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.  

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!

I will conquer you Improv...

I've been improving!  OK, so it's a very gentle kind of improving.  Sort of following a tutorial improving.  But improving is improving.  And I'm not talking about improving as in improving, I'm actually saying improving.

This cushion is made following Mod Mosaic, a free tutorial by Oh Fransson!  It's a great wonkilicious tutorial, though I don't do wonk very well, as witnessed by the minimum wonkiness above.

this gigantic cushion was made for Jacob, to go with his quilt, so uses the same Scoot fabrics with white.  I talked about the making of this cushion a few weeks ago, saying I was going to use a 20" cushion insert and wanted it to be snug, so had sewn it to 21".  Good job I did, when I went to buy the insert, I discovered The Range doesn't sell 20" ones, I had to go for a 22" instead.

I hand quilting inside each piece with Perle 8, wonkily and improvly.

and backed it with whatever I had to hand!  Slight miscalculation on the backing front - the whiter fabric was supposed to go over the zig-zag fabric.  I can't think in 3d.

Piles of quilting...

... waiting to be done.  Damn you Husqvarna who were out of stock of darning feet.  I'm still waiting for mine to arrive so I can quilt this baby:

Sorry for the appalling photo.  I could NOT get the colours at all.  It looks like an Instagram photo, but it's not.  The background is actually black.  I followed the pattern in last month's Love Patchwork and Stitching, but I'm pretty sure I've seen dozens of free versions of this pattern on the internet.  It's paper pieced.

This is a cushion for Jacob to match the quilt I've nearly finished... post coming soon (if I ever finish stitching the damn binding down!).  I used Oh Fransson!'s Mod Mosaic tutorial and really love the effect.  I wanted to use the 20" cushion insert I had, but I wanted it to be puffy and full, so I made the cushion cover 21".  Yep, went the wrong way there!  It will have to be cut down to 19".  I got the insert out to see how much bigger it was and realised I'd bought an 18" insert... oh dear.  I hope the Range has some 20" as Jacob's coming up at the weekend!  

Check out my mitred corner!  Take that Y-seams, you are NOT hard.  I have to get this hand quilted (in Perle) and made up, I suspect I'll be doing it at this weekend's Quilt Guild meeting.  Ladies, prepare for a panicky Wendy!

FAL and ALYOF finish!

Yep, that's right, not only have I finished my April goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes, I've also finished my first goal for 2014 FAL (2014 Finish Along), you can see my original, goal-setting post here.  I was #98 in the ALYOF link up.

And what is this finish?  It's the chair cushions for my dining room that I started about 2 years ago.  I made one patchwork panel which I've since lost.  It was time to start again as I'm sick of eating my dinner with my hands above my head (slight exaggeration, but they table is too high for the chairs, all second-hand).  I wanted to take some in-situ shots, but due to the privacy film on the windows, I couldn't get a decent shot.  So out to the garden we went, me and my chair.

Ta-dah!  Filled with a 2" thick foam pad which is only slightly too big for the chair (ahem!), the cushions tie onto the back rungs to keep them in place.

If I'm feeling particularly short, I can pile them all up together, and maybe put a pea underneath.  Would I feel a pea with my fat arse? No chance, I probably wouldn't feel a vegetable garden, even without the cushions.

The photo shoot caused some curiosity...

"Tiff, Tiff, what's going on Tiff?  Mum seems to have a chair and she's taking pictures of it.  Does this mean we've got to go to the vet?"

"I don't know Harry, but I'm very, very suspicious.  No, I don't like this at all..."

This was the final panel to be pieced, started and finished at the EMMQG meeting earlier this month.  I used the random HSTs left over from the other cushions.  I put the border on to make it up to size, unfortunately it got cut off later.  Why unfortunately?  Because I mitred it!  Yep, Y-seams!  You know what, they're not hard at all!

Each panel was made to 18" x 18", layered on 2 layers of fusible fleece, then quilted with random blue threads I had bits left of.  Due to the broken darning foot, all are straight line quilted.

See?  I quilted 3 of them at the meeting, and it wasn't until I started to make them up into the cushions that I realised I'd made the panels too big!  Oh dear.

I'm sure no-one will notice the cut off blocks!

I think I showed you these flying geese before?  They were quilted with a continuous square spiral.

This one doesn't look so bad with the corners missing, but I wish I hadn't put all that brown in the middle.

My favourite was these friendship stars.  I want to make a quilt out of these blocks, I love them.  

I was at a bit of a loss on how to quilt them, Mary suggested orange peel/dogwood, which I didn't realise I could do with a walking foot.  I love this quilt design!  I will be using this again.

Alas, the friendship stars did not survive the cutting process.  I'm a bit mad about this one.

And last, but not least, we have the Plus blocks, another possibility for a future quilt.  I don't seem to have taken a quilting shot of this.  I echo quilted the centre cross all the way out to the edges.

I made the construction up as I went along.  It all happened on Good Friday.  Mr CA was ill in bed and I have just discovered 24 (yes, I have been hiding under a rock), it's on Netflix and I'm hooked.  I worked all day on these, stopping only to take Mr CA cups of tea.

Not the most polished construction ever... do I care?  Not a jot!

They are all backed with this print from Lily and Will.  It seems I bought about 253 metres of this print as I've still got loads left!  It's making me think place mats... I also have a good yard or so of a blue with brown spot, I think I intended to add piping to these, that is also untouched.

So, one goal from 5 of the FAL is done, 2 others are well on their way, it may just be a successful quarter!

chair cushions

One of the items on my FAL list for the first quarter and this quarter is chair cushions for my dining room.  It's also my ALYOF goal for the month.  Yep, I really want to get these done!  The chairs are quite low and being a short-arse, I need a cushion so I bought the cushion pads and the fabric about 2 years ago.  I pieced together one panel.  I can't find the damn thing!  So I had to work with what I had left, about half a layer cake of Lily and Will (so I used half on one panel?!?) and some yardage.

First up were these Plus blocks by Holly DeGroot in Love Patchwork and Quilting issue 1.  I love this design, I could make a quilt like this...

I've seen Friendship Stars around blogland recently and love the design, I found this Friendship Star in 501 Quilt Blocks.  I probably could have used a bit more brown in this one.

Next I made some flying geese, following the cutting instructions for Fast Geese in 200 Quilt blocks.  I then arranged them and rearranged them until I liked the design.  Having said that, I've just noticed in the photo that the bottom right block and the bottom middle block use the same fabrics... that looks a bit weird...

Look!  Look what I did!!  I accidentally used some bunny fabric!  If I'd spotted it, I would have saved it for my bunny quilt.  Damn!

The flying geeses were not without their errors.  I sewed 10 sets right side to wrong side.  Ooops. I unpicked and resewed, then when I was sewing the blocks together, I discovered I'd done the same thing earlier.  It's staying like that!

This little pile is the offcuts from the flying geese.  They are destined for the fourth and final chair cushion...  Then I just have to quilt them, cut them out to the pattern I've drafted and sew them into chair cushions around a piece of foam.  No trouble there then ?!?  Why do I do these things to myself?

Book Review - Playful Petals

The lovely people at CT Publishing let me loose on their review copies of some upcoming books.  I was so excited that this book was in the bundle.  Read on if you want to know what I thought of Playful Petals: Learn Simple, Fusible Applique (affiliate link - if you do click over and buy something, I'll get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher).

I love Corey Yoder's work so was happy to get a chance to see inside this book.  I was not disappointed.  The book revolves around her petal template (included in the book, it's not a separate buy) and I couldn't believe all the different ways she has of using it.  I can't share photos of the book with you, but you can search inside the book on Amazon.

I wanted to try one of the projects in the book, but don't have time to take on another quilt project, so I started with a cushion.

There are 9 project sets in the book - each consisting of a quilt and a cushion.  I chose this lovely design - Rainbow Petals.  I cut out the petals from some fat 1/8s of Flea Market Fancy and originally  had a piece of Kona White as the background.  I decided it was too boring and swapped it for this Crosshatch from Architextures.

The book starts with an introduction to machine applique and shows you a few different ways of tackling it.  All the projects use fusible web, which is my preferred method.  I used Bondaweb.  There are also tips and instructions for making blocks and finishing quilts.  

This particular cushion was done in two blocks, one with each set of leaves.  I decided to just use one piece of fabric.  It makes a rectangular cushion of approx 12" x 16" and despite cutting my background to that size, I didn't realise it would be rectangular until I'd finished the applique.  Duh!  I didn't want to have trouble finding a cushion form, so added a thin red border to the right and left and a larger blue border top and bottom.

Unfortunately I didn't have a cushion form big enough - I need to buy one - so stuffed this with another cushion.  It looks a bit baggy, but it's lush when you see it in person... if I do say so myself!

I didn't think about quilting it until after I'd pieced the top - then I realised I'd lose some of the size all round, so I left it unquilted.  I did add some piping though.

As I used fat 1/8s, they weren't big enough for the back, so I pieced the grey and blue fabrics together and added a band of piping which you can't quite make out on this photo.  I dropped my camera during this photo shoot and I think I may have fatally damaged it.  I was always rubbish at photos, but these are particularly bad.  

Anyway, I really enjoyed making this and it came together quite quickly, for me.  I'm chuffed with my new addition to the living room and I will make some more of the projects in this book... I'll add them to my massive list!

If you like Corey's style, I'd definitely recommend this book.


Disclaimer:

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.

Related Posts

Craft book review - Mini Eco
Craft book review - Me and My Sewing Adventure
Craftydermy