Weathervane block

So, I was browsing the web Sunday afternoon for free bag patterns to spark my interest and then I found some great free quilt patterns which I decided to download and in the process discovered a great new stitching blog. Don't call me Betsy. 

Specifically, I found her post about the Weathervane Block and the little experiment she tried out which she made into a tutorial. And it looked easy enough to follow as well as being a bit challenging. So I gave it a go!

I'm a fan of traditional straight edged blocks and I like playing with fabric colours and patterns to see what happens. I've loved this yellow paisley fabric since I bought in Sydney last April and the gelato striped fabric I think came to me as a scrap from my Great-Aunt M's stash. I've had a terrible experience with striped fabric in the past so I needed to try again. And the soft green teacup fabric I bought in a great store in St Charles Missouri in 2005 and I've been dying to use it in something fun. 

I'm really impressed with the pattern and how easy it was to pull together, though I'm not a fan of pressed open seams.

I thought that I could use this as practice piece for machine quilting designs being small enough to be a manageable quilting piece on the machine, but also have the scope to try quilting around shapes and filling in spaces with different patterns rather than free motion stippling. I haven't really progressed past the basic beginner level of quilting so I need to make an effort to practice these aspects. And I'm better when there's a product at the end of a task rather than quilting blank space on scraps. The waste kinda gets to me. What do I do with the quilted scraps? Hence, the mini-quilt quilting project idea inspired by Don't Call Me Betsy's weathervane block tutorial.

BTW - I totally get the Betsy thing, cos I'm the same about being called Ellie instead of Elle. Urgh!

Diversion - Vintage Stylin'

So, I ran into a hitch with my nephews' quilt quilting. Basically, I was using the wrong coloured thread and thereby ruining the look of the patchwork top. 

Here's a quilt I had started quilting many years ago. It was made quickly from a grey vintage cotton fabric I found in my thrifting along with some great 30style red flower print and complementing green and yellow prints. And since then it's been languishing and being moved around the sewing room. 

Rather than put everything away I decided to quilt my old project. So far its tricky and I'm wishing I knew more about quilting patterns rather than ditching everything.

Let the quilting commence!

Sebbie's quilt - almost there

I've finally sewn together a quilt for my nephew and it's pinned now. Quilting is just around the corner.

Upcycled textiles - sewing for profit

I'm in the middle of a project sewing together handbags, totes and clutch purses out of vintage and repurposed textiles to sell through the local not-for-profit recycling organization Reverse Garbage.

The label I'm sewing under is Made by Midge Lloyd, which is a name that I've been kicking around for a few years now. 

In September I bought this fabulous book of bag patterns from which I made a birthday present for my mum. She lived it and even better it was super easy to make and really stylish too. And then suddenly there was this invite for new artists for an upcoming exhibition, so it all seemed like a confluence of good omens that I just had to run with. 

So here I am at 1am making a tote bag out of an upcycled curtain, jeans pockets, thrift store found zippers and destashed cotton fabric donated from my great aunt M. This will be bag number 6, and tomorrow I need to make a couple more to bring the total closer to 10 items for the upcoming exhibition opening next Saturday the 30th.

I think I'm using up my own stash, but at the moment it's hard to tell. Each time I start a new bag I begin with a ritual of reorganizing all the boxes and piles of fabrics and assorted tools before commencing cutting out. I'm laughing at my OCD as I do it, but also don't feel comfortable with the new project until things are just-so around me.
I've bought two new pairs of scissors and two new rotary cutting tools since I got going. The extra expense was definitely not meant to be the aim of this exercise. It was meant to be about reducing my own fabric stash and make some income from sewing.  I have that terrible feeling that no-one will buy my bags and it will all end in crushing failure. Go me! Way to keep the positive flowing.

Sebastian's Quilt

Some of you know that I was blessed with a nephew this year. One of the cutest and most handsomest baby boys ever produced. Well done, Sister K!

But I haven't made him a quilt yet. I've bought fabric, lots of good themed fabrics, including a fabulous reproduction of the London Underground map so that Mum and Dad can explain where they met to L'il Seb.

So with Christmas on the horizon, I have a deadline. And I need to get cracking. So here goes with the planning to get the best out of all these fabrics.

Pinwheel Frenzy - Another Unfinished Project at last Finished

Here is a PinWheel Quilt top that I finished up last night by sashing the blocks together and then sashing rows. I really made it up as I went along, finding left over white background fabric from the pinwheels I had actually constructed about 10 years ago and never completed.

 

I was sorting in my sewing room last night because I knew I need to do something methodical and creative because my brain and body were very tired, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. Working through a project is more mentally soothing that a early bed time. Especially during the week when the next days's expectations are still hanging in the air.

 

Sew, as I was sorting I started reorganising the "Under Completion" project boxes into high priority and one day priorit, and came across these pinwheel blocks I had made in about 2000 from metallic multilayerd fabrics that were from a Christmas release. Because they were metallic fabrics, they were very suseptible to fraying and stretching across the grain. Disheartening! And when I laid them out on the floor last night, there turned out to be 15 blocks - just one shy of a full square of 16. So instead of making it smaller, I used what little fabric remained to make one more block to finish it off.

(I really tested my skills and memory last night trying to remember how to make a pinwheel block!)

And then when I had finished the new final block, I found it a half inch smaller than the rest of the blocks. Which means, they were all trimmed down to 11 inch squares. Then I made 11 inch x 3 inch sashing blocks and sewed the blocks into rows.

 

For the first time I really ignored the balance of colour across the quilt top, and I think I was rewarded quite nicely. Usually I play with the layout of the blocks, but this was all random, as it was laid out, is where it stayed.

 

I considered getting technical and measuring the length of each column to make the column sashing, but ended up making a big ole 3 inch sash and started sewing onto each column and then trimming and squaring off at each end.

 

As I sashed the top and bottom of each column, that first border was pretty much made when all the columns were sashed together. And all I needed to do was sew a sash on either side.

 

I've packed this quilt top away in the Finished box, but I have plans to find a complimentary fabric to sew as another bigger border. Or I could just quilt as is, and then bind with the complimentary fabric. Who knows, but so far, this one is finished!

 

 

I think in this pic you can see how the fabrics and metallic and shiny. The background fabric is a white on white fireworks burst pattern. 

 

And here's a picture of Sol just waiting for me to leave the room so she can pounce on all the blocks and throw them around. She's a bad kitty!