Hochanda

The Festival of Quilts is Europe’s leading patchwork and quilting event and this year I had the privilege of attending with Hochanda . Attracting more than 25,000 visitors from all over the world, honestly there were bus loads rolling in daily from Australia, it was truly an international event. Prior to the show, I was unsure what to expect but to put it mildly I was blown away by the entire experience, from the organisation and layout of the three halls down to the incredible talent on show. Celebrating quilting in all forms, there were over 300 exhibitors providing endless stalls to purchase all your quilting essentials , incredible galleries displaying what I can only describe as the most ore-inspiring quilts I have ever seen. One that stands out for me was The Women’s Quilt . It was made up of 598 patches, a patch to commemorate 598 women killed as a result of domestic violence between 2009 and 2015. The quilt is ...

Last week, our lovely presenter Hayley West visited a lovely event in Loughborough. She had such a great day she wanted to share with all of our crafters... "Once a year one I love to head of to a great event in Loughborough......  Sue and her team from Quorn Country Crafts host a charity event and it's always incredibly inspiring. To start with it's a wonderful venue the local parish church and every year it's transformed with a multitude of different sewn projects including some amazing quilts.  Huge quilt frames are erected to display the quilts to show them off to their best and they never cease to astound me.  There were stunning quilts, Jacobean Applique, Dramatic Geometric designs, Sampler Quilts, Quilts for children, examples using Jelly Rolls, Dresden Plate designs and Japanese inspired to mention a few, plus a display of beginners quilts.  One of the highlights of the exhibition was the Mini Charm Challenge... Just before Christma...

Kim & Debbie are back once again to keep us up to date on all of their adventures in their regular guest blog! We can't believe that on the last Sunday of May we are up to the penultimate pattern in Florries Sampler Quilt!  Last month we tackled the blocks featuring Needle Turned Appliqué and Bears Paw.  The extra project was a lovely little pot holder using one block of the Bears Paw. To top things off, Our Sewing at the Manor book proved really popular and a lovely pack of half metres from the Mill Shirtings Collection were also on the show! We have some extra shows in May, on the 2nd we brought a Free Motion Sewing Pack and the rotating 12 inch board which is in inches, Happy Days! Also, on Friday 13th we are looking forward to sunnier days with a pack of fabric called 'Vacation' and some useful bag accessories... oh! And an LED night in a choice of colours. Florries Sampler Quilt Pattern 5 has the wow factor with a foundation pieced Spinning Bl...

Six Penny Memories are back with their guest blog, keeping us up to date on everything they've been up to!   A big thank you to all of you who are sewing along, we are thrilled with the response! We are now three patterns in for our Florries Sampler Quilt, with three more to go! Do you remember on our last sewing lesson at the end of March, we concentrated on the two blocks on sampler 3, the Dresden Plate Block and the Pinwheel Block?  We brought 100% waddings to Hochanda for the first time in March, and they proved exceptionally popular, so of course more bolts have been ordered!  Another item was the 200 thread count calico which is good enough to incorporate in your quilts. We love it for doll making too (Florrie and Betty were created with this calico, they have been in and out of suitcases, on planes and trains and still look good as new!) and it's also perfect for stitcheries. Coming up in April we are bringing new fabrics and a great rotat...

Welcome to Hochanda, Debbie and Kim Hi Debbie and Kim, thank you for taking time out to answer a few questions for us. We love watching you on TV, you have such a good rapport, and obviously are passionate about teaching and passing on your skills. 1.     How did you get into working on the telly? Thanks for talking to us, we hope that our passion for sewing and fabrics comes across!    We were at the NEC at a Trade Show and were approached to take our products onto Shopping TV.  We had our first show in May 2013 and haven’t looked back since, we like to have fun and hopefully inspire others to have a go. 2.     You make a brilliant team, how did you start working together to bring us Six Penny Memories? We met many years ago at a Craft and Needlework show in Newcastle. I (Debbie) was teaching and had my patterns on one of the stands and Kim was there with her shop The Fat Quarters.   At the end of the ...