Back Up A Bit

I was so excited to show you some of the sewing that Jackie and I did, and then the squishies that arrived, that I missed Friday's Fun With fabric class and then Monday's sewing with Jackie!

Jackie is great a making quilt blocks, and quite often puts them together, and even gets them quilted occasionally, but I think she'll agree that they sit around in various stages not actually getting to the 'finished' stage.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not having a dig - I have just as many UFOs, and none are are beautiful, or as complicated, as hers, but I feel they should be finished so they can be used and loved (or put in the 'finished' cupboard!)

So on Monday we turned our attention to these three beauties

We found fabric, pressed it, cut it, joined it, pressed it again and machined it to the front. Now Jackie can sit and sew and they'll be done in no time!

On Friday I introduced the Chertsey Museum ladies to Foundation Piecing.  There was a variety of options for them: I had some Courthouse Step foundation fabric, some pineapple block, and some ordinary Flying Geese - all bought from here  which some ladies wanted to use,

The others felt brave enough to try either the 1/4 New York Beauty or the 1/4 Circle of Flying Geese - or even both!

They didn't get far as it's only a 90 minute session and there was lots of ooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing over the samples (especially Jen's stunning wall hanging)

But all have gone home with homework and at least one piece of foundation fabric, if not 4!!!!

Can't hang around for long

I'm on my way out for a day trip to Portsmouth (to see Mummy) and then to Chichester . . . via Eternal maker (yippee!!!)

I plan to be a good girl - there are two project on the to-do list which need need fabric purchases, so I am taking blocks with me so I can get what I need!

I did get some sewing done yesterday, so here is a quick, photo heavy run though . . .

I started hand quilting the Flying Geese as a sample for next month's museum class

It then occurred to me that if any one comes in September but hadn't come in August they wouldn't have a foundation pieced block to quilt, so I'd better make a few just in case.  So I made these

(I'm enjoying foundation piecing much more than I thought I would)  I then wondered what I would do with any left over pineapple blocks.  That's when I realised that the fabrics had all come from fabrics planned for the Citrus Hole in the Ground top.  I made the centre piece ages ago, but it was very big, and very square.  I'm not a great fan of square quilts, so I though I could add some strips to it.  I had added some pink and orange chequerboard blocks to one end, and need something yellow to finish that off, but still have loads at the other end . . .  the pineapple blocks will be ideal!

I am attaching the strips to the top and to a fleece as I go (see my lazy quilt as you go method here) and have done some echo quilting and free range line quilting.  Now I have to wait until mid September to see which pineapple blocks are left for me to use!

I have pinned one diamond strip to the Swirls, and love it.  I think this will become a rectangle too, with diamonds just top and bottom.  Where I want to hang it wont take a square.

I pinned and tacked and eventually stitched nephew's shirt.  I'm taking it to mum's for approval before I press and topstitch it.  Not perfect, and a bit messy on the inside, but I'm quite pleased with it, and he cant 

complain!!!

My replacement 1/4" foot arrived so I was able to finish the pinned section of the Texture quilt.  Now I need to cut and fix some 2" strips of wadding in the wide sashing, then I can start on the final strips for the top and the bottom as we look at the photo

Finally a photo of the most innocent cat in the world:

"What me, pull the washing off the line?  Nah, wasn't me.  I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when a gust of wind blew the quilt cover off the line and pushed it under me.  And even if it didn't happen that way, you wont mind washing it again as you love me"

Chertsey Museum Part 2

So Friday's project with the Chertsey ladies was foundation flying geese.

This is the sample that I took along to show them what they would be doing

 And this I brought to show them what this could lead to! (just one block to finish,then two blocks to join and then I'm ready for borders . . .  only taken me a year, each block is 2.75 inches square!)

 Deborah went for some tiny flying geese, and managed to get quite far along her panel

Carol "saw" a Christmas tree in the geese, so we adapted the first section into a tree pot and she's off with green triangles for her tree

Denise started a wall hanging

While Kay is planning to make four two-geese panels and then assemble them as a pin wheel

Susan is new to the group, but as each project is unrelated to the others that wasn't a disadvantage

I thought I'd got photos of everyones work, but it would seem not.  Iris is also planning a pinwheel design, Beryl is making a wall hanging, and also took a piece of the tiny stars which she will use in a Christmas card, and Jenny had a couple of false starts, but I'm sure will wow us with her achievements next month.

Next month will actually be a sort of continuation project.  They want to do some quilting, so they will bring back their finished flying geese, and we will quilt them

One thing leads to another

One thing leads to another . . .or why things never get done

I got some yummy linen fabrics from Sandown, and a month or so ago decided I wanted to do some foundation piecing with them.  I wanted to do regular log cabin, but couldn't find the foundation-by-the-yard, so settled on court house steps instead, and planned to get more of the linen at Festival of Quilts

Of course it would help if I knew when I got the linen from!  The only person selling the range at FoQ was selling it as a kit which was no good to me. So I started thinking about what else I could use for the Courthouse steps, and could I arrange them in the same way as log cabins could be arranged?

Google Images is a great place to go, and I did find, and [pin] some examples, and surfing led me to the selvedge edge blog and this great example  I then got hopelessly distracted by all the other yummy selvedge edge projects until I stumbled across this great idea:

That's when I remembered that I had (a) a bag of selvedge edges) and (b) a to-be-decorated mug (which had been decorated with great crazy patch wrapping paper but that was only ever temporary)

So look what I made ...

but I still haven't decided what to use for the courthouse steps, or what to use the linen for, and now I want to do something with the rest of the selvedge edges!

x x x x x x x x x x x x

Textile quilt update: I have started the next rows of sashing and blocks, and have almost joined two rows to  the middle . . . and then the 1/4 inch foot broke :-( 

I have ordered a new one from ebay, and will carry on when it arrives!

Foundation Pieced Flying Geese

I came home tonight to an email from Sally, the Assistant Curator at Chertsey Museum.  She wrote "I forgot to ask… What is the topic for next time?"

I was so tempted to reply telling her that the next topic would be Foundation Pieced Flying Geese, and see what she made of that, but she is too lovely for me to be that mean! (and if she started using archaeological terms to me, I would lose very quickly!)

So I have started a sample and can send her a photo. 

Not too bad for an hour's work :-) I will finish it before the August class.  Oh, and the Museum have just confirmed dates through to the end of 2012! 


Yay!

And... off topic - I had an interview at a lovely little school today.  They really want someone all day every day, but i cant do that, so I'm starting temping for them in September and they'll see how that goes until October half term, so at least I have work for 7 weeks - yippee

Cut. Stitch. Press. Repeat

A lovely day yesterday :-)

I came back to working on the Aunt Grace's Flowers jelly roll, and made up strips for 9 patch blocks, and a random alternating-with-white quilt.

I tried to explain my time saving method last time, and certainly confused Hadley, so here it is again with pictures!

Pick up a strip of white, and a strip from the jelly roll.  Cut 8 inches off the end of both.

Stitch together the long lengths that are left.  Then at one end add the short piece of white (so create a section which is white-coloured-white) and at the other end add the short piece from the jelly roll (coloured-white-coloured)

and then trim off the two ends where the triple section is. Press everything. The middle section can be trimmed into 2.5" pairs, and put to one side until there are about a zillion of them

Trim the two triple pieces each into three triple strips each at 2.5".  Now you have enough to make two nine patch blocks, one with white corners, one with coloured corners

Clear as mud?

Anyway, new topic - shopping!!!

I want to start a hand sewing project in grey and red for the sofa, and decided to do log cabin using foundation by the yard.  Good plan, but f-b-t-y log cabin doesn't exist, and I really didn't fancy drawing out each foundation block by hand, so I have switched to court house steps.  The foundation fabric arrived today, along with (well if I was paying P&P I might as well add some more stuff???) some f-b-t-y flying geese for the Fun With Fabric course, and a cutting board that I have been lusting after - one that turns, so it's much easier to always cut away from me.

Now off to a job interviw and then an afternoon shopping with Mum and Lisa :-)