Thursday Stitching

New Sue proved just how fabulous the Railfence blocks can look... She used rather scrumptious Batik fabrics with two different colour ways in the blocks, keeping the focus batik fabric in both sets... I'm not sure that makes sense but I know what I mean... do you follow? Click the photo for a closer look.
I almost always teach beginners using the Railfence blocks because they are very forgiving and always looks great, so it, the Railfence design, tends to be made only by beginners... which is a shame when we can make such gorgeous projects with it.

New Sue is now making Paper Pieced Log Cabin blocks... It was her first time paper piecing but she soon got the hang of it... soon realising how difficult it is to 'un-sew' those tiny little stitches... Sue will persevere a little longer with the Paper Piecing but there's a slight chance that this quilt could have free pieced Log Cabin blocks... we'll see how she gets on next week...

Geoff spent the day with us again. He finished quilting the Railfence zig-zag design. Stitched In The Ditch (though we know it better as Ditch Hopping!) on both sides of the inner green and pink borders then echo stitched in the main border. Crusts were then trimmed off and binding was made.

Pam finished her Mat & Ruler Bag using my free Tutorial, it's really eye catching with the luscious purple fabrics... The bag, not the tutorial... I'll try to get a picture for you next time...(Click on the tab at the top of this blog if you would like to make a Mat & Ruler Bag for your very own self, there will be a 'Printer Friendly' version added very soon)... Pam's making two little quilts for her cake basket using these lovely country fabrics... you really can't beat the Ohio Star block... I love it!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

Chris The Foot decided to put her Chunky Churndash quilt on hold... she had made Quick Table Toppers as for Christmas gifts (to be honest I think we all did!) anyway... the recipients loved the little quilts made with Christmassy fabrics and asked Chris to make them another using 'year round' colours, so that's what Chris is working on at the moment.

My Mum (Gwynneth) was going to make two little table place mats for their caravan but, as the table is quite small, it was proving more sensible to make on large table mat to cover the whole table... she's also quilting the sandwich she made last Saturday in My very own quilt shop (he he he... still love saying it!)

Lynda had finished her very colourful Pineapple Blossom lap quilt and decided to make a matching bag in which to gift it. One left over block is all you need to make the whole ensemble perfect. What a lovely idea to make the quilt even more special.

Gilly continued to piece her Log Cabin blocks. She purchased a 1/4" foot this week and was amazed how it helped her accuracy and... better still... she was able to stitch a little bit faster too... that's gotta help eh! The blocks are taking shape very nicely indeed.

Wendy's making cushions. She's been keeping an eye on folk making the 10 Minute Block quilts during our meetings and she could resist no longer...  Wendy's used the smallest squares yet, I was thinking the Cathedrally window bits would get too fiddly... but they are fine, not too fiddly at all and look quite lovely too, don't you think?
More later....

Quilting News

 Jolly Jo, the prize winning cake maker, volunteered her very own self, quite by accident, to make a possible prize winning bag... Of course, now that it's time to make this bag she's wondering why she volunteered at all. She's used the William Morris fabrics to make the Bargello ( ha ha ha... spell check says Bargepole!) background and spent the day cutting out silhouettes of  The Strawberry Thief... I can see a prize winner... can you?

 Giggly Gillian spent her day making more of these fabulous bright blocks. Originally they would make a double size quilt... Gillian had decided to only make a single quilt... after a quick count up of exactly how much fabric she purchased in order to make the project in the first place... it's back to where it started and will be a double bed sized quilt.... she'll do apartment quilting, of course.

 Early Sue had a little Toot Toot Toot moment... This is a Ten Minute Block quilt, finished off with Faux Piped Binding. Each square was cut to 7" (I think), it's such a clever design. Originally it was a great way to use the Layer Cakes (10" squares) but it really works with any size of block with any mixture of fabrics too.

Lovely Lyn has finished yet another baby quilt. This one was needed in rather a hurry so she "bagged" the layers together before completing the quilting. All the ladies looked on with great interest... all they could take note of was the speed at which the quilt was finished.... Bagging a quilt is OK for small projects but it can't half cause you headaches if it doesn't go quite to plan, ask me how I know that!

Monday Quilt class

Bev leaves all her tying off to be done as homework. She can only stitch at quilt class so there's no point in using her time for stuff that can wait. She finished the main quilting and changed thread colour to quilt the borders. I bet we will be trimming crusts off next week.

When Sarah joined us last week she didn't even know how to thread up a sewing machine... this week when she arrived, she set up and started sewing with confidence. She had all of her blocks in the right order and started sewing them together, she's doing really well...

Judith finished her table runner last week, just a little hand stitching for the binding to do as homework, it's all finished now but I didn't get a picture. What I did get though, is this picture of her scrappy fish tank runner... for under the fish tank no less... Judith knows the fish won't mind if she practices her piecing skills and a little free motion doodling on their quilt, he he he

Pam wanted to make a Mat & Ruler bag... the tutorial's availabubble on a top tab on this blog. She's new to quilting so we started off with "Ribbons" Pam used a rather gorgeous Rainbow thread, variegated threads make even the most basic quilting look fabulous. The fabric Pam chose is from the Fabric Freedom basics... it's really scrumptious... don't you think?

Saturday

My Mum (Gwynneth) came over to my very own quilt shop after lunch on Saturday. She pushed my tables together to make a sandwich whilst we had a very handy man put up a few quilt poles and coat hooks, loo roll holder and mirror in the bathroom and the final parts to my Giant Loo Roll holder... for keeping the rolls of wadding tidy. I'm not sure this quilt shop will ever be finished... good job there's no rush eh...

Friday Quilting

Jenny Barlaston is the owner of this master piece... what an unusual design eh... Of course we all look at this quilt and see the Quick Table Topper we all keep making... it's the same method... but much more intricate of course. It's a great design for those fabrics we want to leave in big pieces, like this blue Clarice Cliffe fabric Jenny bought last year...

Charlotte had joined us on Wednesday for the first time and popped in on Friday to show us her progress. All blocks were completed so she could start stitching them together. She chose her border fabrics, backing and binding fabrics and purchased a piece of the gorgeous Cream Rose wadding... she wants this quilt finished yesterday! ha ha ha

Barbie had more troubles with her Brother sewing machine, every week she has trouble with the darn thing... I got out one of the Juki machines so that she could get a little stitching done... oh did she love the machine... no tension problems at all, so Barbie was a happy lady. She's shadow quilting round the vase of flowers and it looks fab...

Helen worked without a break, she's on a mission to finish all of these heavily patterned triangular blocks... I think she's intent on racing ahead while Maid Marion is on her holidays.. We won't tell Helen that Maid Marion took her stitching with her, he he he It will be fun to see how far they both get in the two weeks...
I know I'm behind with the posts, I don't know where all the hours go these days.... more later

Quilt News

 New Sue began her day by slicing the crusts from her absolutely stunning, Batik Railfence quilt. She uses one of those shower handle sucker things to help her grip her ruler better. They cost about £3 - £12 depending where you shop, crackers isn't it? Sue added faux piped binding to her quilt, oh... it's just lovely!

 Pam is making good progress with her two Railfence table runners. She treated her very own self to a new sewing machine from the Uttoxeter quilt show last week, lucky lady eh... In the photo, Pam is quilting the panels to make a Mat & Ruler bag using my Tutorial , it's a clickabubble tab at the top of this blog, over on the right side there,with lots of pictures to help you....

More from Caverswall Quilt Cave

I always wear an apron when I'm working... It's become a bit of a 'thing' of mine... I make aprons out of fabric scraps, left over blocks and out of very cool fabric... This apron is made from really funky fabric purchased from My Very Own Quilt Shop... but it's not mine... as you can no doubt see it's an apron made by our very own Joan The Shop and she's made sure no-one else can use it by appliquéing her very own name right there... front and centre... Now, of course, we all want one with our daft names on them... watch this space, I'll keep you posted as/if they get made, a little bit of fun to bring on a smile or two eh...

Joan has been working on this 10-Minute block quilt of late. As very often happens at out Quilt Cave, Joan's taken it a step further... in her Cathedral-ly centres she's added a fussy cut piece of floral voile, purchased in France, and she's finished each one off with fancy machine stitching with a variety of variegated thread... very arty farty eh... Joan's just about ready to start stitching the blocks together.

and now... ta daaaa... Late Sue finished her quilt top, pieced her backing and made a sandwich, all hands on deck for the pinning, it's a huge quilt! Sue designed this quilt, all by her very own self. In the picture I have the attention of the ladies as I explain about the process, the decisions and dilemmas Sue has encountered on the way. That's Sue looking on with great interest... I don't think she realised how she came to make such a lovely quilt top... she knows now though, after my little reminder... Sue will spend many hours quilting this project... we might not see her for a few weeks as she said she was going to lock herself away until it's finished, she's got a Juki Beast (TL-98) so it won't take her so long really (see my apron?)

Caverswall Quilt Cave

I don't think you will ever see anyone more excited about a quilt than Chatty Cathy. She is positively bubbling with with excitement... and who can blame her as her quilt is fantastic. She had decided to make up all of the blocks from Alex Anderson's book 'Start Quilting' just to get some good practice... and this is the result She made her sandwich and has now started the quilting.

Charlotte joined us for the first time. She's a very confident slicer... usually, right at the very beginning... it's really hard to cut with a rotary cutter and folk feel they will never be able to cut a full slice, not Charlotte... it was a 'Duck To Water' thing, so she made great progress with her Railfence design. She cut 2 1/2" strips as this will be a bed scarf not a table runner.

Early Sue had been busy quilting at home and had almost finished her quilting, she had marked the first few curved lines to get a good idea of what it would be like and the rest were stitched free hand. She finished the last bit of free motion in the centre of the Cathedral-ly bits during our day and then trimmed up the crusts on her sandwich. This quilt will have Faux Piped binding which Sue made during the day too.

Gilly is a very methodic lady... each of the Half Square Triangles (HST's) is having it's first log added and those binding clips help Gilly monitor her progress, I think there's 10 in each bunch, 10's are easier to count... even I can do that!

Krafty Karen continued to work on her Pineapple Blossom blocks, it's more like Blackcurrant Blossom with all the gorgeous purple fabric she's using. The black print proved a little tricky, one centre block got itself flipped to the wrong side, silly thing... so were expecting an interesting backing for this quilt, those tone on tone fabrics are very easy to stitch in upside down... This picture is a "Gone To Lunch" moment, ha ha ha

My Mum Gwynneth wanted to make a few small projects for the caravan, starting with table mats. After flicking and choosing through my block books she decided on the trusty Churndash block. There's no point having lots of seams on a table mat, especially in the centre of the block, it will make your wine glass topple! he he he

Shirley Lerly's quilt is coming along a treat. She carefully checks her seam junctions with a very satisfied expression... She's joining the rows into two's now... so the end is near... growing daily this quilt top's getting quite close to sandwich time, unless the borders have intricate piecing... hmmm I wonder what plan Shirley has for the borders?

Marisabel is making half log cabin blocks. It's a pattern from the internet, you will find it here ... Marisabel is going to make lots of blocks in quite different colour ways then we will lay them out to decide on the fabric mixes to use for the last few blocks... at least that's the theory...

That's a long post eh... there's more but I will show that next time...

Tuesday Quilt Class

This is Geoff's table runner. He carefully added the inner pink border and the patterned border before making a sandwich. He was quite impressed with the walking foot and how it works. He did a great job with his quilting, though he did say that he couldn't talk and sew straight lines at the same time... a multi tasking skill that maybe belongs to us ladies!
Marisabel came too. She cut the pieces she needs to start a new project, more on that later.

It's Caverswall Quilt Cave today... 10am - 3pm... I bet it will be Party Time because it's raining and we don't seem to want to potter in the garden when it's wet and yukky do we.... catch ya later...

Monday Beginner Class

It's not very often I teach hand piecing. Ena joined us wanting to make a cushion by hand... here's her Ohio Star block ready for a border treatment, didn't she do well. She sat stitching at each class while she listened to all the machines humming along... and she's tempted... Ena's next cushion could very well be made by machine. With hands that don't want to play with a tiny needle she just might find it easier too...

Afternoon Judith (We have a Morning Judith too) made her sandwich and spent the rest of the class quilting it. Shadow quilting the zig-zag rails is usually quite easy but when your fabrics all blend so well you have to keep a close eye for when it's time to turn a corner. Judith now knows very well, how to 'unsew', tie off ends and thread them through.

Bev works on her project only during class so she decided to do all of the quilting by machine leaving the tying off of the ends for home work... a good plan... better to get more stitching done during the class eh

Anne (Ena's daughter) added her outer border first of all then we made her sandwich. She's thrilled with her table runner... can you see the 3D-ness (I know it's not proper English Mum! ha ha ha) Anne made a good start on the quilting and is hoping to have the quilt finished very soon as it's a gift for someone very special.

Dotty's Quillow

 Dotty popped in to My Very Own Quilt Shop to show that she had finished her latest project. It's her own design and she's played with several technics while 'inventing' it. She has a neighbour with a son who's very much into golf and this is a gift for him, luck lad!
It looks like a view from a window doesn't it...

Dotty decided to make the quilt into a Quillow, that's a quilt that can be folded into a pocket of it's very own to be used as a pillow, clever eh!
We won't see it again as it has been gifted to golfing guy already.

Friday Quilt Club

Barbie pieced her backing, purchased some of my wonderful Cream Rose wadding and announced that it was sandwich time... this quilt just about fit my the tables too... Quilts larger than this one will have to be done over at Caverswall Village Hall... as you know we have tables galore in our Quilt Cave

My Mum (Gwynneth) is back from her holidays so she came to play for the day. I had managed to finish all of the free motion quilting, just framing the leaves and meandering the log parts, so Mum only needed to do the 'Ditch Hopping' around the borders... she made the binding and trimmed the 'Crusts' off...

Helen, who was preparing thousands of triangles ready for her Heirloom quilt, had personal assistance from My Mum, much to the envy of Maid Marion, she was drawing carefully measured lines while Helen was carefully prrressing the tiny seams in place and planning the stitches that will cover each triangle... lots of decision making for Helen.

Late Sue finished the centre of her Ohio Star quilt. She's making it to the instruction of her Mother-in-Law who wanted a purpley-lilac and white quilt. Sue found a perfect patterned fabric for the first border (in my very own quilt shop) the second border will be 1/2" wide and of the white fabric. The final border will be piano keys made from all the fabrics left over from making the top... which we know will look fabulous...


Monday class will be the beginners again... I shall have to tell them that they are no longer beginners though as we will be adding binding and labels... with one quilt finished, they are plain and simply... Quilters! woooohoooo!

Quilt Class

Dotty Maureen ordered this golfing fabric from an online shop in the USA, she's making a quilt for a young golfer... it's amazing what we can find printed on cotton isn't it... We have a lady looking for tyre print fabrics and one looking for electricity pylons (sp?) so far we've not found either of them... that's not to say it's not out there somewhere. Can you help? angiequilts@gmail.com

As Lovely Lyn finished her Bunny Baby Quilt it's time to start another. This one, also a baby gift, needs to be ready as soon as possible so we chose a bordered square design... It will probably come in finished by Next Tuesday, that's the day Lovely Lyn comes to Quilt Class...

This work area belongs to Giggly Gillian. She started this very bright quilt quite a while ago but had to put it on one side while she made a wedding quilt and the Sheep baby quilt that, I think, she finished last week. This project was to have been a double bed size quilt but Gillian has very much enjoyed making the small projects, so it's now shrunk and will be for a twin bed... there's time for more mind changing yet though...

These busy hands belong to Maid Marion. She's gone and gotten herself ahead of Dotty Maureen and Helen with this Heirloom quilt, much to Helen's delight... it means that Marion can figure out what to do (and it's really not easy at all!) and pass on top tips and "How To's" to Helen, until now it's been the other way around.
Both ladies are nearing the end of the smaller blocks... long Heirloom borders are looming!