Feathery Fun!

French General Style

This is the second quilt I have finished off for Janet S, made from the leftovers from her earlier 'French General' quilt, on a background of Ivory 'Crackle' by Kathy Schmitz for Moda, (one of my favourite fabrics in my collection).

                                                                      Janet asked me to quilt allover feathers again and I think I am even more pleased with how they turned out this time. I started out with 2 full reels of King Tut thread in Flax colour.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       As I got near to the bottom I started to panic and I ended up with literally an arm's length to spare - how jammy was that!!!!!!!!!

It was worth all the work, though, I am so pleased with the texture.

Next up is a lovely fun applique quilt with cars and trucks on a batik background.
Don't forget to pop into the NSPCC Christmas Fair at Allum Hall in Borehomwood, 10am- 4pm this Sunday, if you are local. Studio Quilters will be putting the final bits together for the stall at this Saturday's meeting.

After all that is over, I want to get down to some creative time for myself.

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Oh Brother!

Where is SEWING MACHINE REPAIRMAN when you need him?

I was never going to make a full wreath of leaves at the Connecting Threads workshop today - not really my thing, but I was willing to give it a go. So I made one maple leaf (the light coloured one in the picture) and donated it to Viv, who was positively churning them out! Then I felt guilty and started to make a Horse Chestnut Leaf, which looked a bit easier. All was going well until the machine jammed up and I had to cut the leaf away with a sharp knife. Much fumbling and fiddling followed, as I struggled to take the plate off and pulled out all the snarled up threads and fluff. (As Viv will tell you, I am not one to open and clean my machine often!) But when I tried to carry on, with new needle, new bobbin and all - it was having none of it and I just had to pack up! 

Looks like I will have to take him to the doctor. 😭😭

I can take some comfort, however, from an otherwise highly productive week. 

Having finished Sandy's two memory quilts, I cracked on with this gorgeous Liberty print bed topper made by Jean S (with some of her old night dress  material!) 

It has that lovely washed and faded look - right up my street - and deserved some pretty flower and heart motifs. It was one of those pieces that I just couldn't stop until it was done (a late night!)

Then I moved on to 'The Calendar Quilt'

This was the result of Studio Quilters' Annual Challenge (2016). Everyone was given a month and had to produce a block depicting something relevant:

January 

  

February 

                                  

                                                               March

April 

                               May

                                                                        June

July August

 September

  

 October

November 

 December 

And Finally ......

I got that cushion done for the NSPCC Christmas Fair next Sunday at Allum Hall in Borehamwood, 10am to 4pm. 

'Drunkards Path' ... Curved piecing with NO PINS!

    

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Christopher is Over the Rainbow!

At Last!

It's a couple of years since Christopher asked me to make him a quilt and I'm rather glad he changed his mind from his original request for a 'Minecraft' pattern, because I so enjoyed making him a rainbow!
He seemed to really love it. Good job he's a growing lad - it came out about 84 inches square!

                                                                                                          Sandy's two memory quilts are both done (side by side on my frame to make best use of the wide backing fabric - waste not want not!)

This first one had enough space for me to fill the sashing and borders with curls and petals. 

 

Sandy asked for a coloured thread on the pale backing to liven it up - it shows off the quilting pattern nicely. (Pink of course!)













The second one had irregular sized blocks and no border, so it lent itself more to an all-over pattern. I just had to carefully work around all the applique details that Sandy had incorporated so cleverly.

I get carried away with this design - it's almost addictive!

Now she has to bind them and make labels before the girls come over for Christmas. And then she has to make another one for their baby sister!

Tonight I have been putting the finishing touches on a pretty 'Liberty' print quilt for Jean and I will photograph it in the morning. 

I hope it is as sunny as today!

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Memories

And Christmas is Creeping Up!

Next up on my frame is the first of two 'memory' quilts made by Sandy for her dear friends' little girls across the pond. They feature fabrics selected from a big bundle of favourite clothes which Sandy has sorted through, laundered, pressed, cut and painstakingly pieced into quilt tops for these lucky little girls. Many of the fabrics were stretchy and had to be stabilised on to an iron-on backing. Now she has entrusted me with the quilting, I hope to do justice to all her hard work. So far I have stitched in the ditch around the blocks and will do some simple ruler work on the various feature fabrics. The on-point sashing and borders are wide enough for me to do some fancy freehand work, which I am looking forward to.




 

The Studio Quilters' Christmas scrap bag is nearly depleted as I have finished the little wall hanging I started last Saturday.  











Also, I put together a few little place mats with other odds and ends I found, for the NSPCC Christmas Fair at Allum Hall next month. They just need the binding finished off. 








My commissioned 'H' Block quilt is completely finished now and ready to be dispatched. 

35 hours work from start to finish.

I have at least 4 more quilt tops to finish for others and then I hope to find time to complete a project for myself, with some of the lovely fabrics in my stash.

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Rockin' Robins!

And 12 Laughing Ladies!

You wouldn't think a group of grown up girls could have such a laugh making these cute little Christmas robins at our Studio Quilters' sewing Saturday. I thought there was going to be a 'Tena' moment at one point! It just goes to prove that if there is a wrong way of doing something, we can always find it. Some of them had their feet on back to front and at least one had his beak coming out of his bottom! I chose not to make one myself and sat back and enjoyed a good laugh at everyone else's expense! But they turned out adorable in the end and will be a real talking point at the NSPCC Christmas Fair at Allum Hall next month. As for me, I got stuck into the Christmas fabric scrap bag and set about piecing a wall hanging, which turned out to be a lot more fiddly than anticipated - still to finish!

Not that I have been idle at home this week. 

The binding on Christopher's Rainbow quilt is all hand finished. (Full pictures to follow after he has seen it). 

Also, I have quilted a beautiful 'busy' batik quilt (again with lovely Fantastico thread) for Pat at Connecting Threads, who is too modest to let anyone see it!









And since Monday night, I have planned the design, cut, pieced and quilted the 'H' block quilt I was commissioned to make, in these gorgeous Blue Sky fabrics by Edyta Sitar (new in my store) and have only to bind it. Not bad in under a week, if I do say so myself!

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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Raindrops keep falling on my head!

And a MAJOR restock!!!

Can't reveal too much of Christopher's Rainbow until I have shown it to him. But suffice to say it is a BIG quilt for a little boy! The quilting was more challenging than I expected. I was going for a raindrop effect and my first attempt wasn't good enough. So I unpicked it and started again. It went better but, when I got to the end of the first row, I checked the back only to find that the tension was off, with terrible eye-lashing and I just couldn't live with it. 

Two hours unpicking!!

I've decided not to use the Empress Mills Egyptian Cotton for quilting anymore. Whilst it looks nice and crisp and clean white, it doesn't have a soft enough texture to show off quilting to its best and it is really unforgiving when you have to unpick!!


This week I re-established my account with Makower Fabrics and made a trip down to their new warehouse in Maidenhead. 





I am never asking SIRI for directions again!! I don't know where he was trying to take me, but it certainly wasn't Maidenhead! 


I have the worst sense of direction, but even I knew he was wrong! However, I found where I needed to be and was treated royally by the lovely George.

 I came home with a boot full of fabric (literally, 225 metres!) including 7 bolts from Edyta Sitar's GORGEOUS Blue Sky collection.

 I just LOVE her blues!!! 

And following my sale of the Bonnie Hunter quilt - the buyer has commissioned me to make a different quilt for his son.

When I showed him these prints - he was happy for me to make it with them. 

So I will really enjoy that!

Today I have had fun with my friends at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally. I told Susan to make sure I didn't buy any more fabric as I didn't quite trust myself! But I was a good girl in the end. Just a couple of new rulers, a machine foot, some fancy hangers, a blade and some needles (and maybe a few frivolous little buttons when no one was looking).

I have a lot of work lined up. I need to finish the binding on the Rainbow quilt, four quilts to finish for other people and the commissioned quilt. I also need to get a cushion done for the NSPCC Sale in November.  

Better get cracking! 

Happy Quilting Everyone!
Janet

www.englishquilter.co.uk   

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