two finishes

Hello

I've moved home. Please find my new blog and the post of this title here at Wordpress. While you're there, you may like to sign up to follow me at my new address. Thanks.

Here's a taste of what you'll find at my home.

it’s February and some people’s thoughts turn to hearts

This is not the story of a finished quilt, so I hope Val will forgive me – but the Tuesday Archives link-up at Val’s Quilting  Studio looks like so much fun, I couldn’t help wanting to be a part of it.

I have to say, this soon-to-quilt-top is one of my favourite projects ever and I’ve blogged about it several times but it’s never had it’s own post.

In 2011, DD and I , with two month old Younger Grandson, made the hour and a half trek across Sydney for the inaugural meeting of what was to become the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild (now the Sydney Modern Quilt Group). We needed a hand-stitching project to keep us busy (well, DD had her hands full anyway) during the three hour meet-up. I had recently acquired an Accuquilt Go! Baby and had been keen to try it out.


I’m glad I learnt how to do fused appliqué in the few quilting classes I had taken at that point. I had also done embroidery in my past which, of course, included blanket stitch. Putting the two skills together, I was able to work on some of these:


Over the years, DD and I carried appliquéd hearts to meetings of the Caring Hearts Community Quilters and eventually I had thirty blocks done. But they were only 6” (yes, I was a new quilter and forgot to add seam allowance when cutting the squares) so I needed more blocks – or I needed to enlarge them somehow.

Inspiration came from two sources: a chance overhearing of a comment from someone in our quilting group  on the merits of appliqué and/or scrap quilts; the other from the Dresden wedding quilt made by Jess at A Quilty Habit.

I enlarged my blocks and  made them scrappy!


And I worked on the layout until I came up with this:


So, the obvious question is: if I love these blocks and this layout so much; why has the project stalled?  Well, firstly, we moved house! That slowed all projects down for several months! But, more importantly, I know I need to add white sashing between the blocks but I'm not sure how I want to quilt it (using a walking foot; FMQ is out of the question for now). I think I want to echo quilt around the hearts but dragging the whole quilt though my domestic machine (even though I have a 9” harp space) doesn't inspire me so I’m considering QAYG row-by-row (gasp!)

What would you do if you were a novice quilter with little FMQ ability?

fourth fifth finish in ‘fifteen

I admit that none of these projects began with me. However, I did finish them.

Firstly there were two quilts for which I had to make binding, attach and hand stitch. For our quilting group, they were big quilts; both of them were 280” around.

Then there was the quilt donated by my quilting teacher. When donated, it was at the basted stage so the quilting and binding are my work ( although K. made the binding which was a time saver).

 

A couple of years ago, someone donated a pile of 9.5” QAYG string blocks. I made a quilt from some of them that was shown at the Airing of the Quilts in 2014. 

While sorting through UFOs at the beginning of January, I found another 28 blocks. That wasn’t enough for another quilt so I made another 14 blocks – and in the process discovered that I don’t really like making QAYG string blocks!

Nevertheless all fourteen were made and the quilt was put together. I thought the blocks looked dull and decided I would probably not make another of these quilts in the future.

I chose a royal blue printed fabric for the sashing. It did a great job of making every individual block like a little window or piece of art in its own right and made the quilt look more cohesive. Better still, the quilt went from being dull and lifeless to being quite a ‘happy’ quilt.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough of the blue fabric (which was left over backing fabric from the quilt in the first photograph above) to make the binding. WM laughed when I told him yesterday that I had to audition fabrics for the binding. I wanted a darker blue but didn’t have enough of any blue fabric that worked so I changed to red. I found a reddish-brown that had tiny blue dots on it that I thought worked. Of course, the dots are so small that the fabric reads as solid maroon from even a short distance. This is a very inaccurate photo of the colour which is much darker in reality but at least the photo shows the blue dots!

I finished hand-sewing the binding at 12:30 this morning – I didn’t intend to stay up to finish it but you know how it is – once I was approaching that fourth corner I couldn’t put it down. I like the way the blocks seem to fold in and out!

Speaking of corners – this is the first time in nearly five years of quilting that I have four perfectly mitred corners on the back and front of a quilt! Woo-hoo!

 

That’s my fourth finish for this month – I’m so pleased. Maybe I have time to get my Bargello table runner quilted and bound before the end of the month? I have to make a back and quilt it before I can bind it!

ETA: I did get my fifth project finished before the end of the month! You can see it in this post.

How is your January progressing?

I’ll be linking this post with WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, Binding Blitz at juliekquilts and Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday as they go live this week.

slow stitching on a wet Sunday afternoon

WM is not well so what could be a better way of spending a wet Sunday afternoon than curled up in front of the television watching the final two-part episode of “A Touch of Frost” (a British detective series) while sewing down the binding on a quilt?

The quilt was donated to our quilting group by my quilting teacher in 2013 in response to the terrible bush-fires that occurred in September of that year in which 200 homes were lost and a further 200 were damaged. This donated quilt was only at the basting stage and no amount of effort by me at the time it was given would have gotten it done in time. I asked my teacher if she’d like it back but she said that once given, it was given (or something to that effect).

In my last post, I explained that my week had been spent working on other people’s projects.  Quilting this fairly small quilt (48” x 62”) took me three days – I haven’t quilted anything for more than a year and I found my muscles tensed up a lot; each quilting session was shorter than the previous one! Anyway, I finished the quilting late on Saturday night; thank goodness for excellent lighting in the sewing room. I was so exhilarated by finishing that I even attached the binding which went on extremely easily and quickly compared to the previous two quilts! I found a video on YouTube which instructs the quilter to stop a quarter of an inch from the corner, which I have always known, then turn the quilt clockwise 90 degrees and sew off the edge of the quilt. Those extra three stitches have made turning corners so much easier than my previous method, which was to backstitch when I got the quarter of an inch mark!

What was even more exciting for me was that the corners mitred on the back so easily! I am absolutely stoked with the results I got this time. The only thing I don’t like is that the binding is not as “padded” as I prefer because I trimmed the backing and batting to the same size as the top (as instructed on this video) – my previous teacher had me trim a quarter of an inch out from the quilt top which gave that little bit of extra padding to the bound edge.

For my next binding, I will try this new method of doing the corners (which logically shouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference!) with the extra quarter of an inch batting under the binding! I might find I need to cut my binding at 2.75”, or even 3”, to compensate for that extra padding but I won’t know until I try.

Did I mention that I’m just so happy that the binding looks almost as good on the back as it does on the front? ;-)

How do you do your bindings?
By hand or by machine?
With a 2.5” binding strip?
What about the corners?

 

I’m linking this post with Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy’s quilts.

scrap happy

Wow! What a busy week I’ve had. I’ve had at least one activity every day this week, which is most unusual. Next week is also busy with church tomorrow, three activities on Monday and two on Wednesday. Thank goodness I have a free day on Tuesday and on Thursday. There’s nothing in the calendar for Friday but it’s WM’s rostered day off, so who knows? I can’t remember when I was this busy!

However, you didn’t come here to talk about my calendar! You came to read about scraps.
I have been remiss in showing you what I have acquired over the last few months.

First there was a little package from Kate (Kate's quilting blog) in the UK.
 
Then a fellow member of Caring Hearts Community Quilters gave me this little ziplock bag of scraps – all nicely ironed and sorted by size. I have been through the bag searching for pink scraps so it’s been a bit messed up since I received it.
 
Then another member of Caring Hearts Community Quilters gave me a large grocery bag of scraps – these are not ironed or sorted so the contents of the bag are a mystery to me!
 
The next few are not scraps but they have been donated to me in one form or other.

Firstly, I won these two fat quarters of batik fabrics on Lyndsey's blog, Sew Many Yarns. (I’ve just embarrassed myself and found the giveaway was February 2013. Sorry Lyndsey).

One of my class-mates has been de-stashing – I acquired this lovely collection of fabrics on behalf of Caring Hearts Community Quilters. We have no room left in the fabric cupboard in our meeting room so those who receive donations of stash have to store them (or use them) until such time as space become available!
 
This week, our founder arrived with several boxes and bags of fabric that were left on her doorstep last weekend. My fellow quilters decided I would like to add these fabrics to my Caring Hearts Community Quilters stash – they know I like working with bright colours!
 
Despite my busy week, I found some time for playing with scraps. I pressed and cut these 3.5" tumbler “charms”:
  
I’m still deciding on the final layout; this is not it. Whatever I end up with, this is the first of my scraps this year to be used in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at So Scrappy blog.

Speaking of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge; I used up the last sixteen 6” crumb blocks in a panel which will be part of the backing for my “Violet and Friends” quilt.
 
So, although there hasn’t been time (until now – late Saturday afternoon) to take photos or write a blog post, I have had a little time to sew. It’s amazing what returning to class after a seven-week break does for one’s enthusiasm!

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

new quilting books

Given that Christmas was five weeks ago, I guess it's time for me to show my new books!

They are all very different and each will challenge me in different ways as I work through my "new" skills challenge for Something Old, Something New during the year.

To expand my skills in free motion quilting, I have First Steps to Free Motion Quilting by Christine Cameli, recommended by Deb at a simple life quilts. I haven't even opened the book yet, I'm waiting until it's time to add FMQ to my challenge. If I open it now, I may want to get stuck into it!

To introduce me to the techniques of trapunto, I have Shadow Trapunto Quilts by Geta Grama. I have followed Geta's blog for a few years now and the work she does in trapunto always amazes me. Again, I have not yet opened this book -- I will wait until the month comes to try this technique.

My quilting class begins next Monday after a seven-week Christmas/summer break. We are going to learn foundation (or paper) piecing and this book will help with that. I have admired the work of Mary Lou Weidman for a couple of years and this book brings my collection of her books to four. I am looking forward to trying a couple of the blocks in Out of the Box with Easy Blocks.

That reminds me, I haven't showed you another of her books that I bought from eBay. I think it was her very first book. It is called Whimsies and Whynots. I love the whole concept of a "story" quilt although they don't seem like the thing I would do for our charity quilting group due to the time and amount of work involved.

I've had Log Cabins Today in my collection for a while but I can't see that I've posted about it. Log cabin blocks are so versatile but what got my attention was the setting of the one on the cover.

What about you?

Have you added any new books to your crafting library lately?

2013: The Year of the Finished Project -- December edition

Well, here we are -- the final post for 2013. There will be one more post, on January 2, to rap up the year. But, for now, we will focus on November goals and publicly state those we have for December.

Because of my commitments to making (or helping make and distribute) blankets and quilts for victims of the bush-fires in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, I actually put my own projects on hold for seven weeks so didn't have any goals to work towards in November.

I attended Caring Hearts Community Quilting Group's final meeting for 2013 today and learnt that, as a group, we distributed 168 quilts to children who lost everything in the fires. Our group didn't make all the quilts, many (the majority) were donated by good-hearted quilters from all around the metropolitan area. I also know that so many blankets were donated that requirements were exceeded and one large, well-known charity had their delivery refused!

A friend and I got together during November and sewed 28 squares into a blanket which I have called "Scarlet Diamonds"

My own personal crafting time during November was spent knitting this blanket:

Knitting is time-consuming so I don't have anything else to show for the seven weeks of my absence from 2013: The Year of the Finished Project.

December will be even busier for me than usual. My sister, who became a grandmother for the first time this year, had an idea to get the extended family together on Saturday 14 December. Although its likely to be a seven hour journey for us (after WM works all day Friday), how could I refuse to attend? On top of the other madness that December brings (including our wedding anniversary two days ago), a weekend away is not really want we had in mind.

DD, SIL and our grandsons will be there for the weekend and then coming back here to spend a week with us. The following weekend we have two family Christmas parties -- one for my side of the family and one for WM's extended family (about 60 people if they all attend)!

What does all this have to do with 2013: The Year of the Finished Project, you may ask.

Simply this, my crafting time this month is to be severely limited so my December goal list is necessarily short.

1. Knitted Patchwork #2 blanket -- get it finished

I have 12 half squares to knit then a large amount of seaming and sewing in of ends to do, followed by a border of some kind. I plan to have this one done before we go away for the weekend.

2. Scrappy Diagonals quilt -- get it finished (photo shows one row) 

I started the month with all the rows done and sewed into pairs (and one triplet). I'm pleased to say that, at the time of writing, I have only to cut fabric for the binding, make a level, attach the binding and label and hand sew the binding down. I hope to have this one done tomorrow!

3. Hearts quilt -- get it finished (the photo shows two of the thirty blocks)

I have completed all the blocks and am now considering whether to turn it into a "quilt as you go" project, or to make a flimsy, baste and quilt in the normal fashion! There are, as I'm sure all you quilters know, pros and cons for both!

4. Westall Cardigan (for me)

I would love to see this finished but it's a low priority compared to the other projects I have in progress.

5. Notebook Covers (Christmas gifts for my class mates)

I always seem to leave this till the last minute as I can never decide what to make. I'm almost settled on notebook covers as seen on Samelia's Mum blog. I will make them all on Saturday -- or something else I can do quickly because I need 12 by Monday 16th!

Once DD and family go home on 23 December, I will have the rest of the month except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the weekend, to myself because WM will be at work. If I complete all my other projects, I plan to work on these:

• Rainbow Blocks from 2013 (I have four-patches, nine-patches, strings, and improv blocks - like the ones in the photo, all 6"); I'm considering something similar to Dancing Nine-Patch by Bonnie Hunter

• join more knitted squares into blankets -- my friend and I are slowly working through these piles; thanks D!

• Country Houses Quilt -- this was my third quilt project, which was started in May 2011, and therefore is my oldest quilting UFO;I just can't make up my mind what I really want to do with it (apart from get it finished)!

• Socks for Someone #4 -- I stalled at the heel of the first sock because turning heels requires concentration and I haven't had that kind of knitting time (the photo is a pair I k it ted for WM in the same colour way - they are actually much brighter and that "black" band is actually burgundy!)

That should keep me busy enough!

What about you?

How did you do with your November goals?

What, if anything, do you planned for December?

Please link up here with the URL of your specific blog post so we can all visit and see want you've been up to and want plans you have for this final month of 2013.

quilts that went …

On Friday, a group of ladies from Caring Hearts Community Quilters and my WM gathered at our founder’s house to photograph, fold and pack 72 quilts to go to high school students (aged 12 to18) who lost everything in the recent bushfires.

That’s our founder, second from the right.

WM was kept busy on the back patio taking photo after photo while one or two women held the quilts up for him, and the ladies inside worked tireless in sorting quilts, packing quilts, collating packed quilts, attaching missing labels, sewing in or removing hanging threads, etc.

Most of the quilts were donated, less than half were  actually made by our group. What a wonderful crafting community! I’ve put some of the quilts in these photos; I’m sure you didn’t want to see all 72!

And, just because I can, a gratuitous photo of Younger Grandson enjoying spaghetti for dinner!