A New Love Affair

Other than fabric, threads and art supplies, one other thing I cannot resist is books. I have been a bookworm all my life, and until recently I thought e-readers were a horrible idea. I love the smell of books, the feel of them in my hands, the beauty of a bookshelf stacked with books...why on earth would I want to read books on a gadget?

But then I saw my friend's Kindle and I started to warm to the idea. Like me, she reads fantasy novels and some of them are ridiculously long and heavy enough to cause an injury. And the writing on the Kindle screen looks just like the writing in a book; and you can make it bigger for when your eyes get tired; and you can look words up in the dictionary as soon as you come across them without even leaving your seat! I was convinced.

So when the taxman sent me a refund for £90, about the same as the cost of a Kindle, I figured this must be a sign and I treated myself...just in time for a few days' holiday. Yep, I could go away for a few days and take a stack of books with me, and still hold them all in one hand :-).

So here I am in the hotel, reading in bed with my Kindle:



As you can see, Gman has gone for the more conventional book approach!

And here's my new love on the table in the hotel room:



Shamefaced at carrying my new love round in a jiffy bag, as soon as I got back home I whipped up this case for it:





I used the tute on 100 Billion Stars' blog, adjusting for the smaller size of the new Kindle. But the totally off centre button fastening is my own special take lol, and not part of the original instructions!

Christmas Through the Year - a February Finish!

First day of February and my first gifts for this month are completed.  I made two luggage tags, using some lovely African fabric I bought last year.  The directions for making the tags were in one of the free Quilting Arts ebooks. 





Not sure who they are for yet...maybe whichever of my jet setting family or friends shout "meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" the loudest ;-)

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.

More Stitch Files

I've done a bit more on my stitch files...

I experimented with running stitch to make some darning patterns:



And made a little sample of feather stitch:



After looking at the amazing samples on Raphaela's blog, I will definitely be back to explore this stitch a bit more :-)

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!

Morsbags

The arrival of the Morsbags winter newsletter spurred me into action and I whizzed up these two Morsbags this avo:



They have been cut out and ready to sew for far too long - think the sparkly stretchy material was putting me off, but it wasn't too bad to sew up after all and is a bit festive :-)

I do like to be beside the seaside...at sunset

More fun with the embellisher :-)

I made this fabric postcard for my mum. The background fabric is a scrap of denim. I needle punched wool rovings, scraps of different fabrics and yarns onto the background, then hand embroidered using running stitch, fly stitch, herringbone and crown stitch; and then there's the beaded bling factor.

I am pretty pleased with it and I think mum liked it.

Check Out the Ring!

No, I'm not talking about dodgy horror films...or worse still, royal wedding engagements ;-). Eagle eyed readers will notice a new thingy on my side bar. Yes, I am very honoured to have been asked by the wonderful Dordogne Quilter, Clare to join the Liberated Quilters webring. Go check out the other liberated quilters - there's some great blogs featured :-)

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.

A Sunny Afternoon

And I was able to complete the next "ring" of hexagons...

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)

Rippin, stitchin, swapping and changing my mind

I mentioned in my last post that I was planning on making a corduroy quilt as a tribute to the Gee's Bend corduroy quilts.  Well, I've started it!  It is very liberated.  I did no measuring and very little cutting, simply ripped the cords into strips of various widths and lengths.  Next I stitched them together into four log cabin-ish blocks, taking strips randomly.  One strip I accidentally sewed the wrong side up but when I looked, I thought "hey, I quite like the look of that!" so I left it.  I am loving the way it looks and feels so far, but I have run out of my thrifted corduroy now!  I may try and get some soft denim to add a border to the quilt, bringing it up to lap quilt size.  But typically, since I've been looking out for some lovely soft denim in the charity shops, I haven't seen any!  So once more, it's "watch this space" to see how it progresses.



I have sent off two postcards for a swap on Lib-Quilters.   Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of them before I sent them on their way...but here's one I didn't send plus one I've made since:





The ric-rac octopus was originally made for the swap but Waif wouldn't let me part with it!

The red and black star is going to a friend who donated some scraps for my hexagon project.

Which brings me nicely to:



I have decided to take a different approach with my hexie quilt. I wasn't quite happy with the flowers. They look nice individually but I couldn't work out how to put them together without a path and not look too random and cluttered. But I didn't want a path cos it would mean making zillions of identical hexies and I didn't fancy that much. So, I am thinking along the lines of a large hexagon star, like a quilt photographed in this Jinny Beyer book.   I am sorting my hexies into light, medium and dark and will define the pattern by value.  I don't think it's going to be a true charm quilt, but I will try to make sure there aren't more than 3 or 4 hexies of the same fabric and that they are not close to each other.  Hopefully I will be able to use the hexie flowers round the edges of the star somewhere - if not they will applique themselves onto something or other, no doubt...