Quilt Tops

Both of the next two quilt tops belong to Norma. She's a bit of a character... absolutely loves sewing but doesn't enjoy too much faffing to get accuracy. She almost always starts new projects with gusto. I help her to plan a project and all goes well... until she's left to get on with it! 

Norma declared that she wanted to make Log Cabin Blocks with her quilt show loot of Batik Fat Quarter Bundles. Mathemisms were done (by my very own self) and a few tester blocks were made in class... all good! Norma took the project to our recent retreat to continue making them.

 I'm not quite sure what was in the air at Cromford? (actually I do know, but my lips are sealed) All of Norma's Log Cabin blocks ended up different sizes, varying between 7" and 8 1/2", they also turned into Court House Steps! Seam allowances were the culprits... How on earth would she get the blocks joined together?... We did it though... Back at the shop we added sashing strips of various widths with a beautifully co-ordinating Batik fabric... Wider strips at one corner (bottom left here) migrating to thinner sashing strips at the top right... very quirky and now it's all sewn together it looks like it was the plan all along eh! 

I showed you the start of this quilt on a previous post... see how the 4-Patch units look great as rectangles? Norma didn't quite have enough blue sashing fabric, she only had 2 Fat Quarters! but we found a very close matching blue Batik in my shop... so that's another quilt top rescued and ready for sandwiching and quilting.

Somewhere on social media recently, I posted pictures of a newly arrived fabric collection from Moda . It's called Safari Life. My niece saw it and declared her love!! ha ha ha. Her Nannie was contacted (that's My Mum Gwynneth) and a quilt plan was hatched. Nannie/Mum has finished the top already... It's a Safari Life Charm Pack stitched together with borders added... simple and perfect for the commission! 

Stitching News

Kate finished her strippy tote bag... started at the first of Our Lynda's workshops a couple of Saturdays ago. Made with thin strips of fabric and a piece of Bosal's In R Form and finished off with very classy looking handles. Toot toot toot Kate, a fabulous and very useful finish.

Norma was wanting another quick to finish gifting project and had two Fat Quarter packs that she wanted to use up. Rectangular 4-Patch units looked great with the limited colour choice so that's what we did. When I say we... I cut, Norma stitched!

Christabelle is very happy to be coming to the end of making this quilt top. The templates included in the pattern were the wrong size... we had to do a lot of mathemisms and email writing to the designer... but Chris's made it to the end... see the extra little detail for the corners... just the quilting to do now.

Princess Jackie has already done loads of quilting on this fun gifting quilt. The applique detail has been poooophed with faux trapunto ... it's ever so tactile!!

Foundation Paper Piecing Workshop

The Foundation Paper Piecing technic can confuse people, at least at the beginning it usually does... I always get folk to do the end of the Oh Christmas Tree workshop first off, that's why all the tree bits are in the right place for my pictures.

Once all this tree stuff is done we move on to the Baubles, Foundation Paper Pieced Baubles... they are slow going and most ladies finished three by the end of the day... 

Homework? Of course... we need more Baubles!

Belated Stitching News

Carol started a new project... it will be for gifting and the pattern is from a magazine. We had a small ponderment over the construction instructions and decided there is a much easier way to do it... that happens a lot in my world... it will save Carol some fabric... provided we pondered correctly!

Lou Lou was very happy with the way her sample of the Feathers turned out... remember she made a cushion?.. so she started to kit up more feather blocks so there will be a quilt made, a sofa throw made with very snuggley, Moda Flannels.

Jean Hill finished her lovely little, no colour quilt top (disclaimer... it's for a baby to look at!! not to be used as a baby quilt! that would be rule breaking, tut tut) Lot's of folk are wanting these No Colour baby gifts... what's going on? 

Judy purchased on of my "I Spy" Six Packs... that's 30 x 6" squares of different and interesting fabrics. She didn't want to just join the squares together so she added the four patch units, that's a good idea! She now has enough "I Spy" squares left over to make another quilt. 

Also made with one "I Spy" Six Pack we have two smaller quilts, quite possibly for babies to look at!! ha ha ha. They're both totally toot toot toot-a-bubble as they are fabulous and finished.

Fiona Too made this cute little fellow with another Elizabeth Hartman pattern, Dogs In Sweaters...  Fiona is going to make him into a cushion, with a concealed zip to boot! 

This fabric, including a great panel, had only just been unpacked from the delivery when our Pam saw it, purchased it AND ran up this fabulous quilt top. Lick-etty-split she needed to make a quilt sandwich! When it's finished, Pam is allowing me to borrow it for a little while so you will be able to see in my shop

Princess Jackie has almost finished applique stitching and the embellishing of her latest fabulous quilt blocks... Having altered the size of the applique pictures by printing them at a lesser percentage, we had to fiddley-faff with the sashing mathemisms...

More posts to follow...
I know I'm very behind sharing my pictures... I lost them again!! I had to pop back to Lilly for more instruction. Then I lost my perfect purple camera too... only to find that in the bottom of my ruck sack wrapped up in my brolly!!!
There's no hope!

Sunday 3rd November

SUNDAY FUNDAY SEWDAY REMINDER
Have you booked your place for our upcoming Sunday Sewday at Checkley Village Hall on
3rd November?  9:30am - 4:30pm

We will be treated to a fabulous menu that is going to be just perfect for this beautifully colourful, and rather chilly, Autumn weather...

The menu...
Breakfast Bars
Hot Chocolate with optional Rum splash
****
Lobby (A local delicacy... Beef and Vegetable Stew)
with Crusty Bread
****
followed by a perfect (optional!) dessert of
Sticky Toffee Pudding

****

Tea and coffee available all day.

We are continuing with our collecting of all sorts of things to donate to the Refuge. 

They have changed the name from Arch to Glow... but it's still the same, and they still need our 'stuff'

Any new toiletries and sanitary items. Towels etc.

Good quality clothes and shoes, suitable for women, children and young people.

New toys would be great too... there's a long list so please click here for more information

Lynda's Strippy Tote Workshop

I think it is fair to say that everyone enjoyed their workshop with Lynda. It was a chatty and quite noisy workshop, which is always a good sign! At times it sounded like a sweat shop with all the machines stitching straight lines at the very same time. Below are pictures of the Totes in progress and a couple of finished ones... complete with little inner purses.

We have a long waiting list for this workshop so I've scheduled one for January 18th (which is already fully booked!) and another for 15th February... I'll keep adding dates for this fabulous and fun workshop until you have all had a go.... How's that for customer service!!

Michelle's Quilt Top

Michelle My Belle is working on a commission quilt. She always meticulously plans her projects. All fabric choosing and supply calculating is worked on and noted in a little book... all discussed with her clients.

 Michelle's customer is very happy so far, and no wonder... Michelle popped in to get her backing fabrics and wadding for this lovely little quilt top, so I asked permission for this piccy... I do that for you!! 

Retreating

It seems such a long time ago that we were immersed in fun, frolics and relaxation... but only three weeks has passed by. I hit the ground running when we got home... that happens to most people after a holiday or break doesn't it. It's like you need a week off to recover from the week off!

I took a lot of sewing projects with me... a dress to make, a bag to make. Knitting to finish and a scrappy long term project... but only this one saw the light of day. It's a Christmas quilt. It needs 15 x 12" blocks and a lot of joining blocks. I did loads of cutting, choosing and kitting prep before the retreat but still couldn't quite finish the top.

It took a couple of days to make the joining blocks but don't make they make the festive blocks look more like jolly hanging Baubles!!. I did finish sewing all the units so at our next mini-retreat day, Sunday 3rd November, I should be able to get lots more stitched together... I want it done before the 1st December!

We had very changeable weather but it stayed mostly warm... every morning I sat by the open bedroom window and enjoyed my first cup of tea of the day.... like this...

Or like this.... not much difference really... such a beautiful place!! xx
Alison House Hotel, in Cromford, I highly recommend it!

Lots Of Stitching News

Lou Lou wants/needs a new sofa throw... Dwight as been on her sofa for a few weeks waiting to be collected by it's new owner and Lou got used to seeing the quilt, now it's gone!... she misses it.. No way round it, a replacement will be made. Feathers by Elizabeth Hartman. Lou Lou decided to use a Moda Farmhouse Flannels Charm Pack of for the feathers and a delicious rich background colour, also flannel. This is a tester block and will be made into a beautiful cushion. 

Gail prepared this little, and extremely cute, project to work on during our recent retreat. All the tiny weeny little details were stuck in place so Gail just needed to applique stitch the bits, tiny tiny bits, look in the little bag!! I just want you to know I mean TINY bits! I also have this pattern to make, I'm going to take mine to the library to grow, at least 50% larger, ha!

Kate started a new project, also for gifting. She's seen all the fun people have been having with the Quilt-As-You-Go method so that's what she decided to do. Kate chose a straight strippy layout, as opposed to diagonal, so it will all look woven... All the blocks will be joined apartmently 

This is Gail's new project, Teddies. The photo was taken after the retreat. I'm a bit out of sinc with pictures since my Computer-Gate saga... Anyway, Gail does sew, it just looks like she cuts, glues and sticks all the time! It's fun to do all this prep in class.

New Sue spent time piecing the other side of this beautiful Batik table runner, it's for gifting so Sue wants it to be double sided. The back is a slightly simpler design so she finished it just in time to be able to make a sandwich before the end of class.

Rose proudly held up her quilt centre. She loves to play with colour... I think you might have noticed that! A classic Railfence design made with a  lovely Moda, William Morris, Charm pack and the very modern colours of Art Gallery Solids... fabulous.

Di Butterfly has been Big Stitch hand quilting this project for a while. It's been put on one side for a few months as Di had lots of other projects to make with time limits. Hand quilting is a great 'cooler weather' project, it keeps your knees warm while you work!

Josie is making cushions using the block designs from her Jo Morton book. She likes the classic style of the designs and the rich colours that suit them so well. I did hear Josie declare that, one day, she will make the whole quilt

Just Edna had a bit of a shock... She knew she had made a large, and fabulous, quilt. She knew the backing was quite enormous too... but it wasn't until she came to make the quilt sandwich that the enormity of the project actually hit her... funny that eh... but it happens to lots of us. Edna will be quilting this on her very own domestic sewing machine, as she always does.

Fabulous And Finished

I hope you are happy to see a blog post, finally!! 

I've got to get used to this new blooming computer now... I don't really like change.

Actually it's all been made a bit easier because Lilly spent a couple of hours setting me up... The old computer is still limping along and, hopefully, I will have rescued enough 'computer stuff' and have transferred it over before it finally dies. 

I know I could transfer EVERYTHING over, but I've saved so much stuff (and crap) in the old thing over the years that I have never even looked at or looked for since saving it, that I want to have a good sort out... like when you move house!! Just take the good stuff!

I have photos to share with you from the last couple of weeks, so here goes, these are the fabulous and finished projects so we need to raise our trumpets ready to toot... I'm typing with the right letters, which is fun... I had to guess letters before because the key letters had all worn off!

This is a beginner workshop cushion made by a lovely lady who went home with more fabrics to make more cushions... Just 3 Fat Quarters and a zip to make a fabulous cushion and a new quilting addict.

One lovely cushion with a fabulous back and a covered zip...
Toot toot toot, no toddler tummies here.

Rose purchased both pattern and the kit to make this bag during our pilgrimage to the Festival Of Quilts back in August... she loves Tweed. My goodness were the bag instructions poor. There were pictures but none of them were helpful, so I guess we can say that this is another one of Rose's 'winged it' projects... She enjoyed the applique and the embroidered elements... it was the construction that was the problem...

Rose hasn't been put off though... she will put the bag pattern to one side then tackle it again with fresh eyes... quite soon as she plans to be gifting a few of these and the fabrics are ready and waiting. Toot toot toot Rose a fabulous, if rather frustrating, finished bag... toot toot toot. 

New Sue finished her serine swan cushion... A pattern from Elizabeth Hartman. Sue's used an Art Gallery Linen blend for the background and it looks really great with the Beautiful Batiks and the Moda Grunges.

A perfectly placed concealed zip for the back too.
toot toot toot Sue another fabulous and finished project, for gifting I presume.

Merrily has been working on this project for weeks... it was a free pattern in Merrily's magazine. Lots of mistakes in the pattern, some of the little triangles were the wrong way round, I checked.... Merrily had followed the recipe to the letter so she's writing to the magazine people to let them know. Anyway... toot toot toot Merrily, a fabulous and finally finished project.

This panel is really lovely, don't you think? It's 90cm wide so there was no need to cut anything off or need to add anything too it... perfect for a fast finish. Christabelle has free-motion quilted all over it with a beautiful King Tut variegated thread. Another toot toot toot is required for another fabulous and finished quilt... yes... it is for gifting! 

Gail's quilt is next up... I think this might be the last of her stash of PhD's (Projects Half Done) and I believe this one has not been stored in the garage with the others but was found elsewhere!Toot toot toot Gail, it is a fabulous and finished toot-able quilt... Oh, heck...  I've just remembered, there is another PhD... and it's a huge one... oh dear, ha ha ha (I won't let on Gail)

Now this isn't strictly a finished project because there is a small amount of binding to be hand stitched as homework, but it's near enough done and I don't think we will be able to see it again. It's an Advent Quilt, 24 little pockets to put things in, lovely eh. So Toot toot toot Brenda Barbara it's a fabulous and finished project, finally, ha ha ha, I won't tell Brenda!!

Just a reminder that there is a Sunday Funday Sewday coming up.
Sunday 3rd November
You will need to book and pay for your place, if you haven't already.
That's all for this time...

Beginners Workshop

This next Saturday, 5th October, we have a beginners workshop. 10am - 3pm. 
Learn good, basic skills to get you started on your Patchwork and Quilting journey. 
We will make a little quilt using basic skills and then

 we will turn it into a fabulous cushion... 

with a zip in the back!!!

Call to book your place, 07807530441
The next Beginner Workshop will be on Saturday November 2nd