Dotty Maureen has kept herself busy over the holiday. Here are just two of her many projects. This is her paper-pieced Christmas Cactus all but the background colours are hand dyed fabrics, and you know from previous posts that when Dotty does hand dying it is for real... she's had blue, bright pink, red and green hands!
This is another Dotty project. The purples are a kind of suede feel fabric... lovely and soft. This pattern is from "Quilt in a Day" TV, it's called Orion's Star.
I need to re-name 'Normal Maureen' and call her 'Messy Maureen' he he he, she does like to have her stuff everywhere while she is working. Today we had to have the ladies use only one table each, so funny containing them! That's Dotty working opposite with those lovely bright yellows.
Gillian is now making her quilt with animal prints and beige. It wasn't her original plan, but once I saw her pile of lovely prints and a few metres of the beige from another bag.... he he he, I stepped in and she loved the idea! It's going to look very cool. grrrrrrrr...
here she's trimming up the 24 centre half square triangles using Dotty's brilliant ruler from Creative Grids.
This is Lizzie, back from her holidays in the USA. She went to a lovely quilt shop and to a Jo-Ann' fabric shop while she was there, lucky thing eh!... anyway, she's chosen to make her project in three shades of green, light, medium and dark, this project should be a calming one then eh! In this picture she is also trimming her 24 half square triangle centres.
Messy Maureen made 6 full blocks today, she was using the little Bernina 230 PE and has requested to use it again... at this week's Sunday class.... addicted???
How fabulous are these black & yellows? Dotty received them in a 'Sweet Treat' package that she signed up for. She never knows what will be in the package so it is a lovely surprise every time... Dotty might have to wear sunglasses to use this quilt! he he
Birte sent this photo, drunken snowmen... at least that's what she called it, I see her point! She says it was a very fast, paper pieced quilt. Like a lot of people, Birte wishes that the paper would just disappear once the block is done.. he he he. Birte, you could buy that wash off stuff you know? It is a bit (very) expensive but it dissolves in water.
I'm not really understanding why people are asking me for patterns to make scrappy crumb blocks... I promise you... you don't need patterns.... maybe is it because it is too easy?
All you do is take a few tiny scraps, any shape, and sew them together... nothing more...
after you've joined two, you trim/cut a straight line and sew on number 3 scrap to the unit, kind of 'log-cabin' style, but it really doesn't matter if you do it in a different way... no real rules...
as the block gets bigger you start to use strips....
if the scrap isn't long enough, don't worry, you can always sew on another bit to fill the gap...
you can see here that I had added tiny triangle bits to some corners, that's because the strips weren't long enough so I needed to fill... the resulting shape is a little wonky, this isn't a problem... trim it!
If I trim this particular block to the desired 9 1/2" I will have tiny thin strips on the edges... which complicates joining the blocks a bit...
here is a cunning trick, slash it in two, doesn't have to be level halves...
flip one side round and stitch it together again.. brings the whole thing closer to a square....
Next time I make a block, I'll take pictures of the process from 2 bits to 9 1/2" block, maybe that will help you see, it is all just too easy?
I had to cancel the first quilting class of 2010. I had everything stacked up by the door but as I went to load it all into the car it started to snow again, heavily. I haven't had to deal with snow for 15 years and I am a little afraid of driving when there's such thick ice on the road, so for safety, I cancelled... I'm sorry, because the ladies were really looking forward to getting back to a little stitchery. Not wanting to waste the day I cracked on with much needed housework, but not for the whole day... he he he. I worked on my crumb blocks! wooo hoooo... mindless sewing, perfect! I now have a total of 50 x 9 1/2" blocks completed and 25 others over half way done. That pile you see in the picture is all I have left of the tiny /small scraps, I have quite a large container of longer strips on the other side... hopefully I will do a little more later... yeeha!
Isn't this a little cutie?
When Bernina & Bambers gave me the 4 Aurora 440 QE machines to play with in classes, they also gave me this 230 Patchwork Edition. I was sewing with it yesterday, lovely! It is slightly smaller and lighter, obviously, but it has a lot going for it... especially this one. It is on promotion at the moment. So for the normal price you get extra stuff!! The free hands system, a 1/4" patchwork foot #57, a walking foot, the brilliant CFL light that stops any shadowing, the extension table is thrown it too... all at no extra cost!!...
This is the post card that I sent to Javhlan. She lives in Lisbon but was here in the UK over the holidays so she only just now got back home to find a lovely surprise waiting... Apart from a few stray threads, it seems to have survived the journey very well.
Here's another from our post card swap at the beginning of December. It was sent to Irene, in Lisbon from Ronny in Holland... Irene only received the card this week because she was also in Holland, with her family for the holidays.... what a lovely surprise to come home to.....Once again... Happy New Year.2010.... it feels good to be in it, doesn't it?
Dotty Maureen has kept herself busy over the holiday. Here are just two of her many projects. This is her paper-pieced Christmas Cactus all but the background colours are hand dyed fabrics, and you know from previous posts that when Dotty does hand dying it is for real... she's had blue, bright pink, red and green hands!
This is another Dotty project. The purples are a kind of suede feel fabric... lovely and soft. This pattern is from "Quilt in a Day" TV, it's called Orion's Star.
I need to re-name 'Normal Maureen' and call her 'Messy Maureen' he he he, she does like to have her stuff everywhere while she is working. Today we had to have the ladies use only one table each, so funny containing them! That's Dotty working opposite with those lovely bright yellows.
Gillian is now making her quilt with animal prints and beige. It wasn't her original plan, but once I saw her pile of lovely prints and a few metres of the beige from another bag.... he he he, I stepped in and she loved the idea! It's going to look very cool. grrrrrrrr...
here she's trimming up the 24 centre half square triangles using Dotty's brilliant ruler from Creative Grids.
This is Lizzie, back from her holidays in the USA. She went to a lovely quilt shop and to a Jo-Ann' fabric shop while she was there, lucky thing eh!... anyway, she's chosen to make her project in three shades of green, light, medium and dark, this project should be a calming one then eh! In this picture she is also trimming her 24 half square triangle centres.
Messy Maureen made 6 full blocks today, she was using the little Bernina 230 PE and has requested to use it again... at this week's Sunday class.... addicted???
How fabulous are these black & yellows? Dotty received them in a 'Sweet Treat' package that she signed up for. She never knows what will be in the package so it is a lovely surprise every time... Dotty might have to wear sunglasses to use this quilt! he he
