Last year when I bought my sewing machine I said I wasn't interested in quilting but over Christmas I signed up to a load of quilting blogs. So why do I fancy quilting? The thing that attacted me to sewing was the beautiful fabrics available. I love colour and there are so many gorgeous fabrics available in beautiful colours and gorgeous prints. And I love jelly rolls, charm packs and all those little packs of small amounts of fabric.
The two little packs of squares (is that a charm pack?) above was purchased at our local craft shop, Painters. I love the colours and the prints.
Last week, my friend, Jan, and I headed to a quilt shop in a neighbouring town. I'd been there before but it was before I got into sewing. And although I thought the fabric was beautiful back then, I wasn't tempted to buy any of it. But this time I was very tempted. I should have taken some pics of the shop. Cowslip Workshops is situated on a farm outside Launceston in Cornwall. They have a shop with a huge selection of fabric, available off the roll or as fat quarters. They also have a lot of the other stuff you need to quilt, like books, tools etc. In addition they have a fabolous workshop programme covering a lot of other sewing things other than quilting. Behind the shop there's a lovely coffee shop. The food is tasty and the coffee shop is cozy with beautiful rural views. If the weather is good you can even sit outside.
There was so much tempting fabric that we were both a bit stunned. I ended up with three fat quarter rolls. The bottom roll has similar prints and colours to the square packs I bought at Painters. I also got a roll of purple fabrics and blue fabrics (on the top left above, although it looks more purple in that photo) which I'm hoping to use to make quilts for the girls. I thought I'd make a couple of blocks in the colourways I'd like to use for the girls to see if they like them before I start a full quilt for them.
Before I start a full quilt, I've got a couple of patterns for quilted tote bags and I've also thought about making a quilted table runner for my coffee table and some quilted place mats to suit my new lounge/dining room colour scheme. I've not touched my sewing machine for about 3 weeks now but this week should be a little big quieter than recent weeks so I'm determined to do some sewing this week. Maybe even start that quilted tote or table runner.
Do you quilt? Any advice to a newbie quilter? I've bought a couple of books and read lots of tutorials. I'm keen to do as much of it on my sewing machiene as possible.
2 comments:
Been there - got the teeshirt- it's much more addictive than knitting! Perhaps it's the sheer amount of fabrics. I bought loads of fabrics that I loved- and still had to have more for projects. All done on the machine - although I found hand quilting really relaxing.
If you can borrow tools to begin with such as different size rulers that helps with expense. And the quilt shows-....like Malvern ( May time) .say no more!
I am new to quilting also and absolutely love it. I have attended two workshops at Cowslip and can highly recommend signing up for tuition there, Joe and her staff are incredibly knowledgeable, patient and just lovely people. You are right, the fabrics in the shop are wonderful, a great selection to suit all tastes. Good luck with your quilts, don't forget to show us your progress.
Lin
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