Monday 1 January
Today, Monday 1 January, is the very first day of the new year so I am glad to be able to send you warm greetings on New Year’s Day itself.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Here in Ramsgate the weather was chilly and quite windy today but there were lots of people out and about, walking on the beach and enjoying the seaside (as seen below).
‘Seaside Album’ quilt for 2024
The start of the new year is always an opportunity to stop, reflect, re-group and make plans. I’m pleased to announce that there will be a new quilt for 2024 here on the blog, inspired by my surroundings. It will be called ‘Seaside Album’ and will include piecing, embroidery and appliqué. Like the ‘Watch the Stars’ project in 2022, each part of the quilt will be revealed a month at a time with instructions for completion of the whole quilt coming at the end of the year. Come along with me and you will have a quilt finished by December – ready to give as a present if you wish!.If you like the idea of taking part, consider clicking the ‘Follow’ button to get a blog-post by email each Monday so you don’t miss any of the stages.
Christmas gifts
Speaking of presents, I was very pleased indeed to receive the book about sewing pictured below as a Christmas gift. I had heard the author speaking about it on the wonderful ‘Haptic and Hue’ podcast (details below). As part of the discussion, it was noted that basic sewing skills are no longer taught in the way they once were. Not knowing how to mend garments (including when a button falls off) means that the item is oftern thrown away! As a former teacher of Textiles, I was very struck by this and have resolved to include on this blog and on my YouTube channel a few basic tutorials. So look out for the first post next week.
Another wonderful present was this thoughtfully-chosen quilt block jig-saw.
I genuinely love all the aspects of quilt-making: even though I am increasingly drawn towards making Art Quilts I also love traditional blocks and really appreciate the way in which fabrics have been used to make the blocks in the puzzle. There was a poster in the box too, so that’s going up on the studio wall.
‘Holy Island’ Art Quilt
This is a recent quilt made for a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) challenge entitled ‘Heritage’. The Holy Island of Lindisfarne lies off the Northumberland coast in the North-East of England. It’s a tidal island reached by a causeway and is cut off fromt the mainland twice a day by the tide. (I’ve written about the island elsewhere on the blog here and here)
Monthly Newsletter
Each month I write a newsletter which goes out to subscribers. I share information about what I am working on but I also include lots of content to inspire and interest the reader and to support them in their making journey. In the coming year, I will be sharing a few extracts from the newsletter here, so you can see what is on offer. To get the whole experience, you can sign up for the newsletter now with this link here
You can find more information about ‘Haptic and Hue’ here: https://hapticandhue.com/
Classes for 2024
This year I am teaching my ‘Quilt in a Day’ class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (it’s a full-day class) and my ‘Learn to Use a Sewing Machine’ class on Saturday mornings. Please check the Classes page on the website for details here From that page, you can click through to the listing on the Craft Courses website to see the available dates for 2024 and to read reviews posted by previous students.
Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt Patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here
Amanda Jane Textiles 