Blog Archives - Nicola Foreman Quilts

Spirit of Christmas

19/12/2020

Spirit of Christmas is a festive design by the Australian designer Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs. A pre-printed design is included with the pattern, along with a paper traceable sheet too. This was bought a while ago from Cross Patch, my favourite online shop here in the UK. Having a pre-printed panel meant that I could start stitching as soon as I decided this was going to be my next project! I've used a variegatedred red DMC embroidery thread for the stitchery...

...this has been machine quilted very simply, using a cream thread on top with a red thread in the bobbin. I've used a thin felted polyster wadding, Pellon H630, which is fusible on one side. It's my preferred wadding for wall hangings and table runners. I've added a small hand embroidered label to the back, which is approx 4" in diameter. I've traced one of the designs from the front of the pattern as the centre of the label...

...and here's the completed wall hanging. I just need to add some bells to the bottom of the hanging, and it'll be ready to display in my sewing studio.

Christmas Box Hexies

18/12/2020

Hooray! The hexagons that will be appliqued around the middle of the Christmas Box are completed! Although these aren't my fabrourite things to stitch, my technique is slowly improving (I think making all of those half inch hexies I made for the Stitching Circle Basket helped!) and I'm rather pleased with how these look...

...I've used Aurifil 80wt thread in a mid grey shade to hand stitch these hexies into place and once this had been pressed, I can tackle the construction of the box. I'm making mine slightly different to Lynette's instructions, and the foam wadding that I'm using is a fusible Bosal In-R-Form which is great for making bags and boxes as it adds plenty of structure and keeps the sides standing up. This was bought from Empress Mills a few years ago, and it's a really great product.

Christmas Box Embroidery

16/12/2020

This is the completed embroidery and applique for the lid of The Christmas Box, a pattern by the Australian designer Lynette Anderson Designs. This pattern was included in a kit that I'd purchased last year from Lynette's online shop Little Quilt Store. The kit included fabrics for the applique and the lid background, the base and outer fabrics and finally the hand painted wooden button which just needs to be stitched in place. The stitchery design has been hand embroidered using a selection of variegated Valdani threads. Next step is to make the hexies - thankfully these are larger than the ones I made for the Stitching Circle Basket, and there are only a few of them!

More Festive Quilts on Display

15/12/2020

More festive wallhangings are on display in my sewing studio. "Christmas Blessings" and "Tis the Season" were both designed by the Australian designer Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs and were bought as kits from Cross Patch.

A Curly Beard

14/12/2020

A collection of Colonial Knots have been stitched to form a curly beard for this Father Christmas, who is flying across the top of this project. A mixture of applique techniques have been used, along with hand embroidery. A decorative edging can just been seen in the background, adding to the prettiness of this festive design by Lynette Anderson Designs...

...colonial knots were also used as the star pattern on the jumper of this rather plump snowman, who is putting the finishing touches to trimming the Christmas tree with some candles. I hope he doesn't stand too close to the candles - it would be awful if he melted and ended up as a puddle!

Festive Quilts on Display

13/12/2020

I'm really not feeling very festive this year, but hoping my spirits will be lifted by decorating my sewing studio. Christmas Fun, Hollyberry House and Scandinavian Christmas were all designed by Lynette Anderson Designs. These have been machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand embroidered.

Waiting For Santa

12/12/2020

Waiting For Santa is a pattern by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley, which I've had for several years, (originally bought from Buttonberry, a fabulous online shop which sadly closed down a few years ago) and is a really simple pattern for making Christmas stockings. I had originally planned to make some much more decorative stockings this year, but my motivation completely disappeared, so I decided to just make a few stockings in a simple design using beautiful fabrics instead...

...and here's the result. These fabulous festive fabrics are from the Scandinavian Christmas 2 collection by Lynette Anderson Desgns, and were purchased from Cross Patch. Hand embroidered labels (instructions for these are included in the pattern) are secured in place with vintage buttons, and a smart loop makes them ideal for hanging up, ready for Santa to fill with some special gifts on Christmas Eve.

Wish You Well - Joined Together

10/12/2020

All 12 blocks have been joined together, and I managed to get a quick picture this morning of Wish You Well - the 2020 I Stitch Club quilt by the Australian designer Gail Pan. The patterns have been available to purchase from Gail's website over the past year, and will soon be released as a set of patterns. Hopefully the borders will be put on over the weekend, then this wwill be my hand quilting project for 2021.

Wish You Well - the Final Applique

6/12/2020

The final circle has been appliqued into place! This has been hand embroidered with a selection of embroidery threads in colours to compliment the gorgeous fabrics (these are from the Super Bloom collection by Edyta Sitar) and now this just needs a final press before the rows are joined together and the borders added. I'm using one of the larger floral fabrics from this collection as the main border, and deliberating over whether to add a narrow inner border in the same fabric as the binding - ohhh decisions decisions!

Wish You Well - Block 12

5/12/2020

Here's the 12th and final 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. The larger embroidered circle in the picture below will be appliqued in place when this block is added to the previous one, as it will overlap both blocks...

...as you can see, I've used some vintage lace trimming on this block. I've got quite a collection of vintage lace trimmings and ribbons, moustly sourced from charity shops and vintage markets. The stitchery has been hand embroidered using a selection of DMC, Cosmo and Valdani embroidery threads. You can click on the pictures below to enlarge them if you want to see them in more detail...

...this is such a pretty BOM, I'm really looking forward to seeing these blocks all pieced together. If you want to take part too, all the information is on Gail Pan's website. If you click on the I Stitch Club tab, you'll get all the details about how to sign up.