february heart, scrappy mini quilt, charity blocks

I have just finished the february BOM for the hexie challenge,  this time it was a heart so I have been busy cutting out card for the hexies.   I used the sizzix machine and 1" hexie die and have cut out about 400 pieces,  using old Xmas cards and cereal packets which are much easier to work with than papers.  I take the easy route and cut the fabric in a rectangles,  2. 5" by 2. 75" using the rotary cutter,  I know this way I waste a little fabric but it is so much quicker.   When I tack the fabric to the card I do not stitch through the card, this means it can re reused time and again,    why on earth have I cut so much card out you might ask,   well I am not really sure but I will make lots and lots of hexies ready for the next challenge and quite like the idea of doing  a bigger project too so if they are tacked together it will save time when the next challenge is posted at the beginning of march.    what a woffle that was.

I am not sure what to use as a background so have decided not to stitch them to the backing till all 12 are stitched then I will decide what to use and if sashing is required etc.

Last week I saw a blog about  a fab 4 link up party on quilting lines blog.  I should know to read all the info but no saw the design and rushed in with my scraps.

Having re read the blog today I think I am meant to use 4 fat quarters but reading again I think that might be incorrect as it is all to do with the Beatles. They are the fab 4. Patricia asks us to either applique the names of the Beatles or stitch or applique your favourite verse from one of their songs or add a silhouette of a favourite photo of the boys,  Well I misunderstood all that so will not link up with mine.  When Helen saw it she thought it would make a nice blanket for her cat Alfie  I don`t think so!

Lesson to learn from all this is to read all the details first!   not rush in like a bull in a china shop.   Must own up to being guilty of this in the past and should have learnt my lesson then 

Have now to decide how to quilt this piece. 

Last week I did have a go at machine quilting the sashing on my batik Tula quilt,  just straight lines either side of the ditch and now wondering about quilting the blocks, would like to do them in different colours and different patterns but not sure how that would work . The backing is blue so have blue thread in the bobbin.   Will ponder some more.

Prior to doing the batik quilting I made 2 blocks for little island quilting, she wants 12.5" blocks as quilt as you go so these are my first attempts with the machine quilting.  

Alison is sending the quilts when she has completed them to Mexico for the poor children,   well no not sending as they are unlikely to arrive, not sure who will be taking them but it is a worth while cause.

February block

This weekend I have been working on the crazy block for february.  Not sure if it is completely complete or not but I can always add some more embellishments later   I really like the beaded chain stitch which has been one of the recent stitches from Sharon B on pintangle.  I have not been keeping up with them for a while now but have used  the beaded chain, chain cross and up and down feathered buttonhole stitch here none of which I have used before.  I do so like Sharon`s stencils which I bought last year and they have appeared on this block as well   The grey lace is a piece of white I dropped silk paints onto , think it needs a bit of something on it but so far cannot decide so have left it plain.

The bit of pink tatting I am going to add a little ladybird button to when I make the 12 blocks into the wall hanging.

crocus, finished quilt, blocks

Here is my stack and slash quilt all finished,  I added the binding and feel job well done.

I do think the red is a bit loud and unfortunately the hand quilting does not show too well in the photo, I used hand quilting cotton,  next time   if there is a next time I will use a thicker thread, maybe a perle 12 or 16,   it is good to be learning as I go down this path of quilting.
I am not sure what I will do with it, at the moment it is on the back of my cream couch which adds a bit of colour.

I have also done the first 3 blocks for the quilt on the create and craft channel with Jennie Rayment These blocks are 14" finished.

Pineapple block,   this one was tricky for me,  there was a template for it but I just used an ordinary square,no point is spending over £20 for something I will only use once.  It was not done the paper foundation way.  This is one block I will not be making many of.

Petal block,    I have not attached it yet to the backing fabric,  they suggest to use interfacing on the petal  to back it with so you get a good shape prior to attaching it to the white fabric by hand.   Was pleased with the points meeting in the centre, quite an achievement for me.

Dresden plate,   this uses 20 pieces and we were told to make it as 4 quarters with 5 in each and mount them individually on 7. 5" pieces of fabric then join them together as the quantity of fabric were told to buy would not stretch to a 14. 5 piece,  I think I will have enough fabric however so I will redo it as a whole plate instead, if you know what I mean,  not sure I do.
The next class is later this month and when complete this will make up as a quag, nine blocks on the front and one on the inside for when it is being used as a bag.

Yesterday I did a block for Sara of Sew me and her charity blocks for  bee blessed,  a heart which I will pop into the post,     Sara has one a month so I will try  and stick to doing at least one a month as they are made up into charity quilts.  Being february I expect you can guess it would be a heart.

Now for as photo of the first crocus that appeared in the garden a couple of days ago,   still a very mild winter, we have had the temperature drop below freezing just a couple of times and today the sun is pouring in on me as I am doing this blog.

crazy quilting, fabrics for projects,butterfly

I finished my CQJP january block yesterday,    well I say finished but I am not too happy with it,  mind you it is for Helen my daughter and she has chosen the fabrics threads etc,   grey is not a colour I like and there is very little about,  I did use silk paints on some to add a but of grey in the fabrics,   Helen and I both thought it needed another colour to lift it a bit and she chose the turquoise and dark blue, will see how it all goes together and I can always unpick or add more when it comes to putting them all together.

I also had a trip to York for fabric for projects for this year.  Did not have to buy them all fortunately,  here are photos of what I think I will use.

These are for the aiming for accuracy quilt that was a BOM last year it says 24 fat quarters and 3. 75 yards of contrast.   Well I  am not using 24 fabrics as the most any block uses is 12 fabrics and I plan to use 8 on that block,   I have dark brown as my contrast, wanted it darker but made do with what they had, not sure all these will be used, the second green from the top and third one from the next pile I also bought but the rest I already had.  Have thrown in some pink as I have 2 fabrics here that have the oranges and pinks in and they work well,  not so sure about the blue one but that has the other colours in it in the little motives,  also a little yellow has been added to the mix.  Will see how it goes when I start it.

These are for the Jennie Rayment quilt she is doing on the create and craft channel, it takes 4 colours and a contrast. I have got white with a leaf pattern on for the contrast and will abandon one of these other colours think it will be the floral one on the left. This quilt has 9 blocks in it.   The red and yellow ones I had to purchase along with the white contrast one,   sorry do not seem to have got that in the photo

I disturbed this poor butterfly the other day,  it must have had such a shock, I did not know it was hibernating in my spare bedroom and I had the heating on for a treat and to dry the washing,  had to turn the radiator up in this room and the heat must have woken him up.   Now he is asleep again in a corner of the window,    how good was it for him to pose on my little pot teddy`s head.

hexie block, tula,quilting

Today I am posting a photo of the BOM for january in the hexie challenge.   I am not sure what I am going to have as a background for these blocks,  they need squares 15.5" so are quite large,  think I might go for cream/white as I will be doing the blocks in different colours using up what I have,  I have no idea what all the blocks will be like. I think this is the one problem about BOM`s when you  do not know what the block is like until it is released.

I rather like my multi coloured snowflake

Here I have taken a photo of it on top of a largish hexie flower block

The lounge floor is today covered with the remaining 76 blocks from the Tula sampler,   have not arranged them in any order, I have 10 rows with 7 blocks on each and 6 extra blocks so think I might make one more so it will be 11 by 7,   or maybe I might remake the 16 blocks which I have put together in the batik quilt    well maybe not! This way I would have a quilt using all 100 blocks,   the more I think about it the more I think I might do it, must check I have enough black fabric first.

quite pleased with this 

Now for the slash and stack piece,  yesterday I hand quilted it,   I drew circles randomly over it and around the edge a few half circles.  I used gutermans hand quilting cotton in yellow.   Now I have 2 fingers on each hand the worse for wear from being pricked with the needle,  I do try and wear a thimble on my right hand but it is not very successful,  I feel they need to be longer as they do not stay on too well and I always feel I need to push them further onto my finger but there is not the room to do it.   Will need to wash the work when I have added the binding to remove all traces of blood and also the pencil lines.  I am planning to use some dark turquoise to bind it with.

Yesterday we had our first snow of the winter,  it only lasted for abut 5 minutes but the flakes were pretty big,  I thought looking at the sky in the morning that we might get snow but it had not been forcasted.

economy blocks, CQJP blocks, projects for 2014,

I seem to have got a bit carried away this week!  Having made some economy blocks and run out of scraps I then launched into some fat quarters and completed another set so now have 100 blocks.

not sure what will happen to them all now,  I expect they will be put in a box or bag  for a while till I decide whether to make them into one big quilt , will also  have to consider whether to add sashing or not, I expect that will depend on how big I want it to be.   decisions decisions.

I have also constructed the 12 blocks for my CQJP and Helen called yesterday to approve them! Not sure what I would have said and done if they did not meet her expectations,   probably told her to do it herself

I hope it is not going to be too pink!  have included a bit of grey but this is what she asked for. The stitching and embellishments she wants in the same colours, will see how it materialises. Glad I have them all made.

Now to my projects for 2014

I did not realise till I sat down what I had committed myself to.

1. finish of the Tula Pink challenge

2  CQJP 2014

3  do something with the economy blocks

4  quilt the stack and slash wallhanging

5  I have signed up to the hexie BOM for this year.

6  Have the chicken run blocks from R Glewe to do, these are foundation pieced so will have to master foundation piecing first, there are only 3 in the series.

7  I have just bought the instructions for the aiming for accuracy 2013 quilt, this really appeals as it has blocks of different sizes which I have wanted to do for a while.

8  Craftsy BOM with Laura Nownes from 2013 is also on the list, this has 10 not 12 blocks but this is one project I might pass on.

9   Craftsy Mickey Depre pieced hexies project.

10  I could not resist buying the hardanger SAL from Mabel   (sorry not sure of her surname)

11  Last but not least is the round robin I joined with embroidery friends, not sure what has happened with this as so far I have only had 3 to stitch on, it seems to have come to a standstill, hopefully the lady holding it up  will be in touch soon.

numbers 6,7,8,9,and 10 have not even been started yet

Well I think that is it but no doubt I will see other things I want to do too.

Tomorrow I am at the modern quilters group meeting.  I have bought a tablet as we are going to be shown how to use pinterest and similar sites, not having an ipad, lap top or modern phone I would not have been able to take part so with tablet in hand I will boldly attempt to follow what we are told,   do not hold out for much though as these contraptions are all a bit beyond me,  will make plenty of notes so hopefully will get the knack in the end.  I am also hoping to get some advice on my stack and slash quilting, have got some yellow hand quilting cotton to use,   struggled to find the cotton and when I did could not get the colour I wanted, Gutermans is the only make I could find and they do not do a large range but I think the yellow will work

Will let you know how tomorrow  goes 

economy blocks, Tula, Greek crosses

I am today posting the last 4 of the 100 blocks from the Tula Pink sampler.  I have still to do something with 75 of them and the 15 that I have sashed and joined together are no further on than having the batting and backing attached and tacked together.

97

98

99

100   all done!!

This week I have made some economy blocks following a tutorial on Rita`s blog Red Pepper Quilts.  I was using up the few scraps I had that were big enough and ended up with 51    5.5" squares.  Think I will need to make at least 19 more but preferably another 49 before I can make it into a quilt so it is now on back burner till I have more fabric I can use.  I have enjoyed doing these as they are only simple and  only took a day and a half which is quick for me. One has not had its  photo taken as I found it on the floor later!

I follow Sarah at http://sewmeblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/bee-blessed-january-2014.html  hope I have the link right!  She was asking for some Greek cross blocks so thought I would have a go and made some which have found their way to Ireland.  

not sure what has happened here, there are only 5 blocks really but the collage has put the first one in twice.  I have sent 4 to Sarah and kept one as a reference for myself in case I want to do some more.

Sorry the link does not seem to have worked but I did try.

Being quite new to patchwork I was surprised how so many patchworkers did not seem to complete quilts but had so many UFO`s,   when I was just doing my hardanger and things I only worked on one project at a time usually and did not start another till the one I was doing was complete,     now I understand why patchworkers work  in a different way having 2 quilts waiting to be quilted and lots of assorted blocks which I keep in a large hat box. not sure what they are waiting for!

tablecloth

Today I thought I would share a cloth with you that I made many years ago and found in the drawer under my bed whilst searching for another cloth. It is now on the dining room table, well in the centre of the table as it is only 32" square.  I was given this with less than one corner done but cannot remember who it was from. Might even have found it in a charity shop or similar but I think it was more likely given to me by an elderly lady who could no longer see,   hang on as I wrack by brain I have a vague motion it might have been one Granny started, she passed away in 1956 and when I grew up and showed an interest in stitchery Mum gave me quite a few things Granny had done  ( Dad`s Mum) my Mum was not a stitcher.. I enjoyed doing it, it is the only piece of cut work I have done, when I look closely I can see errors but it has stood up to washing a few times so has not done badly.
It is not raining today so have hung it on tine line to photo

Last year I also had a go at a slash and stack hanging, I though I had blogged about this before but can find no trace of it so it must have been in my dreams.I followed a video on justhands-ontv which was very instructive.

I have put a narrow border in lime green around it as there are tiny areas of lime in the fabrics,  I did have a dark turquoise wider border on too but did not like it, prefer just a narrow one. the backing is turquoise with white spots.  The batting is one with a sort of sticky side to it, I have this on the top with the quilt on it, not sure if this is correct.  It is all tacked ready for quilting but still cannot decide how to tackle it,   would prefer to do it by hand but as to what colour thread and what pattern  I have no idea. Advice and suggestions please

This is a photo taken during the summer before border etc was added, it shows the colours better as it was a sunny day.

I have added another photo for my CQJP for 2103 that I took in the garden this morning too as the colours are more true than the one I put on my previous blog

craziness

Well it is finished    nearly,  I have just to attach the bit on the back for hanging it but needed to ask a friend how to do that so  I  will attach it later today, will then have to buy the dowling to hang it.
It has been fun doing this challenge and have signed up to do it next year too,. Helen wants one done in various pink fabrics with stitching in pinks and greys,  tried to dye some thread the other day but it did not work so will have to try and try again till I get it right. I use silk paint and just trickle it on but when I put the grey on and them wanted to have pink in the same piece it turned it all a purple shade.

I quite like the dark green binding,  was going to use an orange spotted one but had a change of heart.

The colours are not looking true on this photo, they are a bit louder than they look,   think is is probably better on the photo than in  real life. Not sure if I will hang it anywhere, will need to take something down and as it is my first finished patchwork it might look a bit odd in the living room with all the hardanger pictures I have done,    maybe I will make some of the pictures into cushions as they are about the right size but I am already overwhelmed with cushions,   will give it all some thought .

We had our Christmas meal yesterday due to Helen`s shift work, it went well, Helen went and collected Catherine and Sal, having dropped off  Alfie the cat  (who enjoyed more than his fair share of turkey) on her way over so he could share the day with us. I had bought a turkey crown which they seemed to enjoy,  lots of hard work but over for another year. I always make a pineapple cream pudding which Mum always made and have a little to enjoy today but to be honest I still feel rather full!    The girls departed at 6pm and it was not long before I was tucked up in bed .

Maybe one of the girls will offer to do the meal next year,   I can live in hope! Well  lets face it they are old enough,  41 and 37 and Sal is 15

block catch up

I seem to have not posted my Tula pink  blocks for 3 weeks so here is a collage of blocks 82 to 90,   thought it would be too much for you all to have them on individually!

Yesterday I was such a proud Mum,  Helen my younger daughter had her graduation for her Palliative care diploma.  It was held at Leeds University and brought back memories of when she graduated 8 years ago as a nurse.  Now she is about to start nursing in Wheatfields a Sue Ryder hospice in Leeds which has been her goal in life for a few years now.    I did take photos of her in her gown but she is not happy with them so I will not share them here, I think they are very good but she has said no.

Christmas will be soon here but we are not having our Christmas lunch till 28th as Helen is working 12 hour shifts over the holiday time.  Catherine and Sal will come over from Halifax for the day on 28th  weather permitting of course.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and all the best for 2014,    keep on blogging.

little mats for Helen

A couple of days ago I finished some little mats for Helen   (pink of course)   These I started a while ago, it was going to be a table runner but then we had a change of heart so now she has one square mat,   2 funny shaped and 4 mug sized ones.   How I dread cutting them around the buttonhole stitch but amazingly I did not cut in to any of my stitches.   Like most of the hardanger I do I just stitch with no pattern and let the needle go where it wants to.

Not sure what she is going to do with these, whether they end up in a drawer or are out on the sideboard, maybe they will appear when she knows I am calling round!  They compliment the large picture I did for her for her previous house,  that was done as a request to go over the bed, needless to say it never got hung but she is planning to put it in her lounge as she has decorated it, 3 walls grey and a feature wall of pink  flowers on a white background, it really looks lovely.   This is her first proper house as she calls it, until now she has lived in shared accomodation since she went away to uni when she was 23, she is now 37 and has bought this house.

I have also done some flowers on a piece of hardanger for my friend Carol who lives in Manchester, she was struggling with a mat she was doing so I have done the bits she could not see to do.   Must admit I find this technique so relaxing, especially after doing so much patchwork.Posted it back to her yesterday so she will get it either today or monday.

The batik blocks quilt is now tacked together with the wadding and backing and on the spare bed until I decide what to do next and also pluck up courage to do it.


Will add the latest tula blocks in the next few days.

ready for quilting

After a lot of deliberation and pondering I have joined up 24 blocks for my first proper quilt piece.     Having cut the blocks with an 8.5" square I realised I had cut 10 on one twist and 5 on the other so back to the 100 blocks and I pulled another 9 out to play with. They all have a bit or similar to batik in each block.These I cut so that I had 12 of each twist and then on friday I spent most of the day arranging them in patterns to see what I liked best. Having to climb up on a dining room chair to photo each one was  bit of a hazard.  After each arrangement I took another photo  and downloaded it to the computer,   17 attempts later I decided on the way I wanted them to be so here is a photo of them all put together,  that took less than 2 hours!

of course when I look at it now I see things that maybe should be in a different place but tough I am not unpicking and will put it down to a learning process.   Having discussed the quilting   I have never machine quilted before with my friend Cheryl,  (thanks Cheryl)  she has advised me to quilt in black on the slashings and then more ponderings as to what to do elsewhere,   feel at the moment that nothing will be done as a bit  dubious about starting. it  measures 32" by 48"   will fit over my knees and keep me warm and cosy