Caverswall Quilt Cave

Joan The Shop conquered the zip! This most stunning of cushions has a zip inserted in the back that is not only almost invisible, it works!!! I know I should be raving about the cushion front with it's lovely faux piped binding... and I really do think it's fabulous but I am absolutely impressed with the zip... I have 'zip-phobia' you see... Wendy showed us how and it's easy! Easy Peasy in fact... I wonder if I am cured?

Jean Bean's Square Dance Wreath quilt is getting more stunning by the day, don't you think? She's a very precise patchwork piecer. The white inner border is 1/2" finished and the tiny red is only 1/4"... tiny borders can be tricky as they show up any and every tiny wobble in the straight stitching but we have a little trick to keep them good and straight... works every time!

Wendy The Wizz found herself Mid-Project... she couldn't decide what to make next, how frustrating... as you can see that lasted for at least 5 minutes! She has a book with paper pieced projects, I forget wich book now... very bright, not New York Beauty but very similar and that inspired Wendy to use up her Indian Batiks... they were sitting waiting to be used up after all...

Maid Marion and Helen are getting quite excited about their Heirloom quilts and seized the opportunity to use the hall stage to spread them all out. There's still a lot of work to be done on the blocks before they can be joined... now that they have seen them spread together like this, they have renewed energy to keep at it. I'm thinking we might weigh the finished quilt just for curiosity... it's going to be heavy... once in bed with these huge beauties on top to keep you warm... you might never be able to get out!

Someone snook in a Christmas project... two in fact. She decided to get ahead... there are a few ladies working on Christmas projects actually. My Very Own Quilt Shop had new Christmas fabrics delivered and more are being delivered every week... with the weather being so hot and summery lately it seems crackers... ha ha ha crackers!!! did you get the joke?? ha ha ha

Tuesday Stitching

Early Sue's finger is all better, thank goodness... she's back to stitching at full speed. She spent the day piecing her Kaleidoscope blocks together... rotary cutting is still a little painful so I polished my halo and did that little job for her.. don't the blocks look beautiful!

Krafty Karen also spent the day pieceing her Kaleidoscope blocks, this Clarice Cliffe fabric is amazing cut the Stack-n-Whack way, each block is stunning. Karen chose this lovely 'rich custard' coloured fabric in which to set the blocks.. I love it!

Lovely Lyn had joined her blocks together in 4's. Each set was made into a separate sandwich and, once Lyn had used her walking foot to stabilize the sashing parts, she did free-motion quilting in each Kaleidoscope.. it was brilliant and and looked like flowers on the back... lots of oooo's and ahhhh's when we flipped the quilt over

Rose got so much done... remember this fabric was destined to become a cushion... it's a gorgeous lap quilt sandwich now. Rose played with fabrics from my very own quilt shop, placing them in different orders around the quilt centre. We decided on the cream 1/2" inner border followed by 1 1/4" red with white dots then the daring blue for 5"... you have to admit it's a stunning quilt now! It's all pinned ready for quilting as soon as Rose gets back from her holidays.

Monday Stitching

Here we have Geoff's 6-Minute, 10 Minute Block quilt top, he was able to finish it for homework because he's been borrowing his wife's sewing machine... hmmm. Isn't it stunning with the bright golden-yellow next to the black inner border... fabulous. Geoff made a sandwich and started on the quilting.

Jean Bean continued to draw the template lines and cut up her project so that she could sew it all together again... I guess a none-quilter could think we were all balmy but... it's what we like to do. Jean had to be quite careful stitching these little twisted bocks together as each side is on the bias... she's very skilled though, so it wasn't a problem!

Bev set up a little production line. These tiny Log Cabin blocks, plus another 6, will be the front and back panel of her food processor/mixer cover... which is an upside-down Big Quilted Panel Bag really. I shared just a few trusty fudging tips to help Bev with her accuracy with the little logs, which paid off and actually speeded up the process.

Judith, as you saw in the previous post, finished her Hexagon quilt and has started another. The colours for this one are guided by a football team strip (I have no clue as to which team) The sashing strips were not lining up as they should have but, after a little spot of investigating, we found that the needle was still set to the middle, just 3 thread too wide for the scant 1/4" seam... That's all it takes, 2 or 3 threads can throw your pattern out.

Pam's picnic hamper will be the talk of the village very soon. With one of these beautiful little quilts inside as the base and another to cover the goodies inside, usually scones that I am reliably informed are delicious... Pam added Faux Piped binding (the tutorial is no longer available) it was a little fiddly but very well worth it. After class Pam purchased new fabrics ready to start another quilt... it's going to be bright!

Judith's Hexagons Quilt

Judith's brand new and quite antique already Hexagon quilt is finished. She is absolutely delighted with the way it turned out... and rightly so eh! 30 years in the making and now she gets to use it on her sofa, I bet she gets very distracted looking at all the memories she's stitched into this beauty!

Friday Quilt Club

I have a few of these baby quilt panels for sale in my very own quilt shop. Maid Marion offered to make up a quilt for display to show how lovely they could look. Helen spotted a little quilty fun was to be had so she quilted one too. See how the different binding colours make a difference, the blue bits in the picture stand out with the blue-er binding and pink with... the pink, cool eh! Helen's baby quilt will be gifted, Marion's is for sale, can you guess where?

Joan The Shop has finished quilting her Jennie Rayment 'Twiddle and Fiddle' quilt. She put a zip into a piece of lovely green fabric and is turning this bright beauty into a cushion... The trouble is... she wants to make another, exactly the same .. but different and we can't remember how to do it... the workshop was in September 2010.. we've both had lots of sleeps since then!

Helen has started to join bits of her heirloom quilt together and to add the little fiddly details, actually Maid Marion has too... just look at the work involved... we were all wishing that the ladies had thought to keep a log of the hours they have worked... not to mention the money they've spent, to make the blocks. This is a mammoth project... no doubt never to be repeated! For now we just amaze at the fabulous work Marion and Helen are doing, they have done a lot of improvising so each quilt will be totally unique.

Dotty Maureen came to Quilt Club armed with her Bernina 440 QE and the little tin that contains her BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) she had been marking the centre of her wedding gift quilt over the last few meetings and now it was time to get stitching... this is the back of the quilt... didn't Dotty do well!!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

A Toot toot toot moment for Gail, can you believe that this is only Gail's second quilt?... I would forgive you for arguing that point but... yes indeed... one small Railfence table runner followed by a double bed size Pineapple Blossom quilt trimmed with spicy-red fabric and seasoned with Faux Piped Binding.. it is absolutely STUNNING... as usual, my photo doesn't begin to show how stunning it is...

... just look at the "WOW" backing she made, every little piece of black and white fabric was used up with gorgeous red fabrics... you should be able to see the fabulous quilting Gail did from this picture of the back... What a Toot Toot Toot it is... we all love it! Gail made it for gifting... she never mentioned whether it would, still, be gifted, ha ha ha

Jolly Jo had finished piecing all of her Kaleidoscope blocks at home and had 'popped' into my very own quilt shop to choose sashing fabric. She spent her Quilt Cave day piecing the rows together, taking very good care to line everything up perfectly, see the corner stones, they surely help line things up you know... ask Jo.

Wendy Wizz, started her Ricky Timms Convergence quilt top only last Wednesday... she finished it Thursday... wondered what she was going to do with it as it's quite small... she thought of a great gifting idea and... already it is almost finished... just the binding to do... unless Wendy changes her mind and comes up with another cunning plan!

Jean Bean came to play. Remember she chose the fabrics for a stunning Square Dance wreath on Monday?... she had them all stitched together and, once she added the red border fabric and made the template, she was able to start cutting it all up again, ha ha ha... Jean was very impressed at how simple the process is for such a stunning result, I told her it was easy, I don't make anything difficult so I can't each anything difficult.. ha ha ha

Tuesday Stitching

The ladies arrived in very good spirits, it's amazing how a little sunshine can put a spring in your step isn't it... Lovely Lyn must have had a boost of energy even when it was cold because she finished piecing all of her Kaleidoscope blocks... don't they look fabulous!... every one is stunning and very different. Lyn's in the process of joining the 16 blocks into four 4's, she will quilt each quarter and use the apartment method to join them together.

Early Sue's progress is a little slower... this provides solid evidence that it really isn't a good idea to slice the end of your finger off... just in case you were wondering! The wound is healing well so Sue was able to get back to her stitching... we went over a few piecing tips to help with the accuracy, especially for the centres...  that's where the action is... the blocks are looking great..

Rose first joined us with 4 lovely fat quarters of London fabric and had decided to make a cushion. She's done patchwork and quilting in the past and wanted to brush up on her skills... she brushed them very well indeed and got them all excited again... the cushion has grown and is now going to be a lap quilt, he he he. a perfect example of PMS (Pleasing My Self) Next time she will add the borders and make a sandwich... then we can brush up her quilting too, let's hope it gets all excited too!.

Jenny's arrived good and early so that she could use the tables to make a sandwich. I have the ten tables and they're great for making sandwiches on but they seem to always have folk using them, you know.. for sewing! ha ha ha... This is a lap size quilt though so it easily fit and Jenny was able to tape it down, pin it to death and make great progress on her quilting. For larger sandwiches we can use the tables at Caverswall Village Hall on Wednesdays, you can too, just email or call me to book.

Giggly Gillian had resisted the temptation to continue piecing her Kaleidoscope blocks, she wants to finish this project first. Each of the six 25" squares has been quilted and trimmed... time to cut lots of strips then... 1 1/8" for the back strip and 1 3/4" for the top strip... press the 1 3/4" strip in half lengthways. Stitch the two strips to the first block, then the back to the back strip, flip the top strip over and stitch it down... done! ha ha ha... come on over and I will show you... it's much easier if I show you!

Monday Stitching

Judith continued quilting around her hexagons... doesn't it make the flowers pop up lovely... Judith had been rooting around in her bag of left over fabrics and came across the very magazine that got her started with making these hexagons, it was a Woman's Weekly dated from 1977, so this really is a brand new/antique quilt... he he he

Bev arrived with all of her 1" Logs cut precisely to size and was able to complete 5 Log Cabin Blocks during the class. She's making a cover for a kitchen appliance, really it will be an upside down bag, perfect for the job. It's going to be double sided so Bev needs 12 of these little beauties.

Jean Bean trimmed the crusts from her Railfence table runner, made the binding and stitched it in place. She put it to one side ready to be hand stitched at home... So that she could start a new project... She chose to make the Square Dance wreath quilt and, as you can see, it's going to be really dramatic and not at all seasonal.

Geoff has been busy at home.. since last week when he started these 6-10 Minute blocks... a few had to be re-done, hey ho... it happens to the best of us! He's hand stitching the Catheral window-y bits too so.. all that was left was to add the stunning borders... now doesn't that gold fabric in the second border just light up the quilt!

Friday Quilt Club

Barbie's baby quilt... not your regular colours for a new born baby but, when Mummy and Daddy are keen football supporters, baby might as well be brought up knowing who he will support! ha ha ha I forget which team it is but they are Red and White. Barbie needs 12 of these Ohio Star blocks, they will be joined with Double Hourglass blocks... at least that is the plan.

Marion and Helen have both taken a little holiday from their Heirloom quilt blocks. They needed a little break so they decided to quilt baby panels. Helen's chosen to do free motion quilting, this quilt is a gift for a new baby girl and Marion's quilting mock free motion (that's shapes, curves and waves using her walking foot). Marion's version will be on sale in My Very Own Quilt Shop as soon as it is finished.

Joan The Shop finished the hand stitching on this antique quilt (he he he, not a real antique just yet... sorry Joan)  Joan attended our Jenny Rayment workshop in September 2010... oh that was a fun day.... It's going to be made into a cushion ... with a zip!

New Sue wanted to complete her quilt top before she goes on her jolly holiday next Tuesday so she was racing against the clock. She added an inner 1" cream border followed by a 1/2" border of blu-ish fabric. After that it was a selection of bricks of different lengths to use up all the left over fabrics from making the centre... she just about managed to finish it

Joan The Shop wasn't very impressed with her very own free motion daisies but she knew that she wanted Daisies... so she changed the plan... just a little... She secured the wadding and backing fabric out of her way and added appliqué daisies instead... PMS (Pleasing My Self). Joan has a little reputation of adding appliqué to her quilts, right at the last minute... I wonder where the caterpillar will be hiding.

Stack - n - Whack Workshop

7 Ladies attended the very first ever workshop in my very own quilt shop. I've had many many classes  but this is the first workshop with everyone working on the same project... lots of fun... Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope is always exciting the first time it's done.

The ladies had been shopping before the workshop so we didn't need to use any time choosing.. which can take absolutely ages! They had to be brave and cut right through the middle of their pieces... remembering to breath! Then we cut the slices of the pattern repeats... a little more happy stress...

This is Jolly Jo's fabric, see she's carefully lining up her template piece of fabric on top of the main piece so she keeps the repeats good and even, this project requires 8 pattern repeats so, almost all of the strip gets used up. Each lady was advised to fit a brand new rotary blade to their rotary cutter.

 Once the 8 fabric strips are cut and pinned we proceed by cutting through all 8 layers at the very same time, so the blade needs to be good and sharp, Early Sue is pointing at her rotary cutter with it's newly replaced blade, just in case you hadn't seen it... A fresh blade makes a good clean cut on more than fabric! ask Sue!

This is Marisabel's first block. This is not stitched together in the picture. Most of the ladies laid out their sets of triangles so that they could see what designs they had created... that's to help them choose a background fabric...

Krafty Karen's first finished block... she had chosen to use the new Clarice Cliff fabric... what a fabulous fabric for this kind of project!

Lovely Lyn's first block... it's the same design as Jolly Jo's but in the different colour way, it looks quite lacy doesn't it...

Arty Janet's first block. She's chosen to use a different background fabric for each block, if you can't choose just use them all... great plan!

All the ladies found it very exciting opening their piles of triangles and we will see them progress though the next few weeks, at least I hope we will...

Giggly Gillian's first block, finished, stunning isn't it.

What a fabulous day... everyone went home happy... Everyone's blocks are turning out to be stunning... I think it might be a good idea to run another workshop for those who missed out this time. I've 3 ladies on my list... let me know if you wish to participate, only 6 can play!

Caverswall Quilt Cave

This is Shirley Lerly's quilt top... isn't it absoluuuutely lovely... Shirley's a meticulous patchwork piecer... she loves the precision, loves for all her junctions and points to be perfect and will not leave a seam if it hasn't worked out 'just so' or should I say 'just sew', ha!.. it might not be the way you work... that's why we are all allowed to practice PMS (Pleasing My Self)... She's had to stay very focussed to get all the pieces in the right order, the right way up with the fabrics in the right places, quite brilliant... time for borders now, starting with a crisp white....

This is Early Sue's Bento Box quilt top laying on the stage while she pieced together her backing fabric. Lovely fabrics purchased from My Very Own Quilt Shop, he he I still love to say that! Later we grabbed a few tables and made a sandwich so that Sue can start her quilting.. we talked about designs but I don't think Sue decided which to choose, next time....

Marisabel also used the stage to lay out her block rows, it's much easier to keep everything on track if you can lay your project out. She added all of her setting triangles and I'm quite sure she got it all stitched together, next round is the gorgeous inner, rich purple border followed by the focus fabric... it's going to be a stunner!

Helen made good use of the stage too... now the stage is small, these pictures were taken at different times... if we could fit all of these projects on the stage at the same time it would be called Caveswall Quilt Stage... ha ha ha. sorry, back to Helen.. she has completed enough blocks to be able to lay them out and give us an idea of how this quilt is going to look... Wow it's huge!... so much work has gone in to making the blocks, it's looking great but there's a long way to go yet...

Wendy, we've decided, needs to be called Wendy Wizz... Last week this stunning cushion was a bundle of fabrics, a table covered in pieces of paper with tiny fabric bits stitched to them.. This week a WOW cushion, please believe me... this picture doesn't even begin to show how beaytiful this cushion is! Wendy started a Ricky Timms Convergence project this week, I didn't get pictures though, darn!

Rowena joined us for the afternoon session. She's been working on this quilt top for a few years.. she mentioned 20!! I believe her you know... I have used some of the fabric in this quilt, I was given mine back in 1998 when I first started quilting!! Rowena decided it was high time she got on with it and quilted it. We helped her make a sandwich, just as soon as we finished talking about the beautiful blocks...