Today's Quilter 75

As we shake off the cold of winter and lockdown, with all the mixed feelings and emotions this brings, and embrace the warmth of sunny days – however intermittent – it’s great to keep your mind and hands busy during this transitional period. So with this in mind, we filled this issue with projects that will not only have your mind working, but your sewing machine whirring away too. Carolyn Forster’s charming scraps project, using the Stars and Spider’s Web design, is just the thing to get you digging through your stash for precious pieces of fabric you just couldn’t throw away. And the wonderful thing is, they can be small or large pieces, even strips... anything goes! The finished quilt will make you want to wrap up with a…

THE BOOK BIG STITCH QUILTING Big stitches sewn by hand lend an irresistibly tactile quality and visual style to quilts and other items, as well as being meditative and relaxing to sew. Each of the 20 stylish projects in this book by Carolyn Forster is quilted using a range of big stitches, inspired by Boro, Kantha and Sashiko-style stitching. There is a comprehensive techniques section at the start of the book exploring everything from fabrics best suited to big stitch quilting to the stitches and methods used. Big Stitch Quilting by Carolyn Forster (RRP £14.99) is available from Search Press www.searchpress.com THE FABRIC REGENCY SOMERSET BLUES Christopher Wilson-Tate’s sixth collection with Moda is based on fabrics from two antique quilts from the west of England. The prints date back to the late 18th century and are…

Ava Kate This month, Riley Blake Designs welcomes Ava Kate, designed by Carina Gardner, into their stunning family of fabric collections. The bright corals and pinks in this fresh collection are perfectly complemented by shades of the teals on the opposite side of the colour wheel to create a harmonious colourway. The busier floral and damask patterns are brought to life by their companion solids and prints of crosses, repeated motifs, textures and stripes. This is the ideal collection to kick off your summer quilting with, especially if you are a fan of designs with lots of contrast – the black components of the collection really allow the other shades to pop and add a level of sophistication to the designs. www.eqsuk.com Puzzling patchwork Spring showers never truly put a dampener on us quilters,…

Flying home for summer... I thought I would send you my take on Janet Clare’s Swooping Swallows pattern from Issue 53. I already had the swallow fabric in white and blue, then went through my stash looking for even more blue fabric. My husband has said it is his quilt now and would like me to make pillowcases! Very happy with the final piece! Judith, Canberra What a bright and airy make, Judith! We love this pattern and you’ve really done it justice here. All the blues from your stash look great. RED AND WHITE BEAUTY! Here is my version of Mandy Shaw’s Red and White Medallion quilt from Issue 18. I made it for my daughter and her family who adore it! I learnt lots of techniques. Thank you for all the wonderful patterns…

You will need • Fabric for centre star – 2yds• Background fabric (cream) – 1½yds• Strings* – approx eighty-five (85) WOF strips (scraps and trimmings)• Border – 1⅓yds• Binding – ⅔yd• Backing – 4½yds• Batting – 82in square• Lightweight sew-in Vilene (foundation) – 3¾yds• Template A – star centre (see Templates section) Finished size 72½in square Block size – 15in finished Notes Use ¼in seam allowance throughout. ‘Stitch and flip’ technique used to make the blocks. WOF = width of fabric. QST = quarter-square triangle. RS = right sides. WS = wrong sides. *If you want to cut from yardage and fat quarters, remember to cut different widths. The strips do not need to be straight – if they are fatter at one end, this will add to the movement in the quilt. Cutting…

“Stars and Spider’s Web is a traditional design from the 1880s, which uses up leftover scraps and strings from other quilts and garment making. Depending on how you place the colours and fabric, you can change the design – usually, the stars use plain fabric and the webs use scraps. Using a cream fabric for the outline of the stars will help make them stand out, and making the outline strips different widths will give the webs a quirky effect. It also means you can use a print fabric for the stars without it getting lost among the webs. “When choosing the star fabric, I went for a print with lots of colours and a large pattern. That way, all the stars look different, and the various colours balance out the…