NEW Number

Guess what? We're moving! (BUT not yet!)

Just across the county nearer to Boston 

to be closer to my husband's work.

So our contact details will be changing. 

Meanwhile you can still reach us at these numbers:

01526 378551
01526 378057 with answerphone 

or by email:

 martha@machinequilter.co.uk

If I miss your call

please email me with your number 

and I'll ring you back as soon as possible.

Learning Together

Tricia in Martha's studio

Tricia was expecting her great grand child and so of course she made a quilt.  When Tricia came to visit, the baby was due any minute.

Tricia quilting loop-de-loops

Since we were on a tight schedule we decided to work together.

Tricia, although an experienced stitcher and avid piecer, had never used a machine quilting frame before, so we decided to go for a simple loop-de-loop pattern.

Tricia learning to nestle one line of stitching into the previous line

The loopy pattern is perfect for a beginning machine quilter. The circles help you to move, every-which-way across your available space. 

Loops are a fun pattern and easy to create a bold and flowing line of stitching.

Tricia loves hearts but was not quite confident enough to quilt them on a gift quilt. So we decided to quilt it together. 

loops and hearts quilting detail

Tricia quilted a line of loops. then I quilted a line of loops and hearts.

Then Tricia quilted another line of loops. And so on. It was great fun learning to nestle the lines of quilting into each other.

Tricia withthe finished quilt hot off the frame

And it turned out just great! I think that the binding and the baby came at around the same time.

Here's a close up of the machine quilting. Bear in mind that this was the very first time that Tricia machine quilted on a frame.

Now notice the bold and beautiful line of loops that Tricia quilted.

It is just as flowing as the line of loops and hearts that I did. Well done Tricia!!

We used the 6 foot New English Quilter, with the Juki TL98P sewing machine and Superior Threads.

We used a silver Magnifico on Top and a silver Bottom Line underneath. The silver threads created a lovely subtle texture on this fresh modern style baby quilt.





The right tools make machine quilting fast and fun. What a fantastic little quilt! ... And look who's arrived!

Tricia's new baby great-grandson

baby Finnley

There is nothing quite so beautiful as a sleeping baby! Congratulations Tricia! And here baby Finnley is on this new quilt.

Baby Finnley on his new quilt

Poppy Project

Lincolnshire poppy field photo by Martha Milne

Before I had a quilting frame, I mainly loved the piecing part of patchwork & quilting. I loved the colours and shapes but I got stuck on the quilting part. After I got a quilting frame, I fell in love with texture. Now the quilting part is my favourite part of the process.

poppies and seed pods photo by Martha Milne

 I find myself working backwards. I used to make a top and then try to figure out how to quilt it. Now there will be some new quilting pattern that I want to try out and so I figure out a 'canvas' that I'd like to quilt or thread paint on.

Today on pinterest, I got inspired by poppies and decided to do a poppy project. There were so many ideas that I'll probably do more than one. but I decided to start with a Georgia O'Keeffe Poppy. 

kid's version of Georgia O'Keefe's Poppies

This looks like it will be so much fun to thread paint but I needed to figure out how to make the canvas first.

see artprojectsforkids.me

I found this art project for primary schools and decided to take the same approach. I divided the painting into rectangles and pieced them together using various scraps of red. The pieced pattern will act like a grid to help me transfer the painting from my computer screen to the quilt top.

creating the fabric grid

Now I'll raw-edge appliqué the spaces round the flower. Tomorrow the fun begins when I get to play with lots of thread on my frame!

my Juki Exceed 600 fab for piecing and applique note the thread stand
 that let's me use my larger cones

KING TUT Price CUT

King Tut 100% extra-long-staple Egyptian cotton from Superior Threads

We're having a Really BIG sale on our in-stock 2,000 yd King Tut cones. King Tut is one of Superior Threads most popular ranges. King Tut thread is 100% extra-long-staple really-grown-in-Egypt cotton designed for machine quilting.

King Tut 2,000 yd. cross-wound cones designed for machine quilting

Egypt is the perfect climate for growing cotton and produces the long fibers that make King Tut such a low lint thread. Egyptian cotton grown in other places just doesn't compare. That's why Egyptian cotton is so expensive and also why it's worth every penny.

King Tut is designed for long arm machine quilting. Gammills love it! And if it works great at long arm speeds it is going to be brilliant in ordinary domestic machines. 

#945 Cinnaberry and #912 St George King Tut cones 

King Tut creates a beautiful bold line in a matt finish. It comes in plain, tone on tone and variegated colours. The colour change is one-inch, which means that you'll never get blocks of colour or a stripy look that comes from the 6+ inch colour changes of other threads. It costs more to create a one inch colour change on our variegated threads but we think it's worth it!

#934 Nile Delta s shows off the one-inch colour change in King Tut variegated threads

Right now we have over 200 cones of King Tut in-stock!! It's the biggest selection this side of the Atlantic. But hurry, they're going fast!

 Visit our Machine Quilter shop

King Tut 2,000 yard cross wound cones

perfect for machine quilting 

usually £18.95

on sale while stocks last at £15.95

All the in-stock sale cones are marked sale in green.
Savour the season with King Tut

Nature's finest thread!