Today's Crafting - Granny Square Quilt

 Back in the middle of April I started making this Granny Square quilt. I got most of the centre bits cut and sewn and then I had to wait for my Kona Cotton to arrive. That meant the quilt top ended up on the pile of stuff to start up again at some undetermined point in the future. Well it seems that I reached that point this evening. Actually I found that I had enough time to cut the strips of Kona cotton, with the plan to take it all to sewing class tomorrow night but I got it cut quicker than I expected and couldn't help but start a bit of sewing.

I took one full set of strips and sewed the Kona cotton to those. I'll do the other sets after finishing the blocks from this set so as to not get in a muddle. Then I started cutting strips for my first block, partly because Alan wanted to see how it all joined up.

Here it is before trimming:

Granny Square patch before trimming

...and here it is after:

Granny Square first block

It's not as wonky as it looks in the picture (two of the corners lift up slightlymaking it look badly cut)

 

WIP Wednesday

I almost forgot that it's Wednesday. I think with the bank holiday it has felt like Tuesday all day. Anyway, not much progress has been made on my current projects with it being the school holidays and being away over the weekend. The only thing I've done is 4 rows on my Simple Shawl.

However I have set upon two new projects. Yes, I know I already have far too many on the go but there's a reason for these, really :-/

Firstly I've ordered some hexagon paper pieces for some hand quilting. When I was in Keswick at the weekend I spotted a cushion in a shop window and had to take a closer look. To my disappointment it was a printed panel that had then been (badly) quilted but it did make me think that I really should start a hexagon quilt. I absolutely love them when I've seen them at shows/exhibitions/museums.

The other reason for starting one of these now is because I'm not really getting chance to study during the 9-5 day. Orla sometimes doesn't nap and my current course needs total concentration. I wanted something on the go that I can do in the living room (i.e. without a machine) that I can pick up & put down as much as I need to. I don't really have much enthusiasm for cutting my own papers though so I'm being lazy and have ordered them online.

I'm planning on making it from scraps and adding to it as I go along. It is most definitely a long term project, don't expect a Finished Object post anytime soon!

And that leads me to the reason for my other new project. I spotted this tutorial by Red Pepper Quilts for a Postage Stamp Quilt. It seems like a good idea to do both scrap projects at once so that I can make the most of the scraps. So today, I've been cutting jelly roll strips for it. I've decided that rather than follow the tutorial as it is, I'm adjusting it for 2 1/2 inch strips rather than 2 inch ones, mainly to save myself a lot of cutting as I have a lot of jelly roll strip scraps.

I got these cut this afternoon with Erin watching me. She's taking quite an interest in my crafting since I let her try out my sewing machine last week

It was pretty good for her first attempt! She took it to show all the relatives too.

So, while I cut out for the postage stamp quilt, she collected the offcuts for hexagons and the selvedges to play with. A teapot has become her fabric stash pot!!!

 

WIP: Bargello Quilt

I have to admit that when the lovely Annie mentioned she was going to make a Bargello quilt, I had to google it. I was really amazed by the results and thought "I have to make one of those". I was given a gorgeous Moda jelly roll (Sophie by Chez Moi) for Christmas from the in-laws that I thought would be great for it. Then I discovered that to make the size I was wanting I'd need two jelly rolls, so I decided instead to use half a jelly roll (20 strips 2.5" wide) to make a wallhanging.

It took me a while to decide on the 20 strips to use and the order to put them in but once that was done it was fairly quick to sew all the strips together. Here they are before I joined them into a big loop.

I'm hoping to cut the strips and start sewing them together this week. Then I'll probably have to look for a fabric for borders.

Quilting Shows

I've been so busy recently and feel I should do a few updates on what I've been up to.

Firstly I've got into quilting in a big way. As part of my new found addiction I combined a family break with the Festival of Quilts 2010. I got a few hours to browse the stalls as well as be amazed by all the stunning quilts on show. One of my favourites was the Traditional Quilts winner by Pauline Ineson, featuring 3d flowers. You can see some pictures on her website here. The Best in Show was a miniature quilt by Kumiko Frydl (can be seen here) and it was stunning. The detail was amazing and it really captured the essence of a miniature quilt.

In September I visited the Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate. I was very impressed; plenty of stalls and plenty of quilts to see. I picked up quite a few bargains. I also attended a couple of workshops. One of these involved stamping fabric and colouring it to produce a decorative panel.






I'm planning on machine quilting the sky with variegated blue thread and creating clouds with white thread after seeing this effect in on of the quilts at Harrogate.

I couldn't resist picking up a pattern for this embroidered panel. I was able to sit and do the embroidery while the children played together, which was an added bonus as most of my sewing is done in an evening once they are in bed. I will definitely be doing more of this!


One of the hardest things was finding the tiny buttons for the flowers. I got lucky at the market in Leeds.


And finally, here's my quilt. It still needs the binding in this picture. I've now managed to sew the binding to the front and it just needs hand-stitched to the back.


This is the Pandora's Box pattern from Pam & Nicky Lintott's Jelly Roll Quilts book. Made from a Fabric Freedom jelly roll.