancy, she was captivated by the geometry of Jane’s blocks. At the time, she was teaching Amish, Japanese and Baltimore styles of quilting. With the help of Barbara Brackman’s publications on block design, she was able to establish that only 30% of the blocks were based on traditional designs, the remaining 70% were unique to Jane and her quilt. In 1992, Brenda and her grandson Ben travelled to Vermont to examine the quilt in detail. She spent three mornings tracing the blocks in the quilt and three afternoons tracing Jane’s life. In October of…

“I love this project as it involves two of my favourite sewing techniques – fabric embellishment and manipulation. What can be done with a strip of fabric never fails to amaze me. In creating the Cathedral Windows element, fabric is cut on the bias grain allowing a curve to be formed from a straight edge. This technique can be used on bags, quilts, cushions or whatever imagination allows! This beautiful cushion is also embellished with raw edge appliqué and triple stitching for the stems. ”…

CATHEDRAL WINDOWS EMBELLISHMENT TEMPLATE ACTUAL SIZE STILL WATERS BLOCK 1 TEMPLATES ACTUAL SIZE STILL WATERS BLOCK 2 TEMPLATES ACTUAL SIZE Includes seam allowances RULE BRITANNIA APPLIQUÉ TEMPLATES ENLARGE BY 200% PLEASE NOTE: Appliqué templates DO NOT include seam allowances. VINTAGE FLORAL GARDEN HEXAGON TEMPLATE ENLARGE BY 200% Includes seam allowances BOM APPLIQUÉ PATTERNS ENLARGE BY 200% APPLIQUÉ PATTERNS AND TEMPLATES ENLARGE BY 200% DOWNLOAD THESE TEMPLATES FULL SIZE Visit our blog: www.todaysquilter.com  today! Thank you for making this project from Today’s Quilter. The copyright for these templates belongs to the designer of the project. They work hard to create projects for you to enjoy, so please don’t re-sell or distribute without permission. Please do not make any part of the templates or instructions available to others through your website…

Do we love our 60-degree triangle? You bet we do! Over the years we have turned to the Triangle Ruler time and again, it never fails to assist and inspire us. Here, we have given you five of our favourite quilt designs, which use the 8½in 60-degree Triangle Ruler. As always, we use our favourite brand, Creative Grids. They are totally accurate with lovely fine lines, and they have a built-in non-slip facility so always stay in place without slipping. With the quilts featured here, there is no need for lots of instruction as each pattern shows clearly how to use the ruler. It is one of those tools you can’t imagine not having in your tool kit. We have also featured a couple of quilts from our new book,…

You will need • One (1) Jelly Roll OR forty (40) 2½in strips cut across the width of the fabric • Border fabric – ½yd • Binding fabric – ½yd • 60-degree triangle ruler • Backing fabric – 60in square • Batting – 60in square Finished size • 51in x 53in Sorting your strips 1 Divide the Jelly Roll strips into thirteen (13) sets of three (3) strips. Each set of three strips will make one hexagon so you can choose how you want them to look. We tried to have two strips of similar colours for the outside of the hexagon and a light or dark for the centre strip in each set. Be guided by what is in your Jelly Roll. One (1) strip is spare. Cutting out…

“There are some quilts that just make you want to smile and this is one of them. The colours are bright and joyful and, although it looks complex, the pieces just fell into place. We just loved the vibrant star set against a black background. We had 12 strips from our Jelly Roll left over and we did make a pieced back for this quilt. You don’t have to do this, but we have included the instructions just in case. If you don’t opt for a pieced back then we know those 12 strips won’t go to waste.”…

Pam & Nicky Lintott DELICIOUS DESSERT If you have never tried a Dessert Roll pre-cut before, then we highly recommend it (page 76). It’s like double helpings of Jelly Roll – yum! Carolyn Forster VINTAGE STYLE Carolyn’s choice of fabric always inspires us, and this month we’re especially smitten with the beautiful florals on page 22. Mandy Shaw FLYING THE FLAG The Union Jack has never looked so good (page 62)! Giving it her own inimitable twist, Mandy adds flower power to spread the love.…

TREAT YOURSELF! The Ultimate Collection by Tula Pink from Aurifil The Ultimate Collection comes in a custom, gold-embossed case and contains forty-five small spools of 50wt thread hand-selected by Tula Pink. The threads are in stunning shades and coordinate particularly well with Tula’s fabric collections, but would be a marvellous addition to any sewing room. £156 www.aurifil.com/the-ultimate-collection CREATIVITY & SCHOOLS Sign here Would you like to see more creative subjects being taught as part of the national curriculum? Join in with The Campaign for Creativity by stitching your signature and bringing it to one of the forthcoming Knitting & Stitching Shows or The Festival of Quilts. A signature cloth will be presented to the Education Secretary. Sign online at www.change.org ALL THE FUN OF THE CIRCUS NEW FABRIC! Add some…

How did you get into crafting? “I’ve always felt comfortable making and designing, and always just had a go, sometimes out of necessity. When I bought my first house, I purchased an old Singer sewing machine and made full length lined curtains, covers for a second-hand sofa and even a duvet set!” What do you love about quilting? “I initially started patchwork and quilting purely to learn about quilting techniques to feed into my textile artwork, an interest in bag-making/ design and the mysterious ‘world of wadding’! I never imagined that patchwork would appeal to me as much as it does. I also love the precision required in piecing. It’s really quite wonderful that given the recipe of a quilt block, we can all make something bespoke because of our…

“When I say cut and paste, I do mean Must that: photocopying from a book... cutting it up and sticking bits in place.” Christmas has come and gone, and another memory added to the Christmas Past collection. Through the years one of the main hurdles in our house was the drawing of the annual Christmas print, which inevitably caused some tension in the atmosphere while my husband attempted to deliver the goods on time. Always worth it, as many collected these A4 printouts through the years and have them in a file or box to keep forever. So how hard it was for me to take up the challenge these last three Christmases and produce something that was acceptable but inevitably different. My approach, as with my quilt-making, was to…

“Pond Stars – Still Waters – is a play on Modern Traditionalism. Stars are one of my favourite quilting motifs, and it was a lot of fun to play with scale and layout to show off the great values of colour in the Pond collection by Elizabeth Hartman. They are clean and bright, and really lend themselves to updating older motifs. I especially love the big stars and how they almost seem to interlock with the borders. This quilt is very easy to put together but looks deceptively hard: my favourite kind of work to do!” – Nichole Ramirez, Robert Kaufman Fabrics…

Pam Weeks is the Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell Massachusetts. Her research into the Jane Stickle quilt, in conjunction with the Bennington Museum, has provided invaluable information about Jane’s personal circumstances and how the quilt came to be. Pam herself started making quilts as a result of the craft revival inspired by the American bicentennial in 1976. Like many of her peers, she made traditional quilts with the limited fabrics available. By the mid-1980s she was designing her own work and developed as an art quilter, heavily influenced by the work of Nancy Crow. “In 1991 I meandered down a different avenue when I took a class on reproducing the antique quilts I loved but couldn’t afford, and since then I’ve been hooked on…

“The simplest patchwork design can be given extra panache with 3D accents and prairie points are a fun way of achieving this, as well as an eficient method of using up any leftover fabric.” FOLDED FABRIC ACCENTS Folding fabric to use as three-dimensional accents is fun, creative and great for using up fabric scraps. There are many methods you could use to create 3D accents for your work, and in this article we will focus on two methods to create flowers and roundels. • Gathered prairie points. • Double-fold prairie points. We will also re-cap briefly the methods for making prairie points. Refer to last month’s Essential Guide for much more on prairie points. SIMPLE PRAIRIE POINTS Here’s a quick recap for making a single prairie point. 1 Fold a…

Sara Impey has won several prizes for her wonderful text-based quilts. Her work is often shown in prestigious textile exhibitions, and she has pieces in the Victoria & Albert Museum Collection and The Quilters’ Guild Collection. I was delighted to have the opportunity to chat to Sara about her specialist technique of machine-stitched lettering. When did you start quilting? “I made my first quilt in 1971 at the age of 17, it was a hexagon bedspread top (unquilted) made from my mother’s dressmaking scraps. I had never even seen a patchwork quilt, but I found stitching the patches over papers easy, very creative and so enjoyable. I’m self-taught and it was many years before I learnt how to do the quilting and how to bind a quilt – skills I…

“We created this design using flip over corners, which we love. Simply mark the square with a fold just before sewing and, with the help of lots of chain piecing, the quilt speeds together in no time. The choice of background fabric plays a big part in this design and we chose some country fabrics on a light background for our quilt. Try a selection of bright fabrics set against a dark background to create a totally different effect. With seven blocks across and seven blocks down, this was one of our easiest quilts to name! We used a Dessert Roll, which is a roll of 20 5in wide strips cut across the width of the fabric. Alternatively, you could dip into your fabric leftovers as this quilt is a…

PURPLE-PIXIE FABRIC & CRAFT We have moved! Visit our new bigger shop! More fabric, more space, more choice. A lovely day out in the Garden of England. The Hop Farm Family Park, Maidstone Road, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6PY. FREE Parking. purple-pixie.co.uk PAULINE’S PATCHWORK Pauline’s patchwork is a family run business offering quality cotton craft fabrics. We run a wide selection of patchwork, quilting and textile workshops. Our business also provides a long arm quilting service, offering bespoke edge 2 edge quilting designs paulinespatchwork.co.uk 01305 261022 COAST AND COUNTRY CRAFTS & QUILTS Cornwall's specialist Patchwork Shop stocking beautiful books, linens, magazines, patterns & fabrics. coastandcountrycrafts.co.uk HOMETOWN We have a whole world of fabrics to tempt you at Hometown, 62 High Street Rochester, ME1 1JY 01634 838880 hometownrochester.co.uk 28 Queens Road Craig-y-Don…

Once piecing squares and rectangles with 90-degree angles has been mastered, often the natural progression for a quilter is to attempt triangles. Triangles, in particular 60-degrees, open up a new world of creative quilt patterns, which also include diamonds, hexagons and more. These may seem daunting if you’re yet to try these new shapes, but you will find many inspiring patterns of this kind, and techniques on how to achieve them, within this supplement. What is a 60-degree triangle? As you may remember from geometry classes, all internal angles of a triangle add up to 180-degrees. A 60-degree triangle is also known as an equilateral triangle – meaning all three side lengths and corner angles are the same; 60-degrees. A protractor can be used to measure the angles of a…

“So many spectacular designs can be created with the 60-degree triangle. To create this quilt, we’ve used just about every inch of a gorgeous French General Jelly Roll. The pattern is created by sewing the triangle units together into half hexagon units, they are then combined into vertical lines, which means there are no set-in seams required to join the hexagons. It is a really simple quilt to make, but you do need a bit of space to lay out the design before sewing it all together, as you don’t want to make a mistake. You’ll also be working with bias edges and, although you need to press regularly, remember that it is gentle pressing only! We chose the blue floral fabric from the Jelly Roll for the border, which…

You will need • One (1) Jelly Roll OR forty (40) 2½in wide strips cut across the width of the fabric* • Light fabric – 1½yds OR sixteen (16) assorted 3in x WOF strips • Border fabric – 1¾yds • Backing fabric – 68in x 72in • Batting – 68in x 72in • 60-degree triangle ruler Finished size • 60in x 64in Notes • *Spare Jelly Roll strips can be used for binding Sorting your strips 1 Sort the Jelly Roll into sixteen (16) dark strips and sixteen (16) medium strips. The eight (8) remaining can be used for the binding. Cutting out 2 From the light fabric cut sixteen (16) 3in wide strips across the width of the fabric. 3 From the border fabric cut eleven (11) 5in strips…

You will need • One (1) Jelly Baby OR twenty (20) 2½in wide strips cut across the width of the fabric • Background fabric – 4yds • Binding fabric – ½yd • Backing fabric – 72in x 84in • Batting – 72in x 84in • Creative Grids 60-degree triangle, which measures at least 8in triangles Finished size • 66in x 76in Cutting out 1 From the background fabric, cut as follows: • Sixteen (16) 4½in strips across the width of the fabric. • Re-fold the remaining fabric lengthways (approx. 70in) and cut two (2) strips lengthways 6½in wide and two (2) strips 10½in wide. These will be trimmed to size later. 2 From the binding fabric, cut seven (7) 2½in wide strips across the width of the fabric. Making the…

THE QUILT SUNDANCE World-renowned quilter Rita Verroca is known for her heritage-inspired patterns using traditional hand appliqué and hand quilting techniques. Her playful arrangements keep your eye dancing and draw you in to the lush scenery they depict. In Sundance, above, blooms and birds, pineapples and pomegranates bask in the warm glow of the summer sun. Rita’s work is taking its own trip this spring, visiting the Nadelwelt international needlecraft show in Karlsruhe, Germany from 5th-7th May (www.nadel-welt.de). THE FABRIC MARRAKESCH Revel in the hustle and bustle of Morocco’s lively city with Gütermann Ring a Roses’ new fabric collection. Ornamental prints express the vibrant scents, intricate architecture and stories of the city, evoking strong feelings of wanderlust within us. The dusky pink of the medina under the hot North-African sun,…

QUILTING EXHIBITIONS As Good as it Gets: Exquisite Welsh Quilts from 1921-1939 Until 4th November, Wales An exhibition showcasing one of the most important periods in Welsh quilting and featuring quilts from a number of collectors highlighting the work of Welsh quilters, who worked under the sponsorship of The Rural Industries Bureau (RIB) in Wales. During the time of its sponsorship, some of the finest Welsh quilts ever made for the luxury markets of London were created. The Welsh Quilt Centre, The Town Hall, High Street, Lampeter, SA48 7BB www.welshquilts.com Threads: Celebrating Creativity in Historic and Contemporary Quilts Until 4th June, Devon Don’t miss this opportunity to see quilts old and new at Torre Abbey Historic House and Gardens in Torquay. The Threads exhibition explores quilts and coverlets from The…

You will need • Background fabric for inner square and binding – ¾yd • Coordinating fabric for appliqué, behind the windows, and borders – ½yd • Backing fabric – ½yd • Contrasting fabric for piping – one (1) fat quarter • Lining fabric – 19in square • A4 sheet of double-sided fusible web • Medium weight interfacing – 14in square • Batting – 19in square • 2mm piping cord – 1¾yds • Tear away stabiliser • Easily removable fabric marker • Transfer paper – optional • Template plastic or thin card – optional • Three (3) buttons for the back • Cushion pad – 18in square Finished size • 18in square Fabrics used • Makower Scandi 2 Mistletoe and two shades of Makower Linen Texture. Cutting out 1 From the…

HELP!   Should I use a specific thread for working gathering stitches? Try this… You don’t need a special thread, just one that won’t snap easily. I tend to use a polyester thread and use it doubled. Take the thread you plan to use, double it and then try to break it by pulling very firmly. If it doesn’t break it will be fine to use. You could use a linen thread, which is normally very strong, but going to the trouble of finding this thread each time could become a chore. The colour of the thread used is irrelevant, as it won’t show on the finished piece. HELP!   When making prairie point flowers my “petals” often end up looking uneven and I get raw edges showing. How can…

Start with something small as it can be disheartening to tackle something you won’t finish. You can see the results of small pieces immediately, which allows you to try things out to see what you do and don’t like. Think about the size and style of the letters. It’s easier to work with upper case letters as they are all the same height, so fit within grids and between parallel lines. Also think about the spacing of the letters and words. You can place letters and words closer together than you might expect. Leaving large gaps between lines of text creates a stripe-like design. If you want your text to be legible consider the contrast between fabric and thread. You need to use light thread on dark fabric or vice…

Birds and birdsong are very much in evidence at this time of year, with the dawn chorus one of the nicest ways to start the day. The humble blackbird has a special place in my heart. When a movement catches my eye through the window of my sewing room, it’s often a little blackbird hopping around on the grass outside. Something about the compact black shape with its bright yellow beak against the green background is so appealing to my eye. Apparently, Jonathan does not share my love of blackbirds as it turns out he hasn’t taken a single photo of one! So instead we’re treating you to a whole host of our other Shangri La Farm feathered friends, from goldfinch to a bullfinch. This month’s block features blackbirds among…

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I’m definitely having a “back to school” moment inspired by this supplement. Transported through time to my old maths class, I can still see Mr McGregor patiently trying to impart the wisdom of the protractor to a room full of restless teenagers. Maybe if he had used examples as striking as the quilts in this supplement my concentration and test scores would have been different! With the guidance of Pam & Nicky Lintott, the subject of the 60-degree triangle is far more enthralling. It’s amazing how versatile and surprising this simple equilateral shape really is. The addition of clever rulers to help us achieve the kind of accuracy so tricky with templates and standard rulers mean that we can spend less time measuring and more time choosing the perfect fabric…

You will need • One (1) Dessert Roll OR twenty (20) 5in strips cut across the width of the fabric • Inner border fabric – ⅜yd • Outer border fabric – 1½yards • Binding fabric – ½yd • Backing fabric – 67in x 79in • Batting – 67in x 79in • 60-degree triangle or a Multi-Size 45/60 triangle ruler Finished size • 57in x 69in Sorting the strips 1 Divide the Dessert Roll strips into ten (10) dark strips and ten (10) light strips. If some dark strips have to be allocated as lights that is fine as this will create a secondary design of larger darker triangles within the pattern. Cutting out 2 From the Inner Border fabric, cut six (6) 2in strips across the width of the fabric.…

You will need • One (1) Jelly Roll OR forty (40) 2½in strips cut across the width of the fabric • Background fabric – 3yds • Binding fabric – ½yd • 60-degree triangle ruler, which will measure 8½in triangles Optional pieced quilt back • Backing fabric – 4¾yds • Twelve (12) leftover Jelly Roll strips Finished size • 62in x 76in Sorting the strips 1 From your Jelly Roll choose the following: • Seven (7) Colour 1 dark strips (red). • Seven (7) Colour 2 medium strips (aqua/blue). • Seven (7) Colour 3 medium/light strips (green). • Seven (7) Colour 4 light strips (yellow/orange). • Save the remainder for the optional pieced back. Cutting out 2 From the background fabric, cut four (4) 8½in wide strips across the width of…

“Tumbling Blocks is such a traditional design and we love it. This quilt featured on the front cover of our book Antique to Heirloom Jelly Roll Quilts. In the book we used an antique quilt for inspiration and replicated it using a Jelly Roll. The antique quilt we used for this piece belonged to Rachel Cross of Creative Grids and she very kindly handed it over to us so we could photograph it. Her antique quilt was absolutely stunning and we really like the way our quilt turned out. We used quite a clever technique for cutting this quilt and although there are a lot of seams to piece, it does go together very easily.”…

“Hexagons always look great and these have the added advantage of being striped. The quilt takes only twenty (20) 2½in wide strips (sometimes called a Jelly Baby) plus background fabric and goes together quickly and easily. We’ve chosen subtle creams to create a sophisticated-looking quilt, but it would look equally good with bright colours and a coordinating background fabric – maybe even set against a black background. “We didn’t use a specialist ruler for cutting our half-hexagons, but you do need a 60-degree triangle, which you will need to mark with some masking tape to make sure you are always cutting on the correct lines. We hope you enjoy this pattern. Have fun.”…

Picnic Time Using the 60-degree 12½in Triangle Ruler, find the instructions to make this striking design in Pam and Nicky Lintott’s new book, Jelly Roll Quilts in a Weekend. Honeycomb Find this pretty design in Jelly Roll Quilts in a Weekend. Creative Grids Non-Slip 60-degree 81/2in Triangle Ruler (Ref. CGRT60) £15.95 This ruler will make triangles up to 8in finished size. Creative Grids Non-Slip 60-degree 121/2in Triangle Ruler (REF. CGRT12560) £18.95 This ruler will make triangles up to 12in finished size.…