Quiltathon

 A Vintage Project, more Pew Runners and a preview of Peter Rabbit 

With a project like these 2 metre pew runners, it makes me really happy to have my frame set up at the full 12ft now - I can easily quilt them in one pass. I am well into my sack load of curtain fabric and have managed to squeeze out eight runners from this fabric. The time consuming bit is unpicking, washing and ironing all the curtains. Then of course I have to bind them. But that will have to wait for a while as I needed to get on with the little Peter Rabbit quilt for my expected grandson. 

Here's a little preview - full details in my next blog after I have handed it over to Elise.

But even that had to stop for today as I have been to my first ever Quiltathon!

This took place at the Pinhole Quilting (Handiquilter) showroom near Pershore, hosted by Liz and Pete Holpin, to support the Quilt 4 Care Leavers Charity. 

Pauline Jamieson and Sharon Gresham were instrumental in co-ordinating the delivery of 82 quilt tops to be finished off by a team of long arm quilters (with stand up and sit down machines), cutters, trimmers and binders. Our target is 60 in two days, but we hope to get through the whole pile if we can. Most of us managed to get three done each today. But I think we quilters had the easier job. The other ladies were rushed off their feet with all the preparation and finishing to be done. It was certainly great fun and I am looking forward to day 2. The machine I was using was even faster than mine and didn't beep at me when I was speeding!

As if that wasn't enough to keep me busy I have taken on a rather unusual project. The last annual challenge from  'Connecting Threads' was to write down a personal challenge at the beginning of the year and see if you could complete it by the AGM in September 2020. Of course, last year was a bit of a wipeout and many things fell by the wayside, especially meetings, so it didn't really get followed up. 

In fact, I wrote down three things but only ticked off two of them;

1. To make my Tilda Angel from the kit I had bought.

'Tilly' now greets me when I go into my studio.

2. To make my 'Treasure Quilt'.

And 3. Make a vintage quilt - uncompleted. My intention had been to use vintage linens and lace etc.

Then, recently, I came across an article in the Quilters Guild 'Bits and Pieces' about a UFO which a lady called Margaret was looking to pass on. It really is a vintage project in the form of a kit from America, possibly dating back to the 1940's. She lives in Bedford, so we agreed to meet half way for the handover. I love how you can meet another quilter for the first time and chat away for an hour as if you'd known each other for years!

It is called 'AMERICAN BEAUTY' produced by a company called 'Progress' (Pattern No. 1366) and is all hand appliqué on an off white background. 

All the shapes are numbered and printed onto the background with corresponding pieces printed (stamped I think) onto the coloured fabrics.

 

Some of it has been done, (by the original owner, not Margaret) not terribly well I hesitate to say. 

Some of the pieces have been cut out and tacked (not how I would have done it).

JAN! Since when do you do hand stitching? I hear you say!

Well, I rather fancied a project that I could do in the sitting room of an evening and just pick up and put down. Mainly, I was attracted by the open space for quilting, if I ever get that far. There is already a quilting design printed on it; grid lines and a few feathers. I am just hoping they will wash out so I can do it my way.

So now I have renewed my challenge!

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: Fall Leaves

Free to Quilt: Fall Leaves:   Pew Runners This is the beautiful quilt made by Val for her friend Lesley.  I wanted to custom quilt the leaf blocks and I had to change t...

Fall Leaves

 Pew Runners

This is the beautiful quilt made by Val for her friend Lesley.

 I wanted to custom quilt the leaf blocks and I had to change the four different thread colours over and again as I worked my way down the quilt. 

I was trialling my new Glide threads and I was delighted with the results! One of the colours, a rather sickly greeny-yellow by itself, worked beautifully with the both the yellow block and the green block and just seemed to reflect the colours.

She didn't want it to be too heavily quilted. So after I finished the blocks, I went back to the top and filled in the background with a leaf motif to echo the idea of falling leaves linked by simple double loops in a silvery grey thread.

This was one the nicest tops I have worked on in ages!

Then a call from the amazing and ever productive Rose was followed up by yet another massive Kaffe Fassett masterpiece. 

A classic Tumbling Blocks layout - She does make them big!

So then - onto my new found WI connections - my first commission was to make church pew runners made from old curtains donated by some parishioners. I was presented with three bin bags full of cotton curtains which I have unpicked washed and ironed. 

But the first priority, I was told, was to work on these synthetic fabric curtains with velvet 'patches'.

 This is the first of two I plan to make, having carefully cut and joined the fabric to get the most out of it.

 I used that same yellowy thread and this time it looked golden against the maroon. It took me a whole day, start to finish, setting up the long strip and finishing the binding by machine. 

The actual quilting didn't take long at all. My favourite 'feather and down' design - and was so much fun! I just hope the second one comes out the same!

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

Tilda Angel Plum Party!

 And More Kaffe Fassett!

I thought I had seen enough of Kaffe Fassett for a while! But this very pretty top pieced by Barbara from Connecting Threads made me think again. OK, so there was a lot of pink in it, albeit very bright, but I liked the contrasting colours of purple and aqua. 

And I loved how it was set against the grey border. So clever and original. I needed some hot pink thread so I dashed over to Pinhole Quilting to try some Glide Thread for the first time. 

I came away with nearly 30 different colours and more than £100 lighter! 

My favourite feathers again!

 

Next up was this lovely little nursery quilt. Another one by Jean S. 

There was plenty of open space to play in. So I echoed around the animals and filled in the borders with double bubbles.

 

So sweet and fresh!

 Then at last, I found the time to make a whole quilt from start to finish. This one is straight out of the Tilda book. 

For once, I followed the pattern exactly! I even had to buy Tilda fabrics online because I didn't have any mauves.

It was for a special little girl's birthday.

 But she's only just four years old and it's almost big enough to fill her little bedroom. 

She'll grow into it!

I bought a plain blue fabric as close to the one in the book as I could. 

Plain fabric can look a bit flat so I quilted it to death  emulating the style of the original. 

It was a good opportunity to practice and experiment. Lots of pictures!!

And village life - well it's great! I've already been recruited into the WI. The first thing I got involved with was this appliqued banner for the Christian Arts Festival. I just need to get them into quilting!

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: Bright Start

Free to Quilt: Bright Start: First Off The Frame!  It doesn't get much brighter than this! It was a race to see whose quilt arrived first and Rose won. She warned me...

Bright Start

First Off The Frame! 

It doesn't get much brighter than this! It was a race to see whose quilt arrived first and Rose won. She warned me I would need sunglasses and she was right. 

A big bold Kaffe Fassett creation with such contrasting colours it made my eyes go funny. True to form, Rose had exceeded my previous size constraints, and suggested I could cut it down if necessary. Little did she know I now had my frame at full width and her quilt was to be my inaugural challenge. The pattern was so busy that I felt an all over texture would be the best treatment. This seemingly simple design takes a bit of concentration but was just the effect I wanted.

Next up was the much anticipated 'Hunter's Star' - a group effort from Studio Quiters, ably finished off by Val.

In the past I have sometimes whinged about green quilts being a bit dull and dreary. But this was a real relief after all that orange. Look how crisp it looks laid out on the frame. 

I gave this the full ruler treatment with matching motifs in each half of the blocks. 

And wishbones along the flying geese border.

I clocked up more than 16 hours and I'm very happy how it turned out. 

Such beautiful piecing - well done ladies!

 Then another Kaffe Fassett (this time for Gail). But I had terrible bobbin tension issues with this one and it went horribly wrong. I ended up unpicking the whole quilt (which took four days) and starting from scratch with an all over feather. 

Here's how it turned out, from the back. 

Much better!

 

A little light relief turned up in the form of this delightful lap quilt pieced by Jean S. Quite simple to quilt but such fun! 

Phew - So much to do! Having started to draft this blog in early March, I had no time to finish it, as I ploughed on with the next beautiful top on my pile.

 This was the first of two from Jackie.  

She was keen to get it back in time for her friend's 80th birthday. 

There was a lot of open space for me to fill in and I really went to town on it. 

More than 30 hours but well worth the effort and I'm really pleased with it. 

Then I absolutely had to divert my attention to making roman blinds to match the made to measure curtains I had ordered for the sitting room, as they were suddenly ready and due to arrive. They were literally on the doorstep before I had chance to start. Having ordered extra fabric for the blinds, which had arrived a month earlier, I was astonished to find a bag of excess fabric which came with the curtains. 

Even more astonishingly, there was enough yardage to make both of the blinds. Here's how it turned out. (Shed in the background since demolished to make way for a new one). The curtains were made by a local firm and were beautifully done. It took us most of a day to hang them and 'dress' them. While they were still tied up for the recommended 48 hours, I cracked on and got the blinds made and hung. (Now I need to make cushions before the sofas arrive!)

So at last, I have just finished Jackie's second quilt. Again with the Kaffe Fassett! - but in less gaudy blues and greens. 

Now I am (almost) up to date, having gone full circle to start on another big one from Rose!

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