Liberty Squares Quilt: A finished quilt

It is so great to show off a finished quilt, it has felt like a long time since I worked on a big project and could boast a finish.  This quilt has been a lot of work to cut, piece and quilt and has been hours in the making but I am thrilled with it now and I am never parting with it!

All the top fabrics are Liberty tana lawn.  It is so freeing to put so many different prints and colours together in this haphazard way.  Providing you avoid similar colours being adjacent to one another, I don't think you can go wrong.  I love the mixture of dark and light, pastels and brights, as well as large and small scale prints.  Most of these fabrics are florals, but I am glad to have sourced some Liberty prints with animals in them.  It wouldn't really be a very "me" quilt if there weren't critters in amongst the fabrics!

I decided to have a go at "stitch in the ditch" quilting for two reasons; firstly, I need to perfect this type of quilting and to "skill up", secondly (and more importantly) my usual choice for tramline quilting felt like just too much work.  Stitch in the ditch meant half the amount of quilting I would ordinarily do.  I know that it's not a great job, but I don't think it's too shabby and I am definitely going to practise this again in the future.

The backing fabric is not by Liberty, but is a cotton lawn and goes really well with the front fabrics.  I bought the fabric in a sale and don't know which company produced the fabric.  The only thing I can say is that I love both the pattern and the feel.

The binding is from stash -  a simple pink and white stripe which is sweet for the front and goes beautifully with the back.

I am so pleased that I cut up some of my most recent (and most limited) Liberty purchases.  Alice and the Mad Hatter both make an appearance in this quilt.

 Quilt Stats:

Finished dimensions: 57" x 75"
Number of 2½" squares: 1064
Over 100 different Liberty tana lawn prints included

This quilt is staying with us.  I love it and it seems to be a hit with Brutus, too!

Thank you for visiting!

Liberty Squares Quilt: A quilt in progress

In an earlier blog post I showed off some Liberty fabric purchases from the Festival of Quilts.   Normally I squirrel these fabrics away and save them for a suitable project, but this time I didn't stash all of the fabrics away.  Instead I started cutting some of the prints into 2½" squares (what else?) and adding them to other cherished Liberty fabrics.

Working with tana lawn is a real joy.  Believe it or not, it has been a pleasure to cut up 1000+ squares - the feel of the fabric, the colour combinations, the patterns.  I reckon there are over 100 different prints included here.  It surprised me that I have so many different prints, but it has been an opportunity to remind myself that I am very fortunate to have such a wide selection of such a quality fabric.  In this quilt I have now used up some prints from stash and I don't know if I will be able to get hold of them again.  That doesn't feel sad, in fact it feels really satisfying.  I am going to keep hold of this quilt for me and knowing that there are some fabrics making their "last outing" will make me treasure this quilt more.

This quilt is now ready pinned and ready for  and quilting.  Let's hope I can get that completed speedily so this quilt is keeping me warm very soon.

The end of summer

It was the first day back at work for me today after what have been lovely summer holidays.  It's always a struggle to get out of bed after having six weeks off and I will miss being at my sewing machine during the day, but September always comes around and it is time for me to start earning my next summer holidays.

I have three small projects to show you, and in typical fashion they are all pouches/pencil cases.  I continue to love making this little gifts, and now I know how to use my zipper foot they look better than ever.

First up is a little ballerina pencil case for my niece, Ava.  She's four and attends ballet class.  She has to push the furniture to the sides of the living room "to practise".  She takes her ballet very seriously and I loved making this simple gift and filling it with colour pencils.

The next one is for my friend Di and it has lovely Liberty prints.  Di lives in Australia and a couple of years ago I made her a Liberty quilt.  She recently got a new teaching job and I thought this would be a nice best of luck gift.  She's a classy lady, so it always has to be Liberty for her.

I included a strawberry fabric on the inside to remind her of English strawberries.  I always try to put a memory of home in there somewhere.  I hope that it will encourage her to come back to the UK!

The final one I made last night.  At 9pm I was supposed to be getting ready for bed and having an early night before returning to work.  That didn't happen!  I decided that I needed a new pencil case.  I opted for the most part for purple fabrics.  I do love purple accessories!  But I just included a couple of other colours to personalise it.  The cats had to be in there, as well as the red ladybirds.  They really are my talisman.  I also included one of my favourite Liberty prints, Ros, for good measure.  I think the pencil case was worth the last minute effort.

Sunday Stash #7 - Festival of Quilts 2015 purchases

A trip to the Festival of Quilts always means I return home with Liberty fabric.  This year I was more restrained as I already have a large stash of Tana Lawn, but I made some great purchases nonetheless.  

I knew beforehand that I would buy some fabrics from the range inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.  I bought two fat quarters of Suzy Elizabeth, which has tea paraphernalia (tea pots, crockery, cutlery).  This is a good fabric choice for me.  I also got three scrap pieces of Gallymoggers Reynard.  I love these fabrics, but I knew I didn't need a lot of them.  I will fussy cut them and add them to the right project at some point.

I bought more scrap pieces of fabrics I have already but which are now in new colourways.  Here we have Strawberry Thief, Mauvey, Wiltshire and Ros.  These are already firm favourites in my stash and it's nice to add new variations.

I also purchased some scraps which are entirely new to me.  There are a couple I know like Tatum and Isle of Wight, but there are three others I don't know at all and I haven't discovered their names yet.

I also purchased this large piece of fabric, but I've never seen it before and haven't managed to confirm its name.  (If you know, please let me know in the Comments.)  It's a child-like print with lots of critters and flowers.  I love it because it's cute and it also has ladybirds.  I might use it to back my Scrappy Snowballs and Squares quilt.

I know that there is still a lot of Liberty fabric here, but I still believe I was self-disciplined and only bought what I *needed*.

Happy Sunday!

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!

Coming to the Party late

We may be heading towards the end of the month, but I have finally managed to work on something for Project Leasa's Precuts Party, where you sew precut bundles of fabric from stash.  So much effort went into my large Scrappy Squares Quilt (confession - I am still sewing in the threads) that I needed a quick project and decided to make some lovely Liberty pillowcases for our bedroom.

I don't own many precut bundles, in fact I owned just one; my friend bought me some 5" Liberty squares for Christmas so it had to be them that I worked with, though working with Liberty is never a hardship!  

For the pillowcases I wanted to stick to three main colours (pink, blue and purple) to match the bedroom.  That meant I had to reject some of the lovely 5" squares and supplement fabric from my stash.  I have been left with some lovely reds, greens, yellows and oranges, which I am going to work with next week.

I love how these have turned out.  I quilted squares using my walking foot and coordinating Aurifil threads.  The feel is just wonderful.

To make them even more luxurious I used Liberty fabric 'Nancy' on the back and quilted lines down the back at 3" intervals.  I finally got around to using my Clover Hera Marker to get lovely straight lines, and it worked a treat!

The only downside to these pillowcases is that they are almost too nice to use.  I think they will be ornamental.  My husband likes gardening and running and I'm not sure I want him to lay his head on them after he's been at the allotment or on a run.  But at least they look nice!

Sew much for that

By today Christmas already feels like a while ago, but just before the start of 2015 I would like to show off some of the Christmas gifts I made and received.  I've seen a lot of blogs recently with sewn pouches which have been given as gifts.  For the first time in my life I am part of a trend as I made plenty of these for gifts as well.

First up are three of the Liberty pouches I made.  This one is a Kindle case and I love all the Liberty blues with the gingham interior.  Classy and timeless, I think.

Next up are purple make up bags.  I used some of the same fabrics in them but the different zips and inner fabrics give the bags a different feel.  The top one with the deep purple is really vibrant.  The bottom one has a lilac zip and inner and it feels a lot calmer.

 I also made a glasses case for one of my uncles, who is notorious for losing his glasses.  He is also an allotmenter, so this gardening fabric is just perfect.  This could be my all time favourite fabric.  It's by Alexander Henry and is called "Little Green".  It came out in 2011 (before I had even been on a sewing machine) and I have sought it out on many occasions, only to be told you can't get hold of any more of it.  I love it so much!  I really wish they would bring it out again; I would buy metres a bolt and make so many lovely things with it.  The fabric also has ladybirds, and I love those little critters.

I received lots of lovely presents but the sewing ones are worth sharing here.  I got a couple of notebooks, which I love for writing down my ideas and inspiration.  (Thanks Amy and Lorraine.)  I also got some sewing chocolates from Nicola (thank you!) which not only looked great but tasted yummy, too.

 Lorraine also bought me some Liberty squares and a Liberty pouch.  I was thrilled with both.  I have a lot of Liberty fabric, but I am always happy to add to it and there were loads of fabrics in this pack that I don't have and (shock horror!) there are even some I don't know the name of!

 I hope you all had a nice Christmas and have an enjoyable 2015.  I'll see you next year!

Normal Service Resumed

I am now back to quilting and blogging after returning from a lovely, relaxing holiday in Austria.  I had a great time and worked on a couple of projects (Briar Rose hexagons and knitting a pair of socks) but I missed the sewing machine and within my first 24 hours back home I have worked on two projects.  Sewing hexagons and knitting socks make for relaxing and therapeutic projects but there is nothing like hitting the sewing machine and making fast progress.

I am on a bit of a money-saving mission at the moment because I really do want a long-arm quilter at some point, so I am going to try to work with stash fabrics for the next few months and become reacquainted and fall back in love with some earlier fabric purchases.

At the recent Festival of Quilts (did I mention I went?) I bought some Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury Gardens fabrics to add to some existing fabrics I already owned from the range.  I bought two metres of backing as well so this fits my money-saving mission as I have everything to make a complete project.  To make this quilt a little funkier, I have also added some other fabrics from my stash (elephants and CND symbols aren't original to the range.)  I have already made two projects from this range (a quilt and a cushion) and I love these so I know these are going to be fun fabrics to work with again; the pinks, blues and greens are the prettiest ever. 

I am making string blocks and so far have made 30 4" squares.  I like the look but think I am going to make a chequerboard quilt with white squares.  I have plenty of white fabric in my stash so I still won't need to make an additional purchase for this quilt.  I think this quilt will be ready in no time so I am determined to get a Friday finish this week.  That's almost a promise!

Sunday Stash #2

Today I have had such a great day sewing and being with my sewing friends that it seems strange to be going further back in time to the Festival of Quilts again to share some of my fabric purchases.  But, seeing as I have taken the photos and mentioned previously that I would do a Sunday Stash post, it makes sense to stick to the plan.

It is impossible for me to go to the Festival of Quilts and not buy Liberty fabric.  I am a major fan and can boast a significant stash of Liberty fabrics.  I treated myself to some lovely bits and pieces but was then really pleased that two of my friends bought me Liberty fabrics as well.  Margaret bought me a Liberty Lucky Bag which was great because there were some amazing little gems in there, many of which I do not already own.  I am working (on and off) on two Liberty quilts and the Lucky Bag fabrics are perfect for the hexagons I am making in one of these quilts.  Amy bought me a great print which I don't even know the name of but which has really zingy greens, pinks and oranges in it and will be a real feature fabric in a future project.  Aren't I lucky to have friends with great taste?

I love fabric and I love cats, so these cat prints Tiger Stripe by Cotton and Steel were always going to be purchased by me.  I love "critter" fabrics in any case, but these are so beautifully stylised that I already count them amongst my favourite animal fabrics.  The smiling food below has to be my most random purchase.  I bought it on its own and have nothing even remotely similar to it in my stash but I just felt I wanted it.  I think I want to turn it into some oven mitts at some point, but who knows when or what its other fabric friends will be?  At this point, who cares?  I love it, that's enough to justify having it!

This little bundle was put together randomly when I got home.  Many of these were bought to join a low volume quilt I have on the go.  My friend, Lorraine, bought me the shamrock fabric in pink and orange here (which is actually tricky to see in this bundle) but when I added it to other purchases it created a little set which is possibly the start of a funky quilt.  I love the shamrocks being in unconventional colours like pink and orange and I always love these bright colours together.  I've already joined them to some red lobsters I purchased and love the craziness already.

Lorraine pointed me in the direction of a stall called The Shuttle, which sold really good fabrics at fantastic prices.  I now discover it is near to my home town (and so also my family!) so I suspect I will be visiting it again in the not so distant future.  Here are some good stash builders I bought from there:

I see so many quilts with the pearl bracelet pattern, but I think it is just so dependable.  I like the bike path fabrics for the same reason.  Later in the week you will see these fabrics in a quilt I have already pieced.

These aren't my only purchases, I also bought much of the Far Far Away range by Heather Ross, but I won't bother showing you these fabrics as they are already cut and pieced and no longer in my stash.

When I use the phrase "a good time was had by all" to describe our day at the NEC it is no exaggeration.  If anything, it is probably an understatement.  Today's sewing day was not just about making; we all shared our stories of the day and showed off our purchases.  A couple of us remarked how rubbish Friday felt because it was such a comedown from such a day of visual treats and creative inspiration.  I know I certainly felt that.  But, we're all agreed that next year it's going to be a two day affair with an overnight stay so we can be there early doors and see even more.  I'm already counting down the days.

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.