Category: Patchwork & Quilting

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Not Christmas Already?!

Well no, but panels and fabrics are arriving thick and fast so that we can all be ready in time. Gifts
created and decorations made.
Today, I’m at the sewing machine making Christmas Stockings.
It’s a bit of a chore, however, to find inspiration when the sun in beating down and the temperature
is topping 26 degrees C. Not that I’m complaining about the sun at all, just finding it hard to think in
terms of Christmas and the Winter season.
What embellishment will enhance the stockings? Do I go for glitz and sparkle or something more
subtle? It is a Christmas stocking after all so maybe sequins and seed beads. The panel I’m using has
a Scandi feel to it so perhaps embroidery with a bit of glitzy DMC. Watch this space.
Jon has already been busy putting together an incredibly simple “folded” advent calendar. We are
all amazed by how quick and it easy it was to make and customers are loving the end result. Proving
popular already.
Who else has started getting ready for the festive season? Tell us about the projects you’ve got in
mind. My mum is making bags for her friends this Christmas, it was cushions last year, and already
has 2 completed. Only 5 more to go!
Delighted with the finished result. Only took a couple of hours, computer had to be worked at and
customers had to be looked after in between!
I’ll be in touch with my next sewing challenge….Joy
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March Fabric Focus

 

Sweet Tweet by Mitzi Powers for Benartex P651/09

 

Last month we featured Timsbury Lane and spoke about Spring being just around the corner, this week we have just a month until Easter and we have great projects and fabrics for the season! The fabrics we are Just Hatched from Quilting Treasures, and Baby Talk  and Sweet Tweet by Benartex.

 

 

All of these fabrics are in bright fun colours such as yellows, purples, greens and blues. As you would expect the Just Hatched collection consists of Easter eggs, fluffy chicks and a few Easter bunnies for good measure. Baby Talk carries on the yellow chick theme but with a baby pink background. Sweet Tweet adds some Spring time birds to our Easter collection, the blue and yellow birds are decorated with intricate floral patterns to create a bold design.

Baby Talk 2481 by Benartex

So what projects can we suggest for Easter? As always there are loads of options. We think a wall hanging would be great fun to decorate a Child’s bedroom. For the dining room you could make a fun Easter table runner, try this table runner pattern that allows you to incorporate lots of different fabrics and colours. For the Easter egg hunt, you could make our simple Shopper bag pattern in the Just Hatched fabrics that can be used to collect all the Easter eggs.

 

All of these projects are easy to do but if you need some help or you have something a bit more challenging in mind then you can join Chris Hinchliff and Kate Frankland for their Quilt Escape class on Tuesday.

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February Fabric Focus

It may still be chilly outside but before you know it the sun will be out, daffodils will be growing and spring will have arrived! We, here at Tudor Rose Patchwork, are off to Duxford next weekend for the Spring Quilt Festival, so to get in the mood this month’s fabric is a colourful collection from Lewis & Irene called Timsbury Lane.

 

 

 

With 7 different fabrics it’s like having 3 collections in one, catering for all sorts of styles and projects. This grand fabric range is fantastic with a wide assortment of colours and designs including a joyful paisley, a retro rose and a vibrant meadow of flowers. The different colours and patterns would make a lovely owl cushion or children’s toy for a little girl’s bedroom.

 

Thanks to the various styles in a similar colour pallet, Timsbury Lane would make a stunning sample quilt for spring and summer. Try ‘The Essential Sampler Quilt’ book by Lynne Edwards or the ‘Triangle Block Sampler Quilt’ by Rosemary Youngs and Andrea Johnson; both of these books will guide you through the various different blocks that you choose to complete your sampler quilt.

If you are fairly new to patchwork and quilting you could try something smaller like this table runner pattern by Pam Wise. It will look wonderful on your dining table during the warmer months and only requires 7 different fabrics so Timsbury lane will give you a lot of choice. If you think you will need a bit of help to get started you could join Bev Mayo on a Friday for her beginner’s patchwork class.

For our full list of classes and workshop click here.

For more inspiration have a look at our range of books and patterns.

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April Fabric Focus

Welcome back to our monthly Featured Fabrics! Last month we showed you the adorable Timeless Treasures Mini Safari collection, this month we are sticking with the nature theme with a bold explosion of floral prints. The Paradise collection from In the Beginning Fabrics takes you through a jungle of bright colours with a retro feel.

We have three fabrics in this collection; a herringbone tile in grey, a sharp explosion in burnt orange, and swirling green vines on black. They are stunning to look at, but what will you do with them? As always the possibilities are endless; with so much going on in the range you will make quick work of colour matching them to other fabrics in your stash, from there your next project won’t be far away.

You could make Henrietta’s Hobo Bag. It requires 3 different fabrics so the whole Paradise collection can be showcased in your new bag. Imagine this bag in those lovely cheerful fabrics!!

 

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February Fabric Focus

It may be cold outside but Spring will soon be on its way and the Daisy Garden collection is perfect for any project at this time of year. It’s bold floral print compliments the soft blues, yellows and greens, giving the fabrics a country cottage theme. The daisies sit alongside butterflies but have subtle hints of geometric patterns both in the panel and the rest of the fabrics.

There is so much you can do with a collection like this; at the moment Jon is working on a table runner using the panel. Sticking with the dining theme, you could cut out the individual squares and rectangles for place mats and coasters, perfect for dressing up the garden table for outdoor lunches in the warmer months.

If you are fairly new to patchwork and quilting, panels are a great place to start; cutting out individual pieces of the panel allows you to try out your new skills on a small and simple projects. Want to try something a bit bigger? You could keep the panel in one piece and turn it into a small quilt by adding borders. But if you are feeling really ambitious you could cut out and rearrange the individual pieces of the panel to make a much larger quilt or a table runner just like Jon!

Browse our full list of courses by clicking here.

For full details on the exhibition and future events like our Facebook page.