Sewing With Left Overs

Apparently, I uploaded these pictures back in July. I found them in a daft post. 

Most of these fabrics were the little strips I end up with after cutting my Angie's Six Packs. You see, from one 6" Width Of Fabric I can cut seven 6" squares. 6 x 7 = 42".  Most fabrics are 43 to 44 inches wide so that's why I get little strips that are all 6" long. 

I'd seen a quilt on T'Internet which used the Quarter Log Cabin as a centre for a larger Quarter Log Cabin block... as usual, when I tried to find the picture again, I couldn't... So, from memory, I proceeded to make red fabric Quarter Log Cabin units. I used a fabric sample pack that  a rep gave to me for the centre/starting squares,... They are evil folk those fabrics Reps... they tempt me with things I don't need!!

Followed by the other Quarter Log Cabin strips in blues, to which I added more from my many blue scraps. 

I still had a lot of red strips though, I think the red Six Packs are the most popular, I certainly cut a lot of them! I did start joining them together end to end to make long sashing strips but I didn't like the way it was looking so I decided to join them in strip sets... which I sliced up to make 'bitty' sashing. It looks better doesn't it... they aren't squares though, just random rectangles.

They took ages to piece but I'm pleased with the sashing.

 I went around the edge for a bitty border too. 

That red bitty border got framed with lots of blue strips. 

I found lots of red left overs from making posh cushions for my Mother In Law, so I set about making Flying Geese, every one has been made the traditional way... cutting the individual triangles I mean as the fabrics were only small bits.

Lick-etty-split we jump to an end picture... Free Motion quilting on this one... what I love about a busy scrappy quilt is the freedom to practice Free Motion quilting... You can't really see it, so it doesn't matter how I go! 

Especially if you use a busy fabric on the back!!

That's a Top Tip!!

Fabulous and finished

All made from left over fabrics...

And a good lot of my Brazilian fabric collection was used for the backing!

Toot toot toot.

Stitching News

Only a small class for the last one of this year but it was a pleasant day, except for the mask wearing that is, what a palava it is.

Deb got all her blocks joined together so she was able to make a fabulous piece for the backing and made good use of the spare table to make her sandwich. A big job over sewing prevention season now... the quilting! This is only Deb's second project, the fist was a table runner but she's keen and will do a great job.

Cheryl had a lot of circles to sew around, thank goodness for the Juki DX7 and it's hover foot... makes applique so much easier, especially circles...

The book is Organic Applique so, armed with a picture and a pair of scissors, Cheryl planned her little trees and branches. Some of us would be challenged without strict instruction... not Cheryl!

While the other ladies got on with their sewing and in between questions and helping, I was able to make a good dent in hand stitching this binding... it's a huge quilt and I'm sure it's 3 miles round. About 1 mile left to do now.

This is an 'Eye Spy' quilt. A shop sample that I got made up to the sandwich stage during the Cromford retreat. It's now Finally,  aaaaaalmost quilted so that's a new one for you to be inspired by in the new year.

Another commissioned project is on the design wall...

More on this later though, I hope!

Posts might be a bit short on pictures now. Sewing prevention season is working it's magic here.

Stitching News

 It's full on Sewing Prevention Season now so the customer pictures might dwindle off!

Shirley (not Sheila) finished her gifting quilt Toot toot toot!! What a fabulous finish it is too. When we were thinking about the binding originally, the idea was to use all of the colours randomly placed. Then Shirley though the red would be best. Once the crusts were trimmed off though, the colours didn't look right. Black looked a bit, black! Sometimes, Faux Piped Binding is the perfect way to go!

The back shows of the fabulous quilting and the giant block in the centre ties this project together. Toot toot toot toot, for the back also. This quilt will be gifted today, it will, for sure, be a winner!

Di had a fabulous and finished quilt to hold up too. This is the 4 little pram quilts, all joined into one, that Di has been working on recently. Joining things apartment-ly is brilliant method for all sorts on situations...

It made a wacky backing too... 

Toot toot toot Di, it is fabulous.

Now this is naughty of me, I can't remember which customer bought this in to show me. I remember she was chuffed with it. Loved the quilting stitch she chose, was excited to be gifting it too... but I can't quite get my old memory in gear to put a face to the maker of this lovely quilt. It still is a fabulous finish so toot toot toot for it. Please let me know if it is yours? 

Update... It is Edna's... sorry Edna.

My shop, as it does every time we hit sewing prevention season, was very quiet so I made up another Coiled Fabric pot. The wrapping of the coil is a good TV evening job, so that had already been done. That's another pressie ticked off the to do list.

Another quiet shop day gave me chance to quilt this Eye Spy shop sample. Just a bit of ditch hopping but it was fun to be able to sew. I'm kind of planning to get the binding on, but there's a class in today so that might be a job for tomorrow now.

My shop will be closed from 2pm Tuesday 21st December until Saturday 8th January.

Stitching News

 

Shirley came to play. She needed to purchase just what she needed for some Faux Pipped Binding to finish this quilt. Can you see the fabulous quilting? This is a favoured design by many of my customers and students, so easy!

Deb's has been stripping for ages... she needed ten strip sets and each one had 4 fabrics... that's a lot of straight lines and great practice for the scant quarter inch patchwork seam. This week she was able to perfectly press all those strip sets and chop them all up again! You can see the pattern coming together nicely. It's the Cats On The Fence design, but with Deer, no cats.

Oh My Goodness!

We are all watching Cheryl, and all the fun she's having, while making this quilt top with great interest. It's from the book Organic Applique... Yes, of course it is availabubble in my very own shop as are all those fabrics, Ha! It's so different isn't it? 

Fabulous & Finished

 Lots of projects have been finished recently. Almost everyone is saying that 'Next Year' they will start festive projects much sooner!
I never heard that before did I?? ha!

Our Pam's delightful Festive gifting stockings are fabulously finished, Toot toot toot. Pam has quilted lots of the tiny details so these are extra special and they will be loved. They might have started of as  run of the mill Stocking Panels but Pam has worked her magic on them.

All those tiny folded triangles for the Prairie Points have been given a new home. This is a very special Secret Santa gift, I'm surprised Suzie can give it away! It's a fabulous, pretty fast, finish so toot toot toot Suzie! 

Princess Jackie's granddaughter designed this quilt, sort of all by her very own self, the girl has talent eh! All Jackie had to do was follow the instructions given... I think the granddaughter is about 8 or 9 years old so the instructions might have been a little bit vague.

I'm not sure, but I think this is the back. Jackie quilted a rabbit and some leaves and lot's of beautiful things, like flowers in the borders. If you click for a closer look you might just make them out. Toot toot toot Jackie... tooting for an almost finished and fabulous, even thought there's a tad more stitching needed for the binding as we won't see it again.

This extremely cute sheep quilt belongs to Rose, soon to be Granny Rose... I'm pretty sure the new baby will be well supplied by hand made lovely-ness for ever. The dog is modelled on the real one, how cute is that! Toot toot toot Rose, a fabulous finish and all in very good time too.

Just in the nick of time, Fiona can breath a sigh of relief as her Table Runner is no longer causing trouble.... It is not only fabulous It Is totally finished and looks great on it's new table. Toot toot toot-etty-toot Fiona!

Stitching News

 Do you remember me making this cushion? It's no big deal if you don't remember really, as it was back in November 2017, ha!

Lots of my customers made a Festive Bunting Cushion of their very own after seeing this one. This week Suzie decided to make another one. By the time she had chosen and prepared her background pieces and folded all the tiny Prairie Points (pile under little green arrow), it was time to go home!

Jan's First quilt sandwich! It's a good size as it is and Jan chose to make it smaller than the pattern suggested. She's only made a Table Topper before so quilting this will be her Sewing Prevention Season challenge. She has a Juki DX7 now, so it will all be fine.

Shirley very proudly held up her fabulous and finished Dinosaur quilt. Although the pattern is made up of traditional Log Cabin blocks with Quarter Log Cabin centres... can you see that? This pattern has been made up by Sheila, all by her very own self... mathemisms included.

Dinosaurs leave big footprints don't they!!!

What a fabulous addition to the back of this gifting quilt...

Toot toot toot Sheila.

Stitching News

 We've had quite a rush on sandwiches just lately...

Pam came to make her very large and quite stunning sandwich, it is larger than all my tables pushed together so we pinned it in two stages. This is going to need big arm muscles to quilt... Our Pam will look like Popeye when it's done!! 

Fiona was so relieved to be getting her binding sewn on to this festive table topper. It has been a real challenge for her as none of the little panels were printed straight enough on the fabric. It's almost there now, just a bit of hand stitching on the back.

All Day Di made 4 little pram quilts with Winnie The Pooh character fabrics a while ago. They were a perfect hit for when baby arrived. She soon grew out of them though, baby not Di. No problem we decided... Apartment joining comes in handy for all types of situations. All Di had to do was unpick the original binding from all four little quilts and the rest was easy... what a great idea!! Joined up apartment-ly with some lovely fresh binding fabric.

My Mum Gwynneth finished her festive gifting cushions. 

How cute are they!

Both have been made from kits, available to order from my very own shop...

Both have a hidden zip in the back too.

Toot toot toot Mum, two fabulous and finished projects!

Stitching News

Don't tell her that I told you about this... but ha ha ha ha! Bev asked me for quilting ideas. This is her first quilt and she wanted to try something different after the shadow quilting on the Rail Fence rails. I suggested little tree shapes, her fabrics have trees on them so it would look really good... 
Bev drew one tree onto a piece of paper, cut it out then stitched around the template, to see whether she liked this method...
Yes she did, she held up the quilt and said, as she looked at the front side,
" Oh yes, look how good it looks..." 

"Look on the back" says I, "the quilting shows up great on the back"

One Festive Cup Coaster... she didn't notice the machine working harder to quilt through the extra layers! Good job Bev has a seam ripper! We only laughed a lot!

Number two Tomte for Farmer Lynda... she discovered a very good way of quilting the hat part without stopping to tie off the threads. We've all seen this little fellow pop into the shops now and lots of social media stuff... maybe we set a trend!!!

Rose continued working on her baby gifting project. 

There's a lot of quilting still to be done but there's no rush. 

Little round bits need Steady Eddie type stitching.

Shirley made a great backing for this sandwich, you will see that soon as this quilt will be finished lick-etty-split... It's a special Christmas Gifting quilt.

Christabelle made a sandwich with the most delicious fabric on the back. She pattern matched it very carefully... sometimes that is just the ticket, even though it can be a little tricky...

A few days later Chris sent this picture of her quilting in progress. My word that looks professional! but it's all been done by Chris on her Juki... all by her very own self and we are ALL Very impressed!

Fabulous & Finished

 Two for one...

New Sue made this lovely quilt. She's made the design before but in a different colourway. It's a Jelly Roll friendly pattern, I think from a Jelly Roll book, which just means that all the little squares were two and a half inches cut, with the addition of the Snowball blocks.

It's going to be gifted to a very lucky lady

It has an absolutely beautiful Art Gallery fabric on the back that was a perfect co-ordinator to Sue's quilt top fabrics. It shows up the lovely quilting too.

Toot toot toot Sue, a fabulous finish, as usual!

With so many small bits left over Sue was able to make this lovely cushion to go with the quilt. Simple and very accurate diagonal line quilting, Perfect really, we do love a straight line!

A perfectly hidden zipped backing finished it off just right.

More toot toot toots Sue, fabulous and finished must have a fanfare!