The Beast is (almost) bound

The A to Z wall hanging is now assembled, and the the binding is half attached on 3 sides.  It's too heavy for the plan of Velcro tabs so I'm rethinking the top.  Friday is getting scarily close!

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A Bit of the Beast

It's starting to come together :-)

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Basting The Beast (with help from Bodger Brian)

We don't call husband Bodger Brian for nothing . . .

This is part of my work/sewing bench.  It is wider than this, but here you can see the depth, and the sewing machine is about the size of the small quilt you can see, which doesn't leave much space for the stitched fabric.

And The Beast (AKA The A to Z project) needs space - it's huge, heavy and not too flexible.
PLAN A -I decided I would like a Sew Ezi table - too long to wait .
PLAN B - I set up my ironing board in front of the bench - too much wobble
PLAN C - Brian found two unused folding stools from a  previous kitchen which included a breakfast bar, and a plank of wood which will become cupboard doors in a future kitchen . . .

And now I have my own sewing table extension :-)

(As this saved nearly two hundred pounds, I can spend that money on something else, right?)

Which is very handy when sewing something as big as the Beast

(OK, not strictly basting, but I'm using my QAYG method which does away with proper basting, and I liked the alteration :-)

"I'm going slightly mad" AKA Red and Blue makes Purple

Life is getting really manic at the moment - I thought I was picking up the school secretary job quite well, but the end of school year procedures have left me stunned - exporting children (!) and importing the new starters, plus parents of 4 year olds wanting to look around the school, other parents who don't plan on accepting their child's place, but have no intention of actually telling us, added to sports day, end of year production and the normal day to day sick children, missing lunches and blocked toilets - by 20th July I will certainly have earned my six week holiday!!!!

I've been working on the Purple Present quilt, but today my language turned blue, and my face was red.  I  was using a design that I think of as Vanishing Orphan Patches: the initial 9 patches are made with random (or orphan) blocks in the corners, and plain squares in the middles.  I was actually making my 'orphan' blocks but the principle is the same.  Once the large 9 patch blocks are made they get cut into 1/4s and trimmed and then reassembled in a pleasing arrangement

I know that if I use 2.5 inch strips to make small 9 patches for the orphan blocks they come out at 6.5 inches, so I cut my plain blocks to that size too, and calculated back to make pinwheels the same size - except the pinwheel calcs went wrong and they were 1/4 inch too blinking small grrrrr!

So lots of waste purple on the work bench, but I have completed the blocks and pinned them ready for sewing into strips tomorrow

Now off for Baileys :-) (Thank you Jackie!)

Purple Patchwork

Today I have cut all the purple fabrics that were bought for Carol's sister's quilt.  No particular planning went into the cutting, but I have cut 5" squares to make pin wheels (that will come up as 6.5 inch blocks) and I have cut  2.5 inch strips to make 9 patch blocks at 6.5 inches.  I have also cut some 6.5 inch squares, and the rest is cut into assorted, random narrow strips that will also make 6.5 inch blocks.

Then I will assemble them all into larger 9 patch blocks (generally using the plain squares as the + centres) and then cut the whole lot up again into vanishing 9 patch blocks - and hopefully there will be a good number to make a quilt!

I dont usually link up to other blogger's blogs, but Lynne at Lily's Quilts has posted more details about the Siblings Together Charity, and the quilts being made for them - you can read all about them [here], so I thought I would re show the two that I made and sent off to them.

I really love how these came out, and hope they keep two siblings warm and cosy and help create fantastic memories for them to look back on

If you want to help, you could make a quilt, donate fabric, or hand over some cold hard cash!

Rainbow Recap

 I *should* have been embroidering the last few name sashes for the A to Z project (but I've had to order more white thread), and I *could* have been working on a UFO (heaven knows there are enough of them) but instead I decided to start on the Rainbow Hexagon (because it would be rude not to as Janine sent me the books!)

The original post about the hexagon was [here] and I have read the books (in a skimming sort of way) and printed out the template, but the pieces were far too small for what I pictured, so I used the template to calculate my own larger scale pieces.

I have done the first round, but I'm going to show my workings here so I have some chance of managing to remember (and improve on) what I did when I come back to this.
 
I started with six 60 degree triangles which I joined into a hexagon

From the book I decided that the new stitched line (the lomg side of the new yellow triangle) needed to be twice the length of the existing edge of the same colour.  I used a Frixon pen to mark the area, but that become pointless when I then ironed the fabric after stitching the first line!

As these second round of fabrics overlap each other I could only stitch part of the yellow (the first colour in round 2) long seam, as the green would need to tuck under it at the end.

I had planned to use the foundation piecing method, stitching from the back, but decided to work from the front instead as that seemed easier.  I made myself a plastic template for the rough shape of each triange, cut it out then stitched it on.

Because the pieces weren't cut accurately there was some overlap,

 

so I trimmed back the excess before pressing the new piece into place

When I had gone round and added all six triangles, I could return to the unstitchded yellow seam and lay it over the green to stitch it down

So far this is the result.  I love that it's bright and chunky, but I dont love the second blue which is almost black, and the second purple which looks more like blue in the photo

It's also quite big - each side is 15 inches, and some of my remaining rainbow fabrics are not big enough for the next round of triangles.

I think I need to re-think this idea.

My other hexagons: my basting-while-I'm-waiting-in-the-car-or-on-a-train hexies are looking good but there are two sizes of  print, and in the larger print the three backgrounds (blue, yellow and pink) are not very distinctive.  I could stitch them as flowers and ignore the different print sizes or I could use the larger print to seperate flowers in the small print

Or I could just join them randomly and not bother with flowers at all.  Husband prefers option C, but I do feel that if I'm going to make a traditional hexi quilt top, I should maybe stick with traditional layout too

Wish I could make decisions at the moment!  I need to chose reasonably soon, as I've run out of templates

(And my spell check is still on strike, so apologies for any errors)

Sunday Satisfaction

Thanks for all the suggestions on what to do with the Norwegian Red blocks: I finally decided I would go with the staggered blocks: It bugged me that the bricks would have a seam down the centre, and I figured I could make bricks the convenctional way (see below for the plan)

So Norwegian Red is now pieced and quilted, and I have machine stitched the binding to the front.  I'm taking it to Norway at the end of the month, and will have plenty of time to hand stitch the back of the binding or the plane, the ferries, and in the car.   It is going to be for my cousin Kire's 50th birthday.  She lives in Kenya, so I dont know that she'll need it much though!  If you have a few minuts, do visit her blog www.kiregodal.com - she is a hugely successful conservation and wildlife filmmaker, and has her work shown on the National Geographic chanel!.  I'm really excited to be seeing her again: we used to meet on holiday as kids, but hardly at all as adults.  She is also beautiful - seriously beautiful - and easily passes for 30, and I struggle with the knowledge that we share a set of grandparents, but she was luckier on the gene handout that I was!

Sorry, didn't mean to wonder off like that.

Also for my trip, I have a stash of picture fabric scraps that I have managed to rescure 4x8 inch blocks, so I will be taking them together with 1 inch strips to hand make a brick quilt


(still no spell check, grrrr!)

Super Squishy

I just came in from the garden to find a squishy envelope hanging through the letter box . . .
and this was inside

which opened up to be this

Which opens up to show this

Lucky lucky me

Thank you Teje and Nero :-) I love it.  It is *even* better in real life than in the photos!!!!

(Is blogger spell check working for anyone else?)

Negligence

I have been very negligent, and I will try and remedy lots of overdue thanks in this post!  

The lovely Jackie made me the most useful pressie when she came over a few weeks ago, and I haven't properly thanked her for it - as you can see it is already in good use:

It holds pins and needles, my glasses (sigh) and I've attached the scissors that Jackie previously gave me to it too - now there are no threads on the arms of the chair - yippee!

She also brought Lisa a lovely crochet hook case as a thank you for the loan of the bed

but given that Lisa wasn't home anyway, and I had to clear the room (admittedly of my stuff) to even *find* the bed, I think I deserve it more - luckily for Lisa I cant crochet, so it's no good to me!!!! 

I also need to thank Teje in advance - I commented on a post on her blog . . .  well actually I commented on a guest post, posted by her handsome Alsatian, Nero.  Nero was very kindly offering one of Teje's lovely 2-in-1 makeup bags to celebrate summer (they live in sunny Crete, not cloudy England).  Nero very kindly picked my name from the basket (well he ate the others and didn't eat mine, that's as good as being picked isn't it?),

Teje is sending me this super bag   Do visit her ETSY shop and look at the others she has made too

I also, in the last few months have been awarded this award from Annabelle Serendipity who says "Benta at SLIK stitches really does do some amazing stuff and I like to see her photos and hear about her exploits - but - get that kitchen sorted Benta!"

(and I was really chuffed to be awarded it in the same keystroke as Hadley at Flying Blind!!!)

 

and I have been awarded this award by Rebecca who said "Benta at Slik Stitches is absolutely lovely! I've followed this blog for ages now and she creates some absolutely beautiful quilts among other things!", and also by Amo who said "Always making things and does so much in her community to encourage stitching."

I have to tell you 5 things that you may not know about me:

Hum, 

• I love instant coffee, but not real coffee, 
• I was so bad at sewing at school I had to take Home Economics (yes Annabelle, cooking!) for my practical subject
• For all the sewing and other crafting I have tried over the years, my two very best creations are my daughters
• Next spring I'll have been married 25 years (!)
• My favourite colour is yellow, but I don't have any yellow clothes

So THANK YOU to all of you, and I am so sorry it has taken me so long!

Norwegian Knowledge (and a quilt question)

An ongoing project that saw light this week is currently known as Norwegian Red.  The main fabric is red, and it did come from Norway, and the quilt top may become a birthday present for a cousin I will see in Norway this  summer, but its name is also a pun - the traditional red paint used for a vast number of homes in Norway is called "English Red"!

These two cottages are owned by family members: the top one is on the West coast, and it was my grandmother's when I was a child, now my cousin's, and the bottom photo is of the boat house at mum's cousin's cottage just off Oslo - this was taken by a cousin at 11:45pm on Mid Summer's Night



Anyway, enough of the lesson, back to 'Norwegian Red'.  This has been stitched into strips, but now I'm not sure where to go next.  I originally planned to arrange the blocks so they were staggered slightly both vertically and horizontally (pic one) but then I quite like the brick effect in pic two (or are the vertical 'morter' sections going to be too fat?)

 Any thoughts much appreciated

Slugs and Snails, or Sugar and Spice

Sometime in the next month or so, I am going to be a great auntie for the second time, and we are very lucky in that we can claim a relationship with the new baby through both parents:  Daddy is husband's nephew, and Mummy is (was) our Au Pair in the mid 1990s, and has always felt like at least a niece to us.

We THINK we know what they are having, but if they know they are not telling, so this weekend I've started to prepare two I-Spy quilts just in case.  I usually have a mix of boyish and girly fabrics in an I-Spy quilt, but having just bought a *cough* few picture fabrics recently I had enough choice to make a very boyish one and a very girly one.

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

That's what Little Girls are made of

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs' Tails

That's what Little Boys are made of

So far they are only strip pieced, I will use my very lazy QAYG method to attach them to a fleece blanket soon, then I only need to bind them

I know which one I am going to finish first!

A to Z Update

As mentioned earlier today . . . I didn't get a picture, but the lovely Claire who has been helping every step of the way DID get a photo :-)

Doesn't it look fab!  I cant believe how different each block is

Fete, Flannels, and Fancy That!

We had our school fete yesterday, and I pinned all the finished-so-far A to Z blocks on a big notice board, and they looked FAB!  But you'll have to take my word for it as I forgot to take a photo :-(

I can show you a mosaic but even that's not complete as A, R and W all arrived at school yesterday, but you can see it's getting there (shame mosaic maker cuts off part of the image, they are all complete, honest!)

I took my Baby Brother embroidery machine along, and mum and I sat in the sometime sunshine, me embroidering names on flannels and her tying off the loose ends on the Ladders Quilt that . . .  wait for it . . . someone bought! Fancy That!

(Thanks mum, terrific job done there!)

After a few hours of occasional threats, it did actually start to rain, so mum and I packed the embroidery machine away with a few unfinished orders, so I thought I'd show them here.  And for all who are (quite justly) concerned about my ability to put the right name on the right item, I *think* I have then right this time!

 I just need to trim the jump stitches, and then these flannels can go into school tomorrow

 Do look at all the lovely coloured flannels mum and I got

Rainbow heaven :-)

Flipping Fonts

Thanks to all who commented on the font change - that wasn't what I chose!    My original font started loading on my ipad as a fancy script, so I changed it all to an ordinary font, but it looks as if Google then changed it to impact - which IS difficult to read.

So now it's just Arial, boring, but very readable!

After showing pictures of the first half of the A to Z sashing I also changed my mind about the layout, so I've now redone them so that each text block is the same width: makes it a bit tidier

Friends and Fabric

Jackie, my quilting twin, came over from Ireland for a 48 hour flying visit at the weekend.  I put her to work at the village fair on Saturday (we were an ace Gazebo erecting team, although not such a hot chasing-a-flying-gazebo-across-the-cricket-green team!) and then went on a fabric shop trawl on Sunday.

I was obviously traumatised by not having enough red to finish my Somerset Star, and then I was lead astray by Jackie (it's all her fault) and the circumstances weren't helped by us finding ourselves at Creative Quilting in Hampton Court

So I, um, cough, sheepish look, bought even more fabric!!!!!!

However - it is kind of justified as I have just had another request for an I Spy quilt, and these are all I Spy fabrics

This evening I have been working on the sashing for the Windsor A to Z project: Designing the text on the computer, and then stitching in onto the sashing fabric . . .

And more . . .

Who can guess what I need to be doing tomorrow night!