These Geese Are Flying!

I am still avoiding the quilting on my niece Naomi's quilt. Actually, when I looked at it yesterday I couldn't find the bad bits of stitching that were bothering me. It doesn't mean that they aren't there, just that, maybe, they aren't as noticeable as I thought. So, I will get it finished before her wedding in the new year.

What I HAVE been doing is making the flying geese for my Ohio star quilt. I am lucky enough to have a very kind and thoughtful mother and whilst browsing on Amazon recently she saw this and thought of me!..

Isn't it lovely!

I have been following Bonnie Hunter's wonderful Quiltville blog for donkey's years now, if you haven't seen it yet, you MUST. When you have finished here. She has a wonderful scrap user's system and gives lots of beautiful free patterns, she writes brilliant books and runs Quilt Cam on youtube, a sort of sew along thing that is great to have on in the background while you sew.

Anyway, a lot of Bonnie's quilt patterns use the EZ Angle and EZ Companion rulers but to buy both of these you would be looking at spending about £30! That is the cost of a whole Jelly Roll or Layer Cake! So, I thought about it and bought fabric instead. Then my mum called and told me that she had bought me a flying geese ruler and a Tri Recs set of rulers (more on that another time) and they would be arriving the next day. How great is my mum? Pretty great! I hadn't mentioned these rulers to her but she saw a print out of one of Bonnie's patterns on my window sill and went home to order me the rulers. She couldn't remember which rulers they were & thought she had bought the wrong ones.

It turns out that the EZ Flying Geese ruler is, in my opinion, even better than the EZ Angle and Companion rulers. Because of the markings you only need ONE RULER! It makes geese from 1.5" x 3" to 6" x 12" and you can make QSTs with it, probably HSTs too.

 

You cut your geese pieces from strips. I am using 2.5" strips to make 2" x 4" finished size geese. You cut the middle (goose) part using side A, which has purple markings and the side parts using side B, which has blue markings. There are notches that align with the top of your strip and these help with positioning your fabric when you sew.

 

I need to make 144 geese units and sew them into 24 sets of 6. I spent a couple of hours pressing fabric and cutting and I sewed on and off all day yesterday. I nearly have all of my geese sewn, only 35 to go!

 

I plan to have these chasing around my Ohio stars.

 

Keep it scrappy! Abi

UK Quilters Fabric Swap

I am currently organising some fabric swaps on Ravelry. There is a scraps swap, a 2.5" squares swap and a 5" squares swap - all fabric must be 100% cotton and suitable for patchwork (i.e. quilting weight).

You can join in here Fabric Swap you will have to be a Ravelry member (its free) and join the UK Quilter's group. Leave a message on the board and join in. Deadline for signups is 5th December 2014 and I need to have your fabric here by 12th December so that I can swap it around and send it back out.

 

So, I Started Another Project...

...before finishing anything else. I know. I'm a rebel. Actually, I started TWO other projects, but I only have pictures of one of them, so far.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I bought a QST (quarter square triangle) die for my sizzix because I planned to make an Ohio Star quilt. Well, I couldn't resist the temptation. I made these scrappy 12" blocks;



 

I used the Jo Morton scraps that I bought on ebay, part of one for the FQs from my Vin Du Jour pack and other prints and batiks from my stash. I cut all the pieces on my Sizzix. I am not entirely sure about the pink batik star because it is a bit lighter than the others but maybe a lighter star will add some sparkle to the quilt.

 

I made 9 blocks and plan to set them 3 x 3 with scrappy flying geese sashing. That will make the quilt 52" and then I can decide if I want a border or just binding. I am making it all up as I go along.

 

 

In other news, I finally managed to get some Mary Ellen's Best Press at a price that I loved. I got a big 32oz bottle, all the way from America for £8.57, including postage! There must have been a pricing mistake because now it'll cost £19.28 for the same bottle from the same seller. Its a starch alternative and is widely used and recommended by quilters in America. I have been itching to get my hands on some after trying various spray starches from local supermarkets but if you cannot get it then, in my opinion Easy Iron by Dylon is the best of an imperfect bunch (but I haven't tried them all).

 

I am not affiliated with MEBP in any way and I don't sell it (wish I did) but I have to say that it is a fantastic product. It doesn't make your fabrics as stiff as a board like starch can and it doesn't flake or gum up your iron - at all! It doesn't make the laminate flooring beneath your ironing board as slippery as an ice skating rink, either, which is a bonus.

 

What it does do is make ironing and pressing a LOT easier, it makes fabrics more manageable and I found that they frayed less when I cut into them. Also, you know those folds in the centre of your fabric that are almost impossible to get out? Just spray this on the fold (or any tough crease) and wait for 30 seconds or so and creases start to disappear before you even start to iron it! I bought the cherry blossom variety and it smells really nice, even when re-pressing later. There are other varieties, including scent free. I used it on my fabric before cutting and on cut pieces and on sewn units. I also used it on my Ohio Star blocks to help me press them to the right size, it really did the trick. This isn't an advert, just a review so that you can decide if it might be useful to you, too.

 

I am currently organizing a fabric swap over on the UK Quilter's board on Ravelry. I will put a link on my next post. Happy quilting, Abi.

Unexpected Gift

I love craft magazines, especially patchwork and quilting ones. I have shelves full of back issues of British Patchwork & Quilting, Popular Patchwork, McCall's Quilting, Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting, The Quilter, Fabrications, Magic Patch - name a quilting magazine and I will have a few issues on my bookshelf. I have quilt mags from France, Australia, America and Britain and they are all good reads. The British ones, though, can be a little bit old fashioned and some of the articles are a bit boring and the issues get a bit repetitive. So, I decided to stop buying magazines for a while.

Then, last month I bought the October editions of Quilt Now and Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I hadn't seen either of these before, due to my magazine starvation diet. Both magazines are quite new, there have only been a handful of issues of Quilt Now.

I read both of these magazines from cover to cover and what a breath of fresh air they turned out to be. I wouldn't call myself an ultra modern quilter, I am somewhere between a modern and a traditional quilter. I don't really like "Art Quilts" or anything too abstracts & wacky, but I love lots of white or grey, teamed with simple lines and shapes and some of the modern prints.

Both of these magazines had very generous subscription offers but I could only afford to subscribe to one. I re-read both magazines and chose a favourite, the one with the projects I wanted to make and the articles I found the most interesting was Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I also preferred it because it was a little less "fluffy", it felt a bit more advanced, which I love.

Issue 13 of Love Patchwork & Quilting - with a most beautiful cover quilt by Lynne Goldsworthy

Before I subscribed I decided to have a go at making the Union Jack foundation pieced block at the back of the magazine to brush up on my foundation paper piecing. While making the block I discovered a very slight error in the pattern. The block is made in 4 quarter sections, 2 x A + 2 x B. However, when you put them together to make the block the white lines of the Union Jack do not go where they should. I think it was the only error in an otherwise excellent magazine, so I contacted them to tell them about it. They checked the block and told me that I was right. They were very apologetic and asked for my address so that they could send me something as a thank you.

Look at what they sent me!

12 Fat Quarters of "Sew Yummy" 100% organic cotton from Cloud Nine. How lucky am I?

Beautiful fabrics with sewing designs on them; zips, pin cushions, spools, seam rippers and scissors.

They also sent me a new copy of the Union Jack pattern.



I am really impressed with their generosity and the magazine itself. The November issue was just as great so I am glad I chose to subscribe to this magazine, I think its right up my street.

Issue 14 - Look at that beautiful star!

 

 You can get your subscription with a hefty discount (currently 40%) here:

Fabric Stash Management

I promised in my last post that I would tell you a little more about how I manage my stash and in particular my scraps. I keep most of my fabric in drawers, which keeps them clean and out of sunlight but also means that I don't always know what I have. So, I will often cut pieces from my yardage and fat quarters so that I can move them around with other fabrics and make combining fabrics and planning quilts easier. I also cut up all of my scraps and small pieces into more usable shapes and store them until needed.

This is my scrap corner, it needs tidying and there is a quilt in progress adding to the clutter but you can see the 4 spotty boxes and the blue lever arch file on top. This is my scrap organisation centre.

The dotty boxes are from Asda and are collapsible, which can be awkward if they collapse as you lift them. But they are pretty and the hold quite a lot.

The blue box holds my strips, usually cut to 2.5".
























Then, I have a spotty box for each of the shapes I cut with my Sizzix Big Shot, which is the same model as this one;

I got mine from QVC about 2 years ago, it was an anniversary present from my mum and it came with 5 quilting dies;

• 2.5" Square (2" finished size)
• 2.5" Half Square Triangle (2" finished size)
• 4.5" Square (4" finished size)
• 4.5" Half Square Triangle (4" finished size)
• 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle (2" x 4" finished size)

HSTs:

 

 

Squares - 4.5" die cut on the right, Moda 5" charm packs on the left:

 





2.5" squares and the rectangles:

Last month I added to my die collection, I bought a 4.5" quarter square triangle die, specifically because I love the Ohio Star block and want to make some for a quilt. I haven't chosen the fabrics for that yet so I haven't used the die yet.

 

You can also buy applique dies for the Sizzix Big Shot and other patchwork dies. I would love the double wedding ring die but that is for the larger model of machine so I can't use it with mine.

 

The dies I have all work together perfectly and the blocks I can make from them are endless. I plan to use them for Ohio Star, Bear Paw, Flying Geese, Churn Dash, Carpenter's Star, Crown of Thorns, Pinwheels and  a whole lot more. So far I have made 4 quilts with my Sizzix cut pieces, including the scrap quilt I am quilting at the moment...

 

 

 

 

...yeah, the one that isn't quilting too well.

 

 



My Holy Grail Fabric Haul

I am willing to guess that you, dear reader, are a fabric lover. Am I right? Thought so. It takes one to know one. So, I am going to tell you about my greatest Ebay bargain, a black sack full of quilting fabrics which cost me about £7 plus postage. That was about 7 years ago and I have been looking for another deal like that one ever since.

The sack of fabric was massive and heavy, it had fat quarters, large pieces, medium & small scrap pieces and some yardage. I know, you probably don't believe me but its true, I hit the fabric stash jackpot. A lot of the fabric was very pretty, this person obviously liked maroon and autumnal colours but there was a wide range of other shades too, including 30's and feedsack repros, William Morris and liberty prints. I washed and ironed the whole lot as soon as I got it. It filled the washing machine and took me 2 days to process. I was in heaven. The bad news is I forgot to take a photo of this massive haul when it was all in one place. The fabric filled 3 drawers.

Fat Quarters.

Larger pieces.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There were also some triangles that had obviously been cut for a project. They filled an ice cream tub.

 

The smaller scraps were put into my scrap bag and used as needed, until I got my Sizzix Big Shot machine and quilting dies about 2 years ago, then I spent a few days running the scraps through the machine. I'll tell you more about that in my next post.

 

A Whole Bundle, At Last!

Look at what jumped into my stash while I was looking the other way!

Its Vin Du Jour by Moda and I have a full pack of 40 fat quarters. I have never owned a full Moda fat quarter pack, I've wanted one for years but never had the money spare. Also, they are quite hard to get here in the UK. This little beauty was just £60 (about half price) so I grabbed it. This range probably wouldn't have been my first choice if I had a few to choose from, I would have loved Autumn Lily or Community or Comfort as I am really into Civil War fabrics at the moment but it is really pretty. Have a look:

I will probably split them up a bit rather than use them all in one quilt. I am thinking about it and looking through the rest of my stash to see what might go well with it. It never hurts to stroke look at your fabric for a few months before using it.

What would you do with them?

Sow's Ear From A Silk Purse

I mentioned in my last post that I can make more complex quilts than squares and rectangles and I promised to offer some proof of that. Before I do I want you to know that I hate the quilt you are about to see.
My niece Emily got married in March of this year and a few months before my mum suggested that we made a quilt together. My mum sews, a LOT but she is a dressmaker and quilts are a little out of her comfort zone, so she left the decisions and planning to me.
I chose some really beautiful fabric - Honeysweet by Moda.

Its gorgeous and I loved the colours and the patterns in it. We bought pre-cuts to save a bit of time (jelly rolls and a charm pack) but there was still a lot of cutting out to do.
For the pattern I decided that a Blackford Beauty, 16" block would be a good choice. Its a very pretty block.
However, it turns out that in quilt mathematics pretty fabrics + pretty blocks does NOT = pretty quilt. It is far too busy, it would probably have been much improved by some more solid fabrics, a nice cream fabric in every block would have calmed down all that "noise".
OK, here is the finished quilt, you probably shouldn't look at it for more than 5 seconds for fear of burning your corneas:

 As you can see, the fabric is lovely, just not when it is all put closely together.

 

 The back was very nice, though...

 

My mum paid for it to be long-arm quilted and I added a little label that I made on my sewing machine. The quilter did a very nice job, I will have to ask my mum who it was so that I can tell you, I know she lives in Sussex somewhere.

We put a lot of work into this quilt, there are a gazillion pieces but when the wedding day came and it was time to hand it over I was very tempted to drop it into a muddy puddle or conveniently "forget" it.

They were very grateful and a lot of people said it was beautiful but I know that I should have done better. Hopefully the keep it in a cupboard somewhere, maybe wrapped around their hot water cylinder for insulation. I would hate to think that they have it on their bed, imagine sleeping under that, it would give you nightmares.

Scrappy Checkerboard Quilt In Progress

Like most quilt makers I have a patchwork and quilting board on Pinterest. It is full of pictures of beautiful quilts made by other people. I find these quilts inspiring, the colours, the patterns, the soft, quilty snuggliness. I admire the complex piecing of quilts that draw the eye to the main focus of the quilt before it catches the secondary pattern hidden around it. I also love seeing the colour combinations people choose, the fabrics and the beautiful quilting.

Yes, I love my Pinterest board but I have to admit that simple quilts are more my thing. I love a good squares quilt, chequerboard, Irish chain, charm quilts - they all make me happier than chocolate ever could. I'm partial to the odd rectangle and half square triangle too but squares are my first love.

 

 

This is my youngest daughter Phoebe, asleep under her Central Park charm quilt.

 

 

Proof that I can quilt straight, even lines with my Pfaff Expression 3.0 sewing machine.

I don't think its because they are easier than complicated quilts, I have made those too and I didn't like them half as much (more on that in my next post). So, when I get the urge to quilt and I have nothing complicated planned I reach for my scrap stash and sew squares.

Here is a quilt that I have already promised to my niece Naomi, when it is finished.

Its made from 2 1/2" (2" finished) squares from my scrap pile, cut with my Sizzix Big Shot machine and the 2 1/2" square die. I love my Big Shot, it saves a lot of time. I chose the softest colours I had and teamed it with some white scraps, which I later discovered to be 2 shades of "white" but I have decided not to let it bother me too much, it is a scrap quilt after all.
 

I am in the process of quilting it at the moment but it is not going very well. I was given a vintage 100% cotton sheet with blue flowers and I am using that for the back and the binding. My 15m roll of batting is now all used up so I am using something called "Soft n' Crafty" from America which my machine absolutely hates. I have made several simple quilts with my machine and the lovely batting from my roll and all of my stitches have been perfectly even, not necessarily straight, but even. This quilt isn't running through my machine properly and I am getting patches of miniscule stitches. I am not happy but they are too small to rip out.

I will persevere and post some pictures when it is finished, just don't look too closely at the quilting.