Hello friends...it's been ages since I wrote a blog...I was so busy getting back to normal and resuming those things we've all been missing...meals out, seeing a few friends and family, a couple of business trips and a little shopping. I even managed a trip to Devon to do some very special and rather secret filming for a show that will air this December. I've seen a couple of my wonderful quilting friends and showing each other what we'd been up to over the Spring and Summer was a real tonic. We'd all been busy and had plenty to show...I've so missed getting together with others and sharing what we all enjoy so much. The news this weekend, of a second lockdown in England feels like a slide back from what we all hoped was the light at the end of the tunnel but I'm very much keeping in mind that this is not the same as the Spring and Summer...it's 4 weeks...28 days...4 mondays...4 fizzy Fridays and 4 episodes of Strictly ...it will pass... When the first lockdown started I said I wanted to use the time to create beautiful things, lovely memories, something lasting and positive and I managed all of that and more...I wrote my new book which will launch next Summer, I made lots of quilts and knitted 7 pairs of socks and yes, the lilac pair which I thought were going to finish me off before I finished them are actually, finally FINISHED!!! I got to spend real quality time with my darling husband Charlie and we started our chicken family...it really wasn't so bad. in 4 weeks I reckon we can all choose a project and do a little each day so that if nothing else is beautiful or positive or hopeful that day we have a little bit of quilting or knitting or crochet so focus on and enjoy. I've designed an easy baby quilt which is the main picture on this blog and you can also see it on my IG...just half square triangles, 3" finished so 3 7/8" cut...dig into your scraps, piece half a dozen a day...more if you're in the mood, make a quilt or blanket for someone you know who might be struggling or someone you'll never meet...let's use the next 4 weeks to do something wonderful and share our love with others.

Boy it's been a fun week! I decided to have a huge clear out of my Tilda stash and clear some space for all the exciting new fabrics to come! I couldn't get all that beautiful fabric out without a little reminiscing and fabric stroking! I've been representing the brand on TV for a few years now and really look forward to each launch. Tilda fabrics are some of my absolute favourites, the colours and designs always speak to me! Each year there are four collections and whatever else I'm doing, when those new fabrics arrive I can't wait to get stuck in and make some lovely samples. Whatever is left goes into my studio stash where I can visit it regularly. Now I'm not a fabric hoarder, I believe fabric should be used and that's it's ultimate purpose... but I do like to live with fabric for a while, gaze fondly at it, give it a little stroke every now and then and generally make it feel loved...I'd just decided that it was time all this lovely fabric got a new home so I had my first ever de-stash sale. Charlie and I worked together, pressing the fabric and cutting fat quarters...he had to prise some of the fabric out of my hands and he kept laughing at me stroking and patting the bundles like new born lambs. I decided to go for rainbow bundles, making each one as different as I could. I don't think I'm alone in loving "arranging" fabric...lights to darks, reds through to oranges or greens through to yellows...creating little groups of 4 or 5 fabrics to create a palette...if you've never tried doing it I urge you to give it a go! Grab some scraps from your stash and just play with them, it's a wonderful tool for developing "colour confidence" and if you take photographs as you go you will have inspiration any time you need it. The bundles went onto the website and were completely sold out in less than 24 hours...thank you to everyone who bought a bundle and will give it a good home! We got all the orders packed up and shipped today, it was quite a mountain of orders but everything got sent off today and I can't wait to see what you make with your bundles...or maybe you'll live with them for a while and give them a regular little stroke! I spent the rest of the day creating "scrap bags" with the remainder of the fabrics...these will go onto the website next week so keep an eye open for my social media posts on Instagram and Facebook!

It's the subject of much healthy discussion at quilt guild meetings, workshops and get togethers (remember those?!) ...I am referring to the size of ones stash...now for the uninitiated I'm talking about a collection of fabrics here, not something illegal, although my stash is so big it probably should be!.. The size of stashes is often talked about in hushed tones, particularly if we are feeling guilty about the amount of fabric we have bought and our chances of using it in this lifetime. There is a saying that "she who dies with the biggest stash wins"...but is that really the point of a stash? I headed to my studio and decided to have a really long hard look at my stash and evaluate what was in it, how long it had been there and whether I was going to use it or was just hanging onto it for sentimental reasons. It was quite a trip...I buy fabric for all kinds of reasons and you might recognise yourself here too! 1. I buy fabric because I really love the designer and I have to own a little bit of everything they do. Kim Diehl is like that for me...I adore her deep, rich, saturated earthy colours and country style and her fabrics are really quite hard to find in the UK. Anytime I see her fabrics at a show or in a shop I buy a little of everything they have. If I'm lucky enough to find the same fabrics somewhere else, i buy more of them! I also love civil war reproduction fabrics and Jo Morton is a favourite designer who works in this area. I've got to admit, a lot of the fabrics in these categories are there just to "have"...the sort of quilts they go into are often "scrappy" and so the more the merrier! I do dip into them regularly but I'm loathe to use any of them up completely! 2. I buy fabric because it was there! Hear me out...I do a lot of travelling, often to quilt shops to teach and I love a little fabric memento of my time there. Quilt shops very often reflect their owners...their tastes and passions, the fabrics that make them ooooh and aaaah...I've always said, I've never met a piece of fabric I didn't like so it's pretty easy for me to find half a dozen fat quarters to come home with me. Using those fabrics often reminds me of the place I found them and the people I met. 3. I have fabrics because of special people in my life...the generosity of sewing friends and the willingness to share is wonderful and such an important part of our community. I have snippets of fabrics I admired at classes, or that I've acquired in a fabric "swap". I've also got fabrics from quilting friends who are no longer with us and those fabrics often bring a smile to my face or a tear to my eye when I think of the friendships I've enjoyed and the kinship that is so important to me. Those fabrics make regular appearances in my quilts but I will not use the last bits until I'm making my last quilt ever and I have no intentions on making that quilt just yet! 4. I have fabrics that are good "all rounders"...just like a painter needs a palette of paints, every sewer and quilter needs those essentials that they turn to time and again. I have rolls of calico for making toiles and for mocking up bags, solids in my favourite neutral colours and a really good mix of "rainbow" fabrics...tone on tones in every colour of the rainbow...to mix in with those "special" prints that are going to be the focus of a project. 5. I have the ugly so and so's...the regret purchases, the hopelessly old fashioned, not my style anymore, what was I thinking when I bought this fabrics...I don't have many of these and, ok, confession time, I tend to keep them even though I don't "love" them anymore...because one day...one day their moment will come! I will find the perfect project and those overlooked, outdated and faded fabrics will have their moment!...maybe You know it really is time well spent to go through your stash once in a while...to know what you have and to spark off ideas, even to to see what you don't have and what you might look out for on your next shopping trip...and next time someone asks, "what's in your stash?" you'll be ready with your answer!

I've never been one for doing nothing...I can't just sit and be still and anyone who knows me will be nodding their head vigorously at this point! I can be calm, I can be quiet and contemplative for sure, but I have to be doing something! I doodle, draw and design a lot...I keep paper and pencil with me at all time and some of my very favourite quilt designs have come from just such a scrappy bit of paper with a couple of hastily drawn pictures. I am always on the lookout for interesting colours, textures or patterns and even a meal in a cafe can turn into a design session if the colours of my lunch excite me! When I'm travelling, unless I'm driving, I love to be creative too and my go to activity is sock knitting. I've made so many pairs I can knit a plain sock with my eyes half shut. To the uninitiated I know that five needles look intimidating and difficult but truth be told once you've got over the initial weirdness it's just knitting and for those who hate to purl, knitting in the round is a gift. Almost no purl stitches, just good old honest knit stitches going round and round. Knitting on the train has many advantages...it fills the time wonderfully of course and I get socks at the end but it also guarantees elbow room and is the most amazing ice breaker. It's hard to strike up a conversation with strangers but as soon as the socks come out the conversations begin. Fellow travellers often want to know what I'm knitting and are often fascinated that socks are knitted "whole"...they remind me of cartoon depictions of someone knitting that usually show a whole sweater dangling off the needles...if only...but socks really are like that! I'm asked who they're for...often me, often my Dad who refuses to wear anything else...and sometimes Charlie but only sometimes because he's got size 12 feet and there are only so many hours in the day. And so often we end up reminiscing about a grandmother who knitted or a favourite sweater and the memories it holds. A few years ago I was knitting socks on the train heading towards London when British boxing superstar Audley Harrison got on...he saw me knitting and immediately sat down at my table and asked me to show him what I was making. I couldn't resist the opportunity and asked him if he fancied learning to knit...twenty minutes passed...we laughed a lot, he tried really hard but we both agreed that his hands were skilled in other ways and knitting possibly wasn't his thing. But what a fun time and the most lovely man. This last week I was in Essex filming for a few days with someone very special from my sewing past...it's all a bit "top secret" at the moment but |I'' reveal all very soon. My filming companion and I had the most wonderful time, did some great work together and I introduced her to my favourite cocktail, the Cosmopolitan. You see... I teach people to knit, I share my love of cocktails...I am a good and positive influence!