Free to Quilt: Dolls House

Free to Quilt: Dolls House: Who's behind the Pink Door? Hopefully, this quilt will one day go home with a little premature baby after being cared for...

Dolls House

Who's behind the Pink Door?

Hopefully, this quilt will one day go home with a little premature baby after being cared for at King's College Hospital Neonatal unit. This is the first 'incubator quilt' I have made since Connecting Threads Group invited Jenny Strong to talk to us about the work that the ladies of Dulwich Quilters were doing to support the unit. These quilts are draped over the incubators to create a dark environment for premature babies, like being in the womb.

But the nurses need to have access to the baby without removing the quilt all the time, so they need an opening with a flap to cover it. 

I struggled with the idea of cutting a hole in a patchwork design and then having to make a flap to match up with the missing piece. Of course, a whole cloth quilt would be the obvious answer, but I didn't have any appropriate children's prints. So I had it in mind to design something around the flap and came up with a door to a house.

As usual, it was a 'make it up as you go along' design. 

I started with the roof and had such fun sorting out some of my long cherished pretty floral strips. I don't mind telling you it was a bit of a wrench to part with them - but this is all in a good cause!

I calculated where the cut out would be and left a gap in the top. Then, as I was finishing it off, I had to ask Jenny to clarify the size of the hole and the flap, as the template didn't match the instructions. As a result, it didn't quite come out as I envisaged, but I think it works ok.

The climbing vine should perhaps have been a bit greener. But I had these turquoise bias strips already in my stash and I think the colour makes it extra cheery. It didn't need to be botanically accurate after all! 

The little flowers were cut from shapes that already had fusible webbing on them, that I had left over from a previous project more than 10 years ago. 

Likewise the hearts in the border were already cut. You know I save everything for just such a project and I love it when it all comes together!

So I enjoyed a good bit of pink piecing - I guess the next one needs to be blue!

Today I have put in an all day stint up in the loft. It was cold up there! I have just finished this neatly pieced 'panel' quilt made by Diane.

Sometimes less is more.  The printed panels were all different and I think it would have looked messy if I tried to follow the lines in each picture. So I concentrated most of my quilting in the sashing - another chance to practice my ribbon candy technique. It takes concentration, and there is no room to wobble on plain fabric.

I love the effect. 

It looks even better from the back!

Next up - a modern quilt from Janet S.

Happy Quilting Everyone - Stay safe and keep cheerful!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Modest Margaret

Free to Quilt: Modest Margaret: Plenty to do! What an absolute beauty this is - log cabin and star design pieced by our very own Margaret T at Studio Quilters. S...

Modest Margaret

Plenty to do!

What an absolute beauty this is - log cabin and star design pieced by our very own Margaret T at Studio Quilters. She was all modesty, though, claiming that her work wasn't worthy of custom quilting. 

WELL I beg to differ Margaret!

One look at her perfect choice of colours and fabrics and the layout of the blocks, was all the inspiration I needed. It was a genuine joy to quilt. Once I got going on the border I just couldn't leave it alone.

It wasn't too large and didn't take very long, but it was sheer satisfaction on my part! 







Margaret also took the lead on our group project at last Saturday's meeting. She prepared kits for us all to make these sweet little coin purses. Although quite simple once you get your mind round it, most of us managed to get it wrong first time around - Murphy's Law! 

Later that afternoon I decided to test myself and see if I could manage the same feather quilting design on my Brother machine. Not perfect by any means, but I have proved to myself that I can do it.

Then it was back to the pile of quilt tops I have been asked to finish for some other friends. This was the latest 'big one' from Jackie. A bright and beautiful gift for a family member to take to Uni.

Now that I have every excuse to stay in and sew (!) I am planning to make the most of it. Yesterday I started designing and making my first incubator quilt to donate to Kings College hospital neonatal unit. This one is going to be very pink and I will post pictures when it's done.

I have enough fabric in for the next 30 years, so I really don't need to go out!

Happy Quilting Everyone - Stay safe and keep cheerful!

Thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving your comments. Please share on Facebook, Pinterest  etc.

www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Sky Writer

Free to Quilt: Sky Writer: Fly Me To The Moon!! Here is my finished commissioned christening quilt for Louis.  How much fun was this?! Jane and To...

Sky Writer

Fly Me To The Moon!!

Here is my finished commissioned christening quilt for Louis.  How much fun was this?!

Jane and Tony (the proud grandparents) gave me a  brief to make something along the lines of my Sew A Row quilt, but with a variety of different vehicles. 
So I recreated the cars, sailboats and stars from the original :-










Then I set about designing some new elements:
So a train - obviously!                     

Complete with carriages. 

And a Sky Writer plane with a banner for Louis!

And balloons 

 

And a rocket to the heavenly bodies! 

 

These planets were my favourite bit (inspiration came in the middle of the night!)

Well that's my creativity satisfied for a little while - I hope they like it!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: White Feather

Free to Quilt: White Feather:   And one for little Louis Well this one took some preparation! When I first received this one to quilt it was asse...

White Feather

 And one for little Louis

Well this one took some preparation!

When I first received this one to quilt it was assembled as a duvet cover and I had to return it to be unpicked before I could start. Even then, there was another five hours worth of re- piecing the backing to make it larger and trimming away the dark fabric and fraying threads so that they didn't show through against the white background.

But once I got it prepared and loaded on to the frame, there was lots of lovely open space to fill in with my favourite 'hook' feathers. Once you get into the rhythm with these, they are the MOST fun to do, and the texture they create is wonderful!

Even now, some people assume that I can program my machine to stitch them automatically, but I assure you they are 100% freehand!

Meanwhile, when I've not been in the loft, I've been busy designing, piecing and appliquéing a christening quilt for Jane and Tony's grandson Louis. They were so taken with this sew-a-row quilt, when they saw it at Reveley Lodge, they wanted something similar. 

So there was my inspiration! I replicated some of the features they particularly liked, such as the cars and stars, and spent many a midnight hour designing the new elements. You know how it is when you can't sleep for all the ideas buzzing round your mind?!

At last, I had the opportunity to use my Apliquick tools properly. (My brother bought them for me the Christmas before last). 

Here are the letters for his name, and I had a bright idea what to do with them. (Watch this space.)

Then, while I was watching YouTube to remind me how to use the tools, I saw the very expensive Apliquick scissors they were using for cutting intricate shapes. One email to my dear brother and they were on their way - early birthday present. 

He's the BEST!!

I had thought I would do a simpler border. But in the end I couldn't resist doing the vine and leaves again. They took me all of twelve hours last Sunday!

 I'm not quite ready to share full pictures yet.... 

But today I got to the fun part!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

Thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving your comments. Please share on Facebook, Pinterest  etc.

www.englishquilter.co.uk