Grey January

Well, thoughts of Spring last week banished this week by rain, rain and more rain!  Shan't be sorry to see the last of January this year: I thought the old saying was 'February, fill dyke'?  Maybe there will be more rain to come, but let's hope for a few dry days so I can photograph and share my finishes.

I have been quilting mostly this month as I sorted out my WIPs and there were far too many tops finished but waiting to be quilted.  Actually, after putting off this final stage of the process for too long, I have found it really enjoyable to focus on finishing, and having the end of the month as a self-imposed deadline has been useful. 

I am not keen on deadlines but they do work, so I guess I should set a few more targets in my life and try not to get distracted by new fabric/ideas....

So here is a glimpse of what I have been quilting the past few days: more photos and info will follow next week, I hope.



I can share a small project finish though: here is a quilt-as-you-go thread catcher which I made last Friday using this tutorial from The Sewing Chick.  Very enjoyable and all from scrap, though the blue linen I used for the main part of the outside shifted like mad when quilting despite being spray basted.



It is larger than I had anticipated (mine came out slightly larger than the tutorial said), standing 5 1/2" tall and nearly 6" in diameter, so it will hold a LOT of threads!  But being so large means it will not tip over easily and it would make a useful basket for other things eg spools of thread, small tools, keys if you made one as a gift.



The tutorial is very clear and I definitely recommend you have a go.  If you have everything to hand and don't spend too long agonising over fabric choices (!) you can make it in a couple of hours.



So linking to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.  Good luck with your finishes this week.

Giant Four-patch Star

Hello again, and my first finish for the New Year.  I can't quite believe I am actually posting without making excuses or apologies for lack of progress.  I have worked hard on my quilting this past couple of weeks, and have some other finishes in the pipeline which should be ready for next week - so look out for further posts!

Really glad to be able to share this finish with you today.  Thank goodness I stitched down the binding yesterday and took the photos when it was frosty and sunny: today has been dreary, rained all day and generally miserable weather.  Still it's a reminder to make the most of the good days of winter, and gives me an excuse to stay in today and sew/blog.

So here is my Giant Four-patch Star, based on Carrie Nelson's design in her book, Schnibbles Times Two  as I mentioned in this post (she calls her quilt Plan C).  Carrie's patterns are intended to be made with Charm packs or Layer Cakes but I used fat quarters, made the quilt a bit bigger and left off the border.

I made most of the blocks for this quilt some years ago and then it languished (as so many of my quilts do when the first fit of enthusiasm has worn off and another project jumps into my mind).  I started to finish it back in September last year (see this post) when I was having one of my periodic purges of WIPs.  It didn't take long to put the blocks together, but then the question which so often derails my progress: how to quilt it.  (The other awkward question is usually, do I have a backing? but thankfully this time the answer to that was 'yes').

In the end I went with my walking foot and straight line quilting to emphasis the diagonals in the shape and flow of the stars across the quilt and to provide a counterpoint to the squares.  I am pleased with the resulting crosshatch in the centre of the stars and the overall density and texture (haven't washed the quilt yet but I think it will look even better when it crinkles).

This is quite a large quilt: the squares are 4" finished so the star blocks finish at 16".  Quilt measures 64" x 86".

The red spotty backing is a lively contrast.  I am slightly nervous but a Sevenberry fabric shouldn't run (should it?) and I did try a spot test on a scrap which seemed OK.  I shall put lots of colour catchers in the machine when I do wash it though.  I guess I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to layer and quilt: red is always a slightly unreliable dye.

 So here's the last shot and a link to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Finally, some tulips to turn our thoughts towards Spring on a dreary January day.  Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Beautiful baskets

For Finish it up Friday's link up at Crazy Mom Quilts I am showing you photos of the baskets Miriam, Sophie and I made just before Christmas and which I have only now got around to photographing.

We used the free One hour basket Tutorial (available here) and chose Bosal In-R-Form for the 'wadding': it is a bit too bouncy really to be referred to as wadding in my view, but it does give a firm structure, and as the girls wanted their baskets for storing their fabric collection it was a good choice.  As you will see from the photos it really helps the baskets to hold their shape.  

Despite its bulk, the foam was easy to stitch through with a regular needle and ordinary machine foot, and I am about to order some more so we can make a few more baskets in other delicious fabric combinations to brighten up our sewing areas.

We tweaked the pattern slightly as some of our fat quarters were on the skinny side: read through the instructions first and measure your lining FQ.  If it is a little shy of 21" deep ie top to bottom, you will need to reduce the height of the side panels slightly for both inner and outer.  I think mine ended up being 9 1/4" whereas Miriam managed to get 10 1/2" for hers.  The difference isn't particularly noticeable in the finished baskets.

We did use lightweight interfacing to reinforce the lining fabric (I tend to do this for all my bags and pouches as quilting fabric on its own is a little thin for such articles).  You will see that some of the  basket handles stand up better than others so next time we will probably include a bit of interfacing in the handle pieces.  

Here the fabric has been beautifully arranged by the girls, and I hope you will see it all find its way into quilts this year.

Have fun this weekend if you are planning a spot of fabric stroking, or even sewing.  If you have a spare hour you could make a basket!

2018 - WIP roundup and a new start, again

Having failed to post a sign-out for 2017, here I am signing in for 2018 and wishing you a Happy New Year nearly two weeks after the event. I hope you all had a happy and peaceful Christmas, if not a totally restful one: we had a full house with elder son back from USA and younger one home from university.  I had forgotten just how much food is required when cooking for five and how much washing up there is!

It was lovely to have all my kids at home for a while, despite them rushing about a lot catching up with friends, and everything piled up to make room for extra beds etc.  Now the decorations are down and we are slowly getting straightened out, as I am sure you are too.  Not quite time for Spring cleaning but some re-ordering required.  There are some great posts out there about re-organising one's sewing space (I wish) and it is such fun to peek at other people's domestic arrangements: try this one from Amy Smart which includes a few other links to inspiring and organised quilters and lots of lovely photos.

It always takes me a while to pick up the threads, both literally and metaphorically, and get back into sewing, especially as my NY Resolutions this year include tackling some DIY and redecoration.  Our family bathroom is first on the list, but I struggle with having to make so many decisions at once: I think I love making quilts because one can change one's mind relatively easily along the way and allow the project to evolve, whereas the plumber has to know exactly what is required before he starts....

Anyway time to focus on sewing and where I am with my many WIPS.  I am not going to make a list here as that is just TOO depressing and quite boring for you.  My aim is to focus on just one thing at a time and to use this blog to set some deadlines so that I stand at least some chance of finishing at least a few of the  projects.  Then I can show you photos of completed quilts which hopefully will be much more interesting for all of us!

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos: damp and dreary outside and nowhere indoors with good enough light to get a decent photo of the whole quilt.

So the first thing I am concentrating on is quilting my giant Four-patch Star which I mentioned briefly in this post.  So far I have put in most of the long diagonal quilting lines, but I have been procrastinating over how to fill the spaces in between.  I think I have finally decided so watch this space for my first proper finish of 2018.... (though I am planning a sneaky Friday finish post for tomorrow).

I have three other quilts layered and ready to quilt and need to prioritise completing them in January (or what's left of it) as they have been in this state for several months.  Do you find that half the battle is actually deciding how you want to quilt a finished top?  I think this is why I am so much better piecing and so much more interested in starting something new, than in finishing a quilt.  If I have a clear vision early on about how to quilt a project I am far more likely to maintain momentum right through to a finish.

Maybe that should be my resolution for 2018: spend a little time really studying options for quilting and plan ahead while piecing the top so that I am in a position to make a decision quickly and get on with finishing. After all, it's not a quilt till it's quilted, and realistically I am never going to be able to hand quilt all the quilts I make.  I absolutely love the look of handquilting but at the moment it is just not an option.

Immediately before Christmas I really did not have much opportunity to sew (and over the holiday none at all, needless to say) but back in the distant days of early December I had an urge to 'tidy up' my scraps and do some relatively mindless sewing whenever time allowed.  In many ways this is my favourite sort of quiltmaking: to start with a muddle of strips which would otherwise go into the bin, and to make something useful and, hopefully, if not beautiful, then at least pleasing to the eye and heart.

Some time ago I had cleaned up my cupboard and cut all my odd scraps of calico (quilter's muslin to our American friends) into 2" and 1 1/2" strips and stored them neatly in a plastic box.  I had done the same with ends of yardage left over from previous quilts.  I have had in mind for a long time to make a quilt from one of Bonnie Hunter's marvellous books of scrap quilts.  I will show you which one when I have made the next part of the quilt, but for now here are the chequerboard borders in progress.  Feeling smug because I have split/opened the seam allowances to get a flatter finish: a bit fiddly but worth it in the long run.

And as if that wasn't enough to be going on with I had the urge to tame my neutrals too.  Here is what I started with:

Chain piecing and general mess making in progress:

And a neat pile of trimmed blocks to show for it.  This quilt is going to be similar to this one of Amanda Jean's from her book, No Scrap Left Behind, which is based on traditional string quilts.  Amanda Jean offered instructions as part of a quilt-along last year in June, which is also the name of her quilt!  There are photos of some really old examples of this quilt pattern if you look on Pinterest as well as newer versions, and it's a great way of using scraps without having a paper foundation to tear out at the end of the process.

It's fine if the scraps don't have parallel edges - I like the variety it gives to have some irregularity.  Using only neutrals was a fascinating experience as it is amazing the range of 'colour' there is in neutrals, and how one really starts to notice the detail in low-volume fabric which doesn't normally clamour for one's attention!  How about reviewing your scraps in 2018 and making something useful and beautiful out of 'nothing'?