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.  

A couple of Christmas makes

I know I'm a bit late to talk about Christmas, but I wanted to document these little makes.

First, gift tags for the mums and Nana CA.  I made these using a free kit from Pretty Patches magazine.  Simple shapes cut out and hand appliqued in place.  I added the date in back stitch.  An eyelet through the top (the eyelet setter included in the kit didn't work so I used my trusty Cropodile Big Bite) and threaded with ribbon.

Mr CA came home from shopping just before Christmas with a gingerbread house kit for me.  I made it on Boxing Day morning so I could take it with me to family dinner with my parents and my brother's family.  My 3-year old nephew ate nearly all of it, he didn't like the sweets though!

It is far from perfect, and I'm definitely not going to win a place on The Great British Bake Off, but I enjoyed it!

Oh that reminds me.  There was a gingerbread house making competition on Kirstie's Handmade Christmas.  I was invited by the show producer to go on the advent calendar competition on the first episode of the show and I forgot to tell you!  I turned it down... You couldn't pay me enough to go on TV!

cushion

Following hot on the heels of my Art Deco wall hanging finish is yet another finish and one from my Finish Along list!

My 2014 FAL goal setting post is here.

I appliqued this cushion top back in April, you can see my original post here if you are so inclined.  It's taken me 8 months to finally finish it into a cushion and it only took an hour or two to do.

I free-motion quilted swirly loops and little hanging hearts all over the top, avoiding the applique pieces. I also chose to leave the vase unquilting, though it doesn't make it pop out as the quilting is not very dense.

I used two co-ordinating greens for the back, no idea what they are, sorry, they're from my stash and I suspect they were from the Stash club I was in.

I sewed right sides together and turned out, creating the envelope back at the same time, as I couldn't face binding this.  I really don't enjoy binding and I'm very rubbish at it.

I quilted in a light green thread, then struggled to get decent photos of it!  I think you can make it out in this photo, very basic but not too bad.

It's nice to get this off the list and onto the chair in the living room.  I'm now officially finished with cushions as we've ran out of room for them!

orange peel qal

I'm still chugging along on the Orange Peel QAL.

I managed to get all my peels appliquéd and I even avoided a hole in my finger by finally getting used to wearing a thimble.  I have to wear it on the ring finger of my left hand (I'm left handed) as I find myself pushing the needle through with the side of my nail.  Without a thimble, the needle eye sinks into the space between nail and flesh.  Gross and painful.

The next task was to trim the blocks down and sew them together.  We deliberately made the blocks oversized at 6" so they could be trimmed down.  I read the instructions, then took this project with me to the next meeting of the East Midlands Modern Quilt Group where I promptly forgot the instructions and cut them all down to 5.5" which I think is a shade too small. 

Some of them took some major trimming down and were often sewn on at a funny angle, so I'm glad we did it that way.  I thought sewing them together would be a nightmare, and it was.  I had to unpick and sew loads, though I was only aiming for workable and not perfection!

The finished quilt is pretty big, for a mini.  If the blocks are 5" finished, there are 6 rows and 6 columns so that means it must be 30" square?  Give that girl a prize for her maths there...  Next stage is to quilt it.  I might attempt some FMQ in the backgrounds, not sure what I'll do for the actual peels.  Any suggestions?



Related posts

first update
appliquéing peels

Orange Peel along

It's time for an update for the Orange Peel QAL.

At the last update I'd completed my first set of 6 peels.  I'm doing them in sets of 6 so I can reuse the freezer paper templates.  Since then I've completed another 2 sets - yellow, purple and orange.

My next 6 peels are prepared, one more to be basted and then I can start sewing them down to the background.  I don't really enjoy the hand sewing and I'm not sure why I didn't machine sew these if I'm honest.  I'm definitely not a hand patchworker!  

Ah well, I'm more than half way there now so I'm going to keep going!


Related posts

first update

Orange Peel QAL - first update

I'm not sure if I've ever told you that I plan to join in the Orange Peel QAL held over at Button Button?  If you want to join in, there's loads of time, we've just got started.

I'm making a mini of some description, so I only need 36 blocks.  We have another 6 weeks to go, so that means I need to be making 6 blocks a week.  I got started with the green blocks.  It uses freezer paper applique and is hand stitched.  The blocks are oversized and will be cut down afterwards to avoid having to make sure the orange peels are precisely placed.

I'm digging through my scrap bins for this one, so these are just a random variety of greens, all appliqued onto a low volume background, in this case, Bike paths.  I can't believe I just said low volume. 

Yellows next...

And to think I'm allergic to oranges, hope I'll be OK!

Reverse Applique wall hanging

I've shown you a couple of sneak peaks of this project so far, and of course the entire solids fat quarter bundle I bought as I needed a couple of solid scraps, so I thought I should perhaps show you a bit more.

I'm making a wall hanging using reverse applique and fusible binding so it looks like a stained glass window.  I'm following a pattern for this one as I fell in love with it and hand to have it.  Above shows the coloured squares being sewn on and trimmed.

This is how it looks from the front.  I sewed down each marked line, I then had to cut out the white fabric from in front of the coloured pieces.

So this is where I am so far.  I actually started sewing on the fusible binding after taking this photo, I'll update you on that soon, but it's going so fast I think it might be almost finished... I hope so as this is my September goal for ALYOF.

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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Craft book review - Jewelry for All Seasons
Craft book review - Wild Blooms and Colourful Creatures
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Craft book review - Wild Blooms and Colourful Creatures

Good morning ladies.  Just a quick clarification on my last post. The blocks were supposed to be wonky. So thanks for the comments saying they don't look wonky, or they do but they still look alright - I was aiming for wonky as they were wonky improv blocks!

I was given access to a pdf download of Wild Blooms & Colorful Creatures (affiliate link - if you do click over and buy something, I'll get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher) to review for you.  This post is also my challenge for Needlequest January, which has the theme of "spring".

(source Amazon)

I was given a review copy of the book by C&T Publishing however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.

I showed you this sneak peak a few weeks ago.  This is my applique pieces all laid out and ready to go.  There are 15 projects in the book and I would happily make each and every one.  As I like to make a project from books I'm reviewing, I chose one of the smaller cushions, though I'd happily make any one of the quilts in the book.  Seriously, hop on over to Amazon and have a look inside the book.

The book opens with basic information about using wool fabrics and some applique techniques to get you started.  I chose Still Life Pillow as my project, though I didn't copy the exact layout or stitches.  I used wool felt on a background of cotton, the vase is cotton too, though you could make any of the projects entirely from wool or from cotton.

The vase is needle turn appliqued, the first time I've tried this technique.  I really, really enjoyed it.  The flowers and stems are all decoratively appliqued with embroidery floss and beads.  I enjoyed every second of this project.  Oh hang on, that's a lie.  I didn't enjoy being jabbed 50 million times (no exaggeration) by the pins I used to hold it together.  Next time - Bondaweb!

Next come the projects, ranging from quilts and cushions to a couple of bags and some ideas for embellishing shop bought (or hand made though no pattern is provided) items.  At the end there are 38 pages of full size patterns for all the projects.

So what do I think of the book?  I think the applique section could be a bit more informative, I had to turn to another book I had to learn to needle-turn applique.  Apart from that, I love this book.  The projects are truly gorgeous and would be so easy to alter and personalise, as I have done with this project.

I actually wish I had a hard copy of this book, I know I'd sit and flick through it time and again.  I'd love to make one of the quilts in the book, and maybe one day I'll find the time!

If you'd like a copy of the book, you can buy it here: Wild Blooms & Colorful Creatures

(affiliate link - if you do click over and buy something, I'll get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher).

I was given a review copy of the book by C&T Publishing however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.

I'm linking up to: 

Craft Book Sew along and Something New for 2014 (rather tenuously, though this was my first go at needle-turn applique, however small!)