Pretty in Pink Ta-daaah!

All finished and ready to wrap for Christmas.

I am so pleased with how this has turned out.  Ever since I started quilting just over a year ago I've been longing to make a pink scrappy quilt for my little granddaughter, but I've had to wait until I had collected enough scraps.  The scraps have come from old sheets, a shirt or two, oddments from friends and a few bits of old dressmaking stuff. I love this little patch of Alice in Wonderland fabric.

I added some Kona Snow and some pink spotty stuff from Ikea to tie it all together.

I used the Disappearing Nine-Patch pattern which is so easy to do.  Just cut squares, stitch them together, cut them up, turn them this way and that, restitch and then you have a pattern that looks far more complicated than it really is.  I wrote more about how to do this here.

My grandchildren love to sit and watch TV with a blanket on their laps.  At the moment they usually drag the crochet blankets I made for them off their beds, so I thought it would be a good idea to make them a quilt just for TV watching.  I've made this quite light weight as it has no batting, just a light fleecy throw, from Ikea, for a backing.

The quilting is a mixture of hand and machine.  I used the machine to stitch-in-the-ditch six inches apart across the length and width and then big-stitch-quilting a quarter inch in around all the white blocks using a pink top stitch thread by Guttermaan.  I would have liked a slightly darker pink thread so that it showed up a bit more, but I had to go with what my local shop had.

I finished it off by binding it with the pink spotty stuff from Ikea.  I must get some more of this 'cause I love it so much.

I've now started the hand quilting on the boy version of this quilt for my grandson, so as it's big-stitch-quilting it shouldn't take too long.

This week I've also made the next block in Lori Holt's Quilty Fun Sew Along.  This week it is Twinkling Stars.  I spy some more of that pink spotty stuff.

New Year's Goals Revisited.

Way back in January, half a year ago, I made some goals for this year.  I don't know why I make goals as I never stick to them, but it's interesting to see what I do fulfil and what gets left by the wayside.  So this is what I said on 1st January and what I've done towards them.

1.  Finish the Craftsy BOM quilt started in August (4 blocks to go, then sashing, backing, quilting and binding).  I've finished all of the blocks, using some different ones than those published as I didn't like some of them.  I want to machine quilt these using the as-you-go method so I can practice Free Motion quilting.  I'm a bit scared to make a start yet!

2.  Start "The Farmer's Wife Quilt" using "Marmalade".  Hurrah!  I've started this month. Read to the end of the post and you'll see what I've done so far.

3.  Join in Stitchery Dickory Dock's Sugar Block Club each month (using leftover fabric from my "Chambray Rose" quilt).   Some of these have been incorporated into my Starry Sampler Quilt which is now at the hand quilting stage.

4.  Make quilt for daughter using her old clothes (Cluck Cluck Sew's "Scattered" pattern). Finished and gifted, but I used Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trip Around the World.  

5.  Make a string quilt from old shirts using one of  Bonnie Hunter's patterns.  Not started but still in the pipeline. 

6.  Join in with the Blogger Girls BOM on Open Gate Blog (using available scraps).  Same answer as #3.

7.  Make a mini quilt each month from Kathleen Tracey's books (using available scraps).  I've made five mini quilts, not all from the books and one is a mug rug, but I'm counting that one in this group.

Actually, I've crossed more off the list than I first thought, and I've made other stuff as well, including a baby quilt, a couple of bags, a dress and some charity blocks.

This week I'm really pleased to have made a start on my Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks.  I bought the book for Christmas and had been stashing away fabric from the Marmalade collection by Bonnie and Camille.  I bought some yardage and added some plains but realised that it would cost an absolute fortune to carry on buying yardage to get the  variety of prints I wanted, so I bought a Layer Cake.  As these are only 6" blocks the layer cake should go quite a long way and give me the variety that I want.

I've read up a lot about the making of this quilt, and a lot of the pitfalls.  I want to rotary cut as much as possible, and to use different methods for making the individual units, so I've started by drafting out  the blocks from the book onto squared paper and using my own measurements rather than the templates on the CD.  I'm starting with the simplest blocks to see how it goes, and not necessarily in order.  So here's what I've made this week.

#2 - Autumn Tints

 

#4 - Basket weave

Only two, but it's a start.  I'm only aiming for the lap sized quilt and as I've only got hand quilting on the go at the moment I want to get a few more under my belt before I start on anything else.

Molly and I are enjoying the sunshine whilst it lasts, so plenty of time is being spent outdoors playing, and I'm getting some welcome 'quiet time' when she's worn out and takes a nap.  These little blocks are ideal to work on during those breaks.

Beach Huts, May Round-up and an Introduction

After the last mammoth post, another three-parter, but this time a bit shorter, hopefully.

PART 1 - Beach Huts 

I have a "thing" about beach huts.  I just love them.  They remind me of childhood trips to the seaside, lazy, sunny days and holidays.  I've never actually been in a beach hut, but used to imagine a life whereby the family would de-camp to the beach and set up home for the day in one of the long row of brightly decorated little houses along the sea front.   There are many along the south coast of England, but the prices to buy one are astronomical and I'd never be able to justify the expense.  I can still dream, though.

So you can see that when "The Patchsmith" revealed her pattern for this darling, little mug rug, I just had to have it.  We had a day of sunshine last week (was that our summer?) and the sun made me think of the seaside and so I dropped everything and made this (as I couldn't actually go to the seaside - reason in Part 3).

A complete mess-up!  All my fault, not the pattern's.  It's only a small project, just 9" x 4 1/2 ", but I had quite  few problems with it.  I thought , because it was small, that it wouldn't take me long to make, but I was so, so wrong. This is applique and I've only ever done it once before, a little star on the front of a t-shirt for my grandaughter.  I had some Bondaweb tucked away, but the paper backing was separated from the fusible bit and so was very fiddly to trace and cut out the shapes.  I also didn't know which side to iron down first as it wasn't stuck to the paper, so had to keep cleaning the mess off of the soleplate of my iron.  I also put the bonding on the right side of that green stripy hut three times!    

When it came to sewing it around the edges I decided to use the blanket stitch on my machine.  I did practice on a scrap first to see where I needed the edge to be, but failed to practice going round corners.  I haven't quite mastered where to stop sewing, and at which part of the stitch, before I turn to get a neat corner.

I used a piece of cotton batting and backed it with a piece of blue cotton before hand quilting  around the huts, doors, roofs and flags.

And then we come to the binding.  What a disaster!  I wanted a red, stripy binding and I had a 10" square of red stripes from a "Marmalade" layer cake I am saving for my "Farmer's Wife" quilt that I am going to make. Unfortunately, in my haste, I cut the strips the wrong way, so instead of neat little vertical stripes I have horizontal stripes.  I didn't have enough fabric left to cut more binding so had to go with it.  I had a job to match the stripes when I joined the pieces, and also managed to get a join right close to a corner when I sewed it on. I hadn't left myself enough room to do a diagonal join for the finishing join and the straight join at the top of the quilt is horrible.

One good thing has come out of this though.  I shall actually use it!  If it was perfect I would be very hesitant about putting a cup of tea on it as I wouldn't want to get tea stains on it and ruin it, but because it is a   "second" I don't mind.  I will make another one "for best" now I know all the pitfalls, and will definitely not rush it next time.

PART 2 - May Round-Up

Not a lot of sewing has been going on during the month of May, the main reason for which will become clear in Part 3.  I've been spending time trying to sort out my sewing stuff as it seems to be taking over my downstairs living space.  I live on my own now and so don't always tidy away at the end of the day.  I'm also not very good at clearing away one project's mess before starting on a new one.  The accumulation of scraps  and bits and pieces make for a very disorganised workspace, and I've been trying to bring some semblance of order to it all.  I've decided to move my sewing upstairs to one of the bedrooms, which in itself has provided lots of problems, as I have lots of stuff to sort out there as well.  It's a job to know where to start.

Here's what I have finished this month. 

1.  The aforementioned Beach Huts mug rug.

2.  A dress for my granddaughter (blogged here)

3.  Five Star mini quilt (blogged here)

4.  Commissioned baby quilt. (blogged here)

PART 3 - An Introduction

Finally, here is the main reason for my lack of productiveness.

An eight-week old Golden Retriever pup called Molly!

Molly belongs to my daughter who lives five minutes away from me.  She has been wanting a Golden Retriever for a long time (she used to have one, but when she split from her partner she lost custody of the dog).  This puppy became available at the last minute as the prospective owners couldn't take her and so Catherine jumped at the chance and we went to get her that day (2 weeks ago).  The problem being is that my daughter is a full-time teacher, and puppies need looking after all day, so this is where I come in.

I go and fetch Molly first thing in the morning and bring her down to my house.  She plays in the garden and sleeps on her bed in the dining room.  I keep the patio doors open, and so far, there have been no puddles indoors.  Only problem is that it has been so cold for me, and I sit hunched over the computer with a blanket wrapped round me.  I have managed to slip out of the house when Molly has a nap, but I only like to leave her for an hour at the moment.  At first, I didn't like to make a sound when she fell asleep in case I disturbed her, but I'm getting more used to her now.  She races around my garden like a demon possessed, and then just flops and is asleep in an instance.  She is really very mischievous. See that blanket she is sitting on.  Well,  it was in the house, but Molly decided it needed to be outside.

 It was quite heavy for such a small pup, but she was determined.

Catherine comes by after work, eats her dinner with me and then goes home with Molly.  She has the "night  watch" which I'm really glad about. Molly's just had her second lot of injections so can go out in 2 weeks time.  We're both going to take her to Puppy School so that we both learn how to train her, and are consistent with our commands.  She's already coming when her name is called, and she sits on command.

Here she is now at 10 weeks old.

Next  month I want to get the final blocks done for my star sampler quilt so I can get it put together ready for hand quilting over the summer.  I also want to start on my Farmer's Wife" quilt, but I've been saying that all year.  I wonder if this little Miss will let me?

My First Commission Finished

Well, we can't say we were not warned.

The weather men said that it was going to be blustery.

Oh boy were they right. But blustery is the understatement of the year. It is blowing a hoolie. Jolly windy and jolly cold. 

When I got the gas bill last week, after I picked myself up from the floor, I swore that I wasn't going to put the heating on until next winter.  I caved.  It's been on since 4pm.

Please, Mr Weatherman, can we have some pleasant weather now.  Sooner rather than later.  I've had enough of winter.  Three days of summer just wasn't enough!

At long last I've finished the baby quilt I was asked to make by a member of my reading group whose  granddaughter is having a baby next month.  

I used a half  of a Moda Scrap Bag which was made up of a line called Happy by Me and My Sister designs for Moda.  The scraps were 32" long strips cut down the lengthwise edge of the fabric.  By the time I had cut the selvedges off I had 2" strips.  

I've already made a baby quilt with the other half of this pack here.  I wanted to try a different pattern for this one so I thought a four trip rail fence would look good, but I didn't like it when I laid it out.  Fortunately, I was reading Bonnie Hunter's blog at that moment and saw a quilt that she was teaching at a class.  It started off with a four strip and then was cut on the diagonal to make two large triangles.  I then picked four random triangles and sewed them together to make the block.  It's called Strip Twist and is a free pattern.    

I've backed it with this piece of variegated fabric that I picked up in a charity shop for £1.50, and I used this for the other quilt, too.  Two quilt backs for £1.50!!!!  Amazing.  

I machine quilted it by stitching in the ditch around each block, and some straight lines on the border.

I had a fat quarter of this pink cotton in my small stash and so used that, machining it to the front and hand stitching it to the back.

It's funny, but I don't feel anything for this quilt.  I'm pleased with the way it's turned out, but I don't feel any attachment, or enthusiasm for it.  Everything else I've made has been for me, or a member of my family, or for one of my friends, but this is going to used by someone I don't know.  I'm getting paid for it, too, but that doesn't fill me with joy, either.  In fact, I think that the fact that I am being paid to make it has actually put me off it.  I like making things for others, but I like to gift them, and see the look of pleasure on their faces, and know that I've made someone happy.  I don't like this feeling about something I've made.  This could well be my first and only commission.  I'm going back to making things and keeping or gifting them.  I will get much more satisfaction from that.

My First Commission

I have been asked to make a quilt by a friend in my Reading Group.  Her granddaughter is expecting a baby (of the pink variety) in July, so this will be her first Great-grandchild.  She saw the baby quilt I made for my Great-great-niece and wanted something similar.  That quilt (see here)  was made from a Moda Scrap Bag and I still had half the strips left, so I thought I would use those.  I thought a simple Rail Fence would be a good way to use the strips effectively, and I worked out that if I combined the strips with an equal amount of Kona Snow I could make 30 blocks, each 6 1/2 inches square.  I laid them out on my living room floor and came up with this configuration.

I didn't like it.  It just didn't seem to flow.  No matter how often I changed the blocks round I couldn't build up any enthusiasm for it.  It lacked movement.  So I thought I'd leave it for a bit and come back to it with a fresh mind.  I got on with some hand quilting on Five Star (see last post) and caught up on a few blogs I read.  One blog I love to read is Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville's Quips & Snips.  She had been teaching a class in Pennsylvania using her Strip Twist free pattern and as soon as I saw her photos I realised that the block started off with a four strip Rail Fence block., which I already had.  It is then paired up with another block, cut in half diagonally and then sewn back together again.  There is a lot of movement in the pattern which is what I was looking for.  It didn't take too long to cut them up and sew them back together, and then came the fun part of deciding which block goes where.   This step took me a couple of days as I kept changing my mind, but it's all sewn together now and looks like this:

I'm going to machine quilt and bind this over the week-end, and then I have to decide how much to charge for it.  I've never made anything for sale before, so I don't really know where to start.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday over at. Crazy Mom Quilts.

March Round-up

March has been a busy old month for me.  Trying to keep warm, an outing to London, endless times waiting in with Dad for people to come and survey and give estimates for work to be carried out on his house, a few WI meetings, U3A, Walking group, Book club, Craft club, Darts practice to get ready for the new season, grandchildren needing cuddling, oh, and I managed a bit of sewing, too.

Here's the list for March.

1. Scrappy Trip Around the World - blocks sewn together, batted and backed, quilted and bound.  Waiting to be gifted to eldest daughter for her birthday at the end of this week.  Ta-Daah! post here.
2. Swoon 12" block drafted and completed. 
3. Starbright 12" block drafted and completed.  
4. Two drawstring bags from two Ikea tea-towels.  Blogged here.
5. Five Star mini quilt drafted and flimsy completed.  Now waiting to be hand-quilted.  Not blogged yet.
6. Quilted Tote bag made yesterday as an extra gift for eldest Daughter's birthday.  Not blogged yet.

I still haven't started my Farmer's Wife blocks, and I don't think they will get done in April either.  I want to do a bit of dressmaking to get ready for the summer.  A few dresses for my granddaughter, and a dress for me from a length of Liberty Tana Lawn that I've had in my stash for years, but  I've just found the perfect pattern for.  I need a couple more 12" blocks in the red,white and blue colourway and then I can complete the top of my Combined 2013 BOM quilt. (I must re-name that project as I've used blocks from all over the place, not just BOM's).

Linking up with Lily's Quilts Small Blog Meet

Ta-Daah!!!! - "Happy Days"

My Scrappy Trip Around the World is no longer a Work-in-Progress. It is Finished.  Completed. Photographed.  Ready to be wrapped up and gifted.  Re-named.   And ahead of schedule.  My daughter's birthday isn't until the end of next week.

The story of this trip started way back in the eighties, I suppose.  Having two teenage daughters and a limited budget meant that I made most of their clothes.  They were quite happy to wear home-made as I was able to adapt patterns for latest styles and fashion trends, and they always had something that nobody else would be wearing.  I sourced fabric in the sales, especially at Laura Ashley as they always had really cheap offers, and their fabric was extra wide, too.  When my husband was posted overseas for short tours with the Army he would go to the local markets and send me back lengths of fabric, too.

Fast forward to last Christmas when I was in the attic putting away the decorations.  I stumbled across a bag full of my eldest daughter's old clothes.  She lived with me for a year recently when she was between house sales and stored  some stuff in my attic.  I thought she had taken everything with her to her new home, but this bag was still up there.  I had a nosey and saw that the clothes were all cotton, mostly the ones I had made for her, and way too small for her now, so I brought them downstairs and asked her if I could cut them up for patchwork.  After inspecting them and having a few reminiscences about wearing them at university she agreed.  I took my scissors to a pile of skirts, trousers, shirts, tops and shorts and cut them up into usable pieces.

I then used my rotary cutter and managed to get just enough usable strips of the right length to make a large size lap quilt.

The dark navy didn't come from an old garment but from an old sheet, but I thought I needed something in each block that would tie the whole lot together.  Looking at other quilts on the internet I found that I was drawn to the ones that showed the pattern a bit more distinctly so used the navy across the mid diagonal as a constant in each block to show the structure more.

I wanted it to be a surprise for my daughter's birthday, and it has been difficult keeping this away from her eyes.  She comes to me most days for her dinner after work, so I've had to be so careful about putting it away before she comes in, even to the extent of emptying my scrap and thread bins into bags and putting them in the dustbin so that she wouldn't recognise anything.  I've been putting other bits and pieces out by the sewing machine so that she didn't think I was slacking on the quilting front.

I bought some fabric in Ikea for backing.  It's called Julita, and was only £4.00 a metre.  The batting is 100% cotton.

I quilted it in diagonal wavy lines across every other block and bound it in the plain navy.

The finished size is 73" x 49".

I've given it a new name:  "Happy Days".  We used to love watching the programme on TV way back when the girls were younger, and I think the name goes with the thoughts of the fabrics used.

I hope my daughter likes it.

Scrappy Trip Around the World

When I went up into the loft just after Christmas to put the decorations away I stumbled across a bag stuffed full with old clothes that I had made for my daughter when she went to university twenty years ago.  They were all made of cotton as she has sensitive skin.  My heart skipped a beat.  I thought there must be yards and yards of good, usable stuff there.  I brought them down and washed them to freshen them up.  I even tried on a few items, dresses, skirts, shirts, trousers, tops.  Daughter came and saw them and fell in love with them all over again.  She tried on a few bits but decided that it wasn't quite the look she wanted these days. I told her I intended cutting them up for quilting.  She said I should keep them for Sophie, my 5 year old granddaughter, for when she is older, but I managed to persuade her otherwise.  She said I could make a quilt for her, so that is what I'm going to do.

I want it to be a surprise for her birthday in April, but the problem is she comes to me for her dinner after work most days so I'm going to have to be really good and clear everything away before she comes in.  Yesterday was a Snow Day so she stayed at her own house so I thought it would a good time to make a start.

I cut and ripped everything into usable pieces, pressed them and then cut them into the 16" x 2 1/2" strips that I need.  I worked out that to make a 24 square quilt I would need 144 strips,  24 navy strips and 12 strips from each of 10 other fabrics.  I had to supplement the aqua strips on the end with some other blue floral fabric as I couldn't cut enough from the aqua.   This should make a quilt about 72" x 48", and with a border added to that, will make a generous sized quilt for lounging on the sofa.

I finished cutting late last night, but I couldn't go to bed without seeing what one block would look like so made one quickly.

I'm going to use the dark navy as a constant in all of the blocks, through the middle like this one, to give the pattern a bit more of a structure.  Today I'm going to get all of the strips sewn together in their strip sets and have a big pressing session at the end.

Christmas Gifts

I made three people gifts for Christmas.  The first was a lap quilt for my daughter.  I'd bought a pack of Riley Blake's Seaside charm squares and wanted to make something that would use all of them, but being inexperienced I didn't realise that 25 squares don't go very far, so had to order some matching yardage to go with it.  I copied the Sandcastle Quilt from the Fat Quarter Shop which is a version of the Peyton at Play quilt, but I used my own measurements and worked out exactly how much I'd need.  Quite a lot of calculations involved but I had just enough with little to spare.

I took out the 3 squares that had children building sandcastles on them as I didn't think they went so well and replaced them with a bit of the border fabric.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 cotton and the backing is plain cream cotton sheeting.  I quilted it on my machine using echo quilting around the central patches and straight lines about 3/8" apart around the border..  The double binding was stitched to the back by hand.  I finshed it off with a machined label.  The finished quilt measures 48" square.

The second gift was for a friend who had very kindly given me some cotton scraps to help build my scrap stash.  I made this table mat using a tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop.

I quilted it by machine following the zig-zag pattern.

My final gift was a pair of bags for another friend.  This is the smaller bag but I don't seem to have taken a photo of the larger bag that went with it.  It is the same design only bigger.  The fabric came from Ikea and they are lined with the burnt orange cotton fabric, also from Ikea.  I used a very good tutorial from bijoulovelydesigns.com.

I haven't done any sewing since Christmas, but I just can't wait to get started again once all the Xmas stuff is put away tomorrow.

Lily's Quilt

I made this quilt for my Great-great niece who was born at the beginning of December.  She was due after Christmas but decided to make an early appearance.

The fabric came from a Moda Scrap bag.  All of the strips were from the "Happy!" range by Me and My Sister Designs.  By the time I had cut the selvedges off I could cut 2" strips so that is what I went with.   The cream fabric came from a cotton bed valance I picked up at a charity shop for £2.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 cotton. The binding is purple and came from a checked shirt.  I finished the binding with hand stitching on the back. The backing was another charity shop find.  One and a half yards of variegated poly-cotton for £1.50.  I've enough strips and backing to make another quilt this size, so quite a budget quilt.

This quilt measures 30"x39".   I quilted it using my new Husqvarna Viking Opal 670 in diagonal rows of a wavy stitch.  For the border I did straight lines using the edge of my walking foot to keep them straight and even.  This machine has an alphabet so I made a label and stitched it on by hand.

This quilt went together very quickly, completed in 2 days.

Chambray Rose

This is the second quilt I made.  I started this in September and finished it in November.  The fabric is all from one range - Chambray Rose by Shabby Chic.  I bought it from Pelenna Patchworks.  The pattern is called Garden Trellis and was a free download from The Whimsical Workshop.

I used 80/20 cotton batting by Hobbs and quilted it by hand.

I used another fabric from the range for the backing.  The finished size is 58" square, just the right size to use as a topper on my double bed.