Charming Summer House

It's only taken me a few hours to plan and piece this throw from one Moda 'Summer House' charm pack and some strips of white on ivory to contrast. The finished quilt will measure 41" by 39". I've found a lime green hand dye in my stash which is just right for the binding and with a big loopy free-motion meander should finish it off nicely. I do love this fabric!

Don't forget to enter my fat quarters Giveaway - you have until Monday to leave a comment. Click here to jump to the giveaway post

Quiltalong part 3

Not so much progress this afternoon I'm afraid. I was awake and up at 4am this morning after less than 5 hours sleep so by 2 this afternoon I was flagging. I had a nap and then did finish the star blocks but the other blocks will have to wait for now.

I have enjoyed my day and want to thank those of you who were kind enough to leave an encouraging comments. Of course the biggest thanks go to QuiltSue for hosting today. Quilters are the best!

Christmas Quiltalong: Triangle Progress

Well after a couple of hiccups:
a) deciding I might not have enough ivory fabric and having to find an alternative in my stash
b) realising I'd cut the fabrics to make the quarter triangles too big - not as bad as too small!
things are progressing. I've completed all the half and quarter-square triangle units for my 5 star blocks and I'm really pleased with the how it's looking. I'll be completing these this afternoon and making another 4 blocks using Flying Geese units.

I'll post my progress later. Don't forget to go to QuiltSue's blog to see what the other Christmas Quiltalong bloggers are making.

Christmas Quiltalong- Triangle Tricks

Today is QuiltSue's Christmas Quiltalong and for once I'll be able to join in. Yesterday I went shopping for some red and green fabric which are Christmassy colours  and also bought a pack of ivory tone on tone fat quarters. I found a fourth fabric for my sashing so I'm ready to go!

I've decided to kill two birds with one stone and prepare a sample quilt for one of the 6 week classes I'll be teaching in the Autumn. In this particular course I'm aiming to teach my students quick and easy ways to piece triangles: half-square, quarter-square and flying geese triangles to be precise. I've designed a quilt in EQ7 so today I'm testing  my own written instructions and taking photos to go in the final handouts.

You'll have to come back later to see which blocks I'm making. Also don't forget to visit QuiltSue's blog Quilt Times for more festive fun!

Noughts and Crosses Progress at Last!

 Here's the Christmas cushion I started a couple of weeks ago - it's almost done! I need to go and buy a zip for the cushion back then I can pop it onto a cushion pad and my first Christmas projeect of the year will be complete. This pattern was demonstrated at the Bernina Club at MKC Services in Leeds  by Glenys and I love it! It's a Jenny Rayment design which was published in Sewing World Magazine a couple of years ago. I was debating whether to quilt it but really I don't think it needs it and as there are 2-3 layers of fabric in the blocks it would be quite tough to do. Here's a close up:

The crosses are really simply sewn by folding and stitching  diagonal pleats then adding traingle of coloured fabric which tuck under the folds. I love the little folded square in the centre of these. The noughts are a clever variation of cathedral windows with bias edges of the patterned fabrics folded back.

The stitching was all done by machine apart from a few tiny hand stitches. I used Superior Threads invisible thread ( with fine cotton in the bobbin) and an adjusted blind hem stitch on my machine. I found loosening the top tension made sewing with this thread much smoother.

Jenny Rayment has written several books on folding and pleating and I'm told she's a very entertaining speaker and runs excellent workshops. She also has an online subscription site with lots of videos to watch called Just Hands On TV.

Happy Stitching!

Hazel x

Bloggers Spring Quilt Festival

I decided to show this quilt for the Bloggers Quilt Festival as it is one of my favourites. I designed it myself from picture of a crop circle.

It took a bit of working out as I had to draw a pattern of overlapping circles then re-draw it in Electric Quilt to enlarge it. The finished quilt is just over 60" square. The brightly coloured batik shapes are fused onto a background of my hand dyed fabric.

The fused shapes are raised with trapunto (an extra layer of wadding) and were quilted using the pattern on the fabric as a guide and polyester embroidery thread to add a little sheen. The background is also heavily quilted with a cotton multicolour thread.

This was as big project for me and was completed for my City and Guilds Diploma. I think it includes everything I love about quilting: geometric design. bright colours. hand dyed fabric and free motion quilting.

Please visit the other blogs taking part in the festival via Amy's Creative Side to see the gorgeous array of quilts on show.

Happy Stitching!

Go Monday - Feather Wreath

I've been playing with my Accuquilt Go feathers die and thought I'd share this wreath project.

The feathers die cuts two shapes and you can cut 3 of each time. Of course you can cut several layers of fabric so it really is fast to cut enough shapes for a project! Can you see how I'd marked the shape outlines with a permanent marker to make fabric easier to place?
Since I was planning to fuse these I first ironed Bondaweb (Wonder Under) onto the back of my fabric. I used a 7 inch strip, width of fabric, which I had left over and cut the fusible slightly narrower so it didn't peek over the edge and attach itself to my ironing board:

Next I folded it in half lengthways and placed it carefully over the curved feather shapes on the die.
Note: I did leave the paper backing on the fabric.

Now place the cutting mat on top and turn the handle to feed it through the rollers. Every time I use this I think of my Grandma feeding laundry through the mangle on her twin tub washer!

This produces 6 feather shapes:

Can you see that 3 of these face the opposite direction? That's because the fabric was folded and it's important because you need both types for this project. I used 24 of one shape and 12 of the other for this project. My strip of fabric was more than big enough for this.

Once the shapes are cut I put away the Go and layed my backing fabric out (22" square) ready to arrange the shapes. First I tried placing them round a dinner plate but was struggling to get them evenly spaced util I had a better idea! I drew round the plate onto freezer paper and cut out the circle. Mine was 9 and 3/8inches. I then folded the circle in half, then half again, then half again (hope this makes sense!) until I had it marked into eighths. I put a pen mark at the edge on all the folds. I then ironed the freezer paper circle onto the centre of my fabric.

I then arranged feather shapes so the points matched up to these marks, keeping the shapes just a little away from the edge of the paper and removing the backing paper from the shapes as I went. It's best to do this on an ironing surface but don't press the shapes in place til you have placed them all!

Now it was easier to place the other shapes evenly between.

At this stage I ironed the shapes in place before removing the freezer paper . Now you need to use the shapes which faced the other direction for the inner circle. I used only feathers in the centre circle but I could perhaps have used one or two more.

So there you have it - a feather wreath!. All it needs now is some buttonhole stitch round the feathers and some quilting. I'll post a picture when it's done.

Would you like to have a try at this? Well I feel a giveaway coming on. Come back tomorrow to see what I have planned!

SewCalGal hosts a list of bloggers who use Accuquilt products. Visit her page by clicking here 

Quilting Gallery Flowers Theme

Did you know that Quilting Gallery has a weekly quilt contest? This week the theme is Flowers so I decided to enter this quilt. I made it at a workshop taught by Claire Tinsley of Hannah's Room. It's fused applique with detail added with Tsukino Ink Pens and free motion stitching. I gave the finished quilt to my sister for her 50th birthday so I think I need to make another for myself!

You can see this week's quilts and vote for your favourite tomorrow. Click here to go to the site.

Quilting Makes the Quilt

It never ceases to amaze me how quilting transforms a quilt top. Today I finished quilting my Santa wallhanging. I stitched around the Santas and trees with my walking foot then got down to the really fun part - free motion. I found this sooo hard to start with but it is getting easier and I can be a bit more relaxed. I'm trying to stretch myself by attempting new quilting designs so I tried some curls on the border and was quite pleased with the result.

I came across a new quiltalong today. This one will concentrate on the quilting rather than piecing so it sounds right up my street. Check out 'A Few Scraps' to find out more about the quiltalong and a giveaway. Also during my 'research' session I found the Brown Bag Quilt Contest. This does sound fun! The idea is to parcel up a a total of 2 yards of fabric from your stash to swap then make a quilt with the fabric you receive. I might have a go at this one too!

Santa

Ta Da! A finished quilt top. I decided two Santas and 3 trees made a nicely proportioned picture. I now have a spare tree and Santa so those can go towards another little quilt and I'll keep one and give one as a present. Just needs quilting and binding now!

Pet on Quilts Show!

Here's my entry toSewCalGal's Pets on Quilts Show 2010. The pattern called Perfect Pooches by Daisy Chain Designs jumped out of me when I saw it at a quilt show and I just had to have it. I adapted the original design slightly to make it bigger by adding more paw prints and bones at the top and bottom. It has been admired whenever I have shown it at quilt group events and people have offered to buy it but I don't want to part with it!   I made this a while ago but it is still a favourite because we have two dogs of our own and my daughter has two as well. All have their own unique character and are great fun.

 Here's Kate having a snooze on my 'Red Square' quilt on the spare bed in my sewing room - she always likes to be close by!

Kate (collie/greyhound) with Meg (Border Collie) and Pringle (greyhound/saluki). Pringle is Jennifer's dog and he's named after the crisps (chips to those from the USA). Have you heard of Pringle the  makers of  Scottish jumpers? Well that's a perfect name for this dog as he was born in Glasgow and can do this.............

This leap in the air was from standing on all fours and nearly took out the light on the ceiling!

Finally the 4th, youngest and liveliest dog in our lives - Fudge. This is a puppy photo. He's not much bigger now but he's a bundle of energy and much scruffier looking than in this photo. He's a Bedlington/Whippet cross.

Well I'm really looking forward to seeing all the pet quilts in the show! Visit SewCalGal to follow the links to all the participants.

Fancy Stitchin' in the Ditchin'

I bought the kit for this 'Maria' bag from Hannah's Room last week and decided to make it up today. The instructions said to stitch in the ditch of the stripes but I decide to take it a step further and use some of the hundreds of automatic fancy stitches on my machine. I used Superior Threads King Tut on top and Masterpiece in the bobbin and stitched using my walking foot - easy peazy lemon squeazy!
 Click on the picture below for a closer look at both the front and back

Do you use any of the fancy stitches on your sewing machine? I certainly don't use them every day but they are fun sometimes, especially on bags. The first time I used them was on this lightweight denim bag which is one of my favourites - it has been to all sorts of places with me and packs easily inot my suitcase for holidays.

I can't remember where I got the idea fro the spiral from but it was easy to sew. I think I drew round a plate to get the curves! I combined three rows of stitching on the handles. The Bernina USA site has 'Stitch Recipes' for combining decorative stitches if you'd like to see more possibilities.

I've also used fancy stitches a couple of other times in the past year. This tote bag also had 'fancy stitchin in the ditchin'

 I used feather stitch on my woven autumn quilt:

Still, I've only used a small fraction of the 180 stitch patterns on my machine so I'll have to make dozens more bags to practise more Fancy Stitchin in the Ditchin !!

Circles Progress

I spent odd moments this week trimming my circle blocks so couldn't wait to piece them together after work today. They went together like a dream and I'm thrilled with the result! I've only got to add simple borders and it's ready to layer and quilt. I may have to pop over to Hannah's Room for some bright binding fabric tho - oh dear it will be such a chore to browse through all those shelves of batik!

Oh and by the way, I've just discovered that Quilt Direct are now selling the Accuquilt Go! They are going to be showing it off at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August - another good reason to visit the show.

Going Round in Circles!

Today my quilt group Tuesday Quilters had a workshop taught by Janet Crossley. We worked on  a 'Circles and Triangles' quilt of easy and quick blocks made by piecing half square triangles in contrasting colours and then fusing circle on top. I chose a dark purple and white fro the triangles and a multicoloured batik for the circles.  Janet brought some samples to show us:

Everyone worked very hard and we  got loads of blocks finished! I love workshops like this because it's fascinating to see which colours everyone has chosen. I always think they have made better choices than me!
Here are just a few:

So now I just need to finish buttonhole stitching my circles and then join the blocks to make the quilt top which shouldn't take long. I could do it tomorrow while my better half is watching the Grand Prix / World Cup Final. On the other hand the Queen Bee Quilters are holding a quilt show in Whitby. Hmmm, difficult choices ......

Ooooooh almost forgot - my EQ7 upgrade arrived today Woo Hoo!!!!

Steps, Snowballs and Felt

I found some lovely teal fabrics recently in the sale section at Embsay Crafts and had to buy them - they are perfect for our living room colour scheme. I bought half  a yard of each of 3 fabrics, plenty of a toning background plus another half of the darkest fabric for binding. I didn't know what I wanted to do with them but inspiration struck when I started thinking about my quilt group theme for June: Log Cabins.
 
I played around in EQ6 and came up with Courthouse Steps blocks. I've steadily been making  blocks every couple of days and now have quite a few. I'm going to keep on til I run out of fabric then add sashing cut from the background fabric. I'm loving this colour scheme. I showed them to my quilt group and they were horrified when I said the quilt would go on the sofa and the dogs would snuggle up on it!!

I've also been making up snowball blocks every Monday. I had to miss a few weeks for my holiday but I've managed 18 complete blocks so far. That's not bad really and as there's no deadline I'll carry on for a while longer.

At the weekend I went up to the Dales for a meeting with my former classmates from  City and Guilds. Only Sally and I made it to Charmians and we spent far too long talking, drinking coffee and eating cake to get any real work done! After lunch we decided to go and visit Charmian's daughter Kirsty in her studio/workshop at Pateley Bridge. She is textile artist specialising in felt making and runs workshops for small groups. Her studio is close to the Nidderdale Museum and several other craft studios, the King Street Workshops. It's a lovely studio filled with her art and beautiful little items which make great gifts. She also sells second hand craft books which people give her and other recycled supplies such as lace and buttons as well as wool for felting. Of course it would have been very rude not to buy something! I got a lovely bag of mixed wool for felting and some pieces of beautiful cotton lace. I'm planning to dye the lace but don't quite know what I'll use it for!

Here are Charmain and Sally pretending to be busy in Kirsty's studio!

Kirsty stitching surrounded by her lovely felted items.

 If you get the chance you really should visit Kirsty and say 'Hi' - tell her I sent you! Pateley Bridge is one of my favourite places to visit in the dales. You can walk by the river, browse in the shops and have great Yorkshire fish and chips!

The trouble with leaving a whole week between posts is that I have sooo much to write about! I'll have to make an effort to post more often.