One Million Pillowcase Challenge Sew-a-Thon - Give With Joy

 We are thrilled and honored to be a participant in the One Million Pillowcase Challenge Sew-a-Thon Blog Hop! Coats and FreeSpirit have sponsored this fabulous charitable challenge for many years and the Sew-a-Thon Blog Hop is all about inspiration and helping others - it's perfect for you! Learn more about the Blog Hop and Sew-a-Thon, by clicking here.

 

 Those who make are the most generous people I know and I’m convinced that the act of making expands our hearts and increases our capacity to see the value in giving. Makers are always the first to respond to need and they usually show up with every other maker they can find. Since the One Million Pillowcase Challenge needs your joyous making help for a September Sewathon - let’s talk pillowcase. Stay with me and you can find out how to help at the end!

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” ― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank: the play

Pillowcases make fabulous gifts and are a tremendously easy way to perk up your own home décor. There are lots of options to consider and we have three yummy possibilities to inspire you. We’ve used fabrics from Free Spirit’s 2016 Fall collections that you’re going to love - Rosealea by Nel Whatmore, Isabelle by  Dena Designs and Sadie's Dance Card by Tonya Whelan. Click here to see 50 free pillowcase patterns on the One Million Pillowcase Challenge web site.

“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” ― Abraham Lincoln

 Basic pillowcases are super-easy and super-quick to make. Novelty prints are fun to use, but there’s something totally classy and serene about a pillowcase made with basic stripes and dots. In general, you’ll want to choose three fabrics for your basic pillowcase – main, cuff and accent. Audition your fabrics by laying them out in the order they might go. Take a picture to see how the finished case will look - it's a great tool for decision making.

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ― Mother Teresa

Bright colors and patterns make a wonderfully bold statement and an exciting pillowcase. Audition your fabrics and think about where your pillowcase will be used and the overall look you want to achieve. If you’re making pillowcases to donate, make them as attractive as possible. The love you put in will be evident in the finished case and the recipient will instantly know that someone cares.

  

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ― Maya Angelou

Making pillowcases is a sewing joy and it's especially delightful when you add a little variety and spark to the design. Charming fabrics become awesomely spectacular when you add interest with a scalloped cuff. Can you just imagine the smile on the face of someone in need who receives a case like this? That’s what the One Million Pillowcase Challenge is all about – miles and miles of pillowcase smiles!

   

 The Third Annual 24-Hour One Million Pillowcase Challenge Sew-a-Thon takes place this year on September 16th and 17^th. American Patchwork and Quilting, originators of the Challenge will hold a Sewathon at their headquarters in Des Moines IA. If you're not close to Des Moines there may be an event in your area or you can plan one of your own. Even a few friends sewing together can make a magnificent contribution. Click here to visit the One Million Pillowcase Challenge Sew-a-Thon web site. You'll find pillowcase patterns, groups to join and places to donate. And, above all, make, enjoy and give - someone nearby is counting on you for handmade love and encouragement!

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ― John Bunyan

Visit the other stops on todays blog hop:

American Patchwork & Quilting

Celine Perkins

Fabri-Quilt / Paintbrush Studios 

FreeSpirit Fabrics 

Handi Quilter 

How To Sew

Jacquelynne Steves 

Make It Yourself

Martingale 

Michele Foster

Moda Fabrics

Sarah Maxwell of Designs by Sarah J)

Sheila Sinclair Snyder of License to Quilt

Timeless Treasures

Inspiration behind Nel Whatmore's new Merry Go Round collection

Nel shares her inspiration in her own words "Merry Go Round is inspired by the joys of the fun fair. From spinning wheels and carousels it aims to evoke a feeling of playfulness and the joys of a great day out. I am always drawn to circular forms and curved lines. I just can’t help it! We have a fair that comes to town every year here in Tadcaster.  Fairs fascinate me; from the people that run them to the patterns and lavish decorations. I liked the idea of producing a kaleidoscope of color that echoes the joy of a day out at the fair."

Visit makeitcoats.com to see the entire collection as well as read more about Nel and be inspired by our free projects!  

Click here for the Merry Go Round Quilt and Merry Go Round Pillow patterns!

Summer Time Stash Cleaning!

It’s Summer time and with the days getting longer it's a great time get your stash organized. . . hope that all those UFOs (unidentified finished objects) become what they were intended to be and hope that your stash of fabric, somehow miraculously may dwindle a bit! Dwindle you say? How could that possibly happen when more and more beautiful fabrics are being introduced every minute of every day!

Well our goal is to help dwindle that stash so that you can continue to take advantage of such treasures like FreeSpirit Beauty Queen by Jennifer Paginelli or Lovelorn by Jenean Morrison.  Here is a laundry list of quick ideas guaranteed to bust your stash and make room for some new fabrics!

Create a scrappy anthropology like pillow.  Inspired by an urban ready-made pillow, this uses Rowan Kaffe Collective fabric but certainly any color story would work.

 

Tea Towels are a nice hostess gift and or a nice detail to spruce up any guest bathroom. These are made from FreeSpirit Valentine Rose by Tanya Whelan but any floral, shabby chic fabric will do.

Novelty kitchen décor or a little gift for your friend who loves chickens, these Wired Chicks use a tiny bit of fabric for a whole lot of fun décor --  FreeSpirit Fowl Play by Luelle Doss is the perfect fabric for such frivolity.

 

Make this Garden-inspired Tote which can be the perfect complement to a spring shift dress using FreeSpirit Secret Garden by Nel Whatmore – a patchy tote with trendy hand stitched detail.

A modern twist on a scrappy idea can be found in the Beechwood Park Quilt featuring FreeSpirit Beechwood Park by Jenean Morrison.  Use any bright and colorful stash fabrics, big and small prints, to create this perfect picnic or veranda throw.

Create coasters customized to match your décor. A linen/cotton blend, like FreeSpirit Novella, looks classy but yet is totally machine washable and totally only requires less than half a yard of fabric to create four.  

Memory Lane by Nel Whatmore

Well, I am excited to have been asked to post on the Freespirit Blog! 

 

My new collection is Memory Lane, which I have just been designing a quilt for -- yesterday actually. I am lucky that I had three grandparents that lived until they were 103, 101 and 98, and so their influence on me and reflecting on times spent with them has given me many fond memories. I like looking back as well as forward as I feel older things have more soul and newer things fire my imagination. So Memory Lane was designed to be slightly retro and to be a collection of memories, from sitting in my Grandma's breakfast room, to visiting William Morris's house, Wightwick Manor, near my Mum’s, to doodling as a child and remembering the joy that brought me.

So many things can remind us of friends and family, from colour, smells, sounds to even sweets we haven't eaten for years. I love the fact that quilts remind people of the person who kindly spent hours making them. They are made and given with love and in effect say 'I thought of you'. This may be rather sentimental but I think it's true.

My daughter Polly is just 18 and will soon be leaving us and so I am already thinking of which quilt I will give her when she goes to college (hopefully if she gets, there I should add!). Although even when I was thinking about designing the Memory Lane quilt yesterday my thoughts immediately turned to her and what she may like. I guess in the same way that I carry memories of my grandparents and parents with me, I hope that little things like a handmade quilt will remind her of her family too.

 

When designing, as a painter, I always produce the initial idea in pastels, the medium I like the best. It is vibrant, messy and spontaneous and suits me just fine. I have to then do the repeats on the computer as to do it in pastel would be virtually impossible. So much of balancing a collection feels like balancing a painting. You always have to make it work as a whole rather like doing the perfect jigsaw puzzle! I've come to the conclusion that it's a lifelong challenge, as whenever I finish a collection and then start sewing and designing things using it I learn something more and realise how to improve the next collection.

 

These are two lovely Memory Lane Cushions I designed that have just arrived . They look great at the end of our bed!

Recently I’ve got into English Paper Piecing. I looovvve it. I’ve been making 8 point stars using Secret Garden my last collection. So I couldn’t resist making a star this time with more points so it makes a 3d star using Memory Lane. I think they’d make great and unusual bunting Or I just like this one hung on my wall as it makes me smile every time I see it. I’d really love to see what you do with Memory Lane. So find me on facebook and come and say hi!

 

Thank you for reading my ramblings on this rather grey damp day in Northern England. It's now time to get back to finishing my next collection and then play my music loud and do a bit of painting, I think! I hope you enjoy Memory Lane. It would be lovely to see what you make with it. I'd love you to let me know!    https://www.facebook.com/Nelpatterns   
https://www.nelpatterns.com

Warm wishes and happy sewing Nel x

Time sure does fly when you're having fun . . .

Are we having fun yet?  Wow, where did September go.  As you know part of our designer series is a giveaway.  We featured Nel Whatmore and Katharine's Wheel in September and even though it is October we must fulfill our promise.  Katharine's Wheel was inspired by spirals and curves found on objects and in things in Nel's life. The name, Katharine, is Nel's middle name. 

Do you have a favorite shape and has it inspired a quilt or project in your life? Do you tend to be attracted to certain geometric shapes in the fabrics you buy or use?  Tell us about the shapes in your life and we will randomly select six commentators to win six, 1 yard cuts of Nel's Katharine's Wheel.  Winners will be announced here on Monday, October 8, after the second posting in our 12 Weeks of Christmas post!  Make certain you visit Nel's website for inspiration and patterns!

Katharine's Wheel by Nel Whatmore inspired by spirals!

Editor's Note: It's September and FreeSpirit Katharine's Wheel is making a splash at your local retailers.  Nel Whatmore shares with us her musings about art, fabric and how Katharine's Wheel was brought to life.  

Picture 1



Well it’s nice to pause in my busy day to write this and say hi to all of you who like Freepirit Fabric. It’s that time of year when a few leaves start to fall and the days grow a little shorter and my next collection had to be finished September 1st!

I am a fine artist who also designs so everything stems from my original paintings. Pic 1

Nel at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England

It’s been a very busy month ,as I have just been to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, as a guest designer for the reatiler Cottonpatch in the UK. We had a great time as Rowan artists Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably were there, as well as FreeSpirit's own Tula Pink, who I met for the first time.

I was helping launch my new range, Katharine’s Wheel and also my new dedicated pattern website. Often as a designer you spend days and days gazing at patterns and color ways trying to work out the ideal combination, so it is really very lovely to meet so many customers and also to see how much people loved the Katharine's Wheel quilt, which turned out exactly how I wanted it to. Here it is draped all over our house! 





Picture 2



So why did I call it Katharines Wheel?  The collection is inspired by things large and small. I realized, much to my surprise one day, that we have over the years filled our house with many things that have spirals on them. From ceramics, (picture 2), to the feet and tops of clocks, (picture 3) , to the shape of our garden path and so on and so on. We spent many hours making a lovely garden path with the kids, collecting shells and glass beads every year adding another section until now it is finally finished. 

Picture 3

It seems as though many people are drawn to spirals and curves and find them comforting and also pleasing. So, I started to look into spirals and evidently in many cultures they are viewed as a universally positive symbol.

I find that the feel good factor plays a very important part in my painting too. It seemed only right to design a collection around curves and spirals. The collection is called Katharine’s Wheel because my middle name is Katharine, and the firework of the same name is yet another example of the spiral! They’re everywhere!!

So we have lovely rich spirals and sparks and spots and bubbles of color. The stripe I designed so that you have a great border print which reminds me of the first sewing I did at school --a little cross stitch and running stitch samplers.

I have had so much fun making things for the Festival of Quilts. Pic 7A 7B. Including of course the collectible cat pattern for this collection ‘Dotty Cat’.

If you missed ‘Happy Go Lucky Cat’, it’s a FREE DOWNLOAD when you join The Cat Club. Pic

I also love the Katharine’s Wheel Shopper (picture 4) and also the basket (picture 5) I made sitting in front of the telly watching the Olympics! So many people have asked me how to make it, that I will be putting it on the ‘Creative Things’ part of the site shortly!

Picture 4

Picture 5

Well it was light when I started writing this and dark now so time to go. But thanks for listening and look forward to hearing what you all think of Katharine’s Wheel

Blue Nickel Studio's Uberfest features Nel Whatmore's Sleeping Beauty

Nel Whatmore's Sleeping Beauty is being featured in a Quilt Uberfest happening now through October 16 and hosted by Blue Nickel Studios. A rather impressive list of bloggers are participating. Each day visit the specific site as noted below and find a 12” finished original block designed to work with each other or for you to create a sampler quilt or to simply create what ever inspires you. A Flickr page is set up for you to share your blocks.

In the meantime, take a moment and read about Nel and what inspires her art, fabric and other needlecraft products.

Uberfest Bloggers -- visit, quilt, have fun!
Oct 1 John Adams

Oct 2 Kaye Prince

Oct 3 Karen Linton

Oct 4 Konda Luckau

Oct 5 Amy Lobsiger

Oct 6 Ryan Walsh

Oct 7 Scott Hansen

Oct 8 April Rosenthal

Oct 9 Cara Wilson

Oct 10 Heather Jones

Oct 11 Susan Sobon

Oct 12 Jan Peoples

Oct 13 Erin Singleton

Oct 14 Charlie Scott

Oct 15 Emily Cier

Oct 16 Rachel Locke
If you are going to Uber it up and join in the fun, comment below. We will give away six, one yard cuts of Nel's Sleeping Beauty to two randomly selected commentors. So oomp pa pa your way to your sewing machine and get creative with Nel's Sleeping Beauty, richly colored and dreamy like the fairy tell . . . perfect for a fall Quilt Uberfest!

FreeSpirit Artist Nel Whatmore joins the Prince of Wales to celebrate 35 years of the Prince's Trust

When FreeSpirit artist Nel Whatmore first started painting, she was given a grant by The Prince's Trust, an organization started by HRH Prince Charles in 1976 to provide opportunities for less privledged youth in the UK.

Nel is an artist whose beautiful paintings have been translated into Coats' Maia brand tapestry and counted cross stitch kits and now fabric. Her first colleciton, Happy Go Lucky, was introduced in 2010. Her newest collection, Sleeping Beauty (due in September) is derived from her favorite childhood story and a series of paintings Nel did on the wall of her daughter's bedroom.

The Prince's Trust recently celebrated its 35th Anniversay. Gemma Arterton, Kevin Spacey, Rod Stewart, Jols Holland and Nel were among the charity ambassadors who gathered along with young people whom the Trust has helped. One person from each year since the trust has been going, including Nel, were invited to celebrate.

At the reception, Nel presented to Prince Charles the original painting "Devoted to You."