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Looking for a few Christmas presents for those crafty people in your life? Hurry over to Barnes and Noble where there is a Holiday Crafts sale with a whopping 50% off!

Be quick and you might just snatch yourself a real bargain like the Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters!!

I’m Michael and I blog at Patchwork and Paper.  Not too long ago the LMQG was asked if they wanted to participate in a Designers Challenge using Jessica Hogarth’s new line, Velocity. A few of the group said yes, so off we went.

My portion of the fabric arrived while I was away in NYC. As soon as we were back home in London I tore open the package and started planning. I wanted to use the building prints and recreate my home town. New York City .  I sat down and did a quick NYC Skyline on the computer and then started cutting.

The buildings came together pretty easy. I matched up the random Velocity prints with the “sky” print I was using and arranged my Skyline.

NYC coming together. A few of my stash fabrics were added to extend the mini.

Once the entire Skyline was set I decided to frame the bottom of the buildings with the fun “Scooter” print and the top and sides with the “Bird” print.

All framed out and ready to be quilted.

I threw together a back with some of the leftovers and then started doing some straight line quilting. Once the road and the buildings were all finished up I thought I would try to give the sky a “sky” feeling.

The finished product with my dedication to my home. I Love New York!

Ready to be hung on our wall at home so I can see it every day.

Hi, I’m Alice from Doris Batting A few weeks ago I was sent a lovely selection from Jessica Hogarth’s range, ‘Velocity’. 4 of us from London Modern Quilt Guild are playing, this is my first designer challenge, so under (nice) pressure! First of all the fabrics……..

I spent the time staring at them waiting for the muse to come to me. I cut  a 16″ panel for front  of the  bag.This fabric seemed ideal as a background.

Here’s my Shard, Gherkin, City Hall etc.Had to have the Shard as its our newest most thrusting skyscraper, opening for its first visitors soon. If you stand on London Bridge station and look up, it makes you feel very woozy……..its soooo high. Here’s my little gherkin ( excuse the expression )

When we were sent some VeloCity by British designer Jessica Hogarth for P&B Textiles, we decided to share some of it with members of the London Modern Quilt Guild to see what they would come up with.  First up in this mini series is Beth who wrote:  When I get asked if I would like some free fabric to play with I rarely say no! I love a challenge and taking on this one was a pleasure. Given free rein to come up with our own designs, myself and 3 other members of the LMQG, took up the challenge to make items using fabric from the Velocity range by British designer Jessica Hogarth. The range features gentle cityscapes and a soft urban colour palate. It’s quite a childlike range with hand drawn motifs of bikes, scooters, birds and buildings. We each received a slightly different selection from the range but followed the same themes as a starting point for our designs.

These were
- Squares
- Boyish
- Spaced out colours
The additional challenge was to incorporate a motif from the fabric into the design, either bikes, scooters, birds or buildings.  I decided on a quilt as a change from the many smaller items I have been making recently and I wanted to make this a proper challenge. This meant introducing a lot of extra creams and greys to space and stretch out the velocity prints. The quilt I came up with is essentially a half log cabin with squares at the corners.

The squares are intended to reflect skyscraper windows and the varying width strips of cream and grey resemble the buildings in a city skyline. I arranged it all very randomly placing the squares and strips, as I felt, as I went.  I like quilts where I get to work like this. Its stress free and I can’t go wrong! I pieced the back using left over squares that echo the diagonals on the front and I like how it turned out. I incorporated building motifs on two of the corners. They do not stand out as much as I had planned but I like that they are there.

There was one of the prints that I could not really use in the quilt. This was the bike and scooter one. The size of the squares I was using would have meant cutting into the motifs and essentially wasting them. I think it is probably, for me, the signature print in the range so I decided to use it to make something else that would do the print justice. I decided on a children’s sketch bag.

I thought this was appropriate to the childlike sketches in the range and also because I have a little boy who is just learning to love drawing. I will have tutorial for this ‘Go-sketch’ bag on my website very soon.

Just wanted to remind you all that the Fat Quarter Shop and the Sew Modern Online coupons in Issue 11 of Fat Quarterly will expire on 30 November.

Turn to page 2 of Issue 11 to find the coupon code for 20% off your purchase from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Turn to page 3 of Issue 11 to find the coupon code for 15% of your purchase from Sew Modern Online.

The coupon from Quilted Castle will expire on 31 November.

Turn to page 2 of Issue 11 to find the coupon code for 20% off fabric from the following manufacturers: Alexander Henry, Andover, Art Gallery, Benartex, Blend, Clothworks, Michael Miller, Kokka, Lecien and Quilting Treasures, from Quilted Castle.

It is no secret that all of us at Fat Quarterly are big fans of the Sizzix Big Shot Machine. Anything that can shorten the time taken to sew up projects is a huge plus for us. In the build up to Christmas I have been using my machine almost daily to churn out the pieces I need for my never ending list of holiday crafting and home made gifts to make.

To give you a little more inspiration as to how to use your machine to its best this holiday season, Sizzix have put together a blog tour packed with tutorials and also best of all, a chance to win your own Big Shot machine and dies to go with it!

Monday 19th November – Angela Southey

Tuesday 20th November – Tacha Bruecher/Fat Quarterly

Wednesday 21st November – Katy Jones

Thursday 22nd November – Hadley Gordon

Friday 23rd November – Lynne Goldsworthy

Saturday 24th November – Lory Bucaria

To be in with a chance of winning a Big Shot machine and a selection of our quilting dies worth over £130, click here! Closing date: Wednesday 28th November 2012 at 10am GMT.

I’m on a mission this year to make our Christmas table as festive as possible and it struck me how lonely our cutlery will look amidst the holiday tablecloth, placemats, napkins, crackers etc. So I decided they needed to snuggle up in a festive blanket of their own.

What you will need

Sizzix Big Shot Machine
Sizzix Bigz L Die #657622
4 scraps of fabric for the trees approx. 5″ square
4 pieces of fabric 4 1/2″ x 10″ for the front of the snuggle (I used the same fabric as for the trees)
8 scraps of background fabric approx 3″ x 5″ for the sides of the tree
4 strips 1 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ of background fabric
8 strips 1 1/2″ x 2 1/8″ of background fabric
4 pieces of brown fabric 1 1/4″ x 1 1/2″ for the tree trunks
4 pieces of batting 10″ x 4 1/2″
4 pieces of batting 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″
4 pieces of lining fabric 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″
4 pieces of backing fabric 10″ x 4 1/2″
4 strips of ric rac trim 5″ long
4 strips 1 1/2″ x width of fabric for binding

Note: If you do not have the Sizzix machine and die you can make the snuggle by creating your own template. Draw a 4″ square on a piece of paper. Mark the centre point on the top edge. Draw a line from both bottom corners to the top edge. Cut out the triangle and side pieces. Trace around the templates on the back of your fabric but remember to add a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Make the Trees

Position the 5″ squares of fabric for the trees over the isoceles triangle die and run it through the Big Shot machine.

Position the 3″ x 5″ strips of fabric for the tree background over the right angled triangle die and run it through the Big Shot machine. Be careful with directional prints.

Sew a right angled triangle to both sides of each isoceles triangle. Trim to 4 1/2″ square.

Sew each brown 1 1/4″ x 1 1/2″ strip between 2 background 1 1/2″ x 2 1/8″ strips. Sew to the bottom of each triangle block.

Sew the background 1 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ strips to the top of each triangle block.

Layer the 4 1/2″ x 10″ front strip, 4 1/2″ x 10″ batting piece and 4 1/2″ x 10″ backing piece and baste in place. Quilt as desired. I quilted using vertical straight lines about 1/4″ about.

Layer the tree block on top of the 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ batting piece and quilted using vertical lines about 1/4″ apart.

Finishing

Place the lining 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ piece on top of the tree block, right sides facing and sew along the top edge. Turn so wrong sides are facing and press. Top stitch in place.

Position the ric rac trim behind the top edge of the tree block so the humps are just showing. Baste in place and sew along the top edge to secure. Trim away any excess ric rac.

Align the bottom edges of the tree block and 4 1/2″ x 10″ piece and pin in place. Sew around the side and bottom edges of the tree block to secure.

Bind using a single fold binding.

Why not make a few trees and use them to whip up a couple of festive pillow cases as well?

For more information about the Sizzix patchwork and quilting range, click here

Attention Issue 11 readers!!!!!

Don’t forget to take advantage of the coupon for 10% off all orders from Burgundy Buttons. You’ll find the coupon code on page 3 of Issue 11.

Hurry the offer ends on 19 November!

Need to buy some fabric, OK need is probably not the word, more like want or crave but anyhow don’t forget to take advantage of the brilliant offer from Village Haberdashery in Issue 11 of Fat Quarterly.

An extra 10% off all sale fabric! The offer expires on 15 November so don’t dawdle!

Coupon code can be found on page 2 of Issue 11.

If you are anything like our family then the build up to Christmas involves copious amounts of baking. When I got married, not only did I get myself a husband but I also was handed 4 sides of laminated A4 cards covered with recipes for baking Christmas cookies. And come what may every Christmas I have to bake each and every one of the recipes on those cards regardless of whether anyone in our house actually eats the cookies or not.

Whenever I start rolling my eyes at the prospect of endless baking, I remember that it is a family tradition for my husband and that my girls simply love helping out. To make the whole thing a bit more fun for me I decided that each year I would make my girls some aprons to help with the baking, and thereby stamp my print on the family tradition. (my poor girls – not only will they have to carry on the baking tradition when they are grown up but they will also have the task of sewing aprons!!!)

When I saw Novella, a new line by Valori Wells, I just knew it would be perfect for this year’s aprons. And it totally is! Head on over to the Freespirit blog to find the tutorial for how to make this simple apron. You could whip up a couple by lunchtime!

You can download the template here.

Add be sure to leave a comment below telling us your favourite Christmas bakery treats to be entered into a giveaway for a Field Study charm pack by Anna Maria Horner.