Archive for the 'Quilts' Category

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#MSBHQAL and A Lovely Year of Finishes October

Published on 29/10/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Patchwork and Quilts. 26 Comments

At the beginning of the month I set my goal to complete my #MSBHQAL top.

I was so nearly there; all the blocks were made, I sashed them and then hung the quilt top on the wall and after a day or two I decided that it needed to be bigger;

So I pulled fabric, cut and then did some production line sewing, 8 blocks on the go and got them completed within 24 hours! I did work hard on my placement of this additional set of blocks and am fairly happy with the final layout.

Due to other stuff going on in life I was pretty motivated to get this quilt finished. What to back it with? I pulled some yardage but wasn’t overly convinced by any of them, then in conversation with Tobit, I decided what would be really cool would be a giant broken herringbone on the back, therefore making it reversible. I turned this over in my mind wondering if it was truly a stupid idea and then got down to working on the maths. That almost drove me to breaking point but the wonders of Touchdraw saved me.

The strips were much longer than those in a 12.5″ block and it was much harder to work with as it was so big. I ended up using strips that were 10″ wide, on reflection 9″ probably would have worked better but when it comes down to guess work I think I did ok!

Once I had basted it I realised I needed a quilting plan, with little headspace for creativity I decided to go ‘simple’ and just outline quilt around each strip of colour! In theory simple, but in reality it took a while, I got it done over 3 days.

I love how the quilting looks great on the back too:

The binding is scrappy, I used up leftovers from all the blocks, it saves major time on decision making and uses up scraps – win, win I think:

I love the whole quilt photo shoot ‘event’, it usually involves going to the park at the end of our road and pegging the quilt up on the fencing of the basketball or tennis courts (depending on how busy the courts are and the direction of sunlight). It is often the first time I get to see the quilt properly. So much time is spent up close working on it, and it’s really great to step back and see the whole thing:

Quilt stats:
Pattern – Blocks designed by Anne at Playcrafts, tutorial here
Fabrics – from my stash and scraps boxes, some from swap with the QAL host Molli Sparkles and purples kindly donated by Trudi and Emily
Binding – scrappy leftovers from blocks
Backing – giant broken herringbone
Quilting – By me on my Janome Horizon, outline around each block
Size – Approx 52″ x 64″

Thanks very much to Molli Sparkles for hosting a great QAL and keeping me motivated throughout.

Linking up with:

Bloggers Quilts Festival – October 2013

Published on 27/10/2013 by Mary in And Sew On BOM, Paper piecing, Patchwork, Quilts and Scraps. 18 Comments

I’m guessing that if you ‘live’ in the world of quilts and fabric the fact can’t have passed you by that Quilt Market is happening right now and therefore it’s time for Bloggers Quilt Festival.

It took me a little while to decide what to enter, I like to show you all something new rather than enter one you’ve seen before, so I’ve decided to reveal my And Sew On BOM wall hanging:

I started this on the 31st December last year (Australia are ahead of the UK so it was already January there!), I kept to schedule and made a block each month. If you want to read my post on each block just select the And Sew On BOM category on the right hand side.

If you do read the other posts you might notice that I had an issue with this block:

The top left piece of fabric is whiter than the other background pieces, I pulled them from my scrap box thinking they were the same, it really irritated me so before I stitched all the blocks together I took out that piece and replaced it with the same fabric as the other whites – it made me feel much better!

I backed the quilt with a vintage sheet from my collection and added a couple of corners to aid hanging (currently there is a piece of dowel rod in there and it hangs on a picture hook in my sewing space).

I guess I should add a label too!

Quilt stats:
Pattern – Blocks designed by Kristy of Quiet Play
Fabrics – from my stash and scraps boxes
Binding – Tape measure
Backing – Vintage sheet
Quilting – outline around each block
Size – Approx 33″ x 33″
Category – Wall Hanging

Thanks for visiting, I hope you’re enjoying the gorgeous delights of the festival.

Goal for October – ALYoF

Published on 04/10/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Patchwork and Quilts. 9 Comments

Just a quick post on the eve of my little boys birthday weekend to make a commitment to do something with these this month:

Broken Herringbone blocks as part of the #MSBHQAL. I’m hoping that I will manage at least a completed quilt top.

I’d love to go for a finished quilt but with all that October might hold I’m being gentle on myself!

Linking up with:

Made in August

Published on 01/09/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, Paper piecing, Quilts and Siblings Together. 11 Comments

School holidays and sunshine did not make it the most productive month, but still I found some time to sew:

Most of the quilt top was made before August started but it’s definitely an August finish (on the top not the whole quilt!). More paper piecing in the shape of a digger (pattern testing for Kristy) and the And Sew On BOM. Some selfish sewing with pyjama bottoms for me, I joined in the Star Surround QAL and had fun with the Siblings Together Bee block.

It felt like much of the month was spent organising, sorting, carrying fabric downstairs and working out how to use my new space:

Then there was sewing of other ‘stuff’ that I’ve yet to blog about:

But my favourite creation this month even though no sewing was involved, is this:

Yes my vintage sheet stairs! If you want to know more read this and there is even a little ‘how to’ if you want to do the same.

I’m hoping that with the return of the girls to school in a weeks time and the increase in hours of my boy at preschool I’ll have more time to sew or even paint the kitchen/sewing room/downstairs shower room!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day at Lynne’s for a peek at what everyone else has done with their summer.

Blooming Flowers

Published on 10/08/2013 by Mary in Paper piecing, Patchwork Please, projects and Quilts. 18 Comments

Week number something or other in the Patchwork, Please! sew along and the turn of the Swedish Bloom Time Quilt.

I will admit to starting this a while ago. I can’t remember when but it was before we moved out of our living room into our new space…

I started with the flowers:

I spent a fair amount of time pulling fabric, putting it back and pulling more!

Despite thinking that I didn’t have much green in my stash I managed to find enough different prints for the leaves.

This was a bit of a long term project, one I picked up and put down depending on what else I had to do but it didn’t feel like it took a long time. The flowers and leaves are paper pieced which was quite therapeutic to do once one was complete.

I did spend a lot of time thinking about the layout, whether or not to have the flowers all the same way up or not. In the end despite my love of symmetry I did opt for following Ayumi’s quilt layout in the book and I’m pretty pleased with it:

I was delighted to use some fabrics that I’d only just bought, quite often fabrics sit in my stash for a while, but all the border are new fabrics including the Francophile Stripe in gold and purple by Suzuko Koseki which was kindly sent to me by the lovely Amber from Dapple and Grey.

My next job is to choose a backing fabric, I think I might have just the right vintage sheet fabric in my stash…

Check out some other great paper pieced projects here:

Made in July

Published on 01/08/2013 by Mary in projects and Quilts. 7 Comments

Wow July seemed like a really busy month and a long one, maybe because I think I got a lot done.

A Bee block, Patchwork, Please! sew along, name tags for Fat Quarterly retreat, Siblings Together quilt, paper pieced typewriter started at FQR, teacher gifts and more paper piecing. A pretty productive and fun month of sewing.

We also made a huge amount of progress on the house;

this was April:

to this:

and this was the middle of July:

This means that I have more room to sew, there is still a huge amount to do, this space here IS destined to become my sewing space:

Although someone came home from work yesterday talking about working from home more frequently due to lack of office space at work…

I think I need to make my mark quick! Those lovely built in cupboards will be housing my stash and sewing kit.

I hope you’ve had a good month, looking forward to seeing what others have been creating over here:

Books for Baby quilt top

Published on 28/07/2013 by Mary in Babies, Boys, Paper piecing, Patchwork, Patchwork Please, Quilts, Scraps and Zakka. 18 Comments

On Wednesday after a couple of days of paper piecing (which I’ll show you soon) I had a look at the Patchwork Please sew along project for the week and discovered that it was the Books for Baby quilt. A few weeks ago I had decided that I would like to make this quilt in fabrics suitable for a boy and had pulled a pile of possible book covers.

It was the last day of school for the girls so my last day of quiet sewing with a small boy for company. It didn’t take long for me to sew up this:

I loved the fact that I could fussy cut the text print AND that it complemented the book cover. My only regret is that I didn’t use the orange print on the spine as well as the corners but I wasn’t about to unpick!

Spurred on by how quickly this came together I spent the evening cutting fabrics for 11 more blocks. I’m not quite sure how but by the end of Thursday I had made all the blocks and pulled fabrics for the borders and sashing! I promise I didn’t neglect my children! We did a food shop, a puzzle:

and they didn’t go hungry.

While I was selecting fabrics I came across a text print that said something about ‘falling in love with the robot maker’ so that had to go with the robot book (Madrona Road maybe?):

I don’t think it’s that wonky in real life!

A book about bicycles, tricycles, tandems and trailers:

And watch out this may have a snappy creature inside, don’t be fooled by the cute sea creatures on the cover!

On Friday morning while still in my pj’s I sewed the borders around each block, then went off to my mum’s to fruit pick, coming home with most of this lot:

Once the children were tucked up in bed last night I continued sewing and managed to put the whole quilt top together:

For a seemingly complex quilt I am amazed at how quickly it came together, the paper piecing was straight forward and most of the fabrics for the spine and book corners were from my scraps box. Now I just need to decide how to quilt it – any suggestions? I’m thinking that for the first time ever I might hand quilt it as it seems a bit too special just to machine…

Linking up with:

Modern Plus Quilt for Siblings Together

Published on 17/07/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Boys, Quilts and Siblings Together. 3 Comments

I’m off to FQ Retreat at lunchtime tomorrow (yippee), starting with a road trip with Emily, Jo and Susy – I can’t wait. I have 2 quilts to squeeze in to Emily’s car, this one and this one:

I’ve mentioned it a few times before, here and here and the fact that my target was to get it finished by today. Big tick for me and for my ALYOF goal too.

I followed Jeni’s tutorial for the Modern Plus quilt and it worked just fine, except that I scaled it down at Jeni’s suggestion as the FQ bundle was cut short (less than 18″). I pieced with Aurifil 2021 50wt which is fine and my machine loves it.

I quilted approx 1/4″ either side of each seam using Aurifil 2150 40WT. I had a small reel of it and was fairly sure it would run out during quilting so before I started I put out a plea on Instagram and Katy kindly saved the day sending me a big reel of it. I’d not used this weight of thread before in my machine but it quilted beautifully giving slightly more definition that the 50 WT I’ve previously used.

Now all it needs is a label which Laura will bring to retreat. I plan to spend Friday evening on the terrace at Baden Powell House with the FQ crew, Alex Veronelli and a glass of wine stitching labels on both these quilts.

Delma from the charity Siblings Together is also coming along to meet us and take away a pile of quilts for this years summer camps, I will have tissues at the ready.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 58″ x 68″
Fabric: Superstar by Riley Blake
Backing fabric: Superstar by Riley Blake
Binding: Superstar stripe in orange
Quilting: Quilted by me on my machine
Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Wadding 80/20
Pattern: Modern Plus Quilt by Jeni B

Linking up with:

A Lovely Year of Finishes – goal for July

Published on 02/07/2013 by Mary in A Lovely Year of Finishes, fabric, Patchwork, projects, Quilts and Siblings Together. 4 Comments

So last month saw me piecing a quilt top for Siblings Together, I now need to piece the back, baste, quilt and bind it.

It has to be done by 17th July as on the 18th I’m travelling need to London to the Fat Quarterly retreat and want to hand it over then. Technically I suppose that’s a goal for just over half the month; but I’m taking into account that exhaustion both physical and mental from retreat will wipe out the rest of the month and one child breaks for holiday on 19th July and the other two on the 24th. So really there is little hope of sewing action in the last week or so of the month.

Linking up with:

June’s projects

Published on 01/07/2013 by Mary in craft, Dress a Girl Around the World, Patchwork, Patchwork Please, projects, Quilts, Siblings Together and Zakka. 6 Comments

June saw not much progress on the house front but I got some sewing done;

Projects from Patchwork, Please! my first ever bee block (check out the speedy Lynne who has already pieced the top), paper piecing, a quilt top for Siblings Together and on Saturday I organised a Dress A Girl Around the World event in which 36 dresses were stitched and more taken home to be finished.

With a lot of hard work I hope that July will be the month of a floor in our extension and a kitchen. So who knows if there will any sewing but there may be a new sewing space for me!

Linking up with: