It's a Bind

But I so enjoy it.  This week I have been sewing down the bindings on three, yes three, different quilts.  

There is something quite satisfying sitting hand stitching in a comfy chair in peace and quiet of an evening. It also means of course I have almost finished three quilts, which I am delighted about.  

Spools as you saw in the last post is now sandwiched, quilted and bound, so that's a finish!

Toes in the Sand is almost there I hope to get it finished this weekend but it's huge so will take a bit longer than normal to get around all four sides.  

On its completion I am going to change its name - the original pattern was called toes in the sand but this quilt does not suit the name.  The fabrics do not lend themselves to a beach scene in any way shape or form.  Yes they are all blues but feature whales, snowmen, knots, alphabet, liberty, Japanese designs and many more.  They were not my choices and I have vowed never to do a block of the month this way again - A very expensive mistake on my part.  I am keeping this quilt to remind me of all my mistakes and errors of judgement made along this quilting experience.

I have just finished machine quilting Hardware and have started on the binding ........ I think this quilt has taken me the longest time ever in the making but as you know I haven't been working on it full time and it started as a Connecting Threads kit bought in Canada.   It's now in the final stages and I may even do a wee bit hand quilting with perle cotton on the centre piece of the spanner blocks.

I spent one night this week working on my Circle Quilt so I've got another wedge completed. 

Mountain Majesties  now has a border - but was quite difficult to choose.  The scrappy nature of this one made it hard to find a suitable border fabric from my stash.  I'm not 100% happy about this one but I'm not changing it.  Sometimes you just have to accept your choices are not just right but the best on offer at the time. 

So although I said in the title "it's a bind", I've had another enjoyable week sewing.  Next week's tasks have not been written down yet so I am still undecided.  Labels need to be made for my finishes and hopefully I might manage to get outdoor photographs of them too if the weather stays dry and bright.  The scrappy string blocks are still to be sewn together so that may be on the to do list, apart from that I think I will just wait and see how the mood takes me.

A quilt show is being advertised and taking place in the SSEC in Glasgow next weekend so I am going to try and find time to get along there for a look.  I may find some inspiration and pick up some of the items I didn't manage to get last week at Ingliston.  

Have a good week everyone.

Scraps Scraps and Even More Scraps!

As promised I will show you how I used up a good amount of my scraps last week.  The ladies at the class I think enjoyed my wee presentation on how they could use up all these leftover pieces from their completed projects.  I have three in progress at the moment.  

Number one:  Spools, a free pattern from the Connecting Threads website, uses up 2.5 inch squares and 2.5x6.5 inch strips.  I kept the background consistent with a grey moda marble and I am pleased with how it has turned out.  The borders are now on and looking good.

Number two:  Mountain Majesties, another freebie pattern, this time from Bonnie Hunter's website.  She makes lots and lots of scrappy quilts and her website is a great resource full of interesting tips and ideas.  This one uses 8.5 in squares, although you could use other sizes too with a little bit of maths, one light one dark.  This was a real fun project and kept me focussed and entertained as I love the cutting and piecing process, I now just have to decide on the borders.

Number three:  Strippy strings, this appears on many websites.  I have done this one before using another method but this time I used Bonnie Hunters foundation method using paper.  It's amazing how quickly all the strips in your scrap bucket disappear.  Again it's good to keep a consistent colour way going throughout the quilt and as I had a lot of dark strips I chose a bright yellow/gold Kona from my stash.  This is it on the 'wall' it has still to be sewn together so may not be the final version.  This is another one where you can alter the design depending on the orientation of the blocks.  I may have difficulty in choosing a border for this one!

Number four:  this was just a flash of inspiration and my own idea although it may have been done before.  We have all tried out Jenny's Exploding Block from Missouri Star.  How about putting a pieced block in the middle - looks good with the nine patch, or the rail fence. I am sure we all have orphan blocks lying around, or.............. just use up those scraps!  These may not become a quilt just yet.

When these quilts are eventually finished I will not be returning to my scrap bin for some time.  I may even be tempted to give my scraps away in the future rather than let them accumulate.  Well that's last week's round up.  Plans for this week.........

Start something new perhaps?  Hmm still too many WIP's maybe.  I certainly have my quilting mojo back and have lots I could do.  I may be working on this one though for some of the time.

I did manage a visit to the Quilt Show in Ingliston yesterday.  Good to meet up with some of our ladies and see the Exhibition Quilts, it wasn't terribly busy but that may have been because of the horrible wet day. I thought there were fewer exhibitors and not so many quilts on show.  I think we better watch out though. If we don't support these events we might just lose them and here in Scotland we don't have that many.

Have an enjoyable week everyone.

Quilters Quilt .............

.............but produce so many scraps in the process.  Over the last few weeks I've been scrap busting, emptying and sorting my scrap boxes and baskets.  I have managed to empty my baskets completely, and have combined two large boxes into one, my bin is still full but that's next week's chore.  Being a thrifty bunch of quilters we are loathe to throw anything away even the tiniest piece or crumb.  Naturally enough our group of ladies produce lots of scraps as you can imagine. We need someone to come up with ideas for using them all up.  I am "it" again.  I volunteered (did I?) to come up with some ideas for Tuesday,  which I have and had good fun in the process.  I will show you what I've produced next week - there is no point in telling you now, here on this blog as I know some of the ladies follow along.  Suffice to say when I have finished the two I have been working on this week I will not be using scraps for a while.  I am itching to get going with something new and interesting and break into some of the larger pieces of fabrics sitting on my shelves.  Maybe I will try a new technique from one of the books I got at Christmas time.

So this week's progress?  Disappearing pinwheels another scrappy quilt is now finished, 

Using up scraps from the Blue Basket

Hardware is sandwiched and ready for quilting, but not this week I want to finish the quilting on Toes in the Sand first

Hardware nearing completion and is now sandwiched

Three more triangles have been quilted on Toes in the Sand and progress has definitely been made scrap busting! I have also updated my Gallery photo page so go check it out when you have finished reading this if you have a minute to spare.

The Spring Quilt Festival takes place next weekend at Ingliston, Edinburgh, Friday 19th to Sunday 21st.  I hope to get along there to see what's new and be inspired with all the lovely competition quilts on show.  I also have a wee shopping list of things I need so hopefully I might pick up a bargain or two.

Enjoy your week whatever you plan to do.

Trying Something Different

I am continuing with my plan of every time I sit down to sew I work on something different.  I have a few projects on the go as always.  I find I get bogged down doing one thing until it's finished so for this last month I've been working on at least four.  I am now pleased to say I have completed two of them, the little baby quilt is finished and posted off to Jessica.

Butterflies and Buds for Jessica 48 x 48"

The Autumn Improv Pods quilt is also finished and I am pleased how it has turned out with its pieced back.

Front of Autumn Improv Pods 48 x 60"

.......and the pieced back

The first two blocks of Amy Gibson's Sugar Block Club are keeping the Disappearing Pinwheels quilt company on the design wall.  This now has sashing and borders and the batting has been cut in preparation for sandwiching.  My dilemma at the moment? I'm not sure what that backing is going to be, nor do I know how it will be quilted.  Maybe a fleece or maybe pieced........I'll leave it up there a little longer and see if inspiration strikes.

Progress being made

Toes in the Sand has a few more triangles quilted in the spiral design and a few more marked out ready for its next outing to the sewing machine.  

For the last hour I have been trying out something new, a new block for me.  I still continue to use up my scraps (Well what is a scrap anyway? That's a story for another day I think.  Is it a tiny snippet or crumb, is it a 2.5in square or a strip, is it less than a fat quarter, or is it just a piece of fabric you no longer like or need). Well today mine are smallish pieces in my scrap box which are less than a fat quarter but much bigger than 2.5ins. In actual fact they are squares which have been cut to 8.5 inches, trimmed, sewn, trimmed, sewn again and slashed and flipped and sewn again and have turned out like this.  Hopefully you will follow the progress of this block and see how it ends up.

Still to be trimmed up

Q.  What do you do when you've lost a quilting book you know you should have?  It's not where it should be beside all the others, it's not by your bedside, it's not down beside your favourite chair?

  

A.  Pull out all the books in the bookcase, make up a spreadsheet, put the said books in alphabetical order by author, place them all on the one shelf and low and behold there it is hiding.  However I've now forgotten why I wanted it in the first place but I do have a tidier stack of books!!

Much tidier and in order

Until next time have a great week ........... be brave and try something new and different using up your scraps.