New tricks

I can't believe a whole month has passed since my last blog! To say February has been busy would be a understatement, mainly due to our decision to up sticks and go travelling. We put the house on the market in January, and have sold it! And today we exchanged, with a month to completion. Very scary, but also exciting. I am very sad to leave my 'dream' job in a lovely quilt shop, I'm certainly going to miss being surrounded by all those beautiful colours. I will also sorely miss the wonderful people I work with, and our lovely customers.

But I feel the time has come to be more creative in life. As much as I have loved managing Doughty's quilting shop, it is a full time job and I struggle to find the time and energy to make all the projects that go round my head, many inspired by our customers.

So, we have a month to pack up, move everything into storage, then we're treating ourselves to a couple weeks in the sun, then hopefully going to the States for a while for "research and inspiration", and obviously some fabric buying!

During my time working in the shop I have seen the interest in learning to quilt grow and grow, and really believe that the future of patchwork and quilting lies in encouraging all those beginners out there. With so many modern and funky fabrics available, together with simple and accessible quilt patterns, many made using pre-cuts, I hope I can help, encourage and share my inspirations. I plan to develop a series of tutorials perfect for those new to quilting, as well as a collection of quilt kits to  help those who need a little help choosing their fabrics.

I have inserted a couple of pics of my latest makes to break up my ramblings, I am loving free-motion quilting more than ever, and the linen-look cottons from John Louden are great for this, and also perfect for hand embroidery.  The hedgehog purse is also made from this linen-look cotton, I just love this print, and is the perfect size for hand-sewing projects to keep me busy this summer while my machine and stash are in storage :(