Lou Lou Rioux

11/04/2020

A huge THANK YOU to everyone still sending me quilts and keeping me busy... photos will follow of the gorgeousness that's been leaving the building recently :-)

I am taking this weekend out though to run up a few face masks for friends and family along with some scrubs bags for the local hospital (and some friends who are nurses)...

And then it's on to this bad boy! This panel is massive (82" x 104") and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to quilt it yet. Andrea at Black Mountain Fabric still has a couple in stock if you want one... my husband loves it so much, he wants to keep this one for our bed, ha ha ha 😂

31/03/2020

My client made this glorious elephant quilt for her daughter (actually, her daughter bought her the kit with instructions she made it for her, lol). My instructions were to follow the quilting on the original pattern as closely as possible, so some modern straight lines it was! Suits the quilt perfectly though...

30/03/2020

I've been dabbling with a little teaching this year - or at least I was until we were all put on lockdown! I hooked up with my friend Andrea at Black Mountain Fabrics in Abergavenny and have so far run a couple of workshops for her - one was a simple one-day jelly roll bargello and the other was a full weekend exploring the One Block Wonder technique. All the ladies got to a point where they were able to start designing their quilts after a mammoth sew-a-thon. I can't wait to see the finished quilts... Ooh, and I will post details of more classes when we're allowed to mingle again (any suggestions welcome btw 😀)

30/03/2020

How gorgeous are these indigo print fabrics? My client wanted something simple and modern to echo the piecing, but we didn't want anything to fight with those lines. I was very aware that the fabrics were to be the star of this particular quilt, so we went with this interlocking hexagon quilting pattern. It is called Argyle and gives just the right amount of texture.

28/03/2020

Another of my quilts (I thought I'd get them out of the way, ha ha) today... When I was in Houston (did I mention I'd been to Houston? 😂) I took a couple of days classes in EQ8 (more on that later) and designed a couple of basic quilts based on patterns I'd seen on Pinterest using half square triangles. This was made from fabrics in my stash (and some more picked up in Texas) for another neighbour's little girl - they too helped us in the October flood and again in the February flood. I quilted it with a lovely little heart pattern called Hearts and Hearts ❤️

26/03/2020

My fabulous friends, Kim & Debbie at Biggar Stitches, are running a BOTM for their quilting group - another friend, Zelda at Modern Welsh Quilts, designed the piecing pattern for the group and I'll be quilting them all as they get finished. Here are Kim & Debbie's versions - as shown on their stand at the Scottish Quilt Show in Glasgow recently. I absolutely LOVE them... and the quilts are pretty great too, ha ha ha.

25/03/2020

Here's one of my quilts to kick us off... I picked up these French General fabrics in a little quilt shop in Old Town Spring, just north of Houston Texas. They have 12 (or more... I lost count!!!) rooms of fabrics - mainly Moda - and 'out the back' there's a clearance shed with everything reduced to less than $5 a yard and an extra 10% off if you clear the bolt. The entire quilt, including backing cost me around £50. I found the pattern online & quilted it with my favourite vintage style design (on my website - called Lucy's). Whilst we were away in Houston, our house flooded and our lovely neighbours sorted everything out for us, so this quilt was a gift to them to say thank-you. Fortunately, they loved it :-)

24/03/2020

I had been 'resting' this page... but in the light of recent events, I'm guessing it's a good way to keep in touch with my lovely customers.

As my quilting studio is in my garden (which is in the middle of nowhere), I'm trying to maintain some normality and am 'going to work' as usual :-)

My fantastic UPS man delivered me some more customer quilts this morning and has assured me that, as they deliver to schools & hospitals, they will be pretty much carrying on too. So... as long as I can get quilts in and out, I will be here at your service! I can arrange collection from, and delivery back, to your doorstep, so you don't have to worry about leaving the house unnecessarily.

Any consultations can be done via email and I will always make sure you're happy with everything before that needle hits your quilt! I know so many of you use me because you trust my judgement, but I will always get your approval first :-)

Thank you all for supporting my business - we don't want to be a burden on the state, so your continued custom means so much to me.

To cheer us all up, over the coming days I will post up pictures of quilts I've been working on - and I have loads of pics from my trip to International Quilt Festival in Houston last year which I'd love to share too.

Hope you're all keeping safe and well. Stay inside and keep sewing - personally, I can't think of a better way to spend the foreseeable future. Lots of Love, Jo ###

28/05/2019

Thanks everyone for bearing with me whilst I spent every minute of my spare time studying (I'd like to say it turned my hair grey, but that's the bleach, lol)... I can happily say I am now a fully qualified Quilt Judge!!! I have A LOT of catching up to do with this page and will attempt to post the backlog of quilts I've been working on over the last couple of years - they're all lovely so you shouldn't get fed up with seeing them :-)

14/07/2018

I quilted this quilt for the lovely Alice Caroline - it features in Today's Quilter issue 38, out now. Full pattern instructions are in there too if you fancy having a go. Made with Liberty lawn fabrics, it's beautifully soft and light. Alice will be displaying it at Festival of Quilts next month if you'd like to see it in all it's glory :-)

Who's planning on doing a spot of sewing this weekend? We've fallen head over heels in love with the Alice Caroline Liberty Fabric elegant Midnight Blue quilt from issue 38 and would love to attempt a bit of appliquéing over the weekend! Who's with us?!

You can find the template for the project on our website here: http://bit.ly/MidnightBlueTemplates

24/01/2017

I am still here... I promise! November & December were SO busy... trying to get everyone their quilts back in time for Xmas - I decided to take the beginning of January off to recover, ha ha. Didn't manage to take many photos, but will add some soon.

Anyway... in the meantime, I have donated a prize to the Facebook group UK Quilters United in celebration of their 3rd birthday - not sure what the entry criteria will be yet, but here's the link if anyone wants to take part (you may have to join the group to see it) :-)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154864398222381&set=gm.759709190852353&type=3&theater