What a difference a year makes!

machine quilting detail of Siobhan Toner's Ice-cream Parlour quilt

We met Shevvy at the 2013 Festival of Quilts. She'd been wanting a frame for a while but felt that she ought to put it on hold while she finished a degree course. Siobhan's part of the London Modern Quilt Guild.She loves the fresh, no fuss modern approach but she was ready to go beyond straight line quilting. We convinced her to go for the 'both and' option. So she used her new machine quilting frame to sweeten the hard work of the degree course. Sometimes a little bit of what makes your heart sing, goes a long way towards helping you do what you ought to.

Siobhan came to collect her 6 foot Art Quilter and got a free workshop

So Shevvy put a deposit on her 6 foot Art Quilter frame at the show. Then came to collect in in September and got a free workshop. We tried out some line designs on the frame, dismantled it and put it back together. We demonstrated how to lead a quilt on the frame and roll it on. We played with sewing machine tension and looked at lots and lots of quilts. We packed the frame easily in her car and Shevvy left happy, confident and ready to roll when she got back to her London flat.

  

Siobhan's Ice Cream Parlour on display at the 2014 Festival of Quilts

 This year at the Show this gorgeous quilt caught my eye at the London Modern Quilt Guild Exhibition. I looked more closely and it was Shevvy's!! WOW! I was so impressed!

I loved the colour wash effect with the monochromatic plain fabrics. Here's Shevvy's quilt on her 6 foot Art Quilter frame. She's just begun feathering the border.

doodling feathers on the Art Quilter frame

 But my favourite part was how Siobhan used the blocks to doodle different designs, almost like a free-motion machine quilting sampler.

Siobhan used the blocks as a machine quilting sampler

The texture is just fantastic! And I enjoyed the playful way she executed the designs. I was thrilled to see what Shevvy has accomplished in just one year! I wonder what she'll do next? Follow the link Shevvy's blog to find out about how Shevvy created this quilt.

Between Friends

Mair and Carol sharing an 8 foot NEQ2 frame

Mair and Carol are best friends with lots in common. They met years ago at the local surgery when their children were babes. Now, their love for quilting keeps them close even though the kids are grown. 

Mair and Carol were at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this summer when they saw our New English Quilting frames. They got the brilliant idea to share a frame. Sharing made the frame affordable and they thought it would be fun to learn how to use it together. So they rang me up after the show and ordered an 8 foot frame and Nifty Grips to replace the foot pedal on their sewing machine. They decided to get a table too. Carol and Mair opted to come and collect their New English Quilter frame and get a free workshop. 

Choosing threads from various Superior Threads ranges

It's a bit of a drive coming up from Gloucestershire, so Carol and Mair spent the night in the lovely Stables Studio B&B across the street.That meant that we could have a relaxing time setting up the frame, learning how to load a quilt and playing around with lots of new line designs. We had time to go through my stack of quilts and get lots of ideas for beginning projects. Shopping for threads was fun too. I really enjoyed getting to know Carol and Mair. Sharing their New English Quilter means they'll have half the trouble and twice the fun! 

a parting shot before heading home

A Fine Line

machine quilting detail of Stephanie Pettengell's 3D cube

I got to know Stephanie at our Machine Quilting Retreat last January. It was a great group of girls. We all had a wonderful time, laughed a lot and learned so much from each other. People from the group have been keeping up with each other ever since. Stephanie rang a few months ago looking for some threads that would show up against black. She went for Kimono Silk in the end. I was thrilled to get to see the completed projects at the Festival of Quilts last week! 

Stephanie and Martha at the Festival of Quilts 2013

Stephanie belongs to a Textile group called New Horizons and they were invited to exhibit in their very own gallery at this years Festival of Quilts.

Stephanie with her cube in front of her Profiles quilt

The combination of the fine line and the vivid gold colour of the silk was so effective in this project. The New Horizon group members created cubes to give 3D interest to the gallery for visitors. Stephanie created six different circular designs free-motion quilting intricate feathers sitting at the sewing machine.The Kimono Silk threads were just perfect!

exquisite quilting - one face of Stephanie's cube

However, I think that Stephanie's Profile wall hanging generated the most interest! I'll let Stephanie tell you the story in her own words:

"As a member of The New Horizons Textile Group, with the theme of ‘Now We Are Twenty’ I designed the wallhanging ‘Profiles’ for our gallery at the Festival of Quilts 2013. My design was based on the fact that we often have to write a ‘profile’ of ourselves when we show our work. Looking further into the visible profile of a person I wondered how each of us came to think of a theme for our next exhibiting work and how our brains developed our ideas. I wanted the finished piece to make people look more than once,  as I love quilts where you look once and then look again and find more to see. To do this, as well as quilting the discharged visible ‘heads’ I also quilted ‘heads’ in the background among the whirling feathers. Hopefully this invites viewers to step in to see more of the design as the background is textural at first but the more you look the more detail you can see. To achieve this you need a fine thread with a fine needle, I used black kimono silk thread with a small needle to stitch on the black fabric."

This was such a fascinating piece. The stitching was amazing! When I took a closer look to admire the quilting I started to notice the other heads quilted in relief. Wow! This quilt drew me in and got me thinking!

quilting detail of Stephanie Pettengell's Profiles

You can order Kimono Silk threads from our New online shop as well as all the other ranges of Superior Threads. We are the original UK Superior Threads distributors servicing the UK and Europe.

Back Story

 It was the Big One that caught their eye as they were leaving the Festival of Quilts on Sunday afternoon.

They all tried the new JUKI long arm and then moved to the back to try out the smaller New English Quilter frame with the JUKI TL98P sewing machine. They were surprised to get the same freedom of movement. I enjoyed seeing all these young people around the frame.

This guy's mum has a haberdashery shop. He was thinking what fun it would be to have one at the shop. It was definitely worth a call home. There were quite a few quilt shop owners who also realised the advantages of having a quilting frame like this in the shop.

"Hey mum, can I buy one?"

The girl in the back on the left is a young quilter. She just loved trying the frame! You can see her thinking about all the quilts she could finish if she had one of these frames.

This guy is a textile teacher at a Birmingham High School. As he tried the New English Quilter frame he was excited by the potential benefits the frame offered for his textile students. He loved the TL98P sewing machine too. It was exactly the kind of sewing machine he'd been looking for to use with Textile students.

Rosie on the 6 foot New English Quilter frame

It was fun to see all the different ways these young people could  imagine using the New English Quilter frame. They got it! They realized that the frame was a tool and could be used in a variety of ways. It was so satisfying talking with these young people. They left the show very inspired and excited. These kind of interactions make me glad that we were there!

Photo Finish

Martha getting the 6 foot New English Quilter frame ready to roll

Here are some shots from Sunday, the last day of the show. This was our busiest show ever! Every other year we managed to slip away to buy fabric and wander a bit through the exhibition quilts. But this year we were too busy!

Variegated Rainbow threads from Superior Threads

 The one-inch-colour-change variegated threads from the Rainbows range of Superior Threads make such pretty lines!

Rosie on the 6 foot New English Quilter frame

 Rosie was practising some new line designs before the Show opened.

Emily on the Quilt Virtuoso Pro JUKI Long Arm

 It was really nice having the two frames near each other. Everyone had such fun with the new JUKI QVP long arm. But if it was just too big or too expensive they could try the smaller New English Quilter frame with the JUKI TL98P sewing machine. This smaller frame is easy to set up and take down, so it's versatile. Our New English Quilter frames are an American idea that's been adapted to fit into our English homes. Our smaller frames offer the same freedom of movement but on a smaller more affordable scale.

Trying the New English Quilter under Rosie's watchful eye

 This mother and daughter really enjoyed trying both!

Trying the JUKI Long Arm under Emily's watchful eye

So did these young men! They came to the show because one of the guy's mother had a haberdashery shop. His friend who teaches Textiles in a Birmingham High School was not really looking forward to the outing...until he got here. The Festival of Quilts really amazed and inspired him. We had a great conversation about the frame's potential.

I love this picture. It tells a great story. I'll fill you in tomorrow...

Star of the Show

Ikuko tries the new Juki QVP long arm while Emily smiles

I'd have to say that for us, the star of this year's Festival of Quilts show was the new JUKI QVP long arm.

Emily with an excited quilter

Thursday was the opening day as JUKI QVP long arm machine
was demonstrated in Europe for the first time.
People trying it just couldn't help smiling.

Laurence Franklin (on the left) the UK Distributor for JUKI sewing machines

This JUKI Long Arm is so very popular in America that Laurence Franklin, our JUKI distributor here in the UK, decided to bring it to the Festival of Quilts this summer.

JUKI business leaders from central Europe flew over to have a look and give it a try.

Chris, part of our film production crew, has a go

 We all did! It was hard to resist and even people who weren't quilters wanted to see what the JUKI QVP long arm would do.

some nice stitching as Emily runs the JUKI QVP through it's paces

We've been waiting a long time for JUKI to bring out a long arm sewing machine. This new JUKI QVP was worth the wait!

My turn on the JUKI Quilt Virtuoso Pro

Show Threads

We're in the same place this year stand A46 B36-38

 The Festival of Quilts will be here before we know it. I'll be putting a big Superior Threads order through on  Friday for the Show. Many people have placed orders to be collected at the show. If you'd like to collect your pre-ordered threads at the Festival of Quilts send me an email or give me a ring before 9 pm on Friday.I'll have your threads bagged and ready to collect at our stand.

Gorgeous and strong light reflecting tri-lobal polyester £9.99 for 3,000 yds

There are 4 new ranges from Superior Threads 
designed particularly for Long Arm quilters.

So Fine #40 - just like the original but variegated and a bit thicker so it shows £15.95

Magnifico - a gorgeous and strong light reflecting tri-lobal polyester in 200 plain colours £9.99

Fantastico - just like Magnifico but variegated! £11.99                  

OMNI - poly wrapped poly core in clean bright colours £10.99

You can try the new threads on our machine quilting frames

We're all very excited about the new Juki 18 X 10 inch long arm the Quilt Virtuoso Pro. The sewing machine guys ran it through it's paces yesterday and were very impressed. Emily and I can't wait to try it ourselves. If you're looking for a long arm this is going to be the machine to try this year.We'll have our more affordable machine quilting frames that fit everyone's homes and pockets too.

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See you at the Show! We're working with JUKI UK in the same place as last year 

stand A46 B36-38 that's all the way on the right as you walk through the quilt exhibitions facing the back of the Halls.

Call or email Martha

01526 378057

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

Juki Long Arm!!

JUKI TL-2200 Quilt Virtuoso Pro

The JUKI Long Arm is coming to the UK this summer! The Quilt Virtuoso Pro has been getting rave reviews from American quilters. Now it's on the way to the UK so we can try it out at the Festival of Quilts next month. Yippee! Hooray! Come visit the JUKI stand at the Festival of Quilts. We're in the same place as last year Stand A36 B36-38. The Festival of Quilts is early this summer running from Thursday 8 August through Sunday 11 August. Come visit us for a test drive. I'm so excited I can't wait.

JUKI QVP side view

Happy 4th of July

Juki TL98 P on the 6 foot Art Quilter frame

Ever notice that red, white and blue works on both sides of 'the pond'. My guess is that the colonial Americans were too fond of the colours to change. Whenever I use red white and blue I'm pleasing the English and American members of our household. I appreciate the Anglo-American mix in our family.Our children get the best of both! 

We've tried to maximize the benefits of both sides of 'the pond' in our quilting frames too. We're keen to make American innovations in machine quilting more accessible to the English quilter. We've taken an American idea and adapted it to fit in our English homes. Our New English Quilter frames are where American practicality and service meet the genius of British design. We think that we offer the best of both!

red white ad blue bunting FMQ sampler

But don't take our word for it. Come visit our stand at the Festival of Quilts this August in Birmingham at the NEC. You'll find us at the same place as last year stand A 46 B36-38. You'll be able to see and try JUKI sewing machines on our New English Quilter and Art Quilter frames. We'll have a great selection of Superior Threads available too.

a selection of red, white and blue threads from Superior Threads

Come and see classic British design and experience quality American service. Our frames are made in the UK. So we're right here when you need us. We offer ongoing training and support for all our customers.Our UK based demonstrations, workshops, retreats and online support will make sure that you get the most out of your quilting frame.

scalloped mussel shell filler - machine quilting detail

Stop by for a visit and we'll show you how to do this fun filler at the show. Stand A46 B36-38