Innholdsfortegnelse for 56 i Today's Quilter

One moment we’re basking in the cosiness of Christmas, enjoying the glow of fairy lights, spending time with friends and family and staying safely tucked away in the warmth of our homes. The next, it’s back to the reality of the new year – I’m tempted to keep those twinkling lights up all year round as a reminder of good times to come. It’s always a little bittersweet when the festivities are over and life returns to normal, so what do you do once the tinsel’s been packed away and the tree’s dropping its needles? Unpack your fabric, rescue your sewing machine from wherever it’s been shelved to make space for the dining table, and start sewing! Carolyn Forster’s cover quilt is sure to lift your spirits with its mix…

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE GIFT! ANYTHING GOES! You can never have too many scrapbusting projects up your sleeve to make a dent in your stash when it starts to overflow. With 2020 just around the corner, it’s time to get thinking of some resolutions – and what a better way to kick off the year than to resolve to work your way through all those scraps you have stored up for ‘one day’? We’ve collated some of the most versatile and stash-friendly designs, from a log cabin variation, to star blocks, to a selvedges quilt, to help you along the way, no matter how small or misshapen some pieces may be. Packed with projects, tips and book recommendations so you can get to the very bottom of that basket,…

Pack up your troubles At the end of September, a friend and I went to the Shetland Wool Week for its 10th anniversary. As an ardent knitter and also a very active quilter, I felt new knitting bags were needed by both of us for our quilty adventures, and these were the result! My friend, Steph, is absolutely delighted with hers. We both feel very smart at our events and workshops! I hope you like them. Penny, via email Of course, Penny, we absolutely love them! They’re delightful and practical too. Creature comforts I decided to make my sister-in-law a unique and special quilt for her 50th birthday. My brother advised on the design – dogs, as they are crazy about their two. We visited all the family and photographed…

Carolyn Forster has been sewing, making patchwork and quilting for well over 20 years, and teaching for many of those years. You can find her quilts in a range of books published by Landauer Publishing (USA) and Search Press (UK). She blogs at www.carolynforster.co.uk or you can follow her stitching inspiration on Instagram. To get in touch with Carolyn about her classes and talks, you can email her at: carolynforster@hotmail.co.uk www.carolynforster.co.uk Carolyn Forster Quiltingonthego…

“I’m going to put the blame for all these curves on Jenny Dixon, who, while she was Acting Commissioning Editor for Today’s Quilter, asked me to design a quilt inspired by a cable knitting pattern. Thanks, Jenny! In fact, it was a challenge I was (fairly!) glad to take on, as I had been doing a series of Essential Guide articles for the magazine on curved piecing, so it was an opportunity to practise what I was preaching. It took quite a while to get the templates right for the centre cable design, but I think it works well and would make a good standalone design repeated as an edge-to-edge pattern without borders. I also have to thank Yael Kaufman for generously supplying me with all the gorgeous fabrics. I…

You will need ■ Forty-eight (48) 10in squares for the blocks* ■ Neutral background fabric – 2¾yds ■ Contrast border fabric (aqua) – ½yd ■ Backing fabric – 4yds ■ Batting – 70in square ■ Binding – ½yd fabric Finished size ■ 62½in square Fabrics used ■ Handmade and Little Snippets by Bonnie & Camille for Moda. Notes ■ Please read through the pattern before you begin, assuming a ¼in seam allowance and a fabric width (WOF) of 42in. Nicola recommends making a test block. ■ * Nicola combined prints from two (2) Layer Cakes for her quilt, choosing the prints that offered the best opportunities for fussy-cutting. Sorting the fabrics 1 Before you start cutting, you will need to choose three (3) contrasting prints for each of the sixteen…

“On-point settings can create unusual arrangements – here we look at the maths and techniques needed to achieve this striking look.”– Lin Clements ON-POINT ARRANGEMENTS There are times in patchwork when we want a block or a quilt design to be ‘on point’ – that is, turned 45-degrees so the corners are pointing north, south, east and west. This sort of on-point arrangement is achieved by adding triangles. Fig 1 shows three blocks treated this way. Any block can be arranged on point. This not only gives a new look to the block, but increases the size overall. A whole quilt design can also be presented on point and in this case, two different triangles are needed – a ‘setting’ triangle, to fill in the edges of the design, and…

■ Always use small, very sharp (preferably micro-serrated) scissors to cut out the fabric shapes as these will give you the best finish. ■ Victoria uses quilting gloves, as she finds that it gives her a little more control. She also uses an extension table to keep the work flat and a Teflon sheet can also give you a smoother glide. ■ When sitting at the sewing machine, your arms should be at right angles when stitching. ■ Before starting to sew, use Bondaweb to attach a scrap of fabric onto scrap background fabric with interfacing or batting underneath (whichever your project specifies). Practise stitching to get you into the flow and to ensure that your machine is threaded properly and your stitch tension is correct. Use the same thread…

A memory quilt is simply a quilt that holds special recollections for its maker and/or recipient. The materials, methods and design are all personal choices, so whatever is meaningful goes. Old clothing can be a wonderful way to incorporate cherished memories into even the most basic quilt. It’s also a lovely way to create a tactile keepsake for someone you have lost. New fabric can also portray an essence of important times and places, while images printed directly onto fabric allow photographs to be added to a quilt as well, though these may have a limited lifespan. Applying unique appliquéd shapes depicting your home, family and pets is a straightforward way to add a further layer of meaning. Symbols, such as a distinctive emblem or sign, can also be used…

1 Lay a piece of fusible web (paper side up) over the gull templates and trace one (1) large and two (2) small gulls with a sharp pencil. Roughly cut the gulls out with paper scissors leaving a small allowance all round. 2 Place the gulls paper side up on the reverse of your chosen fabrics and iron to fix in place. Cut the gulls out as carefully as you can on your traced pencil lines. 3 Peel off the backing paper. If this is tricky, scratch the middle with a pin and peel it away from there.…

All the projects in this booklet have been featured in these books by C&T Publishing, available in the UK from Search Press. For more inspirational patchwork and quilting books by C&T Publishing turn to page 40. www.ctpub.com www.searchpress.com Carolina Chain is from: Addicted to Scraps: 12Vibrant Quilt Projects by Bonnie K Hunter Follow Bonnie’s easy-to-use Scrap User’s System to turn leftover strips into usable fabric. £19.99 Straits of Mackinac is from: String Frenzy: Strips, Strings & Scrappy Things! by Bonnie K Hunter Take those small leftovers from other projects and sew them into a dozen gorgeous quilt patterns. £23.99 Better Together, Selvedge Spools, Aunt Elsie are from: Strip Quilts Secrets: 5 Techniques, 15 Projects by Diane D Knott Learn the basics, explore techniques and practise projects. £23.99…

“The Straits of Mackinac are a series of narrow waterways in Michigan, USA. Every year, the Grand Hotel hosts a needle art seminar, and I’ve been lucky enough to teach there on multiple occasions. After my last visit to Mackinac Island, the main star block in this quilt was featured under the same name in Quiltmaker Magazine’s Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks vol 14. After making just one block I knew that I had to keep sewing until I had enough for a full quilt. For quilters familiar with the EZ Quilting Tri-Recs Tools, you may also use these for trimming the string-pieced centre triangles and star points to the shapes required in lieu of paper piecing.”…

Victoria Carrington MINDFUL APPLIQUÉ Stitch the final charming design in our seasonal cushion series. Put your appliqué skills to the test with this delightful, little robin on page 73. Nicola Dodd A MODERN TWIST Nicola takes inspiration from the iconic Patchwork of the Crosses in this machine-pieced beauty, using vibrant Moda fabric. See page 50. Lynne Goldsworthy SCRAP-FRIENDLY Who doesn’t love a project that’s perfect for showing off some of your most treasured scraps? Find our glorious cover quilt on page 22.…

TIME TRAVEL Vintage makes Have you built up a stash of treasured vintage prints from your favourite decades? Perhaps you love 1960s bark cloth or 1940s floral prints, but you’re not sure how to use up all those small pieces in your collection. Fat Quarter Vintage takes each decade from the 1930s to the 1970s and suggests different projects ranging from draught excluders, needle cases and aprons to notebook covers and baby bibs. Looking for some last-minute handmade gift inspiration? There’s over 25 ideas to inspire that will evoke the style of days gone by and make gifts that are truly one-of-a-kind. Fat Quarter Vintage, Susie Johns, £12.99 www.thegmcgroup.com STAR STRUCK LAUNDRY BASKET QUILTS Drawing from her collection of antique quilts, Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts has created 17…

Last month, I began my column with a quilting story from my childhood where my big sister taught me how to sew. Jane was a very keen dressmaker and made clothes for the whole family, including beautiful evening gowns for our glamorous mother who liked to ‘entertain’, as they called it in the 70s. Each year, I would spend a few weeks of my school holidays staying with Jane, who was newly married with a home of her own. I have very fond memories of the hours spent in her spare room with her as she ran up a new dress or two on her Jones sewing machine, while I leafed through back issues of Women’s Weekly to find the toy patterns she had saved for me. I loved making…

For the most economical use of the fabric, it is best to cut fabric strips to the same depth as each of the templates and then cut out the individual shapes by rotating the template alternately 180-degrees along the strip. There are many pieces, so if you cut them all at once, store them in plastic bags, labelled per column. The A unit for Column 1 is the trickiest area to get right in the quilt, so it’s a good idea to practise the unit first on some spare fabric. For Border 3, you could cut the long Fabric 2 strips a bit longer than the sizes given, in case your quilt measurements are different. Once the borders are pieced, check the length against your quilt’s length and trim if…

■ When the Japanese began making needles, they named a suburb of Tokyo ‘Redditch’ so that they could legitimately print ‘Made in Redditch’ on the packets. ■ An overseas manufacturer of hypodermic needles sent one to Redditch claiming that it was the smallest in the world. It was sent back to the manufactures with a Redditch needle inside it! ■ During World War II, Mill workers in Paisley raised enough funds to buy a Spitfire which was gifted to the nation. The plane was, of course, named Paisley. ■ There is a 150-mile stretch of land on the coast of the Antarctic named after the Coats family. ‘Coats Land’ was discovered by the Scottish National Arctic Expedition (1902-1904), made possible with funding from Major Andrew Coats and his younger brother…

“Manor Cross is a machine-pieced quilt inspired by Lucy Boston’s Patchwork of the Crosses – one of the most treasured designs of the 20th century. The design includes some of the fussy-cutting elements that make Lucy’s endlessly adaptable block such a favourite for fabric lovers. You can read more about Lucy’s work in Diana Boston’s book The Patchworks of Lucy Boston and see the quilts by appointment at the home they were created for, The Manor at Hemingford Grey. I had enormous fun choosing fabric for this quilt. I mixed two complementary Layer Cakes by Bonnie & Camille for Moda, cherry picking the best prints for fussy-cutting and saving the blender prints for the outer portions of the block. Striped fabric, like the fun measuring tape print, work particularly well…

“This quilt is made up from two basic blocks alternated to create a secondary pattern. The blocks around the edge are simplified to create a third overall design. All the half-square triangles are made using foundation paper piecing templates, which make twelve HSTs in one go and avoids the need for trimming, which can normally take quite a while. The other element to the quilt is the use of economy squares. So, although the quilt has quite a lot of work in it, there are only two simple elements to master, meaning that this quilt could be attempted by a relatively new quilter. If you create your own version of this quilt, have fun with the colour placement to create a striking overall design. I used some stunning fabrics designed…

Linda Clements is a leading technical quilting expert, editor and writer who, for 25 years, has worked on many fabric and craft titles for F&W Media and other leading craft publishers. Among the many quilters who have trusted Linda to ensure their books are both accurate and reader friendly, are Lynne Edwards MBE, Susan Briscoe, Pam & Nicky Lintott, Pauline Ineson, Mandy Shaw and Lynette Anderson. Linda’s own book, The Quilter’s Bible, is the must-have guide to patchwork, quilting and appliqué, and includes everything she has learnt working with the industry’s best designers. For Today’s Quilter, Linda is working with the team to select practical and creative techniques. She will then go in-depth, exploring the methods, taking them from the basic premise to their full technical and creative potential. You…

Victoria Carrington is a pattern designer, teacher and textile artist based in Shropshire, UK. She is relatively new to sewing, having only taken it up after the birth of her first daughter. Going from a busy job as an Events Manager to being at home all day was a bit of a shock to the system, so she stumbled upon sewing as a bit of therapy! Since then, Victoria has progressed from making other people’s designs to creating her own, pattern and instruction writing, teaching at local workshops and appearing as a guest designer on Sewing Quarter. www.victoriacarrington.co.uk Victoria Carrington Designs @victoriacarringtondesigns…

The V&A’s Ann West Coverlet is a wool patchwork and appliqué piece made in 1820 by Ann West, possibly in Wiltshire. As well as religious imagery, it contains many panels depicting 19th-century characters and occupations, including what appear to be portraits of local people. Find out more at www.collections. vam.ac.uk/item/O134051/coverlet-west-ann In 2018, BBC Radio 4 made a programme called Moving Pictures which takes an in-depth look at the V&A’s Ann West Coverlet. You can listen to this 28-minute programme at www.bbc. co.uk/programmes/b09ly6rk Interested in making your own memory quilt? Deb recommends Modern Memory Quilts: A handbook for capturing meaningful moments by Suzanne Paquette (C&T Publishing, 2019). The book contains practical projects to show readers a variety of ways to create personalised quilts, such as incorporating motifs, photographs or favourite clothing.…

After completing a degree in fashion and textiles, Janet worked as a freelance designer for many years. Janet also creates lively designs for quilts and stitcheries that combine her unique joint appliqué templates and free-motion drawing technique. As an experienced speaker and teacher, Janet regularly host talks and workshops focusing on the design process and creative techniques. She’s also written five books, including Freya and Fred, Hearty Good Wishes, A Field Guide, Home Quilt Home and The Wordsmith. You can get in touch with Janet by emailing her at: janet@janetclare.co.uk www.janetclare.co.uk Janeteclare…

Narrow strips of fabric, leftover bits from recently finished projects, pieces gifted from friends – these are the best parts of the scraps for me. I’m the same way with the Thanksgiving turkey. While some like the breast meat only and throw out the rest, I find the best parts are those that remain after the big meal is over, as I think of absolutely everything I can make with every spare morsel. Besides, the scraps cost just as much as the original yardage that they came from. I love to combine strings together with recognisable traditional patchwork elements. String units mixed with other patchwork pieces add a dynamic, eye-catching feature in a scrap quilt! What is a string? Historically, the term string refers to a piece of fabric considered…

Cut aqua/turquoise and neutral strips into random widths from ¾in to 2in for string-pieced units. Strips needed will get shorter as you cover the base triangles, so any length of strip can be used. Cut enough to get going; cut more variety as needed. This unit may be paper pieced, or you may use Tri-Recs Tools (by EZ Quilting) for rotary cutting. The centre triangle for the sashing unit may be cut from strip sets made from pairs of 1½in aqua strips stitched together. Strip sets will measure 2½in tall. Neutral side triangles may also be cut from 2½in strips using the tools.…

“I love the positive/negative aspect of this traditional block, and any quilt that has chains running through it is a definite favorite in my book. Because I already saved strips in the 2in width required for this terrifically fun and scrappy quilt, I was sewing in no time. Processing scraps at the end of any project is just part of the routine for me. I don’t want a box of random and untamed scrap sizes, so I set to work during the clean-up process to cut anything less than half a fat quarter into strips in a variety of usable sizes. Having the scraps already cut – ready to go in various widths and with strips on hand in a variety of colours – makes it easy to dive right…

Modern Memory Quilts: A Handbook for Capturing Meaningful Moments By Suzanne Paquette Transform treasured clothing into heirloom quilts with 12 quilt projects that are both meaningful and stylish. Suzanne Paquette shares the emotional, creative and technical aspects of memory quilting through colourful storytelling and photography. Celebrate love, provide comfort and honour your family’s heritage. £24.99 Quilts with an Angle: New Foolproof Grid Method & Easy Strip Cutting By Sheila Christensen In this book you’ll find 15 quilts all made from angular, straight-edged shapes, including triangles, hexagons, trapezoids, parallelograms jewels, diamonds and strip-pieced blocks. Learn how to measure, rotary cut, and machine piece 60-degree shapes, then start designing your own angled quilts. £24.99 The Quilter’s Negative Space Handbook: Step-by-Step Design Instruction and 8 Modern Projects By Sylvia Schaefer Be inspired by…

THE BOOK LITTLE HOUSES Celebrated Japanese quilt artist, Yoko Saito, is back with a heart-warming collection of house-themed projects, inspired by her travels around Europe and Scandinavia. The 20 new projects – which include bags, wall quilts, sweet sewing storage and more – will show you how you to bring tiny towns, city skylines and sweet single dwellings to life in Ms. Saito’s signature combination of fabric and stitch. If you hurry, there might just be time to add it to your Christmas wish-list! Translated into English for the first time, Yoko Saito’s I Love Houses is available to purchase now. For more details visit www. shopmartingale.com THE FABRIC OLD ROSE Using elements from two of the most popular fabrics throughout Tilda’s 20-year history, the Old Rose collection sees the…

“This is a great scrap-buster of a quilt. However, to give it some consistency and make the stitching process work for you, I stitched the blocks in pairs as it makes better use of the quick stitch technique for the QSTs. Each block uses one print and a low volume fabric. For ease, you could use the same low volume fabric across each of the blocks. Or, if you have a large-scale print that you love, you could make all of the blocks in that to show it off! This quilt could easily be made in a coordinating colourway or themed fabrics, but here, I chose to use lots of different prints and colours for an exciting design. The block used in this design, Triplet, lends itself to a couple…

Linda Clements is a leading technical quilting expert, editor and writer who, for 25 years, has worked on many craft titles for David & Charles and other leading craft publishers. Among the many quilters who have trusted Linda to ensure their books are both accurate and reader friendly, are Lynne Edwards MBE, Susan Briscoe, Pam & Nicky Lintott, Pauline Ineson, Mandy Shaw and Lynette Anderson. Linda’s own book, The Quilter’s Bible, is the must-have guide to patchwork, quilting and appliqué.…

Forge Mill Needle Museum closes over the winter but reopens in January. In 2020, they will be holding an exhibition inspired by Coventry Cathedral from the Midlands CQ Group as well as an exhibition called ‘Fabric of Life’ from the Threaded Together Quilters. Textile Artists Sandra Meech and Jamie Fox both have solo exhibitions in 2020. Paisley Mill Thread Museum is open from Monday-Saturday, however volunteers are only at the museum on Wednesdays and Saturdays – they provide an extra dimension when exploring the displays that is invaluable. My thanks to volunteers who guided me through the archive and shared their experiences of delving into Paisley’s thread history.…

Nicola Dodd has been quilting since 2010 after chancing upon a quilting website and becoming hooked. Having designed all her working life – as an architect and as a garden designer – the temptation to start designing quilts was irresistible and she established her pattern company, CakeStand Quilts, in 2015. She now has a successful blog, where she enjoys sharing tutorials, and is a regular contributor to the Moda Bakeshop. www.cakestandquilts.com cakestandquilts @nicolajdodd…

Lynne Goldsworthy from Lily’s Quilts is a modern British quilter. She has been sewing since she was a young child and, on a business trip to America, she fell in love with American quilts and tried her hand at the craft. Then life and family happened and she didn’t pick up another quilt for a few years, until she discovered Flickr, blogs and online shopping. She immediately ordered some pre-cuts, started her own blog and has never looked back. www.lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk @LilysQuilts @lilysquilts…

You will need ■ Cushion front and back – ½yd ■ Scraps of fabric – to include various shades of green, red, white, brown and black ■ Batting – 20in square ■ Binding – 7½in x WOF ■ Bondaweb – 20in square (or scraps equivalent) ■ Scrap of interfacing – 2in square ■ Cushion pad – 18in square ■ Templates (see Templates section) Notes ■ Read pattern in full before starting. ■ Press all fabric well before starting. ■ All templates are drawn backwards. ■ Dashed lines on templates denote where pieces overlap. ■ WOF = width of fabric. ■ RS = right side. ■ WS = wrong side. ■ RST = right sides together. ■ WST = wrong sides together. Cutting out 1 From the cushion front and back…

Master FPP with Jo Avery’s Art Deco blocks • Play with prints in a medallion quilt by Julie Taylor • Try Quilt-as-you-go and make Carolyn Forster’s scrappy strips design • Appliqué a Nautical Garland for Janet Clare’s Spoondrift sew-along Your gift! Sashiko templates and pattern book designed by Susan Briscoe Issue 57 on sale 24th December NEXT ISSUE On Sale 24th December *Gift and contents may be subject to change…

“I do have a soft spot for gulls, even though they can be irritating when you’re sitting on the beach trying to eat your fish and chips in peace!” You will need ■ Starfish Pearl (background) – 6in x WOF ■ Ships Dark Ocean – 12in x 3in ■ Seaweed Sky – 27in x 3in ■ Seabirds Sky – 18in x 3in ■ Seabirds Pearl – 11in x WOF ■ Stripe Sand – 10in square ■ Fusible web for appliqué – 8in square ■ Appliqué templates (see Templates section) Finished size ■ 12in square Notes ■ Before proceeding with any cutting, please read through all the instructions. ■ Plan carefully and consider the orientation of your prints, the appliqué templates and any sections you may wish to fussy cut. ■…

I’m sure we’ve all heard “Oh, it’s just scraps.” But have you ever considered that those scraps cost you just as much per yard as the original fabric that they came from? That in itself should give you pause before throwing them out! Scraps are precious little gems of fabric, often imbibed with memories of past-makes, that can go on to make the most glorious quilts themselves. There are many formulas for scrappy quilts. You may subscribe to the ‘kitchen sink’ variety – tossing every print and colour into the mix and separating out by dark and light for contrast. Or perhaps you prefer a more ordered approach? Introducing a common element such as a single background or repetition of a single colour for a particular block element, can help…