Tuesday 23 September 2014

We do Birthdays!


OMNI thread cones all wrapped up
Superior Threads make great Birthday presents. 



And if you like, we'll wrap them 
up pretty for you so they're all ready to give to your quilt loving
friends and family. 

 This customer wanted OMNI cones for his mum. 

OMNI cones hold 6,000yds of thread for £11.99

That's lots of happy quilting! 



Superior Threads 
come in many ranges, 
in all sorts of luscious fibres, 
all designed with the machine quilter in mind. 

If you'd like us to wrap them for you, send us an email. 

Superior Threads ~ a present that keeps on giving!

P.S. we do Christmas too!

Monday 15 September 2014

How to assemble the frame


Here's a little video clip that shows just how easy it is to set up our New English Quilter frames. I'm posting it especially for you gals who are having your frames delivered in the next couple of weeks. It really is this easy! You'll have it out of the box and ready to go in less than 5 minutes. If you have any questions just give me a ring. 01526 378057

Wednesday 10 September 2014

September Superior Threads















I'm putting the September Superior Threads order through today. With autumn on the way and the kids back in school and off to University, I'm keen to get quilting again. Superior Threads has many ranges designed especially for machine quilting. You can browse through our website or ring Martha for suggestions. Today I'm going to chat about FANTASTICO one of my favourite threads.

There are new variegated colour combinations in the Fantastico range. Use the American site as a shop window and email me your orders. 

Fantastico is my new favourite thread. It's a break-through thread that doesn't break! Fantastico has tensile strength which means that it has a bit of give in it. You can read more about it on the Stateside site. Fantastico is designed to cope with the high speed sewing of industrial and long arm machines.  I love how it runs through my JUKI TL98P at 1500 stitches per minute. It works great on the higher speed long arms like the Avante (1800 spm) and the new JUKI long arm (2200 spm). It's a gorgeous light reflecting thread. I'm very excited about all the new variegated colour combinations. And it's great value for money at £12.95 for a 2,000 yd cross-wound cone.

Fantastico. Strong. Beautiful and Affordable. 

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Edinburgh Road Trip




Our daughter Rosie 
is off to Edinburgh University 
to study architecture. 

Emily and I drove Rosie up last weekend to get her settled in her accommodation for the start of Freshers Week.

September sunset at Edinburgh

The light turned all the grey to gold
a lone piper
Rosie and Emily
guilded by the setting sun
Rosie's accommodation
moving in the room
even the curtains match the quilt
 "Parting is such sweet sorrow" We're really going to miss Rosie! I'm glad that Emily was there to cheer me up on the way home.  Edinburgh is such a beautiful city! I'm sure that Rosie will love being there. And the quilt looks just great in her room! On those cold Scottish nights, she'll be able to snuggle in a bit of comfort from home.

Monday 8 September 2014

Rosie's Uni Quilt

Rosie is off to the University of Edinburgh to study architecture. So of course she needed a quilt. We decided on a limited palette of pinks and reds with ivory, black and grey and used themed fabrics that had memories of home and recent travels; cats, pianos, Eiffel towers and roses, of course.

some of Rosie's favourite things
Sinking the squares into a grey background made the pink seem all grown up and just perfect for a Uni quilt.

adding the final borders with my JUKI HZL Exceed 600

piecing with a silver OMNI on top
joining the fleece backing with a zig-zag stitch

Auditioning the quilting thread

We chose the steel grey So Fine in the end. Rosie wanted a thread that would disappear into the borders. The #408 Silver So Fine has a subtle matt finish and worked perfectly. It went through the whole quilt without any trouble. We used Bottom Line pre-wounds in the bobbin in an ivory colour that would disappear into the fleece backing.

we used Emily's swirly feather pattern
The So Fine thread ended up creating great texture without drawing too much attention to itself which fit in well with the fresh modern feel of the quilt.

Rosie's quilt loaded on the 8 foot New English Quilter frame & JUKI TL98P

Since we only started the quilt the week before Rosie had to go, we needed to keep the piecing simple. We were inspired by this quilt made by Kelly Finster for her friend Laura. Rosie had a look through my pinterest boards and chose this quilt. Kelly and Laura became friends at the start of University. So it seemed a very fitting choice!

Kelley Finster's quilt for her Uni friend Laura
Rosie's quilt was a 6 day wonder! I finished the piecing on Wednesday and loaded it on the 8 foot New English Quilter frame, Emily and I completed the quilting on Thursday evening and I stitched the binding Friday, just in time for our trip up to Edinburgh on Saturday. It's wonderful how the right kind of tools enable us to complete a quilt beautifully and quickly.

I love how the thread played out
Rosie chose a stripy fabric for the binding