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! 

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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

Seeing Red!!!

Pink Perfection!

Regular readers of my blog will remember the extent to which I dislike red (ref: 'Red Alert' - my post dated 1 April 2017). 

However, my 'Champion of DIY' underestimated this fact and was surprised to learn that his first priority, in our lovely new home, was to obliterate every trace of red paint from the studio for the 'Queen of Quilting'. Needless to say it is now transformed into a lovely shade called 'Pink Perfection' - soft and inspiring! Those of you who know my taste in fabric will appreciate it when I describe it as '3 Sisters Pink'. 

I could not bring myself to take a 'before' picture! But as soon as the painting was finished I set about unpacking all my fabrics, tools and equipment (the previous combined contents of 3 rooms) and arranging them in this wonderful space. 

All that remained was to arrange for the return and installation of 'Auntie', my long arm machine, on the fully extended frame for the first time. 

I am lucky to be only 20 minutes away from Pinhole Quilting, the sole distributers of Handiquilter machines in the UK. Pete Holpin came and spent a whole morning setting her up for me (having given her a full service whilst we were in the process of moving). Even I was surprised at how big a 12 foot frame actually is - but it all fits!!

A place for everything and everything in its place...

I have always dreamed of having all my fabric to hand in my sewing room. 

But now other priorities must be attended to - we are in a house with no curtains. We will be buying 'made to measure' for the most part, but did find some ready-mades at Dunelm that were so right for the kitchen. So we bought them and then decided they needed to be shortened. You'd think that a huge machine would be useful for this task, but sadly not. 

However, the long table at the back of the frame was perfect for laying out and pinning the turn at the top of these 90 inch wide curtains and the poles were great to drape them over. 

Meanwhile my trusty Bernina was up to the task! I took the tape off the top and shortened them by 6 inches.

The 90" long curtains worked out fine. However, when I looked at the shorter pair (which should have been 72"), one measured 73.5" and the other 71.5". Also the pattern repeat was way off! So today I have taken the hem up on one to match the pattern. I used the blind hem stitch on the Bernina for its proper purpose and it worked quite well. Now I need to take the remaining excess length off both tops. I also have a third pair which I am going to use to make 2 roman blinds. Then at least the kitchen will be done! There are a LOT of windows in this house!

But, of course, I am itching to get back to the long arm.  I have just ordered loads of wadding (including some 124" Warm & Natural) and then I will be ready to roll. I am blessed to have this fabulous studio - it really is a dream come true. 

Englishquilter has arrived in the Cotswolds and she can't wait to start quilting again!!!!!!!!!!!

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: Hanging Garden

Free to Quilt: Hanging Garden: Out Of The Blue! I love how my quilting best buddies have started to actually design their tops with me in mind! This beautifully pieced top...

Hanging Garden

Out Of The Blue!

I love how my quilting best buddies have started to actually design their tops with me in mind!

This beautifully pieced top, which Val was commissioned to make for her friend Lesley as a baby quilt, is a great example. Val knows that I like plenty of blank space to get creative in, so she added extra deep borders top and bottom. No surprises - there were feathers!

An unusual fabric choice for a baby quilt, it was a jelly roll by Robert Kaufmann, and some of the prints were very reminiscent of Liberty. But they went together so well in this rather sophisticated layout called 'Hanging Garden'.

Other aspects of the quilting were inspired by the actual piecing. It is such a pleasure to take it off the frame and see how it looks from the back. We chose a strong turquoise which showed up the quilting really well. I hope baby appreciates all our efforts!

Then, out of the blue, I had a call from a nice lady called Marion, whom I'd never met. A member of Amwell Quilters (a group I visited a year or so back) had given her my details. She had a disappearing nine patch that she was making to donate to a charity called Quilts 4 Care Leavers. This is a worthy cause that I also plan to donate to soon. 

She had got as far as layering it and had kind of run out of steam - so could I finish it for her? Of course I was happy to. 

Unfortunately, she had already spray basted it with adhesive, which is not what you want for quilting on a frame. So I had to ease the wadding out and press the top and backing again before loading it all up. Sticky Ironing board!!

 

At first I thought I would quilt it with bubbles to pick up the circles in the print. But somehow it was so bright and colourful, it just came out flowery - Go with the flow!!!!!!! 

And pretty from the back too!

Last little piece .....

As our carefully planned programme for Studio Quilters went out the window this year, because of lockdown, I thought I should start my planned scrap project off with the group now, albeit a bit late.

Here is the result of many an evening of mindless piecing, mopping up all my little scraps into tiny half square triangle units and scrap strips.

I have given out sections of a 'strippy' scrap quilt to everyone, to be assembled as a group effort and longarm quilted by me (long distance) next year. I hope that the finished quilt can be donated to the Quilts for Care Leavers too.

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