Strictly Quilting

Summer Workshop Projects

This year is passing so quickly. Easter has come and gone and the garden has started to grow even with all the rain. It’s about now I start to look forward to summer, hoping for a little sunshine to make us all feel better.

Another thing that made me feel better this year was a trip to the wholesale show at the NEC in Feb. What a lovely trip which ended up with a new sewing machine for the workshop and a lovely selection of fabrics! These have been arriving over the past few weeks so I now have a greater selection to tempt you. Bali Pops in a choice of colours and the beautiful Cottage Cloth from Makower. I’ll slowly build up the choice but the below are the first arrivals!

Cecilia Slinn and I have been arranging this summer’s June Retreat and can’t wait to share what we have been working on. Cecilia is bringing a Project Bag and, to accompany this, I’m bringing my Block Nanny carry folder. What’s a Block Nanny, I hear you ask? It’s a folder/bag in which you can keep your individual blocks flat, clean and safe, when traveling to and from workshops or even to hold them in one place at home. There are fleece liner panels which help hold the blocks in place and it’s perfect for keeping track. I do have a tendency to get a bit distracted with new ideas, loosing the blocks of the quilts I haven’t quite finished. The Baltimore quilt I’ve been working on has been safely stored in the Block Nanny and it works, I haven’t lost a block yet!

Going back to Cecilia’s Project Bag, this has plenty of pockets to keep all your workshop requirements safe and also takes a plastic box, as shown, to store things in. I particularly like the slip pockets for a cutting mat. These can really be affected by heat in a car so keeping them flat, when the weather gets a bit warm, is really important.

I have a friend, we’ll call her Emily (not her real name!) who sews and quilts along with her Mother in Law. They had a table set out in the conservatory, covered by a lovely silk tablecloth. A gift from the MOLs friend from the Orient. One summer’s day, Emily was busy cutting out strips and squares for her new project, using the cutting mat on the table. It was only a while later, when tidying up, that they realised that the tablecloth was now a collection of ribbons! The heat of the sun had caused the rotary cutter to cut right through the mat to the tablecloth! I’ve also seen cutting mats left in cars be twisted out of shape by the heat so having a bag to keep them flat is a worthwhile investment.

The retreat is due on 14th to 16th June and is being held at Hillscourt Conference Centre. A great location, not far off the motorway network on the outskirts of Birmingham. The rooms are single en-suites, and full board is included from the Friday evening though to the Sunday lunch. Breakfast is a good selection of traditional cooked, cereals or continental options. Lunch is a hot and cold buffet and for the two course dinner, there is a choice from three selections. We also have the conference hall for sewing from Friday lunchtime through to Sunday afternoon.

You can join in with the projects or bring your own. The patterns will be provided for you to choose so if you have a quilt you really need some time to get finished, what better than to bring it along. I can’t quite decide what I’m going to take with me. I should be finishing some quilts by quilting them. Queenie, the new sit-down long arm, has been helping with this but she’s not exactly transportable so I may just have to start a new project! Oh no, that means shopping!

For more details about the retreat you can find them here or email either Helen at helen@striclyquilting.com or Cecilia at cecilia.slinn@btinternet.com.

Back from the slopes and using Vlieseline Wadding – 279 Soft Cotton Mix 80/20

Well it’s been a bit of a while since I’ve done a lot of sewing. In January the family and I took to the slopes of Bulgaria for a ski trip and, you guessed it, I was taken out by a snowboarder on the first day and broke my wrist.. Had to be the right hand, didn’t it! I spent the week kidding myself I hadn’t really broken it but only managed to ski one other day as my knee was twisted too. I’m getting too old for this!

I was able to do a little hand stitching, a pretty cross stitch using the prettiest Aida I’ve ever seen from zoesgiftsncrafts.com. Some of the fabrics are so beautiful and can act as a background to highlight your designs. The cross stitch design was from ‘Cross Stitch Christmas’ by Héléne Le Berre but I digress. After the usual six weeks of recovery the sewing machine is back out, and I launched into a small table runner, Bargello style, to utilise for a workshop at Strictly Quilting HQ.

Bargellos can be made in many different patterns from the usual Wave or Flame to something like my favourite, the Heart. (This one is getting on now but I do love it.) I had always wanted to try to do a simple diamond pattern, which worked really well for this smaller table runner and, looking around the cabin for some wadding, I found this piece of 279 Soft Cotton Mix 80/20 Vlieseline had kindly sent me to try. For those newer to quilting, or who have often wondered, 80/20 stands for 80% cotton and 20% polyester. It also has a scrim, which helps bind the fibres so as not to wander around and ‘beard’ your fabric with a pale, fluffy top coat.

Soft and white, with a lovely drape, it was perfect for my needs and certainly lived up to it’s name. I quilted it with a Walking Foot on my new JUKI DK7. (There’s another blog in there as she is a thing of beauty. I need a name for her!…) The wadding sewed like a dream, no bearding at all and, as I used a plain backing, this would really show any stray fibres.

The advantage to using 80/20 for something like a table runner is that it usually washes very well. I do like the rustic look you get after the first wash from slight shrinkage, so I don’t tend to pre-wash my wadding. I know some people do, and it is recommended should you wish to avoid this. The suggested quilting distance (the maximum space you should leave between lines of quilting) is 20cm, advice I normally follow. With the Bargello pattern I simply followed several of the fabric lines which accentuated the diamond shape of the pattern.

If you are interested in a Bargello workshop I’ll be running two – the table runner as a one day workshop and a full, Bargello two day where we launch into a full quilt, later in the year.

Bargello Table Runner: Saturday 4th May 2024. £65. 10:00 – 16:00hrs. We will learn the tube technique for making a Bargello inspired quilt, a little of the history behind this pattern and given advice on how to quilt and take this technique further. Suitable for confident beginners. Email Helen@strictlyquilting.com to book.

This wadding is suitable for quilts, quilted cushions and table runners but can also be utilised in bags and pouches or for light clothing such as jackets and coats, something I’d like to try, but haven’t as yet. Perhaps that will be my next project. Hummm, I’m off to rummage in my fabric stash…..

2024 Retreat Dates Announced

Well, 2023 went so quickly that I think I missed most of it but now is the time to look forward to 2024. Cecilia and I have so enjoyed running our two retreats last year that we have again booked two more for 2024.

The Summer retreat is booked for 14th to 16th June and we have two different projects to work on – a Craft Bag designed by Cecilia and a Block Nanny from me. The bag is such a useful item to take your equipment and projects to workshops (or retreats!) and the Block Nanny is designed to keep blocks clean and flat when in construction. Both patterns will be available to you to take home so you may like to choose one item to make or you can bring your own projects to work on, knowing you’ll have the patterns for the future. Those to attended the Winter retreat in December 23 will have seen Cecilia working on a smaller ‘test’ version of the bag but we all loved it so much that I think I’ll be making one in this smaller size…

Block Nanny – Used to look after your quilt blocks whilst making them and transporting to and from workshops. This bag contains a fleece liner to hold your blocks or cut fabrics in place.

For the Winter Retreat, which is from Friday 29th November to Sunday 1st December, we have decided to concentrate on appliqué in many different forms such as bonded, reverse and needle turned. We will look at the different methods to finish your appliqué using both hand and machine and will have demonstrations and a talk to support your learning.

The retreats are both held at Hillscourt Conference Centre just on the outer edge of Birmingham which is very easy to find and the rooms are single en-suite. Full board whilst we are there includes breakfasts, buffet lunches and two course dinner with choice.

If you’d like more details about the retreats you can check out the retreat page here. You’ll find the booking forms for both retreats, plus full information on what is included and details of the hotel. If you have any questions you can drop me an email at Helen@strictlyquilting.com.

Vlieseline 276 – Natural Cotton Wadding

Towards the start of this year I was hoping to host a Sew A-Long (SAL) series of blogs on my website Strictly Quilting. Well, sometimes life gets in the way by throwing the odd curve ball and I found things didn’t quite work out the way I’d planned. I’d started the design, based on star blocks, and slowly (very slowly) managed to get the design together.

As I’m sure you know, quilt blocks have a variety of names, frequently more than one, and I used blocks based on dessert names: French Silk Pie, Blueberry Pie and Peach Cobbler. I also added Love in the Mist and a few Friendship Stars as fillers. The whole quilt is now named ‘Galaxy’ and I am still planning on publishing it as a free SAL soon. (You can follow me on my website, Strictly Quilting, and get updated when I publish it, a block a week.)

I finally finished the quilt tops last week. One is made with a white background and a second with a black background. Both are ideal to use up scraps or can be made from meterage. The fabrics I used were from a selection of 10” square fabric samples from Makower, in rainbow colours. So now it came to layering and quilting.

Vlieseline sent this beautiful wadding for me to try and decided this would be the perfect project to trial it. As the wadding came out of the package, I was surprised at how beautifully soft it felt. The class of students that were with me at the time were all impressed by the feel with lots of ‘ohhhs’ and ‘ahhhs’ as it was passed around to feel. It drapes well and is, I have to say again, so soft! It’s got ‘body’, feels more substantial but is still lighter in loft meaning it’s not too puffy

The wadding is white, perfect for the white background quilt. If you use a cream wadding when you have white fabrics it can sometimes show through, making the pure white fabric a bit dull. Using a white wadding, you end up with a crisper white quilt.

The scrim holds it well and there doesn’t appear to be any bearding. This is when fibres from the wadding come away and you end up with them everywhere. (Think hairy dog getting fur all over the sofa! The scrim helps fix the fibres in place.)

For Free Motion Quilting, you can use two layers of wadding, so I layered up the backing, two layers of wadding and the top. Talking of backing fabric do you all do what I did? I was looking for the perfect backing fabric. Found a lovely, beautifully rich purple with gold highlights which was just too nice to use. I had to give myself a stern talking too! Anyway, using two layers of wadding means that when you knock back areas with heavier quilting, the un-quilted areas really stand out. I’d used a purple in the bobbin and a white thread on top. You can see a tiny hint of the bobbin thread which I’d intended to act as distant stars, similar to the Milky Way across the sky.

The wadding is washable, at 30 degrees and it does say that it should not be used in a tumble dryer. (That probably won’t stop me from throwing it in for a minute or two on a low setting to help fluff it up but please, follow the instructions rather than me!) The quilting distance is a recommended 10cm which might be a disadvantage to some. I was quite surprised to be honest, this isn’t a great distance when most modern waddings with scrim have a quilt distance of up to 10”, closer to 25cm. The difference doesn’t sound much but if you are a beginner, doing less quilting is quite appealing.

Overall, this wadding has a lovely feel, drapes well and is certainly one to keep in mind.

Gütermann Deco Stitch

Gütermann is one of the most popular thread producers having been around for decades. As a girl, the chap that used to service our sewing machine always recommended Gütermann thread and I still use it for a lot of my piecing and dressmaking. They have a wide range of threads and one is Deco Stitch.

Deco Stitch is designed to work well with domestic sewing machines decorative stitches. You can use it on the top with a sew all thread on the bottom if you wish. I was sent some to have a play and see exactly how I could use it for quilting. It is 70 weight, so at the lighter end of threads but this means that it will not bulk out too much and will form the stitches evenly but what to do with it?

I lost my Mum earlier this year. We started patchwork and quilting together over a decade ago when we took up a beginners class and it always was a shared passion. This led to a weekly class where we made good friends with our group, who I still see, day trips to the local shows and she came to every retreat I organised. When you loose a quilter, or any crafter, there is the bitter sweet task of sorting out the ‘stash’. I have plenty of UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) and she had a few too! One of these was a cross-stitch of Nemo, the little fish from the movie. She had started this about eighteen years ago as a gift for a little girl called Alice, who LOVED Nemo. When I found it, all those memories of watching the film endless times came rushing back and I remember Mum saying she was making the picture. She hadn’t quite finished it with only a few outlining stitches missing, so I asked Alice (who is now 22) if she would like it. She was delighted but wanted it to be made into something. Her other request was that I not complete the image, leave it just as Nanny Pat had left it.

The image was the perfect size for a small purse, perhaps for make up, so this was what I decided to make. I also had a sparkly zip in my stash which would work brilliantly. Next, I had to find some fabric which matched the image and when I came across the stunning blue, it was perfect; Nemo swimming in the sea. I then looked around for thread and this is when the Deco Stitch came in useful. I had a variegated version in blues which I decided to use for quilting the little bag.

The thread worked really well, showing up on the ‘sea’ as I quilted wavy lines. Initially I was going to play with some of the decorative stitches but, as the fabric was so lovely, I felt it might not have worked. Sometimes, simple is best. I also echo quilted around the Nemo figure, simple to hold that side down.

Deco Stitch is a versatile thread that is useful to have in your thread stash and comes in a range of variegated colours which work brilliantly for those decorative embroidery stitches. So, if you have never used those stitches why not have a go with Deco Stitch.

Clover Finger Presser

Many of you that have visited me at Strictly Quilting HQ know that I love a Hera Marker for marking lines, especially when quilting. I’ve found them useful for both hand quilting and, more recently, for marking for Free Motion Quilting on my beautiful new machine, Queenie. I can do straight lines or curves, use templates or go around shapes. They’re great!

But now I’ve come across a new little tool from Clover – the Finger Presser.

For perfect piecing we really should iron/press each seam usually ‘to the dark side’. Of course I’d like to do this every time but actually getting up, leaving the iron on, then returning to the machine… It’s a pain. And if you are hand piecing, again, it can be annoying to go to the ironing board every seam. This is where the Finger Presser comes in.

I’ve seen these little things before but hadn’t tried one before. Well, it has won me over. I was stunned at how well this worked. Made from a solid, durable material it sits well in the hand. There is a lovely little impression in which your finger rests. The edge can be used to fold against and the other end had a point, again I’ve used to mark lines. Below you can see a before and after using the tool. A crisp press without an iron.

Use the Finger Presser by applying pressure down the seam line. This folds over the seam allowance with surprising crispness. You can find out more about Clover products at – www.clover.mfg.com

Gütermann Super Brite Thread

There are many threads we can use which bring added glamour to our Free Motion Quilting. I’ve not used Gütermann Super Brite before so, when they sent me a sample to try, I was keen to have a go.

Gütermann Super Brite has a trilobal structure – a triangular shape which means there are flat sides from which light reflects. (I had to look that up – I’d always wondered what it meant!) This ensures that you get a glorious shine which, coupled with the beautifully luscious colour, will add depth to your quilt designs.

They recommend that this thread is ideal for machine embroidery motifs and I agree it would be perfect (especially as there are 288 colours to choose from) but, being a quilter, I decided to trial it on my sit-down long arm, Queenie, a Bernina Q20 at Strictly Quilting HQ.

The Festival of Quilts was held a couple of weeks ago and I managed to catch one of Angela Waters talks – Fabulous Feathers. Here Angela talked us how she undertakes feathers, both individual and bump-back. Slightly different methods of crafting Free Motion Feathers. I love doing feathers from large explosive space filling ones to small, delicate whips which intertwine with other patterns. This was the inspiration for a little practice with this new thread.

Ten minutes a day is recommended to develop your Free Motion Quilting. Do I undertake that? No chance. Too busy working but I do keep practice squares made up so when I do find time, I can just grab one and have a play. Calico layered with one or two layers of wadding. I usually cut them to about 12” to 18” square and use the cut offs from my quilts. This is a good size for practice and I also use a strong colour thread. Luckily Gütermann sent me a strong Christmas red. Using a thread with a big contrast means that you can see all the different twists and turns. Don’t be afraid of this, it’s the best way to practice and improve.

But back to the thread. Made from 100% polyester, this thread is strong and hard-wearing. I found it went through my machine effortlessly with no tearing or threading, which can happen with long-arms due to the speed of free motion. Another positive is that it’s washable at 60 degrees. Now, I don’t wash my quilts at 60 but it’s good to know it would stand up to it. The many colours it comes in means that there is sure to be one to suit any project. They recommend using a needle between 70 and 90. The thread is 40 weight but runs finer and there is 1000m on a reel. Not bad for the price of around £5.50 a reel. I’ll be looking up these threads to start building a collection and can recommend it for Free Motion Quilting.

Follow @gueterman_creativ_uk

For stockist information, contact Gütermann creativ –

email: gutermann@stockistenquiries.co.uk

Summer Retreat is Nearly Here!

Cecilia Slinn and myself are getting excited now, our Summer Retreat is just around the corner. A weekend of sewing. Single en-suite rooms, wonderful meals cooked for you and the company of like minded crafters. The Summer Retreat (21st to 23rd July) is nearly here and we have a couple of places left. We are hosting at Hillscourt in Birmingham which is only minutes from the motorway network. Two experienced, award winning tutors are on hand all weekend – Cecilia Slinn and Helen Kent – plus two workshops. Cecilia project is Wonky Courthouse Steps in which we will learn to piece curves and Helen is teaching Cathedral Windows. Both of which are great stash busters. We also have Andrea from Black Mountain Fabrics bringing a pop up shop just in case you feel the need for a bit of retail therapy. All of this for just £375. If you would like to book or more details, drop me a message – email helen@strictlyquilting.com

Sashiko and a little trip to Quilts UK.

The art of Sashiko been a big trend over the years and Clover has the perfect needles for your projects. I’ve always wanted to have a go so, when Clover sent me some to try out, I was eager to start. For those that aren’t familiar with Sashiko, it is a stitching technique developed in Japan and was used to repair and strengthen clothing – thus creating Boro stitching where fabric is applied to mend clothing. The designs are ordered, repeated geometric shapes with a precision to the position of the stitches.

As luck would have it, some close friends took a trip to Japan earlier this year. The photos and the experiences they returned with were enviable but the one thing that I was really jealous of was the Sashiko shop they came across.

What a treasure trove of beautifully crafted work: From cushions to umbrellas, wallhangings to kitchen items and fans. The different patterns which make this needlework so distinctive can be seen. As a gift they very kindly brought me back a skein of Sashiko thread in white, although you can get it in a rainbow of colours and even some with a little sparkle. Sashiko thread is not like the embroidery threads we commonly use. It is a single wound strand which would move with the base fabric and leave the repaired item stronger than it was originally. The stitching also added warmth to the garment.

But what design should I choose? This is where a good book is always a worthwhile investment (and a good option for your birthday/Christmas gift list, which is what I’d done last year.) Susan Briscoe is renowned for her work in this field and so I turned to her book, ‘Sashiko 365’. A different design for every day which can be used to make a sampler quilt or as design inspiration.

So, what makes these needles special? Coated with a Gold-Eye plating, these Sashiko needles have a unique elliptical design for easy threading. The sharp point allows the needles to smoothly glide through the fabric while the extreme toughness of the steel makes the needles virtually impossible to bend or break.

The needles were certainly easy to thread and the steel slips through the fabric so easily, like the proverbial knife through butter. They are truly beautiful to use; strong, smooth and sharp. As it happened I visited the Quilts UK show at Malvern shortly after receiving the needles so I invested in some beautiful fabric to try out Sashiko. Susan herself was at the show with her book so I was able to have a little chat with her about it. And when I say I had to ‘invest’ in some fabrics and threads – what did I buy? I started with choosing some different threads. A multicoloured skein and some pastel coloured threads with a hint of silver. I couldn’t resist one of her printed Sashiko panels which has been brilliant as an introduction. A selection of fabrics which Susan called her Northern Lights collection and a printed fabric pack to extend my Sashiko experience into Boro…That’s for another blog but for now, I’m hooked!

If anyone is interested in an introductory session on Sashiko, let me know and we will arrange a workshop.

Clover Sashiko Needles are available in two types, both packs containing assorted sizes.

Sashiko Needles (CL2007) 8 per pack RRP £5.06 approx.

Sashiko Long Needles (CL2009) 3 per pack. RRP £3.96 approx.

For stockist information, contact Clover email: clover@stockistenquiries.co.uk

Happy New Year

My goodness this year went quickly and what a year it was. Increasing the sewing classes, taking on a Ukrainian family, running the first retreat along with several other workshops, hosting the Block Drive in September for Quilts for Care Leavers along with continuing blogs for UKQU, not to mention the new machine which arrived in time for my birthday – I fell that my feet haven’t touched the ground.

But over the Christmas season I find a little reflection for the past and future is not a bad thing. This year has seen the Sit and Sew sewing groups filling up steadily with Mondays and Fridays being mostly full. There are still spaces on Wednesdays (which was initially meant to concentrate on hand sewing but…..) These all run from 10 to 1 and are pay as you go. (£17 a session.) The retreat went very well, with great feedback, and I have also been running some daylong workshops on a weekend for those that are busy in the week. These started with the Doris Sampler Quilt course but will continue from May onwards in a more personal format, working on different techniques and designs that take our interest.

So what does Strictly Quilting have planned for this year? Off the back of the Doris course I’ve been running, I’ve been asked to do a Block Of the Month (BOM) so I’ve been swiftly designing a quilt which will be free to follow on Facebook or via my blogs. Like my Facebook page and follow my website to ensure you don’t miss it. I had planned on running a similar UFO a month, Un-Finished Object, where we make a list of the projects we have and work through those… This may happen slightly later in the year as I’ll be adding to the UFO pile with the new BOM!!!

The first course coming up quickly is the Free Motion Quilting with Cecilia Slinn. This will be the second time Cecilia has run this course for me and I am looking forward to it just as much as the first time. This is going to be held at the local village hall of Mitchell Troy on three Sundays from 10 to 4, February 5th, March 5th and April 2nd. A buffet lunch, along with refreshments, is included so you can concentrate on learning this new skill and enjoy the experience. This has proved popular and I only have four places left remaining so if you are interested, do get in touch.

We also have booked a further two retreats as the first was so successful. For these, Cecilia and myself collaborate providing support and mini workshops throughout the weekend. We arrive at Hillscourt Conference Centre on the Friday lunchtime and end Sunday afternoon with plenty of sewing time, full board and accommodation in ensuite single rooms. I cannot recommend retreat weekends enough. The first is in the summer – 21st to 23rd July and we will have mini workshops around Cathedral Windows, in various techniques and Wonky Log Cabins where we will look at dealing with curves.

The second retreat, in the winter – 8th to 10th December, will be looking at quilting in all its forms: Free Motion Quilting; Hand Quilting; Big Stitch; Walking Foot; Tying. We will still sew our own projects but if you’ve wondered about the different quilting forms, designs or want some quilting advice, then this is the retreat for you.

I am also hoping to host some Charity Sew Days – I could do with some help putting together some of the charity quilts so, if you fancy a day sewing blocks together to give Care Leavers a gift at Christmas, then let me know. Again, dates will be released via Facebook or blogs.

All in all this year is beginning to look as busy as the one just gone but for now, all that remains is for me is too wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.