Back on the chain gang

I've returned from a very relaxing holiday by the sea, where I did get the binding on one quilt finished!  The second quilt which I'd hoped to get quilted to take away to bind didn't quite get finished - actually it's quite a way off finished :)   And I'm back on the chain gang - chain piecing that is!  

The squaring up is always what drives me nuts though!  I have to square up as I must admit that my attention wanders when I chain piece and it is the only way I can have a reasonable chance of matching up points nicely. Today I spent two hours pressing and squaring up.  Tonight I've realised that I will be short a few units, so I'll have to cut and piece another 15 or so units.  These units are for the larger quilt that my daughter has requested, I'm hoping to make it three blocks across and three down - each block is 18" finished so this will make it a reasonable size, and I'll probably add a five or six inch border around the outside.  I've been really loving square quilts and hope it will look good once it's made up.  

My daughter chose this quilt pattern from a smaller quilt that I have hanging on the wall in our lounge room.  Unfortunately I don't know the name of the traditional pattern - any ideas?  It's easy enough, all half square triangles so quick to chain piece all the units.

 

I don't usually do scrappy quilts - I adore them when others make them, but I am always nervous of ending up with something that looks like it fell out of the rag bag.  I've restricted the pallet here to purple, pink, and orange, which were requested by my daughter, and I added in some aqua and a small amount of chocolate brown.  I do get very nervous about moving away from my usually quite restricted colour and fabric choices.

I have another week of holidays which I'm taking at home (a sewcation!) so hope to get a few other projects moving along too. I want to make up at least one block of my Swoon quilt, the Swoon Along is looking so good on flickr, some of those quilts are fabulous!  I'm pleased to say that my good patchwork friend Pam is Swooning Along with me.  And of course I've got quite a few WIPs that I should have a look at!

Basting away the days...

When I go away on holidays, I love to take a quilt or two to bind with me.  There is something so gentle, satisfying and relaxing about that last step in quilt making, and to take it on holidays so that I can stitch away with a beautiful sea view is bliss for me.

Back in reality land, that means quilting a quilt so I can be ready to bind!  I am off to Port Macdonnell in a little over a week's time for a few days of sun, sea, swimming and fishing.  And binding I hope!  I have one quilt top finished, and one almost finished, and the race is on to get at least one of them quilted and ready to go.

This is my zig zag quilt top.  I had fallen in love with Jane Dixon's Garden Party line quite some months ago and had it sitting in my shopping cart on Fat Quarter Shop for weeks, when I got a Facebook notification from them offering it at half price!  So I zoomed over there and paid for it quicksticks.  When the parcel arrived, I realised that it is even more gorgeous.  However, because it is quite pared back in colour I really didn't have anything much in the stash to go with it.  I rarely use a fabric collection on it's own to make a quilt, but I think it really worked with this one.  I added white linen, and a couple of rows of a brown 'natural' toned linen, and set to it.

I'd wanted to make this zig zag quilt for years, it looks so simple but it so effective.  And no pesky triangles and their bias edges!  It was, for me, a rare case of cut, sew, quilt top within a couple of days.  Very quick to make, and would have been quicker if I hadn't sewn in one row upside down and had to unpick it right at the end!  Anyway, today I am basting it and hope to start quilting later on as well.  I've got four days off work between now and when I go away - can I get this quilt top quilted in that time?  Probably, (it's only a largish lap sized quilt) but can I finish my other almost-done quilt and get it quilted too?  I really hope so!

A weekend's fun

I spent quite a bit of time working on projects this past weekend, and it got me thinking about my work method.  I rarely start a quilt, and work on it until it is finished.  I tend to have three, four or even five projects all 'current', meaning I am working on them.  I have many WIPs that are not current, that I will go back to at another time (and probably a couple that I never will go back to!).  I seem to work best when I allow myself to do a few hours on one quilt, then a few hours on another, rotating around these projects which are all at different stages.

At the weekend I finished off the last few blocks of my improv Sweetwater Hometown quilt, (photos to follow - I still need to do the sashing).  I also made a few improv blocks for a quilt I am making my Mum.  This quilt is at a very early stage, I've settled on colours (her choice) and have been playing around with improv technique.  I've only made the first six blocks and I've settled on an improv method that works for me.

Mum wanted a quilt made with all solids.  I've added in just a handful of prints as I thought it looked a bit flat.  I love improv, but it is slow and I do seem to waste a fair bit of fabric (lucky it's mostly solids as they are cheaper than prints!).  Mum picked out the design from Malka Dubrawsky's wonderful book, Fresh Quilting.  I took the above photo outside hoping it would improve the colours, but they are really richer than this, and the light colours are really grey and light aquas.

I also spent considerable time choosing colours for a new quilt for my daughter.  She currently has a number of single bed quilts on her double bed, and requested a larger quilt in a half square triangle design.  Choosing colours always takes me quite some time, I like to choose them then leave them somewhere where I can glance at them and be sure I like them as a group before I cut into them.  The stack I pulled for this quilt went for morning tea to a friend's house for her opinion too!  I then cut up 8.5" squares to sew around all four edges and then cross cut the squares diagonally twice so that I get four half square triangle blocks per square.  I also trim them down to 5.5".

The fourth project I spent time on is my Swoon quilt.  Who doesn't adore this block?  I've had the pattern for quite some time and I'm delighted that Katy from I'm A Ginger Monkey has started a Swoon Along.  I am completely addicted to quilt alongs, I find the inspiration and support from other quilters is fabulous.   If you've never tried one, you really should.

All I've done is choose fabrics.  I've decided to cut into my HUGE stash of Meadowsweet and Meadowsweet 2.  I'm really looking forward to this, I just have to buy some fabric for the background.  

I am really happy to be using some of my Meadowsweet stash.  I've been hoarding collecting these gorgeous Sandi Henderson fabrics for years but have rarely used any, I have been waiting for the perfect project - and it's here!   I've been gradually buying them over time and have really got enough fabric for about six quilts.  I'll be ready for any fabric shortage in the future haha!

So that was my weekend's fun, rotating between these four projects, as well as spending time with my daughter who is home from uni on holidays.  My idea of a wonderful weekend!

Blogger's BOM Catch Up

I made the first month's block in the Blogger's BOM four months ago, and then...well, then I fell behind.  Today I only had to work half a day, and the temperature was predicted to head up to about 42 degrees, so I was determined to use my afternoon off to stay inside under the air conditioning and make the next three blocks.  

Block Two - I really liked this block, I think it's my favorite so far.  

Block Three - I love that pink Nicey Jane print, I wish I'd bought it in all the colours it was made in.  A common lament in this house!

Block Four - a bit busy for my tastes but I think it will be OK once it is sewn up with all the other blocks.

All my blocks so far.  Now I am looking forward to the next block instead of feeling guilty!  

I'm a bit frustrated with my photographic skills, or lack of.  I can take a reasonable photo of a quilt or a larger item outside but my inside progress photos and photos of blocks etc. are really dreadful.  No amount of Picnik can really compensate for either my poor shots or the late night and artificial light I've taken these in.  I will have to do some research (good old google) and practice - same as most things I guess!

A new year!

I've been enjoying all the 'wrap up' posts on people's blogs, especially the blogs that have wonderful mosaics of the writer's achievements over the past year.  I haven't photographed everything I've made in the last 12 months, but here are a couple of my favourites:

I made this simple scrappy quilt to feature some fabrics my daughter gave me - blogged here.

This hourglass design is so sweet, I'm going to make it again some day (well, it's on the long list!) - blogged here.

I haven't taken photos of all the small things I've made this year.  I've made lots of bags, purses, ornaments and runners.  I think a big photo session is needed!

I had a lovely Christmas with my daughter, although it was quiet with just the two of us it was also pressure free and very relaxing.  We had a family get together a few days later that was full of noise, food and fun!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve - I'm here with my daughter and a niece and nephew, and I am sure I will be in bed before them.  I do like to make a few New Year's resolutions, in fact I try and make six monthly resolutions as I find that going 12 months is a bit long for me.

• Blog more regularly!  I've had such a long break from blogging and honestly I think that I just got a bit overwhelmed by work getting busy and getting my daughter home from uni for the summer holidays and having another person in the house again, lovely as it is.  
• Improve on my 'start a project' and 'finish a project' ratio.  It's so easy to start things, and much harder to finish them!  I made this a resolution last year, and I did improve, but there's still a way to go.
• I'm going to perfect some of what I see as the more difficult bag making techniques.  Using buckles, stiff interfacing, professional looking straps, zipped pockets and metal catches.  I love making bags, but I tend towards 'safe' patterns, this year I want to challenge myself.
• Destash WIPs that I will never finish.  I made a start on this in 2011, but there is still some projects that I really have to decide to either finish or pass on to someone who will, or throw them out.
• Perfect machine sewn binding.  I usually machine sew one side and then hand sew the back, but I want to be able to neatly machine sew both sides.  
• Get more adventurous with free motion quilting.  I have a handful of basic designs that I use over and over - it's time to expand on these.

There's also some projects that I want to make this year, particularly quilts that I am really excited about.  It's minutes away from the end of 2011 so I will document them another day.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve and a fabulous 2012!

Things got busy...

I've just done our local Christmas market.  Lots of fun, lots of birdie ornaments and LOTS of work.

I'm doing another market this Sunday, and trying to restock in a hurry!

Meanwhile, check out this lovely post by one of our local Horsham bloggers.   Let's go Moerkabout took some great photos at our market, and she's such a sweetie to mention me!

I have bad blogger's guilt for not posting for a month, making for the markets has consumed all my spare time.  And I've been to the city to move my daughter home from Uni for the summer holidays.  And the day job has been Hard Work and Long Hours lately.

Regular transmission will commence soon!

WIP it up

I'm not great at WIP posts.  I love to show a finished project, and I actually rarely take photos of anything I make before it's finished.  I'm trying to change all that...

One thing I've really noticed about my making is that I tend to make about 4 or 5 quilt tops, then quilt about 4 or 5 quilt tops.  I rarely make a quilt all the way through without taking time out to at least start another quilt  along the way.  But once I'm on a roll with the quilting process, I finish up a few at once.

I'm in a quilting phase at the moment.  I have no idea why.  Every year I participate in our local crafty market stall, coming up on the first weekend in December, and I really need to get my Christmas ornament sewing going.  But I feel like quilting!  I'm trying to do a bit of the ornament sewing, then let myself do some quilting, to try and keep it all together.  Hmmm.  I've actually nearly finished up all the quilt tops lying around here (we'll ignore a couple of very old quilt tops hanging in the wardrobe).

So here are some pictures!

This is a wonky stacked coins design that I've made using lots of reds and a pop of yellow here and there on a deep blue background.  You can see that I've stippled it using a matching blue thread.  This picture shows my quilting set up, I use a Horn sewing cabinet with my machine on it, and my dining table behind the cabinet and an ironing board set up to my left lowered to the same height as the cabinet.  This way the whole quilt is supported as I quilt.  I am no expert quilter, but I find that ensuring that the weight of the quilt (especially when it is full of pins and quite heavy) does not drag over the edge of the table really helps keep my quilting even.

You get an idea of the mix of fabrics I've used for the 'coins',  these few include Aneela Hooey's 'Sherbet Pips', Denyse Schmidt's 'Picnic and Fairgrounds', Laurie Wisbrun's 'Tufted Tweets', Kei 'Honeycomb' and some 'Dr Suess'.  I must admit, I am a fabric geek and love studying up on ranges as they come out!

I've called this one 'Wonky Coins From My Stash'.  I love thinking up names for my quilts, and try to use either the pattern name or names of the fabric ranges I've used (or sometimes both!) in the name.  I used  the 'Wonky Stacked Coins' pattern from 'Block Party', a book I recommend for anyone interested in modern quilting.  It's got lots of gorgeous quilt patterns in it, and is written around a 12 month virtual quilting bee so is a really interesting read too.  

This next quilt is taking quite some time to finish.  It's made using a layer cake of Sandy Gervais' 'Giddy'.  Although I am really not a hearts and flowers girl, I adore her Valentine's ranges, they are so much fun and cute without being overly sweet.  Red and pink are a huge favorite colour combination for me too.  The pattern is by Red Pepper Quilts and is called 'Take One'.  The quilt top was pretty quick to put together, and I quilted each end with a pebble design.  

I decided to use straight line quilting a quarter of an inch either side of some of the rows of squares (similar to the type of straight line quilting that Rita uses herself) but then I discovered that my blocks were slightly uneven, which made the quilting a mess.  That didn't stop me, I quilted the whole quilt and then decided it looked awful.  So I'm ripping it out row by row and stippling it.  That's also why it's already got the binding on it.  Slow going, but I'm halfway there now and it looks so much better.  

I'm calling this one 'Take One Giddy Quilt'.  

I used Kate Conklin's 'Through the Trees' pattern to make this third quilt.  It's a free pattern available on Chasing Cotton's blog.  It's a fantastic quick and easy pattern, using the stack and slash method and I had a great time picking fabrics and making it up.  I've used a variation on the classic stipple to quilt it, it's sort of a 'cloud' pattern.  I'll try and get a better photo of the quilting once I've bound it.  

 I've used fabric from my stash here too, Joel Dewberry's 'Modern Meadow', Denyse Schmidt's 'Hope Valley', Rosemary Lanvin's 'Spa', Victoria & Albert Museum's 'Grand Tour' (by David Textiles), Lizzie House's 'Castle Peeps' and the multi-coloured floral print on the cream background is from Sanae's 'Arcadia'.  Told you I was a fabric geek!

The 'Arcadia' print was the starting point to choose fabrics for this quilt.  I picked out the brown, turquoise and orange from it, and came up with this cosy mix.  The cream is a Spotlight Prima fabric.

I'm still thinking about binding.  I think a brown would be nice, to frame it all, or the turquoise, although I suspect this would be much harder to match.  I don't have enough of any of the fabrics I've used left to use as binding.  Anyway I generally prefer to use something I haven't used in the quilt.  I'm also stumped for a name for this one.

It's a good feeling to be finishing off a few quilts, however now I really need to get moving on making some things for my market stall!