Happy New Year!

I’m back with exciting news for all members of my email club: I’ve been very busy designing our very first exclusive club quilt-a-long pattern!

Each month you’ll receive a free applique template for a wildflower and full instructions on how to piece your beautiful quilt together.

I’m using some oddments for the flowers and my Wordsmith fabric collection which will be in all good quilt shops from February (maybe March in England).

I’ve always wanted to make a double Irish Chain quilt, so here’s my chance!

And our wildflower for January is of course, the Snowdrop, because they are the friendliest and most welcome sight in the middle of the gloomiest month of the year.

You can sign up to my email club here (and please tell all your friends!) and you should receive your Snowdrop pattern in mid January.

I’m so looking forward to seeing what you all make!

As you know, my next fabric line for Moda (due in shops Spring 2016) is based on my ‘The Wordsmith’ book which is all about pressed flowers from a precious bouquet, saved letters and little notes, collecting memories and stitching them into cloth to make quilts to snuggle under and tell your stories with.  

I always try to include some good textural prints in my fabric collections and I think ‘text’ is a good example of one.

I wanted to design something that looked like words on a page (without actually saying anything- we don’t all speak English, or want the same words on our fabric) and was playing in my sketchbook with an old copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ when I realised all I needed to do was to doodle over the words.

So, here is my ‘text’ print. I hope you find lots of uses for it in your quilts.

Only we will know it’s actually Pride and Prejudice and most definitely includes this memorable speech.

Colin Firth is the Mr Darcy in my opinion.

This dainty Gypsophila print from my ‘The Wordsmith’ fabric collection is a particular favourite of mine.

As ever I drew and painted from life and sent Moda the original drawings and the resulting fabric is as close to looking at my original painting as it’s possible to achieve.

I have a glamorous vintage dress with gingham bias binding in mind for this fabric and am planning on getting it finished in time to wear to Quilt Market.

I get asked a lot how I find the time to sew and knit and draw.

And the answer does not please many people, because the truth is I don’t find the time (there is no time hiding and waiting to be found) I make the time. 

The dress will be made in the little slips of time between all my other jobs and chores with some late night sewing thrown in for good measure. 

Of course, sometimes I cannot make sufficient time and this may well be the case for my Gypsophila dress but I’m going to have a jolly good try anyway.

Sleep is so last year!

Wordsmith (n.) one who creates with words

‘The Wordsmith’ is about cherishing the simple things in life. It’s about love letters, little notes and finding pressed flowers in favourite books. Now’s the time to quieten your mind, gather your memories and slowly piece them together with beautiful fabrics to create a lasting cloth to be treasured by generations to come: a quilted memory to cherish.

So come, gather your letters and your threads and be a wordsmith with me.

You can treat yourself to a copy of my new book ‘The Wordsmith’ from my Etsy shop, Amazon or your quilt shop (it’s distributed by Moda too) and thank you to all of you that have already! Your support is much appreciated x

Today I wanted to show you some of my Wordsmith fabric which will ship to quilt shops worldwide from February 2016, sorry it’s a long wait!

However, your favourite quilt shop can place their order for it with their Moda rep now; so if you like what you see please ask your quilt shop to place an order or you won’t be able to make a quilt with it come the Spring!

I’m going to start with the roses print. I always send Moda original paintings and drawings and here they are:

And here is the fabric, in my favourite indigo, cream and grey palette with the addition of a fresh, soft green.

I have my eye on the grey ground with the navy roses for a dress.

The time to make this dress will have to be found here and there amongst my work, chores and family time. But find it I will!

I’m back on your TV screens this Saturday 19th (tomorrow) at 11am.

I’ll be talking about my inspiration and the stories behind the quilts in ‘The Wordsmith’ as well as demonstrating free machine drawing, applique and quilt- as – you- go. So, lots of interesting things to hear and see!

I’ve gathered my quilts, prepared all my step outs and samples, chosen my dress and am all packed and ready to catch my train. Just have to get a good nights sleep and paint my nails and I’ll be all set!

Hope to ‘see’ you tomorrow!

You can find Create and Craft TV here in the UK: Freesat 813, Virgin 748, Freeview 36 or Sky 674. And I think you can watch via their website: www.createandcraft.tv

My next fabric collection for Moda, ‘Nocturne’ should be in a quilt shop near you (if you live in the USA) or very nearly there (if you live in the UK). Nocturne is my first fabric collection to have it’s own special quilt patterns which you can order from your quilt shop too.

Sadly, despite my very best efforts I’ve found a mistake in the ‘Midnight’ pattern and one of the headings in the cutting measurements for the log cabin blocks is wrong.

The problem is with the headings in the cuttings list- in both the cutting table headings, the column heading which reads 7.5″ should be 4.5″ .

Moda are aware of the error and are issuing a correction to all the quilt shops who have ordered the pattern. As you can imagine I’m pretty cross with myself about it as I thought I’d been very thorough and triple checked everything several times, but apparently not.

I do apologise.

Hopefully, you will have the correct version of the pattern from your local quilt shop and can simply enjoy making your very own ‘Midnight’ quilt just like mine.

My fifth book is here! And I’m so very pleased with it!

Here’s the introduction:

Wordsmith (n.) one who creates with words

I’ve often wished that I kept a diary or an art journal but after many attempts I’ve had to admit that I’m just not that sort. And yet, I really do want to remember and record our ordinary days. After all, what you do every day is more important than what you do once in a blue moon.

One day I realised that I could simply stitch our stories and here we are. ‘The Wordsmith’ is about noticing and cherishing the simple things in life. It’s about slowing down, quietening the mind and finding the joy in the mundane; gathering your memories and mementoes together with beautiful fabrics and soothing stitches to create a lasting cloth to be talked over and treasured by generations to come: a quilted memory to cherish.

So come, gather your letters and your threads and be a wordsmith with me.

You can find your copy in my Etsy shop or on Amazon. And Moda will be distributing the book too- so you can always ask your local quilt shop to order you a copy. I do hope you enjoy ‘The Wordsmith’ and that it inspires and encourages you!

This old wicker sewing basket was waiting for me in the charity shop the other week.

I’d love to know who owned it and see what she’d made, wouldn’t you?

Tony has been working with me as my ‘Chief of Everything’ since November last year and is proving invaluable in so many ways: doing all my computer and technical work, business planning, running the shipping department, the finances and handling most of the daily admin and emails etc too.

He works very late into the night on a far too frequent basis and is very supportive of me and my business. I now how much more time and energy to design and create which is wonderful.

In short he’s awesome.

But, he can’t sew.

Yet…

He’s really hoping to be promoted to Head of Possibilities.

But, as I told him he can’t even apply for that esteemed position until he has at least one quilt to his name.

Watch this space!

I made this little fox as a mascot for Jan who runs ‘Grays’ a non- profit charity cafe here in my town. 

He has yet to be named but is already in his coffee shop uniform and will be living somewhere in the cafe very soon.

I bought the great pattern from Threadfollower on Etsy and the felt from ‘Coast and Country Crafts’ whilst down in Cornwall a few months ago. 

He was really fun to make, only took me one Sunday evening and it was such a pleasure to give someone an unexpected gift.

I’d like to do that more often.