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.

Necessary sewing

It was time to make myself a new lunch bag and September's meeting of the EMMQG was just the time to do it.

Above is the new lunch bag.  Below is the old lunch bag.  I made it back in April 2013 and, reading back through that post, I hated the Lamfix lining from day 1.

Look how manky that is!  It's been through the wash a couple of times, but it was gross and I was embarrassed about it.  Check out the inside:

Putting it through the was caused the adhesive-oilcloth-type-stuff that I'd ironing onto the cotton to peel away.  In some places, like where I'd attached the handles, it had ripped.  Over time more and more bits had ripped off.

And then the zip pull broke.  It was time.  It had to be done.

I didn't need a pattern this time, it's a basic pouch with handles.  I also decided there was no need to have a wipe-clean lining as I'd never needed to wipe it clean, it was more important that I could put it through the wash.  The main fabric is a gorgeous Rowan fabric, possibly Amy Butler?  It was given to me by Kerry-who-abandoned-me.  I used some Littlest on the ends and some Art Gallery elements.  The colours all matched perfectly, though I can't decide if they are blue or green!  

I did a diagonal cross hatch quilting to attach the fabric to the InsulBrite.

This time I attached the handles to the outside only, before I added the lining, and I put a strip of wadding in them to give them more body.

I don't know what the lining fabric is, I've had it in my stash since my first sewing days.  I made this one a couple of inches bigger in each direction than the previous one as some of my plastic sandwich boxes were a tight fit.

Hmmm, what was I trying to show with this photo?  I must have thought you'd want another look at the lining.  

One this that was not an improvement over the original - the ends of the zips.  What a mess!  I was really careful to make sure that the ends of the zip had a fabric piece on them big enough to be included in the seam allowance, with enough left over to sit neatly.  Didn't happen.

I don't know what the ends of the zip are so bulgy!

As I seem to be going for some kind of world record of number of photos of one lunch bag in one post, here's another!

Secret Santa in July swap

We did a Secret Santa in July cushion swap at the East Midlands Modern Quilt Guild.  We were each given a person to make for and a list of their likes and dislikes.  When I discovered I'd got quilting professional extraordinaire Trudi, I begged our swap mama Moira to make a new rule that the cushion couldn't have any quilting on it.... she refused.

I went from not having an idea, to having a pretty much fully formed idea overnight and I got started, this was back in June, or maybe even May... I think it was before I became ill again this time.

I didn't follow a pattern, I just made it all up.  I drew the outline of a sewing machine, improv pieced some aqua scraps, then traced the shape onto Bondaweb which I fixed on the back.  Not until I'd actually quilted it did I realise the sewing machine is back to front!  I sewed round the edges and added the details in free-motion thread painting.

Trudi loves Aurifil, so, despite my ambiguity towards the brand, I made Aurifil spools in her listed preferred colours. Each area is quilted differently.  Some are geometric square designs and some are curvy.  I did four and then struggled for ages to think of other designs to use!

The middle section had loops and hearts and the borders were matchstick quilted.  I did a simple ribbon pattern in the spools.  The aqua borders are left unquilted.

One of these pictures should show the segment I did in pebbles.  It took FOREVER.  It can't be a very big area, the overall cushion cover is 22", so we're talking 6-7", but I was quilting those pebbles for hours - so it felt.  Never again.

A quick shot of the back where you can see the quilting pretty well.

I used a tutorial by Ms Midge to do the lapped zip which I've never done before.  It was really easy so I'll be doing that again.

See, there really is a zip under there!

And my cushion?  I knew it would be a bunny!  This is by the very talented Gillian.

My apologies that all the links (except for Ms Midge's tutorial) are to Instagram, my intrepid fellow guild members have all abandoned blogging for the instant gratification that is Instagram.  I go on Instagram every now and then, but I find after about 2 minutes I'm just flicking and the images are flying past.  Much like how I felt about Flickr in its day, there's not enough depth to Instagram, it's just photos and no real stories.  

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 #1 and #2

It has been a long time since I've posted about quilting.  I'm still in the throws of this terrible episode of depression, waiting for the anti-depressants that I don't want to be taking to kick in, and my sewing room doesn't hold any fascination for me at the moment, I don't know why.

I did take some time to do some quilting on Silent Scream #1 though, and got quite a way through.

I'm FMQing swirls and little pointy bits (that's my very catchy title for the stitch pattern) using my lovely Janome Atelier 5 with the darning foot and feed dogs down.  I'm using a Guttermann's variegated thread in different shades of blue and quilting around the letters, not over them.

Here you can see some of the pointy bits I'm talking about!  I'd been quilting for a couple of hours, on and off as I have to take frequent coffee-and-pointless-flick-through-social-media breaks.  Then this happened.

I cleaned out the bobbin case, the Janome demands this a lot more frequently than my Husqvarna ever did, I changed the needle, rethreaded the machine and used a new bobbin.  Nope, not happening.  So I gave up.  

I must be more than three-quarters of the way through here!  Since taking these photos, I went back to the quilting and... it was fine.  So Janome was just having a temper tantrum then.

I've also started free-piecing Silent Scream #2 (oh yes, I'm going for a series here).  Can you name this tune?

A bit unfair really as only the Brits (and maybe Irish?) would know this band and their songs.

In the midst of all the crap going off with my mental health, I received a lovely parcel from the lovely Kerry.  She left me (me personally, she didn't emigrate, she left ME) back in January for a new life in Canada and I miss her so this really brought a smile to my face.

There were also chocolate coins (Canadian dollars of course), a Canadian quilting magazine and some Peeps.  I've always wondered what Peeps are and now I know.  Really f*****g scary is what they are!

Thanks Kerry, I will reciprocate, I'm just being particularly crap at the minute and we all know I'm crap at the best of times.

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.

Chevron shoe mat

I have finished the shoe mat that I was making a few weeks ago.  A lot of you expressed horror that I would put muddy shoes on such pretty fabric, but hey, it's better than putting shoes on ugly fabric!

I made a panel from HSTs in a chevron design.  I used a charm pack of Fancy by Lily Ashbury and some Kona Coal.  The finished mat measures about 40" x 16" so it's long and skinny and it fits perfectly underneath the radiator.

Here is a picture of the back.  I have no idea why I've taken a picture of the back or why I might have thought you would be interested to see it!

I layered it right sides together with an old towel, sewed all round leaving a gap, then turned through.  Anything to avoid binding!  

I quilted it with my walking foot, just echoing the chevron.  I was hoping to avoid quilting the outer edge as it would be lots of stopping and starting, but it just doesn't look right without quilting.

I chose to only do two lines of quilting in the triangles though.

I think it looks pretty cool from the back.

And here it is complete with muddy shoes!

Cuzco

Cuzco is finished!

Cuzco was actually finished about a month ago but I didn't get a chance to take photos.

Since you last saw it, it has been quilted:

Ooops!

It has had the binding sewn down:

And it even had a label made for it using my lovely new machine:

Yep, I decided to call it Cuzco.  I'd been calling it Cuzco since the day it was cut out and no amount of trying to think of a fancy pants name paid off, so Cuzco it is!

This quilt took me a year and a half to make, though I pretty much only worked on it at Guild meetings, which used to be every six weeks, but then changed to monthly, so I don't think that's too bad!

The pattern is Stained Glass by Sarah at Narcoleptic in a Cupboard.  She ran it as a QAL in 2012 (you know me, always up there with the latest trends!) and the pattern is free and very easy to follow if you're interested in making one.  The fabric is a F8 bundle of Cuzco by Kate Spain that I nabbed on an Instagram destash.  I used Kona Steel for the sashing and binding.  I quilted it myself using the Angles and Circles pattern from Leah Day's 365 Quilt Designs book.

The back was pieced out of necessity.  I used a large piece of one of the Cuzco prints (I'd bought 3 yards following Amy Butler's instructions when I made her Weekender Bag, this was the lining, and it was far, far too much), a large piece of a Klona grey in a similar shade to Steel, a strip of pieced leftovers and a piece of blue/purple fabric I happened to have hanging around that I thought might go!

Then I stitched a label on my Janome, blanket stitched it in place by hand using pink embroidery floss, and took a picture of it upside down.

It says:

Cuzco (with a pink heart)
aka The Guild Quilt
my name
2014-2015

That there is my real name, not the spy name I usually use on t'internet, so if you're really curious, you can have an upside down squint and find out who I REALLY am!

I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year's Eve.  Ours will be spent in front of the TV, cheese board on the coffee table.  Wine for Mr CA and coffee for me.  It was going to include Junior CA but I told her our plans and that I'd probably be in bed by 10 and she elected to go to a party at her friend's house instead.  She is 16 so I don't blame her.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope it is happy and healthy for you all.  I hope to see you around the Blogosphere in the new year and hope that you'll still come to visit me.  I don't have any resolutions or special plans, I'm going to try to concentrate on being happy.