Helen Quilts

Orca Bay Mystery progress ...

2012-01-24T11:03:00.000Z

My Orca Bay Mystery has become a completed centre. I'd always planned on making a smaller version due to limitations on the size of quilt I can manage to quilt myself. Also, you might notice, that I've swapped the position of the light/dark Ohio Stars and used green in the centres of the dark ones. This will have a small scrappy black border then be bound with scrappy terracottas. It will be approx 52" square and will fit nicely on the rail in my lounge where I can display quilts.

I'm putting the mystery on the back burner for a while as I ponder what to use for backing and how I'm going to quilt it. In the meantime, I've been cutting for a new lap quilt. One of my quilty goals for this year is to make some of the patterns in books I've bought but never used! First up is "Monkey Business" from "Scrap Basket Surprises" by Kim Brackett. This is a GREAT book with lots of lovely patterns for 2.5" strips :)

Slow Progress ...

2012-01-11T12:29:00.002Z

I decided to go with the second layout of the Orca Bay (see previous post). Thanks for all your inputs - of those who expressed a preference it was 7 against 2 for the second layout!!

I've been plugging away at the clue parts and now all are made, including the Ohio Stars. Just need to find a good chunk of time to start the actual assembly :)

Orca Bay Mystery progress ...

2012-01-05T09:16:00.001Z

I'm plugging away at my Orca Bay, but only making very slow progress. Currently I'm cutting the large string squares into the triangles and applying the orca tail wings (part 7). I'm doing them only a couple at a time because I'm very nervous about the bias edges, so am starching, pressing, sewing, etc. So far they are coming out beautifully - phew!! Here's one star block laid out so I can see the effect.

I always planned to make a smaller version of the quilt and had thought about putting green (Bonnie's blue) centres into the lighter Ohio stars. However, after seeing how Julia is sutlely altering her layout, I might follow suit.

Original plan - Bonnie's layout, but with green centres to the lighter stars to help the green move more along the diagonals.

Possible new plan - Julia is planning to swap the lighter and darker Ohio Stars so the darks help the eye travel the diagonals better.

I really am rather liking this second layout. Luckily I only have one Ohio Star sewn so far, so not much ripping would be required to change tack at this stage :) Any preferences?

Check out other mystery participants here.

New Year ... First Finish.

2012-01-03T10:51:00.001Z

Happy New Year to you all!!

I have my first finish of 2012 - the Pinwheels Parade design by Pat Speth in "More Nickel Quilts". I made with with Kaffe Fassett nickels from a long-ago online swap and a pale green tone-on-tone. The light was so dull this morning it was tricky to get a good picture, but here it is.

In 2010 on the Stashbuster's group there was a challenge to see who would use up the most spools of thread. I thought it would be fun to keep all my empty spools in 2011 - there are 15. Now not all of them were full at the start of the year, but it is still fun to see them as an empty collection :)

Now, off to work some more on my Orca Bay mystery quilt ... I'm still need to do clues 6 & 7!

Year End Report.

2011-12-31T09:44:00.001Z

Here we are on the last day of 2011 - boy that seemed to go by fast!! I like to keep a tally on projects finished, fabrics used/bought, etc ... so here goes ...

I finished 8 lap quilts, 5 incubator covers (36" square), 5 incubator quilts (16" x 20").
I finished up my oldest UFO from 2008.
I taught the Disappearing Nine Patch to my Quilt Guild at their annual Quiltathon.
I finished my personal stash-busting challenge.
I finally plucked up the courage to quilt feathers!!
On a non-quilty note, I also rediscovered my love of card-making.

I bought 33.5 metres of new fabric.
I used 59 metres of fabric in my finished projects.

I carry two unfinished quilts into 2012 - the Orca Bay Mystery and Pinwheels Parade.

Despite the fact that I had a sewing 'lull' between Sept - Nov, I'm pretty pleased with what I achieved in 2011. If you've read this far I'll reward you with a quilty picture ... still a work in progress, but I'm getting there!

Here's to a happy, healthy and quilty New Year for all :)

Progress ...

2011-12-28T14:48:00.000Z

I've finished all the Clue 5 pieces for the Orca Bay Mystery. I'm holding fire on Clue 6 until I see how it will be set, as I might change the colour of some of the centre pieces.

In the meantime, I've been working on the Pinwheels quilt. I was basting it this morning and did a little of the quilting this afternoon. I'm doing some feathers on the paler blocks, so have to pace myself :)

Merry Christmas and Orca Bay ...

2011-12-24T03:19:00.000Z

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this. I hope the festive season brings you lots of love and happiness however you choose to celebrate.

Here I am at 3am on Christmas Eve having had a brainwave. I think I've figured out how the parts of Orca Bay will fit together and I had to come downstairs and play in EQ6 to see what it might look like. Don't panic ... I'm not going to spoil it for anyone by showing my idea here. If you are really curious, email me privately and I'll send you a .jpg of my thoughts. Remember, I could be way off Bonnie's thought process anyway :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Five ...

2011-12-22T17:16:00.000Z

Finally, I have some progress to post about! I had hoped to start cutting for this step on Sunday, but didn't manage to put rotary cutter to fabric until Wednesday. I'm only making half quantities, but cutting 350 triangles seemed to take forever!!! The first 20 triangles I sewed on were wrong (thanks Elaine for the tip to check this stage carefully), I'm now back on track. I've got 70 units completed, 60 still as HSTs and the rest in some stage of progress. Check out Bonnie's linky to see how others are getting on :)

Pinwheels Progress ...

2011-12-17T10:59:00.000Z

My pinwheel blocks are stitched, pressed and ready to be arranged on the design wall :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Four ...

2011-12-13T08:24:00.000Z

As I'm only stitching half quantities of the mystery blocks, my 32 string blocks are sewn. I haven't had a chance to trim yet as I need to get some starch first. I cut a couple of strips from each of my pulled fabrics before I started and had nearly used all my terracota/orange strings by the end. Fun using up lots of little pieces of scraps in this step :)

Check out other participants' progress on Bonnie's blog.

Pinwheels progress ...

2011-12-09T14:11:00.001Z

Firstly, my HSTs from the Orca Bay mystery are all finished and ready for action. I'm delighted to see that this week we get to play with red strings, or in my case terracota/orange ones!

Here is where I'm up to with my Pinwheels on Parade pattern. The patterened block parts are on my design wall and I have all the alternate block pieces cut. Should get some time to sew this weekend and I think I'll do a little on each project :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Three ...

2011-12-06T10:48:00.001Z

Even though I'm only making half the number of units for the mystery, I still need 175 2" HSTs for this step!! I've been cutting a little, sewing a little, pressing a little, repeat, and I now have 103 units. I have a good chance to sew tomorrow, so I'm hoping to be caught up by Friday. I used the Easy Angle ruler and 2" strips for this step and it's gone really smoothly :)

Check out Bonnie Hunter's Linky to see how other mystery participants are getting along.

Something new ...

2011-12-02T08:50:00.000Z

Yesterday I had lots of time to sew, but I'm up to date with the clues for the Orca Bay Mystery ... so what's a girl to do?!? She starts a new quilt!! I pulled the fabrics for the Pinwheels on Parade pattern from "More Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth. The nickels (5" squares) are from a long ago swap of Kaffe Fasset fabrics. The background is an off-white with little green sprigs, so the whole thing will look quite fresh :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Two ...

2011-11-29T11:50:00.000Z

The QST units from step one are all trimmed and ready. I've made most of my 3.5" string blocks - my monitor is making them look blue, but they are green when you see them for 'real'! They are so cute and I'm delighted with the variety of fabrics I've managed to incorporate. After reading Bonnie's suggestion for using up scrap paper I surveyed the recycling paper bin and decided the TV listing magazine would be ideal ... and it was! I usually hate ripping paper on blocks, but by using a larger needle and a shorter stitch, it was a breeze. Just a few more to make and I'll be ready for step three on Friday.

To see what progress others are making on the mystery, check out Bonnie's Linky :)

My First Quilt.

2011-11-27T10:59:00.000Z

The first time I tried patchwork I made a Sawtooth star cushion cover from a pattern in a library book. I traced the templates onto the fabric, cut with scissors and sewed it up. I decided I quite liked patchwork.

This is the first quilt I made, started soon after the cushion cover in 2001. The leaf blocks were supposed to be paper-pieced, but I didn't know how to do that, so I did sew and flip corners instead. I used a variety of scraps from my sewing basket, some cotton, some polycotton, one brushed cotton. The triangles that go into the border are appliqued on. I went to my very first proper quilt shop to buy the fabric for the border of this quilt - unfortunately the shop has since closed. It was backed with plain calico and hand quilted. I still have this quilt and it now acts as a dust cover in my sewing room.

See other people's first quilts by following Bonnie's linky.

The Christmas Fayre.

2011-11-27T10:31:00.000Z

The Christmas Fayre at the care home I support was yesterday. What a busy day!! Our stall was selling the cards and ornaments I've shown on my blog made with the help of the residents, together with some bric-a-brac and a guess the number of sweets in the jar and guess the name of the teddy. We raised the princely sum of £180. This goes towards extra entertainments for the residents.

Today feels like the day after Christmas!! All the build up for the big day and now it is over. At least I'll have more time for my quilting now :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step One ...

2011-11-22T12:14:00.000Z

I decided to use the 3.5" squares and the "draw-sew-cut-press-draw-sew-cut-press" method to make my QSTs. Much longer winded, but when squared up totally accurate. Here they are all ready for squaring up, which I'll do at my leisure.

It's so much fun seeing the excitement amoungst online quilters about this mystery. Bonnie's blog is having a link page every Monday to those of us taking part to show our progress :)

Orca Bay Mystery Begins ...

2011-11-19T10:27:00.001Z

I was excited to see the release of the instructions for the first part of the mystery yesterday. I scanned them, seeing we were making quarter square triangles (QSTs), then I read closer and saw that they would be 2.5" square to finish at 2" in the quilt - GULP!!!! That's pretty small!! I've made a few test pilots this morning trying out a couple of different ways of making them.

On the left I used 3.5" squares and used the "draw-sew-cut-press-draw-sew-cut-press" method referred to by Bonnie, but I also had to trim. They are many steps involed, but no bias edges and they are accurate.

On the right I used 1.5" strips and Companion Angle ruler, as described in Bonnie's instructions. They've come out pretty accurate, but I needed to seperately trim the dog ears.

At this point I've not decided which method to use for the rest. I'll have to cut the fabric strips/squares which ever one I decide on as I don't have any black fabrics in my strip bins ... it's obviously not a colour I've used much in the past.

Pondering ... :)

Xmas robins ...

2011-11-18T10:43:00.000Z

Aren't these cute?! The care home activities organiser came across something similar in a xmas catalogue and we decided to have a go at making some. A couple of prototypes later, with the help of some curtaining fabric and some felt, we have a flock of robins!! The residents did a very good job of stuffing these with toy filling and lavender - very good hand mobility exercise! I did the final finishing. Hope they sell well at the fayre next week.

I'm looking forward to the first clue in Bonnie's new mystery which is due out later today :)

Orca Bay Mystery Fabrics.

2011-11-09T09:19:00.000Z

Here are my choices for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery - Orca Bay. I'm going with terracota/orange, green, black and neutrals. There's everything in here from 30s repros to recycled shirts! I'll also be raiding my precut strips bins as the mystery progresses and my string bin for added variety.

I won't be making the full-size quilt (74" x 84"), I'll probably make half the blocks required and see where that takes me. I did the Carolina Crossroad and Carolina Christmas mysteries this way and LOVED the outcomes. Just need to wait for the first clue to be released on the 18th :)

Some stitching ...

2011-11-05T09:59:00.000Z

I've actually been using the sewing machine this week!! I've been sewing up items to sell at the Care Home's xmas fayre later this month. I've been doing stocking ornaments, hearts to stuff and fill with fresh dried lavender and sheer bags for lavender too. My house has been smelling wonderful!! I'm finding turning little bits of fabrics and trims into fundraising items a lot of fun - feels like creating something from nothing.

I'm going to take part in Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt which starts on the 18th November. Currently hunting through the stash finding what fabrics to use - more of that next time :)

Xmas stamping ...

2011-10-25T12:43:00.000+01:00

I've been working with another set of the Scene-It stamps from Hobby Art called Town House. I must admit that the first picture I made was shamelessly copied from one I found on the internet. However, my filing system has let me down and I can't give credit to the original designer - apologies.

Then with that success under my belt, I started making up my own little scenes, watercolouring and turning them into cards. Notice how the first two are almost the same, apart from the colouring which changes the feel.

These little scenes are addictive :)

Stamping ...

2011-10-06T15:22:00.000+01:00

I know this blog is usually quilt-related, but if I want to keep it going at the moment, I'll have to share some of the cardmaking stuff I've been doing.

I've been playing with some Hobby Art stamp sets called Scene-Its. They are small acrylic stamps of various components (houses, trees, animals, grasses, etc) that you build into a scene. The idea is that you then colour them and use the finished scenes in cardmaking. I've shown them both before and after the watercolours were added ... what a difference!

There is so much scope for variation and they are not too time consuming (these finished scenes only measure 8" x 3") These sets are such fun to play with :)

Not a stitch ...

2011-09-22T18:28:00.000+01:00

... has been taken since my last post on 1st September!! I've been busy, but not with stitching. I've started helping at a weekly arts & crafts session at the nursing home where I donate some of my quilts. There are very mixed abilities and skill levels, so they do a lot of colouring in with watercolours, some watercolour painting and various papercrafts. I've really enjoyed exploring my long-forgotten cardmaking skills and it has rather taken over my work table, but I'm having such fun! Here are some of the cards we've made :)

DD9P Finished!

2011-09-01T09:28:00.001+01:00

I finished the binding on this yesterday, so it just made it as an August finish :)

DD9P Quilting ...

2011-08-30T11:00:00.000+01:00

The Double Disappearing Nine Patch has now been quilted. I used a variation of one of Patsy Thompson's patterns from her Fast and Free DVDs. Only binding to go ... do you think I can have an August finish?

Have you heard about ...

2011-08-21T15:27:00.000+01:00

... the Double Disappearing Nine Patch? Well I hadn't until I came across it on Christina's blog. What a great idea to do the technique twice. This gave me just the incentive I needed to get a new project underway. I started with some nickels (5" square charms) and yardage.

A few seams and slices later and this was taking shape on my design wall! Brilliant :)

PS: I realise that the colours are looking very dull in the second photo - the first photo is more realistic and they look much nicer in person :)

Bunny II Finished.

2011-08-14T14:50:00.000+01:00

The second Bunny fabric quilt is done.

Can't decide what to work on next, but definately something different and less intensively quilted :)

Bunny II quilted!

2011-08-07T10:02:00.000+01:00

Finally the quilting is finished. Boy, this took a long time - I won't be doing this much detailed quilting on a quilt to be given away in a hurry!! It was a good practice piece though, as I did a different fill around each feather wreath. I used a whole spool of Gutermann thread on the background fills alone and had to dash out to buy another to finish them up. Just the binding to go and this one will be done :)

More quilting ...

2011-07-31T09:15:00.000+01:00

The BunnyII quilt is progressing, slowly. I've got all the feathered wreaths done, all the sashings and have only two more blocks to fill with loops. Then I can go back and fill around the wreaths. I found a great match to the lime in Gutermann thread yesterday, so I should be all set to finish next week

At last ....

2011-07-25T06:55:00.000+01:00

... some quilting!! I've made a start on the BunnyII top and quilted my first ever feathered wreath, which is also the first time I've ever used a bought stencil. I decided that marking with a stencil was the only way to get a consistant look on my wreaths, but then looking at the ones in Patsy Thompson's book I suspect she does the same too!! It will need a little background fill, but I'll come back and do that later :)

More Course Fun ...

2011-07-21T09:18:00.000+01:00

Still no actual quilting, but more learning and drawing!! Below is a feather design that I drew that was inspired by the wrought iron work above :)

Course fun ...

2011-07-14T11:52:00.000+01:00

I've got no further with the Bunny top, but I haven't been slacking. I've actually been working really hard on the 'homework' for the Quilt Whisperer 101 online course I've just started. Run by Carla of Feathered Fibers blog it is a great chance to learn more about how to decide what to quilt on a quilt! It involves a lot of thinking and a lot of sketching (in the loosest sense of the word!).

I won't share all the details of the exercises because it wouldn't be fair to Carla or those of us who have paid to go on the course. But I will share how we were encouraged to look for design elements within our homes ...

... such as an old rug ...

... sketch out the design elements ...

... turn it into something that would work on a quilt block or border.

Who knew that my old rug had quilting motif potential!! FUN!!

If you'd like to see what others are struggling to quilt or offer some suggestions, there is a new Flicker group called How Should I Quilt This run by Christina of A Few Scraps blog that is great fun to browse/participate in :)

Bunny II ...

2011-07-12T10:09:00.000+01:00

Here's the second top using the bunny fabric. Those lime green blocks are crying out for feathered wreaths and the sashing strips would be a good place to do some little feathered borders :)

Border quilting part 2 ...

2011-07-07T09:55:00.000+01:00

I've quilted the other border and the binding is now on. I couldn't get a shot that showed the quilting on my design wall, so I've had to show it draped on my table. There's also a closeup of the second corner which flows much better I think. Now I've got plans to make another using this bunny fabric where I can practice feathered wreaths :)

Border quilting ...

2011-06-28T11:22:00.000+01:00

I made the first of the bunny quilt tops - very simple with a solid lime border and mauve cornerstones. Then I agonised over which thread colour to use for the quilting. It had to be something that would show up, but not overdominate! Eventually I decided on a medium turquoise rayon thread and set to work. I have half a feather border, a la Patsy Thompson!! I need to rewatch the DVD to see how she handles the corners and the finishing swirl - you think you know until you try to do it, but this is why we practice :)

Quilting finished and new project idea ...

2011-06-23T10:47:00.000+01:00

The quilting on the Fun with Bricks is now finished. I haven't bound it yet, but thought I'd share a picture of the backing fabric which is a recycled duvet cover. The quilting pattern seems to work quite nicely with the boats - think choppy seas!

Last weekend I was going through my stash to find anything I was willing to part with at my Guild's auction night. I found several pieces that had been hanging about too long, together with 64" of this cute Easter bunny print. I think I thought it would do for a backing, but I've never found a quilt to put it on. I decided to hang onto it and make a couple of incubator covers. There's not enough without adding borders, so I found some solids/nearly solids in my stash to co-ordinate. I'm thinking I could practice some fancy quilting here ... need to rewatch my Patsy Thompson feathers DVD :)

Fun with Bricks Quilting ...

2011-06-20T09:09:00.000+01:00

I seem to be on such a 'go slow' at the moment. Finally the quilting is underway and about half way through, as I write :)

Fun with Bricks ...

2011-06-12T11:12:00.000+01:00

I've got the whole top assembled already - it's amazing what a bit of concentrated sewing can do!! Here's a close-up of some of the fabrics that are included. I bet the child that receives this will delight in finding all the different items :)

Starting ...

2011-06-11T10:08:00.000+01:00

... a new project. I've been in a bit of a quilty 'lull' since I did the Quiltathon and finished the sample. Now I've got to get myself 'in gear' again and get stitching!! I'm sewing up a version of Bonnie Hunter's Fun with Bricks pattern, using bricks cut 4.5" x 2.5", some of which I used as a Leaders and Enders demo at the Quiltathon. To make a 40" x 56" quilt it is surprising how many bricks I need - over 200 by my calculation - which has made a nice dent in my bricks box :)

SBChallenge Finished!

2011-05-29T10:04:00.007+01:00

Quilt number 20 from my personal Stash Busting Challenge is finished and I am also going to declare this the end of my Challenge. Since July last year I have made twenty quilts from the original unloved stash which is almost all used up. I still have the Kaffe Fassett charms squares and the Thimbleberry fabrics, but I'm sure they will become donation quilts at some point in the future. Now I want to focus on using some of the fabrics I DO still love!!

Here's a shot of the little preemie quilts finished too. I have 3 incubator covers and 4 preemie quilts ready to hand in at my next Guild meeting ... be ready Shirley :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 20 quilting ...

2011-05-26T15:26:00.007+01:00

The sample I used for the Quiltathon was acutally the 20th quilt to be made with my Stash Busting challenge fabrics. I've been working on the quilting today.

I decided to make a focus of the centre 'butterfly' motif, stitching some feathers in the 'wings' and trying out continuous circles in the 'body'.

As it isn't very easy to see the detail when it's stitched out on the quilt, here's my sketch of the idea too.

The rest of the quilt has an all over butterfly meander from the Pajama Quilter's 2nd DVD. It was fun to do :)

Quiltathon ...

2011-05-22T08:37:00.007+01:00

The Quiltathon was yesterday and Nine Patches were disappearing left, right and centre!! I was incredibly nervous about presenting, but everyone was very attentive and supportive and I think a great time was had by all. Most of the ladies chose to do the smaller (36" square) size and everyone left with at least their top finished, a few had started their quilting and two ladies just had the binding left to do!! We did a show and tell photo at the end (that's me on the far right hand size holding up someone else's work so they could take a photo) ...

... and here's a couple who escaped before the group picture ...

... and here's the ladies all working away industriously :)

Preparation ...

2011-05-19T09:26:00.004+01:00

My local Guild is holding it's annual Quiltathon this Saturday. I will be showing 12 members how to piece the Disappearing Nine Patch for donation quilts. So there's been no sewing this week as I've been concentrating on the preparation and making sure I have everything I need and know what I'm going to say. I've never done this before and I'm really nervous about it, so please wish me luck :)

Oops ...

2011-05-12T13:33:00.004+01:00

Why is it that things always go wrong when it is important that they don't?!?

I'm working on the last of my Stash Busting Challenge fabrics and making another Disappearing Nine Patch incubator cover. This one is going to be the samples for a step-by-step demo for my Quilt Guild in just over a week's time. I had put the fabrics to one side a few weeks ago - 2 FQs of dark peach, 2 FQs of cream TOT and 1 of grey for the accent and these all coordinated with the border fabric. When I came to pressing and cutting the fabrics, I realised that one of the cream fabrics wasn't a FQ so I would be a bit short of the 6" squares needed. No worries, I found a light grey that would work nicely for the additional squares ... but I miscut ... twice!!!!

How to save it? ... by cheating slightly! I ended up with not enough light 6" squares, but enough fabric to cut a 3" strip instead. Which is why I ended up with a nine patch that actually has 12 pieces of fabric involved!! Luckily this is the block that is demonstrating already being cut into pieces, so noone will ever know - it will be our little secret :)

Dinosaur Finished.

2011-05-10T09:22:00.004+01:00

Here's the dinosaur quilt bound and finished. I quilted in the ditch around the footprints and the blocks they were in. Over the rest of the quilt I did a random zig-zag which was inspired by a Laura Lee Fritz design in "Mindful Meandering". Quick and easy :)

More feathers ...

2011-05-07T09:16:00.008+01:00

Ever since I discovered I could do feather quilting, I've been trying to dream up ways of getting more chances to practice!

Here is a little preemie quilt that is made from a few orphan bowtie blocks left over from a swap after I had made a twin sized quilt for myself. I thought the red blocks were a bit too dominant to use in the larger quilt, but they go very well together.

The white spaces were calling out for feathers, so I did some of Patsy Thompson's 'circling the element' motifs. They are far from perfect, but I think they are pretty :)

Dinosaur flimsey ...

2011-05-02T15:08:00.006+01:00

What fun I've had with those dinosaur fabrics!!

Coming up with the design was tricky because there were so many limitations on how wide or long I could cut the strips, how many of each strip I had, wanting to keep the large dinosaurs upright, etc. With all that to think about I never even gave assembling the top a thought. However, when I wrote my last blog post I suddenly realised that it would be problematic. Luckily, apart from having to use several partial seams, it went together much more smoothly than I feared - phew!

The worst bit was having to make eight dinosaur footprints with paper-piecing - it was so VERY time consuming and reminded me why I rarely do PPing :)

Dinosaurs ...

2011-04-30T09:43:00.005+01:00

Back at February's Guild meeting I was given some fabric strips with dinosaurs on. I've been mulling over what to do with them and, after playing about in EQ6 on the custom layout, a plan has emerged!! Ignore the fabrics used on the drawing, I didn't want to waste time fiddling with getting the exact fabrics imported, so I've made the large dino print the dark blue, the light dino print the yellow print, the squares are the plaid, etc. I've also utilised a paper-pieced dinosaur footprint design by Paula Doyle in the April 2011 edition of Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

I can foresee some trickiness when I try to assemble all the pieces together ... I think I'm going to end up with a couple of set-in corners, but I'll tackle that when I come to it!! Now to get cutting and stitching :)

SBChallenge - Number 19 finished.

2011-04-25T11:19:00.006+01:00

I've had lots of time to sew this Easter weekend, so I've managed to start and finish a quilt using fabrics from my personal stash-busting challenge. This quilt has the added benefit of being a sample for a demo at my quilt guild of the Disappearing Nine Patch technique AND will be a gift for a lovely dog called Henry.

I have been donating a lot of my recent quilts to a local nursing home and I've often been delivering them on a Tuesday afternoon, which is their PAT Dog day. Henry is a PAT Dog or Pets as Therapy dog and really loves meeting all the residents (staff & visitors too!) and letting them fuss him - it cheers everyone up!! His mum has seen many of the quilts I've given and mentioned that Henry might like one too ... and apparently he wasn't fussed about the colour!!

So I decided to make this quilt for Henry and customised it appropriately - I quilted it with my own variation of Patsy Thompson's Loaves of Bread pattern, by modifying the end of each 'loaf' to look like a bone!! Then I quilted the word 'henry' around the small border. I love how it has turned out and after the demo I can't wait to see what Henry and him mum think of it :)

More quilting ...

2011-04-23T10:42:00.005+01:00

I'm hoping to have a very quilty Easter weekend as DH is working and I have only myself to please. I've started by turning an old project into a preemie quilt. This started life as recycled fabrics which I stitched into a Bargello bag probably 8 or more years ago. The bag was never a great success (poor pattern, poor execution!) and I dismantled it a couple of years later, saving the fabric.

This was the perfect place to practice another of Patsy Thompson's quilting designs, this time from her third Fast & Free DVD. It's hard to see on the top, but doesn't it look cute on the back? I did get myself 'stuck' in a couple of places, but I just threw in a couple of extra 'bits' and 'escaped'!!

Now on to another Disappearing Nine Patch incubator cover :)

Feather quilting finished ...

2011-04-18T10:04:00.006+01:00

I filled in the missing bits of quilting around the hearts and added a little curlycue heart of my own design.

I then repeated this motif on two of the sashing strips and added feathers flowing away in each direction along the length.

Finally I tried my hand at some curlycue feathers, which look quite cute, but need some work on the shaping!!

I've learnt so much about feathers by working on this top, I can't wait to get to another project where I can play some more :)

I did it ...

2011-04-08T11:48:00.005+01:00

Yes, I really did it ... I quilted freehand, free-motion feathers on my HeartStrings top!! I'm lost for words :)

My oldest UFO ...

2011-04-06T14:56:00.014+01:00

I don't have many UFOs (unfinished objects). Early in my quilting career I discovered the wonderful Yahoo group "Stashbuster" where they advocate finishing up UFOs and utilising your fabric stash. My oldest UFO was started in March 2008 - so it's just over 3 years years old. It was created when I finished my Carolina Crossroads quilt and used up the last of my 3" blocks to create a frame for a preemie quilt. I kept the centre plain as I had visions of filling it by quilting a feathered heart!!! Fast forward a couple of years and as my free-motion machine quilting improved, I even got as far as buying Patsy Thompson's book and DVD on quilting feathers. Still I lacked the courage. I even got pretty good at the Pajama Quilter's 'Wonky Feathers' overall pattern, but still no feathered heart was dared. Then last month I finished the HeartStrings Chinese Coin top and decided I really wanted to do some feathers around the pieced hearts. I reviewed the book and DVD, doodled a lot and finally today I decided to try that long dreamed of feathered heart on that little preemie top that had waited so patiently ... woo hoo :)

First Quarter Report 2011.

2011-03-31T17:26:00.003+01:00

I can hardly believe that the first 3 months of 2011 are almost over. I've finished a total of 8 quilts during this period - 4 lap quilts, 2 incubator covers (36" square) and 2 preemies (16" x 20"). This has utilised 24.5 metres of fabric. I bought 2 metres of fabric, but was also given approx 9 metres. My net reduction of stash was therefore 13.5 metres.

Here are the last couple of preemie quilts that were finished just before the first quarter deadline! They utilised the leftovers from the Chinese Coin units from the HeartStrings group. These are quite cute and I had a bit of fun on the quilting by trying out some thin border ideas from the Pajama Quilter's DVD :)

SBChallenge - Quilt 18 finished.

2011-03-31T17:12:00.004+01:00

Here is the Bargello Trip around the World incubator cover finished. This is definately not the prettiest quilt I've ever made, truth told it is probably one of ugliest!! So I backed it with a pretty print and if the Special Care Baby Unit staff don't like it, they can let the reverse show instead.

I just did simple wavy quilting around the 'trips' on this one, and tried to emphasise the heart shape that appeared in the centre. I figured done was better than perfect :)

HeartStrings Chinese Coins progress ...

2011-03-25T08:53:00.004Z

Here's the top all sewn together. I need to trim the sides level as I just centred each row as I added it. I used a strange dusty pink (almost) solid for the background fabric and although it is an odd colour, I think it will look quite pretty when it's finished.

I've just got a few small pieces of the coins left to turn into a couple of preemie quilts :)

HeartStrings Chinese Coins ...

2011-03-22T16:27:00.006Z

Back in February 2010, just before I started this blog, I took custody of the remaining Chinese Coin units from the HeartStrings online quilt group. I made 3 donation quilts before taking a break from them (original quilt here). Today I started working on getting the final pieces into another quilt.

I took a picture of the pieces roughly sorted into piles before I started. I'm going to do a strippy row design, utilising just 3 string heart blocks, like the ones in the original quilt, on one row only. It should go together fairly quickly as most of the fiddly piecing is already done :)

Almost forgot to show you SBChallenge quilt number 17 finished!

SBChallenge - Flimsey 17 quilting ...

2011-03-15T09:12:00.005Z

This one was a tricky one to decide what quilting design to use. I originally wanted something with curves to take away from the square look, but nothing too complicated to quilt. What developed was a very angular design! It does make a nice cubist texture on the backing fabric.

Here's a picture of quilt number 16 finished.

Once number 17 is bound they can both be washed, labelled and made ready to go to their new owners in the local nursing home :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 16 quilting ...

2011-03-10T16:36:00.005Z

Here's the quilting I've done on the Mountain Majesties top. The spirals are where all the little triangles meet together in the corners of the blocks. This was inspired by quilting patterns by Patsy Thompson, but put together in my own variation :)

(Another version of this quilt with the same quilting pattern is shown in my blog header.)

SBChallenge - Flimsies 17 and 18 ...

2011-03-06T09:40:00.006Z

I've been a bit remiss with blog updates. Not only have I finished flimsey 17, the Scrappy Bargello, but I've made the blocks for Flimsey 18, the Scrappy Trips, too.

I think Bonnie Hunter was right when she said that any fabric (even the uglies) will look good in a Bargello! You do need some definate darks and lights to stand out from the mediums and I think the smaller size of the pieces helps a lot too!

I used 3.5" pieces for the Scrappy Trips and it does not work as well ... but as an incubator cover that will get washed to death in a Special Care Baby Unit I'm sure it will be fine. I plan to get this one finished to flimsey stage today and start basting and quilting the lap-sized flimsies this week :)

New fabrics!

2011-02-26T09:39:00.005Z

I've been trying to be very good this year and not buy any new fabrics until I go to the Festival of Quilts this summer. However, sometimes things don't always go to plan ...

When I went to my Guild meeting this week I was offered a bundle of Makower fabrics because I make charity quilts. I could choose from the Dinosaur or the Blues. I went for the blues - which is from their range called The Henley Studios - because it was age non-specific. However, I ended up being given one of each!! I reckon there are at least 2.5-3m of fabric in each bundle, so plenty for a good sized lap quilt.

Then we had our speaker for the evening, Kim Porter from Worn & Washed Fabrics. A company that takes recycled cotton fabrics and turns them into beautifully coordinated packs for patchwork. I just couldn't resist one of her packs in bright toybox colours :)

SBChallenge - progress update ...

2011-02-21T10:35:00.005Z

I didn't do any sewing yesterday, I spent my time sorting and cutting the remaining fabrics from my personal Stash Busting Challenge. I kept the Kaffe Fassett nickels and the Thimbleberries FQs seperate. I pulled a couple more sets of fabrics that went together nicely to make incubator covers.

What remained didn't look like it would play together nicely, but Bonnie Hunter assures us that her Scrappy Bargello pattern will utilise even the most ugly fabric ... so I started cutting!

I now have a pile of 80 x 2.5" strips for a lapsized Bargello, enough 3.5" strips for a Scrappy Trips incubator cover and some 2" strips which may just go into my scrap boxes. Additional fabric left over are 2 x 1m pieces and 3 x 0.5m pieces which may become backings or may just go back into general stash. The end of my Challenge is in sight and it feels good :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 16 ...

2011-02-20T09:01:00.004Z

I forgot to take a picture of the fabrics before I started working on this one. I used up 10 FQs -various darks and some of the beige Thimbleberry ones - from my Stash Busting challenge piles by making Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Mountain Majesties pattern. You cut 8.5" squares to start, so this very neatly uses most of a FQ, with just a strip left to add to my scrap-users system.

The top is now a completed flimsey, but I may move onto some more piecing before I quilt this one :)

SBChallenge 15 finished already!

2011-02-14T12:03:00.005Z

I needed to get back to busting some of that stash left in my personal challenge and this is the result. Now, admittedly the lime greens and the bright mauve weren't from the challenge fabrics, but they were from stash. I made this as a second demo quilt for my Guild's quiltathon in May and I wanted it to look bright and modern.

The two light FQs and the backing fabrics were from the challenge, and as this is over half the fabric in the quilt, I'm counting this as number 15. This was quilted in an all-over loop-d-loop for speed and simplicity :)

Shirts Finished.

2011-02-09T16:43:00.004Z

My Smokey Mountain Stars quilt which was all made out of recycled shirts is finished and gifted! I made it for the Manageress of the Oxfam charity (thrift) store where I volunteer and she was thrilled with it. She didn't know I was making a quilt for her and was marvelling at how good the shirts could look when repurposed in this way ... then I told her to look at the label and she realised it was a gift for her. She was DELIGHTED!!

Shirts quilting ...

2011-02-03T09:35:00.007Z

I've just finished the quilting on the shirts quilt. I did a quite plain version of the 'dwirling' pattern on the Pajama Quilter DVD, but this time I wrote "recycled shirts" randomly along the lines, sometimes the whole phrase and sometimes just one word - I hope you can see in the picture. This was a fun one!!

I pieced the backing from 9 shirt backs (cut approx 16" x 20") and a few of the left over border squares. Trimming, binding and labelling still to do, but I should have it ready to gift by next Wednesday :)

More Shirts progress ...

2011-01-26T15:13:00.002Z

The shirts are now a completed quilt top! I want the fabrics on this quilt to be 100% recycled shirts, so I need to organise the shirt backs into a backing next :)

Shirts Progress ...

2011-01-20T10:36:00.008Z

All that organising and cutting of shirts is starting to pay off - my design wall has gone from this ...

... to this. There is only just enough room to get the centre of the quilt on the design wall, but I wanted to make sure I had a nice spread of the different fabrics. Now to sew the top together :)

A friendship Star ...

2011-01-15T10:05:00.003Z

I am a member of the Stashbuster Yahoo group and have been for a number of years. Another member is an amazing lady called Gladys who makes hundreds of charity quilts every year for her local community. Lots of these quilts started life as blocks or quilt tops that other membesr of Stashbusters no longer wanted and Gladys takes them in and combines them to make wonderful 'quilty hugs'. In recognition, group members have been asked to make a scrappy star block for Gladys so she can make herself a quilt from all her internet friends. This is my contribution :)

Shirts ...

2011-01-12T15:09:00.005Z

I'm a big fan of Bonnie Hunter's and have been collecting men's shirts from charity/thrift shops for a while. I've made a couple of quilts in the past using them, but now I have plans for another one. First, I needed to get those shirts organised, so I've spent a few days going through them all, cutting off a sleeve or front from each to turn into strips and cutting the back out of each to keep for larger shapes or to make pieced backings. Long, tedious work but, I've turned this ...

... into this. All pieces are now cut ready for my Smokey Mountain Stars lap quilt with strips left over for another project in the future :)

First quilt of 2011 done!

2011-01-08T11:43:00.005Z

Here it is finished. I did something different with the quilting on this one because it is going to be a demo to my Quilt Guild. Personally, I prefer free-motion quilting. I don't get on very well with straight line quilting and rarely do it. However, I know a lot of people don't get on with free-motion quilting, so I wanted to see what I could create with the walking foot.

This is the result - alternating wavy lines of open zig-zag and straight stitch. I saw the large zig-zag used on someone's blog - a modern interpretation of quilting - but cannot find the link again. I used a varigated gold tone thread which has the added advantage of toning down the brightness of the ivory tone-on-tone fabric I used. What do you think?

First top of 2011 ...

2011-01-03T12:06:00.007Z

We're only two and a half days into the new year and already I've got another quilt top done! This is another Disappearing Nine Patch (DNP) done in a more child-friendly colour scheme than the floral one from before xmas. It used up a metre of a Debbie Mumm print that has been hanging around for ages, but it's not officially part of my stash busting challenge.

Fabrics were cut on the evening of New Years Day, so this shows how quickly it goes together. Which is a good thing because I have been asked to demo the DNP pattern at a Quiltathon my Guild is holding in the spring. I wanted another example to be able to show how different the pattern looks with different fabric choices :)

2010 Year End Report.

2010-12-31T13:34:00.006Z

I'm very pleased with what I've achieved on the quilting front this year.

Fabric used in finished projects: 118.25 metres (approx 129 yards)

Fabric bought: 58.75 metres (approx 64 yards)

Meaning a net useage of 59.5 metres (approx 65 yards)

I made 29 quilts, of which 22 were for donation.

I have made significant progress in my personal Stash Busting Challenge which I started at the beginning of July. Six months in I have made 14 quilts from the designated stash.

You can see pictures of the stash involved at the start here. These pictures show what is left, which is WAY LESS!! It used to occupy nearly 5 sections of storage, now down to 3 - woohoo!! The astonishing thing is how little fabric it takes to make 14 quilts and how many more this could potentially make! I'm giving my challenge a deadline of late June ... what isn't used by then is out of here :)

New Year's Eve ....

2010-12-31T13:29:00.004Z

... and all outstanding quilts are finished - yeah!! I can start the New Year with a clean slate and lots of plans for new quilts :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 13 quilted ...

2010-12-28T11:39:00.003Z

I so enjoyed doing the Dwirling on the last quilt, I did it again on this one, but with smaller swirls. It creates a wonderful texture! This quilt should be completely finished by Thursday, when I'll try and get proper photos of both this and the Paths and Stiles quilt too :)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T09:22:00.003Z

Wishing everyone a happy holidays or merry Christmas! Enjoy your festivities :)

PS: I did get the binding sewn on yesterday, just haven't had time or decent light to take a photo. So here's my xmas wallhanging quilt instead :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 12 quilting ...

2010-12-23T13:47:00.005Z

I'm so pleased that I've managed to get the quilting on this one done. I used the pattern Dwirling from the Pajama Quilter's DVD as I wanted something with lots of curves to counteract the angular look of the patchwork. This has really done the trick! I'm sure this pattern is a cinch on a longarm, but on a normal machine you really need a large flat working area to ensure you can achieve long flowing lines.

Should have this quilt finished tomorrow, then only one more to do before year end :)

SBChallenge - Number 14 finished!

2010-12-20T16:03:00.004Z

Not a brilliant picture as the light is really dull and the fairy lights are draped over my design wall, but you get the gist!!

I'm pleased with how it has turned out and flimsey number 12 is already basted and ready for quilting later this week. I just need to decide which quilting pattern to use :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 14 quilting ...

2010-12-19T10:41:00.004Z

I've worked out that if I want to get my last 3 flimseys quilted before year end I need to finish one every 4-5 days - that's basted, quilted and bound.

So ... I've finished the quilting on this one this morning. I used another pattern from the Pajama Quilter's first DVD - Simple Flowers connected with Loops. This is one I haven't tried before, but thought it would suit the floral theme of the quilt. You can see in the picture that I had to piece the backing - mostly the pink/blue paisley, but with a stripe of pink added to achieve the length needed.

SBChallenge - Flimsey 14 ...

2010-12-17T09:17:00.004Z

Those florals have made it into a finished flimsey - a Disappearing Nine Patch (DNP). I've been asked to demo the DNP for my Guild's spring Quiltathon, so this has the added advantage of being a test-run of the sizes and assembly methods etc.

I now have 3 flimseys waiting to be turned into quilts and I'd really like to have them all finished by the end of the year. I think this is going to be the first one quilted ...

I just couldn't do it ...

2010-12-10T11:31:00.004Z

... couldn't leave my challenge flimsey count at THIRTEEN at year end, so I had to push on and start number 14. This one is using up several oddments of floral fabrics, together with the strange pink that also made an outing on quilt 2 and the back of quilt 4. I had to pull the green from 'other stash' as there really wasn't anything in the challenge stash to do the job.

Also, I HAD to order the Pajama Quilter's second DVD yesterday. My excuse is that "Marilyn made me do it" - well, she was the one who posted that it was on sale at 40% off and then goaded me into it! I know how good the first one was, so I'm sure I'll love the second and a copy should be on its way to me soon :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 13 ...

2010-12-09T09:49:00.003Z

I'm on a real piecing roll here, as number 13 is now a finished flimsey too! If I thought the materials were tight on the Posts & Rails quilt, it was super-tight on this one! In fact I had to raid my 2.5" strip bin to get a little more mustard and teal to finish the blocks.

When I put the blocks on my design wall in the furrows layout, it just wasn't looking right to me. So with a little bit of fiddle, I came up with a layout that did please my eye, but you'll have to wait until it's finished to see what I did :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 13 begins ...

2010-12-07T12:11:00.003Z

Here are the fabrics for the next quilt, again all from my challenge pile. It's going to be tight again, but I think I can get another lap quilt out of this. The unusual print was the starting point and other fabrics were chosen to tone with it. I'm thinking of something along the lines of Bonnie Hunter's Four Patch and Furrows, but I'll use different sizes and construction methods :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 12 ...

2010-12-05T17:07:00.003Z

I had a couple of days this week when I could concentrate on my sewing ... so flimsey 12 is complete! The pattern worked really well and I'm happy with my choice of fabrics.

I'm not stopping to quilt this one just yet ... I want to carry on piecing :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 12 begins ...

2010-11-30T16:56:00.004Z

Here are the fabrics I have picked out of my challenge pile for the next quilt. This one is going to use the pattern Posts & Rails by Judy Martin - currently available free online here, although the free pattern changes periodically. The floral and greens are going to be the rails and the beiges the posts.

I should have JUST enough fabric to make a lap-sized quilt to go to the nursing home :)

Colourwash Finished.

2010-11-28T11:12:00.007Z

Managed to get the quilting done this weekend, so now the quilt is finished. Just a simple all-over loop-d-loop with hearts was fast and simple. It doesn't matter with this pattern if your hearts aren't all the same size/shape ... in fact it is better if they vary widely!

This is the 11th quilt I've made since I started my stash-busting challenge in July. This busted 3 pieces of fabric completely - backing, inner and outer borders - plus some of the florals used to swap at the colourwash night were from my challenge pile too! In fact only the binding fabric was from 'other' stash.

I decided that as the backing was dark floral I would use up all the 'odds & sods' left over on bobbins from other quilting jobs - I emptied 6 bobbins! I also used 3 assorted pastels in the top quilting as each spool had a little left, but not enough for a full baby quilt. So a good stashbusting job all-round :)

Colourwash is a flimsey ...

2010-11-21T14:41:00.004Z

The colourwash squares are now a finished quilt top. Gina left a very good comment on my last post saying "I wouldn't go too overboard with the borders though as it might overwhelm the centre design." How right she was! This soft floral was the best fabric I had in stash to do the border - several other options were just too strong. I used the wrong side of a cream floral to seperate the two areas.

I may not get a chance to get to the quilting on this one until next weekend, but I really want it done and finished by month end :)

Colourwash revisited ...

2010-11-15T11:50:00.003Z

Do you remember a while back I showed some colourwash squares we played about with at a Guild night? The following month a member brought along a finished quilt where she'd used her squares to make a heart shape, rather than a circle/wreath. I decided to revisit my squares and see if I could copy that idea and this is what I've come up with. I'll keep it on the design wall for a couple more days to be sure I'm happy with it, but I think with a couple of borders this will make a nice incubator cover :)

SBChallenge - Xmas Quilts Finished!

2010-11-08T11:53:00.005Z

Here are my finished quilts made from my xmas stash fabrics. The first one used up lots of little pieces which I cut into 5" squares. I had intended to arrange them randomly, but I ended up forming diagonal rows of same/similar prints.

The second is a large off-centre 9 patch and used up the rest of the larger pieces. When I assessed what was left I had just enough to make one of the little quilts that they use to nurse the babies in the Special Care Baby Unit - these little ones go home with the babies when the leave. The larger, incubator covers, stay in the unit and get washed to death!!

These bring the total number of quilts made in my Stash Busting Challenge to 10 and my xmassy fabrics are gone :)

SBChallenge - Xmas fabrics progress ...

2010-11-07T08:40:00.006Z

I've managed to make two incubator covers (36" square) and one tiny quilt (16" x 20") from my xmassy fabrics. In addition the smallest and one of the others is also quilted, so I've been making good progress.

I've been playing with adding holly shapes into simple quilting patterns on these. In the first picture (shown on the backing fabric), I quilted straight rows first, then revisited each row and added holly and berry shapes with FMQ. In the second I did an all-over freemotion meander and randomly added holly shapes into the mix.

One more to quilt, then binding and labelling, before I'll share pictures :)

SBChallenge - Xmas fabrics

2010-11-04T18:03:00.006Z

I've promised a couple of incubator covers for the middle of this month out of the Christmassy fabrics in my Stashbusting Challenge pile.

I'm planning on going very simple and to use the fabrics up completely. Above are the scrappy fabrics I have - all smaller than FQ ...

... and here are the yardage pieces, from less than 1/3 metre to about 1 metre.

I need to get creative :)

SBChallenge - Number 7 finished!

2010-10-29T09:51:00.002+01:00

Update 2nd November: Looks like I've managed to get pictures back ....

Nearly 7 weeks ago I started quilt number 7 in my own personal Stashbusting Challenge and now it is finished! It took 5 and a half bobbins to finish the quilting in the end. I think the quilting really makes this one and I almost like the back more than the front! I'll do the label today then it will be ready to donate to the nursing home's christmas raffle.

Blogger still isn't letting me upload pictures, I keep getting a server error message. A couple of commenters said I might need to buy more storeage, but that looks ok and in addition I deleted a lot of stuff from my old blog, but still no joy. So I have to send you over to my webshots album if you want to see pictures. Blog posts are pretty boring without pictures - sorry :(

I'm so fed up with technology problems at the moment I have an urge to just delete the whole blog .....

SBChallenge - Flimsey 7 quilting ...

2010-10-23T08:12:00.001+01:00

4th Nov: Edited to include photo - yeah!

I've made a good amount of progress on the quilting front. I'm doing the Wonky Feathers from the Pajama Quilter's first DVD. Initially I thought 3 bobbins would be needed to do the quilting, but now I've stitched 4 bobbins worth and I think there are another 2 to go! This is quite a mentally intensive pattern to stitch, but I'm so pleased with the results so far :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 7 progress ...

2010-10-12T16:06:00.003+01:00

UPDATE: 18th October - FINALLY Blogger has allowed me to add the pictures that go with this post! I now have the top basted, so quilting can begin this week :)

Finally, some progress to report on this one! I've sewn all the units, decided on a layout and now I'm in the process of assembling rows. The pattern is Morning Star from Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth/Charlene Thode

Made some more pretty cupcakes too - these ones are orange flavoured with buttercream icing and fondant flowers :)

Not much sewing ...

2010-10-03T11:01:00.000+01:00

Sewing has been practically non-existant here lately. We had friends over the dinner a couple of days after my last post and, as my sewing room is technically the dining room, I had to pack everything away. More than a week later and I still haven't got everything back in place!

I have been baking cupcakes regularly for quite a few months now, but haven't gotten into decorating them. But I've been doing some research online and there are some amazing decorators out there! So I've decided to have a go - here's my first attempt at a yellow buttercream swirl on lemon cupcakes :)

Guild Night Demo ...

2010-09-21T12:22:00.001+01:00

I went to my Guild night yesterday, first time back since the summer break. One of the members, Paula Doyle, gave a short demo on making colourwash quilts, then we swapped 2.5" squares of fabrics and had a go at arranging something ourselves. It is a lot harder than it looks and there was a lot of standing back and squinting going on!!

We were given a couple of ideas to start us off and I took a (poor) photo of the demo wreath quilt, and another graduated idea created on a small design board by Paula.

Now here's my strippy version, partly worked on at the meeting and partly this morning as I 'fiddled' with it! It still leaves a lot to be desired, but it was a fun exercise and I'm sure it will make a great little incubator quilt once stitched together.

I have also made progress on my SBChallenge quilt ... all sashings are now pieced and I have started to work on a layout, although I still have some pieces to trim. When I do 'flippy' corners, I always have to trim :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 7 some progress ...

2010-09-18T10:39:00.000+01:00

I have done some sewing this week, but DH had some time off work, so progress was slow! Here are the sashing pieces so far ... more progress should be visible by the end of the weekend :)

SBChallenge - Flimsey 7 begins ...

2010-09-11T15:44:00.000+01:00

I was just thinking that is has been a while since I started a new project and, checking back on my blog, I see it was 10th August when I started the Friendship Star baby quilt. I've had several finishes during that time, but no starts! So it was lovely today to be organising myself to start a Morning Star (Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth/Charlene Thode) quilt using the Civil War nickels I swapped several years ago with an online group. The nickels and the darker fabric on the left were part of my stashbusting challenge pile and the neutral was pulled from other stash!

Let the new quilt begin ...

Quilts Donated.

2010-09-09T09:14:00.000+01:00

I took 3 quilts to be donated to residents of a local nursing home this week. The Disappearing 4 Patch, Bricks & Stepping Stones and Convergence quilts are now all with their new owners. They seemed really pleased with them and the staff love seeing all the different patterns and fabrics used too :)

I'm showing a picture of the Convergence quilt here, because I haven't shown it on this blog before. It started in April 2009 when I borrowed a copy of Ricky Timms' book from the library. I used Thimbleberries fabrics and was aiming for a quilt suitable for an older man. I did the vertical cutting/piecing as per the instructions, then started the horizontal ones ... but decided I really liked the graphic nature of the pattern and stopped after one stripe! Borders were added and voila! It stayed as a UFO for several months due to my health issues, but was finished late in 2009 with simple diagonal line quilting. Happily, it has now found it's new owner :)