Happy scrappy projects

Whenever I buy fabric I find myself going to my existing stash and using that before touching the new fabric.  I think I must be subconsciously justifying my new purchases by using up stash.  Or maybe it's so I can make space for the new stuff.  Whichever it is, since my visit to The Village Haberdashery I have used nothing but stash and scraps.  It makes me feel angelic (yeah right!)

Guess what?  I made another zippy pouch, and this one is for me.  I love it!  Turquoise is one of my favourite colours and I put the fabrics together beautifully.  I haven't decided what to use it for yet, but in the meantime I am happy just to let it stay on my chest of drawers where I can admire it.

In last month's Love Patchwork and Quilting there were some lovely quilt as you go cushions which I wanted to have a go at.  I've seen a few people making them on Instagram which inspired me to hit my stash and make my own.

I had never tried quilt as you go before but it was a lot of fun and very satisfying.  This is a good pattern for using up scraps.  This is only the front but it won't take me long to sew the back of the cushion.  I hope to make a couple more to match this one.

You may have noticed that the two previous projects include cat fabrics.  I love cats!  But at the moment I am remembering this time last year when my beloved ginger boy, Granby, became ill and we had to say goodbye to him.  I still miss him, though I do love the new boys we have adopted since.  In homage to Granby and now Brutus and Jackson I have made some patchwork cats which are on the wall of my sewing room.  I am pleased with this project, though I wonder if I need to remake Jackson because the dark purple doesn't show up his tabby fur.  

I am especially pleased with how Brutus turned out because I think I managed to capture his look quite accurately.  Wouldn't you agree?

Thanks for visiting.

Quick Quilted Heart Pillow

Sometimes there just isn't the time to do as much sewing and quilting as you would like.  The past couple of weeks have been like that, but I'm pleased to show off my quick quilted heart pillow.  All the fabrics here are from stash, and most of them have been used in previous projects, so I'm still persevering with my attempt to Sew My Stash 2015.

The heart has one of my all time favourite fabrics - the Liberty lamps.  I bought this fabric on eBay a couple of years ago.  It was not even a fat eighth, so I have had to use it sparingly.  I've never seen it again; I think it was a limited edition and from a few years ago.  I'm pleased I've used a small square of it here in a place I get to see it, even though it is minute.

Look carefully and you will see that the threads need sewing in - that's the story of this blog these days.  There are so many threads because I did so much quilting.  I quilted the hell out of it, but I just could not resist.  I love the texture the quilting provides and once that walking foot is on, I want to get my work out of it before I change it to its ordinary foot.  I decided to put a pink zip in the side, which I think looks rather cute.

I've taken the photos with my other recent quilted pillows.  I think they look nice together.

Thanks for visiting.  Have a nice weekend!

A Friday Finish

Whenever I don't blog for a while it's usually because my sewing has overtaken me and that's definitely been the case recently.  I have so many sewing projects on the go at the moment and I am determined to get some finished this month.

First up I can show two finished Kaleidoscopic cushions that are based on a quilt by Reene at Nellie's Niceties.  These have been fun to make and use up lots of scraps.  I'm going to make a couple more in different colour combinations soonish.  I fancy orange being the main colour in one of them.

I am still working on the scrappy quilt to go with these cushions in our living room.  Initially I was going to produce 16 scrap blocks and then add sashing, but I realised that I would have to buy the sashing and that seemed at odds with my determination to sew as much stash as possible this year.  Instead I have now decided to make more blocks and to make this one giant quilt.  I'm now anticipating making 49 scrappy blocks.  So far I've made 25, so I have just edged over the half way mark.  Psychologically that is significant - I feel I can repeat what I have made so far!

In the meantime I am also working on another project.  Someone has requested I make them a duvet cover.  I've never made one before, but I am making good progress.  As it's someone else's request I am having to use their fabric choices.  They fell in love with this fabric:

I would not have touched this fabric; it's not my thing at all, but I am having fun sewing the bits together and it's good to have a challenge.  I'm hoping to have it finished for next Friday.

Have a lovely weekend!

Kaleidoscopic cushion

I love quilting books and quilting magazines and will happily spend time browsing fabrics and design, but I very rarely make anything from them.  I think they provide me with ideas and inspiration which I then go on to use in my own projects.  But then I saw the most amazing Kaleidoscopic Quilt in issue 5 of Quilt Now and I knew I had to make it.





























I love this quilt so much.  It's by Reene of Nellie's Niceties and I think it's a stunner.  I love the colours, the shapes and the fact it is made from scraps.  I have only done a little foundation piecing before, but it's definitely something I want to do more of and this pattern is great for a beginner.

With all my Christmas sewing there isn't time for me to make a big quilt at the moment, but I have found time to make a cushion front.  One of our cats, Jackson, has a dicky tummy and was sick on one of our cushions this week, so they are now out (I had gone off them in any case.)

The colours here are not my usual palette, but they will suit our brown sofas.  My autumnal colours give it such a different look and feel to Reene's.  I love the fact that most of the fabrics here are scraps, which otherwise had no destiny but which now are going to have a permanent home in our front room.

I am going to make a couple more cushions, which use the same fabrics but in a different order.  I will keep the cute little hedgehogs in the centre of them so all the cushions have something in common.  Also, I have to have a critter in the project somewhere.

It's not a true Friday finish, but I feel some sense of achievement.

Thank you for visiting.

If at first you don't succeed... cheat!

Once a month I attend a "block a month" group at a local patchwork shop.  There are four of us who attend and we always learn lots and have a laugh.  We seem to have diverted from our "block a month" title recently because we are all keen to learn as many techniques as we can and often what we want to learn doesn't fit in a traditional sampler quilt.

Today the aim was to master "apple core" on a sewing machine but it really didn't happen for me.  I just could not sew the curve and I ended up having such trouble that my shoulder ached and I had to have an impromptu massage in the shop from Doctor Amy (I told you we had diverted some what!)  About an hour and a half into the class and I felt I had achieved nothing.  I was still having a good time, but I was a little frustrated at my poor efforts.

Enter Bondaweb!  It was time to do some cheating.  I cut out my apple cores, affixed the bondaweb and ironed them to some calico.  Voilà - I now have the beginning of a cushion front.  There has been no sewing so far and I feel really guilty about not sewing but this just wasn't going to happen for me otherwise.  

Most of these fabrics are scraps from my recent Quarter Square Triangle Quilt so at least I wasn't cutting up and wasting new fabric in my earlier attempt.  When finished this is bound to go beautifully with that quilt, though I won't tell the recipient of the swizz I've pulled off today.

Thank you for visiting!

The long and short of it

My favourite part of making a quilt is the quilting.  I love getting the walking foot on the machine and choosing variegated thread and putting a pattern on the quilt, usually one which defines the piecing of the quilt.  I do know that on my sewing machine and with my experience, this is rather limiting and I would like to be able to quilt in a much more original and exciting way and I am always struck by the workmanship that can be seen on a quilt that has been long-arm quilted.

I keep mentioning long-arm quilters to my husband but the possibility of getting one is made immediately prohibitive by the need for serious cash, a lot of space and a concrete floor.  There's also been the issue that I have never had a go at long-arm quilting so any thought of buying all this kit would be a shot in the dark.

A friend found a second-hand frame on Ebay this week and I was interested in purchasing it.  This would not be as comprehensive as a top-of-the-range long-arm quilter, but it would be an opportunity to develop my quilting skills at a more affordable price.  I was interested and spoke to Lynn at Craft Den, who has one such frame and seems capable at any craft she touches.  We had a chat, she looked at the offer and I decided this was not my time.  Lynn, keen for me to make an informed decision, instead offered me tuition on her frame, which I immediately took her up on.

What fun I had!  I can't say I am an expert yet, but I think I showed potential and as I expected, I really enjoyed it.  Here are my first attempts at drawing pictures and creating different shapes:

And, then I had a go at long-arm quilting a baby quilt I started last week, and I am pleased with the progress I made.  This does not look like any of my regular quilts, where I am limited to straight lines.  I am glad I have had a try but I want to make the right decision and am going to use my trip to The Festival of Quilts next month to approach stalls, ask the right questions and consider the finances and commitment.  After having a go I am definitely very interested in owning one at some point.  I am so grateful to Lynn for letting me have a go!

So, that's my "long" news.  My "short" news comes in the form of a cushion I am making using Liberty Tana Lawn.  The pattern is from Quilt Now and uses small half square triangles and quarter square triangles.  It's certainly piecing on a small scale and I tend to avoid that.  I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow.

Thank you for visiting.

Industrious industrial action

Yesterday I was on strike.  I take the decision to strike seriously so I was up at the crack of dawn to join fellow colleagues on the picket line and then I went on a march in town to meet up with fellow strikers from across the city.  The afternoon I dedicated to sewing and finished my two half square triangle cushions for my sister.  That's always the surprise about a day of striking - I end up at work earlier than usual to make my point and then dedicate dinnertime and early afternoon to the cause as well.  Come the afternoon I have to treat myself to focussed craft time and I must admit that I did enjoy having a little extra time to indulge in my hobby, especially as it was bright and cheerful yesterday.

I had never made patchwork cushions before so I am always glad to try new things and realise I am not limited to quilts.  These were especially satisfying to make because they were so quickly put together and from scraps, at that.  I really love how the white makes these fabrics look greater than they are.  As fat quarters I am not keen on these fabrics; they are not something I would choose but the white somehow makes me love them, which is a revelation.

Many of the projects I pin on pinterest have large amounts of white fabric, which makes me wonder whether I would like some of these projects without this component.  Perhaps some of my dubious fabric purchases would be put to good use next to white.  It's something I will have to try.  I think that using white could be a really good way of stretching out favourite fabrics which I can no longer get hold of.  If I have limited amounts of a beloved fabric using white would enable me to stretch the fabric out to make a quilt.  I quilted the cushions simply with tramlines and used YLI Machine Quilting thread in "sea mist".  The variegated thread works well both against the coloured fabrics and the white.

I definitely want to make more patchwork cushions but I want to learn how to make piping next time to give the cushions more structure and to frame them nicely.  I feel future projects coming on already.