Short Shop Hop

We managed to have a couple of lovely days away this week and travelled down in to the Borders to have a well earned break.  Travelling down through Peebles and stopping for some overdue retail therapy (shoes and trousers for hubby) I spotted this handsome beast.  Not exactly patchwork but very striking and he made me smile!

Oh Deer!

I had a quick look in Thistle Quilting but this shop seems to be moving on from just fabrics and has taken in some wools and other crafty items, this is a very small shop and in my opinion has not quite got the balance right.  We had a lovely picnic lunch at our favourite spot up on the hill overlooking the Manor Valley a lovely peaceful start to our mini holiday.

Onwards, travelling through the border towns our next stop was Jedburgh and a visit to Borderlands,  a well stocked fabric shop and workshop with friendly ladies eager to help.  The fabrics here are more traditional with not so many modern colours or patterns.  I did make a purchase here, a couple of metres just to get me going, I didn't want to spend too much as the main shopping spree was going to be Stichin Heaven in Longframlington (more about that in the next post).  I bought a piece of Makower British Cars fabric though and a couple of blenders - I will be making a few older boys quilts for charity this summer so I thought this might appeal.  These Racing Minis should go down well I hope.  

A short stop at Harestanes craft centre was next on the list of stops - unfortunately the leather workers handbag shop was closed for the day but we enjoyed a look around the Gallery where all sorts of wooden items were on display from stunningly beautiful dining tables to small pentagonal and hexagonal boxes very appropriate for a quilter, all made by very talented craftsmen and women.  No purchases here other than the obligatory icecream, the sun was shining it was very hot and all was well in our little world.

We arrived at our hotel just in time for afternoon tea - not the traditional one though, we didn't want to spoil our dinner!  A pot of coffee and handmade biscuits sitting in the gardens in the sun, was all good for half an hour until the rain came on.  An excellent meal finished off a very pleasant day.

Hopefully you will have noticed I have updated my Gallery page this week.  I hadn't realised how many quilts I had made since the beginning of the year.  I am particularly pleased with the Anniversary Bunting Quilt.  I must admit I was a little unsure of this one when I was asked to do something with the wedding bunting, but I hope you will agree it turned out just fine - and a bonus, A & J are really pleased with the result. Whew! It is never easy making things as a commission, fortunately I was given a blank canvas to do as I wanted.  I hope this will be a well used quilt which will be a happy reminder of a memorable day.

The Anniversary Bunting Quilt

The ladies of our Group have been challenged with technology this week, thank you K for setting it all up.  We now have a Closed Group on Facebook where we can......ask each other questions in between meetings, share our quilty thoughts, show off our projects in progress, make everyone jealous when we go off on holiday, let everyone see our new additions to our stash ......and so the list goes on.  I think most of us who can have now joined, although not many have commented or posted yet and there are a few who are still lurking in the background waiting to see how it all works.  Come on ladies lets embrace technology and give it a go!  Looking forward to seeing you all there.

 

I hope everyone reading this has a very good week doing something you enjoy whether you are at home or on holiday, I hope you manage a little quilting, knitting or stitchery.

Disappearing Scraps

There is something very rewarding about making something from nothing.  If you have been following along for the last few weeks you will realise I have been trying to make quick scrappy quilts to empty my scrap baskets and use up my stash.  I really have had my fill of these scrap and now feel I need to start planning a new project. So I have a message out to someone I met last weekend to ask if she would like some of my scraps for an Arts project.  I suppose they could be used for making collages etc too, not just for sewing.

Like many of you I suppose, over the years I have bought fabrics in varying lengths, from fat quarters (which by now you all know I don't like) to three and four metre lengths.  I have tried a variety of different ways of sorting and storing my fabrics and to date the most successful one for me is folding the larger pieces which are half metres and more around a cardboard template and stacking them on my bookcase shelves.  They are on display and I can see what I've got at a glance.  They are arranged in colour order of sorts.  

 

 

 

Some of these fabrics I have had since the very early days of my quilting adventure and I must admit I look at them now and wonder what I was thinking of when I bought them.  Tastes change, colours change and like fashion there is always something different in the shops to tempt you.  It's always very easy to pick up a piece of fabric you like, then get home to discover you have nothing to match it or it's not quite the right tone or shade.  I think in the early days this is what was happening to me.  With the result I now have a few fabrics which are gathering dust as they say.  I am determined to use up more of my stash before buying any more.  Yes I will have the odd hiccup when I see that 'must buy' but I really will take one of my 'oldies' now and again and make something without having to spend any money.

The two tops I've been working on this week are now folded nicely waiting to be sandwiched.  The content of the blue scrap basket has diminished although it's still not empty. I also spent some time this week having 15 minutes of play as I found I didn't have long spells to sit and sew this week.  Hope you like these two.

 

All Blues on the Design Wall
 

 

15 Minutes of Play - Border still to be added
 

 

I plan to update my Gallery later this weekend so if you have time,  have a look and see the quilts I've completed so far this year.

Enjoy your week.

Quilters Don't Do Random......

......or so they say.  Well I do sometimes.  Last week The title of my post was Stashbuster well maybe it should have been scrap busting.  My goodness I've had a good week but although I have used lots of scraps and emptied a basket or two these scraps seem to be never ending.  I cannot believe how many lap quilts I am going to get out these scrap baskets.  The strip and flip scrappy top is now complete and has a blue border from my stash.

Apologies for the poor photo

The light cream/white basket had most scraps in it and I decided the next quilt would be made up with wonky log cabin blocks which would use up the light fabrics.  I tackled the purple basket first, the basket with fewest scraps, and made 4 blocks and emptied the basket.  Whoop whoop! Then I moved on to the yellows 4 more blocks and finally the greens yet another 4 blocks. There is still a fair wee bundle of scraps left in both these baskets.  I played around with lots of different placements but because there are only 12 blocks completing a full pattern was not working.  I thought this design was quite striking though and the one I  finally decided on.



lighting not good on this one either



Well I am now delving into the blue scrap basket and once again this is where the random comes into play again.  These 6.5in square blocks are totally and I mean totally random.  I am not even trying to mix light and dark, patterned or plain.  I am not quite sure how this one will look but watch out for next week's instalment!

I have been waiting patiently on the weather calming down.  It has been really blustery this week and I need to take photographs of quite a few quilts, some you have seen snippets of over the last few months as they were being stitched.  I also realised this week I have not posted on my Gallery page any of my completed quilts for 2015!  Tut tut - duly reprimanded!  Hopefully I will get that rectified as soon as I get the photos taken. 

Why don't you delve into your scraps and see what you can make without having to spend any pennies!

Stashbuster

The bin is empty! Probably only for a short time though. 

This is what happened to all the fabric pieces and now sorted out into their proper baskets

As I was sorting I took all the smaller pieces and cut them into 2.5inch squares and produced this little or not so little stack of goodness.  I have passed these on to my little helper, a junior member of our group, a very enthusiastic young lady who will be using them up for me over the summer holidays. Watch this space!

What remained were mainly strips which inspired me to make a strip and flip strippy quilt.  I made this one a few years ago, and I think if you look closely you will see some of the fabrics being used once again my new project.  Hmm maybe there should be a quilting unwritten rule, if you use the same fabrics in more than three quilts its good to pass them on or throw them out! Ok ok.......... don't throw them out give them to someone else to use.

 

This is a really fast project,  good fun, and a totally random placement of colour, yes I know, I know, quilters don't do random.  It's good to try once in a while and yes it does work!  

I used a 6.5in square of light coloured foundation fabric, same in each block. You could use any size of square though, depending on the length of your scraps.  I measured three quarters of an inch from the diagonal and drew a line each side, then started pulling strips. Lay the first one with right side down and right hand edge on the line, sew the normal quarter inch seam.  Flip and press the strip over, continue laying down strips right side down on the previous strip ensuring you cover even the smallest point that's left.  The strips need not all be the same width.  In fact it's more interesting when you use different width pieces.  When one triangle is complete turn the square to the other side and do exactly the same again. Press well and trim your block from the back (you will be able to see the foundation square) to measure 6.5inches.

You can play with placement and get some lovely patterns. This is great way to stash bust, use up small pieces, and make something out of nothing.  If you don't like the result yourself sandwich it together and pass it on to a worthy charity.   Why not go and give it a try with all your scraps? Happy stitching. 

Stitches that Bind

There is something quite relaxing about handstitching and that's what I've been doing this week - stitching bindings.  Binding a quilt can be a bit of a chore for some but I really enjoy it.  I seem to bind my quilts in a different way from most of the ladies in our group.  This is the way I was taught and it's the one I always fall back on - in fact I think I have only tried the mitred corners method a couple of times and I didn't make a good job at all.

I cut my binding strips 2.5inches wide about 2.5inches longer than each side of my quilt joining where necessary.  The strip is then folded in half lengthways and pressed - make sure you don't stretch it.  Then open out the strip and fold the raw edges in to the centre and press again - one side at a time and watch you don't burn your fingers!  Fold the two edges together and press again you have now produced a nice sharp half inch binding. 

Now open out the strip and you have already a nice marked line to follow when stitching.  Beware this step - instead of the usual quarter inch seam you are going to make a half inch seam down one of the folded lines butting the edge of the strip to the edge of your already trimmed quilt.  This is the bit you need to watch out - if you have a pieced border you will lose your points.  So be aware of this.  I rarely have a pieced border (although the the Morris quilts do and I added that extra wee quarter inch to my piano keys so the wee pieces would finish 2ins square when the binding was in place) I  nearly always have a plain outer border and cut it a little wider to accommodate the larger seam allowance.  I do not pin, just hold it firmly in place as I sew leaving a tail over the edge of about an inch, which should be trimmed on the first two sides.  (I sew on short sides first then the long ones.  Do not trim the long sides as you need to leave turning room.) If you pin you have to stop and start as you go and if you don't have a needle down facility on your machine you may get a wavy line instead of a nice straight one

After machining down the strip (using your walking foot) to the front of your quilt turn it to the back and it simply falls into place and easily turns over to the wrong side covering the stitch line and you are ready for pinning or clipping and hand stitching.  The corners are then neatly folded and tucked to make a nice square edge which is slip stitched in place. Have you seen these little buddies  - a really useful addition to your sewing notions.

Another tip when putting on your binding - bindings  tend to be a contrast colour which compliments your quilt and backing.  I always use a thread colour which matches the binding - not the backing.  Your tiny stitches will disappear if you choose a slightly darker thread rather than a lighter one.  This binding was sewn on with dark red thread and not noticeable on the gold backing.

Choose a fine needle too and it will just glide through the fabrics, I have realised I like sewing with a longer needle rather than the tiny quilting needles and tend to use a milliners or straw needle.  Remember needle points do get blunt and need replacing regularly and you should try and change them after each project.  You know it makes sense really but we are all thrifty quilters and always make things last for another project - sewing machine needles, rotary cutter blades etc - How often have we thought it will do another wee while - then in fact when we change them the immediate thought is why didn't I do this earlier!  Little handstitching needles are no different.

It's a wild wet and windy morning here and I had hoped I could get some nice outdoor shots of my finished Morris quilts,  which by the way I am really delighted with, however that will need to wait for another day.  I will be binding again next week and making progress with this overflowing bucket of scraps hopefully.

Happy stitching!

 

Another Busy One

Whew! What a busy week but all really enjoyable. Suffice to say I have not been at home for a full day all week so the housework has not been done and I have spent most of today catching up with the ironing - where does it all appear from? I'm sure I didn't put that many loads of washing in the machine.

Never mind,  although I have been out during the day I have managed a few evenings sewing and relaxing in front of my sewing machine.  I have sewn together a very quick and easy baby playmat, still to be sandwiched and quilted.

Frogs, Elephants, Monkeys and Nursery Rhymes

At the beginning of the week I completed top number one from the Best of Morris jelly roll using the blue strips, and made a good start to number 2 the pink version.

The Pink Version

 

My new roll of batting arrived and this afternoon I unpacked it



Nice and Neat

And have managed to cut pieces for the Bunting Quilt, the Playmat and the 2 Morris quilts. The first to be sandwiched will be the Bunting Quilt.  A. has been very patient in waiting for me to put this quilt together so this week I will be concentrating on sandwiching and starting the quilting.  This will take a few sessions in front of the machine as it's about 75 x 60ins.  I think I will be keeping the quilting simple on this one and echoing the bunting shapes.

Well that's coffee break over so I will up load this to blogger and then I better go and see what's next on my To Do list.  Have an enjoyable week and hopefully you too will find some time to relax and stitch. 

Everything is on Hold...........

Sometimes an idea comes into your head and you just need to stop what you are doing and put everything else on hold.  This is what happened to me this week......  

 

Now you may remember when Kim of Biggar Stitches came along to our class a few weeks ago.  Most of us made a purchase or two.  One of the Jelly Rolls on offer was a Moda 'Best of Morris'.  



The hard bit -  Opening up the Roll

 

Kim had made up a small quilt as a sample which was lovely but not really my style, or so I thought at the time, but R decided to buy it and take it home.  Last week R brought it back all sewn together!!  I am sorry I cant show you her picture as I haven't asked her permission but she used this pattern 

 

from Two From One Jelly Roll quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  

This is a lovely book which I have used a few times but has been sitting on my shelf for some time unopened.  As soon as I saw R's quilt I knew the book would be opened when I got home as this was one quilt I had to make.  Now often I make quilts with no recipient in mind, this one will be gifted.

Morris Blocks

 

An elderly uncle recently had a fall and is now recovering following a hip replacement operation and this quilt will be heading his way, hopefully quite soon, to keep him cosy while his mobility is not quite as it should be.

So sadly A's bunting quilt has not been sandwiched (I was really waiting for my new roll of Warm and Natural to be delivered!) I did have the opportunity to give S his little ball which he seemed to like and he sat playing with it for ages with his Grumpa.  The wee mousie on block 6 has been stitched in place - it will soon be June and next month's block will be due.

This week coming is a bit hectic here so I don't imagine I will be doing a lot of stitching. However I will try, I will be continuing making the Morris blocks above.

I hope you are all enjoying your long weekend and the sun is shining wherever you are.