Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share! Bring along your projects and enjoy sharing in some of the inspiration and events being written about by others from the Worldwide Quilting Community.

Well! It’s good to be back on the New Every Morning Patchwork & Quilting blog. It’s been a super-busy month or more as we prepared for and enjoyed the wedding of our eldest son and his lovely bride. It’s been great spending time getting to know her very hospitable family, all working together to help the Happy Couple move into their new home at ridiculously short notice before setting up and then dismantling the wedding reception!

The week after THE wedding I worked a lot of extra hours at Purple Stitches. It was the week when the weather went all un-seasonal – temperatures staying up around 30°C – great for a honeymooners in Cornwall not so great for working! The hot weather did ease the task of washing bedding after our house guests left – sheets were baked dry within a few hours of being hung on the line!

I guess all the busyness and the emotions contributed to me going through a bit of a ‘bloggers-block’ not to mention a bit of a loss of sew-jo too. Thankfully working at the shop, whilst making me even more tired, did provide some inspiration. In all that heat I was cutting Advent Calendar panels for patchwork-quilters who have had the where-with-all to order their Christmas projects in good time. Years ago I made a cross stitch Advent Calendar for our children but I’ve never made one using a fabric panel. So that’s been my sewing project this past week… Alongside making the calendar I’ve written a two-part tutorial which I will publish on the blog over the next few days 🙂

My version of the ‘Merry & Bright Advent Calendar’ ready to hang in the shop.

And for the record here’s Ye Olde Crosse Stitche calendar – lots of happy memories associated with this little piece of family history 🙂

As for the next project… Well! I’m aware that today is the third Saturday in September which means it is National Jelly Roll Day! I am tempted to break open this Ruby Star Society ‘Purl’ roll, using it to make quick Log Cabin blocks.

I’ve picked out a few extra fabric strips from my stash to provide the required balance of darks and lights. Not sure how much time I will have for sewing  today though as I’m on ‘ladder watch’ while my husband renews the felt on our shed roof. Are you joining in with Jelly Roll Day or are you one of those self-controlled patchwork-quilters who never gives into the temptation to purchase ready-cut fabrics?

Here are the links into our Worldwide Quilting Community:

‘How to Choose Batting for a Quilt‘ is the title of Amy’s post. She covers the terms used to describe batting/wadding as well as the different fibre combinations available and their suitability for a quilt depending on the daily wear and tear to which it is likely to be subjected.

Sticking with batting: Krista has posted a really useful blog all about piecing batting/wadding. She gives lots of handy hints including how to approach different types of batting.

Amy has also published a post full of tips and ideas to make the most of strip piecing – such a quick way to construct multiple blocks!

Michelle shares the ins and outs of running a fabric de-stash on Instagram. She has detailed her strategy which takes into account recent algorithm changes on the platform.

Well! I crashed and burned on the Diatom QAL organised by Yvonne aka Quilting Jet Girl. I’ve made two of twelve blocks. Thankfully there is plenty of inspiration and motivation to be had by admiring the finished quilts posted in the Diatom QAL Parade. It’s fascinating to see one patchwork quilt made in a variety of colourways, click over to the Parade post to see over thirty Diatom quilts on show.

As well as designing quilts Yvonne is also a patchwork pattern tech editor. She’s used her eye for detail to create a comprehensive Half Square Triangle cutting and size chart. Click over to her post to find out how to download the chart and read how she trims ‘Bonus HSTs from Stitch and Flip’ blocks.

Fancy playing around with patchwork triangles? Rachel shares nine different designs, each in several colourways. After making the hexie quilt with equilateral triangles I’m itching to mess about some more with triangles…

Now it’s time to sit down with a cup of tea or coffee. Watch Emma Jones’ gentle twenty minute video record of a weekend spent at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK. Emma shows us some of the retailers stands (including the Liberty stand); a selection of the prize winning quilts in the exhibition; a little tour of the classes she taught; before unpacking her purchases when she returned home. Such a lovely video to watch after all the flashy, flashy fast moving reels that have jumped out of my scrolls through Instagram 🙂

Happy Stitching!

Allison