April Showers

Source: inprnt.com via Martha on Pinterest

Here in Lincolnshire it has been raining everyday for 4 weeks. The entire month! I call that April Showers with a vengeance. Today the sun was shining. What a difference a bit of sunshine makes!

Source: allposters.com via Martha on Pinterest

I love the raw edged appliqué umbrella below.
I'm going to try it on the Art Quilter frame.

Like Christmas

Source: 01varvara.wordpress.com via Martha on Pinterest

Whenever a Superior Threads order comes in it feels like Christmas! There's the big box to open and all the lovely threads to unpack and admire. Then there's the thread orders to post on. It makes me glad to think that the recipients will be just as delighted to open the box as I was to pack it.

Last week I sent out several large orders to girls who are taking advantage of the bulk buy discounts. Emailing back and forth about the arrangements gives me a chance to catch up with my customers. Karen was stocking up on lots of threads from the So Fine! and King Tut ranges. Karen bought a JUKI TL 98P  to go on one of the first NEQ2 frames in January 2011 She's been machine quilting on a frame for over a year now and is doing some lovely work. Karen likes using pantographs and her feedback helped us to design a better stylus. A few weeks ago Karen bought a new JUKI HZL Exceed for piecing. She's thrilled to bits with it!

the NEW Juki HZL Exceed - a dream to piece and appliqué with 

Karen's been reading lots of blog posts about machine quilting off the frame, sitting down at the sewing machine. So she decided to give it a try. Karen made me laugh when I asked her how it went. With her permission I've quoted her:

"I tried sit-down-free-motion quilting for the first time this week. It was awful! It made me really appreciate my frame. All my lines were jerky! Now I know why I bought my frame. It's so much easier to free motion quilt using the frame! My stitching on the frame is much more flowing and such a better quality. I'll be sticking to machine quilting on the frame for now on!" 

It's nice to have happy customers!

Texture Magic

Bronwyn Fleming -  texture magic sample 

 Texture Magic was a big hit at the Lincoln Embroider's Guild event . The ability to create instant texture was too tempting to pass up. We sold out on the day but have more in stock. Selling at 20% off for UK and European customers. Follow the links to find out more. Texture Magic can be used on the frame or sitting down at the sewing machine. Any stitching looks great! Playing around with Texture Magic will bring our the Textile Artist in you.

Bronwyn Fleming organza Texture Magic sample

By clicking the 'Buy Now' button below, you can purchase a pack of Texture Magic. The normal retail price is £9.99, but those buying from the blog will only pay £7.99! 

Please note that you do not have to have a PayPal account in order to use PayPal - it is merely a safe and secure way to process a transaction. 

Texture Magic - Limited 20% Discount! £7.99 + P&P

New Threads!

So Fine! goes variegated! So Fine from Superior Threads is a fine lint free poly that's etched to look like cotton. Long-armers love it. We give a big cone of So Fine free to every person that we sell a New English Quilter frame to. Over the years we've found that So Fine is the most trouble-free thread, ever. So Fine gets all the new machine quilters off to a great start. The only thing that I didn't like about So Fine was, well... it was just a little bit boring. Given the choice I'd rather use a thread with a bit more pizazz. I love using variegated threads, especially the one inch colour change variegated threads. So I was very very excited to see the NEW #40 Variegated So Fine! range. So Fine is boring no more!

Our ginger tom cat, Jasper decided to come into the picture during my last photo shoot. So Fine! #40 comes in 30 new variegated and tone on tone colours. Out of all the colours

Jasper grabbed #701 Didgeridoo. He thinks it matches his paw perfectly! So do we.

Get your paws on a cone of So Fine!#40 It's just purrfect for machine quilting! The 30 colours in the new So Fine!#40 range are on sale now in large 1,650 yard cones. Created with the Long Arm Quilter in mind So Fine! #40 is great for all machine quilters everywhere.
 America for $21.95
 UK and Europe £15.95 for a large 1,650 yd cone. Too new for the UK website. Use the American site as a shop window and email or ring Martha with your order.
01526 378057
martha@machinequilter.co.uk

Pushing the Needle

Source: Uploaded by user via Martha on Pinterest

We had a great day on Saturday at the Lincolnshire Embroider's Guild Event. Pauline Burbridge, a UK Textile Artist rather famous in quilting circles was invited as the guest speaker. Over 200 embroiders and quilters came for the day. It was a wonderful mix of people.

Embroidered bag by Bronwyn Fleming

People who quilt and embroider use many of the same tools and materials in different ways. Emily and I had been invited to bring our range of Superior Threads and our Art Quilter frames. Lots of people were fascinated to see and try a machine quilting frame for the first time. One lady said, "Isn't that cheating?" I asked her if she was a hand embroiderer and she said "yes" and I asked her to watch more closely. I wanted her to see that I was guiding the needle. The stitches were not pre-programmed or computerized.

drawing with the needle of my JUKI sewing machine on my Art Quilter frame

I was drawing with the needle and the patterns were coming out of my head! The Italians call this 'Fantasia!' which is just another way of saying that the line designs are coming from my imagination. People stitching hand-guided free-motion line designs have much in common with free-motion embroiders. Whether we're piecing, quilting, embroidering or embellishing we are all pushing needles and pulling threads.

Peacock Feathers

Source: patsythompsondesigns.com via Martha on Pinterest

I love how machine quilting designs morph between one person and the next.           I found this fab line design from Patsy Thompson on pinterest the other day. I just had to doodle it,  and when I did, the design turned out like this.

The kids decided that my version looked like

peacock feathers.

And it did!   The JUKI TL98-P sewing machine needle is the perfect 'pen' to draw the feathers. The 6 foot Art Quilter frame holds the 'paper' (black fabric quilt sandwich) steady and perfectly tensioned. This leaves me free to concentrate on drawing with gorgeous variegated thread....it's so fun drawing a line that changes colour!

Citrus Cooler Rainbows 

#836 from Superior Threads.

 I'm not sure how I'm going to use this new line design. But I'm looking for the opportunity and pinterest is certainly giving me lots of inspiration.

Source: Uploaded by user via Martha on Pinterest

Embroidery and Quilting

By Bronwyn Flemming currently on display at Millgate Textile Museum 

The line between Embroidery and 
Free-motion quilting is disappearing. Great things happen when quilters and embroiders get together. That's why the Lincolnshire Embroiderers Guild has invited Pauline Burbidge, a nationally renowned textile artist as the guest speaker for Mildred Higgins Memorial Day. 

Saturday April 14th Mildred Higgins Day

Trade stands, Displays and Competition

Lecture by Pauline Burbidge

10:00am to 4:00pm

The Hardy Building

Bishop Grosseteste College

Lincoln LN1 3DY
£6.00 payment in advance
There are just a few tickets remaining.
Ring quick to book: 01522 730784

by Bronwyn Flemming

Machine Quilter will be hosting a stand featuring Superior Threads. We'll have our Art Quilter frames set up with JUKI sewing machines so everyone can have a chance to play with threads. All are welcome! It sounds like a great day out. Hope to see you there.