Blog Archives - Nicola Foreman Quilts

A Selection of Quilt Labels

30/6/2020

During the month of June I've been taking part in a FB group I belong to (In Stitches With Lynette Anderson) to post a picture of a different project every day either made with one of Lynettes patterns or fabrics. I couldn't decide which project to share for the last day of June, so here's a picture of my "Lynette" quilt labels instead. All of my larger wall hangings have had a hand embroidered label appliqued on to the back, and I try to incorporate the theme from the quilt into the label.
Can you guess which projects they're for?

Kimono Lady Journal Cover

27/6/2020

The Kimono Lady Journal Cover is a design by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson, and this kit was bought from Poppy Patch, here in the UK. The kit included the pattern, all the fabrics, and the hand painted wooden button. I used the Apliquick method for the applique, and used an 80wt Aurifil cotton thread for hand stitching the applique into place...

...I used a different construction technique for making the journal cover to the original pattern instructions, and also made it slightly smaller than the original instructions, to enable an A5 sized journal to slip inside. The notebook can easily be removed and replaced when it's full up...

...the hand embroidery has been sttuched with an assortment of DMC and variegated Valdani threads, and embellished with the hand painted wooden butterfly button. Here's the finished journal cover, all ready to be gifted to a colleague later this afternoon. I hope she likes it!

Hydrangea Panel

26/6/2020

Hydrangea Panel was a workshop I'd attended with Alexandra Waylett at Kis Quilting Ltd back in the summer of 2018. This has been created using real hydrangea petals and lots of free motion embroidery both around the hydrangea petals and also filling in the gaps. I didn't manage to complete at the time, and after sorting through my project boxes I decided it was time to complete it...

...anyway, I'd made a huge mistake on my work. So I sat and cried. And swore. A lot. Then chopped off the "wonky" bit. And I've just spent a morning being "arty" and hey presto!!! It's now completed, mounted and framed. Just goes to show what you can achieve when you push yourself out of your comfort zone!

*If you fancy having a go at one of these panels yourself, have a look over on Alexandra Waylett's website and you'll see an assortment of project boxes that are available.

Centre Tulip Block

25/6/2020

I'm absolutely loving the centre tulip block! This pattern is the Spring Tulip Table Topper which was designed by Julia Roworth and bought as a kit from Cross Patch. Now the table topper has been pieced together, I'm just deliberating over the quilting!

A Very Posh Afternoon Tea

24/6/2020

So this time last week we had a very posh afternoon tea after we said cheerio to a very special person. I'm sure she would've approved as she loved a slice of homemade cake. I spent a busy day last Tuesday baking, and here you can see a Victoria Sponge, filled with Tiptree strawberry and champagne conserve, lemon drizzle cake, and some very delicious cream horns!

Another Friendship Journal Cover

22/6/2020

This is my favourite stitchery design for friendship gifts - the pattern is the Friendship Notebook by the Austrakian designer Gail Pan, and the patter was bought ages ago from Cpast and Country Crafts. I've used a variegated Valdani perle thread for the hand embroidery, shade M32 which works perfectly with these fabrics that I used from the Katie Jane collection, by Makower. The fabrics and gorgeous thread were bought from Cross Patch last year. I've used an A5 notebook to slip inside the cover, that can be removed when it's full up...

...and here's the finished journal cover, complete with notebook inside. I've machine quilted this very simply with a silver grey King Tut machine quilting thread that blends into the colours of the fabrics. This is proving to be my favourite colour quilting thread - I need to stock up from Sew and So's as they have a super collection of King Tut threads! This was posted off at the weekend to a very special friend - I really hope she likes it!

Buttercup Block

20/6/2020

So today I've shut myself away in my sewing studio with a kit from Julia Roworth Cross Patch called Spring Tulips Table Topper. Julia designed this pattern herself and her instructions are ideal for any level of sewer, as they're clearly written and well illustarted with colour photographs. This block was pieced together with Aurifil 50wt thread in aneutral colour, and I've used a Schmetz Microtex size 60 needle. This buttercup block looks much more comlcated to make than it is. Just 3 more buttercup blocks to make and I can start on the centre tulip block!

For The Love of Tea

14/6/2020

"For The Love of Tea" is another design by the Australian designer Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched, and is also made with the gorgeous Tealicicious collection of fabrics. This was a kit that I bought online from Coast and Country Crafts and Quilts. The pattern comes with pre-printed linen for the stitchery blocks, as well as full-sized traceable design sheets. The kit included all the fabrics for making the quilt top, and 9 skeins of DMC embroidery threads - so now I have a few more threads to add to my collection!...

...I machine quilted around all 9 stitchery blocks, sashing, and the peeper strip, then hand quilted along the centre of the sashing strips using a variegated Vandani perle thread. I used shade P10 to pick up the colour of the border around the centre block and the binding. I used the same perle thread to embroider a label which was then hand appliqued to the back of the wall hanging...

...I've handed stitched the binding in place - this was made with another coordinating print from the Tealicious collection, and a narrow quilt sleeve was also hand stitched to the back of the wallhanging to enable it to be displayed on a decorative quilt hanger...

...and here it is, displayed on the wall of my sewing studio. I've got quite a collection of decorative quilt hangers, mostly by Ackfeld Designs. Most of them have a metal rail to thread through a quilt sleeve, although this one has a wooden dowel. I tend to rotate my quilts that are on display, so it always looks fresh and I don't get bored with looking at the same ones all the time!

National Sewing Machine Day 2020

13/6/2020

How appropriate for National Sewing Machine Day! I've been busy over the past few weeks packing my mum's belongings and my daughter found this on a bookcase. Goodness only knows what happened to my dolls house and the rest of the furniture. I wonder what other treasures I'll unearth while I'm sorting, cleaning and packing!

Wish You Well - Block 6

11/6/2020

Here's the 6th block of Wish You Well - it's the 2020 I Stitch Club design, which is a mystery block of the month, designed by the Australian designer Gail Pan Designs and is available from her website as a PDF download. This combines a mixture of hand embroidery and applique (you can use whatever method of applique you prefer). Each month you're sent an email with a PDF download with the pattern instructions, colour picture of the completed block and a full size traceable stitchery design. You also get a bonus project each month. I've used a GORGEOUS selection of fabrics for this project, that are from the Super Bloom collection by Edyta Sitar, which were purchased from Cross Patch an online shop based in Wales here in the UK...

...a white cotton placemat has been chopped up to embellish the top corner, and some vitage lace trimming has also been added. The stitchery has been hand embroidered using a selection of DMC, Cosmo and Valdani embroidery threads. I really can't believe we're halfway through this gorgeous BOM already! If you want to take part too, click on the link on the sidebar of my blog to take you to Gail Pan's website where you'll get all the details.