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The Quilt Show

Sep 29th, 2012 Leave a comment

Earlier today I went and visited a quit show at Alresford Village hall run by the Essex and Suffolk Quilters group.  Oh how I wish I had the skill, time and patience to create beautiful quilts like these.

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Brickworks – Mary MacIntosh

It always surprises me how much I’m attracted to the colours in quilts.  This one is actually three quilts designed to hang together.

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Jungle Fever by Sheila Frankland

This one caught my eye in part because of the beautiful batik fabrics.  I have a pile of similar fabrics waiting to be cut up and pieced together.  I doubt I’ll make such a good job of it but I’ll try.

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Ben’s Puppy Quilt – Jan Moore

As soon as I saw this quilt I started to smile.  I recognised it from Lynette Andersons ‘It’s Quilting Cats and Dogs’ book.  I’m now even more convinced I should have a go at this quilt after seeing this beauty.

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Asian Charms – Jean Wife

One of the reasons for visiting the show was for inspiration on patterns to use with some of the fabrics in my stash.  I really love the tiny black borders round the individual pieces of fabric .  I did have a good look and it was beautifully done.

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My Family – A Wall Hanging by Kim Williams

I loved this one as well.  The imagery is right up my street and the colours beautiful.  Oh how I wish I could create something like this for my wall.  Not that I have any room on my walls given how many images I already have up there, but I can dream.

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I’ll leave you now with some detailing from the ‘My Family’ quilt which I kept going back to.  A quilted dragon.  What could be more perfect for me.

A small quilt for my mother…

Oct 30th, 2011 1 Comment

My mother has a beloved Siamese cat called Tia, a beautiful old Blue Point girl who loves to climb up for a snuggle.  Unfortunately she’s also the type of cat who just can’t help ‘making bread’ while she purrs away.  This upsets my mam, she loves the cuddling and snuggling but because of her age and medication her skin tears easily.  As a result she bleeds and bleeds and bleeds….

So I came up with the idea of making her some quilts which she can snuggle under, Tia can snuggle on top, and hopefully the quilt will provide enough protection for them to both be happy.

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I picked up a lovely little charm pack at the Ally Pally show and decided to run it up into a basic lap quilt.  Mam was due for a visit and I wanted to be able to give it to her to take home.  All in all I’m rather pleased with how it worked out.  The fabric is Maison de Garance by French General for Moda.  I’m afraid I can’t remember which stall I bought it off.  The back is a plain cream and I used a black satin edging.

I gave it to her when she arrived for her recent visit and she loved it.  In fact she was quickly sitting under it on my sofa and encouraging my little beasties up to try it out!  Then I was surprised to see it being placed in her hand luggage for the coach journey home, as opposed to her case, but was informed that was in case she felt a little cold while traveling.  Once I knew she was home safe and sound I tried to patiently wait a few day before asking what reception it had received from Tia the cat.  I say ‘tried’ as I was rather impatient about it!  Anyway I’ve now been informed that Tia loves it as much as my mam does, she’s even insisting on sleeping on it when my mam isn’t underneath.  It’s so wonderful to hear……

Why would you slam on the breaks?

Aug 8th, 2011 1 Comment

I mean why?  The close to, but not quite, an emergency stop type of slamming on….  The type that scares the dogs in the back.  Any ideas?  How about this….

You’re driving down off Exmoor heading back towards your base for the last few days of your holidays.  The weather is mankey (no other description fits) and there’s simply been no point getting your camera out to photograph this wonderful landscape.  Your mother is dozing in the passenger seat and snoring sounds are coming from the dogs in the back.  You can’t listen to the radio (long story) and truth be told you’re a little disappointed in the day.

Then…

Something subconscious in your brain registers a familiar pattern of letters on a sign you just passed.  It takes you a few seconds to come to terms with what you’ve just seen.  Could it be…. No, not out here in the middle of nowhere… But what’s that on the sign approaching you at 40 miles an hour….

Fabric Shop!

Go on admit it – you’d slam on the breaks as well.

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From the outside the building looks like an old garage but believe me it’s worth investigating.  I was like a kiddy in a sweety shop.

There was a lovely room filled with yummy fabrics…

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Even my mam was enjoying a mooch about.

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Soon we discovered another room filled with ribbons and thread.  Then there was another HUGE room out the back where they hold classes.

Around the walls were a variety of beautiful quilts for inspiration, many with an oriental theme.  I’ve since discovered that this is something of a specialist area for these ladies.  They’ve even published a book which you can find details of on their website.  (This may be going on my Christmas wish list)

My own little squee moment (beyond finding the place to start with) was when I found a particular fabric I’ve been searching for.  Mam then kindly offered to buy some of it for me.  Well really, how could I say no?  I’ve been happily planning exactly what I’m going to make with it all the way home.  No, I’m not going to tell you what it is in case you all phone them up and buy what they have left.  I’m kind of hoping I’ll have some pennies (or pounds even) left after payday to phone them up and try and buy some more.

If you’re in the area then I strongly recommend a visit, the fabric selection was lovely (different enough to where I normally shop) and the staff very friendly and helpful.  Sometimes I feel rushed in fabric shops but they gave me plenty of time to work out sizing’s etc in my head.  Believe me, I don’t care how experienced the sales people are I really do need to work it all through myself to be truly happy with the purchase.

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I’ll leave you with one final image taken just outside the front window….  Kinda sad but beautiful in it’s own way, the remains of an old sewing machine.

Things I’ve learnt about quilting

Apr 11th, 2011 1 Comment

Recently I embarked on a Top Gear style ‘How hard can it be!’ adventure into the wonderful world of quilting.  I’m still very much just setting out on this journey but thought I’d share a few thoughts with you anyway……

  1. First time out it’s much easier to buy a Charm Square pack.  These are pieces of co-ordinated fabric that are already cut to a size you can use.  I’m glad I did this first time…. Why?
  2. Cutting out the fabric is a little harder than it looks at first.  Especially if you’re trying to do it on the floor.  This is a bad move and it’s much easier if you use a table or kitchen work surface (obviously with a cutting mat underneath)
  3. If you’re using a rotary cutter roll it away from yourself.  This is a hot tip from Nicola Foreman rather than something I’ve learnt from experience.  The reason is that you have major arteries in the groin area of your leg and a rotary cutter is sharp!  (You can imagine the rest of this one)
  4. Buy a ruler the right size.  I wasn’t to sure about which size to buy so just took a guess.  Now I wish I’d bought one slightly wider as it will make working out the sizes a little easier.  Still buying the wrong size simply means you have a reason to go shopping again hehe…
  5. You can never, NEVER have to many pins….

and on that note since the sun has gone in, I’m going to fire up the sewing machine and liberate some of the pins currently holding pieces of fabric together whoop whoop…..

I’ll be quilting again soon…

Mar 25th, 2011 1 Comment

Recently I made my first quilted items and I love them.  Two quilted cushion covers, they were so much fun.  I made them out of a couple of Charm Square packs bought off the internet, so there was minimal cutting out needed.  Then I found some fat quarters of the same material in a local fabric shop.  So, given how much I enjoyed my first quilting experience, I decided it was time for some online shopping.  I had the material already after all.  But lets be honest, cutting it up into small squares by hand with a pair of scissors simply wasn’t going to be accurate enough.

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Result…  I obviously ‘needed’ a cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler.  Give me a little while and I can usually justify ‘needing’ anything I actually want hehe…

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Soon the goodies were on their way via the post and today I picked the last one up from the sorting office.  The A2 cutting mat didn’t want to fit through my letter box for some reason, funny that.

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So I suppose I should really decide upon a design and sizing for the runner now before I start playing with my new toys…

Musings on a modern world

Mar 11th, 2011 2 Comments

fabric-4Earlier in the week my phone line went down.  It started with the voice line turning into cracklesville and I couldn’t get a dial tone.  This was quickly followed by the internet becoming more twitchy than a fluffy cat sat in the middle of a dog pound that had run out of food.

The result is no voice calls and the internet has become so intermittent its not really worth the bother.  At first – being a thoroughly modern girl – I fiddled with the connectors and, after assuring myself it wasn’t something I or the beasties had done, called the phone company.  One hour, two companies and six operators later they decided an engineer needed to come out because ‘I had a fault on the line.’  Funnily enough I seem to remember that being my opening comment to all 6 people I spoke to.  Still I suppose they’re just doing their job.

So you’d imagine faced with 4 days or so without modern communications (my mobile signal is terrible at home as well) I’d simply reach for my knitting and think nothing of the passage of time.  But not so.  Even if you discount the internet for work (yes I often work at home on an evening) I found myself all twitchy.  No Ravelry, No blogs, No Mysewingcircle…… NO INTERNET SHOPPING!

It’s not until we have something like this taken away that you start to comprehend how much it has infiltrated our lives.  Isn’t it silly that I feel aggrieved I can’t shop online for stuff at 3 in the morning.  These photos are all images of some fabric I bought recently on a late night shopping trawl of the internet from Gone to Earth.

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They’re designed by Tanya Whelan and I’ve not seen them in the local fabric shops.  Years ago I either wouldn’t have been able to buy these, or would have needed to do it mail order, possibly via a catalogue.

fabric-6The plan is to make them into a quilt for my garden hammock.  I love my hammock.  It’s wonderful and I could rave about it for pages on end.  Yet, for reasons I won’t go into, I couldn’t really to use it last year.  However I’m hoping a nice new quilt to throw over it will allow me to bask in the summer sun once more with a nice cold drink.

So it was I decided (flushed with the success of my quilted cushions) to add a garden hammock quilt to my list of things to make.  The hunt for the fabric was on…

fabric-3I’ve chosen these patterns as I want something floral but with a slightly vintage feel.  In my minds eye I see the primary colours as blue and white with just a little bit of another colour for accent.  While I was looking around I worried that many of the fabrics would be to bright, or the pattern too busy.  I want the quilt to be beautiful but not compete with the real plants and flowers close by.  Thanks to the modern world of communications when I found these beautiful fabrics I was able to order and pay for them at silly o’clock.  Within a few days they were delivered and now they are tucked neatly away in my blanket box waiting to be turned into my new garden quilt. 

It amazes me how much we come to accept and expect the convenience of technology.  How it has so quickly become the norm, and how much I miss it when it’s gone.  I really hope that engineer turns up soon and put’s me out of my misery…

Those cushions again

Feb 24th, 2011 2 Comments

Remember those patchwork quilted cushion covers?  Well the project has kind of grown a bit… But more of that later. 

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I’m really rather pleased with them even though I know that they are far from perfect.  I have to say that the patchwork was by far the easiest bit.  Quilting the ‘pads’ to form the fronts was ahem ‘interesting’.  But attaching the cushion backs was a nightmare!

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If I was to do them again I would choose a different wadding – this one was definitely to thick for the job.  Also investing in a ‘walking foot’ for my sewing machine would be a good move.  I’ve never used a walking foot before but I know that they are designed to help compensate for problems with differential feed.  This is when different layers of fabric move through your sewing machine at different rates which leads to all sorts of problems.  Everyone I’ve spoken to who has one has raved about it, so onto the shopping list it goes.

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Now remember I mentioned that the project has sort of grown a bit?  Well the cushion covers were made from some charm squares I bought off the internet.  The seller only had squares of this particular fabric so it was only ever going to be cushions.  At least that’s what I thought.  Then I walked into one of my local fabric shops (one which I don’t go to much because I don’t like the atmosphere) and there sitting on the shelf were two rolls of fat quarters, one in the white and one in the cream.  You know what happened next don’t you.

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Yup they are now at home in my fabric stash.  I’d like to say at this point that my fabric stash is tiny compared to my yarn stash so the addition of two rolls of fat quarters is a major thing.  I’m now imagining the cushions on my bed with a matching runner across the bottom.  Hmm……

A New Experience

Feb 22nd, 2011 1 Comment

cushion-squares-1As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been thinking about giving patchwork quilting a go.  Nothing ambitious to start with, just something small for the cottage.  However, two things kept putting me off.  My sewing machine was stuck underneath a pile of stuff (that’s sorted now and I have a sewing table again), and cutting out the pieces.

Speaking to a couple of friends who quilt I was advised this is usually done with a cutting mat and a rotary cutter.  I own neither of these and since I had no idea if I would enjoy this new adventure, was reluctant to purchase them.  Then while browsing online I wandered onto some sites that sell pre-cut fabric ready for patchwork sewing.  Hmmm so perhaps here was a way I could try it out without a large financial outlay.  I had no idea you could buy the fabric pre-cut as my friends always seemed to buy it off the roll.

So out came the graph paper and measuring tape.  I decided to make two cushion covers for my bedroom in a cream/white scheme.  I don’t own any books on quilting but in true Top Gear style I decided ‘How hard can it be?’ and got stuck in.

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I quickly had some squares winging their way to me through the post, and when they arrived spent a little while playing with different orders.  Then there was pinning and sewing…

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And before long I had the patchwork bit of two cushions done.  Now I’m sure experienced quilters will be able to point out numerous mistakes I made and places I could have improved.  Miss C also sent me numerous tutorial links for the internet, which I ignored because I was two busy playing with the fabric, pins and my machine!

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This bit hadn’t been pressed when I took this photo (I really should learn patience with my camera) but you get the idea.  I’m rather proud of my first attempts, and most of all – I had a huge amount of fun…