The Girt By Sea quilt was designed especially so that we could all sew along together and learn/master some of the skills involved, sharing tips and tricks and encouraging each other to give it a go. We want to harness the wonderful support that quilters have for each other: helping to work out which colour should go where; reminding the over-thinkers when to step away from the design wall; being honest when the unpicker needs to come into play; calling for the smelling salts when someone posts something so incredibly beautiful that we go a bit lightheaded….
It’s such a thrill to see quilters from all around the world joining in and making new friends through the sew-along. Katya Wolfram of @madeatturnpikecottage is relatively new to the wonderful world of quilting and decided the Girt By Sea sew-along was the perfect place to learn new skills under the gentle guidance and encouragement of a global tribe of likeminded makers.
Here’s Katya’s Girt By Me story.
Always running behind the times (by a decade or so) I finally joined Facebook in September 2016 and Instagram a month later. At that time I had made a grand total of two quilts ever – one even had binding!
You see I have always been a stitcher: I design my own cross stitch patterns and enjoy creating hand embroidered pieces. However, I was instantly in love with Instagram and the quilting community within it. What a wonderful, giving and friendly bunch you all are! No more sewing alone for me, or boring non-sewists with tales of mismatched seems!
Shortly after I discovered Modern Makers, the buzz was all on Girt By Sea and I knew I was hooked. It was just what I was looking for: something big, you know, throw myself in at the deep end.
Now to choose the fabric. Never having been to Australia, but having lived my whole life on another island (Britain), I decided to use islands as my theme. I am loving my island centre with its turtles and circling sharks.
But the best bit is joining in with everyone else and seeing how one pattern can look so different so many times over. And of course feeling like you are sewing with friends.
Of course this centre round being EPP is well within my hand-stitching comfort zone. But in round one watch me literally come apart at the seams and loose all the points on my pin wheels!
But I’m sure some of you will be there to guide me through.
Katya x
@madeatturnpikecottage
Does your Girt have a story to tell? Drop us a line and let us know what Girt means to you.
It seems to us that Girt has a life of her own: she’s taken many of us on an unexpected journey. It’s never too late to join in the sew-along: click here to buy the pattern. Where will Girt take you?
Modern Makers Collective 
What an awesome story!! Thanks for sharing it, Katya!!
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