www.ukqu.co.uk is going to be a fantastic resource for all quilters. It started with a facebook group of the same name around four years ago and this group today has over 13000 members.
I am lucky to be one of the guest bloggers for this new website and below is a copy of my first blog for the site.
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Welcome one and all to my first Blog Post for the UK Quilters
United. This is a really exciting time
for me and of course for the group as a whole as they embark on their new
website. First of all I want to wish
them all the very best with this move – I am certain that it will move the
Quilting Fraternity forward leaps and bounds into the 21st century.
So as this is my fist blog post
I would like to introduce myself.
I am Fiona Garth and together
with my husband Tim we own and run The Royal Bridlington hotel where for many a
year now we have run Patchwork and Quilting Retreats, offer a Longarm Quilting
Service and through our website and at Quilt Shows throughout
the UK we are the
purveyors of the largest range of Extra Wide Backing Fabrics in the UK.
My interest in sewing has
extended right back to a very early age when I used to sew alongside my aunt. I
got a brand new sewing machine for my 10th Birthday. It was a Singer with lots of fancy stitches
on discs. I soon started making clothes
for my Mum and I would often come home from school to find fabric and a request
for a dress for the next day!
Approximately 10 years ago my
Mum once again surprised me with a new sewing machine. This time it was a Janome 11000 which came
with a quilting kit. I had never made a
quilt, so I ordered a book from the internet then later the fabrics and I made
a quilt. This got me hooked. Tim’s
‘cousin’ offered to come down to Bridlington to provide some advice and so the
Patchwork courses began. We got a group
of ladies together and Susan Briscoe provided a three day retreat for us all
and then the acorn was planted and the Oak tree started to grow.
From this one course we now run
well over a couple of dozen retreats / workshops per year both out of season,
winter through to spring and also in the summer months.
Like most quilters, I thought I
would just quilt my own tops, but my pile of UFO’s soon grew with the workshops
and the other students likewise. I would rather make a new top than battle with
a large quilt under my machine – its hard on the eyes and shoulders. We decided to invest in a Longarm Quilting Machine and after much
research we chose an ABM Innova 26 inch with Lightening Stitch & computer
(affectionately known as Rodney &
DelBoy!) We flew out to Utah for
extensive training – but I will tell you much more about this later. Of course with the growth of the Longarm side
of our business we then identified the need for Extra Wide Fabric and we now
also import specially made extra wide
traditional batik direct from Java.
All in all over the last 10
years we have had a massive learning curve but at the same time we have had
some wonderful experiences and met some amazing and talented people from all
around the world – although none of this was in the original business plan!
Over the next series of Blogs I
will be telling you all lots more about our journey from the early days to the
current day. Indeed I would also love to
tell you about my latest venture into the world of teaching for a local
Charity, The Hinge Centre, as their Arts and Crafts Coordinator providing Arts
and Crafts for therapy and development to all sectors of the community.
