Tabla de contenidos para Issue 103 en Today's Quilter

For this issue, we’ve filled the pages with projects to keep your hands busy while enjoying the sunny weather. Carolyn Forster’s hand-pieced project is perfect for sitting in the sun while creating pretty blocks. Then, once all the blocks are made, you can speed up the process and join them together by machine. We are also loving AitchBee’s stunning 3D-illusion cushion. Using Foundation Paper Piecing to get precise shapes and different fabric values to create the 3D effect, you’ll make a project that is sure to wow. Nicola Dodd has turned the Wheel of Fortune block into pretty flowers and has added vases to give the full effect – and we can’t wait to make it! So, if you’re not green-fingered, don’t worry – you’ll still be surrounded by blooms…

FAT QUARTER PROJECT BEHIND THE QUILT NOSTALGIC COLOURS “For some reason this quilt reminds me of a crockery cupboard full of blue and white Dresden plates and bowls – I think it’s the dark and light blues alternating across the quilt. Growing up, we had so many of these blue and white plates and bowls – I don’t think we had anything like a matching set but that didn’t seem to matter. A lot of them were willow pattern, which I think was a classic, popular design at the time. This quilt uses three different block designs in a checkerboard/gingham type layout to keep your eyes moving around the quilt top. Although that could make it quite a busy design, the monotone palette keeps the feel of the quilt very…

Over the years, roses have come to symbolise some of our strongest feelings, such as love, passion and admiration. The association with love goes back as far as Greek mythology. Roses are one of the oldest flowers found in our gardens, with rose fossils dating back 35 million years. The oldest living rose is 1,000 years old and lives on the wall of the Cathedral of Hildesheim in Germany. Not only are these flowers beautiful and perfumed, they are also edible. Rose petals are often added to jellies and used as a flavouring in Chinese and Indian cuisine. Rose hips, a berry-shaped fruit grown from roses, are packed with Vitamin C and used for flavouring tea and other beverages. For our block this month, I have depicted a very abstract…

By the time I have a quilt top finished, before I sandwich, in the back of my mind a gremlin has started rumbling. How will I finish the quilt? Will it be faced or bound? Should I curve the sides? So many questions to answer. Students ask me how they should finish their quilt in every class and many have never faced a quilt – they always use a binding. So, this month, I thought we would explore the options – and yes, there are more than just two! Bindings I don’t think there is much more to be said about how to bind a quilt; there are already so many articles and videos on the internet looking at quilt binding. The biggest question is whether it is done entirely…

THE QUILT ENGLISH GARDEN QUILT Having enjoyed themselves enormously last year, British quilt designers Nicola Dodd (CakeStand Quilts), Sonia Spence (Fabric & Flowers), Lou Orth (Lou Orth Designs) and Jo Westfoot (The Crafty Nomad) have teamed up again to design a brand new quilt, inspired by the British passion for gardening. Each designer has created a set of blocks (four in total) with a mix of techniques to keep you busy. THE FABRIC MORRIS MEADOW Moda’s latest collection, by Barbara Brackman of William Morris’ Arts & Crafts designs, reflects William Morris’ observation of the English meadow ground. Morris was a British textile designer, poet, artist, fantasy writer, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist, as well as a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts. The Morris…

PRE-CUT PROJECT BEHIND THE QUILT CONTRAST & CRISP POINTS “I’ve always wondered whether the traditional name for this block, the Wheel of Fortune, referred to your luck in matching its points, but I’ve endeavoured to simplify the piecing and finesse the pressing so that all of the seams nest nicely and you too, will enjoy the quiet thrill of a crisp point. Or sixteen! “To stop me from procrastinating too much with the trio of fabrics I chose for each flower – although I do rather enjoy that bit – I split my prints into groups of three and rotated the fabrics, piecing my flowers three at a time. The flowers rely on plenty of contrast, so I added some of Liberty’s blenders to the Flower Show prints, to allow…

material world With increasing awareness of climate change and growing global inequalities, there’s a clarion call to protect the planet and improve the lives of everyone worldwide. Nations, governments, organisations and businesses are all being encouraged to embrace sustainable development by implementing positive alternatives to the status quo. But what does it mean to do things sustainably? Broadly, it’s meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to do the same. On an individual level, the significant changes required to “live lightly” can seem overwhelming and too onerous for personal actions to have any meaningful effect. But no matter how small, every switch to doing something more sustainably can make a difference. Whether it’s saving energy in the home, using the car less, buying local foods or…

FPP TECHNIQUE BEHIND THE QUILT CHOOSING THE FABRICS “I have always been fascinated by the three-dimensional illusions and impossible figures drawn by M.C. Escher and Bruno Ernst and have spent some time devising a whole series of quilt blocks based on their drawings. This design is a modern take on the traditional Tumbling Blocks pattern, which is usually made by hand. This version is all made by machine in a simple Foundation Paper Piecing technique. “Getting a patchwork illusion to work depends very much on your choice of fabrics. Start by deciding what basic colour you want to use (in my case, pink), then select fabrics that represent three distinct shades of that colour – dark, medium and light. Audition your fabrics by laying them next to each other in…

TO RECEIVE ISSUE 104 AS YOUR FIRST COPY, SUBSCRIBE BEFORE 18 JULY. SEE PAGE 18 FOR DETAILS! Build your skills! • Combine EPP and traditional patchwork in Alice Caroline’s gorgeous pattern • Fill your home with autumn roses with Yameen K Branton’s wall hanging…