Sewing

In between all the cupboard cleaning out and the house diy and starting Christmas prep (how is it mid November already?!) I have managed some sewing! And when I say I what I really mean is we. 

First my own sewing, though. I'm part of an international round Robin bee, The Pips, and this round I have Susan from Australia's piece. She started with that modern, freeformy flower in the top left and her inspiration mosaic had a few flowery things in with the colour suggestions - we seem to have taken the botanical idea and run with it!

My addition is the row of little cacti along the bottom. And the wee bit of embroidery? Well after my War of the Worlds Tripod last time I was having a chat with Jan. Who instantly mentioned Triffids. Ha!! Baby Triffid it is then! They are paper pieced (I made the templates myself!) and finish at 2.5 inches each so quite wee!

This isn't due until January but it's so nice to know it's done and I don't have to think about it over the frantic Chrimbo period.

So, what else? Well Chook has been attending the Muckhart Quilters with me and this session they are running a block of the month series so by the summer we should have enough blocks for a quilt.  This fascinates Chook so I said we'd do one together if she liked and I'd show her how to sew them. She picked her fabrics and we've each sewn one of the designs in her colourway. 

Don't they look great? I think she made stellar colour choices and her sewing has been really fab. Did I tell you she passed her Grade 1 baritone, too? With merit, no less. Actually, she only missed a distinction by 2 measly marks, I thought she did wonderfully! So she's skipping Grade 2 and going straight to 3 probably next October. The house is full of "A Whole New World" practise just now, her first new piece. Busy busy! *g*

A little sewing

In amongst the horses, scrapbooking, knitting and jewellery making (new obsession!! More on that another day) I have actually squeezed in some sewing, too. 

You may remember I am participating in a little international round robin bee, the Pips. Well this month I have Jan's lovely little feather block to add to. Only birds would do, eh? Here's my first wee chap.

And here's how it is with his pal in situ. They each finish at 3 inches, the big challenge with this bee is keeping it small! The pattern is from Craftsy, The Bluebird of Happiness.

And today I've made 2 cushion fronts for wedding gifts. This one is for my boss's daughter who is having navy and orange bridesmaids. She is very cool and as she's a young thing I didn't want anything too patchworky. I've a couple of buttons picked out to add, as well. 

Fat piping is on order (and big zips!!) and as I'm not quilting them (just backing the patchwork in plain cotton) they should finish up quite quickly and make two satisfyingly fat cushions. Result!!

Project in Progress

So. A few months ago I mused on here how I missed the Flickr community. Well, long story boring, I am in a new little bee running a mini improv round robin/travelling quilts type thing, the PIPs. Send out a starter piece, have some additions added, get home a top for a mini quilt or a cushion cover or whatever you fancy. Boom!

I decided to finally give improv piecing a shot. This first little block was made without a rotary cutter (apart from squaring up at the end) It was fun!! It finishes at 6 inches. And is... okay.....I just wasn't totally feeling it.

But this one? I like this one. Constructed the same with just scissors for cutting. I especially like that last minute navy vertical piece and it measures 4 x 10 inches.

So it needs a signature block mate for everyone to sign and then it's off to sunny Virginia to play with my pal, Dee! There's only 6 of us but with a 2 month window for each stop it will take a year to get home. Safe travels little Jupiter Storm, Eye of Sauron, Ochils Sunset block!!

And the other green block? I think I might continue to play and see if I can make it into a wee cushion cover. Oh, and Flickr actually seems okay! Yay!!

life's not a competition (but I'm winning)

I never did tell ya I won a Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day prize, did I? Well I did! And not just any old person's, either. I won my English twin Jan's - yay!! *cough*notafixhonest*cough*

She sent me this beautiful (and perfect in my new kitchen!) charm pack of Salt Air. It's SO lovely.

And then she went all out and sent me this maHOOsiv bundle of scraps. High end designer ones with Heather Ross, Echino and Denyse Schmidt to name but a few. Thanks so much, Jan!!! Now to find just the right project.

And this weekend we have been mostly painting. We're all done now but I am knackered and still don't know what sort of desk to go for. I may pick your collective brains another day. But here's a wee peak at Whimsy-on-Sea (my round robin quilt) finally hanging all medieval tapestry like.

Isn't it amazing?! I'm so pleased I can't tell you. Although the emulsioning over aqua with white? Took 3 coats of one coat paint. Yikes. Full nosey peak another day. Gotta dash and do an emergency ironing now. Livin ' the dream, beh-bay!

Merry Christmas!!!

No, I haven't gone entirely mental, I've just finished my longest standing WIP and only real UFO. And it happens to be a Christmas quilt!  

Back in the summer of 2010 I was a member of "the Quick Christmas Bee" with Jo, Julie, Marguerite and organised by Maria. I sent out pretty bundles of Kate Spain's "12 Days of Christmas" and some Kona snow and asked for wonky stars. They all came home promptly (it was a QUICK bee after all) and I sashed them all together with a lovely grassy green. And then stalled over quilting it. I thought I wanted to hand quilt it and Jo even gave me a lesson a few months later. I even had the remaining layer cake squares pieced into a nice backing! But it took until last September to actually start quilting it. I was going round all the blocks with little stitches in Guterman quilting thread. I even got round 9 of the 12. And then I stalled again (I was NOT enjoying it) and it sat three quarters done until about 2 weeks ago. When I decided I was never going to finish it in its present state and promptly ripped out all the quilting. 

And a few nights later I machine quilted round all the blocks and, it has to be said, it is definitely the worst quilting I have ever done. I'm strictly a start-in-the-middle-all-over-quilting quilter and the free spaces inbetween the lines caused all sorts of shifting and bulges and general swearing. It also has to be said that my piecing of 3 years ago isn't as accurate as it is now!! But I got it done and even got the binding on! And then on Sunday night I started - I know, I know - more hand quilting. *facepalm* But this time in Perle cotton and it is SO lovely to use!

I really rather enjoyed myself. So much so that as of this afternoon it is finished! I went round every star and when the centres needed more stitches for stability I put a circle in the middle, too. The Frixion pen for marking worked a charm!

Here's my 3 colours I used. They are DMC Perles from Cindy and were an absolute dream to use. Smooth and vibrant but not too thick. I am a convert!

Here's the back that I pieced so long ago. I might prefer it to the front. Isn't it funny how your tastes change?

And a nice almost-spotty binding. It's from the Pop Posies range from the Village Haberdashery and is a nice not-tomato red.

I'm pleased it's finished AND is a tick on my Finish-Along list! (for the sake of Katy's questionable sanity my original list is here)

It does need a wash, however. That white and all those years hanging around, 2 months being hand quilted and another 4 being sat on by cats are not a great combination! But the unhelpful photo taking weather today has helped disguise the hair and fluff and dirty paw marks. So yay for too much sun! *blinks* I don't get to say that very often.

quilt deets :

pattern - good old wonky stars

fabrics - Kate Spain "12 Days of Christmas", Kona Snow and Sour Apple, Pop Posies "lots of Posies" in red. Backing is more 12 Days, Moda Bella Azalea and Jenean Morrison "In My Room."

size - 44 x 58in.

Blogtoberfest day 26 - The Blogger's Quilt Festival, Fall 2013

I participated in the second ever Blogger's Quilt Festival back in 2009 when Amy was still Park City Girl and I was very new to quilting. The quilt I entered was actually taught to me by Amy herself as a round of the Old Red Barn Co Quiltalong. I'm not sure I've entered since - certainly not in the last 2 years - so it's about time I did, eh?

The Tale of the Quilter of Whimsy-on-Sea.

*clears throat* Are we sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

Once upon a time there lived a wizened old fabulously attractive young quilter who lived in a house on a hill surrounded by toadstools and....er.....large building blocks. One day she was forced to move from her two-storey love nest by a large, newly privatised and fairly useless ogre. Let's call him Royal Mail. She set up her new home in a small but lovely cottage with a coal fire (with no chimney - oops) which nestled under a giant flower and more of the weird building blocks that plagued her area.

Despite the ogre's best attempts (and the odd building blocks) the small 2 house hamlet prospered and expanded. First with more of the weird geometric oddities, then with more houses making it into a proper village. A village with seagulls! And there grew a pasture at the end of the village with ponies and sheep.

And two dragons moved in! One a land dragon, one a sea dragon. It was okay, though, they were friendly and helped with roofing repairs. You know, from damage caused by the flying building blocks and such.

The sun always shone and the clouds were always fluffy and the breezes gentle in Whimsy-on-Sea.

The saplings the villagers planted on the outskirts flourished and became a wood.

And the last few abodes that would complete the village were built. Although there wasn't much room in that hot air balloon for bunk beds. And you had to be careful of naked flames. And the cat hated it.

And they all lived happily ever after.

 The end. *closes large dusty book with satisfaction*

Whaaat? Okay, you want the real story of Whimsy-on-Sea? Okay. In January of 2012 I was a member in the Old Red Barn Co quilt group's first round robin experience, Around the Bend and Across the Pond.. Also know as travelling quilts, these days, I sent out this block.

Which promptly got lost in the mail. So I made another. And they both turned up on the same day in New York despite being posted 4 weeks apart! Anyway, so began my wee blocks adventures. Every stop (8 in total, including mine) something was added. I asked for "whimsical" and, boy, did the girls do me proud or what! As each addition was added and sent onwards the girls also included a block with their location and signature that I pieced into the back.

When my very large top arrived home earlier this year I took my time deciding how to quilt it, finally plumping for a "breezy" wavy lines style and adding the perfect "Shelburn Falls" binding.

The plan is to hang the village in my wee sewing room (I added a sleeve while I was binding) but since he will take up a whole wall I need to do some furniture rejigging first! 

I could never, ever have imagined that this is what would result from my wee house block. My thanks eternal to the girls of my Ab Fab Free Bees group; Sara, Laney, Ellen, Brittany, Dena, Krista and Trudi. This really is my one-in-a-millon quilt.

Details:
Pattern - pfft. Hand crafted from the imaginations of the Around the Bend and Across the Pond subgroup - AFFB.
Fabrics - original inspiration from a Taali print by Monaluna. Backing is plain grey cotton, binding from Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt.
size - it is a whopping (I thought I'd get a lap quilt home!) 76x73in.

Blogtoberfest day 22 - Vinnie the Cat

It was dry this evening (after torrential rain all day!) so I got photos of my Vinnie the Cat quilt! I am so pleased with how it has turned out! 

This is my Hipbees quilt, the story of the top's birth (and subsequent naming) is here. That's my girls signature blocks below the awesome pink "Geekly Chic" specs.

It's quilted in regularly irregular straight lines to kinda echo what's happening in the blocks. In pink thread, obviously. *g* I do like pink.

Binding is the same Kona Smoke I sashed in (great colour - like a dark Ash) and it is very nice to have a totally modern quilt for a change. Since I have such subdued, vintagey leanings. Thank you for being a part of this, ladies! *waves*

Quilt Deets:

pattern - loosely based on Denyse Schmidt's "Drunk Love in a Log Cabin"

fabrics - Kona Cotton Solids in Ash, Dusky Peach, White, Butter, Brick, Melon and Smoke. Backing is more Ash and a Geekly Chic print. Binding is more Kona Smoke.

Size - 60 x 48in after washing.

Vinnie the Cat - a bee quilt top

I have spent the last year as a member of the Hipbees virtual quilting bee and when June rolled round it was my month as "Queen Bee."  For those of you not in the online quilting sorority, that means June was my month to send out fabrics and have the girls make whatever I wanted. Oh, the possibilities for corruption inspiration.

I visited Design Seeds since I was totally at a loss what colour scheme to plump for. And when I saw grumpy cat here? I knew he was the one.

I put in an order of Kona Solids that I thought looked pretty close. Hard to do from a computer screen! And I asked for Denyse Schmidt style "Drunk Love in a Log Cabin" blocks. Freestyle, not too wonky. And could I please have a weeny bit of your own patterned fabric included. And the blocks started rolling in. A few were delayed but when I finally got them all together? I knew they were going to be a cool quilt. A cool pink quilt. Excellent.

(Kona: white, butter, brick, melon, dusky peach and ash)

 I hemmed and hawed a bit over to sash or to not sash. In the end I wanted a little bit of separation from each block so they are sashed with yet another Kona solid (Smoke) at just an inch wide finished. It gives just enough breathing space between blocks. I think I'll probably bind in the Smoke, too.

Here's a wee selection of some of the patterned fabrics the girls included. Lovely, right? I must admit, I expected much more grey fabric - it was lovely to get all that pink home, though!

One more just because I can. The blocks finish at 13.5in so it's a not bad sized top for only 12 blocks. We've had a bit of rain here lately and it's been super overcast today so these aren't great photos. But I'm planning an excursion with the finished quilt to get really good ones - it's got such groovy colours, I'm delighted with it and want to show it off properly.

The more I do to it the more I love it (I've got on-sale Geekly Chic pink specs coming for the back - yay!) so thank you so much, ladies of the Hipbees. I do hope you have a fabulous second year!

P.S. The name? Sarah remarked (upon seeing my inspiration pic for the first time) that the grumpy cat wasn't so much Temple and Jones - my 2 cats - as Vinnie Jones. And since I do love the ridiculous, it stuck!

Whimsy-On-Sea. A round robin quilt.

Round Robin quilts (also known as travelling quilts) have become all the rage the last wee while but last January 2012 I took a leap into the relative unknown with a group of 7 other girls from the Old Red Barn Co quiltalong group when we started our own freeform group. How does a round robin work? You make a centre, agree on your guidelines and send your block out to the person after you on the list. Meanwhile you receive the person before you on the lists centre and add to it - within the agreed constraints. You generally have a month to do your work before you send the centre with your addition on - again to the person after you on your group list. And then she adds to the work and sends it on. So your original centre grows at every stop it makes and you receive home a finished top! Cool, right?

Now, there's a few ways to do this. One group I know originally sent out a row and a full row of blocks was added every stop. Another made a more traditional round robin medallion with a different round added every time. My group? We were freeform - I christened it "do what you like and pass it on!" This is my original block that was sent out to New York. It got lost. *rollseyes*

So I made another - the same but different. And they both turned up on the same day - despite being sent 4 weeks apart! I asked for anything whimsical to be added and to try and keep to the colours I'd used. Nothing too persnickity - I wanted to see what would come home if imaginations weren't stifled by huge lists of "don't likes." Well.

After 3 stops I had a whole village. A village by the sea by the look of the seagulls!

And after another 3 stops I had 2 dragons (one by the sea and a land one judging by their colours) a pasture along the village outskirts and a big sunny sky!

A wood had appeared by the time it came home and I couldn't resist some waves by the coast and some appropriate additional homes to tie in to the original 2 blocks.

I hummed and hawed about quilting for 4 months before getting annoyed and just did it for Pete's sake! Swoopy lines like wind blowing - surprisingly hard to do on a big quilt!!

I did remember to piece the signature blocks in to the back. Plain fabric used for it since I think it's going to be a wall quilt - like a medieval tapestry style story quilt.

The binding was a great find from Denyse Schmidt's Shelburne Falls range. Enough red to pull out the red in the centre but enough blue and black to match the overall quilt shades.

I even remembered to get a shot with Chook to show some scale! I added a hanging sleeve when I bound it so it's hanging here on my dresser (hence some odd bumps!) with a curtain rod through the top! I will probably get some good photos when I can be bothered taking it out into the wilds somewhere but in the meantime the kitchen will suffice coz it's huge and it's wet and yuk here! I wanted to share before I forgot. Or it gets all crease folds since I currently don't have a free wall big enough to hang it on!

`

So huge thanks go to the girls of the Ab Fab Free Bees: Sara, Laney, Ellen, Brittany, Dena, Krista and Trudi. I will treasure Whimsy-on-Sea forever!!

quilt deets ;
Pattern - pfft. Hand crafted from the imaginations of the Around the Bend and Across the Pond subgroup - AFFB.
Fabrics - original inspiration from a Taali print by Monaluna. Backing is plain grey cotton, binding from Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt.
size - it is a whopping (I thought I'd get a lap quilt home!) 76x73in.

July's Instagram catch-up

Instagram is just so easy for capturing the little interesting but normal snippets of ordinary, everyday life. And I do forget to blog them - this might become a regular thing for my archives. Sorry, IG peeps, you've seen these already.

"Wanna come for a picnic lunch?" An invitation from my mum the first week of the school holidays when we weren't sure we'd get more than 1 day of sun!! Beats a cheese sammich in the lab any day! Note the Cath Kidston napkins and teeny, tiny crackers (next to the knife!)

Wee Temple absolutely cream-crackered after an afternoon and evening in the garden. Also early on in the nice-weather days.

New holiday shoes for Chook. We had them home before we realised they were Snow White Adidas! She has almost worn them done already, they are super comfy and cool all at the same time.

 Jones the day after coming home from the cattery. "I love you. I missed you. Bacon? What bacon?!" *swipe*

The back of my Whimsy-on-Sea round robin. I'd forgotten how far it had travelled!

Ah. The fat belly. Last Friday was the last day of Spouse and Chookie on holiday together. They went swimming and forgot to shut the door into the back lobby - despite being warned that the cats tin was full of the kibble that they adore. We call it Cat Crack they dig it so much and they only get a tiny bit coz it's not great for them. I came home to these gluttons!! They were waddling when they walked and the litter tray was NOT a pleasant place the next day. And, no, they haven't sickened themselves - it is still their heroin!

And finally, from just last night. My darling spouse celebrating his birthday with some Iron Maiden "Trooper" beer! Up the Irons!

Ha. I feel so much better having all that rubbish documented. *g* And tomorrow we hit August - already! 2 weeks til the schools go back after this one - yay!!