A sewing weekend

I went to two ice hockey games this weekend so I didn’t expect to get much done in all honesty (if you even slightly care, we won 6-0 at home on saturday and lost 3-1 away on sunday). When I sat down at my machine on saturday after a little lie-in til 9am I really didn’t fancy sewing my curtains and I really wanted to start something new. I was thinking about doing a porthole quilt with my Birds and Berries layer cake for Moda Bake Shop…

But I was disciplined and told myself NO and instead I sewed the second block (made from teeny tiny pieces- it’s only 6″) of my big sampler project that I plan to just dip into every now and then when I’m feeling disinterested with my WIPs. I finished the applique block the night before in front of the TV as planned.

And since the urge to not do someting useful continued, I put another line on my Hello Chevron project. I am starting to love this already so I may do another line later…

And then on Sunday before the game I sewed the majority of the first row in the row by row swap on Popular Patchwork. I finished it this morning before work. The theme was squares and rectangles and my partner Alison wanted bright blues and greens. I’m hoping this fits the bill. More itty bitty squares- this is 6″ x 36″ (finished size). Some of the seams are wonky on this, I’m hoping she’s less of a perfectionist than me!

Oh and I did manage another column of curtain patchwork- halfway through that now 😉

I’m sure I’ll get round to that porthole quilt after I’ve finished some of this other stuff off first.

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Kaleidostar cushion complete

I’ve spent the last three days working on this cushion, sometimes paper piecing triangular sections for hours. I actually sewed and listened all the way through from Chris Evan’s Breakfast Show to the end of Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Monday whilst OH was sleeping as he’d just finished a night shift at 7am. Ken Bruce’s show always reminds me of being at my grandma’s house and the taste of roast pork with salty cabbage as it was on in the background. This is a good thing 🙂

Sorry for the lower quality pictures- I’m saving the good stuff for the magazine that the tutorial will be printed in. More on that when it happens.

Do you remember this post back in August where I showed you the mock up design? Well I took Simone‘s suggestion on board and called it the Kaleidostar cushion- thanks Simone!

The whole cushion is constructed from Oakshott shot cottons, specifically it’s the Oxblood, Apricot, Haematite and White Marble colours. They’re really nice to cut and to sew. I must say the Haematite grey is my favourite, I love the dimension in the different tone weft and weave threads.

I even put a fancy zip in with a flap for the very first time. I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew and adapted it ever so slightly to position the zip differently. It was easier than I thought!

Day 10 of Blogtoberfest today… are you getting bored of me yet?! 21 more posts to go!

Mouthy Stitches tote finished

I just need to make the keyring.

I actually messed up a bit- I’ve cut the points off the ribbon star when sewing the lining in and I was going to put an internal pocket in and totally forgot.

I’ve deliberately blurred out the bottom right as it will give away the recipient. I like the block though and I like the quilting- I was going to have a go at quilting Paisley but it always turns out as swirls, which still look good.

Can’t stop the block

I’m trying to get my little bits and pieces done and out of the way. This weekend I’m working on a tutorial for a magazine using Oakshott shot cottons (as well as making 300 chocolates for 2 weddings, but that’s another story) so I look forward to showing you that soon.

I’ve already made my block for my tote bag for Mouthy Stitches. I need to correct some rubbish points on the bottom section and actually construct it into a bag, but this bit is pretty much sorted.

And I’ve made the starting centre block for Free Two Bee that is about to start.

Both items have a posting deadline of the end of the month so I’m on it like a car bonnet. Which leaves me more time later in the month to go and watch ice hockey games in Nottingham with OH, my new favourite thing. Go Panthers!

Conversation Bag Tweaks

Have you seen the fantastic free pattern for the Conversation Bag over on Sew Sweetness?  I made one! It was also in the first issue of Modern Quilting which is where I worked from and where I saw it first and decided I MUST MAKE ONE.

If you fancy making one too I thought I’d pass on some tips and flag up some parts of the instructions I misinterpreted to prevent others from possibly doing the same (or it could have just been me being an idiot in some cases).

1) You need 34 charm squares, not 33 for the patchwork. I was 3x 2 1/2″ squares short when I made the panels up so I had to cut more.
2) The magazine says the interior side panels (both from interior fabric and interfacing) measure 15 1/2″ x 14″. This is a misprint, it should be 5 1/2″ x 14″. It is correct on the blog.
3) Fusing fabric together- Nothing is mentioned about the fusible fleece for the flap and I left mine out. You could do the same or fuse it on top of the heavy interfacing like it is supposed to be, the same as the patchwork side pieces. The blog is correct, it’s just the magazine again on this one.
4) After the patchwork the sewing allowances are 1/2″ NOT 1/4″. I did not know this til I finished the bag and looked at the blog instructions, which are correct.
5) When you’re putting the magnetic snap in and you “fold in half lengthways”, this means folding so that the two shortest edges are together. This took me an embarrassing length of time to figure out.
6) READ AHEAD on the outer pocket assembly. The top is the rounded edge but it doesn’t say this until after the snap is put in. So obviously I put mine in the wrong way round with the rounded corners at the bottom. That’s why mine has a lace detail… (this doesn’t matter for the blog instructions as ther shape has changed to a much easier rectangle)
7) The magazine says you align the flap with the topstitched interior main panel which is confusing. The blog has a helpful picture and omits the word “topstitched” which makes more sense. You are actually aligning it with the unfinished edge otherwise you will end up sewing your pocket up!
8) When sewing the zip, hand crank over the teeth. I broke two needles.
9) When you’re sewing the zip panel to the main pieces, do pin. I decided not to and my curves are not perfect.
10) It is really hard to sew the Y seams to join the bottom if- like me- you’re not used to 3D sewing, you have been warned!

Other than that though I would say don’t let me put you off. Go by the blog instructions– they’re a lot more accurate and there’s more step by step photos to guide you. It really opens your eyes to how bags are put together and you learn lots of things along the way. And of course you get a pretty bag at the end. It’s also an excellent way to use up scraps and give you an excuse to get a Big Shot with 2 1/2″ die….

I must say I love working with these handles, they really set the bag off and give me an excuse for hand sewing. I bought these from this Etsy shop.

Teeny Weeny giveaway

I cut up all the 2.5″ squares for the scrap vomit swap this weekend, so now each of my three recipients have a random mix of 49 squares each. This seems like an odd number, but each block is 7 wide by 7 deep and the finished size is 14″.

I used my Big Shot for most of it, spurred on by an email from Angela who blogged about her Big Shot just before the weekend. Originally I was skeptical. I have had a Big Shot for a couple of years but I tend to use it for dust gathering felt and stuff, fabric doesn’t seem to work so well, even with the Bigz dies. Recently some quilting dies came out so I thought I would give it a try. One at a time it seemed like a lot of work and a lot of wastage. Then Angela pointed out something that should have been obvious but I hadn’t thought about it. Folding the fabric over and over to cut several at a time! And you know what, it prefers cutting lots of thicknesses at once, there’s only a couple of threads that need snipping and it saves loads of time!

 

 

I would still use a rotary cutter for charm squares and jelly roll strips if you are cutting 2.5″ squares as there’s no waste, however it’s great for irregular scraps.

So this giveaway then…

The prize is a random selection of 49 squares just like I did for the swap, some good some bad and definitely not the same as the picture. You could use them in your own scrap vomit quilt (See Katy’s post here if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about) or whatever you like. I’m going to make mine into randomly placed floating blocks I think so I don’t need as many and I can practise my large negative space quilting…

I will be cutting your squares from anything in here- and you won’t know what you will get til it arrives!

Just leave a comment here to enter before 23.59 GMT on Thursday 4th October and I will draw the winner from there.

For an extra entry…
1) Tweet the giveaway linking to this page and leave me a separate comment saying you have
2) Like my page on Facebook and leave me a separate comment saying you have

WIP Wednesday- Charm Packs in action

I’ve just remembered that I’ve not shown you one of my WIPs started a little while ago. I started it as a distraction project (and have already named it “Hello Chevron”) and it will use 3 charm packs in it’s construction. I’m not letting myself pick it back up again yet though as I need to get thinking “curtains” and stop procrastinating.

I drew up this plan in EQ7- the pink bits are patterned pieces from the Hello Luscious charm packs, the rest are solids cut from yardage…

As you can see I’ve done the top row already. As my room is a mess because the other side of the garage is being painted and what-not, I could only really trap it in the door to photograph early this morning, but I think you get the idea!

My next project has been puct back over and over again so I am going to allow myself to finish this one before next wednesday with any luck. Also from a charm pack, this time Tend the Earth by Deb Strain. I was originally going to make a kaleidoscope quilt with this charm pack and it didn’t really work out and I ended up with a few wasted charm squares and the whole thing got bundled away for a while. After I found THIS PATTERN in Modern Quilting magazine I knew I had to make it, I bought handles for it ages ago and then last week I discovered my slightly abused charm pack would be perfect for this as it says it needs only 33 charm squares (though I counted and it’s actually 34)!

Sorry for the slightly blurry pic, as I say, it was early! These are my two front panels, I’m just finishing the sides, bottom and flap pieces then I have to do the bit I hate- cut out ALL the interfacing and lining pieces. This is why I don’t normally make bags- too much pattern cutting! Just need to buy some more fusible fleece, mega strong interfacing and a big zip!

 

Really Big George- Finished!

In another avoidance tactic from sewing the other curtain (I really will have to finish that next) I finished “Really Big George”- based on a photo of Giant George. If you don’t know who Giant George, he was- until extremely recently- the biggest dog in the world ever!

This quilt is about a square metre and I have put it in my Etsy shop, but it’s not cheap 😉

There’s several different FMQ styles in there- my usual thread sketching but also I followed the design on the front on the background which gave a lovely effect. The fabric is from Heirloom by Joel Dewberry by the way.

The back is just simply Kona Natural, and the applique fabrics are a total mix of different manufacturers and designers I couldn’t possibly name them all.

Rose Star cushion

Earlier in the year, a block party was started to make English Paper Pieced Rose Star blocks and make a quilt. I was inspired reading Lucy’s blog and decided to have a play myself but there’s no way I have the patience to make a whole quilt. So I made this cushion!

I pieced it in front of the TV last night and machined it into a cushion this morning. I then put it in my Etsy shop this afternoon. What do you think?

For a vast array of beautiful rose stars be sure to check out this Flickr group.

The curtain fiasco

It’s time I told the (boring) story of the curtain fiasco that I hinted at earlier in the week. I now kind of wish I just made it into a quilt.

Firstly, you know how I was finding the piecing so boring? Well I finished enough to make one complete curtain, deciding to finish that one before embarking on the second. I added a band of white to the top and the bottom, but the measurements were based on guesswork. Holding it up to the window, it was too short by about 5″.

At this point it wasn’t a problem, I decided to add a 6″ band of yellow to the bottom. I then sewed the lining on, which is smaller than the front of the curtain so that the front curls round the back. Only when I actually had the curtain rings did we discover it was about 6 inches trailing the floor and they were too long! So I unpicked the yellow and stitched up the hem with just the white.

Only now it was several inches too short and it didn’t cover the bottom of the window! ARGH!

So what I have done is restitch the yellow back on yet again, but made the hem smaller and because it was stitched on after the lining, it makes the construction a little different. Some how this has made it the right length at last!

Bearing in mind I kept stitching the bands the wrong way round and had a lot of unpicking along the way I have really hated making this curtain. There’s loads of stitch holes from where it was unpicked that I’m trying to ignore, and also despite washing it there is still some really horrible brown stains that must have been on the fabric when I bought it. And I have another to do for the other side! At least I know what to look out for this time. I need to buy some more curtain lining.

I do kind of like it though, especially from the picture where I can’t see the problems and the faults as clearly. I love how it showcases my favourite ever fabric line.

On a happy note, my fabric arrived for the Japanese Charm Swap so I’ve cut my squares and they’re being posted today. And I will get 56 5″ squares back in all different japanese fabrics! I feel an eye spy quilt coming on.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday as there’s another curtain to go before the month is up!