Today's Quilter 67

Before you knew it, we are doing our Christmas issues and planning ahead with all the quilts and projects to make for presents, our homes and, if there’s time, fun! Although it is not quite the festive season yet (the shops haven’t even started playing carols), quilters need to plan ahead. Plus, I think you can agree, what the world needs right now is some joy! So we have gone out to bring you some inspiring designs to get you into the holiday spirit. But what you might notice on closer inspection of Lynne Goldsworthy’s gorgeous cover project, is that it’s not made using Christmas fabric. Yes, it’s just red and white/cream prints, but looks just as cosy next to a Christmas tree as it would on a crisp white…

Yasmeen K. Branton FESTIVE APPLIQUÉ Yasmeen not only designed the appliqué templates that come with this issue, but also the stunning cushion on page 69 using them. Nicola Dodd IT’S ROSY Check out Nicola’s design on page 50. Although not technically a Christmas design, the colours work so well for the season! Janet Clare SPOONDRIFT SAMPLER After a year of stitching her blocks, Janet finally reveals the finished sampler from her nautical-themed BOM series. Turn to page 76 to see it.…

THE FABRIC LIBERTY’S A FESTIVE COLLECTION We love Liberty designs, so are thrilled that we can now use them in our Christmas sewing. The beautifully-illustrated 18 piece festive collection has 10 designs in whimsical styles, including Christmas ornaments, trees, stars, houses and robins, plus of course a delightful red and green holy print. Your Christmas sewing just got sorted! To view the complete A Festive Collection and find a stockist, visit www.eqsuk.com THE BOOK CHRISTMAS AT BUTTERMILK BASIN Stacy West’s 19 festive projects in this book are a wonderful mix of ornaments, stockings, gift bags, framed stitcheries and small quilts. West’s simple wool-appliqué and embroidery techniques make them a snap to complete! So deck the halls, trim the tree and create a home full of welcoming signs of the season.…

SHOW STOPPERS BEYOND THE FESTIVAL OF QUILTS “The show must go on” was definitely the mantra for the organisers of this year’s Festival of Quilts, which was held virtually for the very first time. Congratulations to all who took part and to Twisted Threads for reimagining such an important event in the quilting calendar. It just goes to show that our quilting community is resourceful, adaptable and always creative, whatever the circumstances. This year’s Best in Competition, sponsored by Handi Quilter, was awarded to Kathy K. Wylie for her quilt ‘For Such a Time as This’. Here’s what Kathy wrote about her entry: “For everything there is a season, and time for every purpose under heaven. Using hand-stitched turned-edge appliqué and domestic machine quilting, time is portrayed in this original…

Treasured collections As I was newly retired and new to quilting, my husband bought me a years subscription to Today’s Quilter. The gift with the subscription offer at the time was a lovely fat quarter collection of Liberty prints. I didn’t feel competent enough to use them, so they went in my ‘special’ stash. Later, I won the William Morris collection of fat quarters! That too went in the ‘special’ stash. Whilst browsing, I collected articles of projects I thought I might try one day. There were so many good ideas... I finally settled on the Tilda Lemon tree pattern you highlighted in issue 32 using the special fabrics. I was also taken with the Scrappy Triplet pattern in issue 56, so I combined them! I enjoyed making the triplets…

BEHIND THE QUILT CHRISTMAS COMFORTS “This quilt takes the traditional Hunter’s Star block, pieced using half-square triangles and squares rather than diamonds and strips as is more commonly the case. The HSTs for both the Hunter’s Star blocks (in the centre of the quilt top) and the Churn Dash blocks (in the border of the quilt top) are made in batches of twelve using paper templates. In this way, the large number of half-square triangle units needed for the quilt top are pieced much more quickly and without the laborious process of trimming each one to size, which can take such an incredibly long time. Once all your half-square triangles are made, the quilt top is quite straightforward and not too time consuming to assemble.” – Lynne Goldsworthy You will…