May 6
Geeting ready for the Malvern Quilt show next week. Please let us know if there is anything special you want us to bring! Lots of quilters gifts arrived today but I think they will be gone before I have time to place them on the website.

April 29
Tuesday club met today with two new members. One of the students had been to a quilt show in Essex and heard the comment 'Quilters Haven is the Rolls Royce of quilting'. We really appreciated this!

April 25
We waved goodbye to Sally after she had taught a wonderful wool applique class today. The students asked if she could teach again but we are a long way from California! If you are interested in trying wool applique have a look at the gorgeous selection we stock to see the wool fabric click here

April 23 Sally Frey arrives from California!
Sally will be teaching a wool applique class on Friday. But before that we have plenty of sight seeing to do. This photo is taken outside one of the beautiful old buildings in Lavenham. Sally is with her fellow traveling companion, Stella.

Sampler quilt course finishes
Congratulations to Helen, Louise and Jan who surprised us all by coming to the final sampler class with their quilts nearly completed -just the borders and binding to do and they will be ready for the exhibition at the shop in August. Marion has enjoyed teaching all thirty students over the last few months and is looking forward to meeting the next batch of sampler students in September.

April 12 Quilters Guild Conference
I have spent a lovely weekend at the Quilters Guild Confernce at Homerton College in Cambridge. This picture is taken in a class I taught called 'Geese in a Storm'.

Quilters Guild Conference
The car is packed ready to travel to Cambridge tomorrow for the annual conference. Lots of new fabric arrived today. We drooled over the Hemming House from Moda click here to see them!

April 4
Our summer newsletters have been sent out! I wonder how long they will take to reach you all?
This weekend I am updating the website..........keep on looking.

Glorious Wesh Quilts
The Welsh quilt display at Quilters haven over Easter was wonderful. Pippa Moss, who owns the collection tells me that it may travel around the country with the quilt shows managed by Grosvenor.

Quilters Fright
This poem was given to Annie Whatling as a thank you from her first beginners class, which have just finished their five x 3hour course.

When we first started, we thought 'Oh no'
Will we be able to sew a row?
But after some time and pulling our hair,
How spooky the chequerboards came out square!

Then all the geese flew in a staright line,
The applique turned out amazingly fine.
We jiggled and wriggled our borders in place,
While Ann watched over - a smile on her face.

Showing easy ways to tie a knot,
Thank you Ann, you've taught us a lot.
Now we all have a great new obsession, No doubt we'll meet up at the next lesson.

Sew Simple Logs
Yes!
We have a new book(let) due out early April! Sixteen full colour pages and only £8.95.
$13.95 USA.
Features many quilts made from the latest fabrics and easy to follow diagrams.

March 1
Pearl bought a fabulous quilt for us to see and we just had to share it with you so out came the camera for a quick photo. Then she told us that she had sewn all the applique by hand - amazing detail!

February 26
I am back after a great trip to Dubai. This is the class that made Geese in a bag. I enjoyed getting to know you all. Mala is at the front next to me and owns the local quilt shop. Thank you Dubai guild and Shankar for organising a super quilt show!

February 19 2008.
19 February 2008.
Today I spent a pleasant morning with Tuesday Club. Dena was able to spread her quilt ready to tack. We all helped and chatted as we worked.
The result , the quilt was quickly tacked and ready to quilt. The ladies shared tips, tools and the odd piece of fabric and thread.
This is what Quilting Clubs are about.
Annie from QH

Karin leaves for Dubai
This is my first visit and I am looking forward to spending time with my sister, who is living in Dubai as well as teaching at the first International Quilt Show in Dubai. www.quiltsdubai.com

Feb 7 - Another quilt for pinning
Today we pinned out two lovely quilts that one of the staff, Debs has made. More about the quilts later! Tricia - Happy Birthday! and Teresa are on the floor chatting away as I sneaked this photo and you can just see Deb's arms which is all I am allowed to show.

Feb 5 - Pins in knee
My son Alexander is used to helping me pin out quilts. Unfortunately, this time he tipped over onto the pin box and ended up with at least a dozen quilters pins in his knee. Lucky for him he was wearing jeans. Once we got over the shock of having a knee that looked like a pin cushion we both started to laugh and took the photo as a warning to all of you. Karin

Feb 1- Flower Quilt fabrics arrive
We have just got the fabulous new line of Flower fabrics from Northcott, Canada. Over the next few days we will be cutting and packing all the Flower quilt kits. You will be able to buy January - April Flower quilts. So far the most popular flower is the daffodill

January 26 Open House event

Saturday was Open House day and I have to report that undoubtedly the star of the show was our Saturday girl Alice who the week before had made a lovely Yo Yo quilt even though she was busy with school work. Customers who came were inspired to make Yo Yo hearts and flowers and went away clutching free patterns to make yo yo wine coolers.

When we left off today Karin was heard to say we had not written anything for the blog but we have been so busy dealing with all your orders from the Newsletter we have not had time to think of much else. It has been lovely to hear how much you have liked the contents of this last newsletter, Batik pigs seem to be favourite.

Did we hear Karin is starting work on the next one!!!!!
Pam

January 21 Up and running!
Our website is fixed which means we can update and you can place your online orders securely. Thank you so much for ringing us with orders. We have had our busiest month ever and appreciate all your support.

January 5
Today we saw the most amazing blocks stitched by hand with embroidery and applique. Nancy Baker has never made a quilt and started stitching animal and bird blocks which are all her own designs. She came in for sashing fabric and some advice. Luckily I had the camera to hand and this is just one of her beautiful designs.

January 2
I designed and stitched this quilt during Christmas. It is a sample for the Spanish quilting holiday April 2008. During the week long holiday four days have been allocated to sewing. Quilters on this holiday can make whatever they like but this is one of three suggested projects that they could opt to do.I love making compass designs and added a migrating geese border from my book 'Fast Flying geese Quilts'. The fabric used is mainly from the new Empress Garden collection with some Moda Marbles. Karin

Happy New Year!
Congratulations to Lynne Edwards who has been awarded an MBE for services to quilting in the New Year honours. Lynne lives in Suffolk and it is great to see her and quilting recognised in this way. Well done Lynne!

December 27 - Batik pigs are ready
Debs has re-vamped our popular pig. Today she got them all packed and ready for sale. The samples look so cute in the shop. Click to see the batik pigs

December 25 - Merry Christmas
Having celebrated a Norwegian Christmas Eve it was time for an English Christmas day. All my boys are home which makes for a perfect day! Merry christmas to you all!

December 24 - website problems
Unfortunately we are experiencing technical difficulties with website orders at the moment. This is due to a problem with our hosting server and as a result may prevent you from completing your ordering online. If this occurs when placing an order please do not hestiate to ring the shop and complete your order over the phone. Sorry for any inconvience this may have caused we are currently working hard to resolve this issue. In the meantime please browse our website to look at all our new products and information.
Jason, my webmaster, has tried his best to help you order but because our hosting server has closed down until January 2 we just have to wait!

December 18 - we made the front cover!
One of our lovely cosy flannel quilts made the front cover of Patchwork and Quilting magazine.
The Praire Quilt kit is available from Quilters Haven.

December 13 - Thursday evening club celebrate Christmas
I was lucky to be the tutor last Thursday as the students decided to bring some yummy food to the class as it would be the last time they would meet before christmas.
This was the first time they had tasted a Norwegian almond cake, so I promised to put the recipe on the blog.......here it is! Enjoy!

Fyrstekake
150g butter
150 g caster sugar
3 egg yolks
200g plain flour
1 teasp baking powder
2 teasp. vanilla essence
Cream butter and sugar together , beat in egg yolks and vanilla essence. Fold in flour and baking powder. Grease a 9-10" cake tin. Press cake mixture into base of tin and 1" up sides of tin (similar to a pastry flan case)

Filling
3 egg whites
200g icing sugar
200g ground almonds
2 tablesp. hot water
few drops almond essence
Beat egg whites. Mix in icing sugar and ground almonds. Add water and almond essence. Pour into centre of cake mix.
Bake at 170 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes

December 11
We had a staff Christmas 'do' last night and Teresa commented that I had not written much on the blog. I did say that I appreciated any blog entries from the staff! My excuse has been that I have had Alexander's 18th (my youngest) and my Mum has been staying with me for a few weeks.
There were 10 of us last night enjoying a Thai meal. We did 'Secret Santa' and enjoyed opening presents, pulling crackers and catching up with each other.
Left to right - Judi (hair only), Debs, Teresa, Ticia, Jan and Annie

November 28
Annie ( my wonderful Bernina expert in Quilters Haven) and I took an early train to London as we had an invite to see the new My label software, produced by Bernina. Annie quietly whispered to me that we would not want to stock this as it was designed for garment makers. Within 5 minutes of the presentation she had changed her mind and asked me to order her one! I was impressed too! It comes with a measuring kit as you have to take precise measurements for the person you are sewing for. Then you can dress the person on screen with lots of standard patterns such as dresses, trousers etc., scan in the fabric you want to use and it all magically appears on the 3D figure on screen. The fun is you can then manipulate the screen to look at the figure from all directions! How cool is that? If you don't like what you see, don't make the garment. You should be able to see this product soon on http://www.bernina.co.uk/news.html
We can get it for you.....Price £295. We hope to be able to demonstrate this for you in 2008. Let us know if you are interested!

November 7
Today we were finalising the Christmas Open House programme. 'Deck the Halls' is due to take place on November 16 & 17 from 10-4. The project we were working through today was fabric napkins that folded into Christmas trees. They are so gorgeous that the staff wanted to go home and make their own. When that happens we know we are on to a winner.......so come and see!

November 6
Back from 12 days in Houston! I got lots of new ideas from Quilt Market and ordered some really yummy fabrics.
Quilt festival was fun too! I taught classes on four days and Teresa, one of my staff, helped. There were 104 teachers in the faculty this year, but only two of us from the UK. Phillippa Naylor was my fellow Brit teacher and it was wonderful to hear that she had won one of the $5000 awards for her gorgeous quilt. Phillippa should be coming down to QH in 2008 to teach classes on machine quilting. Watch this space!

October 19
Arena Travel phoned to say that they are hoping to send all the 2008 quilting holiday brochures out next week. It seems there has been considerable interest since the advert in the last newsletter and lots of quilters have written to ask for further details. Several who have been on previous holidays have already paid deposits without the final details.
Last week a group of USA quilters tried to book the Tuscany trip for 2008 not realising that the holidays are not repeated. It is lots of fun to expore new places each time.

October 12-14 Retreat weekend
On Friday evening Karin welcomed thirteen quilt 'retreaters' to a drinks reception at QH. The two from furthest afield had arrived from Cockermouth in Cumbria. They were a wonderful crowd, enjoying each others company and the lovely facilities at Ufford Park, the four star hotel a couple of miles from Wickham Market.
Nearly all the quilters worked on different projects and bought loads more from the shop to work on when they got home. On Sunday afternoon there were goodbyes and promises to keep in touch as most found the weekend had gone far too quickly. Come back soon - we miss you!

October 10
On 9th October we said goodbye from Quilters Haven to two good friends and work colleagues. Heather Langdon who had been with Karin since the beginning (1993) and Rebecca Bennion was our import from the USA! We all went round to Karin's house had a mega chinese and a few drinkies. The noise level with all the chatter was tremendous , when my hubby called to pick me up he said it was like walking into Chicken Run!! Now Heather loves cooking and is a brilliant cook so we treated her to a masterclass at a cookery school at Aldeburgh so even more treats will be coming from her kitchen! We got Rebecca a very special tea pot which was covered in a quilt and had lots of notions on it. We will miss them both very much and hope they enjoy their free time. Good luck with whatever you do girls, we miss you and know that many of the customers will. Debs

October 4 - Knit socks
The last few weeks have been really hectic! Lots of lovely quilters ringing us with their orders.
The postal strike starts today and I wanted a bit of R&R so I joined Debs for her first class in knitting socks. There were six of us in the upstairs gallery room at Quilters Haven, a lovely cosy atmosphere. Debs has knitted dozens of socks and had some excellent tips that are not mentioned in the free pattern. Two hours later I was well into this new craft and did not want to go back to work. The next class is on Friday November 9 when we will be turning the heel, but beginners can also start their socks.

October 2
Marion came in today with a new curtain she had made for the bathroom. What a surprise I hadn't even noticed that the original one which had been up for 11 years was falling apart. She had used one of our fabrics from 'orphan alley' ( two shelves full of half price sale fabrics in the alley way between the shop and the classroom that deserve a good home). When I saw how good the curtain looked I felt like putting the sale fabric back to it's original price. Teresa had decorated the bathroom only a few days previously with fun fabric panels, it looks great! Go take a look next time you visit

September 17 - back from Tuscany
Back from a wonderful quilting holiday in Tuscany! Where do I start? Jackie, the tour manager worked her wonderful vibes to make sure that we all enjoyed ourselves. Bernina provided all 17 quilters with new 440 machines. The hotel was modern Italian with lots to smile about - irons? we don't need those! Our sight seeing trips to Sienna, Voltarra, San Riggiona and San Gimignano (have I spelt any of these right?) were amazing and gave us lots of inspiration. The food and wine were excellent value, tasted superb and tremendous variety! Photos will follow.................

September 8 - Quilt show at Sutton Hoo
This morning we visited Sutton Hoo. Anne and I wanted to see the quilt show and her husband Mike was interested in the historical displays. There is something so atmospheric about the setting of this fascinating site!
The quilt show is displayed inside the old badminton court of the main house. The high white walls set off the quilts well. I loved the Groucho quilt, especially as the detail of the cinema seating was funny. Anne liked to see how different the quilts could be from her native Canada and took lots of pictures to show students in Calgary.
The show is on until Oct 7 from 12noon until 4pm. (excluding Mondays and Tuesdays)
This afternoon we are leaving for Tuscany! Yes another wonderful quilting holiday to look forward to! There will be over 20 of us in the travel group, including five from Canada. Why not take a look at what's on offer next year from www. arenatravel.com.
Anyone interested in working part time at Quilters Haven? A vacancy has arisen, please write me a letter if you are interested or ring if you want more details. Karin

September 7 - Canadian guests
Greetings everyone,
We've just arrived from Canada and what a great time we're going to have. We're off toTuscany in a couple of days and I can't wait! This is the first holiday I have taken with my husband Michael in 10 years. In the past 6 years we have been very busy building our own Quilt Shoppe in Calgary, Alberta. If you wish to take a trip of your own without leaving your seat you can take a shop hop at www.greatcanadianshophop.com and take a look around "My Sewing Room" Canada's Largest Quilt Shoppe

Anne Dale - Friend of Karin Hellaby

September 5
A family crises took me up to the north of Norway for 10 days. I got back to find the newsletters have been printed and all the wonderful new stock has been arriving. My staff have done a wonderful job as usual sorting everything. They are now trying to remember all the 16 pages of the new newsletter so that they are ready for your inquiries. Yes, we have an extra four pages for you to enjoy. You should start to recieve the newsletter from September 14 courtesy of Royal mail. If you can't wait that long then you can download a copy from our website. Karin

August 16-19 Festival of Quilts
Great to see so many of you enjoying this excellent show! My stand was next to Sandy Lush who was crowned 'Queen of Quilting'.

August 11 Shipment from New York
We love it when all those big boxes arrive! Just like Christmas! The Paris Cats fabric collection looks even better than we remembered when we ordered last May. The colours are so much better than you can see on the website.
Winsome has also arrived, quiet and subtle. These Benartex fabrics are such good quality. Look out for the exciting quilt kits we will be making from these fabrics.

August 9 Newsletter goes to the Printers
At last after weeks of work the Autumn 2007 newsletter has finally gone to the printers. What a relief, I can now relax and enjoy all my visitors this weekend - college friends who are attending the same wedding tomorrow and the Waltons who arrive on Sunday. Virginia Walton is teaching at QH early next week.
We will still have to closely look at the proofs before it all goes to print. Courtesy of Royal Mail the newsletters should be landing on your doorsteps before mid September. The class list is already on this website and you should be able to download the newsletter towards the end of this month.

August 7 Alice joins us!
We have a new addition to the QH team - Alice Foreman has joined us for the summer holidays and as our 'Saturday Girl'. Alice has attended classes here at QH with her mum and we were very impressed with her bold colour combinations in her work but we have had to wait for her birthday until she could join us. The timing is great as we now have a young brain around to help with the new computer system. Hopefully Alice has enjoyed her first day with us and we hope we have not 'mothered' her too much.

August 4 - Karin returns from Iceland
My mother has always wanted to visit Iceland so my sister and I decided to take her to Reykjavik for a few days. What an interesting country. It was fun to see crater lakes, volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls and geysirs. One highlight was bathing in the Blue lagoon, an almost surreal experience apart from the smell!
Of course I found a quilt shop - Virka on the outskirts of Reykjavik. The owner Gudfinna is a friend of Lynette Jensen, founder of Thimbleberries, so one part of the shop was devoted to furniture and gifts with this American theme - beautifully displayed. You can visit her website at www.virka.is/english.htm

August 1 C Day
We have prepared for weeks and today we introduced our new computer systems into Quilters Haven. We can see many advantages as we reduce the paper work and paper, and find it easier to check our stock. It will be easier to communicate with our wonderful customers! Remember to let us have your email addresses for the latest news about events and new items arriving in the shop.

Quilt Quest Trail around Wickham Market
Welcome to our new blog site!
Were'nt we lucky!
It rains every day for weeks and then July 28 the day of our show it stayed dry until the evening.
We started hanging the quilts between the trees in the village square around 7.45am and an hour later there was quite a show as people admired the quilts blowing in the breeze. Quilts were also on display in the village hall, thirteen shops/ restaurants and at Quilters Haven.
By 10am we were so busy at QH that the staff could barely keep up. It was wondeful to see how many quilters arrived from far and wide. A coach of 40 came from Kent, others people arrived from Lancashire, Yorkshire, London and Wales.
Comments included:-
' Its' so nice to see a different way of doing a quilt show'
'I did not realise there were so many interesting shops in Wickham Market'
' Wow what wonderful quilts'
'Please make this an annual event'
' You must have prayed really hard to get such a beautiful day'

Over £800 was raised for sporting facilities in the village. The Parish Clerk was pleased with the numbers who visited the village for the day, the way the traders worked together as well as the extra funds that she is keen to support a future event.

At the moment I feel like a zombie as Marion Barnes and I worked on this event most of last week. Marion is already talking about another Quilt Quest next year!
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to making this such a fantastic day. We really put Wickham Market on the map!
I only managed to take a couple of photos as it got quieter in the afternoon. If you have any good photos, I would love a copy.