Another quilt top finish

This was officially my oldest quilt top WIP.  I cut and made up the blocks around 3 - 4 years ago and it then got put to one side (I made 4 smaller versions using the same fabric and was supremely bored with it all LOL).

It's huge - around 60 x 90 inches - and is for Connor (he can grow into it).  I now have to dig out the backing fabric I have and keep my fingers crossed it's enough...

It's an old Moda fabric range called Silly Safari.

Mermaid Quilt Top

I can't remember when I started putting this together but I know it's been knocking around in the WIP pile for a while just waiting for the two outer borders to be added.

Tonight I added them and now it's ready for layering and quilting:

I don't suppose I need to tell you who it's for...

Housekeeping

So I was thinking about my plan to make at least one project from every craft book I have over the next 12 months and I thought it might be fun to get down the books and choose the projects.

As mentioned before, I don't have many books - somewhere between 20 and 25 I guess - so I piled them up and started checking them out and  I was more than a little surprised to find that, quite a lot of the time, it was difficult for me to find even one project I wanted to do in a book.  To the extent that I now have six books set aside to sell because I can't imagine ever making anything from them.  Not only that, there are a further four or five that when I've made my one project I can't see me bothering making anything else.

I can't believe it.  I wouldn't have said my tastes have changed much over the last few years but they must have I guess.  Three of the books are quilt designs and I have made one quilt from one of them, probably three years ago now, but the rest just don't inspire me at all.  Maybe it's because I got the books when I was a novice and now I know a bit more I'm up for more of a challenge.  I know I have lots of patterns and projects I'd like to do outside of the books so I'm not worried I'm going to run out of projects, I'm just surprised that it was so many of them I wasn't inspired by.

On the plus side, if I sell the books I'll have some cash to buy some backing fabric and wadding for the tops I have to finish up.  And I'm more likely to manage to complete my challenge if there are less books included LOL.

I have moved on to my next project and it is a quilt top.  I should confess that this is also a long standing WIP so I'm killing two goals with one stone. The only problem is that the fabrics are horrible to work with.  Really thin and flimsy despite the stupid amount of starch I've been using.  I have to say I'm not enjoying it so much but I'm not ready to give up just yet.

A Quilt Top!

Well that's the top done. It's taken a bit longer than I thought as all those star points were a pain. Simple enough to sew but they meant that blocks had different size logs on the outside layer depending on their position in the quilt and I had to make sure I didn't sew the triangles the wrong way around so I actually had to concentrate. I managed really well up until the last two logs this afternoon both of which I had to unpick LOL.

Anyway I love this, it's totally me! Although I'll have to fight DH for it as he wants it too. I saw the pattern in the book (Jelly Roll Quilts, Pam and Nicky Lintott) and the versions in there are pale florals with white or cream stars but it instantly shouted at me as the right one for this jelly roll as long as I used black for the stars.

The book calls for a border around the logs and I'm not sure yet if I'll bother, I may just bind it in black. I have some jelly strips left over so I'm thinking of putting some squares together for the backing - I think I have a plan but I'll need to think about it a bit more. Plus I need more fabric for the back whatever I do and that won't be bought for a while.

Can you tell what it is yet?

No prizes - it's not exactly hard LOL.

Here's a taste of the blocks (there are 16 all together) with two rounds of logs.  There's one more round of logs to go but the last round have to be 'modified' a bit so that's the next step.

The colours are much bolder in real life (yes really they are!) I'll try and get the next pic in daylight hours.

A quilt started...

Well I've made a resolution to get one project made from each craft book I own by this time next year.  This isn't quite as ridiculous as it sounds as I only have around 20 books (yes really, that few!)  They are all either quilting or sewing project books so no cross stitch is included in this challenge. To be honest I have no idea if I'll manage it or not - the idea is that each project I do has to be completely finished - so all quilts quilted, etc and, as far as is possible, I have to make each project using my current stash.

To this end I've started my first project from my 'Jelly Roll Quilts' book.  I had a Moda Marbles citrus jelly roll that I wanted to use but was two colours short so when I met up with some friends yesterday I bought two long quarters of additional colours so I could get going.

So here are my fabrics:

And here are my cut pieces:

Now all I have to do is sew them all together!

I made a quilt!!!

Okay it's something I've done before but it's definitely not something I've done for a while LOL.

This was actually destined for my son at one point - to the extent that I'd cut it and started putting the piano key border together - but now it's being gifted to a friend who had a little boy a month ago after five years of trying and six miscarriages.

It was a kit from The Bramble Patch and I quilted it very simply - between the blocks, round the border and every eighth 'key' on the outer border.  Because I'd done all the cutting and some of the sewing I managed to get the whole thing put together yesterday including the binding so it's ready for me to take tomorrow when I go and meet the little guy

The First Bag

Finally I've stopped talking about the party bags and started making them!

Here's a pic of the first one (apologies for DH's luminous running jacket in the background!):

 

And here's a pic of the bottom of the bag:

 

The threads you can see hanging off the side are just from the last bit of sewing around the top band and I just need to tie them off properly.  As you'll see from the pic of the bottom I messed up the seams of the base just slightly (top left) - my own fault but I know why it happened so I'll be more careful on all the rest.

Finished bag size is approx 9 inches high.

I'm using a pattern from a book called Simply Christmas by Sarah Wellfair.  I've adapted it slightly but only for ease of making it up as I have a fair few to make (22 of this style!).  I've not bothered with wadding and quilting and the top band is supposed to be hand sewn around it's base but I've machined it.  Oh and she hand sews the handles on at the end but I've sewn mine in when stitching in the lining and top band.

I've cut all the fabric for the rest of the bags:

 

The lining is also all cut so now it's a bit of a production line!  I've used all the pink fabrics I could find in my stash so there's a real mix - hopefully no two bags will be exactly the same.

It's about 45 mins to an hour per bag so I'm hoping I can get two or three done a night now they're all cut so fingers crossed I should have them done by the end of next week.  I'm using a much less complicated pattern for the boy bags - they'll be one fabric draw string bags and there's only 12 of them so they should hopefully stitch up even quicker.

Confessions of a slap-dash quilter

I started quilting about four years ago when I discovered that a shop in my home town ran quilting courses - this meant I was able to drop Lia off with my family for the day and I could go learn to quilt.  This was back in the days when I could take leave from work whenever I wanted because we weren't tied to school holidays which was lucky because the courses tended to be during the week rather than weekends.

I don't remember exactly how many courses I went on, probably about 8 or 9 (it's a long time ago and I've had another baby since then LOL) but it was love at first class for me.  I'd never really been inspired to use my sewing machine, in fact I have no idea why I bought one as I had no clue how to use it or what to sew on it, but all of a sudden a new obsession was born.

I've made around a 20 quilts in the intervening years as well as smaller items and, of course, my ever expanding WIP pile and one thing I've learnt about myself is that I'm not a precision sewer.  I absolutely prefer speed to perfection and I'm certainly not into quilting by hand as, if I'm going to sit and stitch, I'd rather it be cross stitch than quilting.

I should clarify that I love, love, love making quilt tops.  I love the designing, measuring, cutting and sewing of them.  I like it when they're fiddly (just as well since I have a Dear Jane quilt on the go), I love the fact that seemingly random pieces of fabric can come together into something gorgeous and I love the 'wow' moment when the top is finally completed.

What happens next is the problem for me as I'm pretty slapdash at the whole quilting part of the project - they're not going to fall apart but they definitely couldn't be entered into any competitions. I like to think this is lack of space to layer and pin properly and having a small sewing machine which makes quilting larger items a real struggle but in truth it is really just my impatience and dumb ass attitude that causes the problems.  I don't know why but I seem to look at the quilting bit as boring sewing rather than being creative and if it's boring sewing I therefore have to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.  I also think that my lack of experience doing it means that I worry about messing it up and ruining my hard work on the quilt top.

Apart from one class on free motion quilting I've only ever done the stitch in the ditch method and most of that has been wonky LOL.  So one of my goals this year is to get better at putting the quilts together and I've just found a blog post over on Stash Manicure that I think might help.  I'd never considered the idea of quilting blocks as I go - to be honest it hadn't occured to me that I could - but I'm thinking that I could use this method to make a bunch of smallish blocks that I can practice free motion quilting on and then if I do mess them up I at least am only messing up a small block rather than a whole quilt top.

I have no idea if this will work but my pile of quilt tops is just going to grow and grow if I don't get more confident in my skills.  One thing's for sure I cannot afford to pay someone to quilt them for me so it's definitely time to bite the bullet.

Table Topper

This design is from a magazine - I'm just not 100% sure which magazine now as it's been so long since I started it LOL. I believe the original was a lot more subtle than mine (not hard) and I'm sure it had some applique in the spokes.

I've just got to finish quilting the spokes (if you squint you can probably see I've sewn three of them top middle of the pic) and then sew on the binding round the centre circles - again so near and yet so far from finishing. I must get better at seeing a project through!

Spring Fever quilt

Another one where the blocks are made I just haven't put them together.  The fabric range is a Me and My Sister design for Moda and I bought a fat quarter pack, a Jelly Roll and two Charm packs as I thought it was just lovely - very fresh and light.  Oh for the days when I could splash out on stash LOL.

I saw this block design somewhere on the web and the quilt will be made up with 2" white sashing between the blocks.  I have used the jelly roll and charm packs making this top (well half the jelly roll anyway as the other half is making my bag pictured yesterday).  I'm thinking to back the quilt with some of the fat quarters but that will still leave me with quite a few fat quarters for other projects.

Jelly Roll Bags

Yet another 'hang my head in shame' post.

The summer before last we went on holiday to a wonderful set of cottages in Devon that happen to also include a quilting shop on site.  We went with my Mum, DH's parents, my Sister and BIL and my Niece and her husband and little girl - a really lovely family holiday (apart from the rain!)  So my Mum saw the pattern for this bag and asked me to make her one and my MIL wanted one too.  They chose the fabrics (spookily they both wanted the same ones) and I said I'd make my Mum hers for her birthday.

My Mum has had two birthdays since the fabric was purchased and I still haven't finished the bag.  My MIL did get hers which is even more shaming.  Anyway I am determined that this is to be the first project I work on finishing and I also started one for me that I was making up in parallel so hopefully I'll get both of them done this month.

You can probably guess that the top one is hers and the bottom is mine.  I think my biggest issue with it has been that I really don't like her fabric choice so haven't enjoyed working on the bag (hence the idea of making mine in parallel).

Oh and if you're at all interested in the cottages it's Villavin Farm on the Devon/Cornwall border.  The cottages are super and Jo who runs them and the quilting shop is just lovely, I can't recommend them enough.  Again the website isn't great and certainly doesn't do justice to her stock but if you're looking for something do give her a call as her service is fantastic.

Silly Safari Quilt

This again is a quilt I started a very long time ago.  I should add that I made four quilts out of this fabric collection and gifted them to various baby boys so I was kind of 'safaried' out after that.  I also knew that it wasn't something that Lia would appreciate so I'll admit that I put it aside in the hope that I would have a boy myself at some point.

So now I have I need to get it finished up.  I've got all the blocks made and all the strips for the border cut so I just need to get my finger out and put it all together. Here's a taste of the fabrics:

The backing fabric is the centre fabric of the bottom left hand block and I also have a fat quarter of labels (not sure if that's the right term but they're little squares each with a pic of one of the animals in) that I'm thinking to applique on the blocks with the plain colour squares in the centre (bottom right)

Heart Quilt

So I finally did a thorough sort out of my quilting WIPs and here's the first to show - it's a 'heart' quilt for Lia that, for some reason I totally lost track of (something in my brain is suggesting this was originally planned as a fourth birthday present which is terrible as she'll be six in June LOL)

Most of the blocks are made so it is just a case of putting them together and then doing the quilting

Tail Feathers

Last June I signed up for the Buttonberry BOM for the Cinderberry Stitches Tail Feathers Quilt. I got my first months package, made up the block and started the stitchery and then it all fell apart a bit as I got pregnant!

The best laid plans and all that...

Anyway, I decided that it would be sensible to get as much of the actual block making bit of the quilt done before the baby arrives as I might then have some kind of chance of getting the stitcheries done.

It's a pretty intensive quilt top, there's definitely no way I'd do it if it wasn't a BOM as the fabric strips are all 1.5 inches wide and as well as the main parts of the blocks there are 376 one inch squares and 24 log cabin blocks each with 13 pieces! There's enough cutting as it is but if I had to cut the strips as well...

At the point I was inspired to get on I had the first seven parts of the BOM (there's 10 in all) so I put together the seven centre blocks including the appliqued birds and stitchery transfers, I cut all the mini squares and I put together the first 12 of the log cabin blocks. I now have part 8 but haven't put it together yet as I'm waiting for part 9 to arrive so I have enough fabric to make the second half of the log cabins. I'll then also put together the last two middle blocks. I'm presuming month 10 will be the final four appliqued birds in the corners of the border but they'll just have to wait till I have the time and inclination to get them done - the package should arrive around the same time as I'm in hospital giving birth LOL.

So here's the blocks I've put together so far:

Log Cabins

A couple of weeks ago I had a burst of energy and got a bunch of quilting done.

A friend mentioned an eBay seller who had some lovely batik log cabin kits and I ordered one which resulted in:

and

There are actually 16 blocks in all which I am putting together into four cushion covers, I just haven't sewn the last 8 together yet. The kits are extremely well cut and presented so I just had to buy another couple once I'd done these, the next ones being blue and purple. They arrived this week so I may just get them put together before the imminent arrival...

Bag Number 1

So back in the summer, before I got pregnant and lost several months to excess sleeping, I picked up a bag pattern that both my Mum and MIL liked and they both picked the same fabrics for it. I promised my Mum hers for her birthday back in August which never happened (oops!) and I inteneded my MIL to have hers as a Christmas gift.

So here's the first bag which will be going to Greece for Christmas. My Mum is cool with the fact that she's still waiting but I do hope to get hers done too as I know if I leave it till after the baby comes she'll be lucky to get it before next August!

Christmas Stocking

Last Saturday I went to a quilting course and we made a quilted Christmas Stocking. I totally over-achieved during the class and was the only one who finished and here it is:

It was a fun day and certainly motivated me to be getting on with projects at home - I miss my sewing machine!

Jelly Rolls

For Erin, and possibly some confused English people!

A jelly roll is a collection of strips of fabric cut the width of the fabric (so about 44" long) and 2.5" wide. They come rolled together and tied up in a bundle so they resemble a Jelly Roll, or what we'd call a Swiss Roll in the UK.

I don't normally like jelly rolls, too much fabric not to my taste in them, and obviously they can be quite restrictive given you don't have any fabric more than 2.5" wide but this roll jumped off the shelf and into my arms screaming 'buy me Joy, I was made for you' LOL. There are tons and tons of books out there with jelly roll designs in and you never know, I may end up doing another one at some point, it'll take an equally lovely roll to entice me again though...

Here's a link so you can see some

More quilty things

So I have been doing some other projects as well as the Baby Jane quilt. Here's a Bento Box quilt I did with my first ever jelly roll:

I made this cushion cover from a kit:

This cute halloween lap quilt was also a kit:

And this is my last quilting class project finished as a 'roll' that I can keep my stitching wips in:

I'm still motoring on with the Baby Jane quilt - three more blocks completed and lots of the applique pinned and ready to hand sew. I've now got just seven blocks I haven't started - five of them the dreaded triangles!

I'm impatiently waiting for my next package to arrive too - it was posted last monday and they usually take a week but we're now on ten days and I'm starting to sulk!