Free to Quilt: 2020 Vision

Free to Quilt: 2020 Vision: Inspiration! I was so inspired by this lovely quilt that Jean S asked me to finish off for her! Before it was even off my  ...

2020 Vision

Inspiration!

I was so inspired by this lovely quilt that Jean S asked me to finish off for her! Before it was even off my frame I had decided to make one myself.  It is a present for her daughter who just loves the United States, so the stars and stripes look was perfect. 

The pattern, by Lynne Goldsworthy, was featured on the front cover of Today's Quilter (issue 53). It was intended to be a scrappy project and Jean had put together a lovely selection of fabrics. We have similar taste and I think it was this pretty combination of prints that attracted me so much.

 I just let fly with my feathers and couldn't stop until it was finished. 

I rushed right round to show it to her the minute it was done and she loved it too.

For my own version, I have chosen to replace the stars with hearts. Unusually for me, I am not using scraps, partly because some of the strips would need to be 16 inches long and my scraps don't measure up! Also, I was so keen to get started I didn't want to spend the time sorting them all out. So I pulled out some of my favourite fabrics (including some of my brand new ones) and sliced them right off the bolt - I have to be really committed to do that! They were all Edyta Sitar prints - no surprise there. 

So that is already a work in progress, interrupted only by the Christmas break. But I can't just make one project at a time, so I have tapped into all that enthusiasm to start making little 'broken dishes' units from these pretty floral one and a half inch half square triangle units I have accumulated. I have long said to myself:

'There's a quilt in this little box.'

Now I have them all sorted into pairs and lined up by my machine to use as leaders and enders in between each 'log' of the larger project. Now that WILL be scrappy project.

As usual, Father Christmas was very generous and I have four lovely new books to peruse for inspiration. 

I think 2020 is going to be a 'Tilda' year! 

The trouble is I have so many ideas on my To Do list now, I just don't know what to do first.

Happy New Year and Happy Quilting Everyone!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Ducks in a Row

Free to Quilt: Ducks in a Row: Vania's First Quilt There's nothing like a deadline to focus the mind!  Vania has been working on this playmat since joi...

Ducks in a Row

Vania's First Quilt

There's nothing like a deadline to focus the mind! 

Vania has been working on this playmat since joining my patchwork class at The Sewing Studio in Borehamwood in the spring. It was intended for her great nephew Atti and he was due to visit with his Mum at the end of November. With a bit of help from me she was able to get it finished in time. 

Vania is a newcomer to sewing and patchwork and has been so keen to learn. As it was such a special project for her, I wanted to make sure it came out as she hoped. So I offered to do the quilting and start off the binding for her. But apart from that she has learned to cut with a ruler and rotary cutter, master a quarter inch seam, chain piece, match seams and choose fabrics and design a layout. And she put in the final hand stitch on the binding!

Her niece was delighted with it, of course, and I am sure Atti will love it for years to come. 

Now we have persuaded her to buy a machine of her own, she is already planning her next project - a lap quilt for her Mum. 

I think she is officially one of us!

Talking of deadlines, I have at last finished a  Christmas project for myself in time for the holiday! Okay, I have to admit that I started it in November 2018! So it was a legitimate 'UFO' for our session at Maxwell Park on Saturday. As you can see, I don't do red green and gold for Christmas. I have been sitting on these icy blues and silvers for about 4 years (and some date back about 15)! It needs a wider hanger to make it hang straight.

But I am really pleased how it turned out!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Sunglasses on!

Free to Quilt: Sunglasses on!: 100 Metre Dash So! I may have got a little carried away at the open day event at Makower Fabrics on Sunday! It was a lovely opp...

Sunglasses on!

100 Metre Dash

So! I may have got a little carried away at the open day event at Makower Fabrics on Sunday! It was a lovely opportunity to see what's coming up next year and to pick up some current favourites. Those metres really add up when you're buying it by the bolt. I went to bed with a head full of projects for next year.

 Now I have filled in a few gaps on my shelves and have been busy adding them all to my online shop. 

Why is it then, with all that lovely new fabric to sample, I revert to playing with the tiniest of scraps tonight? These mini log cabin blocks are part of my long standing 'Treasures' project. (And half of them are wrong! - out with the unpicker tomorrow).

Today I replaced the power adapter on my industrial bobbin winder, which had died when I went to start Jean's quilt the other week. I have been struggling along, just managing to load half a bobbin at a time on the Bernina.

I was so relieved to see that LED come on, as a new machine would have set me back several hundreds! I had managed to get my other jobs done; quilting one of my students' first project, ready to show her how to complete the final touches tomorrow; and quilting a lovely monochrome quilt for Toni to give her daughter. 
Now I am ready to get stuck into Jackie's vivid Kaffe Fassett creation (above) which I have loaded and stabilised. 

Wow - that's a lot of colour!

Here is one I can show.

This is a first dolls cot quilt and pillow that I have just made for Carole's granddaughter Daisy. I pulled out the vintage Laura Ashley pinks for this special little girl.

Happy Quilting Everyone!
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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Heart Warming

Free to Quilt: Heart Warming: Inspiration Fulfilled  When the challenge for next year was announced at the Connecting Threads party the other night it sent my m...

Heart Warming

Inspiration Fulfilled 

When the challenge for next year was announced at the Connecting Threads party the other night it sent my mind racing straight away. Such a good idea - everyone was asked to submit a New Year's resolution, at the next meeting, for something they wanted to make or finish in 2020. Then, at the November meeting, they would be challenged to see if they had done it.
I immediately thought I should resolve to design and make a 'prototype' cover for the heart shaped hot water bottles I bought in 2018. I had seen a lovely felted one in a crafty shop in Bakewell and had sourced some to make one for myself and gifts. I do LOVE a hot water bottle!



But once the idea was revived in my mind, I just had to get on with it. By bedtime on Thursday night I had produced this plain sample in my soft calico fabric (and put it to the test). It worked out quite well, but was a bit tight over the lid. 






Back to the drawing board today, I have tweaked the template a bit. I boldly cut into this gorgeous 3 Sisters 'Poetry' fat quarter and went for the real thing. Pink ribbon and all! I even lugged my Brother machine upstairs, (which I probably shouldn't have), because it has such lovely embroidery stitches on it for the edge. 






It is a much better fit now. I might write up a proper pattern for it or maybe even do it as a workshop.

Now I shall have to think of another New Year's Resolution. So I am off to bed with my 'hottie' to think about it. 

Night Night and Happy Quilting Everyone!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Christmas Leftovers

Free to Quilt: Christmas Leftovers:   Flying High What a wonderful quilt Jean M has made for her lucky grandson and I had the pleasure of quilting it for her.  ...

Christmas Leftovers

 Flying High

What a wonderful quilt Jean M has made for her lucky grandson and I had the pleasure of quilting it for her. 





Jean had been inspired by the black, white and grey strippy quilt that Studio Quilters made as a group project a couple of years ago and wanted to try a version of her own.







She incorporated several themes and fabrics that would mean something to her grandson. He is going to love it!
Strippy quilts are a nice alternative to sampler quilts. It is a good way of experimenting with different designs and techniques in a single project. That touch of red makes it look so classy.





It was a nice opportunity for me to play with different shapes too. I had fun with this paisley border.






Now that the Connecting Threads Christmas social evening is over, I can show my entry for the 'Recycled Denim' challenge. 

It is a luggage label. Well no one said it had to something big!!

Now I am back to my busy self; with classes starting up again, mentoring beginners, preparing for my  workshop on Saturday - I have only just had time to make a last minute contribution for our table at the NSPCC Christmas Fair.

These two little sets of coasters are made from triangles I cut off from the diamonds in Elise's Christmas tree mat.

Well you have to use up the leftovers at this time of year!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Pocket full of Posies

Free to Quilt: Pocket full of Posies: Match Point It's good to be sewing and blogging again and I have so much to catch up with! This is the Christmas tree mat my ...

Pocket full of Posies

Match Point

It's good to be sewing and blogging again and I have so much to catch up with!

This is the Christmas tree mat my daughter Elise asked me for. I couldn't reveal it until now as she has only just seen it. She wanted a mat, rather than a skirt, but left the design up to me. So it is my fault that it was so tricky! 

I needed to buy the cream and gold fabric, which I got at the Knitting and Stitching show the other week. 

I spent the night before the show wide awake mentally designing it. I love working with diamond shapes and matching up all the angles  - it's really challenging. My new pink cutting mat came into its own, as it is so hard to cut dark green on my other mat. (So that justified that purchase!)

And this little seam roller (free with Today's Quilter magazine) is my new best friend. So useful for pressing as you go, it really helped with matching the points. Viv and I spotted the Clover equivalent at Duxford for the outrageous price of £16!
I did minimal quilting on this one, so there was no need to go up in the loft. 

Stitch in the ditch is actually harder on the long arm machine and the pointy shape wouldn't have been easy to lay out on the frame. So I pin basted it the old fashioned way - I forgot what a chore that is- but it wasn't very large. 

The quilt measured about 50 inches point to point, so I inserted a strip to widen the backing. Then, to make sure I had it centred accurately, I loosely sewed a small bead to the middle of the backing so I could feel it when I had the wadding and top all laid out. 

Then there was the binding around three different shaped points (32 in all). I had to study a few videos on YouTube to learn how to mitre the inverted angles and I think I've got the hang of it now. Two days work, including all the hand stitching.
It was worth the effort as she was really pleased with it and can't wait to put her tree up now!




Now she is visiting for a week and we have had a lovely time sitting and hand stitching together, (like we had planned to after my op!)
I found a lovely book of stitches for her at Ally Pally, with really clear diagrams. I'm a novice at embroidery myself, but we did quite well I think. Mine are the roses of course!

I've dabbled with a few other projects since I've been home. There was the 'denim challenge', due for the Connecting Threads November party. 

That one is under wraps for now, but here is a little teaser. Can you guess what it is yet? 

Before that, I thought a bit of hand stitching was in order and I started on this block for my Laura Ashley project (again from Today's Quilter). It would have helped if I'd read the instructions properly, as I assumed it was English paper piecing. Half way through basting the pieces on to paper templates I wondered how the curved pieces would fit together. Then I looked at the photos and realised it should just have been hand pieced with a quarter inch seam, and I had cut it all wrong. So I went to the machine and 'fudged it'! A bit wonky, but I will be able to quilt it out (I think). 





My latest creation came about as a consequence of the Christmas tree project. I found that I was losing my seam ripper and other small tools all the time, with so many pieces on my work surface. (I'm really untidy when I'm engrossed in something!) So I decided to make this pocket/ arm caddy for my bar stool. It will also help to protect the arm covering which I keep catching on the table when I swivel. A visit to the Duxford show (and the self indulgent purchase of some '3 Sisters fabrics') inspired me to use some of my pretty fabrics for the flowers. 

But, true to form, I couldn't bring myself to cut it up. Instead, I dug out some little scraps of fabric, with fusible web already attached, which I had salvaged from Claire and Tom's wedding quilt from 4 years ago. Well I used a few bits up and it kept me up for more than the extra hour we got when the clocks went back.







Now I am feeling nearer full strength again, I have even been up in the loft to finish off a quilt for the NSPCC Christmas Fair on 17th of this month at Allum Hall in Borehamwood. 

Come along if you can!

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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

www.englishquilter.co.uk

Free to Quilt: Last Past the Post

Free to Quilt: Last Past the Post: From Cream on Cream to Red Grunge! It is considered bad form not to return the Studio Quilters' annual challenge by the August me...

Last Past the Post

From Cream on Cream to Red Grunge!

It is considered bad form not to return the Studio Quilters' annual challenge by the August meeting deadline (and no one wants a ticking off from Rita!😨). So I had to plead extenuating circumstances when I handed mine in only two thirds completed. I had been on schedule, but was overtaken by events at the last hurdle. 

This year's challenge, set by Pat, was to produce three 6 inch squares of 'cream on cream' work using any technique you liked; patchwork, appliqué or embroidery.

 

I chose to do one of each - yes even hand embroidery! The first two were quite easy and I had got those under my belt in June, saving the more difficult embroidery one until last. This was still in the hoop by the day of the meeting. So I took in what I had and we laid them all out together. 

As usual there was a variety of very inspired and accomplished work from everyone.

The whole purpose of the challenge is to make you think outside the box and/or push yourself to try something new. 

We had the option of adding                           our three blocks to everyone else's to make a group quilt, or to make them into a project of our own. 

 

As you can see from the above, I have since finished mine off, backed them and made them into a wallhanging!

Meanwhile I'm trying to catch up with things in the loft while I can. Laura's modern monochrome quilt is finished after sitting on the frame for nearly two months.

You can't see the scale of these circles from this picture, but they go up to 6 inches diameter, joined by very gently waving lines - quite challenging.

Now I have started on Stasha's red 'Grunge' and Pistachio green top. Okay, NOT my favourite colours! But for someone whose hands are 'too stiff to hand quilt' the quality of her English Paper Piecing is astounding. The fussy cutting is also superb. I marvel at the skills of my fellow quilters and it is such a joy to do my bit on their projects. Stasha had said she just wanted something curly swirly and I had thought to do an edge to edge all over. But her parting words, when she left it with me, was that she hoped the flower pattern of the piecing wouldn't be lost. Now I feel it needs a much more custom treatment and I have already done more than 10 hours of ruler work to highlight each flower. There's a few more hours to do yet.

Then it's on to Jean Smith's pretty top (in my colours!)

Happy Quilting Everyone!

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www.englishquilter.co.uk