Christmas Cards
Today I was in Paperchase and was suddenly seized with the idea to do some glittery Christmas cards. A pack of red glitter, a glue pen and some red card and I was ready for action. They are now drying and spreading glitter over every nook and cranny of the house.
Do not think that there was no suffering involved though. Today turned out to be London's busiest Christmas shopping day so in honour of this they'd closed Oxford street and changed every bus route. yeah, that's really helpful.
To help us shoppers along they had the constant noise of a helicopter circling above us, big PA systems and weird promotional stands in the streets desperately trying to get people to spend money. It was like being in a warzone, except for the bombs and the general death and horror thing.
Anyway, tomorrow it's back to quilting...
Labels: Xmas cards
Posted by jaypeg at 10:45 PM
Current Quilting Project
So I've been cutting templates, cutting material and sewing curves. All for my little latest project. It's a small one so it's a nice change after all the more longterm projects I have been working on. It uses small panels of really bright colours amidst large expanses of white. I think it will look really good. More as it comes.
It's the
Autumn Quilt Festival at Chilford Hall on November 6-8th. I am so excited. I am going to restrain myself though as I went rather mad at Birmingham. All I need is some white material to finish this project off and a backing material perhaps. But what can I say? sometimes you just can't help yourself! Clairey will restrain me right? right?
Labels: Baby, Baby Quilt, Quilt, Quilting
Posted by jaypeg at 8:37 PM
Applique bits
I sewed my last leaf today and ironed all my bits. I've been taking it very slowly, as it's a bit laborious to try and do it solidly, but every time I sit down to watch TV I've been doing what my mum advised. Tacking leaves and sewing circles. After my awful attempt at the fast way, the difference it makes doing it this slow way is amazing. I am half tempted to unpick my first attempts but if I did that I think the quilt would no longer me my test quilt. There's something satisfying about being able to see your skills progress from one shitty edge to the final perfect one. Well I say perfect…
So in a nutshell, the winning applique technique I have found works best:
LEAVES
Iron freezer paper templates onto wrong side of material.
Cut round material leaving 1/2 inch seam.
Fold edges over freezer paper and tack right into paper roughly making sure you start outside in so your knot is easy to cut off once you've sewn it.
Pin and sew onto material 3/4 way round
Undo tacking, retrieve freezer paper and sew to finish.
CIRCLES
Cut shape out leaving 1/2 inch seam
Use a double thread making sure the lopped thread is at the end of the thread
Sew from outside in leaving a small loop on the outside to start with
Small tacking stitches all round circle
To finish come out through the top into the loop
Place mylar template inside and pull thread in loop to tighten
Iron
Extract mylar
It's a real rigmarole. Definitely more pernickerty than other methods I've seen, but it gives a foolproof finish as the shapes don't look lumpy when sewn on. Maybe as I get better I'll do it differently, but my mum still uses this technique and she is an applique machine I tell you!
Labels: Applique, Maggie Wise, Quilting, Quilts
Posted by jaypeg at 8:36 AM
Applique Decisions
I rented out
"The Art of Applique" from my mum's library and it's perfect. Everything you needed to know about Applique in a thin, straight forward book with lots of diagrams. Every variation of method explained from start to finish. Everything is clearer now. You can click on the above images to see them larger but they just explain what I have been doing so far this weekend.
I started by cutting some test strips, each using a different method. One strip was ironed into three (which was easier than I thought it was going to be) and hand sewn in place. The other was ironed in half and machine sowed on one side, tacked, then hand finished on the other. Each created a different effect. In the end I decided to follow the same technique used in the quilt instructions which I understood a lot more after reading this book.
The folding in half method creates a raised stem which I like and is slightly quicker. You can't really see what I mean from the image though. Anyhow, I had already photocopied my design onto tracing paper so I needle punched holes down the stems. This is my version of prick and pounce which is just a way of transferring a design onto your material. Previously I've just used a lightbox and lain my material over the design and drawn it on, but I decided to try out this method for a change. I had bought some chalk refills ages ago when I was with Claire so I thought I should try it. I put a small amount of the chalk into a film box, then dabbed a rolled up bit of wadding into it and dabbed the holes. I'd like to say I thought this all up myself, but it's all care of my mum who is the master in these matters. Anyway it worked like a dream and I just joined up the dots and got sewing.
Now I am thinking, Teen Wolf on the telly and I can sew those stems in place. I need to get a wriggle on as I have a backlog of other projects but this is the only one I can now do in front of the TV. This is going to take an age, and then I have to hand quilt round it ALL. There is no machine quilting on this quilt. It is a monster.
Labels: Applique, Patchwork, Quilt, Quilting
Posted by jaypeg at 9:46 AM
What I Bought
What did I buy from The Festival Of Quilts this year you ask?
I did spend a lot this year, but I sort of realised I would!
I'd like to say in my defence though that nothing was a frivolous purchase, well apart from one... the biggest one. But the rest, the rest were all for some specific project.
There was so much to look at, so much to choose from. The things that were hard to look at were:
books - there just wasn't the time and they got pretty packed with people. Next time I'd go there first if that's what I really needed. Luckily my mum has every book I could ever need! She is like a quilt library.
Bolts - If you want large quantities of material it can mean queuing. I think people cater more for fat quarters and bundles really as they're easy to pick up and purchase.
Stencils - I just didn't see that many to be honest. I admit, instead of going round the whole thing I sat down with my mum at the start and marked the places I was most interested in on the floorplan then just went straight to them. I do need some stencils though for the next big project once I have cleared the decks a little.
Here's what I bought...
I love Madeira's
Polyneon fluorescent thread. I just think it's very contemporary. I bought my
first lot in 2006 and now some of them are nearly dead so I thought I'd invest in some big reels. I'd like every shade in the range really.
And as for the spots... well my love affair with them continues. These are all for a new project I am going to start working on, but more about that in the future.
This is going to be the backing for the crazy 60° quilt which I have put away for a while. Might be time to get on with it now I have the last thing I need for it. This material was on sale as I think it's the end of the range. I love it so much. It reminds me of 70's Hanna-Barbera cartoons for some reason. I admit, I have been a bit done in by my electric quilt, BUT then I saw this picture advertising Amy Butler's
Softwares CD and realised it is just like my quilt, even using the same colours! Well hers sticks to the red pink theme, but it has my backing in it and it looks lovely surrounded by a white room. I might have to make that one as well! Her blocks don't line up though which I find slightly unsettling yet intriguing. One for the Christmas list!
Speaking of my love for Amy Butler, it was her stall I went to first. Every year she plans to come to the show with the
CottonPatch so this could be a yearly homage. My mum wanted to buy me a birthday present. Last year it took me 10 minutes at Amy's stall to find a book. This year it took 5. She says she has another book for next year so I probably won't even open it, I'll just buy it. My mum's never had it so easy.
Because I am awed by fame and creative people, I had to have my book signed. Soon I'll be drawing love hearts round our names and writing soppy songs. The book is great though and so is the new colour range of material. I just need to get down and make something from it. It's not just quilts, it's everything! Saying that, these two quilts did catch my eye. You'll note how fuzzy my photos are. That's just me being too lazy to scan the pic in, but you get the gist.
That was it! Well nearly... I did really well until Rachel left me to go sit down. Within 5 minutes I had found another of my favourite stalls:
Petra Prins. They always have fabric I have never seen anywhere else and it always gets me right in the squishy centre of my Little House on the Prairie heart. I'm not the
only one either!
This is a kit. I don't usually buy kits. They're expensive. But I saw
the quilt and then she just showed me the kit. I know I am a sucker. She even said I didn't need the kit, I could just photograph the quilt and make it myself, but that kind of reverse psychology merely fired my heart into action and I'd bought the box set before she had finished speaking. It comes in a lovely box, wrapped in ribbon and tissue paper. I suppose one of the joys of quilting is that even if you follow a pattern, the material you use can make the whole thing come out differently. Sometimes I don't want different. I want exactly what I see. I knew mine would never have the same colours as I am just not programmed to pick those colours out. So the kit is mine. I feel very indulgent.
I bought a few extra fat quarters as I always think it's good to have a little extra and I never see fabrics that would match theirs anywhere so I am now prepared. I think I will shelve this one for a rainy day though. I know it's there like a treat, all ready to get on with. But my list of things to do is so HUGE already. I might have to do another round up of all the unfinished projects I have!
Anyway that's it.
Birmingham Festival of Quilts OVER.
Until next year.
Now I am busy washing all the material in a pillow case, ironing it and trying to shove it into my stash cupboard. Time to start using the loft space soon. My stash is back to bursting level.
Labels: Amy Butler, Festival of Quilts, Material, Quilt Show, Shopping
Posted by jaypeg at 9:22 PM
Incubator Quilt Finished
So
last week I started the ickle quilt, tonight I added the binding and finished it off. I thought I'd use it as a test for doing a continuous binding and I'm glad I did as I made a right mess of it. I made the border too thin to accommodate the lumpy end bit. I tried to pin and sew the seam under but it didn't really work as it was just too thick.
You can finish it off in a nicer way which I think I will definitely do from now on as I realise the lump is just going to annoy me. Luckily it's packed up ready to go to the premature baby ward, to be given to some lucky baby along with the umpteen others my mum has been churning out. I've done my bit though so I feel very virtuous.
Labels: Baby Quilt, Incubator Quilt, Patchwork, Quilting, Quilts
Posted by jaypeg at 8:57 PM
Things I Saw at the Show
The one thing you take away from a show, is how much you have to learn. There is something too intense about many of the quilts on show. They might not all be to your taste, but the sheer level of skill shown in them makes you realise what small fry you really are. Here are a few things that caught my eye
This was a miniature quilt that was so intricate. It was smaller than an A4 piece of paper yet so detailed.
This quilt was kingsize and was all hand sewn. It was amazing. I have a bag of scraps which will one day make part of an english quilt like this one. I think you need plenty of time for this sort of project.
This is a Petra Prins quilt that I bought the pattern for. I think it appeals to every Waltons/Little House on the Prairie instinct I have. I think the hand quilting is beautiful and I am quite excited about making the puffs! It might have to sit in the back burner for a while.
This quilt was massive and so intricate.
I think this is representative of a lot of the quilts that seem just too much. Too perfect. Too much detail. So perfect. Almost as if they aren't handmade. I can't imagine how much skill and time it takes to be this good! But I like to think of myself as more rustic, yes definitely. I like to embrace my inner makeshift-cobble-it-together nature.
Labels: Festival of Quilts, Patchwork, Quilt Show, Quilting
Posted by jaypeg at 9:03 PM
Just got back from The Festival of Quilts on at the Birmingham NEC. Crikey it's huge! This was my
second year so I thought I would know what to expect, but I was still bowled over by the sheer size of it and the sheer number of coaches, spewing out hundred of people. There was so much going on. Workshops in the middle like this one...
Demonstrations like this one...
Exhibitions of competition winners...
And of course, stall after stall of things to buy. It was all so daunting, but so brilliant. Another year successfully over. I am a full convert now. Every year I shall be there! The train is great, The Birmingham International station is inside the NEC And there's a travellator that conveys you all the way there!
As soon as I have some time I'll show you the things I saw that I liked and fess up what I bought.
Labels: Festival of Quilts, Quilt Show, Quilting, Quilts
Posted by jaypeg at 8:28 AM
Incubator Quilt
My mum's guild make incubator quilts for the local hospital. It always seems like a lot of fun and since I have steadily been collecting offcuts, I thought I would give it a go, making sure it was all stuff from my stash. So here's what I did.
I cut an offcut of wadding 18.5" x 22.5". I had to sew multiple bits together with a zig zag stitch.
You sift through your stash for some colours that go together, then you cut your material into strips. They can be any width, but if they're too big they might look odd. I was told to make them between 1" & 3". I ended up making mine mostly 1.5", with a few 2" strips and one set of 3.5" squares just to jazz it up a bit. You lay the strips over the wadding so they overlap the edges and you sew each one to the next. I lined them back up on the wadding each time so I could check where they needed to be sewn. I had a lot of very small offcuts so I had to sew lots of strips in the middle to make them long enough.
You iron your finished shape then lay your wadding on top and cut round it.
It's really quick! I got this far in a few hours. Now here comes the tricky bit. I need to find a bit of backing big enough. It might have to be pieced together out of more offcuts. I'll have to do a search tomorrow. Things could get messy.
Posted by jaypeg at 8:41 PM
