Oakshot Blog
Helen Howes doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas but says a Fast Fat Quarter Ruler is good at any time!
Any card Helen made would be a riot! She just loves all colours and couldn’t pin down just one Oakshott, so here are some little fancies for fun:
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Over there amongst the Canadian snows (we assume!) Deborah Kemball has gone for a deep, warm colour:
I would choose the Midnight Blue as a background for a handmade card because the Campion red and Zinnia green I would use for the motifs would shine against this deepest darkest blue.
As for a sewing tool – a needle threader for aging eyes!
Hope you get your wish Deborah.
Our second respondent is Leanne of She Can Quilt who said:
If I were making a card with Oakshotts, I would probably pick either Bizzie Lizzie or Lichen as the background. I tend to like jazzier colours for the holidays.
As for a sewing tool, all I really want is more fabric. I always love beautifully crafted scissors or hand made sewing notions too, but the truth is I am well set up.
and who doesn’t share those feelings?
We asked some of our fabulous designers to tell us:
So here’s the first response from Lynne Goldsworthy of Lily’s Quilts
For her background she would use: “Colourshott white sand because it’s the perfect background colour – soft and warm – and it lets the other colours shine.”
And we hope that she finds under her Christmas tree, “A rotating cutting mat – something I’ve never treated myself to but perfect for trimming small blocks!”
That’s the name of this quilt Valerie designed for a guild challenge to use at least three sizes of flying geese. We love the story behind the inspiration; every memory can be an inspiration one day!
“Oakshott reminds me of the suit fabric my dad wore, and back when it wasn’t popular for men to wear pink daddy did. Mama would buy his clothes to wear to church, and he’d always get compliments.”
What do you do for special birthday when you have six sisters? A quilt of course. Valerie made the following for one of the 50th birthdays and called it Bountiful Bouquet of Blessings:
Valerie buys her Oakshott from Maria Tamaoka of www.pinwheels.com
This blog on Red Pepper Quilts just got our fingers itching to start one of our own – so striking the way it underlines why traditional blocks are so timeless. We are so glad Rita’s ‘creative mood and timing’ coincided!
Rita’s tutorial is very clear. Clear enough for you to adapt easily to your own quilt size and colourways, though we love the Colourshotts she has chosen (and that she lists them so clearly!)
“Beautiful Oakshott fabrics! It is difficult to capture in a photo just how lovely the weave of these fabrics is. Oakshott Colourshott fabric has a shot weave with a warp and weft of different tones – which creates a beautiful luminous and iridescent hue.”
Really looking forward to seeing what her sister, Karen Terrens (long arm professional quilter), is going to do next.
If you are inspired to make your own Bucket List quilt then do send us a photo of your creation.
Our newsletter readers were invited to vote for their top two favourite New Colourshott Quick Makes packs and the votes came in for Freesia as a clear winner, followed neck and neck by Derwent and Orchid:
Congratulations to Wendy Dorey, Mary Charman and Sheila Musson for winning their favourite packs. P.S. don’t forget to show us all what you made.
Which delicious bundle of eight vibrant colours would you have chosen?
We posted in August about Carol Pullen’s visit to the Oakshott Fabrics shop and now have the pleasure of revealing the “lovely and snuggly” end result:
Read all about it at iloveonceuponathimble
Modern Quilt Guild member Judy Murphy upgraded her Janome 7700 to an 8900, invested in a whole roll of wool batting so she would always have some to hand, and sent us photos of her seriously lovely quilt, Off Course. Read all about the process (and gain some handy hints, particularly on binding and on the design process) on her blog, www.quiltparadigm.blogspot.co.uk
The New Colourshott fabrics Judy used are, for the background, Vintage Silver (COTX28), Charcoal (COTX29), Black (COTX30) and Amalfi (COTX32); the blues are Banda (COTX16), Timor (COTX17) and Celebes (COTX18); and the pinks/purples are Lilac (COTX19), Sweet Pea (COTX20) and Dusk (COTX21).
“The combo of the sheen on the Isocord and the colors of the Oakshotts is nothing short of amazing! Oh, and the weight of these cottons? They are as heavy as any of the other quality quilting cotton I use. It is not thin and it is not ‘see through.’ I cannot wait to make another quilt with Colourshotts”
This amazing new modern quilt has been created using Oakshott Colourshott (and Kona) fabrics by Michelle of Factotum of Arts in North Carolina, USA, and is just as delicious from front or back; can you say which is which?
Do have a look at her blog, factotum-of-arts.com, it’s full of inspirational pictures, quilts, tutorials and design tips – and keep fingers crossed that the Neighbourhood quilt is selected for this year’s Quiltcon in Texas!
