Nicola Foreman Quilts - BLOG

Quilts UK Malvern 2022 - My Favourite Stall Holders

14/5/2022

Well I've had a super week away with Mr F in Worcestershire. We've been busy visiting lots of lovely towns and NT properties, which I'll share some pictures of in a few day. But first of all, I'd like to give a big shout out to 3 very special stallholders who I met at Quilts UK Malvern on Thursday.

1. After placing LOTS of online orders from them, it was fantastic to finally meet up with Lorraine and Jeff from Oh Sew Sweet - your stall looked amazing! I'll share lots of pictures when I've made the projects from the ByAnnie patterns I bought from you too...

2. Jenny from Pincushion Pantiles your stall was so pretty! Thank you for the great advice on hand quilting a VERY special project that I'd bought from you last year. And since I've come home, I just couldn't resist ordering the Tuesday's Child starter kit along with the book...

3. Beryl from Sew and So's it's always so much fun to meet you! Your matching mask and apron looked fab, as did your stall! I'm looking forward to making a baby quilt with that lovely panel that I purchased from you. Mr F has obviously been well trained to pick such a lovely panel!

...and here are a few of the other absolutely amaing stalls. There were lots of beautiful fabrics and patterns and threads available, and so many people admiring all the goodies on display! This was the first bigger quilt show that I'd been to for such a long time, and I'd forgotten how lovely it was to be with so many inspiring people!

Quilts UK Malvern 2022

12/5/2022

Today's the day! I'm off to the Quilts UK Malvern 2022. There wil be lots of beautiful quilts on display, and there may be a little bit of shopping involved to! I'll share lots of pictures once I'm back home again.

RHS Malvern Spring Festival

8/5/2022

I won't be posting much on here this week as Mr F has taken me off for a few days to Worcestershire. We're at the RHS Malvern Spring Festival today, looking for some inspiration and maybe a few plants will be coming home with us!

Our Home

2/5/2022

I've made several cushion covers using patterns by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson Designs. I'd recently seen a picture of this one on Lynette's social media accounts, and loved the way she'd framed it to display on the wall - and as I really don't need another cushion, I decided it would be a great way pf displaying my handsewing! I'd had the pattern for several years, and managed to purchase a set of the Our Home hand painted wooden buttons from Purple Pixe...

...I used the Apliquick method for preparing the applique, using Hugs n' Kisses applique paper, a Sewline fabric gluepen and my Apliquick tools. Once the applique shapes have been cut out and fused to the wrong side of the fabric, the edges are folded over and held in place with the fabric glue. The applique shapes are then temporarily held in place on the background fabric with pins, or my preferred way wich is with a few spots of Roxanne's basting glue...

...then using a fine thread - my favouite is Aurifil thread 80wt in a midgrey shade, and a fine Clover Black Gold applique needle. Using small stitches along the edge of the applique, the shapes are stitched into position. The stitchery design is then traced onto the background fabric, using a lightbox and a fine Micron Pigma pen - and hand embroidered over the drawn lines. I picked out an assortment of DMC stranded embroidery threads in colours to match the fabrics I'd chosen for the applique...

...a final press on a wool pressing mat, and the hand painted buttons were stitched in place. The fabric was then wrapped around a piece of thick card which had already been covered in wadding. I've framed this very simply using a Hobbycraft frame and it's ready to display in my home.

Sommerblomster

1/5/2022

After stitching some special projects for my new grandon, it was time to get back to that very long list of kits that I'll been ploughing through over the past few months. This one is a pretty table runner, perfect for sunnier days. The pattern is Sommerblomster (Summer Flowers) by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa and was bought as a kit from Lappedilla back in 2011. I've used a mix of both machine applique and hand applique for this one. The machine applique was fused to the background fabrics using Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 before the blocks were pieced together. Once the table runner was stiched together, it was layered with a thin polyester felted wadding, Vlieseline H630 and backing fabric. The applique flowers were machined into place stitching through all the layers so it was quilted and appliqued at the same time...

...I decided to hand applique the flower centres in place, rather than by machine, to add a bit of dimention to the runner. A single fold binding in a smart red stripe finishes it off nicely. One of my labels has been stiched diagonally across a corner. Th backing fabric, purchased online from Fabrics Galore is a very pretty and white polka dot print by Rose and Hubble...

...as well as securing the flowers in place, the runner was also machine quilted in simple diagonal lines across the blocks without the appliqued flowers, using white 40wt Aurifil thread...

...I couldn't take a photograph without having a cake - so baked a delicious Victoria Sponge Sandwich with a vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam filling. Now it's all for afternoon tea - would you like to join me for a cup of tea and a slice of cake?

Another Mystery BOM

29/4/2022

I was so excited when this arrived in the post this morning from Coast and Country Crafts and Quilts - this is the 2022 mystery BOM by Lynette Anderson Designs. Say it with Flowers, this is a four-part mystery quilt, each month you receive a pattern with full size tracable stitchery designs and templates, plus a beautiful hand painted wooden button. the finished size will be 25" x 25" however as it's a mystery quilt, you won't know what it looks like cuntil month four! I chose to have a fabric pack and a DMC thread pack - the original pattern suggests using variegated Valdani threads, which I already have a large collection of, so I may swap one or two of my threads, I'll decide as I'm stitching it. Well I just need to complete acouple of simple projects, so as soon as they're done I'll get this one prepared!

iCases - Hot Pinks and Orange Batiks

28/4/2022

I'd promised a friend a case for her iPad and decided to use these bright hot colours of pink and orange. I love using batiks and this King Tut thread worked perfectly with the colours I'd chosen. Sometimes simple straight lines of machine quilting really is all you need!..

...I've used a piece of continuous zipper from Zipper Station - I deliberated for ages over the colour but I'm so glad I chose this bright pink as it works well with the orange tab that I made to go on the slider. The main body of the case has been made with ByAnnie Soft and Stable wadding...

...and here's the completed case, all ready for my friend to take on holiday with her!

Boy's Birth Sampler

24/4/2022

A few weeks ago my eldest daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and I have been making a few handmade goodies for him. This pattern, Baby Boy Birth Sampler is by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley, and is perfect for a new baby. I used a piece of Moda Grunge Spot for the background fabric and picked out some of these gorgeous Cosmo stranded embroidery threads. The main pattern is traceable, and includes alphabets to enable the sampler to be personalised. I drafted the details of my grandson's name, date of birth and weight onto a piece of paper, then traced it onto the background fabric with a fine Micron Pigma pen. Using 3 strands of the embroidery threads, I stitched over the letters using a simple backstitch...

...once the embroidery was completed, the fabric was pressed and wrapped around a piece of stiff card which had already been covered with a piece of wadding. This has then been framed very simply (I purchased this one from Hobbycraft) and is now ready to put on display in Rory's nursery.

The Write Stuff - Authentic

18/4/2022

I'd bought these fabrics from the Authentic collection by Sweetwater for Moda, about 12 years ago. Goodness only knows what I'd originally planned to make with them, but they were perfect for teaming up with The Write Stuff pattern. I'm a huge fan of ByAnnie patterns, and this one is easily adapted to fit journals of other sizes - although the pattern has instructions for 3 different sizes, the ones we have here in the UK are different to ones from the US. This folder was adapted to hold an A4 notepad. There's a large zippered, quilted pocket on the front of the cover. I used ByAnnie Soft and Stable for the main body of the folder, but substituted it for a piece of Pellon H630 for the front pocket to eliminate bulk. The front pocket was layered and quilted very simply in straight rows, using the edge of the walking foot as a guide...

...inside the folder there are pockets for slipping a journal inside and also for storing other documents. There's also a bookmark attached to the lining...

...I used sew-in magnets on the flap closure, and added a large vintage button on the top of the flap to cover the stitches. As you can see from the pictur below, teh main body of the folder was machine quilted in a simple cross hatch design. I'd marked the pattern out with a Clover Hera marker in a grid of 1.5" squares...

...and here's the completed journal cover. I'm really pleased with how this one turned out - itwa sinitially going to be a gift, but I'm deliberating over whether to keep it for myself!

A Special Easter Bunny

16/4/2022

This bunny pattern is from the book Crafting Springtime Gifts by Tone Finanger. We had a very important little gentleman visit us yesterday. As he was too young for an Easter egg, I'd made him a special bunny, using an old towel that belonged to his great-grandma. When I cleared my mum's house a couple of years ago, after she'd passed away, I'd used a few of her towels to wrap some vases in while I was packing up her possessions. I'd kept this towel for sentimental reasons really, and it was perfect for making this. My mum had 4 daughters and 3 granddaughters so would've been thrilled to bits with her great-grandson.