The freedom quilt

I have been working on this mini quilt for months, and finally it is finished and hanging in my living room!

I think I might have shown it to you when it looked like this... but maybe I forgot.  The words are improv pieced (my favourite technique and one I'm teaching tomorrow at the East Midlands Modern Quilt Guild) in shades of blue Kona solids, and the background is scrappy low volume.  

I put a 2" border around it using each of the colours I'd used for the words.  I then auditioned a potential scrappy low-volume border v. a blue binding.  The blue binding won. It was at this stage I realised I'd made the border to the exact size and it would change as I quilted it!  Off it came and a new border went on.  Yes, my pjs have sheep on them.

It was also at this stage that I realised I'd forgotten something rather important....

Credit.  These lyrics are from She Bangs The Drums by The Stone Roses, one of my favourite bands ever.  I embroidered the names of the two co-writers using the fonts on my Janome Atelier 5.

I bound the quilt in a blue Alison Glass print and added hanging corners.  I then got my Dremel out and cut a piece of dowel to size.  It's hanging from some yarn - I need a better solution than that!  I completely forgot to measure it, but from memory of doing the borders, I believe it is 33" wide x 39" long, so bigger than Silent Scream.

I took down Silent Scream from above the mantlepiece and put up The Freedom Quilt in its place.  Silent Scream was how I felt during depression.  My depression lifted shortly after my husband left so this Freedom Quilt is an expression of freedom both from him and from it. 

This seems to be the only close up picture I took to show the quilting and the binding.  I was planning on free-motion quilting it, but I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do, so I had a go at straight line quilting instead and quilted a grid.  It was fairly quick and easy, but I have to say I prefer the look of FMQ.  

I have a confession.  I didn't bury the threads.  In fact, I didn't even cut them off on the back, I just left them there.  This is, after all, a quilt whose back will always be facing a wall!  Don't think I'll be winning any quilting awards any time soon....

Now to decide on my next lyrics as I'll be starting a new quilt tomorrow.

Finishing things off

Hello my lovely readers.  I am back.  I think I'm back, I suppose that remains to be seen. Thank you for your wonderful messages of support on my previous post, it's so lovely to know that people care.  My situation remains unchanged, some days are OK, some are horrible.  I'm struggling to differentiate what is grief over the end of my marriage, what is me missing Mr Ex-CA and what is depression/BPD.  Anyway, enough of that!

I've made plenty of things recently. I've been to a lot of classes (including 4 at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show), however I've completely failed to take photos.  I'm going to remedy that soon, but in the meantime...

I made the clear and black version of this necklace in a class, a LONG time ago.  I then bought the components to make the aqua and black one.  A couple of years ago, as I was putting on the aqua one, the thread snapped and the beads on one side fell off.  Another day, the clear pendent fell off the necklace.  There they sat for years... I think it took me 20 minutes to fix them both!

I also finally took the time to hang some of the wall hangings I've made.  I bought some dowel which I cut to size and sanded with my Dremel.

This quilt got pride of place over the fireplace.  I love seeing it up.  I wish I'd put it up months ago as maybe Mr Ex-CA needed reminding of what I was going through...  (see the quilt here)

My large blackwork sampler went on the wall in the living room.  I felt I needed a narrowish space to hang it due to the shape.   I apologise for the photos, however there's no natural light in my house (I have film on the windows to stop people seeing in) and this was the best I could do.  (Much better photo of this piece found here)

Harry ended up on this wall in the dining room with a picture I bought for Mr Ex-CA and (just out of shot) one I letterpressed for him.  I'll be removing them at some point so Harry might move.  (See a post about this quilt here)

This hanging was placed next to my ceramic hearts in the first floor landing.  I can't get a front-on picture as that would involve me falling down the stairs...  Again, it's pretty murky and the hall (along with 70% of my house) really needs doing up!  Any keen DIYers who fancy coming round? (Better picture of the quilt here)

This post was quite painful to write (though I don't really know why), but I'm glad I'm blogging again.  I'll be back soon.

silently screaming

I've posted about this mini quilt a couple of times, you can see it here and here.  It's only a mini so you would have thought one post would be enough without me harping on about it for months!

I was stumped by the quilting.  I took me ages to think of a design, then when I started quilting it, my new machine had a hissy fit and I had to give up.  I got it done in the end though.  It shows up really nicely on the back which is a non-branded blue with white polka dots.

Here's a close up of those swirls and pointy bits, it was a bit annoying having to do inside the letters.

Then came time to bind it - I made a length of scrappy binding using some of the Kona reds I'd used for the text.

And low and behold, it was finished!

The lyrics are from Broken Strings by James Morrison.  It's a love song, but it screams depression at me.  Silently of course.

I did credit him - I used one of the fancy alphabet fonts on my Janome.

I also remembered the hanging corners!

At July's Guild meeting I took the letters for Silent Scream #2 and pieced them into words, then into the lyrics.  I haven't quite finished here as there's a bit of a gap top right and I think I need to bring it out a little so I don't end up with the binding sitting right next to those bottom words.

The lyrics are from Pray by Take That, written by Gary Barlow.  Again, it says depression to me.

Is it depressing to make a series of quilts about depression?  The actual making of the quilt makes me feel quite happy, so I suppose not.

Silent Scream

I've been working on another quilt, a mini this time.  I didn't show you any progress photos as it just kind of happened one day!  I used the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci which gives the basic technique of making improv letters.  I thought this would take a long time and thought that I'd try to make a word a week.  

I made all the words in 2 hours and took another 2 hours to put them together into a finished 30 x 30" quilt top.

I have just realised, looking at this picture, that this isn't a picture of the full quilt top!  There is a scrappy aqua border all round it and the name of the songwriter embroidered on a scrap of aqua.  Ah well, never mind!

The song is Broken Strings by James Morrison featuring Nelly Futardo.  I know it's a love song, but to me, this line is about depression.  This is what depression feels like to me.  I've called it silent scream as that phrase also sums up this horrible illness as far as I'm concerned.  Maybe those who have experienced the pain of depression understand what I mean, maybe not as everyone is different.

The background is a mixture of aqua scraps, which didn't start their lives as scraps, I had to hack into FQs as I found a grand total of 10 aqua scraps in my scraps bin!  The words are in various Kona cottons, one colour for each word.

I have since started the quilting by echoing just outside each letter in a variegated aqua/blue thread.  I plan to FMQ the rest, though I'm not sure how, I'm wondering about small spirals.

The backing fabric is a cheap cotton from Fabric land.  I intend this to be hung on the wall.  I may wash it when it's done, but I don't intend to wash it regularly so didn't mind using an inexpensive backing.

craft book review - Mini Quilts

I'm still working my way through the craft books that the lovely folk at GMC sent me to review.  I've been working on a project from Mini Quilts.


Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

I was quite excited to get this book as I love mini quilts.  I've never made one, though I had started one before receiving this book.  I also knew that my project would be my entry into Le Challenge as this month's theme is "small".

The book opens with the basics - materials and tools required, how to sew the perfect 1/4" seam, basting, quilting and binding.  You then move on to the projects, 19 of them each one teaching different skills. 

This project focuses on thread painting, but also teaches the additional skills of creating an applique pattern and fusible applique.  Each project has a large photo, step-by-step instructions and photos.

The above crayon-painted quilt is one which I'm itching to try.  Other skills taught include precision piecing, stencilling, foundation paper piecing, trapunto, tying a quilt, applique and much more.

This project uses tucks to create a really textural piece.

Traditional techniques such as needle turn applique are also included.  I think you need to be able to look beyond the fabric choices in this book, the projects tend to be made from more traditional materials, but if you can envision them in modern fabrics, there is so much to gain from this book.  Looking through the projects, I could see a way in which you could update each one, still benefiting from the lessons in the project, but to make a less old-fashioned mini.

This raw-edge applique silhouette mini caught my eye.  Of course, I was seeing rabbits!

The project uses a photo of your pet or child to create a silhouette, though of course, you could use any picture you like.  I chose Harry.  He's a black bunny and he's little so I thought he'd work well, also the best photo for this technique that I had was of Harry.  Sometimes my buns are in positions that would look odd in silhouette.  

The project teaches raw edge applique (which of course I have done before), but also inset borders, mitred borders and twin needle quilting.  I wanted to follow the project instructions exactly to really get a feel for the book.  I printed Harry out smaller than required though (by accident!) so my Mini does end up smaller at 13.5" square rather than 17" square.

Overall, the instructions were pretty good.  I found following them easy, though i struggled with the inset border as I found the instructions for this particular part too vague - "baste your inset border" - huh?  Where?  Pointing which way? Where do I stitch?  I wung it and hope that I've got it right.  I like the effect anyway.  Oh, for those of you who don't know what an inset border is (I didn't), it's the purple dotty border.  It's only attached to the green stripe, it's floating above the background.

Despite the evidence above, the instructions for the mitred corners were better.  The biggest issue I had was that it told you to stop stitching 1/4" from the edge of the background fabric.  I couldn't get that.  I'm sure it's quite simple, but I resewed some of these corners 3 times.  And they're still crap.  That's my fault though, I got impatient and just thought "sod it"!

The book has instructions for putting a false back on the quilt as the twin-needle quilting isn't very attractive from behind.  I wasn't worried about that as I plan to hang this mini, so just used some fugly fabric from my stash and left the quilting.  I added corners so I can hang it, I've seen this done on other quilts, but now it's finished, I still don't know how to hang it using the corners!

You can see the reverse of the twin needle quilting above.  You can also see that I tied off all my quilting threads rather than back stitching as I usually do!

Overall, I like this book.  I can see beyond the fabrics used and think that all the different techniques and skilled taught means this is a great book for an advanced beginner or intermediate quilter, though even advanced quilters would find something they hadn't tried.  The instructions are a little lacking in places, but there are several pages dedicated to each project so mostly the projects are easy to follow.  It's a book that I want to use again to try a few more techniques.

If you fancy having this book for your own library, keep an eye out as I'll be giving a copy away soon!  (not my copy, I'm keeping that!)


The details:

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Taunton (7 May 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1621137961
• ISBN-13: 978-1621137962
• Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 1 x 25.4 cm

Linking up to:








This month's theme is "small" - small for a mini and small for little Harry




Seriously, come and join in, there are prizes!

New for me - my first Mini quilt, inset borders, twin needle quilting







Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.

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