Surprise Deliveries

I do like surprise deliveries! Its fun getting a delivery and not knowing what's in it. The down side with working from home and not always being in, is that of course you can miss deliveries, and I nearly missed yesterday's one of Robert Kaufman fabrics!
So what did I discover in the box?
More fabrics from the wonderful Imperial Collection 8 for starters. This collection was really popular at the quilt show at Sandown last weekend. I have a great quilt kit for this collection which just needs the addition of a darker marble outer border. Not sure if I have taken a photo of it yet.........
The delivery had mainly more fabrics for the purple/green colourway

And a couple more of the brown colourway

Also in the delivery were the first few fabrics from a collection called Dutch Cottage which is inspired by Delftware pottery. The main panel print is still to come but hopefully that will be in stock soon.

These prints are already on the website which means I am slightly in danger of being efficient!!
There is a short break now before the BIG one, the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham, so I will hopefully have some time to create some new quilts together for the show.
This weekend there is an open day at one of my suppliers.................which means ordering new fabrics................its a hard life!! 

Just a Quickie (ish)

I did mean to do a proper post on the last few days using this mobile blogger app, but that would mean posting some pictures too. But seeing as I've taken all my pics on my camera and not on my phone, i have none to post!

So hopefully I'll get it right next time!

The last few days my son and I have visited the new International Quilt Festival of Ireland being held in Galway. This show has been promised to be something different, unlike other quilt shows, and so I felt I needed to see it for myself.
And I think it is different. For one, the predominant language at this European show seems to have an American accent!
The quilts are in different buildings throughout the university campus in Galway so it's reminiscent of the Carrefour du Patchwork in France. In that respect. There are some lovely quilts; I liked the Japanese Patchwork Promises exhibits (but then I like all Japanese quilts!). There were some great miniatures and I also liked the Chocolate Decadence quilts, complete with the smell of chocolate in the air as you looked at them!

This has been a little holiday for us and so we have also explored Galway a little too. Luckily the weather had improved from the awful rain on Thursday to the glorious sunshine there was today

I'll probably post some pics on Facebook rather than do another blogpost. I'll post a link on twitter when I get round to posting them!

New Kit of the Month Programme

So this is what I have been up to recently.
I did mean to start this programme in January.........and its now June!
The plan is to create a new kit each month ideally from new fabrics and each month to have that kit on offer and I am wondering about offering a free kit to giveaway each month via this blog too.

What do you think?

Now the fact that it has taken me six months to finally get round to doing this may mean that there isn't actually a new kit each month, but hey lets be positive and see what happens!

So to kick start the programme I have this new pattern I designed with the Grandeur 2 collection from Robert Kaufman.

The finished quilt measures 43" square and can be used as a table top or a wall hanging.

There are two colourways; the blue/honey colour that I have used and the pink/green colourway. In the second colourway the pink (cream) stars will show up more.Click here to see the fabrics from the collection.

The usual price for this kit will be £31.50, but during the month of June it will be available for £27.50. You can order your kit here

As is usual with my display quilts............I don't have time to quilt them. Its times like this I had the space and money for a longarm!

So how to arrange a giveaway for one kit? How about comment on this post telling me what is grand about the Grandeur 2 collection?

I guess if no one comments this will be a very short run programme or at least a short giveaway programme as I will still challenge myself to design a new kit each month..........!

So lets see how this goes!

Testing testing!

Just a quick post to try out something new . . . . Blogging from my mobile!
Yes I have downloaded the blogger app on my phone
It might come in useful when I'm out and about one day :-)

Blogging

Hmmm I'm not very good at this blogging business! I don't know where the time goes sometimes. I take a look at my blog and then suddenly realise how long it has been since I last blogged!

Things have been happening, I guess just nothing major to talk about!

I think maybe because I don't have a shop now, that not as much goes on.
I've made a couple more quilts to display current fabric collections but haven't been able to take a decent picture of them yet. This recent weather hasn't helped!!
The first is a rather stylish quilt that uses the last few prints left over from the Oriental Collection 7. It is a vertical style quilt which one customer at the recent Uttoxeter quilt show thought could be adapted for a screen. I'm really pleased with this one.

The second quilt I made uses fabrics from the Oriental Traditions collection with this panel in the centre:

I'm working on a new Patternista quilt for Quilts UK in Malvern next month, as the first one has been very popular. But I am running out of one of the fabric designs for this now, hence the need for a new one!

Next week sees the Open European Quilt Championships in Holland. Unfortunately I can't make it to the show myself. And of course a couple of weeks later its Quilts UK

I'm hoping to have some new Robert Kaufman fabrics in stock as they are overdue for delivery now. Really excited about those!

So hopefully I will have something to blog about very soon!

Wow!

I can't believe its been so long since I last posted an update on the blog!

Things have definitely been happening!
I guess I have been too busy to write a detailed blog post as opposed to a quick update via Facebook or Twitter.............

The remaining fabrics from Patternista by Benartex arrived last week which consisted mainly of the blue colourway which usually proves to be the most popular colourway in Paula Nadelstern's collections, so I'm glad they turned up at last!
The other fabrics have been selling well at the spring quilt shows. I can't remember if I have posted or indeed taken a picture of the quick quilt I made for this collection..............

Last weekend I made a quick Attic Windows quilt using some of the fabrics from the La Scala collection.

I also remade the Oriental Strip Panel quilt in the linen colourway of the Imperial Collection 7 as the main fabric in the other colourway is sold out now.
This colourway looks rather smart I think

There is a new 8th collection coming out soon and the fabrics in it are wonderful as usual. I ordered some a couple of weeks ago now. They are due in stock in the next couple of months.

The next quilt show is Chilford next weekend and then there is a short (ish) break until the show in Uttoxeter in April. Its been a busy few weeks!

Quilt Tops for Sale

I’ve just listed some retired quilt tops for sale on eBay. These are quilts I have made to display fabrics or kits that have now all gone so the poor quilt tops are now redundant and being a hand quilter I don’t usually have the time to quilt these samples before the fabrics sell out…………

        

They are all on auction style listings so grab yourself a bargain!

I have also listed a floral panel that was in the sale as I have quite a few left still and tried out listing it with a variation listing which is quite cool.

Must try that again sometime, although probably not for the 100+ different King Tut colours. Think I will just stick to the shade card images for those!

Its a busy few weeks coming up with the sale at Nantwich tomorrow, Ardingly Quilt Festival next weekend and then the traders day at Quiltfest in Llangollen two weeks after that.