Christmas Through the Year - First Finish

Thanks to Allie, I have been motivated to start making Christmas presents early for this year!

And on 25th January, 11 months ahead of time, I completed this:



It's a name panel for my youngest niece. Here's the back, showing a hanging sleeve so she can put it on her door, her wall, or wherever:



I hope she likes it.

As this was such a small piece, I was able to quilt by machine and thanks to a top tip from my mum, was able to quilt a pattern onto the black fabric without having to mark. You trace your pattern onto greaseproof paper, pin that onto the quilt then just sew right throught it. When you're done, you can just tear it away. How cool is that?

Birthday, Books, Bargains and...Christmas

Oh well, the alliteration nearly worked...

As some of you might know, I've just celebrated my birthday and I do like to treat myself to some new books in honour of the occasion :-) This year my chosen books were Tonya's "Word Play Quilts" (of course!) and a fabulous book called "Creative Quilting".  Added to that, mum bought me Gwen Hedley's "Drawn to Stitch" which is full of innovative ideas to try.

The Creative Quilting book is all about Journal Quilts and is full of eye candy like this:


Together with a new home-ed friend, I am going to make a journal (8" x 10") quilt for each month of 2011 and this book is chock-a-block  with inspiration.  Each quilt illustrated has a brief description of the story behind the quilt, some with techniques used too.  It truly is a lovely book and one I would thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in art quilts.

So, that's Birthday and Books...now on to Bargains.  Each month our local library has a used book sale.  I have no idea how they decide which books to sell, because I have previously bought books from them that seem in perfect condition.  This month's bargain book was the best yet.  It is this hardback book of Embroidery Techniques and Projects:



I have borrowed it from the library several times before and found it very useful, with incredibly clear step by step instructions for loads of different stitches, like these:



And I bought it for the princely sum of 50p.  To say I was pleased was an understatement :-)


And now on to Christmas:

I have decided to join in with Allie's Christmas Through the Year Club - you can read the rules on her blog here. This involves making Christmas presents throughout the year and the incentive is, if you post pics on your blog of your hand crafted gifts by the end of the month, you get entered into a draw to win a small prize. I think this is a great idea and will save the last minute gift making panic that ensued this Christmas :-). The only problem is that a lot of the family and friends I might make gifts for are also readers of this blog. This limits me to the very young, very old and IT-illiterate amongst them...either that or I'll make some generic gifts and whoever posts the nicest comments about them gets them for Christmas hehehehe.  How's that for an idea?

Drum roll please...

...it's my first completed quilt top of 2011!

 



Yep, it's Gman's black and red quilt.  Not sure of a name for it.  Suggestions on a postcard please.

Next step is to quilt it...not sure how yet though ;-)

 

2010 in Stitches

Well, that's 2010 nearly all sewn up (boom boom!) and I think I achieved a fair bit, sewing wise:

• I completed my Jacob's Ladder quilt top, started late 2009 and am part way through quilting it. It's taking a little longer than I originally expected mainly because I made the decision to hand rather than machine quilt. I have counted up, and I have completed 59 out of the 80 blocks. Estimated time spent hand quilting this so far = 24 hours. Yikes. Think I will stick to smaller projects and machine quilting.



• I have nearly completed quilt tops for both Gman and Waif.  Gman's red and black quilt centre is complete, and I working on some wonky square blocks for top and bottom borders (all will be revealed in time).  Waif's village quilt is waiting for a few more trees and lots more fences.



• I made a few mini quilts:  a beach hut themed one for my mum's caravan; a scrappy Army Star/Split Nine Patch for the back of the sofa and recently a little hexagon quilt for Waif's Guinea Baby toy.



• I made a start on a hexagon charm quilt.  Lost momentum a bit on this one TBH, but might pick it up again in the summer, cos I was very partial to sitting in the garden with these!  Bring on the summer.



• Made a nightie.  Think my dressmaking career endeth there ;-)



• Made a load more Morsbags...current tally stands at 137.



• Started to learn embroidery with the help of Sharon's Stitch Files.



• Bought an embellisher machine and made a few cloths with this, plus a couple of little pouches.



• Helped Gman to make two quilts himself, and Waif to make a little drawstring bag.

All in all a sewtastic year :-)

So, goals for 2011?!

• Get the Jacob's Ladder quilt quilted and bound - hopefully within the next two months.


• Complete quilt top for Gman.  Should have this done by the end of January, or hopefully earlier.  Then to decide how to quilt...?


• Complete Waif's liberated village quilt top.  This might take a bit longer...


• Continue learning to embroider with the help of the Stitch Files.


• Make something with a zip.  (this was a goal for 2010, but never seemed to have gotten round to it)


• Have a go at some free pieced letters a la Tonya Ricucci


• Make a journal quilt each month (in collaboration with a new quilty friend).  Watch this space for more info...

I also have a hankering to make an art doll after borrowing Jan Horrox's book from the library.  Yes, I quite possibly have lost the plot :-)

Basically, I just want to continue to learn all I can about quilting, embroidery and all things textile.  And to have fun doing it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

A Finish

Not a WIP, or even a WISP, and defo not a UFO...it's a finished quilt! OK, so it's only 16 inches square, but it's complete!

It's a Christmas present for Waif's soft toy guinea pig - "Guinea Baby" who particularly likes hexagons and the colours red, yellow and orange. Apparently. Hope he approves.

The hexagons are flowers I made for my hexagon charm quilt (before I decided on the star layout) and I hand appliqued them onto the squares. I machine pieced the squares and machine quilted. The binding is "mock binding" ie the backing brought forward to the front.

INTERNATIONAL TONYA RICUCCI DAY

OK, I peaked too early...yesterday's post should have been today (oops)

So today is the day to surf the Liberated Quilters webring and read all about the wonderful quilts people have made, all influenced by Tonya. You could start off by having a glass of champagne at Clare's blog...

Ode to Tonya

As all liberated quilters will know, today sees the release of Tonya "Lazy Gal" Ricucci's first book "Word Play Quilts". Aside from Gwen Marston herself, Tonya has got to be the most influential liberated quilter about. Certainly, if I hadn't stumbled across her wonky house tutorial, I never would have discovered liberated quilting, never would have joined and been inspired by the fabulous Liberated Quilters yahoo group, met the wonderful Clare, and made a start on my liberated village. So, if you are not familiar with Tonya's stuff, step on over to her blog, then order your copy of Word Play Quilts!

To complete my ode to Tonya, here are pics of all my Tonya-inspired wonky houses in all their glory:






I can't wait to get my sticky mitts on a copy of Word Play Quilts and I am sure you will be seeing some free pieced letters on this blog very soon :-)

The Stitch Files - Running Stitch

Sharon has released part four of the Stitch Files - you can download them here.

One of the stitches this time was the humble running stitch and I have had fun with it. First off, I challenged myself to stitch with colours that do not normally form part of my palette (pastel, muted, pink - feminine!!) and made this little felted piece:



I actually quite like it, and so does DH, cos he has pinched it for a mat to put on top of one of his speakers!

Then I had a play with whipping and interlacing rows of running stitch, and I like the way they look too:



As well as working on my stitch files I have also been doing a bit of holiday related stitching. Some I can't reveal as the recipients may well see this blog first, but I can show you this, which is a little embellished and stitched piece I created to affix to a sketchbook for my much loved stepdad:



I think this is my favourite piece of embroidery so far, I especially love the effect of the chain stitch tree trunk. I was inspired to stitch this by some of the lovely brooches made by Kayla coo - check them out on her blog.

I am also busy making a mini (doll sized) quilt using some of my hexagon flowers. Waif has demanded a quilt for his soft toy guinea pig - the imaginatively named Guinea Baby - and apparently Guinea Baby insists on hexagons and a red/orange/yellow/brown colour scheme! I don't have time to piece a whole hexie quilt, even this size, so I am hand appliqueing the flowers to square blocks which I will then sew into a four patch. The first two are yellow and orange flowers on red backgrounds, the next two will be red/brown flowers on an orangey yellow background. I think it will look pretty nice :-). Let's hope Guinea Baby approves!

A New Toy and a Proud Boy

Woohoo - I am the proud owner of an embellishing machine :-). It's a Pfaff 350P - check it out. I've done a bit of experimenting with various materials, yarns, ribbons, scraps...and so far this is my favourite piece, felted from pieces of two scarves I bought from a charity shop (plus a teeny bit of chiffon), then hand stitched with chain stitch swirly bits:




I think what I will love best about the embellisher is the opportunity to use all sorts of scraps and shiny bits...and making lovely textured surfaces to embroider on. Watch this space!

On the subject of proud, my eldest son, Gman, completed his first quilt project this week. He made a nine patch table runner for his bedroom drawers. He chose all the fabrics and pieced and quilted it himself. As you can see, he is very pleased with his efforts! And his mama is very proud :-)

Back in Black (and red)

Well, I finally got round to completing the flying geese borders for Gman's red and black quilt. I am loving the way it looks so far but it's not quite big enough yet, so not sure what to add to bring it up to size...any ideas?!? It is wide enough, but needs to be longer, so looking at adding top and bottom borders.

Aliens, Alveva and A Bit of Stitchin

This weekend, me and mum popped over to nearby Feltwell to check out the Alveva Quilters exhibition. It was held in a farm barn and was fffffffreezing but was a really special show. There was a range of different quilts on display, some hung from the beams which looked lovely, as well as a couple of trade stands. I didn't spot any liberated or free pieced quilts but was delighted to see several stunning scrap quilts, as I much prefer scrappy to overly coordinated. And the home-made cakes were delicious :-)





As far as my own projects go - I am up to 36 blocks quilted (out of 80) on my Jacob's Ladder and have just started sewing hexies together for the first spike on my star. I have nearly finished the flying geese border for Gman's red and black quilt.

Oh yes, and I have decided to try my hand at some embroidery. Sharon, over at Pintangle is running a series of "stitching files" and I have downloaded the first six with a view to putting together my own folder of stitching. I have made a start by making samples of buttonhole, herringbone and chevron stitches, as well as collecting examples of these to inspire me.





Oh, and I made this alien mini-quilt for Waif from one of his drawings, using backstitch:




I know I have a very long way to go but am enjoying the process as well as being part of the Stitchin Fingers community, where there is lots of inspiration to be gleaned.

Still here!

It's been a busy few weeks and sewing has been on a bit of a back burner but I have been beavering away on hand quilting my Jacob's Ladder quilt (30 blocks down, *only* 50 more to do :-)). Struggling a bit with sewing my hexagons because I really can't see well enough in electric light to do these accurately enough, and chances during daylight hours to sew are few and far between!

After laying out my house blocks for Waif's quilt it was looking like the village needed a couple more houses so I knocked these up:




The first one is "too much caffeine house" and the second one is clearly inhabited by a jazz musician ;-)

I think the gaps will be filled with trees, stars, and random bits and pieces. I found this tutorial on tree blocks, so think I will be giving that a go.

Bits and Pieces

I've been doing lots of fiddling around with works in progress this week.

Having decided to go with a hexagon star design for my charm quilt I laid the first few rings out, to see whether I prefered the rings in a single colour or scrappy.  I think I prefer the single colour...but I'm not sure.  What d'ya reckon?




Next in line was the corduroy Gee's Bend style quilt.  I got three pairs of jeans for a quid from a charity stall and got to work ripping them into strips.  I laid out the strips together with some leftover bits of corduroy from the centre to see how it would look.  I think it's gonna be great!



I've also been working on hand quilting my Jacob's Ladder quilt.  I have quilted 17 blocks out of 80 so far (yikes, still a way to go!) but although it's time consuming, I am enjoying it and I do like the way it's looking (ignore the basting thread, will take it all out when Ive finished the lot)