Different Crafts

I hope you are all recovering and have had a lovely time over Christmas and have not eaten too many chocolates! 

 

Every year I am given a selection of flowers by hubby to fill the house over the holiday.  Here are a couple of my creations.  Not exactly florist standard this year but I had fun.

 

 

As you know my sewing machine and all the equipment had to be put away for a wee while to allow us to have the diningroom table extended for Christmas dinner with the family.  I was missing my sewing though, so following the idea of one of my classmates this is what I turned my hand to just before Christmas.  

Although I have tried many aspects of sewing it has been a long time since I picked up an embroidery hoop and threads.  I bought this little pincushion embroidery kit at one of the SSEC crafting exhibitions thinking I would enjoy the challenge.   Whoa!  When I brought it home and had a look at it more closely I am afraid it was relegated to the sewing/knitting basket and put on my virtual 'to do list' - the stitching was so tiny!  Well I thought this was the right time to try it out and strangely enough I am really enjoying it.  It really needs patience, I've not got a lot but I am forcing myself to sit still and try.  Good lighting is essential, thankfully I have got Mum's daylight lamp but I don't need the attached magnifying glass just yet.  I think the main thing you need is a lot of concentration with attention to detail.

It is only a 4 inch hoop

 

Wasn't it great that the techie quilt got finished up on time?  He did a grand job and surprised us all. The label has still to be made and lots more photos to be taken but he did get it finished on Christmas Eve and what's more he enjoyed making it and piecing it all together!  I think he enjoyed hijacking my blog too!  Welcome to the club Mr Quilter.

I hope to spend the next few days de-cluttering - quite normal for me at this time of the year.  We all accumulate so much stuff throughout the year so it's time to move things along - to throw rubbish out and recycle/up cycle no longer used items to the charity shops. Today it's the turn of the pantry cupboard in the kitchen which we all call the Tardis - no prizes for guessing why it's called that!!  The sun is shining this morning and everything is a lot calmer, thankfully the winds and storms have passed for the moment.  

Have good week.

Techie Takeover - The Result!!

Morning all, Merry Christmas!!  Techie here.

Look what I finished last night - talk about cutting things close to deadlines!

Finished quilt 36 x 48

Better pictures will follow but I had to put something up to prove I'd finished in time.  Thanks go to Mum for her help but I did most of it myself.  She finished the corners of the binding and did a bit of pressing where I'd made a mess but other wise its all my own work.  The finished size is 36x48 so a good size for throwing over the settee.

It is all machine pieced and most of the quilting was done on the machine too.  For the quilting I decided to quilt stars into the centres of the blocks.

Star quilted into the middle

I decided I wanted to add a bit of myself to the quilt (and I don't mean the blood spilled due to numerous pin and needle pricks!!).  I am a big ice hockey fan and in particular a Calgary Flames fan.  Ever since Mum and Dad took my brother and I to our first NHL game during a skiing holiday about 20 years ago I have followed the Flames passionately.  I even have a wardrobe full of their jerseys.  How does this relate to the quilt?  Well I decided to hand quilt their logo, the flaming C into the top left hand corner.  Here it is

Flaming C

For comparison here is the original 

I've decided to name the quilt 'C'ing Stars at Christmas.  Once Christmas is over Mum or I will add some more photos but for now I am away to play with my Lego.  Yep a 27 year old playing with Lego.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

The Last Post.........

........ before Christmas.  Don't panic followers I'm not throwing in the towel.  I have really enjoyed the blogging universe, I love keeping you all up to date with my quilty projects (although this last couple of weeks have been a bit shabby in the content) I wonder why?  Techie has been hogging my sewing machine!  He is doing really well and might just manage to get his Christmas quilt finished this year after all.  If he does I might just need to get out my old machine and give it a spruce up so he can use it to continue quilting -  he has already proved he can use the rotary cutter and rulers to cut out pieces, stitch in a straight line - although he needs to be more accurate on that quarter inch, pressing needs practice and he is out doing me as he can manage a bit of freemotion quilting, so we may have another male quilter joining the ranks of the experts.

Today I have decided to give you a little look at all my projects where I have used Christmassy fabrics over the years since I started my quilting journey way back in 2006.  I think I mentioned before I try and make at least one festive quilt every year so this post is very photo heavy.  Here we go......

 

 

 

 

hmmm......I think there is one photo missing.  Need to check that out. 

 

Not to worry I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas sharing time with family and friends during this festive period.  I know many of you will be travelling so take care and safe journeys.  Also please spare a thought for the Marie Curie Nurses especially at this time of year.  Many of these nurses give up their own celebrations to be with others needing care and respite. 

 

I hope you will come back and join me again in the New Year when hopefully I will have found new enthusiasm and new projects to add to my list of fun quilts to make in 2014.

 

Strangely Rewarding

A new project started this week with these fabrics



Girly Fabrics



Making Progress





All Trimmed Up



Don't you find it rewarding completing a whole bunch of blocks then sitting merrily trimming and squaring them up?  I sure do, there is something in the rhythm of pressing, smoothing, cutting, turning cutting and sitting back and seeing the bundle of smooth edges appear.  It gives me a sense of relaxed satisfaction after a busy day shopping.  This is a bright cheery block and I am looking forward to piecing it all together to finally complete the top.  

Tuesday evening our class enjoyed our annual dinner, we all enjoyed a good evening with delicious food and chat with friends.  We had decided this year to have a change from our usual fat quarter swap and our Secret Santa parcel had to have a quilting theme.  Some had put lots of thought into this and many of us received unusual and exciting gifts, including quilt hangers, quilting gloves, rulers, templates, books, magnetic pin cushions and wands, even some wine and chocolate made their way into parcels, supposedly to help with the freemotion quilting!!.

I may not have many more sewing sessions as we approach the 25th soon my sewing room will need to be returned to its proper purpose - the dining room!  Everything needs to be packed away but it's always great fun to bring all the pieces of equipment back out and put them back in place after the big event.

 

I hope I might manage one more post before Santa arrives so until then, Keep Calm and Quilt On!

Late Post - or is it Early?

I have missed a post this week haven't I?  I realised this morning so I decided to post my usual Sunday post today just to confuse all my followers.  Thank you to everyone for following along. This week saw me pass a milestone of 6000 page hits since starting out.  I really didn't expect that!  

 

My cold is still lingering but I feel stronger, unfortunately as always I have developed a cough which is extremely annoying for everyone in the house, hopefully it will disappear soon.  I managed a day shopping yesterday trying to make an effort to get some Christmas presents bought for the family. Now I need to get them wrapped and tagged.

Sewing has been slow for me this week as I am between projects and have dithered over what to do next.  As promised here is my Christmas 2013 quilt.

An Original Name - Christmas Quilt 2013

I really like this one and like the offset placement of the squares.  I am pleased I decided on this colour arrangement too.  I did try it out with the middle square red instead of the green but the effect was not as pleasing to my eye.  So here is my finish for this week which I am linking up to one of my favourite blogs. crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

My next project has now been cut out ready for stitching, this is a smallish one and I found the pattern in the new magazine Love Patchwork and Quilting, a very enjoyable read with lots of tips, tutorials and patterns.

Techie is progressing with his blocks too, we seem to be able to manage to share the sewing space for the moment.  I did question whether or not he would manage a quilt.  I thought perhaps a placemat, but he passed that goal post, maybe a cushion? No he's gone beyond that now too.  He now has enough blocks done to make at least a table runner. Will he keep this pace up? - well just watch this space and I will keep you informed.

Have a good week everyone.

An Unexpected Result

I have been a bit under the weather this week, unfortunately a head cold appeared from nowhere and has made me feel miserable most of this week.  However it is only a cold and although my poor family have had to suffer my grumpiness more than usual this week I think I have turned the corner now and I'm feeling a bit better today.  Needless to say my plans for the week were all shot to pieces.  I had to phone Dad to postpone our weekly lunch and shopping expedition.  

I didn't get as much sewing done as I had planned but Tula Pink's blocks were easy they were sewing up quickly and didn't require too much thought or concentration. The smaller pieces of fabrics I was using quickly disappeared.  I managed 20 blocks and pieced together they have given me a fair sized Lap quilt 42x35ins or there abouts.

Tula Pink as some of you may know is a modern quilter, fabric designer and writer.  I decided I would use some of my quite traditional fabrics but make modern blocks and have a layout with a modern twist. This was what I was aiming for with the blocks offset.  Well.........

 

Tula Pink's Sliding Scale from her book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks City Sampler

..............  my mind obviously went down a different track the other night and this is what I ended up with. A very traditional block layout with traditional two inch sashings!!! 

Not quite what it should be

Oh dear I suppose it was meant to be.  The moral of this story has got to be, when you are not feeling 100%, think twice or maybe three times before taking on a project involving thought processes.  My mind was certainly addled or maybe as usual I just didn't think!  This is another charity quilt but I was hoping for something a bit different.   I quite like it now it is almost finished, I have just the binding to sew down, a few threads to darn in and a label to make for the back.  Even although it's not the result I was planning at the outset hopefully someone will love it. 

 

Today has been dull, dark and drizzly.  I will need to make winter arrangements for taking photographs.   I feel a tutorial from Techie coming on - maybe next week.  

Take Over

My quilting space came under attack last night.  Techie decided he would see what all the quilting fuss was about.  Having decided a couple of weeks ago he was going to make a Christmas quilt, he chose a pattern there and then.  Last night he rummaged through my box of Christmas fabrics and pulled out a few suitable pieces.  We had a quick run through safety procedures - the rotary cutter is really sharp etc etc.  "It's ok Mum it's just like cutting my mount board for my photos!" I showed him how to thread my sewing machine and he was off.  Cutting,  sewing,  trimming.  A natural, will there be another quilter in the family? Who knows.  I look forward with interest to see if this project  continues or whether it will fall by the wayside when something more interesting comes along.  I don't think there was anything to interest him on TV last night!



Note the phone on the table - can't be apart from it for long

 

Watch the fingers

Didn't he do well - Sorry apparently I've got the block upside down

 

Needless to say I don't have much to report.  I am still hand stitching the binding on my HST quilt but another evening should see it finished.  Four more Tula Pink modern blocks are in the basket, and I really need to get my thinking cap on for the last of the baby quilts which needs to be finished this month.  Hopefully my quilting space will still be available now and again so that I can get these ticked off my list.

Happy stitching everyone.

A Quick Sunday

Wow where has today gone!  I was intending doing a bit of sewing today however only managed about half an hour, but that's life isn't it.  This was birthday week in our house so instead of birthday cake I promised I would make a cloottie dumpling for hubby who had a milestone birthday on Wednesday.  So the task this morning was to make dumpling.  This is a Scottish tradition, a rich fruity, treacley, spicy steamed pudding like cake, the mixture is tied in a muslin cloth and is steamed for hours and tastes quite delicious served with whipped double cream or icecream. While this was cooking I also made some pancakes which have disappeared quite quickly today even before they had cooled.

My half an hour of sewing was spent making a couple of Tula Pink blocks.  Yes I am a glutton for punishment as these are once again 6 inch squares.  You may remember I bought the book recently.  The fabrics I am using are pinks and purple tones with a green thrown in for good measure.  These fabrics are from my stash and smaller pieces they are all less than half a metre, which is ideal for this project.  The blocks I have made so far have been really quick and easy and would be ideal for a beginner.  I won't be making all the 100 blocks for this project but I will just keep going until I use up all the fabric.

Hmm - the colours are not quite right in this photo - left hand side royal blue is in fact purple



The First Block

 

Almost dinner time now so I am off to enjoy some of the dumpling for dessert.

P.S.  The dumpling was yummy, I had it with a dollop of cream.

Have a good week.

Its Crazy

It's a crazy time of year, everyone is busy planning and preparing, making food lists, gift lists, 'to do' lists. Planning shopping trips, planning holidays and so the lists go on.  In all of your crazy life stop and spare a thought for those who are suffering in the run up to what is perhaps a normally happy time.  Stop and spare a thought for all the families, carers, and nurses looking after the terminally ill.  Just stop and have a moment for yourself!

I have now opened a tab on my home page offering some of my Quilts for Sale.  This is not a profit making exercise but a fundraising one.  All the quilts listed on this particular page are to raise funds and awareness of the charity Marie Curie Cancer Care.  The page has all the information needed should you wish to purchase a nice cosy quilt for the colder months ahead.  They would also make a loving gift for someone who has everything - except a quilt!  Please take a minute to have a look.

 

Crazy times, crazy minds leads  me to Crazy Paving a quilt I had great fun with, randomly picking and choosing fabrics willy nilly and piecing them into rectangular blocks not the usual squares.  I have used this pattern before a few years ago but it is such fun to do I thought I would try it again.  It's made up with  5 small patches with sashing in between.

Two  (3.5x4.5in), Two (3.5x2in) and one (3x 3.5in) all joined together with 1 inch sashing strips making a block around 9.5 x 7.  I used 20 of these blocks stitched together with a 4.5in border to give me a finished quilt of about 44 x 44 ins square.  Just a nice size for a lap quilt.  This will be added to my Quilts for Sale later today.  In the meantime I am off to get some crazy housework done. 

 

Crazy Paving

A Christmas Project

I am now working on the fifth of my Christmas projects for this year.  You may remember way back I made a little cathedral window pincushion with festive fabrics, it was really too early to start mentioning Christmas so I called it festive.  Wouldn't this be a lovely gift for a quilting friend for Christmas?

Cathedral Pinushion

I also made two festive table runners (I am counting this as one project as I did them together) with the idea of raffling them for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  They have been given away for this purpose and hopefully will raise some funds and brighten a table somewhere this Christmas season.  You can see them if you have a look in the tab above in My Quilts. 

We had two Christmassy tutorials at class earlier this month. One was a quick and easy coaster which was done in cool blue snowflake fabrics.  It's pieced on the front and has an appliquéd snowflake on the back.  The challenge was to get it done in an hour - yes we managed it!



Cool Blues Coaster

 

The other was a more complicated, rather striking Hunter's Star block.  I struggle with foundation piecing but thanks to a good teacher I managed to produce this.  We certainly didn't manage this in an hour, but the basics were taught in class and we finished it off at home.  It may be transformed into a cushion later.

Striking Star

Every year since I started on my quilting journey I make a quilt to decorate the house for the holiday season.  This year is no exception.  I don't usually start working on or thinking about Christmas and all the trimmings and trappings until after my birthday.  So last week I got the appropriate box of fabric out and had a rummage.  I talked about half square triangles a few blog posts ago and thought this year's design should incorporate them.   

I was unsure how this quilt was going to turn out, however I started cutting 5" squares from my reds, greens and festive fabrics.  I pieced them together with a gold/cream fabric which reminded me of snowballs or raindrops on a window, and low and behold the HSTs began to grow.  100+ blocks later and lots of trimming I was ready to make use of the design wall.  Oh what fun!  After many aborted attempts I finally decided on the design and took a photo.  Then techie came into the room and suggested perhaps it would look better with the opposite colour in the middle - oh oh!  Here we go again, we tried it out together, stood back and decided .....that we didn't like it, glad I took that photo!  It was much better the other way around.  All change again.  However techie has decided that HE would like to have a go making a Christmas quilt??!!!  Watch this space, I don't think he will have time to do it for this year but you never know maybe 2015?

It came down off the wall row by row and it stitched up quickly.  It is almost done now, here is a photo of the binding going on.  

The Binding

I hope you all have a good week hopefully I will have this finished to show you next week.

A Finish as Promised

Making quilts is a wonderful hobby.  I think I might have told you that before.  Why would I be telling you all about it on this blog if I didn't?  I am a quilter, in fact I have been told that I am a 'topper' as I love the cutting and piecing of the top most of all.  I make quilts - I have tried my hand at other quilted items but they just do not float my boat. Ladies at our class each week produce wonderful items, cushions, bags, wallhangings, pincushions, Christmas trees and decorations and so the list goes on.  Me, what do I do different -  eh! Nothing.  If you have a look on 'my quilts' page above you will find that very rarely do you find two quilts of the same pattern, I like things which are a bit different and unusual. I enjoy trying new techniques, and I need the variety of different colours and patterns to inspire me.  Although when you look at my quilts seemingly most have green in them.  

As I complete a quilt I wonder how many hours have been spent piecing it all together, but I never have the answer.  I start off with good intentions I take a note of the start date and write down how much fabric I have for the project.  How long does it take for each stage though? The planning, the choosing, cutting, stitching, trimming, more stitching, trimming, layering, quilting, trimming, binding, even more stitching, preparing the label, and finally taking the photograph still remains illusive as I usually miss timing a step as I go.  The stitching is the hardest to keep track of as I quite often dip in and out as my mood takes me, sometimes only for 10 minutes and more likely a bit longer.  As long as it all goes smoothly without hiccups it is a calming process and I love it!

 

I have been trying to keep track recently because I have a few quilts for sale. I will soon have another tab at the top of the page which will link to a For Sale page, I hope you will have a look.

Here is one of the finishes I promised you last time - Not Quite Union Jack

 

The Selected Fabrics

 

 

 

Making the Blocks

Sewing the Strips Together

 

 

The Finished Article - Not Quite Union Jack

Missed Opportunity

I missed a really good quilt photo opportunity this morning when the sun was shining.  Time overtook me again.
 

I have another two finishes to show you apart from the ones below but they will have to keep for another day when the sun shines and I can get the photographs taken.  Unfortunately I have not found an ideal place to take photos indoors. That would involve me learning a little bit more about my camera, flash and appropriate lighting, and I am not quite ready for that just yet.

I am delighted to report that two more babies have arrived this week.  Twin boys, I only know them as hiccup and trouble! The names their Mum gave them before they appeared into the big wide world on Monday.  These were the little quilts I was delighted to make for them, commissioned by their Grandmother, a very special lady who helped nurse Mum.  The remit was pastel shades, not identical, small and suitable for car seats and bouncers.  These were a joy to make.  I used the same fabrics but made the placements different in the split nine patch pattern.  I am sure they will help to keep the boys cosy while travelling in the car.

 

 

Hopefully I will be back later in the week with photos of the Crazy Paving quilt.  Have a good week ahead. 

Update - My Quilts

You can't teach old dogs new tricks - wrong!  This old dog has been getting a few lessons on adding photos to the Quilt Gallery from techie.  He has got a lot of patience with me. Unfortunately my brain does not absorb information at the rate of knots he explains the process. My head was buzzing after 10 minutes, however I listened and watched hoping some of the information would stick in the grey matter.

It's been quite a while since the quilt gallery here had been updated and I was told I needed to be able to do it for myself.  HTML is just another language - gobbledygook!  Well I decided I really didn't need to know what it all means.  After a lot of downloading or is it uploading of photos, cutting and pasting lines of code,  a couple of aborted attempts and furious note taking, I managed to add twelve new photos to the gallery.  I won't leave it so long next time and now I have an idea how it should be done I will try,  when I take the photo of the completed quilt, to add it to the gallery.  Hopefully I won't lose my notebook with all my scribbles, I just hope I can translate them.  Have a look and see what you think.

Sewing for Myself

Sometimes in life we get all caught up in doing things for other people.  That's ok it's good to share and help out, but sometimes we should just stop and have some 'me time' and be just a little bit selfish.

I have been thinking of trying out some Modern quilting for ages and have browsed many sites and flicked through a few books on the subject.  My findings are that Modern quilting has got many attributes which need not all be used in the making of one particular quilt. Modern quilting usually but not wholly uses solid fabrics, negative space and sometimes uses traditional blocks made with bold patterned fabrics and colours.  These quilts can be freemotion quilted using complex designs and patterns but may also be quilted using straight lines and simple patterns.  Still with me here ....? Yes well as far as I can understand and in my opinion - anything goes, as long as you like it, and enjoy sewing it together.  I suppose I am a little step closer to understanding and making a wholly modern quilt.  I have read books by Angela Walters, Jacquie Gering, Elizabeth Hartman and the Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe, this particular book of patterns is inspired and created by lots of well known different bloggers all bundled together and shared in one book. There might be a project here just for me!

Pages from Quilting Modern and Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe

More 'me time'. I have just finished a rather nice quilt which I think I am going to keep for myself for those nights when I have cold feet and I am feeling the need to snuggle up.  This is another top I made when I was on holiday, and I have to admit it was destined for one of the charity fundraising quilts.  However I messed this one up big time!  Yes it looks ok in the photo. The front it's pretty neat and even.  I always have difficulty seeing how a quilt should be quilted but I knew this one had to have motifs in the light squares.  I thought I would try hand quilting for a change.  Oh oh!  I decided to use perle cotton thread so I needed a bigger needle to accommodate the thicker thread.  As usual I sandwiched it with warm and natural with fleece backing - mistake - if you are going to hand quilt. It was much too thick to get the needle through and the quilting stitches did not show fully on the reverse as they disappeared into the fleece  - not a pretty sight!  So this quilt is going nowhere I'm keeping this one, just for me.

Flowers in the Windows

Remember the farmer's wifey quilt blocks I blogged about way back in August? Well I hadn't done a single one since then.  Tut tut.  I decided that since it is almost a year since I was given this lovely book I should perhaps make a few more of the blocks.  This is what I did yesterday afternoon, another four added to the bundle.  I have still got a long way to go and I have told myself I need to do more of these on a regular basis.  This quilt too will be a 'me' quilt as I was given this book as a gift, but I don't have a clue how long it will take to finish with all the other ideas I have on my virtual sewing list.

Country Farm, Bouquet, Birds in the Air and Contrary Wife

I see Jack Frost has been at work overnight here. Everything is covered in white this morning, I guess that's the end of the lovely flowers in the garden for another year.  Keep warm and enjoy your week.

Three More Quilts Donated to the Cause

I met with Murray Easton today for the first time.  It's always good to put a face to the voice on the end of the telephone.  Murray is Fundraising Manager for Marie Curie Cancer Care based at the Glasgow Hospice and has always been there when I have had questions about helping to raise awareness and funds for the charity.  I am very new to fundraising so it was good to have a chat over tea and cake this morning and discovering how small a world we live in, realising we each know and have worked with the same people in the past, although not connected in any way at the same time.

Three of my completed projects left with him to be used in the Christmas Shopping Ladies Lunch and the Glasgow Hospice Christmas Fayre, scheduled for later this month.  Sunny Days - the blue and yellow quilt, Bright and Breezy - the one I have just finished and a simple Festive Table runner.  Hopefully they will catch someone's eye at these events and go to good homes adding a few more pounds to the funds. 

Sunny Days

 

Festive Runner

Bright and Breezy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first time you have seen the table runner, but I suppose as we are now into November and Halloween and Guy Fawkes nights have just passed I am now allowed to  mention Christmas!  I have made a couple of festive projects so far.  One I particularly enjoyed doing with our class was the holiday coaster a quick and fun idea to brighten up any coffee table.  This was taken from the book Modern Holiday by Amanda Murphy which has lots of lovely quick easy projects all with a modern twist but could be made using traditional fabrics too.  I chose these winter fabrics from Stoff.  The reverse of the coaster has an appliqué snowflake cut from the spotted white fabric sewn on dark navy stars, so whatever your mood you can just turn them over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for bed, another busy day tomorrow.