cozy afternoon quilt, disappearing nine patch quilt, Blossom Hearts BOM blocks

At last the Cozy afternoon quilt I did as a BOM in 2015 with Jacquelynne Steves is completed.  This is the first time I have set blocks on point a bit of a struggle but think I did okay,  it measures 64" square and sits on the bed nicely  comes up to the pillows so do not need to turn it down when in bed I will be using it as a lap quilt when it is cold

This is the 5th mini in the BOM  called chirp as there should be little birds appliqued  in the calico squares which Jacquelynne is running at the moment.  There are 6 in total and have one left to do next month,  All the quilts in this series are appliqued but that is a bit beyond me at the moment so I will be adding embroidery to them all when the 6th is made.  It will be 26" square when completed

This is the disappearing none patch that I kept cutting and adding more to now quilted and finished,  I have a stool that Granny made,  she passed away in 1956 which has a tapestry top now pretty bald in places,  this fits nicely on top but not attaching it as do not want to remove Granny`s stitchery

These are the first 10 blocks in the Blossom Hearts BOM    they are all using half square triangles which are made using various ways,  I am liking when you make 8 out of 2 large squares  this is so much quicker when you need 8 all the same

Not sure what is next on the list but think I will quilt my second lone star quilt as that is ready all pinned uup and saying  Quilt me please.

pin cushions, Alfie

I am taking part in a 3 month pin cushion swap and have received my first one from Janne in Norway
So thrilled with this,  it has little pockets on all 4 sides and the peacock fabric is wonderful,  even better I managed to buy some the other day to add to my stash.

This is the one I made and sent to Yanicka in Canada,  she has let me know it arrived safe and sound.

I have made my disappearing nine patch into a small quilt  24" square as I was trying some new wadding my local shop has not sold before so Sue asked me to try some out for her.  It quilted well and washed with little shrinkage so have ordered a roll for myself.

Catherine gave me back a large piece of stitchery a few weeks ago,  it was a piece I did for my city and guilds part 2   had forgotten I had  a sort of patchwork piece as I was doing the embroidery course,    It was made as a large fire screen to hid a hideous gas fire in a previous home,   now out of the frame as the frame was battered about, have it as a fire screen once again until I decide what to do with it, maybe remove it from the backing,  it is laced on and add wadding and do some more quilting. The fabric was all dyed by myself   well sponged with paint and then salt sprinkled onto it.  have just fond the paperwork and it appears the inspiration came from doors and balconies in Malta.  The  hand quilting was done with coton a broder    forgot I had used that seem to think there is a stash of it somewhere so might use it again for hand quilting.

Think maybe I will try and find photos of the other pieces I made and share them too,  no digital camera in those days!  some pieces I still have so can rephoto but one is in Australia and one I did when my granddaughter was born.  Oh yes Alison my sister is coming over in august   will get her to photo the 25th wedding anniversay sampler I did for her   that is if she kept it!

Alfie came for two days a few  days ago,  think he was happy here looking very content on the kitchen window sill in the sunshine.

Have made 10 more blocks in the stars and pinwheels QAL I have been doing with Susan of Dessertsky blog.  Now have 22 made and more cut out and have added to hers from books etc, maybe when completed I will get 2 quilts out of them,  using up scraps so very random.

Lone star quilt and 2 baby quilts

Liz a member of Yorkshire Modern Quilters shared the instructions and did a demo on the lone star quilt,  I have had 2 attempts to make it,  neither went together perfectly, both did not seem to come right in the corners of the background fabric but after seeing what others had done this had happened to some others too so decided to complete it.  This is the second attempt, not sure what I will use it for,  Helen has suggested I could give it to Wheatfields Hospice,  they have crochet blankets the same size which work well when the patients are propped up in bed  (they need much smaller blankets then)  but do not think it will take too kindly to being hot or maybe boil washed,  she is going to ask  about laundry. It measures 40" square and have quilted it with a walking foot.  Now waiting for wadding before I can do the other one,  this one I pieced a couple of pieces together that were left overs.

I have also made a baby quilt for a colleague from the hospice whose wife is expecting,  he wanted a quilt with animals etc on so came up with this cot quilt  it measures 45" x 36".  I have done squiggly quilting in the yellow squares (FMQ) and assorted lines on the blocks with the walking foot,  sorry quilting does not seem to show on the photo.

I made far more blocks than necessary so made a smaller one out of the left overs which measures 32" x 35"quilted in a similar way to the bigger one,  not sure what this will be used for but it will just sit on the spare bed along with other quilts till someone wants it.

No stitching this weekend as have Alfie here and he is moulting all over the place but plan to push on with more syringe driver bags and also some tiny bags for rings to go in when returning them to relatives,  Helen also said they would like some little bags for locks of hair that relatives request when they lose a dear one so will work on some of those too

syringe driver bags

Whilst wandering through Marks and Spencers on tuesday I came across some sewing machines set up and a crowd of ladies around them.   Such a worthwhile cause   they were getting people to make bags to hold syringe drivers which are given to patients who need continous doses of pain killers to help them manage pain particularly cancer sufferers.  Well of course I had to get a pattern and today made my first bag,   I am so proud to say I have a daughter who is a pallative care nurse in a hospice so I am now making bags for her patients,   she requested I made some suitable for men,   well my stash does not have much in the way of manish fabric!   but did have this piece of fabric with cars on so have run the bag up and will give it to Helen to take in tomorrow and if they approve will go into mass production as the bags once given to a patient are not reused due to risk of infection etc so they need a constant supply.   This could not have come at a better time as waiting for wadding for the 7 large and 4 small quilts waiting to be quilted

http://makingforcharity.co.uk/   this is a link that was shared and has other projects too


I will do another blog with 2 baby quilts and a loan star quilted     all completed soon but felt this needed a blog of its own,

6 quilted mini quilts

As promised I am loading up the mini quilts which I did with Michele Foster,    think I have been on a great journey quilting these.


                                               Bear necessities

                                                         

                                                           back of bare necessities

carousel rides

                                                       back of carousel rides

                                                               penny candy

                                                                   back of penny candy

                                                                     Moroccan tiles

                                                                     back of Moroccan stars

                                                                square vortex

     

                                                                Twinkling stars

back of twinkling stars

all minis apart form carousel rides measure 24" square   carousel rides is 27.5" square.No photo of the back of square vortex as I used a very patterned fabric for the backing and the quilting does not show up on it, also if I had thought more about it would have done more quilting but this is the first one I attempted.  So good to have them finished at last,  now not sure what to do with them.

2 completed quilts

Today I can share 2 quilts that I am over the moon with, I have successfully quilted thanks to an amazing book      Machine Quilting with style by Christa Watson,    what a wonderful book   I had really thought I would never be able to do a large quilt on my domestic machine but success!
I started by quilting the 6 mini quilts I had made,  will add photos of these in a few days then moved on to the row quilt I did as a BOM with Little Bunny blog last year.  This I quilted with the walking foot and as it was in rows was not too bad to manipulate,  I used different patterns for each row,  maybe I should have done more quilting but quite pleased with how it is,  for now it will be on the spare bed along with others waiting to be quilted.

This is my scrap vortex quilt also made last year,  I just love scrappy,   this I quilted free motion with a sort of squiggle,  the stitches are not all the same size but I definitely improved as I went on with it,
My granddaughter Sal is 18 on Sunday and she is off to uni in September,  this might brighten up the halls of residence but will be more than happy to bring it home if she turns her nose up at it!  I will make a label and take it with me, if Sal decides she would like it I will sew it on

I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I now have my machine in my horn cabinet,  I am sure this has helped with the quilting as the machine is flat to the surface making it a bit easier to do.

My next quilting project is a baby quilt for a colleague of Helen`s,  not sure how I will quilt this will try and photo it better when quilted.

Once this is done I am on hold as I have used all the wadding,  I had a roll of recycled but wold like to get some warm and natural,  having priced it on line think I will have to do some saving first! I wonder what anyone else uses and what you recommend,  I have a small piece of the warm and bright which is polyester that I will use for a playmat,  it feels nice to touch but do not think there is much difference in price,  maybe it is good for baby quilts as it will be easy to wash and will dry quicker.

200th blog, quilt and blocks

As I was doing this I noticed it is my 200th blog    a milestone reached!!

I have a few things to share today but first I thought I would let you know how much I did in february.  For the first time I kept a record of my stitching antics.
2 mini quilts to flimsy stage
doll quilt completed
2 hares
3 shopping bags
25 assorted blocks
30 blocks for a baby quilt    not bad going I think.

here are some photos of bits and pieces

this is my square vortex mini which I have today quilted and bound.  The quilting did not go too badly but it is only 24" square so not too much of a problem feeding it through,   this has given me a bit of confidence to attempt the other minis I have in flimsy stage

 this is one of the Blossom hearts BOM  block 4   stepping stones.

this is block 5 in the Blossom hearts BOM    mountain

this is the splendid sampler block  Simple Simon    rather like this  it is 6"   would like to make some larger but not yet worked out what size I need to cut the squares.

Another splendid sampler block    I have made this 12" though it should be 6"  bit if a mess on one of the grey triangles

   This is the third block in the secret garden BOM   I am enjoying these more than the splendid sampler ones.  We get one block a month unlike the SS which is 2 a week

Finally the calendar girls block for march
patches and leaves,  it should have some applique leaves on the background fabric but  could not work out how to do needle turned applique.

 I have also made a lone star quilt but will share that  along with a baby quilt in a few days

Doll quilt

I joined up with a group of ladies making a doll quilt this month having seen a quilt one of them had done. This is the link about the quilt challenge   at least I hope I have shared the correct link,  links confuse me. http://cattinkakw.blogspot.com/2016/01/puppenquilt-mitnah-aktion-doll-quilt.html.
We had a month to make the quilt and they are all being shared on cattinka`s blog today and we are sharing our own on our blogs today too.  I do not have a doll but do have an ancient bear which like me will be 70 next year and when I was 50 Mum bought me another bear.  However I am not using this as a quilt for the bears but as a mat for Pearl my featherweight machine she seems so at home on it!  The quilt measures 12.5" x 15.5" .  Due to my lack of piecing skills for small blocks I decided to do a scrap quilt, I save all scraps over 1" and had great fun joining lots of them together and making 30 blocks out of them  I am so pleased with how it worked.I have machine quilted it with a random sort of swirl,  this is the really tricky part for me but quite pleased with it though the stitches do vary a bit in size

sorting scraps

lots of blocks

the completed quilt

close up of my attempted quilting

my 50th birthday bear  he is called Fortesque his name was attached to him

my elderly bear  poor thing is very bald on his body and even has a few holes in him. Have given him wool eyes as he has lost the original ones and have had to replace his paw pads many years ago.

featherweight on the quilt inside her cover

how at home Pearl looks on the quilt mat

11 blocks to share

There is no finished stitchery today but tomorrow I reveal the doll quilt challenge.

I have lots of blocks from BOMs to share


the first 3 are from the Splendid sampler BOM   they should all be done as 6" but struggled so much with the second one that I made it 12" instead    will probably make more this size too as it will look a bit odd if all but one are 6". This BOM is organised by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson with lots of other designers taking part. We get 2 blocks a moth,  have yet to do block 2 for february as it is a vase of appliqued flowers and need some hep with this

Hearts aflutter designed by Pat Sloan

wings designed by Jane Davidson

lots of love designed by Melissa Corry

These 2 are from Pat Sloan`s mystery BOM  my secret garden   the blocks do not appear to have names.

block 1

block 2


This is the calender girls BOM  for february we had 3 blocks that make into a very nice wall hanging if you make a few of each block,  I am at present just making one each of the blocks then will consider what to do or not to do with them

this is the bonus block of a friendship star

tree block  

house block

all three blocks

This is the latest block from Susan of Desertsky quilts    so enjoying this challenge as all the blocks are either stars or pinwheels.

confetti star

That is all of the BOMs but now for a play on disappearing nine patch blocks.  I was watching a video of Jennie Rayment on justhandstv which inspired me to have a go.  The first block was done starting off with 9  3" squares and then sliced, and turned. I then added 4 more squares between each piece, stitched together, sliced and turned then a further 5 squares added, stitched sliced turned then joined together it finished at 15" sq    http://www.justhands-on.tv/

This block I started with 2.5" squares and added 4 more times   it ended up 24" square,  This I feel is too large I find the contrast in the smallest and biggest squares too big but such fun playing around