2020 Wk 9 Play date fun

The lovely Tara from Crafty Church came to play today.  She brought this panel she had made at a class where she learnt to draw and write with a sewing machine, and we turned it into a cushion

While Tara was sewing her projects I was cutting t-shirts to size for a T-shirt quilt for a customer.  I wanted (needed) a quilters square 15 inches square, but don’t have one and couldn't find one to buy - so I butted a 12.5” square to a 2.5” ruler and topped them off with an over lapping 4” ruler: worked a dream and no duct tape residue when I pulled it all off!

This cushion is going to be gifted with a pack of fabric pens so it can coloured in - put to add to the pizazz Tara wanted to add bright pom-poms. . . It was a fair amount of flaffing to get it right but doesn't it look great

Come on Tara - show us how chuffed you are!!!

2019 Wk 49 - Janet Clare Course and scrappy pennies

Richmond and Kew quilters organised a course at Janet Clare's studio.    It was the "Quilted memories to cherish" course, but it included drawing with the sewing machine - free motion sewing to draw pictures

I was well out of my comfort zone but really enjoyed the day.  These are my pictures:

I "may" have bought some of her fabric too!  My plan is a quilt alternating the medium fabrics with the light fabrics - and some of the dark squares will be the pictures rather than just fabric

She was also selling some felt:  So I had to buy some of that too!

On Friday I am teaching scrappy pennies and needed another sample, and on Monday I will be taking part in a Secret Santa swap at Richmond and Kew, so need to make something - for a while I was daunted by the work that I needed to put into both those events, until eventually it occurred to me that I could make a Secret Santa gift with scrappy pennies!!!

Do you remember the wraps we made a few years ago from Ikea fleeces?  I am now making another one, decorated with scrappy pennies!!!

I hope whoever gets it likes it!

2017 Wk 7 - mostly Crafty Church

We decided to offer a jewellery special Crafty Church on Saturday.  

Stephanie and Julie having a go at Infinity Button necklaces

 

I only got a blurred pic of their creations, but here are some from a previous session:

Janet had made a completed Crafty Church Crocheted Hug which has today been delivered - and I got an email from the lady who delivered it "I told her the blanket was from the church and was our way of wrapping her in love and prayers.  She was really greatly touched and overwhelmed. . . . I know when tears well up we have touched a heart. Crafty church is showing our caring hearts too.  "

And we have 16 squares towards our 3rd Crafty Church Hug!!!!

I got a chance to play and to spray baste a bonus quilt!  This used the excess from the Lotus Selvedge  quilt, and the two packs of charm squares from Amo: It really grew quickly!

Since then I have (shock horror) actually quilted it!

Free Motion Quilting at that!!!!

Not fab, but it's OK!!!

And I have another cunning plan!

Tara wore this fabulously simple poncho which she'd bought from a craft fair.  I borrowed it and got her to take a pic:

I also took a few how-it's-made and what-it-measures pics - and hopefully soon see you'll see a here-is-my-version pic too!

La Passacaglia Progress and Pretty Post

I have tacked and joined some of the La Passacaglia templates, and a shape is beginning to emerge.  The question is do I take it with me as a travel project?  I'm worried all the shapes will fall off and I'll get confused again

I might try some fussy cutting later, but for now I'm happy using solid scraps from the HST quilt a few months ago

Some fab post arrived from the lovely Reene in Oregon, USA.  She is making a Bow Tie quilt - she's making 700 (yes SEVEN HUNDRED) of these blocks, and is trying to make them all out of different fabrics

I sent her some charm squares and scraps that I had got fed up with trying to use,  and she sent me these to add to my sweet sixteen blocks - I was delighted - ALL of them are new fabrics tome

She also sent me a barrette (translates to hair slide this side of the pond!) that her husband had made.  It's really beautiful - made of modern dicroic glass (developed by NASA). 

I had several attempts at photographing the slide in my hair, using mirrors . . .

 But finally managed to get this

I did decide to have a go at quilting the Light House Quilt.  Its been a very long time since I tried FMQ, so I had a practice, and was happy with it

And then had a go on the real thing - not so good :-(   This isn't brown bobbin thread pulling through, its fluff from the brown fleece I have backed it with.  I think I'm going to have to hand quit this one

Off to mum's for the night tonight, then back to teach advent calendars and marbling onto fabric tomorrow . . . and off to Jackie's for FOUR days on Saturday, 

YIPPEE!!!!

And I'll have hours and hours to wait at the airport so I'll catch up with reading other blogs!

Foot Free and Fancy Loose

Have you ever tried FMQ without a foot?

I had a project that I've been putting off for ages: my boss (the best boss I've ever had, possibly the best boss anyone has ever had) asked me to quilt a blanket to a sheet for him, so I said yes.  He taught himself knitting and crochet earlier this year, and was very pleased with the resulting blanket

I roped mum and Jackie in to help me, we stretched and bullied it into a neat rectangle, and pinned and tacked the rectangle onto a sheet, and I then started to quilt it by hand.

However, what we hadn't considered was that the stretched bits didn't really want to stay stretched, so they were springing back to their original shape, and taking the sheet with it.

I had long discussions with the Broom Farm ladies, and the final decision was to spray baste it, in it's preferred shape, onto a fleece blanket (in fact two joined to be big enough) and then quilt it along the seams.

But the knitting was quite high (is that the right work? loft?) and whatever foot I tried to use got hooked up in the wool, so I abandoned the idea of a foot, and went ahead and quilted.  Yes I know the lines and wobbly, and the quilting leaves a lot to be desired, but it was blinking hard work.

Do you want to see the blanket?

Are you sure?


Ta da!

Almost finished :-)

What says "oom"?

(It's one of my favourite jokes)

Flushed with success of the FMQ on Richard's taggie, I decided to have another go.  I read a suggestion that a tree was a good thing to try, so I 'drew' a tree!:

It was such fun, and looks so cute with two of the owl buttons on it.  (I think this will become a postcard mug rug and will fly to Greenwich soon)

So I had another go, and added some hedgehog buttons

(This just might find it's way to Niki's room!)

Another favourite joke is a cartoon - Mummy Kangaroo is standing near her joey.  Joey is talking to a hedgehog.  Joey says "I'm sorry Spike, but mum says you cant stay for a sleepover"

And the answer to "what says "oom" - it's an owl flying backwards, up side down!

Shouldn't use machinery under the influence of Day Nurse

I've been fighting with 'The Lurgy' since Wednesday, and finally gave in and got some of the magic potions that are sold under the name of Night Nurse and Day Nurse.  They really do sort out the snuffles and the sore throat, but not the muddled brain!

I had an embroidery order for a customer/friend.  I knew the brain was a bit fuzzy, so to be on the safe side, I did a test stitch.  This worked well, so I embroidered the baby blanket.  The blanket went well.

I didn't want to waste the test stitch, so I though I'd make a little taggie thingy for the baby too.

I used some of the new ribbons I got at the Knitting & Stitching show, and although it needed a press and some quilting I was quite pleased with it . . . 

 

Until I turned it over

So now I have wasted not only the test stitch, but also loads of bits of ribbon, and some precious scraps of Sweetwater Pure fabric, not to mention time I could have been sewing something pretty, not something destined for the bin.

Sigh :-(

EDIT

I decided to have another go, so I cut off the seams and made it smaller

And got the chance to use the Aurifil quilting threads, with some FMQ. 

FMQing is SO much easier with the right threads!

This foot? Or that foot?

Today I have been getting ready for the three classes I am running this weekend, and I have been brave: using feet (for the sewing machine!) that I either don't normally use, or have never used!

I used the quilting foot to free motion quilt the tree branches and the sky (not something that I often do). I used some Aurifil thread that I got (on blog recommendation) at FoQ. I have to say that based on the fmq it is great. My reluctance to do any significant quilting is due to unhappiness with tension issues, and this seems pretty darn even!

and then I used this foot that I didn't even know I had - like the 1/4 inch foot it has a little blunt blade that sticks out below the foot.  Where as the 1/4" one guides the fabric, this one seems to sit it the ditch, so where I used in the ditch stitching to quickly attach the back of the binding, the seam is actually in the ditch and is invisible - I'm really chuffed!

 So the Owl wall hanging is [almost] complete ready for the library class (yes, Hadley, I just realised Pink still doesn't have a beak, I will sort that out eventually!)

I have also not finished but prepared as far as I want to the flying geese for the Museum class

So that's a big green tick for all my homework :-)