A Little Hiccup

What do you do when you can't sew?  Well I suppose that's actually a silly question.  I can sew, but I can't press my seams.  Yesterday while ironing my shirts my iron started making silly spitting noises. Hmm need to get this done, carry on and keep calm.  I did think the temperature wasn't quite right but got through the bundle.

Move on a few hours, sitting at my machine putting together a few more blocks, turned to the pressing board and iron which should have been at optimum temperature. Strange!  Not hot enough.  It is (or should I say was) one of these which cuts off after leaving it on for too long but it hadn't been left for that long without being used.  Picked it up and I had a little puddle on my mat and table and drips on the floor, together with a lot of hissing and spitting.  Switched it off. Water and electricity not a good combination.  Dried everything up, left it a while.  Tried again - same result.  Conclusion no more sewing and a trip out later today to buy a new iron.

Why do these things always happen when you are on a roll and steaming on (oops sorry!) to try and get something finished.  Ho hum. 

Had to do some knitting instead!  Another pair of walking socks for the photographer in the family.  Oh and I have to say that the photos on this blog are taken by me - not the professional - his photos are so much better than these!

Easy to take with you wherever you go - I love these  little pins.

Farmer's Wife Squares

Last November, way before I started following blogs and just as I was discovering a whole new universe of quilting out there on the web I received the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book as a birthday gift from a my son and his wife.  I read it from cover to cover and the wifey's letters were interesting and inspiring.  My immediate reaction was that it would be an interesting project to embark upon over the winter.

Foolishly I imagined it would be a straightforward project - until I realised they were 6 inch blocks and all that that entails.  Precision cutting, accurate seams and firm pressing.  As some of you will of course know, the smaller the block, less room for mistakes and adjustments.  Then I realised when I popped the CD into my computer that each piece of each block was given as a template to be printed on a single sheet of paper.  Hmmm!  thinking cap on again.  Fortunately I have EQ7  the computer software programme for designing your own quilts. (not that I use it for that very often - note to self to try more of their tutorials soon)

My next task was now to redraw each block and that would in turn give me accurate rotary cutting measurements for each block. Sorted.  (At this point I should have had the foresight to enlarge the blocks too on EQ7 but I didn't)  Then the next decision which fabrics to use.  All I knew at this point was that I didn't want to do this with traditional fabrics or colours.  I have since realised that everyone else in the blogging universe seemed to have the same idea as quite a few have appeared since starting out on my project.  Many being produced in modern bright colours and fabrics.  

When I was given the book I did mention it would be a long term project.  Well I have started now so I will finish. I may not do all 111 blocks as detailed in the book but I will keep going until the layer cake I have decided to use is finished.  Here is how it is progressing so far.  11 blocks down, only 100 to go!

The first few blocks

The birthday gift which started it all

Have a good weekend everyone, happy stitching.

Ideas and Inspiration

Dad sometimes slips me some 'pocket money' and over the last few months it has been been 'burning a hole in my pocket' as they say.  Last week at quilting class we brought along some of our own books and patterns to look at and talk about our favourites.  We had great fun sharing and all agreed it was an enjoyable evening, it was a bit different from our usual class night.  My mind started working overtime again.  

Decision made!  Time to buy some new quilting books.  Now if anyone knows me out there they will know I don't read real books anymore, by that I mean I don't turn pages of paper.  I am a convert to the electronic age in that respect and love my e readers.  I know there are pros an cons but having a suitcase full of heavy books is no longer necessary when going on holiday, my kindle and my iPad are trusty friends, and yes I do use them both.  But and yes, there is always a but isn't there.  I don't like reading quilting books on my tablets - I did try a couple of downloads but they are not so easy to reference.

So after last week's class I decided I would treat myself to some new modern quilting books for ideas and inspiration.  They arrived yesterday, I've had a quick peak and I am looking forward to reading them all cover to cover.

Remember the Lovely Bundle of Fabrics

It's been a busy week here, and I thought after the flurry of posts about Squaring the Circle, I would give you all a rest.  However just to keep you all interested here is a snap of the next quilt in progress using the lovely bundle of fabrics featured last week.  It's coming together nicely. I have a few projects in mind for this little bundle so I pulled some smaller pieces from my stash too and my niece in Oregon might just recognise them.

    

I told you I was hopeless with a camera, these blocks are both the same size ie 6.5in and will be put together the next time I sit down to sew, but for now I am switching off the sewing machine, the iron and the light.

 

Summer Challenge - Seasons

Our quilt class had a challenge over the summer.  The challenge was to make a small Wallhanging no bigger than 24 x 16ins. The subject 'Seasons'.  A very open challenge the only stipulations being its size, hanging tabs on the back and it had to have a label - something not everyone in our class usually has on their finished quilts.  Many of us changed tactics and ideas a few times, and the results were fantastic, it made us all think a little out of our comfort zone.  The result was a very colourful variety of hangings -  Paper pieced sailing ships, log cabins in seasonal colours, turned edge appliqué spring bulbs, pieced changing leaves, an applique handquilted summer daisy, a paper pieced ice crystal,  a summer vacation postcard from New York, rustic pumpkins and corn, and an appliqué and embroidered collage of all seasons.  These were all displayed last week at class, a very diverse and varied selection of hangings.  We all agreed we enjoyed the challenge and hopefully all the hangings will all be displayed in our local library with some of our other projects soon.  This is mine - Changing Seasons - keep it simple was my mantra, due to other things going on in my life at the time.

Changing Seasons

 

We all agreed we had enjoyed the challenge and most agreed the hardest thing to do was choosing how to depict the seasons.  Happy sewing everyone.

and Finally .......

......... the wind dropped and in between the showers the sun came out.

 

Squaring the Circle in the Garden

 

Squaring the Circle,  has a piece of fabric from my very first table runner included in the BLACK block as well as a piece from last years Christmas quilt.

There is a piece in the BROWN block which featured in my daughter-in-law's trip around the world quilt.

In the PURPLE block there are pieces from one of my favourite quilts made with fabrics bought while on holiday in Kalispell, Montana.

PINK is not a colour I use very often but I did have some left over from my niece E's churn dash quilt, a wedding quilt and a baby quilt.

The middle square in the GREEN quilt was from my Mum's quilt which kept her cosy when she felt poorly, stitched together with bits from son no 1's outdoor pursuits quilt.

The RED square reminds me of a quilt still to be completed - a real challenge early on in my quilting.  The top is long completed but lies yet to be sandwiched and quilted. Must get it done soon!

The 'Flames' quilt fabric for my son no 2 is in the ORANGE square

BLUE - ahh!  A few baby quilts in this one and pieces from mother-in-law's.

And the YELLOW square has two fabrics from the kit given to me as a thank you gift for doing wedding flowers for niece F.

A quilt is as you can see is not just a piece of fabric or a sewing project, it has love and care stitched into each stage and like this one can have many lasting happy memories attached to it.  Now you may understand a little more about why I can't part with this one.  I am not usually sentimental about anything and probably that is why my husband has just said "It's only a quilt!"  Yes it is only a quilt, it took me on a journey with lots of thought processes which I had to work through and deal with, but this one is mine and enjoyed piecing it all together, in more ways than one!  

Here are some of the quilting statistics

Scraps sewn together randomly within their colour palette 

Sewn together with Connecting Threads Egyptian Cotton Thread

Trimmed block size 12.5 inches square

Grey sashing, borders and binding Spraytime by Makower

Warm and Natural cotton batting

Ikea fleece for backing

Finished size 49 x 49 inches

Started 16th July, finished 18th August 2013

SQUARING THE CIRCLE

...........as promised.

More to come later this evening