CakeStand Quilts

Calling in on the fourth day of Christmas to send my love: I hope you’ve had some merriment, some rest, some trifle and lots of hugs,

Nicola xx

Andrea and I invite you to join us in the New Year for our next Block of the Month adventure, the Northern Lights Sampler: a quilt that sails to the edge of the world, where stormy seas meet starry skies...

As well as taking its inspiration from the aurora borealis that trip the light fantastic across the ink blue skies of the arctic circle, Northern Lights explores the folklore of the far north, fictional forays into the unknown and the fabled journey of a Venetian merchant. The nine original Northern Lights sampler blocks and our dazzling Maelstrom have a wonderful story to tell...

All the programme details - plus the links to secure your reservation - are on my blog. We very much hope you’ll stock up on hot chocolate and travel along with us!

Happy New Year ❤️ The tree’s still up! She was a bit late going up this year and is - brace yourself - fake. I’ve always loved having a real tree, but I never loved my decorations sliding off droopy branches before New Year’s Eve and I always felt a bit sad seeing it on the compost heap.

Of course it doesn’t smell quite as beautiful as real tree (thanks for the tip about Yasmeen .and.stars !) but it will be staying up until the last possible moment on twelfth night 🎄 It’s still Christmas…

We’re allowed to talk about Christmas now, yes? I may have already started on the mince pies to celebrate the launch of the Twelve Days of Christmas PDF Pattern book 🥁🦢🍐🐓💍 and if you prefer an actual book, they’re back in stock too!

The first London Town block of the month parcels have started to arrive with our lovely participants today and I am over the moon to introduce our first block, Westminster Abbey 💫

My thanks as always to wonderful Andrea (and Madelyn!) who moves heaven and earth to help me get those parcels out into the world 🥰

R E P O S T

Kimberly is making Jen’s gorgeous cover quilt from the brand new Moda Bakeshop book, Charmed ❤️ And what’s more, she’s having a sewalong. You can find all the details on the Jolly Jabber blog and watch her progress on the Fat Quarter Shop’s Friday livestream on YouTube, although it looks like she’s already got cracking with her blocks!

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Sunday roses…

Rain is heading our way next week and I couldn’t bear to see the last of this years roses get washed away.

I found the lovely green frosted glass mantle vase on EBay. It has a little glass holder for the flowers inside. Perfect for roses 💚

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

There’s a marvellous new book arriving on the shelves of your favourite bookshops and it’s time to celebrate with a wonderful giveaway from our lovely publisher 🌸🪴🌸

I am thrilled to bits to have my Charming Pots table runner included in this gorgeous book. It uses just one charm pack and lots of beginner-friendly techniques so it would be the ideal project to teach a friend to quilt! I’ll be including a charm pack of the I used to make mine with the copy I’m giving away 🌸🪴🌸

To enter, just tag a friend you’d like to teach to quilt or a friend you’d love to be sewing with this afternoon. The giveaway is open to international entries 🌍 and closes at midnight tonight (BST) I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning.

My wonderful Bakeshop friends Lisa Jo and Sharla will be giving away copies on Monday and Tuesday respectively so pop over and visit them for another chance to win!

Look what just arrived 🎉 after a brief detour to the village hall! Thank you lovely caretaker for letting me know (and for the cuppa and chat!) Look out for a giveaway soon ☺️

PS: I’ll share a little sneak peek on stories

I’m currently sitting in a London traffic jam in thrashing rain (not driving I hasten to add) scrolling through photos from last spring when I was busy finishing my and dreaming of ice cream weather (!)

Find the finishing directions in this month’s (ice cream optional)

Issue 92 of is landing on subscribers’ doormats today and it includes the final instalment of the block of the month!

🌸🌷🌸🏡🌸🦋🌸

I’ve had a wonderful year sharing these blocks with readers, made even more wonderful by readers sharing their blocks with me 💕

Who’s ready for Apple-picking season 🙋‍♀️🍏🍎

If it’s also new-project-picking season for you too, then the lovely Richla has delicious pre-order kits using Tilda’s eagerly awaited Hometown collection, including two of my favourites, the and it’s littler cousin the 🍎🍏

You can read all of the juicy details on my blog!

Some happy news to start the week: the lovely and have teamed up once again to bring you another fun book and the results are absolutely charming! I’m thrilled to bits to have a project amongst the dozen delightful Charm Pack quilts in this gorgeous book. It’s heading to your favourite bookshop on October the 3rd and you can pre-order a copy and take a peek at the contents on the Martingale website 💕

I’ve designed a table runner that uses just one charm pack, but plenty of different piecing techniques to make the most of it. I made my runner with aptly named and Jayne quilted it with a leafy meander 💕

My first foray into quilting was with a charm pack and a table runner pattern from the (thanks !) so creating this project was a very happy trip down memory lane 💕

This time last week I was admiring Jo’s gorgeous quilt and heading out for dinner with my quilty besties Yasmeen .and.stars Jo and Sonia (we missed you Lou 😘 ) and we may just have been planning a little something for next year 😉

You can read all about my wonderful memories of Festival on my blog 🥰

Just squeaking in to post the August block before the September issue goes out next week 🤭 This month we’ve been building treehouses 🌳 and collecting honey 🐝

Thank you everyone who came to see me to share your progress. Not long until the reveal…

It’s nearly show time 🥳🤸‍♂️🎄 come and say hello at stand B29!

And as I launch the next block of the month programme, it’s time to share the last of this year’s blocks (🥹) with a drum roll and the skirl of pipes!

Andrea and I have had a joyous year making this quilt with our talented and supportive block of the month group and we are very excited to see everyone’s quilt taking shape 🥰

Christmas, we’re ready for you!

Reservations are open for my next Block of the Month programme in partnership with my lovely Andrea 🎉

Welcome to the a quilt that takes you on a wonderful, whistle stop tour of the British capital 🎉

All the details about the programme are on the blog with a link to the reservation page. It’s always such brilliant fun, we so hope you’ll join us! ☺️

Last one! Looking forward to hand stitching this down at our guild sit-and-sew tomorrow 🥰

Today I will mostly be binding ❤️ And probably tomorrow and the next day…

It’s the penultimate month of the and time for our dashing lords to start a-leaping around the border!

I’ve never been much of a dressmaker, but I’m sure you’ll agree those trousers are pretty smart 🕺🕺🕺

We’re in double figures: it’s month ten of the and we’re off to the market to buy flowers and ice cream (priorities people!) 💐🍦

Find the block patterns in issue 90 of

Issue 90 of is brightening up our newsstands this weekend (heaven knows we need the distraction!) and as well as s beautiful cover quilt you can find my inside 💕

I dipped into my stash of vintage Tilda prints for this project, some of them bought before I started quilting - I didn’t quite know what I’d do with them, but I had to have them - so really this quilt is a tribute to my everlasting love for fabric 💕

It was inspired by a photo of a beautiful antique quilt from the which Christopher posted. I’m enormously grateful to him for not only remembering it (he really is a marvel) but sharing more details about it, which you can read about on my blog 💕

The chefs are hosting the loveliest sewalong this summer ❤️ We are celebrating our latest book with by making the gorgeous from the book, designed by our friend Christine Weld]

Some of us are making a quilt and some of us sharing smaller projects inspired by Christine’s quilt, pop over and visit…

Christine Christine Weld]
Susan
Michele
Sharla
Audrey & Diane
Jessica
& Jen

…for summer sewing inspiration 🥰

pickledishing | verb | sewing with friends, chatting, laughing, eating biscuits, learning something new

Thank you for a wonderful day 🥰

GIVEAWAY CLOSED Congratulations Annie and Angie, I’ll be in touch for your addresses 🥳 and thank you all for sharing your favourite blocks with me!

We’ve reached the final stop on the Great Rollin’ Along Giveaway with and the marvellous 🚂

Our lovely - along with the Bakeshop Chefs, including me (still pinching myself) - has compiled a book full of covetable projects for the worlds cutest precut: the Jelly Roll! And there’s a peek inside this beautifully produced book in my stories 📽

I have two copies of the book to give away and all you have to do is leave a comment here to TELL ME YOUR FAVOURITE QUILT BLOCK. It can be simple, it can be fancy, it can actually be one you haven’t tried yet, because today I am off to a class to learn how to paper-piece a pickle dish block 🥳

Entries are open worldwide and a winner will be announced on the 25th 🗺

Credit for the lovely artwork does to my talented fellow chef, Susan

It’s Saturday night, so it’s time to meet the Ladies Dancing! 💃🎺💃🥁💃

A delightfully chilled day at the Shropshire Quilter’s sit & sew making a start on .and.stars Yasmeen’s gorgeous Royal Row 👑

The plan was to prep my blocks to take to Cornwall, but I couldn’t resist making a start! 🤭

Welcome to CakeStand Quilts: British quilt patterns inspired by seaside holidays & country gardens, thoughtfully designed with my favourite, easy-to-master piecing techniques, so that you can create a quilt that makes your heart sing.

If you'd like to say hello or ask a question, come over to the website and leave a message on my contact page at https://www.cakestandquilts.com/contact I'd love to hear from you.

PS: I check my contact emails EVERY day but, if I'm busy in the studio, I don't always get the chance to check Facebook Messenger.

I made a telephone box! ❤️ My first paper pieced block for quite some time and I’m pleased to report that the paper and glue stick made it a breeze. Fantastic pattern by ❤️