Winter into Spring

doodling line designs

The Machine Quilter Retreat last weekend was so much fun! We had a great group of girls from all over the country. The weather was so kind! It did snow but only after everyone had arrived safe and sound on Friday. Then it rained and by Sunday it was positively balmy. So all the driving there and back again was just fine.

auditioning threads

 We laughed a lot and enjoyed auditioning thread and brainstorming quilting patterns on various tops.

Jackie showing us some finished quilts

 Everyone brought quilts to share. It was very inspiring!

Marilyn and Martha 

Marilyn wrote a poem, which captured the Retreat so much better than prose.

Dancing the line

Outside, a muntjac deer, her coat

shimmering like wet clay, picks her sunlit way

through snow fading from the soft edge of hard.

Inside, its time to show and tell our pieces,

to ask  - which pattern, which thread?

We spool silk, cotton, trilobal fibre

over fabric, consider curls of matt, glossy,  

same and shifting colour lines:

question,    disagree,      play.

Next we air doodle, letting the trace

whisper to our mind’s eye, then, pen on paper,

we repeat: ripple stipple, border feathers, loops,

writing their twists, turns, and pauses

into our muscle memory before we needle-draw,

back and forth across stretched sandwiches

-top, fleece, backing. We are dancing the line

to the thaw’s soundscape, stitching across

bears paw, log cabin, blocks and strips

of cloth, sewing buds of scallops, mussel shells,

hearts,  side stepping to shadow one,

then another - creating quilting blossom.

Outside the buttercup moon lights

the leaves, trees, paths, free from snow:

in its gaze we turn towards home.

©Marilyn Hammick January 2013

2 Quilts in 3 Days

Meet Kate. Kate's been a piecer for years. She's been making quilts since she could hold a needle. But this week, Kate became a quilter! Like most of us, Kate has lots and lots of tops. She loves buying fabric and making blocks but she gets stuck on the quilting part. Sound familiar? ; )

On Saturday, Kate is heading off to Bristol for University and she thought she might let the looming deadline spur her on to finish a couple of quilts. Kate's been enjoying playing around with log cabin blocks. She has two really different looking tops, each utilizing the log cabin pattern.

The top in the photo above, is made from authentic retro fabric purchased on ebay. These blocks have a low contrast, so the log cabin pattern is very subtle.

In the top below, featuring Kaffe fabric, the contrast is more striking.

Kate arranged the blocks to make a zig-zag pattern and framed it with a lovely piano key border.

Kate has never really machine quilted on a frame before. In the past she stuck to stitching lines on the machine and a bit of free-motion. But she was dreading the hassle of fighting with all the fabric under the arm of her sewing machine. And she very much wanted to finish the quilts in time for Uni. So she came to visit a little bit worried that she would not be able to do it.

She worried in vain! While I was pinning the quilt on the frame I had Kate do some doodling practice. She was going to use a mussel shell design and add some scalloping. So she practised first on a roll of paper. By the time the quilt was loaded she was ready to give it a go. The hardest part was 'hitting that red START button!' Well, Kate went from naught to 60 in about 1 hour. In no time at all she was confidently moving the carriage to create beautiful lines, 6 hours later Kate had fallen in love with texture and finished her first quilt.

Today we loaded the second top on the frame. Kate used the same line design with different thread and a looser pattern. After all the practice on the previous quilt, this was easy and Kate was finished in a couple of hours. Three days, two quilts. Not bad!

Kate was thrilled with the difference the quilting made. She's already looking forward to the next one.

Retreat Advances

Retreats are an interesting concept - a stepping back in order to move forward. The April Machine Quilters Retreat was a fantastic example of this. Our retreats attract a wide variety of people. Some are just beginning, some are quite experienced. Some are traditional some are edgy and arty. Put them all together and great things happen.

Maria has had her New English Quilting frame for a couple of years now and she was already creating lovely quilts. Maria had mastered stippling but wanted to expand her repertoire of stitches.

So Maria came to the retreat to learn some new line designs. She wanted to gain more fluency and confidence. She even brought her husband Andy along for the ride.

The converted barn at Chaplin House provides an ideal space for quilters, quilting frames and quilts! The weather was glorious, the food was great and everyone went home with new skills to practice. Maria emailed me yesterday with some follow up from the retreat. You can read what she said on Maria's blog. It's quite a big step from stippling to feathers but she's done it!

We still have places for the JULY Retreat. Follow the link to find out more.

Machine Quilter Retreat

We're hosting our first ever Machine Quilting Retreat, featuring guest quilter Trudi Wood. This is an opportunity to focus on machine quilting using a table top frame in a gorgeous rural setting, tucked away from the interruptions of daily life. We're keeping the numbers down to 5 participants so there will be plenty of one-to-one attention. All are welcome, whether you just need some help getting started or some inspiration to move up to a new level. The food will be delicious, the rooms comfortable and the conversation rewarding.

dates: from Friday to Sunday, February 25-27

venue: the award winning Chaplin House B&B

Martin Village in Lincolnshire

cost: £225 for a single room or £200 for a shared room.

Prices include 2 nights accommodation, meals, snacks and all quilting materials.

Update:

All 5 places for the February Retreat are now filled! We will let you know how it goes and post the dates for future Retreats. Please do contact us if you are interested in reserving a place or have any questions or suggestions: 01526 378057

martha@machinequilter.co.uk