Thursday 15 September 2016

New from Moda, the Blue Barn fabric range by Laundry Basket Quilts!

We love the delicate colour palette of these new fabrics from the Blue Barn collection by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda. Inspired by the designer coming across a blue barn on a snowy winter's evening, the colours include the blues and greys of the building contrasting with the creams of the snow and landscape, and the prints include a variety of florals and blenders. It's rare a floral range is perfectly suited for winter, but this range is ideal for warming winter quilts and accessories!



Also, briefly, we have finally managed to source a new, small rotating rotary cutting mat with imperial markings. From Fiskars, this 14 inch square self healing mat is perfect for squaring off blocks and cutting intricate applique shapes, and is small enough to take to class!


Thursday 8 September 2016

Christmas fabrics from Stof & Hoffman - Glimmering and Warm Wishes now available!

We have just taken delivery of our final Christmas fabrics for this year, and they are truly beautiful! Warm Wishes is a traditional collection of festive favourites including holly, mistletoe and poinsettias, all in rich reds and deep greens. The metallic golden highlights on each of the designs lift them and will make any decorations made with this range sparkle along with the fairy lights!


Glimmering, new from Stof, is very different but no less stunning! Perfect for tasteful table decorations and wallhangings with its subtle grey, white and silver colour scheme, the Glimmering collection would add sparkle to any home at Christmas!



Friday 2 September 2016

Rotary cutting method for pineapple quilt block - tutorial

Many people like to construct the pineapple block using foundation paper piecing, however if (like me) you're not keen on copying out the foundation patterns, you can make the block using a rotary cutting method. We have a free pattern on the website using a pineapple block, this method is used in the pattern and I've reproduced it below.

a) Cut a 4.75" square of fabric for the centre of the block. Cut a 2" WOF (width of fabric) strip of your next fabric, and cut off 4 lengths at 4.75" each. Stitch two of the strips to opposite sides of the square, then press (always press the seams towards the outer strips). Stitch the other two strips to the remaining two opposite sides and press (figure 1).


Figure 1

b) Using a quilting ruler with 45 degree angles marked, line up the 45 degree line with one of the seam lines and trim off the corners of the strips, leaving 0.25" of fabric at the corner. Repeat by rotating the ruler for each corner. (figure 2).


Figure 2

c) Cut a 2" WOF strip of your next fabric and from it cut 4 pieces approximately 1/2" longer than the trimmed edges of the previous strips. Stitch these strips to the 4 sides as in step a and press (figure 3).


Figure 3

d) Trim the end corners of the strips to line up with the short outer length of the fabrics in the previous round - use the lines on the ruler to ensure the cut edges are parallel with the seams of the centre block  (figure 4 & 5).


Figure 4


Figure 5

e) Continue in this way for the next 3 rounds, ensuring at every stage that the seams are parallel and the outer edges square.

f) For the large corner pieces, cut a 4" WOF strip of your final fabric. To save fabric, instead of cutting a strip, cut a triangle with its base at about 1" wider than the cut edges of the previous round instead (figure 6). Sew one triangle on to each corner.


Figure 6

g) Use the ruler to square up the block. Ensure all blocks are exactly the same size, trim where necessary using your rotary cutting mat as a guide. The finished blocks should measure approximately 13.75" square. See figure 7 for an image of the finished block.



Figure 7

h) You can alter the sizes given in this tutorial to make blocks of any size, and you can do as many rounds as you'd like - thin strips and many rounds make a really impressive looking block! This block uses prints from a single collection to coordinate, however a more striking effect can be achieved by alternating dark and light fabrics in each successive round.

Hope this is useful!

New in! Blossom Vine by Danielle Murray for Blank Quilting.

Blossom Vine is a gorgeous collection of floral fabrics, new from Danielle Murray for Blank Quilting. Featuring magnolias in various designs - large flowers, buds and leafy small florals - as well as beautiful butterflies, ferns and geometrics ideal for borders and sashings, this quilt fabric range is super suited to give a classy feel to room in a modern home.

The muted colours including grey, green, turquoise and black would be perfect to furnish a stylish guest room, or to make cushion covers and throws to freshen up a lounge or conservatory - pick up the coordinated 10 fat quarter pack to get a 5% discount over buying the fat quarters separately!