Tuesday 29 September 2009

New BaZooples range plus new templates

Bazooples patchwork fabric Brand new in we have three fabrics from the Springs Creative Bazooples patchwork fabric range, by Vicki Schreiner Designs. These are really cute fabrics ideal for baby quilts, featuring the BaZooples - Lester the lion, Elsie the elephant, Gertrude the giraffe, Zach the zebra, Ollie the emu and the flutterbugs!

Also new in this week are the EZ quilting multi-shape patchwork templates in diamond, triangle and hexagon shapes. Sturdy and transparent, they can be used with a rotary cutter to produce several different size patches from the same template, saving time and money! Each template comes with a mini instruction leaflet, and more details and tutorials can be found on the EZ quilting website.
diamond patchwork templates triangle patchwork templates hexagon patchwork templates

Sunday 27 September 2009

New fabric range and fabric strip rolls

Brand new to the website we have now uploaded the Classic Cottons Changing Seasons collection, a full range of 25 tone on tone fabrics in jewel bright colours graduating from light to dark in pinks, purples, blues, greens and oranges. These fabrics make perfect background fabrics, or can be used to great effect on their own - check out the quilt patterns available on Classic Cottons website for two stunning quilts made from the Changing Seasons range.

Also new this week to the website we have introduced our colour coordinated strip rolls - for anyone who enjoys the new phenomenon of strip pieced quilts, these lovely little bundles of 20 2.5" strips in greens, blues, yellows and pinks take the hard work out of cutting the strips - and they look so sweet you'll find it difficult to unravel them! Also in the range is a Changing Seasons strip roll of the full 25 fabrics in the collection.

Thursday 24 September 2009

Quilt finished!


Well, the quilt is finished, finally, from all those squares and triangles cut previously! The design is from Celia Eddy's Quilt Block Bible, a block call the 'Ribbon Quilt Block' - this is a great little book, full of inspiration. I used Hobbs wadding (my personal favourite), and quilted the whole thing 'in the ditch' using invisible quilting thread on top, and a taupe thread on the bottom, following the patterns of the ribbons, so the pattern was repeated on the back. Also, rather than using plain backing fabric, I used a lovely light brown backing fabric, so if turned back the backing matches the front really well. Onwards and upwards now to the next project!

Wednesday 16 September 2009

New Benartex fabric ranges by Nancy Halvorsen

Brand new to the website we have fabrics from several new ranges designed by Nancy Halvorsen for Benartex fabrics. The ranges are Charms, Winsome and Williams Inn, and all the colours and patterns blend beautifully - so much so that we've put them all together in a fat quarter pack and stash pack! Also don't forget that our fat quarter packs are 5% cheaper than buying the fat quarters separately, and you are guaranteed perfectly matching fabrics!

Wednesday 9 September 2009

September's jelly roll and layer cake

The Morris Workshop jelly roll and layer cake was so popular last month, it has now sold out - we have now added this month's Moda Bundles, from the Vine Creek range. Inspired by a rusty sign for an old town in Kansas, these beautiful florals in muted greens, dark blues and reds would be ideal for a traditional quilt.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

New bag making products and quilting tools added to site

We have today increased our bag making supplies selection on the website, with the addition of several Clover bag handle designs, as well as bag strapping for rucksacks and backpacks. Although we had the plastic buckles and D-rings, only now have we added the strapping, so you can use all three together for an easy bag strap! The Clover bag handles are excellent quality, and will make for a really smart bag (especially now that stylish shopping bags are a must!).
Also added today are a couple of new tools for marking quilts - the really useful Clover mesh canvas for the easy transfer of quilting designs from layout to fabric, and a pencil sharpener perfect for fabric pencils. To use the mesh transfer canvas, you can trace out designs using a pencil onto the matte side of the canvas, then lift off and place onto the quilt top, and retrace. You will be left with a dotted line where the pencil goes through the holes, just join up the dots and there is the quilting design! Using the matte side of the canvas and a water soluble pencil, you can wipe it clean ready to use again - the Clover Chaco pens are also recommended by Clover to use with the canvas.