My New Project

There is a quilt on my living room wall that isn't as interesting as most of the others - an early piece that I made in a log cabin workshop.

I've decided that it's time to replace it.  It's not a huge space to fill, roughly 4' square, and I plan to make a whole heap of 6" and 3" squares to fill it.

These are the first 12 that I've made - starting with the 6" ones.

These will form the outer ring, and are all based on blue batik fabrics.

It's fun to fire up the quilting software and choose some blocks to make.

Another 12 to make, then I'm on to making 64 x 3" blocks....

At a block a day, it's roughly a 100 day project!
 

Card Making

Starting with some neutrals and bits of lace and trim,  then adding decorative stitches.

And before you know it, its time to add some decorative stitching in a different colour (thank you Julia Gahagan for the ideas (I'm still using ideas from a sheet she gave us at a recent on line workshop!).

Then I cut the whole into pieces, added some wrapping paper from a gift that DD1 was given, andd made a set of cards - some for Easter, some for upcoming birthdays.

A great technique for card making, or even making mini quilts for display or pot coasters.

If you've got a few minutes and some scraps, why not give it a try too?
 

Happy Easter - and lucky me!

Too late for Easter greetings?  I hope not!

This was another make from a sew along with my miniature quilt group.  A larger than life sized egg.

Made with scraps, sewn together quickly with decorative stitches, and a binding and hanging loop to finish it.

You can see more of the quilting on the back.

Really fun to make!

And just a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to win this 'Dimples' fabric roll from Creative Quilting in East Molesey - my local quilt shop!  If you enjoy using pre-cuts then get on down there now, and scoop up some of their lovely fabric rolls, they've got lots of variety at the moment.  I'm quite keen on getting one of their batik rolls too!

Thank you, Creative Quilting!
 

Travel Planning

My DD2 is planning a holiday with her friends once their A level exams are over.

I bought this 'destinations' fabric a few months ago, thinking that I might be able to make her some bits and bobs with it.

Its been a lot of fun so far!

As well as the Kismet pouch from last week, I've made the things shown here - a zippy pouch, covered notebook, flat purse, tissue pocket, and wristlet.

They are all inside this zip up tote bag (with patch and zippy pockets inside too).  All hidden until her birthday.

I know that she may in the end choose to take none of them - and that's fine - I've really enjoyed making them and I think that she will appreciate the thought!
 

Kismet Pouches

More online fun!  This time with AitchBee of LittlePatchPockets who taught the miniature quilt group of the Quilters Guild how to make these 'Kismet Pouches' - aren't they fun?

I made three during the online workshop, and loved them so much that I went to make more.

Three more the day after the workshop - this time with whole fabrics rather than strips.

And three more the following day - one with fabric strips, two with 'whole cloth'.

Don't they make a fabulous colourful group?  I've got some findings on a couple here, but actually I've now bought carabiner clips for them all.

I think that these will be super useful - they have a decent capacity, but are pleasingly squishy.

Their first use is for Easter.  They are the perfect size for a 125g egg (without the cardboard packaging) - or for a bag of something tasty.  All my Easter preparation for the young people in my family is now complete!

 AitchBee also told us how we could make a bonus purse with the leftover quilted pieces!  This was my version of it.

All good fun - great workshop with clear instructions!

Another Happy Scrappy!

 

It feels like a while since I've made one of these!  This was made almost entirely with scraps from Georgie's FabWraps business - with just a few centre patches from a tablecloth that I made in the nineties!

It won't win design awards, but it is made with love and it did use up all her scraps and will make something cosy for someone who needs it.

It will go, at some future point when I've ammassed a few, to Project Linus, who do fabulous work matching donated quilts and blankets to people who need them.

Another Small Quilt - and a Broken Dishes 'How To'

This is my latest little quilt!

I'm a member of the Quilters Guild - and in particular of the Miniature Quilt Group.

The group is 20 years old this year, so our esteemed leaders set us a China / china challenge.  We were asked to make a quilt no more than 12" on any side, using two fabrics that were sent to us.

I was so lucky with mine - I was sent the pink and the navy print fabrics, which are right up my street!

I decided to make 'broken dishes' blocks - and added a few 'Dresden Plate' blades for the unbroken dishes.  (Actually, for the sake of full disclosure, I did try a miniature pickle dish block.  Lets just say that I should probably try it out at full size and see if I can master it that way before going small again!).

Anyway, I thought that I'd share how I made my broken dishes blocks.

The start point is four squares of pink and four squares of navy fabric. Mine were 2" square, but for a full sized quilt I might make them with 5" squares.

You place then right sides together and sew all around them.  As I was chain piecing you can see that I ran off the edges each time, it was faster to do it that way than it was to get to the corner and pivot.

Then it's time to cut the squares into four - two diagonal cuts.

Then open out these half square triangles and press them open.

For each block you will need to do with four times.

Trim the 'dog ears' off and arrange each set of four HSTs into an hour glass block - and sew together to make the hour glass block.

Next, arrange the four hour glass blocks together so that the triangles at the centre form the same alternate colour 'butterflies', and sew those four blocks together to make a broken dishes block.

Using 2 x 2" squares gave me a finished size block of 3".

 You can see that I've made five broken dishes here - and bordered the central one with some Dresden plate quarters.

Once I'd put this together I had to decide how to quilt it.  I knew that such a busy design would need quilting that wouldn't fight with it, especially as I chose to leave the ends of the Dresden plate blades untethered.

I decided to just do three lines of quilting.  One line from top to botton, one line from left to right, and one circle.

To be able to sew a smooth circle in the right place, I drew round a plate that was the right size on to freezer paper, then ironed the freezer paper to the front of the quilt.

Then it was a simple matter of stitching round the stencil using a luscious pink Auriful thread.

Here is the back - you can see the quilting (and the hanging sleeve!).

 And here it is again, in it's finished glory.  If you go to the Festival of Quilts this summer, do try and make your way to the Quilters Guild stall and see the display of China / china miniature quilts.  I'm sure that they will be packed full of loveliness!

Loving Online Learning

I enjoy learning from other people - and the internet gives us amazing access to generous individuals who share all sorts of information.

This is my first attempt at sashiko, using a pattern and explanation (called Komezashi - Heart) by Zen stitching (www.zenstitching.ca) .  Their tag line is 'The art of mindful mending' - but what they offer seems to be more than that!

As you can see, I didn't mend with mine, just made a small wall hanging (approx 8" square) using the corner of a vintage tray cloth and some new Je Ne Sais Quoi print that I'd treated myself to recently.

My other on line learning was with a taster weekend with a new online teaching venture called The Thread House.  This particular class was by Karen Lewis, who taught us how to make a folded top pouch.  Turns out that I had just the right size lining fabric (the back of an old shirt) to make two, and the perfect outer fabric to pair with it.

Simple construction, you can fancy it up by using orphan blocks or adding applique to the outer layer - but this time I just went for the simplest option.

I even had a toning long scrap to make the bag ties out of.  It always makes me happy when that happens!

So, big thanks to everyone who shares their knowledge and time on line.  I sometimes sign up for longer courses or workshops - after all, these taster tutorials are often to showcase teaching styles so that you can see whether you enjoy it or not, and the people who are making this content need to make a living - or sometimes buy a book by the person.  I love the chance to try things out first, though.  Thanks!
 

Fourth Orphan Block Project Complete

 

This time it was a small pile of hexagon fabrics that attracted the magpie within me!

First I sewed them into rosettes, then tried layouts with what a had until I was satisfied.

Then I had to sew them together - when I remembered why I wasn't, at heart, an English Paper Piecer!

Next I found a plain background fabric - luckily this pale green was not just the right shade, more or less, but also the right size.

I applied the lozenge of hexies onto the background - first pinning, then sewing around the outside edge with the sewing machine, taking out the tacked edge papers as I went.

Then it was time to flip it over and cut away the excess base fabric, exposing the rear of the hexies.

Time to take the rest of those papers out!

A simple job after that to back and baste it (it is a cot quilt, so I was even able to do this on the kitchen table!), quilt and bind it.

A finished quilt, roughly 33" x 42".

I'm pleased that it's complete - and pleased that I had almost exactly the right number of hexies supplied in order to make this layout.  Just six hexagons of fabric left, that will make a fun decoration on something else.......

More Small Projects

I mentioned Julia Gahagan last week - in fact my blog is lagging a little, as I took part in her workshop at the end of January!

These were the items that I created during three hours in a Zoom workshop with her.

First of all a book mark and card topper ( actually I made the card topper first, realised how much my top layer knocked the colours of the collage back, so tried a bookmark with more saturated colours.

These are the backs so you can see the quilting.

Fun to use the fancy stitches on the machine in a straightforward way to add interest to the back ground.

As you can see, my little bird is a little clumsy, but I gave it my best shot without using any tracing or marking.....

This was the A4 piece that I made during the workshop.

Again, I went for saturated colours, on the whole, that toned with the vintage embroidery taken from a tray cloth.

Fun to add so many different elements to a small peice.

Again, this is the reverse to show the quilting.

The day after the workshop, whilst I still had my scraps out and a good memory of what we'd been encouraged to to, I made this A4 piece.

Again, using the vintage tray cloth as a centre piece to it, and this time personalising the FMQ embellishment.

 

The following day I was still enthusiastic - and with all the scraps still out, decided to make three more card toppers!  I stuck with fairly neutral backgrounds for these three, and with so few pieces on each card, I decided that I didn't need the overlay for them. 

I'm pleased with all of these pieces.  I'm sure that 'proper' artists would do even better with the composition, but I'm happy that I've done the best I could without spending too much time stressing over it!

Third Orphan Block Project Complete

My next orphan block project is complete!

I've added to the chequerboard pieces to make a cover for a ring binder.

The blue stripy fabric was a little loose and wiggley - even with starch I couldn't really tame it - but I decided not to worry about that!

This is the front.  I embellished with a line drawing design based on one shared by  Julia Gahagan in a recent workshop.

It fitted the space really well.

This is the whole item opened out.

And the bird shown from the reverse, so you can see it more clearly.

These were the start point.  Making them into 4 x 6 blocks took them to close to A4 size, with the loss of a couple of triangles and the addition of two more coloured squares.

Another fun project to complete!
 

Second Orphan Block Project Complete

 

A simple project this one, based on a couple of strips of charm squares that I'd picked up from the orphan blocks table.

I think that the fabric range is from Janet Clare.

I had just the right number of squares to make a chequerboard 16-patch.

Which was easy to add a narrow border to, in the same fabric that I used to make an envelope back for it.

Difficult to see the quilting, but it was an 'oyster shell' pattern - easy to sew, nice and flowing, and relevant to the maritime theme of the fabrics.

My DD2 was utterly charmed by it, and it's nestling with the other cushions and quilts in her room.

Thank you, kind donor of the blocks! 

First Orphan Project Complete!

So I showed you the orphan blocks that I'd picked up from my quilt group.

Here is my first completed project with them!

This applique is my response to the charming fabric that was used in the three blocks that I'd acquired.

Here is a reminder of the original.

I put them together with sashing - nature themed, but I hadn't got anything with more fungi or a woodland theme.

This would have made a cushion cover, but I remembered that I had a fleece on hand, so I thought that I'd extend it into a lap quilt size and see how I got on with making it into a two layer coverlet.

To be honest, I think that I've concluded that I don't really like it!  I felt inhibited from quilting it in the way that I usually would, and although it's joined securely on the vertical seams, I'm not sure that it would still lay flat if I went to work on it with some FMQ, or even some walking foot lines.

So, an interesting experiment resulting in a cosy lapquilt (and a scarf with the fleece off cut!), but not something that I'll repeat in a hurry!  I think that I like the stability of a woven third layer!

It finished at 44" square.