Quilting Arts Gift Magazine

The second annual Quilting Arts Gift Issue is bigger and better, with 148 pages full of fabulous projects to make for the holiday season, including home décor, decorations, and gifts designed and created by some of the world’s best art quilters.

This super issue features:

• 35 seasonal projects for quilted gifts and home décor

• Sensational stocking stuffers: our editors’ favorite tools, gadgets, and more

• 7 holiday patterns to celebrate the season



There is also Cloth, Paper, Scissors Studios Special Issues. Be inspired by how you could have your creative space set up. Finally we have a range of back issues from some of our craft magazines.

Gift Box Studio Books

We have two new books in from C&T Publications which are called Gift Box Studio. They are a large format book with beautifully printed pop-out cards. The card then forms a series of wonderful boxes and gift envelopes. There are also lots of little embellishments and tags. The box designs are based on fabric designs.

Kaffe Fassett Country Garden Quilts Fabric Packs

Kaffe Fasset and Rowan's latest Patchwork and Quilting project book was launched at the Festival of Quilts in August. The book is a sumptuous collection of quilts with a floral theme and marks a decade of partnership between Kaffe and Rowan. We now have available all 20 quilts as fabric packs for you to make. The instructions for making the quilts are all in Country Garden Quilts so you will need a copy of the book. As usual there is a range of visually stunning quilts from a range of designers using some of the latest fabrics from Kaffe.



The photographs of the quilts were taken at Great Dixter, the House and Gardens made famous by Christopher Lloyd, that epitomise the English Country Garden. Great Dixter is combination of an original mid 15th century building and a 16th century house in a similar style, which was moved from Kent. This new combination was the work of the famous architect Edwin Lutyens. The Garden though is mainly the work of Christopher Lloyd and is in an arts and crafts style with a Long Border, Wall Garden and Meadow amongst its features.

Blooms Quilt

New Items over the last month

There has been a number of new items added to the Cotton Patch site over the last month.

Firstly I have made a new area for Amy Butler fabrics, books and patterns. There are some new bag patterns, the Midwest Modern range and we also have the Nigella range of home decor weight fabrics. There are three books by Amy including the new title 'Little Stitches for Little Ones' that I mean to dip into for my new little one. See also Ellie and Liz's Amy sewathon

We have expanded our range of batik fabrics with sixteen new fabrics with the By the Pool and Streaks and Splodges ranges.

There are also sixteen new Oriental style fabrics with the Shanghai Gold and Kyoto Garden ranges

For a cute little project we have a new kit from Rachels of Greenfield called Baby Bear.

There are lots more products in the pipeline with Kaffe Fasset kits and fabrics, some wondeful new Free Spirit fabrics, new notions from Clover, new books and Calendars for 2009. We also have a major project that we are all working very hard on for the website.

New arrival is reason for absence

James Harrison Sewell with his bionic arm and Project Linus Quilts

Well, I must apologise to everyone for not posting any Whats New updates for a while and the main reason is the arrival of James, my newborn son. He is now a healthy and increasingly heavy seven weeks old and dominating our lives totally. When he was five days old then we had to take him back into hospital and he stayed for four days as a precaution. This was very much a rollercoaster for my wife and I but whilst in hospital then the nurses made James a little nest from Project Linus Quilts to sleep on in the hospital cot. Liz has mentioned before the great work that Project Linus do of providing quilts to hospitals. Having now been on the receiving end of these quilts then I would just like to say what a difference they make. Hospitals are by inference cold and clinical places and having something that is bright, cheery and a reminder of home can really make a difference to how you feel.

James now has a Winnie the Pooh quilted playmat made for him by his Nanna Jean and is quite tired out from his exertions, allowing his father some time to blog away.

Gutermann Sulky Stabiliser Starter Kit

Gutermann Sulky have produced an excellent starter pack of Stabilisers (9723, £11.25) to help you sample their range of stabilisers. There are 10 different stabilisers to try such as Tear Away, Heat Away and Solvy on 25cm x 42cm sheets.

Mother Earth's ABC - Sieglinde Schoen Smith

Sieglinde Schoen Smith's wonderful Mother Earth and Her Children has been followed up by Mother Earth's ABC which is a small illustrated story book. The book is has an alphabet of beautifully illustrated letters and there is also a CD and photo transfer sheet pack (9717) to help you recreate the Letters.

Summer Newsletter

Our Summer Newsletter is now available and if you have not received a copy through the post then you can download a pdf of the Newsletter from our website and peruse it at your leisure.

Country Garden Quilts by Kaffe Fassett

As we arrive at The Festival of Quilts in August 2008 we will be taking delivery of Kaffe Fassett's new project book Country Garden Quilts. This sumptuous collection of quilts with a floral theme marks a decade of partnership bewtween Kaffe Fassett and Rowan. Country Garden Quilts is photographed in the wonderful gardens at Great Dixter in Sussex. The 20 quilts feature the latest fabrics from Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs. Each project has detailed instructions and diagrams.

Kaffe Fassett will be signing copies of the new book on our stand at the Festival of Quilts and if you are not going to be there and would like a signed copy then we are taking pre-orders now. Our Kaffe Fassett book page has further details on how to do this.

Celtic patchwork and quilting fabric

We featured intricate designs featuring Celtic knotwork back in 2006 and they were very popular. The current range of Celtic designs contrasts teal blues with warm, rich earthy tones, and highlighted with gold. Above is one of two designs from the cushion panel strip.
There is a cushion panel, a mini strip and four coordinating fabrics. Celtic illustration is a favourite of mine and I have always admired the work of Jim Fitzpatrick and the Celtic inspired works of Lloyd Alexander were a favourite when I was younger.