Sally visited the lovely ladies at their quilting group in St Wenn to teach her Honeybun Kisses cushion Workshop.
Many of the ladies made the cushion in their chosen fabrics, and Bernie kept going with hers and finished it off as this stunning quilt! Well done ladies & Bernie!
Debbie purchased rather a lot of farmhouse flannel, dark grey from us to compliment the layer cake she had found. She lives in Wales and we were the only place she could source it. Her daughter had asked for a quilted jacket and this material is warm, drapes beautifully and was lovely to work with. What a lucky daughter!!!
How about a fun project for the winter months? Moda has set a Moda Love Charm Pack Challenge with a free downloadable pattern. This is suitable from beginners upwards & using code CharmChallenge at the checkout you’ll receive 10% off the price of our Moda charm packs (offer ends 28/01/23), so what are you waiting for?!
Moda Love is a quick & easy, especially if you pair up 1 Print Charm Pack & 1 Basics/Solids Charm Pack for the backgrounds. Without any added borders, the charm size finishes at 32”x32”, which could be finished off into a table topper, wall hanging, or baby quilt—or combine 4 ‘blocks’ to make a full size quilt!
We’d love to see your finished quilts, so email us a photo and we’ll add it to our gallery page.
Click the link below to download the pattern:
December 2022
Thank you so much for your support from those of you who joined in our Birthday Tombola. We raised £170 which has been donated to Centrepoint, giving homeless young people a future.
Sally has been busy making a lovely Santa Sack using two of the characters on the large character panel from the Merrymaking range 2022 which she cut down to 21″ high x 17″ wide. She added a thin border around the each panel piece for the front and back that was cut at 1 1/4″ wide, then added charm squares all around (5 charm squares down each side & 6 charm squares across the top & bottom). That finishes the front and back piece.
Cut two lining pieces 27 1/2″ wide x 31″ high. Stitch one lining piece right sides together to the top of each of the front & back pieces. Now lay your front/lining piece on top of your back/lining piece, making sure that the lining pieces are on top of each other and the front & back are on top of each other. Pin carefully making sure that the seams on the charm squares meet front & back. Sew all the way around leaving a 5″ gap in the middle of the bottom of the lining for turning & a 1″ gap on one side the in line with the top of the small border as this will be where you’ll be stitching your ribbon channel in a minute.
Turn right sides out then stitch the gap in the lining closed & push the lining into the bag. Press with an iron especially around the top of the sack.
To make the channel to feed your ribbon through, stitch through both the lining and outer pieces using the top & bottom of your small border as a guide. Using ribbon approximate 1.5m long put a safety pin in one end and feed it through the ribbon channel through the 1″ gap you left previously. Tie both ends of the ribbon together & hope that Santa will fill it with presents!
Janet’s been designing fabric for Moda for over 10 years now and her latest collection ‘To the Sea’ has arrived!
If you’re a fan of the seaside like us you’ll love Janet’s new book ‘Spoondrift’ which features 25 blocks and two setting options for a sampler quilt. It’s the perfect skill-building project! We’ve put together fabric packs using To the Sea fabrics for the Spoondrift quilt with two options on sashing.
Janet has designed many “sea themed” patterns over the last 10 years, many of which would lend themselves to this nautical range: Down Beside the Seaside (available in 2 colourways), On the Wing (both re-coloured for this range), we’ve put together kits for Charming Gulls & there’s also Newton, Sailaway & Sailing the Blue patterns & her beautiful book Hearty Good Wishes.
Our Linda’s been having fun making some lovely items with Tilda’s Cotton Beach fabrics.
Her first make is this beautiful reversible Hobo shoulder bag. It’s embellished with a large flower, beads & stitching – pattern available here for both bags
Linda’s second make is a lovely zipped make up bag, perfect for carrying around your make up etc
& finally these adorable summer pyjama bottoms which are so light & comfy which have been made from the pattern Agnes Pyjama Set by Paper Theory (sorry we don’t stock this pattern, but what a great way to use Cotton Beach fabrics).
Join Our Mini Charm Challenge:
Do you love pre-cuts? We think they are fantastic! With Pre-cuts you can get right on with the best bit of patchwork – the planning and sewing- all the cutting is done for you and so accurately.
Layer cakes can make a great quick quilt, charm packs are perfect for a baby quilt, play mat , lap quilt or bag. Jelly rolls have books and patterns devoted to them so that you can whip up a quilt in a weekend.
But have you tried the mini charm packs? They still have all the range of fabrics in there but these little 2 1/2″ squares are amazing value, just right for gifts, treats and perfect for those smaller projects.
So guess what….. to give you a chance to play and win prizes we are launching the Mini Quilt Challenge!
All you have to do is complete a project this summer using a mini charm pack of your choice. Add extra fabric if you like and then send us a clear photo with your name, address and telephone number or email address. Also tell us the name of the mini charm pack used. That’s all there is to it!!!! There are two categories, Christmas or everyday. We have lots of mini charms to choose from & many are in the sale.
The closing date is Friday September 9th 2022. There will be 2 winners, one for each category – one £25 gift voucher for the everyday mini charm project category & one £25 gift voucher for the Christmas project category, and all entrants will receive a discount voucher.
EDIT We have extended the challenge for the Christmas Mini Charm until Friday 9th December
We just ask that you make something new for this challenge, & if you use someone else’s pattern, please credit the designer. Good Luck!!!
The winner of the Christmas Mini Charm Challenge is Penny who created this pretty festive tree. A simple but beautifully executed make.
CHALLENGE ENTRIES
Carol B made her little hexie Useful Bag using Moda Spring Chicken mini charms with Makower linen texture cotton and Liberty lawn trim and lining.
Carol used Tilda Daisyfields and Kona Solid for this beautiful bag. Her daughter made the poppy that gives a lovely finishing touch. The pattern was a free one from the Moda website.
Tricia visited us whilst on holiday having lost her sewing mojo. With a little inspiration she found the time and inclination to create her pretty Day in Bluebell Woods cushion. 
Elaine began quilting during the second lockdown and has been a quick learner. Look at this beautiful backdrop that she made for the bird sculpture, using Daybreak fabrics.
Brenda has made this gorgeous cushion for her granddaughter using a Freya and Friends mini charm and some Tilda Wendy fabric for the dress.
Fran made this delightful drawstring bag using a Change of Seasons mini charm
This bolster cushion was made by Sally B who loved the 70s look of the Cider mini charm.
Heather D made this delightful cushion cover by adapting Bird in a Basket by Lynette Anderson.
This Safety First panel has been created to make facemasks, but our Mary has come up with another ingenious idea for this panel. They make a really fun set of bean bags too & great fun for the summer holidays!
Children could assist in making them, then play the game throwing them into a bucket to see who wins or using them for the new game that’s all the rage Cornhole! We’ve got a demonstration of Mary’s Cornhole game on our You Tube channel: https://youtube.com/shorts/VPnWrszLcEQ?feature=share
Bean Bags for Summer Fun
You will need : one mask panel and 2 x 500g popping corn or similar
This summer the latest craze is Cornhole, a lawn game from North America where you toss bean bags onto a sloping board with a hole in it. If you land on the board you get a point, if you get through the hole it is worth two points. Play in teams or individuals.
Or be very British and find an old bucket, aim and shoot away!!!!!
Take your mask panel and cut out the 5 children’s masks leaving the two sides joined on one of the long sides. If you want to make bigger bean bags do the same with the adult mask panels. Otherwise make a sixth child size panel from one of the adult masks and cut to the same size as the other panels. I used the remaining fabric to make my bean bags double thickness so use the instructions and left over adult mask panels to do this. If you are using all the masks to make more bean bags use scrap fabric for the inner lining.
Take a mask panel and with right side up lay it onto a scrap piece the same size. Fold in half with the right side inside the fold. Stitch around with a ¼” seam leaving a small hole for filling the bag on the unfolded long side. Leave the smallest hole you can comfortably fill your bean bag through. This will be quite small if you have a funnel , a bit larger if you need to use a spoon. You can make a funnel from a square of cereal box rolled up and fastened with sellotape.
Clip the corners a little and then turn to the right side, being careful with the layers and the patterned right side should now be in full view!
Fill with popping corn, rice, lentils or plastic polybeads. I used about 150-175g of popping corn per bag.
Slip stitch the opening closed with tiny stitches.
Finally keeping the corn out of the way, top stitch around the whole bag to make sure you don’t lose any filling during play.
Please note: the food based fillings are best kept dry.
Have plenty of summer fun!!!!!
Job Description:
● 2 to 3 days a week including some Saturdays, working hours are 9.30 – 4.30 plus any overtime required. Extra days will occasionally be required to cover holidays.
● Job includes serving & advising customers on sewing related queries so must have a good eye for colour & knowledge of a sewing craft (embroidery, quilting, etc)
● Requires a polite and good telephone manner to answer the phone
● Be computer literate with a basic knowledge
● Fill website orders, manage website and shop stock (training will be given)
● Must be trustworthy, reliable, patient, work methodically, accurately, tidily & work well as part of a small team.
● A knowledge of retail is an advantage but not essential.
Please be aware this role can be physically demanding, with lifting, carrying & cutting fabric, and you are on your feet most of the day. If guidelines change, we also ask customers and staff to wear a mask whilst customers are in the shop.
If you are interested in joining our happy hardworking team, and receiving a generous staff discount, please send a CV & covering letter to sally@coastandcountrycrafts.co.uk or drop one into the shop for the attention of Sally.
Closing date Saturday 16th August 2022 with a late August early September start
