The 1826 Quilt

I’m ashamed to say that I finished this quilt top (one of my first) for my son’s 18^th birthday in 2008! The hand dyed fabrics, used for the red, orange and yellow stars were scraps from another quilt that I purchased at the Melbourne Quilt Festival.  The Japanese print for the blue stars, and the dark blue homespun came from my local quilt shop in Canberra. The pattern (which I now can’t find) is from an Australian Quilt and Patchwork magazine.

I decided to make the outer stars red, the inner orange, and the centre ones yellow.  At the time I felt like it looked like he could fall through the stars on a dark night. But it also looks like the yellow stars are jumping out from the centre and fading into orange and red.

After finishing the top I was terrified of free motion quilting it and just put it away until I felt confident.  That hasn’t happened. Anyhoo – on a recent visit my son asked me what became of his quilt and I decided to finish it for his 26^th birthday – hence the name ‘1826’.

I quilted in the ditch with a dark blue thread, and orange in the bobbin. I wish now that I had used a clear thread instead.  But I’m reasonably happy with the result. The back is an orange batik that I found in my LQS especially to finish the job. I quite like how the back looks too.

 

The batting is a rather expensive one that I can’t remember the name of. What I didn’t like was the amount of fibre that came off while I was quilting.  I sneezed my way through quilting it I can tell you. So I washed the quilt afterwards in a short cold wash, firstly to make sure that the hand dyed fabrics didn’t run and to make sure that it would withstand being chucked into the machine by my son, and secondly to get rid of all the batting fibre clinging to the top. As you can see, I still need to take a clothes lint remover to it.

The binding is from a piece of fabric that I have purchased to finish another UFO from 2008. And these are the best mitred corners on a binding that I have ever done! I always hand sew the binding to the back as I love the invisible finish and I get a great deal of pleasure from adding a hand sewn element to the quilt at the end.

My son has now asked me to sew a hanging sleeve on it so that he can put it on the wall behind his bed. Hmmmm wish I’d thought of that sooner too.

The second 2008 UFO is in the sewing machine now. Here is a sneak peak of one of the blocks. This has to be stitched in the ditch because of the folded corners at each end of the logs. Wrestling this monster through my domestic sewing machine is proving tiresome to say the least. And I can already see that I will have to go back when the ditch stitching is finished and figure out what to do on some of the larger logs.  Sheesh!  No wonder it is a UFO.

BUT I am determined to finish all my UFOs before I dare start another quilt. And I’m really looking forward to that as I love the pattern from a modern quilt book, and I love the fabric I purchased at a quilt show last year. Oh! And Happy Birthday Sam!

Red Monstera - Finished!

I finally got the time to finish 'Red Monstera'. I originally wanted to do straight line quilting over the whole quilt. But once I started I realised that the windows in the quilt would all recede. So I changed tactics and quilted around the window frames so that the red leaves inside would pop out.

I echo quilted around the appliquéd leaves inside the white windows which are surrounded by red leaf frames. I like the way they look like they are floating on water.

 

I quilted square spirals inside the red boxes. 

 

I used the Ricky Timms method for narrow framing in black to break up all the red. I really like how this makes a quilt look. 

I used more fabric from my stash for the back.  I don't know where I got it! I'm glad that I reached my goal of not buying any fabric to make this quilt.

On the whole, I'm pleased with how this turned out but I am anxious to make a quilt with only straight line quilting.  Maybe the next one!

Thanks for stopping by.

Red Monster - a quilt in progress

Monstera deliciosa is a plant which is native to tropical rain forests in Southern Mexico. When I was a girl almost every household had one in the lounge room. We called them Swiss Cheese plants. Some time ago I found a red print fabric of this plant (can't remember where or when) and kept it in my stash. Our Monday Night Owls decided that for our round robin we would create a block with a window. Each person had to do four blocks for another quilter. I decided to use the red print and wanted to keep the colours to red and white and only use stash fabric.

Here it is on the design wall. Funny how different quilters have a different quarter inch seam isn't it?

Anyway, after I got my blocks up on the design wall I realised that I needed more but I was determined not to buy any more fabric. So I made extra blocks with some red homespun that I had
lying around.

I still wasn't happy as I felt the windows looked blank. So I fussy cut some monstera leaves and appliquéd these in the white boxes.

If I was doing this as a wall hanging I think I would have made them 3-D as they looked very pretty just dangling there.

I wanted to keep the quilt small as I want to practice free motion quilting in each box. But it was still a bit too small so I decided to put a small border on it with the last of the monstera fabric. I also liked the idea of the black frame around the blocks to break up all that red monstera fabric a bit! I followed Ricki Tims instructions for this and I'm pleased with the results.

Now it's time to get quilting this red and white monstera!

Quilt marathon ... we've all been there!

Spent 12 hours quilting my second piece for the Quilt Show this weekend.  I should have got onto it a lot sooner ... but I underestimated how long it would take. Almost fatal. I'll be much better prepared next time.

I started this quilt, called 'Litmus Paper' about seven years ago. It's one if my UFOs that never got finished because I was so terrified of my FMQ skills. Most of the fabrics are hand dyed and commercial batiks that I picked up in various shops and the Melbourne Expo. Here is a close up of the quilting detail.

When I started quilting 7 years ago, I had an old Singer Sewing machine which I traded in for my Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 830.  Unfortunately the Husky didn't like the Gutterman Sulky variagated threads that I was using, despite buying new metallic thread needles.  As I'd already quilted a quarter of it in fanciful leaves and swirls, I couldn't  unpick it or use normal threads.  Eventually I unearthed another needle that I acquired at a workshop with Sue Dennis recently.  Luckily it worked and I finally finished the quilt on a very blunt needle, praying that it wouldn't break.

I've called the quilt Litmus Paper because it reminds me of school chemistry classes when we tested liquids for their Ph balance using litmus paper.

The design is one by Valori Wells.  I love her work.

I pieced the border using leftover fabrics and used a tutorial by Red Pepper Quilts to machine stitch the binding as I normally hand sew it, but because of a lack of time, I had to do it this way.  I also downloaded a tutorial on creating a 'D' sleeve to hang it with.  Another new experience.  Thank goodness for all those generous bloggers out there so that people like me can learn from them - even in the dead of night!

This quilt will join the 'Boss-Eyed Bulls-Eye' as my very first exhibits.

Weekend socks

I found this http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/knitting_pattern_weekend_socks_2.php pattern to knit socks of all things. I say 'of all things' because I'm not a knitter, and the best knitter I ever knew (my darling mum) never knitted socks to my knowledge. When we were children she knitted all sorts of things for us. I hardly ever saw her without a pair of knitting needles right up until I left home at 18. 

But stuck for something to occupy my hands at night, I thought I'd give these a go. Spotlight in Canberra didn't have cable needles - they said they didn't stock them - and a lady I spoke to at our local markets said I'd probably find them in an op shop. So, off to St Vincent de Paul's I went. A good half hour later, having sorted through hundreds of knitting needles I managed to find four size 4 needles. Armed with these and a couple of balls of cheap acrylic wool from the Reject Shop I started knitting. 

Took a short while to figure out how to manipulate the four needles, but I managed somehow, and I'm reasonably well into my 
first sock. But, this is 5 hours work!  Hmmmm.  It will take more than a weekend for my socks. If they turn out well I plan to buy some real wool and knit a pair for Julian and a pair each for the boys. 

Apparently if a girl knit a pair of socks for a boy it was a sign that they were an item!

I'd just like the men in my life to have a warm pair to wear around the house. 

I feel comfort knitting as my mum once did, and I'm thinking about her and how much I miss her as I knit. 

Modern One-Quilt Blocks Book Review

"We are crazy about quilting."

Natalie Bonner and Kathleen Whiting have written easy-to-read, step-by-step instructions for 22 projects with options to create the quilts in baby, lap, or bed-cover sizes with a modern twist to traditional blocks.

All are easily pieced and aimed more at the beginner quilter, or for experienced quilters looking for a quick and easy introduction to modern quilting. I liked the way Natalie and Kathleen took a traditional block and made it asymmetrical simply by, for example, removing the usual sashing on two sides so that the blocks, once joined, appear to float randomly in the background. Great use of only two or three colours in each quilt too. It's so easy to use lots of fabrics and forget the simplicity and impact that 'less is more'.

I would have liked to see a bit more attention paid to quilting designs/techniques to finish off the quilt tops and there is no indication whether the designs in the book are completed with a long-arm or domestic machine. I suspect the former.

There is also no indication of the type of batting used. My understanding is that 100 per cent cotton is best if the quilt is to look as crinkly as the ones pictured.

Anyway, I'll be speaking from experience soon as I plan to make the American Stars quilt in lap size for someone very special. She loves all things cream!

A new book to relish

I love using my iPad to browse the Internet, and especially to look at the work of sister quilt bloggers and designers, but sometimes only a book will do. I am a voracious reader of all kinds of books, and I love the feel of a book in my hand. Bookshops are also a favourite haunt so on our last day in (a very windy) Brisbane I went to Dymocks.

I spent a very enjoyable time sitting on the floor in the craft section browsing the quilting books, got talking to a man who goes to Dymocks to browse and listen to their in-house music (he reckons it's the best anywhere) and only got stood on once!

I settled on this lovely, fresh, gem and brought it back to the hotel. I'll review it another time, but for the moment, I notice that it doesn't give yardage in metres. This might be a bit nit-picky and, in Australia we do have that anomaly of cutting and piecing in imperial measurements, yet buying fabric in metric measurements. But I think if you're writing a book for the international market you should research what measurements potential readers will use and include metric/imperial conversions.

For now I will relish reading it!