Where has the Summer gone?

August 25, 2023

I have had a busy summer which started with a 2 week trip to Costa Rica, which looking back seems so long ago. Costa Rica is an amazing country, if you never have visited, somewhere I highly recommend for its beauty, wildlife and bird spotting, flora, and fauna. We had so many sloth encounters that seemed to get better over the trip, something I had not expected. And spending a week in an amazing house in Manuel Antonio was one of the highlights.

BIG NEWS My book ‘Capture your own Life in Collage Quilting’ Making unique quilts and projects from photos and imagery, will be released on September 19th. It is available to pre-order from Amazon. here. I am very impressed by the work of my publisher Landauer Publishing, part of Fox Chapel Publishing. The quality of the book, the paper, images and clear layout, I couldn’t have been happier. So if you are wanting to dabble in fabric collage it is a reference and idea guide with patterns you can use or instructions on making your own.

Front Cover showing some of the project ideas inside. The book has 12 projects, 7 patterns, 150 pages and is priced at $24.99

Over the next 3 months I have a busy travel schedule coming up, heading to quilt guilds and to teach at quilt shows. Today I am heading to Denver to the Colorado Quilt Council for a lecture and Sunflower workshop. After that I will be visiting Tucson, my first time there, Sunnyvale to the Granary Quilt shop, PIQF in Santa Clara and finally to Quilt Market and the International Quilt Festival in Houston. It will be my first ever visit to Quilt Market where I will be signing books and hanging out in the Fox Chapel booth, so stop by if you will be there.

The other big event this summer was that I headed to my homeland for a couple of weeks to visit family and friends and to visit and teach at Festival of Quilts. Again if you have never been this is a great destination quilt show that should be on everyones bucket list! The show is huge. Its located at the NEC in Birmingham, about 2 hours north of London. Staying at one of the NEC’s hotels makes a nice self-contained visit with an array of restaurants, all walkable was perfect. The quilts I saw were different (in a good way!) and vendors were also different from what I am used to seeing in the US.

There was plenty of seating everywhere, the Prosecco Bar was amazing, and wonderful small exhibits too. I taught 5 classes, 4 being Quick and Easy Classes (90 minute) which worked out great and a lecture in a small theater. My students were amazing and really appreciated all the kits, fabrics, patterns and quilts I had lugged out in my suitcase!

If you want to see where I will be teaching next this year or next look up my calendar here on my website. I continue to sell patterns and kits from my shop there. I have PDF content that can be purchased and downloaded from anywhere that you will print at home.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the summer,

Jane H

My Busy Time of the Year

November 26, 2022

Going into Christmas and the Holidays it feels like I always have so much to do. I used to plan to finish my work by mid December to have a little time to relax but not this year! I do get custom orders that will be Christmas gifts so I know I will get them done. Last week I made a list of what I need to accomplish which included at least six items! Did I mention I have a deadline for a book I am writing and that is mid January. Hopefully next year will be an easier year!

In celebration of the holidays, Cyber Monday and Black Friday I am currently offering my on-demand Love of Pets Fabric Collage workshop at 30% off. You just need to go to my Podia site at the link here and type HOLIDAYSALE into the promo code box to receive your discount. I have many customers who have enjoyed learning my process for making this type of custom quilt, at their own pace.

Also on my Podia site are two free downloadable fabric collage patterns; one the Big-eyed Chameleon and the other Bugs and Beetles. You can also purchase for $5 the Shy Sunflower pattern. All proceeds and a matching donation I give to the World Central Kitchen in support of Ukraine.

My latest quilt finish, another side distraction, I made as a gift for a much deserving 14 year old girl called Katie. Coming home from Quilt Festival in Houston I sat next to a young woman at the bar as we got something to eat. Whilst chatting over a huge plate of Tater-Tots I learned that as a mother of six one of her daughters was in the Children’s hospital in Houston waiting for a lung transplant. Just three weeks prior they had not even known she was sick. Her story really stuck with me and so I just wanted to give her a quilt. Following their story on Facebook Katie received her lung transplant 2 weeks ago and is making steady progress in her recovery. Her family are now adjusting to their new way of life. I know a quilt isn’t much when going through something like this but I hope it can be distraction.

As part of the book on collage that I am writing I hope to include a Student Gallery section and so I am looking for any past students of mine that have finished quilts. If you could send me a good quality photo of that quilt that I could include I would appreciate it. Message me if you have a suitable photo. I will also need a short description of how you felt about the process and making collage quilts this way. Thank you.

Finally I just want to share that I recently purchased from a guild member, who is moving, a Handiquilter Sweet Sixteen. I wasn’t looking to change the way I quilt my work but this machine came up. It fitted into my limited sewing space and thought it would make my process easier. So when I have more time I want to play some more!

Thanks for reading along I will post again in a few weeks with my yearly round-up from 2022.

2020 My year in Review

December 29, 2020

The year is coming to a close and what a crazy year it has been for us all. So many swerves, changes, adaptations which have challenged us and made us stronger. No longer will we take for granted the small freedoms we once had. We’ll go into 2021 with more patience and appreciation.

At the end of each year I like to summarize what I have done over the year. Its always a bit of a challenge as I’m not great at keeping a list but I do my best.

2020

I taught at Craft Napa, The Granary Quilt Shop in Sunnyvale and at the Dubai International Quilt Show.

I made 26 T-shirt quilts, 5 necktie quilts, 3 custom quilts I quilted, 4 custom Pet Portraits, 2 quilts I donated to SAQA and 3 to my quilt guilds community service, 14 Art Quilts, 8 hand stitched bags and 400+ masks.

I had to embrace teaching online, making videos and all that that entails! I began by writing my first On-demand workshop, presented 5 online lectures and had 9 days of online classes.

I had thought I would have time to tackle UFO’s and quilts that need quilting but I think I just added to that pile. I just counted and now have 12 to quilt and finish.

Pink Cosmos This was a new class that I developed for teaching online.

Heading into the New Year I like think about new challenges and quilts I will make. I am wanting to make some changes. I have been teaching my fabric collage classes for about 4 years now and I just want to try something different. I am excited to play with new techniques but feel overwhelmed and freeze. I don’t know where to start. Does anyone else feel like that?

Written January 2020. Goals for the year.

Although this isn’t fancy I did write in my sketch/notebook goals for 2020.Reading these again I sort of achieve many of them! My goals for 2021 feel different. These ones I can put behind me. My newsletter plans are starting in 2021. No cruise. No plans for a book but more online classes. Hopefully the exhibit in Oct 2021 will go ahead. I did use my stash for mask making, check! And finally I did use my sketch book, a little.

The fabric cover for my 2021 note/sketchbook.

My goals for 2021

These include working in my sketchbook, doing more drawing and painting, writing more On-demand workshops, finishing all those quilts that need quilting, blogging more and developing some new collage patterns.

Big Frank was one of two large quilts I made this year. I wanted to challenge myself to making a large pet portrait using colors that are less natural. I used a photo I found on Pinterest of a Bedlington Lurcher called Flossie. I eventually received the owners permission but that is a story in itself!

One of my best memories for the year was going to Dubai, attending and teaching at the International Quilt Show. Looking back I was so lucky to have squeezed that in before Covid and lockdown happened!

Finally my last bake for 2020 were these Frangipani Mince pies, a recipe sent to me by cousin. They’re delicious. So if you find mincemeat in the store, its common in England at Christmas, give the recipe a go.

Finally I have started my newsletter that I will publish at the beginning of each month. If you wish to receive it in your inbox go to my website and the pop-up menu will appear for you to sign-up. I will not use your email in any other way and if you wish you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

I will give updates about classes coming up, new items in my shop and updates about what I’ve been up to. So look out for Threads of Inspiration.

Best wishes for 2021. Lets be creative and healthy

Jane