We set off to Newark on Wednesday and stayed at the same lovely self catering accommodation as we did last last. This means we can get an early start for set up on Thursday.
Setting up the stand normally takes us five to six hours of hard heavy graft.
Our range is now so large that we now have to make conscious decisions before a show as to what stock we are not going to take with us as we just cant fit it all in the van. So if you are wanting to look at or purchase a specific fabric at any show, please message us a couple of days before to make sure we pop it in the van!
Newark is a lovely venue, its nice and light with good access. Unfortunately this year, the show did not appear to be as well supported as the previous year, which is such a shame. Never the less we met some lovely quilters, many of whom we already knew.
Here are just some of the quilt from the show.
Beautiful Art Quilt ! But then we Love Doggies !
On the Sunday, straight after the closing of the show, we packed up and headed back to our lovely accommodation for an extra night.
This year we have taken the decision to head south to do the Ardingly Show for the first time. Ardingly is in West Sussex and therefore is a heck of a drive from Bridlington. So we decided to stay and extra night at Newark rather than drive North for a couple of nights then all the way South again.
The Accommodation comes with some great neigh-bours!
Quilt Sandwich has the largest collection of extra wide fabrics in the UK. Most extra wide fabrics are 108 inches wide and this makes them superb to use as quilt backings as there is no need to join fabric. This also means that they are much better value. All our fabrics are 100% cotton and can also be used for standard patchwork, dressmaking, bags and indeed many other projects.
We also have a range of extra wide traditional Indonesian Batiks which we have had specially made for us.
Standard width batik is usually made on tight woven fabric called 50s. This is a little too tight for quilt backs and not recommenced. All our batiks are made on 40s fabric which is perfect.
So how much extra wide fabric do I need?
If you are having your quilt top longarmed, normally at least 4 extra inches are needed around the quilt top, so measure your top in both directions and add on 8 inches. If not then you still need some extra wiggle room.
As a quick guide a king size quilt would normally require 3m, a double 2.5m and a single 2m. There are 39 inches in a metre for those who are calculating.
Quilt Sandwich also offers a longarm quilting service and a discounted rate is also available when backing fabric and wadding is purchased. For full details click here to visit our website - www.quiltsandwich.co.uk.
This year we have been invited to take our fabrics to a couple of local shows.
On 9th June 2018 we will be at Clifford Village Hall, LS23 6HY and 13-15th July 2018 at Whitby Quilt Show.
We will also be at Festival of Quilts at the NEC 9-12th August 2018.
So don't forget your fabric swatches to match up for a beautiful quilt back.
At Quilt Sandwich we are proud to announce that we have teamed up with a wonderful group of fabric scientists in Java, Indonesia to manufacture the worlds first Extra Wide Fabric for Quilt Backs made entirely from Recycled Plastic Bottles.
Our Fabric Scientists in Java (Fabricists as they prefer to be known) have sourced millions of Plastic Bottles from mountains in Maldives. Although the Maldives is one of the lowest lying countries in the world they had a mountain the size of Snowdon made entirely of discarded Plastic Bottles.
Indeed when it rained it was so large that people were even able to surf on it!
The wonderful thing with this product is that it is 100% made from recycled material, it is ideal for your quilt backs. Following the developments by our Fabricists it is now as soft as 100% cotton and is wonderful for either Longarm Machining, Hand Sewing or domestic machining.
An additional benefit to this product is that it is 100% waterproof and so your quilt will never get wet and any quilt shows in the UK can be safely ran in even the worst British Summer conditions. This has been extensively tested in back gardens throughout the land already with massive success.
We are pleased to announce that following the extensive manufacturing we now have a sample shipment of 50,000m of product in a container UK bound.
As this product is 100% recycled we have priced it extremely competitively. At QuiltSandwich we want to save the Planet one Bolt of Extra Wide Fabric at a time and so we are offering this product at cost.
Although the development of the product has taken six years and 4,000,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah to come to this point we are happy to pass this development on at only £8.00 per metre for the Extra wide Fabric at 108" wide!
Should you wish to place an advance order please contact us by email at Quilt@royalhotelbrid.co.uk
January and February are both mad months in the QuiltSandwich Show Calendar.
Started with a magnificent new show at Newark. This was then followed by Edinburgh and Harrogate Quilt Shows. The next to come are Duxford and finally before the Easter Break comes The Scottish Quilting Show.
At QuiltSandwich, as we also run Patchwork and Quilting breaks and retreats at our hotel in Bridlington the Winter and Spring Season tend to be out times for getting out and about and hitting the Shows with our 400+ Extra Wide Fabrics.
Our ultimate goal is to ensure that the best fabric is used for backing your quilts. This implies having the right colours, right feel, right type and of course the right size. As Longarm Quilters when we receive a top to quilt and the backing fabric is pieced it is the most difficult job in the world to make the back look as magnificent as the top. Use Extra Wide Fabric and ‘no problems’.
With our range of 400+ Extra Wide Backing Fabrics we have so many that the right choice is just on the shelf waiting.
The Glasgow Quilt Show at the SEC is on from 8th to 11th March and is the largest Quilt Show in this season. It is a four day event which is on from 10am to 5pm (4pm on the Sunday). It is advertised as:
“The Scottish Quilting Show is a fabulous showcase of the finest patchwork and quilting, and highlights the wonderful work of Scottish quilters. Enjoy exciting exhibitions that encourage all aspects of this delightful and wonderfully creative art form. There’s talks, competitions, demonstrations and workshops – a true patchwork paradise!”
As traders at The Scottish Quilting Show Quilt Sandwich have been provided with a number of free tickets which we would love to offer to UKQU Blog Readers. We have 8 to give away. If you want one please send us an email with your name and address on so that we can send you the ticket. The only thing that you need to do is: –
Tell us how many fabrics we have in our collection of Extra Wide Backings; and,
Send your email to Quilt@royalhotelbrid.co.uk by close of play (6pm) on 2nd March. Good luck and we look forward to seeing you all there (or at Duxford).
This last month has been hectic. We have been lucky enough to spend our Christmas and New Year on holiday in Lanzarote with my Mum – which as usual proved rather challenging for many reasons.
The day after we got back we headed up to Scarborough and collected our new purchase. We do love Boxers and this big boxer is proving to be no exception. Specifically sized, specified and designed to take all of our fabrics around the country, our beautiful Boxer Van will be a great asset on the road as we spread the word of the wonders of Extra Wide Fabric.
A few days later it was time to load up and head off for our first quilt show of the year.
This is a brand new show too in a great untapped location – Newark. Loading all of the fabrics and equipment is quite a feat, quite like completing a jigsaw, and takes three of us around 4 hours to complete.
We travelled down to Newark on the Wednesday so we were ready to get an early start setting up at the venue on Thursday. As time goes by we are learning what works best whilst doing the quilt shows. We tend to prefer to use self-catering accommodation when doing the quilt shows. It gives us a bit more space to chill and relax and it also means I can get showered and PJ’s on when we get back from a hectic days cutting at the show and relax for the evening.
The Newark show was at a super new venue which offered great access for the exhibiters and we were able to pull the van right up to one of the sets of door in the Hall. Setting up though is a long process and takes the two of us around 7 hours. After a long hard physical day, it was time to head off for the supermarket for provisions. Our Sat Nav took us to Asda in Newark, but unfortunately we couldn’t get into their carpark due to a height restriction barrier!
I guess that is a drawback of having an enormous range of fabrics to choose from.
We ended up heading to Tescos at Ollerton! Having filled up with our provisions for the next few days it was back to the accommodation to make dinner and deal with the emails before relaxing and watching a bit of tv before bed.
After a great night sleep in a comfy bed we were back to the show ready for the door opening.
We met some lovely people and saw many friends too. For a brand new show in a new location the footfall was really impressive and all of the traders were impressed with the location and will be back again next year.
We are pleased to say that we have already signed up to being at the Newark quilt show second year in 2019.
We arrived back home in Bridlington late Sunday night and then first thing on Monday we had to set about emptying the van and preparing for our quilters arriving at the hotel. We were almost full for a fantastic retreat with Jennie Rayment later that day.
On Tuesday I teach a beginners patchwork/sewing class for the charity I work for at the local Priory Church Rooms. So I had to dash off to this and leave Tim to look after Jennie and all the lady quilters at the hotel.
Wednesday was a different story and it was my turn to play. Running and organising the retreats has to have some perks! So Wednesday was my day to join in the class with Jennie. We made bargellos and had such great fun as usual. You won’t believe some of the things that we get up to during the coffee breaks!
Courtesy of Maureen Bromley. Thanks.
Thursdays I normally teach art/craft for the charity, but unfortunately I had to take the day off to attend a funeral over in Halifax, so again I had to leave our lovely quilters & Jennie to Tim to look after. It was the last day of the three day retreat and workshops at the end of which the ladies said their fond farewells and headed home with more knowledge that you can shake a hoola hoop at!
Friday – time to throw things in a suitcase very quickly and head off to Manchester where we are overnighting in preparation for our flight the next day to Jamaica.
And so ends a hectic January. The last week of course – lost in an ‘All Inclusive haze’. Bring on February and March – to us this is ‘Show Time’!
