Strictly Quilting

Join Peter Hayward’s Weekend Quilting Workshop

As you know, I’ve been lucky enough to meet lots of great quilters when working on the magazine. Little did I know that fast forward 4 years (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) I’d be hosting a full weekend workshop with Peter Hayward.

Peter came to quilting accidentally, hence the name ‘The Accidental Quilter‘. You can see his work on his website. Lots of geometric 3D quilts which are stunning. I first came across Peter when reviewing the ‘Man Made’ exhibitions at Midsomer Quilting. Both his quilts ‘Quilted Quilters’ and ‘Clottie’ were shown and I couldn’t quite work out how they were made. Pixelated quilts, with the fabrics woven to give the full image. These are definitely best seen in person.

Peter, working with his wife Ester Tronchoni, was awarded first place this year at the Festival of Quilts for the two-person category with the quilt ‘A Space Oddity’. His false weaving method utilised to the full, capturing the depth of outer space across the background of the appliquéd and needle-felted owl. A play on ‘A Space Odyssey’ by David Bowie.

He is no stranger to teaching, having run workshops at the Houston International Quilt Festival for the last three years and, when I caught up with him at Festival this year, he kindly offered to run two workshops. The first of these, to be held on the Saturday, is the “Hemisphere” quilt block. This uses colour and shape to create a 3D fabric illusion. We will weave strips of carefully cut fabric to achieve the clever image.

The second workshop, on the Sunday, is the “Cross Stitching Meets Fabric”. In this workshop we will make an 8″ blocking the very effective technique with Peter has dubbed ‘False Weaving’. This is what gives the in depth background to “A Space Oddity”.

‘Cross Stitch Meets Fabric’ – Sunday Workshop

The weekend workshops are being held on 27th and 28th February 2027 at the local village hall of Mitchel Troy. Easy to find from Monmouth with parking directly outside. You will receive a kit for each of the workshops and lunch is also provided. If booking a single day, the cost is £95 each but if you would like to book both days, we are offering a discounted price of £180 for both. If anyone requires accommodation, I can recommend different options for the weekend and it’s likely we will be dining out on the Saturday evening if anyone would like to join us.

This is a rare opportunity to learn a new skill from Peter so don’t delay – book today!

Highlights from the 2027 Festival of Quilts

Most UK quilters will know that the Festival of Quilts was held last weekend at the NEC. This is the largest quilt show in Europe and it didn’t fail to provide a stunning array of quilts again this year. I am a little biased, as this is one of my favourite weekends of the year. I’m able to meet up with old friends and colleagues as well as take time to learn new skills and get inspiration from all the fabulous quilts and displays. (I won’t mention the huge number of traders that attend with threads, notions, machines and lots, and lots of fabric!)

This time I thought I’d show you a few of my favourite quilts that were on display. The winners are always worthy and stunning to look at but, most of the time, my favourites are not necessarily winners. Sometimes, it’s the subject which grabs my attention. Sometimes, a particular technique or pattern. Sometimes the fabric choice but whichever, here are a few of my show picks.

Having said that I had lots of fav’s that didn’t win a prize, the first I’ll show you is the winner of the two person quilt award, ‘Space Oddity’ by Ester Tronchoni and Peter Hayward. This was inspired by David Bowie’s song and was simply stunning… The background shows Peter’s detailed technique of fake weaving which gives a depth of colour which captured the majesty of space and all the colours I imagine. The owl was felted by Ester. Peter and I have crossed paths previously from my magazine days so it was good to finally be able to meet him. As a result of this, he’s agreed to come teach a couple of workshops for me. If you are interested in attending and learning with a FoQ award winner, please let me know. This will be in the early spring next year and I’m hoping to host two different workshops over a weekend.

I would be remiss not to show you my students quilts which were entered in the show and it was so exciting to see both versions of Doris on display. Doris one made by Kevan Cuthbert and Doris two (Morris Doris for Boris) by Kate Ford-Freeman. Kate had changed the original appliqué block to include a design from Michele Hill’s book on William Morris appliqué which really worked.

The next quilt, Celtic Oak by Lena Pugachova, caught my eye. Probably because of the Celtic Knot work in the background. I loved the oak leaves and acorns as well which were pieced from different batiks.

Many of you know we have a Ukrainian link these days so when I saw this next quilt, I had to take a picture. ‘Hope for Ukraine’ was made by Devida Bushrod and Robyn Brown. These pixel quilts are amazing and how you can capture a portrait in fabric always surprises me.

The last one I’ll show you was from the Quilt Creations section of the competition and this one did get shortlisted. ‘Knock Knock, Who’s There?’, by Chitra Mandanna, was a beautiful doorway into a world beyond. The details included would have taken a huge amount of time and the thing that really caught my eye was the clever use of fabric to give the illusion of light from beyond the door but also with the lantern.

We can now look forward to next year and perhaps start the design process for entries? Modern, Contemporary, Traditional or Quilt Creations. Whichever design concept attracts you, think about entering. Every quilt and maker can provide that spark of inspiration. Until next time, keep quilting!

Creating With Thermolam Extra: Ideal Wadding for Quilters

I don’t know if you’ve used Thermo waddings in the past but when I have they have always had a ‘foil’ fleck running through them and have been very crinkly. They were also not washable which, if you saw my older Christmas table runner (with the huge red wine stain on it) you would agree was not really sensible. Vlieseline recently asked me what I thought of their new 274 Thermolam Extra wadding so I thought I’d give some Oven Gloves a go.

Handy, as I’d recently burnt my hand when pulling a roasting pan out of the oven. Yes, I’d had oven gloves on and yes, there was a hole I didn’t know about.

The Thermolam Extra is quite dense and of a heavier weight. Having said that, it is lovely and soft to handle and is very stable. It’s a couple of millimetres thick and has compact polyester fibres, making it easy to work with.

The biggest advantage I can see is that it is washable at 60 degrees! Wow! The quilting distance, how far the quilting lines should be apart, is 15cm. A bit closer than your normal quilt waddings but is ideal for things such as a pair of oven gloves or even clothing which it is also suitable for. I do think it would make a lovely jacket wadding.

274 Thermolam Extra wadding from Vlieseline is washable at 60 degrees!

Soft, with a dense body, it’s ideal for oven gloves, table runners or clothing.

When it comes to the sewing, I was surprised at how easily my machine went through it. Although it’s a bit thicker, it was easy. Even when going though two layers of wadding, four layers of fabric and a double fold of binding… I was only using my standard domestic sewing machine and it didn’t cause any problems at all.

The fabric I used was a heavier weight craft fabric. You may have seen the sort, linen like with some lovely highland cows. The binding was from my Makower range of Linen Textures, so a standard quilting weight cotton.

And yes, I’ve made a pattern up which will be available in my shop/not shop. I’ve already been asked for one as a housewarming gift and these would certainly make great Christmas gifts or be popular at craft fairs.

My next project using Thermolam Extra will be a new Christmas table runner! Maybe in wine red this time.

Creating a Cozy Ragged Wedding Quilt

As most of you know, my son was tying the knot with his beloved this month so things have been very hectic in our personal life, very quiet for Strictly Quilting. The wedding went amazingly with all the Romanian family staying with us for a period of ten days. Were there miscommunications? Yes.. Was there a cultural exchange of wedding traditions? Yes.. Was it fun? Oh yes… The wedding was held at Clearwell Castle and we were lucky enough with the weather that we were in the bandstand outside. A beautiful day for two young people very much in love.

I’ll bore you with just a couple of photos along with a picture of their gift from us, a quilt of course! Now this quilt was chosen by the couple and it’s a ragged quilt. Stitched in a quilt as you go fashion, so quick and easy. This one was made using brushed cotton so it is the snuggliest quilt I’ve ever made… So soft and will be very warm which is a typical as I type this on a day when the hottest temperature for May ever has been recoded. (Although I can see one solitary cloud in the azure blue sky!)

Ragged Quilt Workshop

These ragged quilts can also be made using denim, aka Ravioli Quilts as named by Paula Doyle. She is a frequent speaker at the Festival of Quilts and I happened to catch her talk last year on them. In denim they make really useful, hardwearing quilts ideal for camping and use up old denim which would normally end up in land fill. The ultimate re-use, re-cycle… This is the first day workshop I have in the diary on Thursday 25th June.

Ravioli Quilt by Paula Doyle.

There are only two spaces left if you are interested. Thursday 25/6/26, £65, 10 till 4, bring a lunch but refreshments available. Just get in touch if interested at helen@strictlyquilting.com

November Retreat

The other thing I wanted to mention is the Retreat I have booked in November, 20th to the 22nd at Hillscourt in Birmingham, our usual location. Initially I had arranged to work on Improv techniques but have been talked into running a section on my Doris Sampler quilt. These sessions will be over the three days and you can either join in with all of them, some of them or none and bring your own projects. We always have fun with newcomers welcomed by everyone. Single en-suite rooms are an advantage along with lots of sewing space. Again, if you would like further details, check out the Retreat page here or email helen@strictlyquilting.com.

Spring Has Sprung

Life is always busy and Spring has certainly sprung at Strictly Quilting HQ. My youngest son is getting married soon, less than three weeks now, and we’ve all been wrapped up in preparations. It has been fun but hard work and the quilting has slipped.

Some bad news was that Cecilia Slinn, who I collaborated with on the sewing retreats, passed away peacefully at home last month. We had so much fun over the years running retreats and I’ll certainly miss her. It was she who talked me into Queenie, my lovely Free Motion Sewing machine and she will always be on my mind when I sit down to quilt. Retreats are continuing with one in November and another in January next year. She may be gone but never forgotten. You can find the retreat details here.

On a positive note, my patterns have finally made it to the website for purchase online as PDF downloads. Some of these brought back good memories from working on the magazine and one of them, the guitar pattern, was recently displayed at one of the Scottish quilt shows earlier in the year. It was so exciting to see it posted on Facebook and was one of the last ones published in the magazine.

Talking of shows, Malvern is coming up quickly and I’ll have two quilts in the show this Spring. One wall hanging and one full sized bed quilt. If you go, have a look and see if you can spot them! Two of my students also have also entered into the competition and I can assure you, their quilts are stunning. As Quilts UK is a competition, I can’t really show you what’s entered yet but I’ll let you know how they all get on… Show is running from 14th to 17th May at the Three Counties Show ground, Malvern.

A group of students and myself did have a trip to the American Museum in Bath where the Gee’s Bend exhibition is on until 21st June. ‘Kith & Kin: the Quilts of Gee’s Bend’ is certainly worth a visit if you can get there. These quilts are made by necessity and demonstrate what patchwork and quilting is all about. Using up and recycling materials but still capturing beauty in simple form.

Quilt on the left – ‘Sweeps’ by Loretta Pettway Bennett, 2003

Quilt on the right – ‘Grandma Stripes’ by Mary Lee Bendolph, 2009

Another recent little project was a little reversible bag using a nifty little gadget, the Clover Slashing Tool. (It does sound like an implement from a horror movie but no..) Easy to use, it’s a rotary cutter with a shield which means you can cut through layered fabrics and create slashes which, when washed, leave you with a chenille finish. I trialed it with a rectangle quilt sandwich (fabric top, wadding layer, fabric back), then decided to do something with it and so a simple little bag was made. I do know a certain little girl who will love this filled with goodies for her birthday!

Well, I’ll wrap up for now but I’m sure you will be asking if I’m making the lovely couple a Wedding Quilt? Yes, of course but it certainly won’t be finished in time! I’ll be following in the family tradition. My Mum, some of you knew her, started a cross stitch for our wedding. A stunning work which is quite large. We always joked that it would be our 25th Silver Anniversary before it was finished and you guessed it, it was framed just in time! I’m sure I’ll finish the quilt gift before then and I’ll certainly share progress. There may even be a workshop!

From Quilts to Patterns: My Creative Journey Resumes

It’s been quite a while since I wrote to you all. Life has been a little busy and time flies by in the blink of an eye. As many of you know throughout last year I was involved with a huge community project with the Gwent Green Grid Partnership and Monmouthshire County Council working on the Bio Tapestry Project. This culminated in the final reveal a week or so ago and you can see the whole of the Bio Tapestry at the Riverfront in Newport for the next couple of weeks.

It was a lovely event and finally seeing all of the panels together was fantastic. Seventy metres is a LONG way! To think I quilted that amount of fabric… Originally I had only agreed to help out with a single panel, which grew to four, which grew to all of them! Obviously, this was why things were a little quieter on the patchwork and quilting front last year. Being a single self-employed artist has its drawbacks. My classes continued to run but this left little time to progress other ideas.

Now I’m back in the game, as they say, and one of my first tasks was to set up an on-line shop. In the cabin I have always said that I am ‘not a shop’ but I do have a few bits and pieces needed for P&Q from needles and pins to rulers and cutters. Then a few bolts of fabric arrived, followed by some more. (They do seem to multiply!) But until now I had limited outlet for my patterns. For some time I designed patterns for publications and now I can announce that I have set up a Shop/Not Shop on the website. The number of patterns will increase as I add new ones and there is even a little Blackwork to tempt those who fancy a little needlework along side their quilting.

Blackwork Welsh Love Spoon Bookmark pattern

There is a simple pattern for a Glasses Slip Case which, with the sun shining down at the moment seems appropriate. Ideal for beginners and great made up as a little gift. Then there are more traditional quilt patterns based on blocks such as the Variable Star block (Reflections Quilt) or the Dog Tooth Violet block (Violets in the Orchard Quilt.) There some Bargellos, two table runners and a full sized quilt but also some more modern quilts such as the Ombré Bubbles quilt made from landscape batiks. At the recent Scottish Quilt Show one of my patterns had been made by a lady called Elaine (apologies, I don’t have her surname) and it was a surprise to see a photo of it on Facebook. It is so lovely to see your patterns made by others, really gives me a proud mum feeling.

For now I’ll leave you with some images of what you can make…. I’d love to see your makes and you can share and tag me on Facebook or drop me a line.

Happy Quilting!

It’s Been a While

Well, it’s been quite a while since I wrote a blog and things have certainly been busy at Strictly Quilting HQ. Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been working with the Gwent Green Grid on the Bio Tapestry project. A huge endeavour which is designed to feature the indigenous species of Gwent’s flora and fauna. A wonderful project which has been brought many local community groups together to create animals and plants to feature on the large batiked panels. There are 20 in total, each 3 1/2m long, totalling 70 metres and I’ve been asked to quilt all of them! That’s a LOT of quilting…

I must say, watching the groups develop their skills and investigate which creatures to feature has been wonderful. From young children to 90 year olds, we have had over 2000 people participate from a wide selection of people within Gwent. Above are a few of my favourite bits from the panels so far and I’m hoping to have most of them completed by Christmas.

This has meant that I haven’t been doing so many workshops other than my usual weekly classes on Monday, Weds and Fri mornings. These are great fun but I have been trying to gather some ideas and new projects for day workshops. I’m planning on releasing the 2026 workshop list after the Bio Tapestry is completed in February, so keep your eyes open for this. I did manage to squeeze in a day workshop at Midsomer Quilting and should hopefully be doing more throughout next year.

We also have our New Year Retreat on the horizon which will come around very quickly. 16th to 18th January 2026 we are off to Hillscourt again. This time we are looking at Dresden Plates, both the traditional versions and a modern Dresden Village clock appliqué version. There is still time to book on if you fancy a weekend of relaxing sewing to recover after Christmas.

If you are interested in joining us you can find the details here. Just drop me an email. For now, I’ll sign off and hope to see you all soon!

Spring Retreat: Master Foundation Piecing with Luna Fabric

Our Spring Retreat is coming up and this time we are concentrating on Foundation Piecing. The pattern we’re using was designed specifically for the retreat and is based on a beautiful Compass design. I used the astronomical inspired Luna fabric range from Makower UK which is stunning and the larger blocks on the quilt pattern are ideal for showing off larger patterned fabrics. Foundation piecing is the preferred method to use for a Compass as it gives perfect points and it’s a method which has been used for many years. These days we use paper, of various sorts, as the foundation but originally it would have been a light cotton lawn or similar and would have remained in the quilt, adding an extra layer.

The retreat is coming up quickly, at the end of May (if you are interested), and I need to get the quilting finished. As I have Queenie, a sit down long arm, I chose to use a double layer of wadding. The beautifully soft Soya from Vlieseline gives a base layer with body and to pair with it, I’ve added a layer of wool/cotton mix, again from Vlieseline. This gives a lovely fluffy top layer which helps give un-quilted areas extra puff.

Both the waddings have worked really well. The Soya has body and is yet very soft. It is a creamy colour, rather than being white, but as I was using another layer on top, this wasn’t an issue. When quilting, there was no bearding (when the fibres come loose and show up all over the quilt.) I was using a navy backing so this could have been a problem but the scrim, which holds the fibres in place, did it job and protected the quilt.

Moving onto the cotton/wool mix wadding, this was new to me. The Soya has become a favourite of mine, but the wool mix has a slightly different texture. There is a base layer of the cotton and the wool seems to sit on top of this. Pure wool wadding is beautiful to hand quilt through and this wadding has a beautiful soft texture which, as I said before, gives extra fluffiness.

As a side note, I gave a friend of mine, who hand quilts, a piece of Soya to use for a children’s fabric book. Because of the ‘body’ that the wadding has, it worked really well. She also said that it hand quilted really well. Some thicker wadding can be tricky but the Soya was good.

Feathers in the Compass.

Now I really need to get back to finishing the quilting on Luna. I’ve been using the fabric designs for my inspiration so have used stars, the sun and moon and am really looking forward to showing it at the retreat… And if you are interested in some of these waddings, they can be found in all good shops, including my shop/not shop!

Explore 2025’s Quilting Workshops at Strictly Quilting

We are well into 2025 and I feel that I have missed January all together. As some of you may know, we lost our beloved Chewy the day before Christmas Eve and then I came down with one of the nasty colds that was doing the rounds. It took me a while to recover and then, just as I started planning workshops for the year, my husband found a puppy!

Meet Bucky. He’s still very young but is getting into the routine of cabin sewing… But let me tell you what’s planned for the coming year at Strictly Quilting.

One of the most popular workshops are the Sit and Sew Saturdays where you bring your own projects to work on. You might want to investigate a new technique or perhaps you are a bit stuck and need a bit of help. The dates are as follows: 15th March, 5th April, 24th May, 14th June, 12th July, 9th August, 13th September, 11th October, 1st November and 6th December. These tend to fill up quickly as I only have five places each day so book early to ensure your spot. (These are £55/day, 10am – 4pm)

After loosing my Mother I dipped into her stash to make a Baltimore style cushion. It was therapeutic and I believe it certainly helped with the grieving process. Off the back of this, I’ve created an Introduction to Baltimore workshop (Thursday 13th March) followed by a Baltimore Next Steps (Thursday 15th May) which are based on hand sewing using traditional Baltimore techniques. Slow stitching is something that has been proven to help mental health and is meditative. These two days will cover the basics of Needle Turned Appliqué; making leaves, stems and flowers followed by dealing with circles, Suffolk Puffs (Yo Yo), hand embroidery basics finishing with the decorative edge for the cushion. (Both courses are £65 but you can book both for £120.)

When we find antique quilts it’s wonderful if they have a makers name. Sometimes, there is a story behind the quilt, such as it being made for a celebration – a wedding or birth. It is a good idea so this is the next workshop. Quilt Labels gives many different options for labelling your quilt. What should we put on them and how to decorate them. (Thursday 24th April, £65 10am – 4pm.)

T Shirt Quilts, or Memory quilts are a fun way to make a quilt to record memories. This course teaches you the techniques required when using T Shirts or other jersey items. We will also look at using shirts, from which we can get quite a bit of fabric! We look at different quilt design options and this is also a wonderful way to treasure your baby’s clothing or perhaps those of a lost loved one. (Thursday 12th June, £65 10am – 4pm.)

The last of the scheduled workshops so far, is a fun Autumnal project – Pumpkin Patch, a round table mat. Great for Halloween or just to add a little seasonal decoration. This pattern, originally from Phillips Fiber Art who have kindly given me permission to teach, could also be made into a fun floor cushion. (Thursday 18th September, £65 10am – 4pm.)

The final treat on offer this year is the Strictly Quilting retreat. A relaxing weekend of sewing learning about Foundation Paper Piecing. You can choose to join in and make the lovely Luna quilt pattern or bring your own projects to get stuck into. All meals are included and accommodation is single, en-suite. Easy to get to from the motorway network, this weekend is great fun. If you’ve never been on retreat before, this is perfect to try for your first time. I’ll be there to help you through. (Friday 30th May to Sunday 1st June, £450.)

If any of these workshops or the retreat are of interest, you can email helen@strictlyquilting.com for more details or to book.

Crafting with Vlieseline B700: A Quilter’s Perspective

It’s not often that I get a new (to me) product which surprises me but that’s what happened when I received the woven interlining B 700 from Vlieseline to try out. I thought it was a standard iron on interfacing which had environmental credentials, and it is, but so much better than expected.

When quilting, it’s recommended to use pure cotton thread. Cotton threads are softer so match the fabric in hardiness. Polyester threads are much stronger so can, over time, cut your quilt top with use. I do have a couple of quilts that have displayed this but, to be honest, it happens with regular use over some considerable time. With the invention of Free Motion Quilting, the use of the stronger polyester threads has become much more common and this has seeped into the piecing of quilt tops. I still try to stick to pure cotton for everything other than FMQing but with dressmaking, poly is used much more often. The strength is required here due to the stresses that clothing is put under. (I’ll also always use poly for bag making for the same reasons.)

I’m going to digress now, but when my boys were small and had cotton polo shirts for their Primary school uniform, I used to compost the old shirts in our compost bin. It amazed me that these cotton shirts went down to nothing in a surprisingly short period and all that was left was the poly thread! It really brought home to me the damage that all the plastic based thread can have on the world so have tried to edge to the environmentally friendly products since.

Interfacing, or interlining, is one area that I’d not realised there was an alternative, until now. Vlieseline sent me examples of their B700, a heavy weight woven fusible interlining with biodegradable adhesive, and their B710, their medium weight version of the same.

When I opened the pack I thought ‘Oh, it’s just a woven layer of cotton. You can’t feel any adhesive so they’ve sent me the wrong stuff!’ Well, I was wrong. The feel of the woven cloth is so soft, it’s lovely. I passed it around the class I was teaching with all saying how they couldn’t believe it was a fusible. On closer inspection, there was the slightest texture, indicating the adhesive side so, as I was making a shirt dress at the moment, I decided to use this for the collar. When I opened the medium weight, the glue side was easier to tell. The heavy weight was the one I choose to use, to test it and see how firm it actually was. It’s designed for light to medium weight fabrics for small articles such as collars and cuffs on shirts and blouses. Perfect for my dress collar.

Did I follow the instructions for pressing the interlining to my collar? (Did I heck!) But it still went on a dream. When I did read the instructions, you are meant to use a damp pressing cloth, iron onto the wrong side of the article and then leave for 15 minutes to allow the glue to cool and set. I followed some of the advice, in that I used a layer of greaseproof to protect the interlining, what I had to hand at the time. I do allow it to cool, to stop burning fingers but also to allow the glue to set but it certainly wasn’t 15 minutes. (As an aside, this is advisable for all heat bonding such as your appliqués.)

Once bonded, I sewed the collar up and top stitched around the edge. (A new toy which I bought for my lovely new JUKI machine which is truly amazing, but that’s another story.) The collar has a lovely soft feel, it doesn’t have that ‘hard’, almost plastic touch. I hadn’t really thought how the traditional iron on interlining, being polyester based, would not degrade over time but this has given me something to think about. And, if you are like me, I would encourage you to try this product if you are trying to improve your environmental impact.

In my preference for pure cotton in my quilts, I’m going to try these products as the stabilisers for memory (t shirt quilts) so expect to see that on my feeds soon.

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