Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share. Bring along your project(s) and enjoy some of the conversations and inspiration being shared by members of our Worldwide Quilting Community. Why not contribute to the sharing vibe by using the links below to read a post or two and leave an encouraging message in the comments boxes? 🙂

As usual I’ve been switching about from one project to another and back again! I am two-thirds of the way through teaching the Patchwork Beginners Class at Purple Stitches. I am creating a quilt alongside the class – I find this is the easiest way to demonstrate the various stages of making a patchwork quilt. Thankfully this time around I won’t end up with another quilt to add to the growing stack on our spare bed as this one is to be a sample quilt displayed in the shop. Viv gave me a selection of FQs from the Millefleur collection by Jessica Nielsen for Paintbrush Studio Fabrics.

The centre of the quilt on my deign wall.

Borders attached.

Backing pieced… Time to baste and quilt…

I have now basted the quilt sandwich and started the quilting. Next Saturday I’ll be teaching the third and final session of the Beginners Course. I’ll use my quilt to demonstrate trimming away the excess backing and wadding and squaring-up before making and attaching binding. There should be time for us all to finish our quilts on the day. I’m so looking forward to seeing the students complete their first quilts – I know they are already thinking about their next patchwork projects!

The other project I’ve been dipping into is the quilting of a Nativity panel. The panel by Nancy Halvorsen had been buried in my stash for years, I’ve pulled it out to add to the Christmas section of my Folksy shop. I’m using a mix of walking foot and FMQ in a variety of thread colours chosen to tone with the rich colours of the illustrations.

This weekend I’m hoping to finish quilting the Beginners class sample and add binding to the Nativity panel. I hope you are able to take time to work on a creative project (or two 😉 ).

Here are some links to inspire your patchwork quilting creativity:

Amy Smart has kindly shared a tutorial to make a 6″ x 6″ Maple Leaf Block.

The link up is closed now but it’s worth clicking over to the Favorite Finishes post on Cheryl’s blog to see the lovely gallery of 13 quilts/sewing projects shared by members of our Worldwide Community 🙂 My eye was particularly drawn to Mell Myer’s ‘Tessellation’ quilt – click over to Mell’s blog post to see some close ups of the patchwork 60° triangles and her clever use of straight-line quilting which compliments the patchwork so well (in  my humble opinion!).

Gretchen has found eye-catching ways to use her beautiful quilts to decorate her home. When I started hanging quilts on walls my Dad laughed but now he stops to look and notices if I change one out for another! Hey! If King Henry VIII hung fantastic tapestries on the walls of Hampton Court Palace why shouldn’t we display our handywork this way too? BTW Those tapestries of Henry’s are now priceless treasures…

Meeting up with other sewists to spend a day stitching, sharing tips and getting to know one another better is one of my favourite things to do. Sharon has just got a new group off the ground and up and running! The inaugural meeting went well – sounds like the start of something good 🙂

Joni of ‘For the Love of Thread’ has been busy foundation paper piecing. She’s kindly put together a list of her ‘Favourite Paper Piecing Tutorials‘. A handy resource 🙂

Rachel has been busy with her longarm machine and shares some of the quilting she has stitched for customers. Quilting a cross-stitch version of the Dear Jane quilt has to be a first!

Allison