1st July 2010
Well we are through the longest day (and at last with some summer weather) but did you know that it now gets darker by 3 mins a day all the way to Christmas (well 21st Dec to be exact!), not that I want to be depressing with all this sunshine about. But with Christmas in mind we are getting you into the mood, we hope, with an early start in July.
As promised we have a range of new workshops and videos to tempt you into sewing for the festive season; Lifted star with Sylvia Critcher; gold bias tree with Lynette Harris; a naive Rudolph appliqué wallhanging with Anne Baxter and a couple of neat tips on embellishments from Lynette Harris and Kelly Aldridge, and we revisit Mandy Shaw and her Christmas workshops.
There will be a whole new section both in the Videos and in the Products, marked Christmas, with new ideas and some exclusive new patterns for Justhands-on.tv from Sarah Soward (you have all noticed, I hope, that the shopping pages and the video pages have subsections listed at the top of the page so that you can go straight to them rather than scrolling through).
Our featured book of the Month provides a selection of 15 3hour projects by Sue Spargo, using wool felt and simple stitching which would make lovely gifts.
http://www.justhands-on.tv/shopping/category/4/
You could of course make your own felt with Sue Pearl's Felt Better kit which you will find on the shopping pages http://www.justhands-on.tv/shopping/category/7/
Don't forget that if YOU want to have an early Christmas present and possibly be the winner of the Husqvarna Viking ER10 Embellisher machine you do need to be a subscribed member and there are also 25 parcels of fabric just waiting to be sent out again to subscribed members.
If you love the site, and we know that lots of you do, invite a friend to join and it will earn you a Fat ¼ of fabric, absolutely free, provided the friend stays a subscribed member for a month. There is no maximum amount of friends that you can have - so you could end up with a whole quiltload of fabric!!
And we have lots to look forward to over the summer; we were invited by Panduro Hobby to film their Tilda products and how to make a delightful bag which will be available in August; we were at the Sandown National Quilt Championships and met up with Coloricious, a company specializing in tutorials on DVD's for mixed media techniques; we also took a peak at the Barbados Beckons roadshow by Grosvenor Shows; and we will be sharing with you our visit to Midsomer quilting next month as well as the Prism Textile Show.
We are putting together a very exciting competition in conjunction with Janome to win one of their BCC-30 machines, the one with the pink Breast Cancer Awareness campaign logo on it and, our new Block of the Month will be unveiled soon.
Speaking of unveiling there will be a booksigning on 3rd July at Creative Quilting, 32 Bridge Road, E.Molesey, Surrey (not far from Hampton Court Palace which is west of London on the River Thames) by local author Marie Clayton of her new book - Ultimate Quilting Bible. http://www.justhands-on.tv/shopping/category/4/
This is a very comprehensive book that includes techniques and projects throughout its 300plus pages. Well illustrated with both diagrams and photographs this is quite a tome but on looking through it would justify its place on your bookshelf as a comprehensive reference book plus inspiration for a new technique. It has a cover price of £25.
If you're not able to get there, but would like a signed copy , up until 3rd July you can order one and Creative Quilting will arrange for the signing to be done and then ship. As a special offer from our website you will be able to qualify for FREE postage (and it is quite a heavy book, so that's a really good deal), but this is for UK destinations only (sorry).
A big thankyou to Pam Turbett for her contribution to our Show & Tell page showing the wallhanging quilt that was a gift to her daughter - lucky girl with a very talented Mum.
I did manage to make a start on Christmas at the sewing day with my group; made a log cabin Christmas wreath wallhanging complete with bow - still needs finishing however but garden, sunshine and tennis getting in the way; hey ho.
Happy Sewing
Valerie & Jennie
