Innholdsfortegnelse for 85 i Today's Quilter

If you’ve found January a bit tough, as so many people do, then I hope the projects in this issue will give you a much needed distraction! The third in our Morris-inspired seasonal series, spring, is sure to keep you busy, and your mind off the daily tasks of life... who has time to vacuum when you can be sewing?! Designer Fi has filled it with delightful spring branches and blooms, plus several butterfly species (for all the lepidopterists out there). I think sewing a spring project is a lovely way to get through the colder months, while looking forward to sunnier days ahead. Nicola Dodd’s Block of the Month this issue is also reminiscent of spring days. And if you’d like to change it up a bit and make…

Cotton Beach Float away on a gentle, dreamy breeze with beautiful prints that are sure to inspire in Tilda’s new collection, Cotton Beach. Featuring an array of sea-inspired patterns on mesmerising coastal colours that blend with each other in perfect harmony, you can mix and match these glorious prints to your hearts content. With soft mauves, corals, teal greens, ocean blues and yellows that shine as bright as the sun, the range is made up of two main prints, Sea Mist and Coral, along with five beach shell blenders, plus a fabulous new design named Me and My Friend. “Great fun can be had personalising them with appliquéd clothes, hats and accessories and using them on projects such as pillows, bags, pin cushions, ornaments or even quilts,” says Tilda, “the…

Many modern machines include a Blanket Stitch in their selection of decorative stitches, and this works well around the tile designs. You need to set up a practice piece and try stitching round it to sort out strategies for getting around corners and negotiating curves. Machines vary in their stitches, so you need to get out the manual (oh, that old thing!) and follow any instructions for using the stitch pattern. My machine has several features that I find invaluable for Blanket Stitching, including the needle-down function and the knee-lift, so if you have these, try using them while you do your practice pieces. If preferred, a simple zig-zag stitch on the machine may be used to stitch around the designs. As a practice piece, first draw several similar shapes…

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…

mark dates You will need Green print fabric (hedge) – One (1) fat quarter Grey-brown fabric (railings) – Four (4) 1in x 21in strips Various fabrics (butterflies) – Six (6) 2½in squares Ivory fabric (background) – One (1) fat quarter Finished size 12½in x 18½in Notes ■ HST = half-square triangle. ■ RST = right side(s) together. ■ Cutting is listed under each unit heading. Set aside any scraps for future blocks. ■ For Nicola’s final quilt, you’ll need both blocks from each month to complete the final design. Making the railings 1 To make the railings, cut the following: ■ Four (4) 1½in x 12in and two (2) 1in x 6½in green print strips. ■ Four (4) 1in x 12in, two (2) 1in x 6½in and two (2) 1in…

LET US KNOW! Drop us a line – an email, letter, tweet or Facebook post – letting us know about your quilting. Whether it’s a new project, treasured heirloom, favourite fabric or imaginative mood board, we’d love to see what you’ve been up to and hear your stories! CHOOSING THE RIGHT... or wrong colours can make or break a quilt. That’s why we are excited to share with you this combination colouring in book/quilt colour planner. Whether you’re looking for the anxiety- and stress-reducing qualities of colouring in (something we all need these days), or want to choose colours and fabrics for your next make, but don’t want to buy anything until you know what colours work, then this supplement is just for you. Designer Lynne Goldsworthy has come up…

Lynne Edwards MBE is an internationally-known quilt designer, teacher and author. She has presented exhibits, classes and lectures in numerous locations around the world. Some years ago, Lynne began developing and teaching structured learning course for quilters teaching a wide range of basic skills. From this work came several books, including The Essential Sampler Quilt Book. She was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 2008 for services to Arts and Crafts. @lynnedwards_mbe…

You will need Dark pink print fabrics – Three (3) fat quarters Mixed print fabrics – Ten (10) fat quarters* Large scale pink print – 1¼yds Cream print fabrics – 3½yds** or thirteen (13) FQs Backing – 4yds Binding – ½yd Batting – 72in x 72in Templates – Fifty-two (52) HST template sheets Materials used ■ Fabrics: Grace by Brenda Riddle Designs for modafabrics.com ■ Batting: 279 Cotton Mix 80:20 from www.vlieseline.com/en ■ Threads: Aurifil 50wt for piecing and 40wt for quilting from www.aurifil.com ■ Basting: Odif 505 spray from www.odifusa.com Finished size ■ Quilt: approx. 64in x 64in Notes ■ Seam allowances are ¼in, unless otherwise noted. ■ Press after each seam and press seams open, unless otherwise instructed. ■ Press all fabrics well before cutting. ■ FQ =…

For many years, Alice Beasley has been making stunning figurative artworks from fabric. She says, “Back in the early 1990s, I was working as a lawyer and needed a refuge from the stresses of my job. I’ve always been interested in art and am fascinated by the Old Masters, especially Modigliani. As I looked at his elongated figures with their simplified features, I thought it was a form I could perhaps interpret in fabric, so that’s what I set out to do.” Coming from a long line of women who made things with their hands, frequently in textiles, cloth was a natural choice for Alice’s artistic medium. “For as long as I can remember I’ve done things like knitting, crochet and dressmaking. Though, no one in my family quilted, and…

“The third quilt in my Morris Seasons series started with the idea of Basket blocks in soft colours to suggest spring flowers. From there, I tried to think of all the signs that tell us spring is here, so the pussy willows, blossom and boxing hares were obvious choices. Finally, I added the returning cuckoos (anyone else still listen for them?) and three of our earliest emerging butterflies – large whites, common blues and brimstones. “This design uses some 8-point star blocks that are pieced with 45° diamonds using Y-seams. Although they may seem tricky to start with, take your time and work carefully and you’ll soon get the hang of them! It is, however, really important to pay attention to accuracy in cutting, marking, seam allowance widths and pressing…

Linda Clements is a leading technical quilting expert, editor and writer who, for 25 years, has worked on many fabric and 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, 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.…

“This curved pieced quilt is the ultimate stashbuster. The two usual shapes – the quarter circle and the core – have both been pieced from HSTs, adding even more fabrics to the pattern. With so many different fabrics in one quilt, you will see lots of different shapes coming and going, depending on the subtle change of value, as your eye travels around the quilt. When choosing the fabrics, look for different colours, textures and scales of print to keep it really interesting. I’ve kept the values quite close so there are no shocking steps between the fabrics, helping to blur it all a little. If you piece the units, this will make it easier to construct the quilt as you don’t need to mark the middle of the seams…

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. A regular Today’s Quilter contributor, Nicola now has a successful blog, where she enjoys sharing tutorials, and is a regular contributor to the Moda Bakeshop. www.cakestandquilts.com cakestandquilts @nicolajdodd…

SIGNS OF SPRING APPLIQUÉ TEMPLATES ACTUAL SIZE PLEASE NOTE: Appliqué Templates DO NOT include seam allowances. MARBLED BELLE BLOCK TEMPLATES ACTUAL SIZE PLEASE NOTE: Templates include seam allowances. REGENT STAR BLOCK TEMPLATES ENLARGE 200% PLEASE NOTE: Templates include seam allowances. EPP templates DO NOT include seam allowances. LADY OF THE LAKE HST TEMPLATE ACTUAL SIZE PLEASE NOTE: Templates include seam allowances. SET IN STONE APPLIQUÉ TEMPLATES ACTUAL SIZE PLEASE NOTE: Appliqué Templates DO NOT include seam allowances. DOWNLOAD THESE TEMPLATES FULL SIZE Visit our blog: www.gathered.how/ todaysquilter today! Thank you for making this project from Today’s Quilter. The copyright of the patterns in this magazine are owned by or licensed to Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited and are for readers’ personal use only. Please do not share them online (even for…

Popular designer and TQ regular contributor, Lynne Goldsworthy, has come up with 16 quilt layouts for you to colour in! Not only is colouring in known to reduce anxiety and stress (which is something we all need these days), it’s also a great mindful activity to do... with the benefit of helping in your favourite hobby – quilting! Yes, the 16 quilt layouts on the pages that follow are great as quilt colour planners: you can choose the perfect colour combination for your next project before buying and cutting up fabrics. So whether you are colouring in just for fun, or have a design in mind you’d like to test out on paper first, we hope you enjoy this exclusive supplement, created especially for you! *Calls from landlines will cost…

THE PATTERN BEACH SWIM TEAM Although it’s not quite beach weather here in the UK, it doesn’t mean we can’t dream of sunny days swimming in the ocean. To celebrate the launch on Tilda’s Cotton Beach fabric collection (see page 13 for more info), you can make either the cushion or quilt, or both, featuring sweet designs of different swimmers. To view the fabric collection or find out more about the patterns, visit www.tildasworld.com THE BOOK THE BIG BOOK OF FAVORITE SCRAP QUILTS If you save fabric scraps and keep beloved bits, this is the book for you! With 44 projects that highlight a host of well-known quilt designers, like Sharon Keightley’s design, Goose Crossing featured above, and include a variety of quilting techniques, skill levels and finished sizes, there…

Use a slightly thicker thread than usual or one (1) or two (2) strands of embroidery thread and a fine sewing needle like a sharps (appliqué) 8 or 9. If you choose thicker thread, you might have to use a larger eyed needle like a crewel embroidery size 7 or 8 for the task. Try to keep the stitches all the same length and evenly spaced (Fig 11). The size of each stitch is very personal – just relax and establish a rhythm so that your hand can find the length of stitch it is happy with. At the suggestion of a student in a class, I also tried stitching around the edge of the appliqué with a Herringbone Stitch, far quicker than Blanket Stitch! More importantly, it adds emphasis…

“There are many different quilt variations in the Lady of The Lake design, which is one of the classic traditional quilt designs. The blocks can have rows of HSTs on just two sides or on all four sides, as I have done here. The blocks can be made on point (where they are standing on their corner point) or straight, which is what I have done. The larger Half-square Triangle blocks can all be in one direction as I have done in my quilt, or the directions can alternate across the design. The smaller HSTs can all face in one direction or can change directions as they do in this quilt and can form pinwheels in the cornerstone blocks. As with so many of my quilts, there are lots and…

Based in California, USA, Alice Beasley has been making figurative textile artworks for over 30 years. Through the medium of fabrics, she creates realistic portraits of people and objects, finding colour, light, shadow and line in the patterns of cloth. Her work has been widely exhibited and is held in private and public collections. You can see more of Alice’s wonderful work on her website, where you will also find some short YouTube videos where she outlines her artistic process. www.alicebeasley.com…

Fi (rhymes with ‘me’) is a designer, maker and artist who’s been making things with fabric, needle and thread since childhood. She designed and made her first quilt to take to university in 1986 and has had designs featured in books and magazines. She recently launched Hobgoblin Cottage Designs to make her patterns available to a wider audience. When she’s not designing she can be found sketchbooking, embroidering, gardening and changing her hair colour. www.fibowman.com @fibowman…

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…

Skills, styles & techniques! Sew a pre-cut beauty with Pam & Nicky Lintott’s design • Discover top tips for sustainable stashing with Carole Lyles Shaw • Illusion curves made easy! *Please note, gift and contents may be subject to change…