Skill Builder

My quilty partner in crime told me about a skill builder quilt at the beginning of this year and suggested we could make the time one day a fortnight to do the monthly blocks and together we would support and help each other. Sounded possible!

I had no specific patterns or stories of fabric in mind butI did have a fat quarter bundle I purchased at a quilt show a few years back burning a hole in my fabric stash. Hobby Sew had 30% off moda fabrics at the time of purchasing so I was largely guided by what was in that sale that matched the fat quarters I had. I was largely influenced by the 'French' aspect of some of these patterns and so the fabrics were purchased...

The original fat quarter bundle purchased from the Blueberries stand at the craft and quilt fair a few years ago

Bundle one

Bundle 2

And all together with 5m of background fabric... I thought I was going to have enough for the back fo the blocks, the borders and the backing... nope!

So CH and I started out on our skill builder journey! The first hurdle was learning the difference between a scant quarter inch and a quarter inch and all those scant differences add up over a block to be quite a lot! We have alo learned to use a ruler and a board to measure cuts, they aren't always the same. We are supposed to put the photos up in a flicka group but I haven't had time to set an account up and asking myself really if I need another account to manage..

Our first block was the sound wave. Quite daunting cutting into these fabrics, especially for little 3 inch lengths 1 inch wide. I played about with the layouts and this was what I ended up with. Apparently this quilt will have no scraps...

The soundwave

The Em Dash (but we did a different payout)

This is an SOS SMS photo to CH to make sure I had it right before I cut it 'again'! The cutting of this block did my head in...

But I did it!

Woven chevron (lots of HST and QST which are officially my nemessis!)

 2 hand sewing blocks were next, a hexi block and a diamond carat. When I was a teenager mum did a tablecloth out of hexi's and I have dreadful memories of that period of time cutting cardboard hexagons out of cereal packets and basically any other packet that was in the rubbish bin. I pulled my head in and got stuck into it. I don't like hexi's but found the hand sewing of these quite therapeutic.

I bought 1 1/2 " papers mainly because I was told the store wasnt' aware of 1 1/4" papers. As a result my finished block is too big but I will make it work for the quilt. Perhaps I won't add borders... I have half of one row left to stitch and then I will know what I am dealing with and come up with a plan!

Hexi's ready to be stitched together...

The hexi layout.

 The next block for me to hand sew (once I have found a you tube video of ladder stitching) is this Diamond Carat. What a lot of fiddly bits of paper... We bought the specially made pattern from the states as it is on washout paper...

I am calling this my stars and stripes block.

I will add finished block images and their proper names eventually. I am up very early with our new puppy 'again' and thought I could squeeze this post in before the house woke... sadly my plan was foiled! Off to get ready for work I go...

School FUNdraising...

 It's almost open day time at school. CCB and I have decided that we can do more for the school with an independent stall and as such have launched something a bit new for the school and we are selling seeds through Living Fundraisers. Their colours are green and purple. Going with the whole 'earthy' theme I bought some hessian in 4 colours and whipped up some bunting...

NEVER use your cutting board for cutting hessian... If you do use a chopping board (which I recommend) use one you can throw away!

Oh and it does not matter what you wear, using an overlocker with hessian, you WILL look like a lamington when you are done! But you gotta admit, it looks pretty good!

I made some table covers with the left overs which will look better when they are a bit flatter...

I hope it goes well for us!

Quilt Challenge

I have been doing sewing classes at Hobbysew at Top Ryde once a fortnight since Dec 2011. I made some things for a friends daughter and she paid me by purchasing 10 lessons for me (so nice and not necessary) and I just kept it going. It is the highlight of my week when I go and I am going to miss them! With Stef being made redundant we have to economise and sadly these lessons are put on hold until we are gainfully employed once more.

I have sewn many a garmet, bag, cushion cover and goodness knows what else! The knowlege my teacher has is incredible and there is always an easier way that she will show you how to do things.

But I will return to them and if I need help I will time it for one of Chris's classes...

In February Hobbysew launched a quilt challenge across their stores. Each store had their own kits but the rules seemed to be the same. We had 3 kits to choose from, a flowery number (ick), one with cream/bright orange/green or a blue/green/earthy tone kit. I chose the last one. All that we had to do was make sure it was no bigger than X and no smaller than Y (I forgot to measure mine!) and use some of the fabrics in the kits. There was a $50 voucher for buying a kit and there is a $200 prize for the winner. These are store prizes so one per store (as I understand it).

I had NO idea what I was going to do and rocked up to quilt class with the fabrics and some other plain fat quarters I couldn't sell. That happened to tie in with a lady visiting from a fabric store and when I remember I will link her because she had a great range... She had some packs of precut leaves in autumn colours... they toned well with the backing fabrics and I happened ot have a brown fat quarter with me and in no time I had drawn a tree in chalk on the brown, cut it out, cut it in half and viola...

 Autumn leaves...  I wish I had take some close up pics before I handed it in but time was not on my side! I used a varigated thread (a King Tut brand) with yellows, purples, pinks in it, it looked autumny! Imachine blanket stitched each piece

One of the ladies at quilting pointed out that I had broken the cardinal rule of art with a 50/50 background so I added the botton strip and some stepping stones and it sort of works! I like the stepping stones, it's left over fabric from a monocrome swap and it's actually stones!

So the 3 challenge fabrics are there on the front and I added some plain to the (wonky) back and had a go and FMQ, not my finest work but I did enjoy it and can see me getting into it more as I get better with quilts.

I even sewed my name on the back too!

I don't expect to win but I enjoyed doing it and for $12, some thread and a headache with 4 attempts with the binding (and I am not 100% happy with it!) it was a whole lot of fun.

Class Quilt

One of the other things we have been busy working on is the class quilt... we have had some sewing bees here at home on consecutive Friday and I have been spoilt with people giving up some of their Fridays to hang with me, I am very fortunate to have such wonderful friends.

Where we are up to...

We have all the dresses and boys uniforms blanket stitched to their backing and the kids have their names to hand sew on homespun in their house colours. They are due back in about 3 weeks time then we can start the assembly process...

 Here we are hard at work... lots of cutting and bits, pinning and counting...

 Emma had some issues with her machine but once I had threaded it properly (arghum Miss Emma!!! No wonder you were having problems, glad I could fix them for you!). Deciding her blanket stitch was not right for the project she was in charge of straight stitching ties! She was a machine!!

 I did faces...

 And Helen worked tirelessly pinning the components of the blocks!

 We put packs together for the kids to sew their names in a back stitch linking them to this You Tube video

Each kit had a letter to the child, their name on paper, a wide eye needle (Clover #22) and a strip of white homespun with their name written on it in pencil

Here are some of Amelia's classmates discovering their letters in their pigeon holes! Priceless really!! The girls were all giggly and smiles, the boys... well, they are boys!

(more) Dresden progress...

Wow, 2 months + since my last post and there has been plenty of stitchin' happening!

Dresden progress... I am not bored with this quilt and really want to get a wriggle on and get it done but there are all these loooooooooooooooong seams teasing me to be sewn! I will admit the small seams and the blanket stitch are something I have to be in the right mood to do. I have been using my Tuesday quilting group on this quilt mostly because it doesn't require a whole lot of concentration and it can be quite busy with conversations and people wandering about, cups of tea, breaking for lunch... you get the picture!

There is also a debate over how big the end quilt will be. He wants 6x5 I want 6x6...

Here it is 2 x 4

 and again at 6 x 4...

So in theory I have one row to add to it and then we can debate the 6th row... I hope to get it added over the school hols or the first week back at quilting group.

A finish!

When I went on the Sew Craft Retreat I bought a second embroidery from Kirsten Doran Designs. I had intended on giving it for Christmas but Amelia having a migraine and throwing up in the car the night before my last sewing lesson of the year put an end to those plans. Yes, I could have finished it on my own but you know what, I would never have got it looking the way Chris has.

In November I was up to this so it really was very nearly finished!

Tah dah!

Hidden zip, gee I love the way Chris puts zips in... she is amazing!

And the piping... oh that pipping. So hard to sew close to the edge even with the zipper foot on it and the piping foot wasn't big enough to go over the cord. But we got there in the end!

Was given as an early birthday present today as AMV's son is visiting shortly and if it is destined to go to Scotland there should be room in his (or his girfriends) luggage. But I was told today, he will take it to London and use it himeself so shall reside in Newport until trustworthy sources can deliver. The irony, my initials are on the front SCO 12 and Scotland's country code is... yep... SCO...!

Another happy feeling and because I have ticked something off my to do list I can sew something new... which is just as well because I have just signed up for this!

Goodness me, that's 4 quilts this year, yikes!

Dresden progress

On our weekend away I was on a mission - sew as many dresdens as I could onto backing squares and work out how long it was going to take me to see some results!

I went away with 24 wheels sewn, leaving 18 left of the 42 to sew together. Friday night, even though it was a STINKY hotter than the face of the sun 47.6 degrees, bedrooms were claimed, bags unpacked, sewing machines were set up, champagne was uncorked, cheese platters were put out and we all sat down to get some stitchin' done!

One nicely pressed wheel... one down 41 to go...

I gave up at 11.30 with my eyes hanging out of my head leaving 7 to be done which I knocked over first thing Saturday morning.

DONE!

So so pretty and so so happy they were all done!

Realising the next stage was going to need thread I didn't have with me one of the lovely ladies, Sally, very kindly took me into town. Coming away with 3 reels of cotton (I was being optimistic at getting some sewing done) we headed back to camp.

I didn't like the assembly instructions in the book so I closed it once I had my backing fabric measurements and did it my way... the book said to applique the wheel on then hand sew the centre circle on once you have put freezer paper on the middle and finger pressed the seam allowance in, blah blah. Then once stitched cut the back of the fabric behind the circle to remove the freezer paper... um, not going to happen on my watch! I don't like the idea of cutting the fabric and leaving it flapping, although I am sure it wouldn't but still... So I proceeded after a brief discussion with the room and the consensus was not to cut and did it my way and I am pretty happy with the results!

And done

Even the back is pretty!

I have all 42 but we think 7 across and 6 down is going to make this too big and too heavy so we might just do a 6x6 instead, meaning I have 7 wheeels too many! Oh well, I am sure I will find something to make them into :-)