Free issue No 4 of Love Patchwork & Quilting

Love Patchwork & Quilting, the new UEBER fantastic magazine that is now on its 5th issue and for which I have and am still (little hint that includes the word 'Liberty fabric") making projects for has a fantastic offer for those who don't know the magazine yet.

The offer is a free download of issue 4 which incidentally also includes my 'Sketch Quilt'  pattern and tutorial.

And a great booklet with 20 block designs.

All you need to do is download the i-tunes app using follow this link:

Once done open issue 4 then tap in code: MADNESS14 and 'submit' and you can download the issue right away – easy, peasy! Hurry though – offer ends 4th March at 9am GMT.

Dreams of Summer

Lately the colour yellow has been very much on my mind. Although I am not sure why I suspect it is the result of longing for better weather and a lot of frustration at work that I am trying to overcome with something nice and positive.

I love yellow in all its shades and when it morphs into orange even more. For a while I was thinking about a series of tall triangles in yellow surrounded by a lot of solid but that wasn't really motivating me to move to the cutting table.

Then over the weekend I looked at a few Gee's bend quilts on the internet which always jolts my imagination. So I pulled out my yellow/orange stash and started cutting strips with my scissors, no rotary cutter or ruler in side. It is a great liberating feeling and I was rather surprised how straight the cuts were which meant that I had to deliberately cut a little wonkier to achieve a bit of an improv look.

I am not sure where this is leading yet and even less sure how I will be able to assemble the different sized log cabins....but for now this feels and looks good and that is the mosts important aspect here.

Snowy Days quilt progress

Who would have thought that deciding on a quilt back could be such agony. I started this quilt before Christmas and had the most trouble I ever had deciding on a fabric for the back.

My thoughts ventures from a subtle text fabric such as one of the Architexture ones to a cloth I bought two years ago in the South of France to a rough old linen I bought in Dresden and then to a plain white only to get stuck somewhere on the return loop.

Then finally just before I went in holiday I decided on an Essex yarn dyed fabric that is a cotton/linen blend in the colour Flax (bought at the Village Haberdashery). A pricey option for sure but one that I am finally happy with.

It has a wonderful texture that feels like linen yet very soft and it is quite a heavy fabric which will make for a great winter quilt (never mind that we are moving toward Spring....well at some point anyway when we stop drowning here)

I will quilt in 1 inch spaced lines in a grid which will take foooor evvvvveeeeeeeerrrrr..... just as well that I love this part of the job.

Churn dash quilt class starting next week

My churn dash quilt class at the Village Haberdashery starts next week Tuesday.

We will be talking about the wonderful churn dash block, designing it, constructing it and above all making a quilt from it.

Apart from the delicious cupcakes Annie provides, my students will also receive a comprehensive booklet about the making of the block and quilt. It'll be a six week project where students will learn many techniques that will set them up for any future quilt projects.

So come and join us next Tuesday !

I'm back

Hello there everybody. I had to interrupt the regular program here at needlesandlemons for a few weeks while I was enjoying some much needed sunshine in the most magic of all places.

Being back is rather depressing, especially if you think that my breakfast view over the past week was this:

And my entertainment during the day a bit of this (I am wearing the green shorts):

But I have gotten back in the saddle (so to say) and already started quilting again. More soon.