Tuesday 31 July 2012

Monday Stitching

 Penelope Baskerville finished all of the free motion quilting for both the font and the back of her Mat & Ruler Bag. She doesn't get to practice any free motion quilting at home and still manages to do great quilting... She's doing quilt-as-you-go for the ruler pocket now, it's looking really good!

Cynthia finished up her lap quilt top by adding the final border strips, she's making this one for her very own self to use. Next week she'll be needing to make a sandwich so that she can get the quilting done, this quilt needs to be finished in time for the cooler weather... which starts?... right now, apparently!
 New Sue joined pieces of fabric for the backing of her quilt and made a sandwich, all by her very own self. There are only 4 tables on this side of the classroom but they were just about big enough... the other side of the classroom has more tables but they were full of quilters... laughing a lot this meeting!
Jean Bean continued piecing her most splendid Kaleidoscope Stack-n-Whack blocks, she needs only 2 more whole blocks then 10 triangular halves for the setting triangles... I see that is rather obvious to you... so I didn't need to say it... he he he Of course Jean will mix up the blocks better than in the photo... we were just counting.
Longport Linda is making, what she calls, 30 Minute Blocks... we almost had to sew our sides up as they were splitting... we were laughing so much... it was as Linda realised that she had cut up and used Afternoon Judith's green fabric for the Cathedral-ly Window-y bits, instead of her own... It's not funny really is it! ha ha ha, oh we found it tremendously funny.

Toot Toot Toot for PM Pam... she finished this Tumbler quilt with carefully made Faux Piped Binding which trims it off perfectly. It's quite a long quilt and no-one was tall enough to hold it up enough for a smooth picture, but I'm sure you can see how lovely it is. Pam's making 6 scatter cushions to go with this beauty. Each one will be different but using a selection of the fabrics in the quilt.

Afternoon Judith had finished her quilting so it was time to accurately trim the crusts off this baby play mat (quilt), make the binding and get it stitched into place. Trimming is a job that needs to be done precisely really otherwise the edges will be quite wavy, which is quite fine if you want your edges wavy!!!

Saturday 28 July 2012

Arty Wall Hanging Workshop

The Ladies enjoyed a great day. Jane is quite lovely and her work very much inspired everyone to dive in. This workshop will be repeated on Saturday 6th October.
Look what they did...











Friday 27 July 2012

Friday Quilt Club

Late Sue's been making this block of the month quilt, from the Popular Patchwork Magazine, for a long time, it's the very nature of the game with a block of the month quilt, he he he... 12 blocks take at least 12 months you see, even I can do the math on that!... Sue's pleased to have it as a sandwich so she can get on with the quilting.
One downside of having quilting class in somebody's very own quilt shop is that people disappear into the shop to brows the goodies... I have lots of goodies, that's where Joan The Shop was when I took the camera round to snap blog photos... that's why this Kaleidoscope quilt has been piled up at the side of the machine... tut tut Joan... was it King Tut??? oh funny ha ha
Helen, on the other hand, is on a mission to finish her Heirloom quilt so doesn't waste her time shopping... She stood over me, my very own self, while I trimmed up the blocks to the exact size required by the book... can you imagine what would have happened if my rotary cutter would have slipped... oh boy... I was under much pressure... 'specially as Helen stood over me!! She's getting sooooo excited now!
This very pleasant lady often comes to my very own quilt shop to purchase necessary things (well, it is a shop!). We have fun discussing what she can do with her projects, what fabrics might look great etc... This quilt was no exception, we pondered together about possible fabrics and quilting and she went home with a few, different ideas. I asked her to bring the finished quilt in to show to me... In it came... of course it needed to be photographed and blogged about!!! See My Mum, Gwynneth pointing out the lovely decorative stitches!

Thursday 26 July 2012

Jolly Jo's Quilt?

Well, not really a quilt but it is quilted... Tis a Tea Cosy. Not just any Tea Cosy mind... It could be a prize winning one... yes indeedy! Jo made this Tea Cosy as her entry for an upcoming WI competition. The pieces are tiny in the basket block, not even an inch finished! Let's hope the judges appreciate the work Jo put into making such a lovely entry, I know I do...

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Caverswall Quilt Cave

I hope you have a comfy seat and a drink.. there are loads of pictures this time, I've excelled my very own self. This is Jolly Jo's Kaleidoscope quilt top, you might be thinking it's finished? it very well could have been but Jo has decided to give it two more borders, inspired by Joan The Shop's little red bit!
 Chris The Foot added the two border to her Kiddie play mat... translation :- Baby Quilt but please don't tell anyone that I told you! In the picture she's measuring the length for her border fabrics through the centre of her quilt... what a good student! This way Chris will get a perfectly flat quilt play mat. We decided on some quite ingenious quilt designs... no pressure Chris, I can't wait to see em stitched!

Annie Pie's Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope quilt sandwich, in the making... Dotty Maureen was helping out as usual... she's like our resident pinner, bless! They were chattering away as they pinned and sounded like they were enjoying themselves... even with back ache! he he
 Now lookie here... Posh Lizi has been making blocks for this absolutely beautiful quilt since time began... OK I exaggerate a little... but she has been making them for a long time... Working full time made sure of that. But now the blocks are all finished, all perfect sizes and looking stunning laid out on the stage. This will be quilted in three separate rows and then joined, apartment-ly... There's a little work to be done for piecing the backing, but I do feel a sandwich coming on!
 Chatty Cathy will have 54 of these little Log Cabin blocks, once they are all finished. She's planning on them all being complete by next week so we will be able to play with the block placement... oh so many to choose from with the log Cabin blocks, no matter their size, every quilt is quite lovely 
 Marilla joined us for her first time. She's a hand piecer, and does the tiniest little stitches, she sews quite quickly too, all these were made in the one session. This Hexagon project is homework given by Barbara Chainey from one of the workshops Marilla attended... Now that My Mum Gwynneth saw Marilla's Hexagons, she wants to make some too, even though they are very small!
 Back to the stage and we see... Wendy's Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope quilt top coming along very nicely indeed... it's a big one... the blocks are set On Point, as you see... with half blocks for the setting triangles, they look great don't they! There are quite a lot more sashing strips to be added yet... but this is Wendy, it might well be complete by next week.

Shirley Lerly is getting brilliant centres on her pin-wheels... a little, but very important, top tip that I shared with Lerly, right at the beginning of making these blocks has proved to be very useful indeed. She loves precise piecing and takes great care to achieve it... that must be where Posh Lizi gets it from, what a wonderful gift to pass on to your very own daughter!
 Dotty Maureen's Witch quilt top needs a backing next... no backing, no sandwich. She wanted to use up all the fabric she had left over. Dotty switched pieces round several times in an effort to make do but, no matter which way they went, there just wasn't enough fabric... Dotty went home to root in her stash... there must be some piece of fabric she could use... and if there isn't... I know where she could go to purchase a little bit of purple... I have lovely purples in my very own quilt shop, which is just around the corner from Dotty's house!!


Oh look what a lovely stage there was at Caverswall Village Hall for most of the day, our ladies are making the most amazing projects, don't you think?

New Sue's Quilt and a Bag

Toot Toot Toot for New Sue, finishing another stunning quilt!! The smaller block pattern can be found here, take a look around this website too... there's lots of information and loads of great blocks...all free! 
The quilt pattern is in one of the Jelly Roll books but Sue didn't really want it to be as big ... that's why she made the blocks with this free pattern for 12" blocks, the one in the book called for 15" blocks. What makes this quilt extra stunning is the setting... it looks like the little red squares have been pieced into the border... but they haven't!

Sue made this bag using a free pattern from the Moda Bake Shop, click here to see it . It also calls for a Jelly Roll but Sue purchased yardage from my beautiful Batik fabrics...  Sue's made two of these bags, they're very easy. We had a workshop recently for making them and plan to do another quite soon. It's possible to make and finish the bag in the one day workshop.

Tuesday Stitching

Krafty Karen finished quilting both halves of her Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope quilt so it was time to figure out how to join the halves together... a little tricky this time because the backing fabric wasn't quite big enough to do it the regular way, I spread it out on my very own quilt shop counter to make decisions... looks rather lovely amongst my fabrics and notions eh, we sorted it, eventually

Lovely Lyn is making her first quilt set diagonally. She was having a little trouble getting her head round the setting triangles... couldn't understand how/why the triangles needed to be stitched onto the end of the rows so... I pinned her block rows onto my fishy Kaleidoscope quilt, which happens to be hanging on the wall of my very own classroom at the moment, and... the penny dropped immediately! Lyn's quilt centre will be sandwiched and quilted without the borders, they will be made, quilted and added afterwards.
New Sue finished yet another beautiful quilt... I'm thinking that sleep isn't much on her agenda... actually... it could be the fact that it's been raining too much to play golf ! he he he. So, this quilt is having a pieced backing made for it to use up the left over fabrics from the Moda Layer Cake that Sue purchased from My Very Own Quilt Shop last week. 
Did I mention I have my very own quilt shop? he he he. The shelves we put in on Sunday are almost full and new fabrics should be arriving any day now...
My next post will be toot toot tooting Sue's latest finish.

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Classroom Production

Morning Judith's lap quilt is finished and ready for gifting... Toot Toot Toot... There's a definite hint of a summer garden with these colours, don't you think? No weeds here though... It's a very simple design and with all the blocks the same, Judith was able to chain piece them. She started another project during the morning, well... eventually she did... there was a lot of pondering to be done and there were decisions to be made, more on that next week.

Afternoon Judith continued quilting her frog play mat... she's echoing the flowers and frogs and 'Ditch Hopping' the background fabrics, actually, Judith is quite accurate with her stitching in the ditch, it must be the frogs that are hopping.... ta daaaa! OK, it made me laugh... There's a bit of a green theme going on in this post...
Jean Bean's Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope blocks are absolutely gorgeous, each one so different...  as Jean puts it  they're "Splendid... " She's very happy with the way the blocks are turning out and as she finishes each one, we all know about it as she shouts out "It's Perfect!" the centres match up perfectly and splendidly!
Liberated piecing... made using shirt fabrics purchased in a local charity shop. It's the first quilt produced by a rather lovely lady who comes into my very own quilt shop, just to have a look around... a dangerous thing to do! She repeatedly told me how the quilt wasn't very good as she didn't really know what she was doing... I say... "I LOVE IT!!!" It's Liberated piecing at it's best, the Gal's a genius... people do workshops and buy books to learn how to do this kind of patchwork!
I hope she keeps it up! See the two blocks in the bottom right corner?... upside down? No... it's quirky design!!!!

Monday 23 July 2012

Quilty Quarters

Slow progress... but progress all the same. 3 blocks are quilted and that's a whole lot more than the '0 bits quilted' that this quilt had before!! ha!
I had intended to have a full stitchy day but, we had sunshine and strong wind so...I washed quilts, I had the brightest most scrumptious looking garden in town and it wasn't because of any flowers...We built, varnished, delivered and fixed the new shelves ready for the new fabrics coming in this week in My Very Own Quilt shop too... all set for another fun week then... All of the fabrics you see in this quilt are availabubble in My Very Own Quilt Shop... I thought you might very well like to know that, I've got lots of lovely purples!

Sunday 22 July 2012

Saturday Stitching

 Annie Pie had finished the top of her Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope quilt. She decided to use the left over fabrics for a pieced backing... it's the strip of 5" squares you see to the left there... it will be framed with green fabrics and... if she finds time to get the back finished... there will be sandwich making on Wednesday.
 Annie Pie also worked on her white 10-Minute Block quilt, no picture of that but.... once the decisions were made on the white borders, Annie got out a third project... her beautiful Bargello, determined to start quilting it... she followed the waves up and down... Once Annie got started she said... "It's easy, why was I afraid of doing the quilting?"... no idea Annie, I told you it was easy! 
Sheila spent an hour or so quilting all over the pieces for the front and back of her Mat and Ruler bag, they're great for practising on, a good size and you can cover it with pockets to keep your art work a secret... if you want to! ha ha
Sheila then made all the binding edges on the many quilted pockets she wants for her ruler collection... oh, how we quilters love to collect all sizes of rulers!!

Saturday 21 July 2012

Friday Quilt Club

 Dotty Maureen's Witch quilt top, finished and ready to be made into a sandwich, soon. I guess that will happen at Caverswall Quilt Cave where there's more room and plenty of tables... and more people to help with the pinning too... a bonus for bigger quilts for sure. Then again she might be making a sandwich with her Kaleidoscope Stack-n-Whack blocks... yes... the ones she started at the workshop this week, Thursday... she's finished piecing them all and even purchased sashing yesterday... I'm not sure Dotty sleeps at all... I know there's no turbo on her sewing machine... I already looked for one... he he he.
Here's another Dotty quilt, started this week and already finished up to the point of sandwich making... she's going to be very busy quilting over the next few days isn't she!

I should have called this post Dotty Maureen's quilt tops I think. These photos were taken good and early... right at the start of our Quilt Club hours... the camera never got touched again until the end of the day when it went back into my Tea Bag to be taken home... sorry ladies, your projects are all lovely and well worthy of blogging about... maybe I should get you all to take your own pictures eh....  I even tried threatening My Very Own Self with a pointy finger and saying "You'll be fired if you don't take more pictures" but it didn't work... he he he

Friday 20 July 2012

Kaleidoscope Workshop

 Photos from the 3rd Stack-n-Whack Kaleidoscope Quilt workshop held in My very own classroom at My very own quilt shop...

I'm sure you will be very impressed indeed!