Competition Time!!
Project Linus Update
We’ve received a wonderful message from Elaine, who distributes our Project Linus quilts. She’s had some thank-you emails, along with some lovely photos of happy recipients!
” ‘Since you came into St Johns and dropped off the blankets there has been a real special buzz on how well they are supporting the children in 
such a large variety of ways.
We separated the blankets into Seniors and Primary and each blanket has found a home with individual students for them to use during their school day. The blanket belongs to the student and will travel up with them through out their school life(which is perfect for this time of year when the students are going through such changes) and if the blanket last long enough will go with them into adulthood.
I’m so pleased I responded your email as the benefits seen in the students from having one of the beautiful hand-made blankets is so warming.
Please pass on my thanks to all the amazing members of the project who produce these beautiful items.
Thank you and take care
Faye’
A second thank you came from Bedford Hospital
‘I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the beautiful hand made quilts we have received on Riverbank Ward to use with the children here.Each one is a work of art and will be carefully placed with a child who I am sure will cherish it forever. It is such a lovely idea, thanks to you and your team for spending the time creating and making these beautiful items.
I’ve only just seen them today but felt compelled to email you immediately!
Anne’
And a third one from a Women’s refuge that Kathy specifically wanted to 
give some quilts to, after Ruth’s visit to our last meeting at Tudor Rose. the quilts had been sitting on the top of her wardrobe (as you do) and they have now found a new home
‘I just thought you may like to see two of the larger quilts in situ. They go beautifully with the colour scheme in our residents lounge. If you can pass on special thanks to Kathy too please. I haven’t managed to get our handyman to put up the ones for the wall yet, but I will send you a picture when I do.
Ruth’
So thank you all so much, it’s a pleasure to be able to spend time together at the Tudor Rose making the quilts and then deliver them around Bedfordshire and to see how grateful everyone is when I show them what I have brought them and they obviously get pleasure in passing them on to the children.
Enjoy the summer and see you all in September.
Regards,
Elaine”
Project Linus is a fantastic charity who distribute comfort blankets to disadvantaged and sick children and teens. You can find out more about their valuable work HERE
Want to contribute? Find out all about our upcoming Project Linus days HERE
FREE Fluted Quilted Box Template
To The Moon and Back – Lewis & Irene @ Tudor Rose
Peering through a telescope, looking up to the sky and searching for the brightest star.
Let our cute constellations and dreamy galaxies take you … ‘To the Moon and Back’
An inspiring collection of fabrics from Lewis & Irene, featuring celestial delights such as moons, planets and rockets, along with co-ordinating mixers with stars and constellations. They also work well with Lewis & Irene’s Bumbleberries range.
You can also find two free patterns over on the Lewis & Irene website specifically designed for this collection. Try a foundation pieced black hole-esque quilt designed by Sally Ablett, or opt for the quicker 18″ cushion project.
How To Co-Ordinate Quilt Fabrics
Introduction to Heat-Applied Glitter Film
March Fabric Focus
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.
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.
May Fabric Focus
Over the past few weeks we have focused on some adorable animal prints, but we feel it is time for a change so today we are showcasing the ‘A New Leaf’ collection from Mitzi Powers for Benartex. It has a beautiful watercolour style with some strong prints to make it stand out from the crowd.
A New Leaf is a particularly big range with six fabrics in total. The cream backed fabric stands out in the collection with its watercolour floral print in oranges. It works beautifully with the two darker fabrics in the range; a multi-coloured pebble pattern on a navy blue background and a batik style floral print on a sea blue background. Finally the collection is tied together with three bold fabrics with repeating patterns. Two with retro swirls, one red and one green, and a light green fabric with a circular floral pattern.
Overall, an eye catching collection that will create some stunning projects. Because you have seven different fabrics to work with, a sampler quilt would be a great project. They’s be perfect for Bev Mayo’s Crazy Circles workshop in November too!
As always, patchwork projects aren’t limited to quilts. We think the ‘A New Leaf’ collection would look great as a bag. Our Spiced bag pattern has recently been made up in the ‘A New Leaf’ fabrics, but you could also try our Henrietta Hobo Bag pattern if you wanted a more unique style.
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!
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