Oakshot Blog
Uttoxeter Racecourse, Staffordshire ST14 8BD
24 – 26 April 2015
Come and join us on Stand 52-54 in the Exhibition Hall. As well as seeing our vibrant Oakshott colours, you’ll be able to meet and chat to our great friend Lynne Goldsworthy of Lilysquilts, who will be joining us for the show. Looking forward to seeing you there!
This bold, graphic design called Shott in the Dark was created by Anne Williams, editor of The Quilter. What a wonderful illustration of our New Colourshott 01-30 shades in all their glory. Presented as a Mystery Row quilt over four issues of The Quilter, amazingly it uses just one F8ths Pack.
If you’re going to the Guild Conference at the Harrogate International Conference Centre from 24-26 April 2015, look out for the display of readers’ Mystery Row quilts. It’ll be fascinating to see how varied they are and the spin their makers have put on the basic pattern!
Calling all quilters in the Netherlands.
The talented Mirjam Boter has sent us a picture of her latest creation made with an explosion of Colourshotts and titled Dahlia:
It is currently hanging in the Carol Cox shop in Utrecht, who is an Oakshott Fabrics stockist and who is exhibiting at the Patchwork Quilt dagen in Rijswijk from 10-12 April 2015.
UPDATE – soon the walls were in full colour:
Booth 520 is ready and waiting at QuiltCon, Austin, Texas. Do pop by and say hello to Maria who runs Pinwheels. Look out for more quilts that we know are coming for display…
Fingers crossed that FedEx battle through the snow in Memphis to deliver the extra stock of Oakshott fabrics you are all lining up for!
Keep warm and enjoy the show.
Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts has translated the New Colourshott 10″ Square Pack of 27 colours into a seasonal mood palette. Wonder if you see what she sees in these colour ways*:
Alyce is travelling from Japan to the US to find some quilting threads at QuiltCon, it will be fun to see what she is inspired to do after her visit (don’t forget to drop into Pinwheels at booth 520).
Meanwhile Alyce has done a great tutorial on her blog: http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2015/02/circle-life-oakshott-mini-quilt-tutorial/
* blossoms, beach, boots and scarves, snow.
Another exciting bloghop from Lily’s Quilts; do follow and see what the bloggers have created from a New Colourshott 10″ Square Pack of 27 colours by clicking on this button:
The first creation from myBearpaw features a truly detailed freehand foundation piecing tutorial; so feast your eyes on her sea urchins and then have a go. Or pop along to Pinwheels booth at QuiltCon, Austin, Texas to have a close up look.
Look out for the booklet we’ll create to bring them all together for you.
What a great story from S-J Makes Quilts:
As a long-time quilt maker, first-time quilt competition entrant, I submitted my beloved quilt in for judging to the Royal Melbourne Show craft competition with much trepidation. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when I found out it won first place in its category (machine pieced, machine quilted).
Started out like any other quilt, ended up quite unlike any quilt I’d made before.
Read all about the work behind this modern ‘wonky log cabin’ quilt, all two square metres of it that started as a purchase from the Oakshott stand at the 2012 Festival of Quilts.
We were contacted by Sarah Matlock in Jersey about supplying fabric for a great fundraising project she has devised for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
We will be following the journey (which starts on Sunday 12 October 2014) as Sarah involves the community of Jersey in creating blocks for a quilt that will eventually be auctioned in spring 2015. Here is Sarah’s description of the start:
Pat Robson here on Jersey runs an amazing charity called “Art in the Frame” to support and promote artists. Pat runs The Harbour Gallery which is a fabulous space acting as the hub and window for the Foundation.
This month, there is an exhibition entitled “Remembering” at the Gallery. There are 100 pieces on display, all worked by local artists. The exhibition is part of a six week long “celebration” of the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. During the six weeks, there are various workshops going on, all with the theme of WWI. My workshop is on Sunday and is entitled “Field of Poppies”. Michael generously donated 20 x 0.5m pieces of his fabulous Colourshott fabrics and Madeira UK have given us quite a few reels of Aerofil thread. I have spent the last few days putting together some blocks which I hope will inspire the delegates on Sunday to each make their own block which I will take away at the end of the day and make into a quilt which will tour each of the Islands’ twelve parishes plus other influential institutions such as the Library. Next Spring, the quilt will be auctioned and we hope to raise a lot of money for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. The delegates will each take home comprehensive notes and will hopefully learn some new techniques which, I hope, will lead them to want to experiment more with quilting. The list of delegates includes some year 13 students studying textiles for their A Levels, some complete novices and some ladies with a limited amount of patchwork experience. As I have been quilting for fourteen or more years, I am really excited to meet people who are interested in textiles but have little or no patchwork and quilting knowledge! I am looking forward to their input and inspiration.
And here is a quick glimpse of those first five, unfinished, blocks:
From 18–21 September 2014 you can buy Oakshott fabrics from L’Aiguillée Boutique at the 20th Carrefour Européen du Patchwork in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace, France. Look out for her special promotions.
Great excitement at Oakshott when our fabrics were chosen by the Quilt Museum in York for the kit to go with their 1718 Silk Patchwork Coverlet exhibition (5 September–13 December 2014).
The 1718 Coverlet’s 60 exquisitely sewn blocks use a mosaic patchwork technique and illustrate the maker’s surroundings. This is just one small section from the coverlet:
This is a rare chance to see a textile treasure which is normally kept in storage to prevent its deterioration. But if you can’t get to York by 13 December then you can still see the coverlet in detail in Susan Briscoe’s fascinating book The 1718 Coverlet. This book contains a fascinating history of the original and the story of how The Quilter’s Guild made a replica (also on show). If you want to make your own coverlet then the book also contains both original and modern instructions (and Susan is running a workshop on 11 October 2014).
The Quilters’ Guild selected 16 colourways from Oakshott’s New Colourshott collection. Describing their choice, Susan says:
“Oakshott cottons are perfect for a project like this because their quality and colour intensity produce a wonderful iridescence: they look like silk, yet they’re actually 100% mercerised shot cotton.”
The fabric selection is available from the Quilt Museum’s online shop www.quiltmuseumshop.org.uk as pre-cut Fat Eighths or Fat Quarters.
