Spring/Summer 2025

****  Easter Holiday Dates ***

We’ll be taking a break and closing the shop for a whole week.
Closing:
Saturday 12th April @ 4pm
Opening again:
Tuesday 22nd April @ 9.30am

A special event for members of the Quilter’s Guild.
The Quilter’s Guild Region 15e
Thursday 22nd May
Friday 23rd May
Saturday 24th May
Alongside other quilting shops in the region, High Street Quilting will be participating in the Quilter’s Guild’s Shop Hop.

Although the Quilter’s Guild are promoting the Quilt Shop Hop among their members, our special offers will be available to all of our customers on these dates.
Please feel free to come along to see what is happening at High Street Quilting

New Workshops @ High Street Quilting
Summer Term 2025

please contact the shop to book a place on a workshop or course
0191 4100868

Saturday Stitch Group

2nd Saturday of each month
Next meeting Saturday 12th April, 10am-3pm
£10 (bring lunch) tea, coffee and biscuits provided.
This is an informal session where people who enjoy sewing can meet up and sew together.
The perfect solution to the trials of modern life.
Come and be absorbed, pick up tips and ideas. Share the fun with others.
If you’re interested -give us a quick call to check available spaces.
0191 4100868

Beginner’s Needleturn – A short course.

Over three afternoons you will learn the basics of the art of needle turn appliqué.
This course is a “must do” class if you are considering making a Baltimore Quilt.
Wednesday 14th May
Wednesday 28th May
Wednesday11th June
1.30 pm-3.30 pm
Jayne Kirkwood
£45

Free Motion Quilting

Wednesday 25th June 2025
1.30pm – 3.30pm
Hilary
£25

Bring along your sewing machine with a free-motion foot and we will set you off on your free-motion journey.
In a no-stress class you will learn how to set up your machine to sew a selection of free-motion patterns.

Half-Square-Triangles HSTs
Basic Beginners Patchwork

Can you sew in a straight line?
Do you want to begin to learn some patchwork skills?
This maybe the workshop for you.
You will learn to use a rotary cutter to cut squares of fabric.
You will make half-square-triangle blocks and we will construct a patchwork block with them.

Saturday 28th June 10am-2pm £35
Hilary

English Paper Piecing
EPP
A workshop for beginners.

A traditional patchwork technique that can be as varied as your imagination.
Join us to learn this simple skill and you’ll go on to make a myriad of incredible quilts.

Saturday 26th July
10am – 2pm
£35

What Shall I Bring to The Class?

Workshops and regular classes are great ways to meet other people and to share our experiences and our joys and troubles. In this age of TV and Internet we can find ourselves more lonely and isolated than ever before. Coming to a group may seem daunting and even frightening. The less we go out – the less able we feel to do so.
Let’s all try to be even more aware of the difficulties we all face from time to time and put on our brave faces, pack our open minds and our good humour in our sewing kits and help to make our own experience and that of those around us, a little more fun.

with love,
Hilary xx

Hope…

Christmas Closing times.

We’re having a break.
The shop will close on
Saturday 21st December 2024@ 4pm
and open again on
Saturday 4th January 2025 @ 9.30am

Isn’t this something else?
One of our very talented friends, Chris Hesp, has made this incredible quilt. It is the finest example of hand-sewing that we have ever seen. With the teaching and support of Eileen Swart, Chris has developed her skills over recent years. We are delighted to have Chris’ s quilt on display in our classroom. You must see it. You’ll be inspired.
All of the fabrics and threads are from High Street Quilting.

Winter/Spring 2025
Programme of Events @ High Street Quilting
Ring us 0191 4100868 or pop in to reserve a place on any of the events below.

Twenty’s Plenty.

A quick and easy quilt made with 20 fat quarters.
You’ll be amazed at how quickly the quilt will come together.
Hilary
Saturday 25th January
10am-3pm
£35
Please bring 20 fat quarters of fabric and you will need to have some experience of measuring, cutting and sewing with a quarter inch seam.

Call us on 0191 4100868 to reserve a place.

Hand Quilting

A block in 2 afternoons
Begin your hand-quilting journey in a “no-stress” group with
Kathryn Jones
Wednesday 26th March
and
Wednesday 9th April
1.30pm-3.30pm
£35
Please note – your block will not be as complex as this beautiful example by Eileen Swart.

Six Squared

A fun and addictive quilt block.
Eileen Cuthbertson
Saturday 22nd February 2025
£35
You will need some basic patchwork experience and be able to measure, cut and sew with a quarter inch seam.
Please bring 8 coordinating fat quarters.

Tanya Bentham
A talk on Medieval Embroidery.
This is the rearranged date –
Tuesday 25th February 2025

If you already have a ticket for the event that we recently cancelled, please let us know if you would like to attend the new date or if you would prefer a refund.

Simple Circles
Reverse appliqué method – you’ll never be daunted by circles again.
Mary Turner
Wednesday 12th March 2025
1.30-3.30pm
£20 to include materials
(Machine sewing)

Needle-Felting

Make your own Spring Bunny with
Madison Walsh
Saturday 22nd March 2025
10am-2pm
£30 materials included
Please bring a packed lunch.

Stumpwork Dragonfly

Following on from the stump work butterfly and bee, we are delighted that Kay will be teaching a dragonfly in stump work.
This workshop is suitable for confident embroiderers.
Kay Allan
Saturday 29th March 2025
10am-3pm
£35

A personal note….
Our son, Philip and his wife Emer are expecting their first baby in April. This will be our first grandchild and to say we are excited is a massive understatement.
I can’t quite explain how special this is to me. We have had no children in our family for ages and the truth is – we’ve become a bit stuffy.
What we all need is a breath of fresh air and a new dimension.
No pressure “little one”.
And it has made me think…
We hear people say…”Christmas is for the children”… but is it?
Children are certainly more excited for Christmas but this year it is the birth of a baby that I’m looking forward to and it gives me HOPE.
In a world full of greed and anger – the birth of a baby gives us hope for the future.
The innocence of a baby still lies in the core of each of us.
The reawakening of our inner child is what Christmas is all about.

Wishing you Joy at Christmas and a Peaceful and Happy New Year.

Hilary x

Slow down …

And so…. now that the holiday season is coming to an end, you may be ready to think about a new adventure. A workshop or a short course?
Please take a look below at the new courses we have planned for the autumn term at High Street Quilting.
Fingers crossed you’ll find something to interest you. And if you do, please call in to the shop or ring us to reserve a place. 0191 4100868

An Introduction to Free-Motion Quilting

In this 2 hour session you will learn all that you need to know to begin your free-motion quilting journey.                                                  
1.30pm – 3.30pm
Tuesday 20th August 2024
OR
Tuesday 29th October 2024
£25 –  all materials included.
Please bring your own sewing machine with a free-motion foot.

Design, Draw, & Stitch
Have you ever wanted to emulate the beautiful hand quilted, whole cloth quilts of old?
Kathryn Jones will lead two short sessions in which you will learn to draw your own pattern for a 20″ cushion and in the second session you will begin to hand quilt your design.
Wednesday afternoons
1.30pm-4pm
11th September 2024
25th September 2024
£50  – to include all fabrics and equipment

Stress-Free Sampler Quilt.
Begin your Patchwork and Quilting here and you’ll have a quilt in time for Christmas.
A weekly class running through the autumn term, beginning
Friday 20th September.
1.30pm – 4pm
£15/session
Jayne and Louise will gently teach you one block per week.
Bring along your sewing machine and you will learn to create a sampler quilt using lots of different techniques from start to finish.
Pop in or phone to reserve a place 0191 4100868

Mary’s Medallion Quilt.
A monthly class for the intermediate quilter. If you have done some patchwork and you have experience of both hand sewing and machine sewing – this may be the course for you. Mary Turner has a wealth of quilting experience and will guide you through all the processes involved in making this beautiful quilt.
The class will meet once each month on the 3rd Tuesday beginning…
Tuesday 17th September 2024
9.30am – 12.30 pm
£15/session.

“Inky Abstractions”
A Creative Textile Workshop with Deb Cooper

Saturday 28th September 2024
10am – 4pm
£50
Spend the morning mark making on fabric using ink and marking tools.
No drawing skill is required just be prepared to play!
Later in the day, using your personally created fabric, you will further explore mark making using traditional embroidery stitches and other embellishments.
The first part may get messy so please bring an apron and some gloves.
You will also need to bring a basic sewing kit, some black, stranded embroidery cotton and some masking tape.
All other materials will be provided.

Needleturn Hand Appliqué
A short course for beginners.
Jayne Kirkwood will teach this incredibly useful skill over three afternoons.

You will create a small piece of work that will involve sewing a number of different shapes.
3 Wednesday afternoons;
1.30pm – 3.30pm
23rd October 2024
6th November 2024
20th November 2024

£45

Zoe’s Taster Day
A workshop for anyone new to patchwork.
(you must have a sewing machine and be able to  use it)
Saturday 26th October 2024
10am – 4pm
£60 to include all fabrics

Make a cushion using the pattern “Disappearing 9-Patch” with an envelope back.
You will have time to select your own fabrics from our vast stock.
During the day you will be taught and supported through the skills of patchwork, quilting and construction of a cushion.
This would be a great way to “have a go” at patchwork and quilting.

Ring or pop in to book a place. 0191 4100868

I’m on a “go slow”.
Why?
Because SLOW IS GOOD.

Have you been stuck in the roadworks recently?
Yes, of course you have. We all have been. But thank goodness we don’t live in London, near the M25. At least our roadworks and hold-ups will come to an end – sooner or later.
But, I’ve been intrigued by the roadworks. The planning must be amazing. I’d love to see how the sequence of work is planned and coordinated. And, most of all, I wish that I had a drone so that I could watch a time-lapse video of how all the changes have been implemented. It is a Herculean task, indeed.

And all the time (20 minutes max) that I’ve been stuck in the traffic, I have day dreamed about all these things and more. Daydreaming is great too.

The slow pace of the traffic also allows me to look at the incredible wild flowers that are now growing alongside most of our roads. They are beautiful. And they change throughout the year. Starting with primroses and daffodils to ox-eye daisies, and on to geraniums and rosebay-willow herb and cow parsley and very soon will come one of my favourites – wild parsnip. It is everywhere in Washington. Apparently it is a madly invasive weed but despite that it is a beautiful umbelliferous plant with the most wonderful lime florets. I’ll post a picture below so that you know what to look for. And then you can enjoy it too.

Here at High Street Quilting, we don’t rush about. Partly because we like to pace ourselves but more importantly because we want our customers to make wise choices. We want them to be creative and purposeful, to bring along fabrics or projects to match up or to discuss and debate their projects and problems.
Very occasionally we find that our customers are in a rush and they want our attention immediately – if that is you – please let us know and we will stop what we are doing and try our best to help you.
In a world of advertising and “BUY NOW” mantras. We prefer a more measured  and considered pace.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The roadworks will take a few months more. and your creative project can take as long as it takes.
Let’s not be rushed and harassed. Let’s be cool, sophisticated and unfazed.
We’ll all get there in the end and, hopefully, we’ll all enjoy the journey.

With love,
Hilary x

Here comes colour…

And this is just a small sample of fabrics that have arrived recently at High Street Quilting….

Pop in to see these and so many more.

Spring has sprung early this year and Easter will be here before we know it.
As usual at High Street Quilting we will be closing for the week leading up to Easter to have a little break and to carry out the yearly stocktaking.
Therefore – High Street Quilting will be closed from ;
Saturday 23rd March at 4pm until Tuesday 2nd April at 9.30am

Come and meet a few of our very special friends,

here at High Street Quilting

at our very own

Pop-Up Event.

You are invited….

To a very special Pop-Up event at High Street Quilting on Friday 19th April  from 10am – 2.30pm

Our friends;

Featherbed Books

Stitchingforthesoul

Debcoopertextiles

will be setting up their stalls in our workshop to sell their beautiful wares.

Come along and share the fun.

Coffee and cake available too – obviously

Pop this date in your diary and pop in to our pop-up  !!

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

Economy Block
An Introduction to Foundation Piecing

If you have a basic understanding of machine patchwork, then this workshop is for you.
In a ” no-stress” workshop you will learn to make this very useful block and the skill of foundation paper piecing will open up all sorts of possibilities.

Saturday 23rd March 2024
10am – 3pm
£35
Tutor – Jayne Kirkwood
Pop in or phone to book 0191 4100868

Free-Motion
Machine Embroidery
with Kate Slaughter

In this workshop you will learn to draw with your sewing machine needle. You will combine this skill with some appliquéd shapes. This workshop is suitable for all abilities.
Wednesday 8th May
1pm – 4pm
£30
To book your place – please visit Kate’s website
https://www.kateskloths.co.uk/workshops

Stumpwork Bee.
Inspired by a design by Alison Cole, Kay will teach you to make this beautiful bee. The finished design will measure around 4″.
Saturday 25th May
10am – 3.30pm
£45
Kay Allan.
Pop in or phone to book 0191 4100868

Felted Landscape
By popular demand, we are re-running this lovely workshop on
Saturday 22nd June
10am-3.30pm
£55
with Claire Priestley.
pop in or phone to book – 0191 4100868

Mountain Stream 
A quilt for Confident beginners.
Have you started some patchwork and have some idea about cutting and sewing? Then this workshop will be right up your street.
Saturday 29th June
10am -4pm
£45
Zoe Ballard
Pop in or phone to book. 0191 4100868

Creative Weaving with Texture
Saturday 27th July
10am-4pm
£45
Kate Slaughter
This looks like great fun and I’d really like to try this myself.
To book please click the link to Kate’s website where you will be able to sign up and pay https://www.kateskloths.co.uk/workshops

Taking a break and closing the shop is extremely stressful for me. It doesn’t matter how many people I tell and how many ways I spread the word – you can bet your bottom dollar that people will tell me that they came miles to visit our shop and that we were closed. And they won’t be very happy and I’ll feel really guilty.

But sometimes – it really is necessary.

This Holy Week (the week beginning March 25th ) I will spend stocktaking. I’ll be on my knees most of the time, in atonement for all the sins I have committed this year. It’ll take a while, obviously.

You’d think that it would get easier each year, but it doesn’t. So, think kindly of me and I’ll do my best to count all the buttons as accurately and patiently as is humanly possible.

If you don’t have stocktaking or any other chores to keep you busy, have a lovely Easter Break and make lots of beautiful quilts.

With Love,

Hilary x