Catching Up

I've been doing some sorting out of old boxes of fabric that I have carried around with me for the past decade and three house moves. And in my sorting I found scraps from some of the past quilt projects that I do not have final pictures of the completed quilt, which spurred me to do something about that.

First Quilt - Green Rail Fence, leftovers cushion cover.

 I found leftover blocks from the first quilt I ever finished, a green rail fence (above); as well as leftovers from a pink and green rail fence I made as a wedding present. Both quilts I didn't take a picture of once they were finished and the pink and green quilt was a tremendous undertaking at the time, being my first queen size, wool batting quilt and I couldn't have finished it without the assistance of my godmother J.

Pink and Green Rail Fence

I found that there were 5 leftover rail fence blocks from the pink and green wedding rail fence, but I had lots of ends from the strip pieced rows that had a couple of inches left. So, I figured I could patchwork all these little bits into a full row, to cut some whole blocks and make enough to create a four-block, rail fence square that would make a great cushion cover so that I had something about me, from this past project.

If you go back to the first picture of the pink and green rail fence square, you can see that in the top left hand block there are a couple of joining seams where that block was pieced together from little salvaged leftover strips. I feel very smug and happy that I was able to reuse these scraps.

From these scraps I was able to piece together two sides of each colour combination, and the goal is quilt them with some Pelon and calico and then join them together for some simple cushion covers. Stand by for this!

In all my sorting I've got a 56litre container of scraps which I need to work out something to do with constructively. So, while I make a decision on this, I distracted myself with another project. Ha! But that's a story for another post!

UP 2012 #1 - Green Chinese Lanterns - the next stage.

And here are the finished Chinese Lantern blocks laid out together to get the right distribution of light and dark fabrics and balance of patterns. And to my surprise! (not really) I have made two halves too many and the layout of blocks didn't match my hand-drawn draft. I've got four whole lantern blocks in each column instead of three that I drafted, but I also have only six columns instead of eight.

And I have noticed that there are some variances with the block widths which might make for some tricky sewing as I continue. Oh well! I've had worse! At this stage it's currently about 57" x 55" in size, which should shrink some with better placement and seam allowances. But it should make for a small double bed size quilt when I add borders.

At this point I will walk away and do something else and periodically come back to check the placement of blocks and make any adjustments until I'm entirely happy that all these blocks can stay where they are permanently. This advice I pass along from the lovely ladies who ran Mad About Quilting at Morningside, which is sadly no longer there. Layout your fabrics and then walk away to refresh your view.  Come back and check things out in different lights, angles and try different fabrics, which can be a delaying process but it makes for no regrets after things have been cut and sewn and quilted. Well, in most cases.

Unfinished Project #1 for 2012 - Circa 2000

Okay, well since last post I've fallen out of interest with my project involving the reuse of old embroidered doilies and resurrected a project that I started back in 2000. When I started this project "Chinese Lanterns" from Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine Vol 8. No. 1 I had made three quilts and all of them I had given away. And with this pattern I had found a design that appealed to me and I was making this quilt for myself.

But I hadn't until this time used a pattern based on templates. Cue music of doom. I didn't have the skill or experience to work with templates under my own steam.

Hence why this project has been packed away throughout the past 12 years; even though I have collected green fabrics over the years with the intent to be incorporated in the quilt.

I loved the picture of the blue lanterns on their cream background, but in my head I saw them as green lanterns, green being my favourite colour, so I started getting together some green fabrics. (Like I needed the excuse to buy more fabric, but it helps with the rationalizing if you have a specific project to use as an excuse).

And I went about collecting my materials at Mad About Quilting, Morningside, where I found a lovely floral green dot-print on cream background that I would use as the quilt background and was going to use 36 different green fabrics for each lantern. Until I started making the blocks.

Cutting with template plastic is not fun or easy or quick. You need to know what you're doing. And I didn't. At all.

And even when I got advice from the lovely Caroline at MAQ, I couldn't seem to improve the way I pieced together my blocks. So as my frustration mounted with each block I assembled, coaxing the strips to align in vain I felt it was best to put everything away until I knew better.

That took 12 years.

But I have been doing well these past few weeks over the Easter break, and I've got about twenty blocks now, with only a few more blocks to make to complete a rectangle big enough to maybe fit a double bed with borders.

The best thing has been that I found some green fabric leftover from my first ever completed quilt and I have got a green lantern made out of it to go within the quilt. This is going to be a sentimental memory quilt for me.

My aim for this year is to complete my unfinished projects. At least one every three months. And I've got a few to go.

New Project - Reuse Recycle Reenjoy

Well the Mighty Rose Quilt of 2011 is finished and waiting for some professional quilting to happen.

It's weird but I've known about professional quilting services and long arm quilting machines ever since I first started patchwork sewing and I've always dismissed it as being too lazy or too expensive for me to consider. And all the quilt fairs, quilting & patchwork stores I've wandered through over the past ten years have been littered with plenty of notices and adverts offering professional quilting services high and low. But now when I actually know that I cannot handle the quilting of a quilt, I cannot line up anyone to get it done. Amazing!

I was checking out a site last night whose pricing included how a formula to calculate how many sq feet are in your quilt @ $9 per sq feet. The Mighty Rose Quilt is almost 45 sq feet. Aie-Currummba! That's expensive. Anyways, hopefully someone will call me back and we'll have some quilting organized before Ma'nPa make their way down south for Easter.

So today, while the heavens were saturating Brisbane and the environs I got to thinking about some of the languishing projects I've put on hold (or shelved) while THMR quilt was being created, and I've started working on a Doily Quilt.

Last year or the year before, a friend's friend created a wonderful quilt of 1930's fabrics and doilies which absolutely inspired me. It was fantastically creative and brilliantly inventive. I hadn't seen anything like it at all. It knocked me on my a*se as I should have thought of doing something like it, which isn't meant to sound as stuck-up as it looks.

I mean I spent all my time growing up in second-hand and charity retail stores searching for fabric and vintage styles that weren't available commercially and then collecting all my finds around me like a demented and colour-blind bower bird. I remember when Ann St in the Valley was just full of charity clothing stores and I often scoured through them scoring heaps of old tatty dress patterns which I would make up and wear to college. When they would fit. I wasn't great with measurements.

Since I encountered the Doily Quilt, I have been collecting some great doilies with the idea that I'll create a similar quilt. And today I started on an idea that has been percolating for a while using the doilies put together like a crazy quilt.

I thought about replicating the quilt I saw with using 1930s fabrics and sewing the doilies onto the fabric keeping the crotchet edging, but being a patchworker I didn't like the idea of layering the fabric needlessly.
I saw a magazine article where someone had created a bag out of old doilies but they had only used squares of the embroidery rather than the whole doily.

I have this idea of four corner blocks of doily embroidery sampled together haphazardly, joined together with a unifying fabric. I think it will be simple but effective and a lovely way to recycle these neglected household items of a bygone era

I often wonder about the creator of the doily, thinking about if there was a purpose why they spent time selecting colours and patterns and then toiled over it for hours to place it with pride in their home for all to see. Was it part of someone's trousseau? Or was it an obligatory chore to appease someone? Did they agonize over purchasing the threads or was it the last doily they created after a lifetime of sitting and sewing for relaxation.

And then I feel a little sad that there are bins filled with these gems selling for $1 a bag in dozens of charity stores around the country.

It feels good to reuse them.

It is finished - well the quilt top.

It's Wednesday the 14th March 2012. And the final outer borders have been sewn on and ironed flat. The quilt top is finished.

And the borders are going on.

Luckily I've had a productive day. I've assessed my leftover fabric and test driven some available fabrics and I've settled on the borders for the quilt and even when I come back to check them later they still look fine.

I'm going with three borders; an inner border of dark pink, a middle border of a lovely civil war reproduction pink print which I couldn't seem to tone in with other pinks to use for a rose, and finally the outer border is a broad stripe of the light green fabric which was used for the light green leaves in the rose blocks.

A dark fabric as the inside border contrasting with the blue of the quilt top makes a unifying frame for all the different pink fabrics.

(You can see my lovely clean kitchen floor here where the light was the best this afternoon.)

I've found this great app for my android phone called QuiltCalc which has been developed by Robert Kaufman Fabrics and Quilters Paradise and allowed me to work out how much fabric I needed to cut and how many strips for each border. I just need to enter in the quilt top size, the width of the fabric, then each borders' width for the number of borders you want to add onto the quilt top and it calculates the number of strips to cut, the width to cut for each strip (adding on seam allowances) and advises the amount of fabric you will need to have on hand for each border. It has the border options for up to four borders.

I have always been terrible with working out the number of strips for borders so I find this app fan-freaking-tastic!

And now I've cut and sewn together all strips for each of my three borders and I've sewn the first border onto the quilt top. The only issue has been that the QuiltCalc told me to cut 7 strips for the inner border and I ended up needing an extra strip, so I've also added an additional strip to the second border and I assume will have to with the outside border too.
There is a margin of 10 cms included in the calculations but I guess that isn't enough for the way I lay out border fabric.

I lay the quilt top out flat and then along a centre line in the quilt top I double the border fabric flat and then cut to fit edge to edge. Then, doubling the border strip I iron the centre of the strip to create a centre-line then I match this line with the centre of the quilt top edge, pin, and sew. Some easing is required to make sure the border fits the quilt top, but it makes the border fit the quilt top neatly.

And so below is the first border on the quilt top. Only two more to go. Hopefully all done tomorrow and then long arm quilters can be scouted.

Success! We have a quilt top!!

Yes! At last all the blocks are sewn and joined together into the quilt top! Hooray!

It has been such a chore to get this far. I am so close to the finish line, only the borders to be sewn and attached and then the quilt top is completely finished and we can start looking at getting the quilt professionally quilted.

The quilt top without borders is 70.5 x 71 inches in size and, if I have calculated correctly with my lovely QuiltCalc app from Android, I have enough dark pink fabric to complete one whole 2 inch border as the first border. I'm relieved that I have enough of fabric that has already been used in the individual quilt blocks. I was worrying I'd need to source and purchase more fabric that would tone in with the fabrics already used. Always a quilters quandary - keeping the colours and tones and textures harmonious throughout. Also expensive at this stage in the game. As it is I have a few backs of scraps which I'm trying to work out how to use successfully in the border.

But I need a "framing" border to set off the fabrics already used in the quilt blocks before I think about fabrics for additional borders and then the binding.

Deadline is Easter which is when my parents leave to visit Aunt M and that's only three weeks away now. Good grief!!

But I'm glad I've pushed myself today and hopefully this progress will encourage me to do more and more often. My enthusiasm levels are flagging.

The Importance of Being Ironed

The big gap between last post and this one is largely due to becoming unemployed and enjoying a break from the 9-5 hustle but that has given me the opportunity to do some concentrated sewing and now all the blocks are finished. Phew!

I have taken a few photos while I've been sewing mainly for the technical nature in assembling this complex project. I counted and each block has 100 pieces of fabric cut out for the various 45 squares and rectangles to come together to make the rose block.

One of the things that I've learned over the past few months assembling these blocks, apart from realising that I always choose the hardest projects to complete (A'La Tin Cup and the River), is the vital importance of ironing and using cotton fabrics for their stretch and flexibility.

Especially with the last few blocks I found that to get the best finish for each section, it was best to iron the pieces flat before assembling together. And yes my fingers have been slightly singed on many occasions this month.

Also, the idea of ironing towards the light fabric works in some instances, but I had to combine this method with ironing seams out flat (as in the photo) and then I also needed to consult the pattern to judge where I could iron creatively so that there wouldn't be too many heavy joins because these made it difficult to get a flat front.

Quilting Truth #101: The foundation and background is just as important as the finished pieced front.

My Grandfather used to embroider in the evenings. He made these beautiful pictures with wool and silk thread and he used to say that the back of the picture should be just as good the front. I used to think this was a level of perfectionism that was just silly, but I can now see the sense in being just as neat and tidy in the background so that the finished front picture will have no unsightly bumps or skewed seams ruining what could be perfection.

Now my next task is assembling all the individual blocks into the quilt top and then when that is done I can work out what I can do with borders as I can't source additional fabric for some of the fabrics used in the quilt. Time to get creative.

By the way, laying out all the quilt blocks was a chore that almost twisted my brain the wrong way around. It had to have taken at least an hour, making sure that no two same blocks were too close together. Another task that was harder than it could have been because of my use of different fabrics. I am so in love with scrappy looks!

Below is rough look at how it will come together. There are 32 rose blocks; 16 pale rose blocks and 16 dark rose blocks. There are four different fabric combinations within each of these two different palette styles. Each rose is made up of 4 different pink fabrics. Which is making picking the right fabrics for the border a challenge.


I also wrote down a plan that I could follow when piecing each of the different rose blocks together, without laying out the blocks again. My cat has a bad habit of skidding through laid down blocks on my hardwood floors. She thinks it's great fun. Not happening this time!
Once they're all assembled I'll measure and start calculating how much fabric will be required for borders.

Wish the Sun would Shine

Some progress has been had over the past few days, but unfortunately not a lot. Just a small portion of the overall block - the rosebud.

It's been raining since Wednesday, I think. Steadily. Everything is soggy and muggy and currently I have to choose how I can use my electricity as the air-con, washing machine, dryer and fridge all share the same circuit. Which I've just found out as I've been using the air-con to reduce the moisture in the house. However needing to have clean clothes is a little more important so I've chosen the dryer and w/machine over keeping cool and comfortable.

It's been a dim day, and weirdly the afternoon the sun has come out but the lights have been on in the house all day. I've been playing ac/dc in the sewing room all afternoon to keep me on the go so I can finish these blocks. Otherwise this project is in danger of stagnating.

Here we Go, Here we Go for one more turn ..

So it's been a stinking hot humid Australia Day here in Brisvegas and the sweat has been dripping off my brow which is why I haven't been in the sewing room as much as I wish. Well to tell the truth I'm having a little trouble getting enthusiastic finishing off the last 16 blocks for Aunt M's rose quilt.

After a week of slowly piecing together the first four blocks of my first batch of dark rose blocks, I've finally finished the middle of the block this afternoon.

It's looking good, which I'm happy about, however, it's taking forever to get together.

I'm hoping that I will be able to move faster on getting these together after tomorrow when I won't have a job to worry about until I can find another.

The weather isn't helping much neither being as it hasn't stopped raining for a few days and the humidity is in the high 80's which makes it hard to keep in the sewing room with a hot iron going all day. The trials of having patchwork for your hobby in Brisbane Queensland.

So, anyways, Happy Australia Day to all out there.

Elle

All in the name of Liberty ...

I've been having a difficult day. The AC/DC music came out in the sewing room tonight, not surprising.

I have been doing some archealogical research on my old laptop for all the pictures I've taken or had taken of the quilts that I've created over the past 11 years. And sadly there are some quilts that I have never had photographed. I will have to work this year to rectify that issue. It's a short list, but as I had not taken photos of them, my memory and recollection of their creation has grown fuzzy if not completely blank.

So, with that in mind I've decided to upload some pictures of quilts that I do have photographs of for display online and to remember what I've made over the years. It's true; I forget!

Oldest quilt I have a picture of is the second quilt I made which is a double Irish chain quilt that I gave to my maternal grandmother Margaret.

The pink centre chain fabric was chosen by my sister K the first, and possibly last time, she ever accompanied me at a fabric store. It was in the Christmas fabric section and I just had to find a use for it though I despised the idea of using a pink fabric. My mother brought her daughters up to eschew pink!

Sister K also found the delightful sea green and gold print background fabric in the store we were browsing, which I couldn't have found without her.

I adore this fabric and unfortunately all that I was able to purchase was enough for the quilt you see with no leftovers. Pity. It was lovely.

The next eldest quilt in my gallery was the first and I think the only time I've attended a quilt block "class". I went with my Godmother J and it was a Stack 'n Slash block which I hadn't heard of before, but I was game as it sounded easy and quick to construct. These would still be considered the "Prime Directive" for considering a new quilt project for me : How easy it is to assemble and how quickly it can be assembled. I'm not drawn to fuss.

So, like I said, a Stack 'n Slash quilt block. Using 9 different fabrics we stacked and slashed our way through cutting and rotating and re-sewing them fat quarters we'd brought along, until we had 9 blocks of a somewhat crazy patch pattern. I chose to join all 9 of my blocks together, thereby making a single crazy patch quilt which I think was very effective in a modernist -Kandinsky sense.

Incidentally, this is the only quilt I've sold. A friend of my mother's husband purchased it from me when he heard how much she admired it. So this is the only picture I have of this quilt. I have made this type of quilt again since, but this was the first.

I will have to get a photo of the second Stack 'n Slash quilt I made. I made it for my Goddaughter's Christening present in lovely dusty pinks and greens. I love green.

The last quilt I have a picture of is the quilt I made with fabrics that I had purchased randomly but didn't know how to combine. It was some of the first fabric I went out and consciously purchased with the intent to turn into a quilt. Previous to this I haunted Lincraft and Spotlight purchasing dress fabric which I found I couldn't turn into the patterns and dresses that I wanted and admired. Much to my frustration and limited storage space.

So, this was a pattern called Hidden Wells. And the quilt store I was affiliated with at the time, Mad About Quilting, had several on their walls as examples. But I couldn't see how the fabrics that I had unwittingly purchased could be made to combine into something clever and wonderful like theirs had.

I might also point out at this stage, that my Hidden Wells quilt is one of my favourites and is also admired often when it's on display around the house.

I often think about medieval garden pictures when I see this quilt and I would love to have another go at making this pattern to see if I can make another just as visually effective. However much I'm tempted I haven't tried a second run at the fence, fearful that the result will be disappointing with comparison.

So, quilts I'm missing full pictures of are;

• The purple quilt I made my sister K for Christmas.
  
• My first Bargello quilt I made on commission for my Paternal grandmother to my cousin A.
• A pink fat quarter quilt again made on commission for Nana to my cousin E.
• The pink Christening quilt I made for my adorable Goddaughter.
• The T Shirt patchwork quilt I made for sister V.
• The Butterfly wall hanging that my Aunt M has, but was made for Aunt E who has passed on.
• The purple and green rail fence and nine patch quilt Mum received for Mother's Day last year. (This I covet and wish I had kept for myself. But don't tell her!)
• The pink and green rail fence quilt I made as a wedding present for someone who isn't a friend anymore. I should have taken a photo of that quilt! The pink fabric I used was a 60s vintage fabric given to me by my Aunt J years ago. I dread to think what happened to the quilt, so I can't dwell on the idea.
• A red patchwork quilt-as-you-go experiment that my Cat loves to rest on.
• The first quilt I made - a green and black rail fence that lives on my sofa.
  

So, that's a lot of quilts I don't have pictures available for, and luckily some are easily fixed. Have to get cracking to get the pictures taken.

A little less conversation, a little more action ...

So, I found some stuff this evening.

I've been going through a massive pile of craft and quilting magazines that a friend gave to me over the past year; cutting out patterns and pictures of things that should inspire me to utilize my stash of fabrics.

It's nice to have ideas to start with. Most of the time my ideas for quilts are based upon something someone else has created, with my own specific twist. A lot of the time my quilts start at a gallop when I've found some new fabric to play with and then quickly everything stalls as it becomes all too hard.

I'm a lazy quilter. I like the easy and quick to assemble patterns. That's why I'm not a fan of applique or hand piecing and quilting. I like to see the effect quickly. Strip piecing works for me in this respect. Also there is usually less un-picking when it's strip piecing. But the fabric is the first draw for me. Fabric is the first reason why I love quilting.

That's my frustration with my current project for Aunt M, the fact that it's taking so long to get to the whole picture. I have at the moment finished half the blocks required and now just have another 16 blocks to go. And now I know that I have until the end of January to make the rest of the quilt so I can assemble the quilt top to present to my Aunt M.

So, I'm looking at new project ideas and patterns. Obviously. This is what I should be doing.
And if I had the opportunity tomorrow, I would hit the nearest quilt fabric store and buy a bunch of fabrics that have no relation to any project currently underway, and start something new.

Seriously, I have a problem. This is how a Quilter procrastinates!! And how we get to have gargantuan stashes and towering piles of fabric that take over homes and small towns.

So, with that in mind, lets have a look at this blog - Millie's Quilting : Spring Quilting

I like this .... it's simple and sweet and quite elegant in it's sparse style and contrasting neutral background with the bright and patterned scrappy blocks. I love it! I just wish I had the space in my sewing room and life at the moment to contemplate working on a quilt like this one.

Which is why I have an inspiration book - an art diary of quilt pictures to trigger creative urges.

I have massacred lots of craft magazines this week to glue pictures into my quilt book and I feel like I've created something great. I'm happy with it and I hope it will work this year to help me start new projects with some plan and design that will sustain me throughout a project.

My New Year's Resolution for my sewing is to finish all my UFO's this year by either piecing or quilting them to finish. I would also like to create at least four new quilts this year with a quilt a quarter the goal.

Cue the music of doom!!!!