Beware the Ranty Granny
( I wrote this some weeks ago and felt that it was quite strong and not related to my sewing, I didn't want to delete it so we delayed publishing it while I thought about it. However reading it again nothing has changed and I am still angry. I need to say this. We all need to say it. Our leaders are dumbing down [...]
APPLE TREE TIPS: NO.2; If in doubt rip it out
Ok in some ways this goes against our philosophy of 'ah it'll be grand' But we have often got to the quilting stage and it has become apparent that actually it is not grand. We have bumps and hillocks and tucks and craters where we should have flat flat plains. Oh yes, we are not the perfect seam conjurors our customers sometimes believe us [...]
APPLE TREE TIPS: No.1; How to Deal with Birds Nesting, or threads clumping under your sewing
HOW TO PREVENT BIRDS NESTING In an effort to sound like we know what we're talking about we thought we would share some hopefully useful information with you each month. We plan to focus on questions that we get asked all the time and issues that students run into in class frequently that can happen to us all. This month's tip is all about [...]
APPLE TREE TIPS: No.3; Always Buy Enough Fabric!
ALWAYS BUY ENOUGH This month's tip is all about How to make sure you buy enough fabric for future projects. (Spoiler; there is no definitive answer!) Of course a quilt shop is going to encourage you to buy more right?!! When you have had as many desperate customers through the door as we have you will understand why we encourage this. There is [...]
Crossed eyes & Quad bikes
It’s been a while since I have felt like sitting down to write a post for the blog but I’m back again at last, hopefully I’ll remember to post more often! […]
Guest Blogger – Trina O’Mahoney
Marie has been noticeable in her absence (blogwise) of late so I've decided to pop in and say hi! I'm Trina and I run Apple Tree Crafts with my mam Marie and sister Sinead. I'm loving our brief bursts of summer and even though I silently curse the rain each time our weather turns I also love how much greener everything is when the [...]
Oops
We all make mistakes and I made a whopper. I made 64 quilt blocks and when I tried to join them together realised they were done wrong! After lots of bad words and tantrums I picked up my faithful stitch ripper and put it to work. I now have the blocks separated out again but the outside layer of each one will have to [...]
Spring has sprung ( again )
The grass is ris I wonder where the birdies is. Some say the bird is on the wing, But that's absurd I say the wing is on the bird!!! Well the snow came and went and it was a great excuse to sew. I made a quilt of pineapple blocks and star blocks in pinks, cream and white. I was using up leftover fabric [...]
Spring has Sprung ???
I thought it had last week but it's now very cold and supposed to get colder. The many birds in the garden are going through their food fast, it's hard to keep up with them and the cats can't be bothered to chase them. We're very lucky here so far having escaped the worst of the winter and it's good weather for sewing! Caitriona [...]
There & Back Again
There and Back Again At last I am writing this blog, I had almost forgotten how to! We changed our website with the help of two lovely, very patient people. [The stocktaking was a nightmare, thank you for being so patient when the shop was upside down.] I don't understand most of the new system and have just been able to get into this page [...]
All Quilts are Equal
And none are more equal than others. The QuiltFest exhibition was amazing. Thanks to everyone who brought in their wonderful work. I loved seeing the variety of design and colour made by both new and experienced quilters. So many people were inspired and maybe some will begin or return to patchwork themselves. Thank you also to all our visitors, we [...]
And sew on
While in school I went to a dressmaking evening class and learnt how to make a dress and a kilt and continued to make clothes for myself and later for the children. This was very enjoyable and economical. Funnily enough recently my husband brought two boxes of baby clothes down from the attic to sort for Caitriona's baby and inside we found several [...]