Where have you been?

Months have gone by again without me managing to write a post. I'm actually getting quite good at not writing them now!

I seem to be consumed by work these days and all work and no play has made me a dull girl. The editing work, ie the work that pays the bills, has been so manic the last few months as we have had to fit putting together an annual special magazine on top of the regular monthly issues.

And then there is my quilting and a lot of my recent quilting is so tied up with my fabric business (the work that doesn't pay the bills), that I don't like to post pictures of them here first.

 

But hey ho

 

I have been quite productive over the last few months and have finished quite a few of the quilts I've made from Hoffman pre-cuts; I really love working with them now!

Here's a few pics of them........

 

 

This was made from a Cherry Bali Pop

 

A Tiramisu Bali Pop and Snap

 

This quick quilt was made using a Tonga Treat Mini pack from Timeless Treasures

 

And this final quilt was my first attempt at free motion quilting, which was a little silly as its straight lines and would have been better quilted with my walking foot!

 

So a lot of quilting has been going on but very little quilting for me.......



 

Blog Silence

I've had trouble finding the time to do a blog post recently, mainly because I have been busy with work; both the editing kind and also the quilt shop owner kind with two quilt shows since mid May.

 

It's not like I haven't been working on quilts in that time, far from it!

 

Hopefully I can remedy the situation shortly!

Jigsaw Stars - the whole story

I decided last night that if this blog is going to be an online record of my quilts and my quilting, I really ought to do a blog post for each quilt when its finished recording everything that went into making it.

 

So this is the whole story post for Jigsaw Stars, the quilt I finished last week.

 

 

A lot of my quilting is of course tied up with my business; to some extent the two are inseparable. Jigsaw Stars was made with one of the new Hoffman Bali Crackers; a 10" square charm pack. These are Hoffman's version of a layer cake which I have just started stocking. Quite often with new products you need to make something up to inspire people. This particular colour pack, Parfait, was actually my favourite in their 5th collection of pre-cuts but it wasn't very popular among my customers. And so it fell victim to being used by me.........

I spent quite a while playing around with designs, working out how much could be cut from a 10" square. I finally settled on the design and added a dull pink Hoffman batik as a background fabric which went well with all the colours in the pack.

 

The piecing went together quite quickly. I cut the squares up in a methodical manner as I worked as it was important to keep the squares in the right order. I think it was about then I decided the design was good enough to be made into a pattern that I could sell.

I always take work in progress shots of my quilts. Often they are just to post on twitter etc but they are then useful for adding to pattern instructions.

 

 

I used a new wadding for this quilt, a bolt of polyester wadding from Legacy by Pellon. I've wondered about using this for some time. Just thought it was cool to have it on the shelf!

However......

I was disappointed with it. It did say to pre-test with dark fabrics but this quilt has a variety of tones in it. It didn't beard where I was quilting but I just had a layer of fluff on the surface of the quilt which then collected in little balls of fibre like this.

 

 

 However, I have to say now that the quilt is finished and bound, it is behaving better!

 

This quilt was a first for me...........the first quilt I have free motion quilted. The stars in the centre were echo quilted using my walking foot but the pink background was stipple quilted. I'm quite pleased with my first effort!

 

 

I used King Tut 925 - Caravan in the top and a blue Masterpiece 138 in the bobbin as the quilt has blue backing.

The binding was put together with leftover bits from the Cracker pack...........and another first........I double bound the edges and used Wonder Clips for the first time!

 

Quilt summary - Jigsaw Stars

Top - Parfait Bali Cracker + Hoffman 1895 Orchid

Wadding - Legacy by Pellon Polyester

Thread - King Tut 925 + Masterpiece

Backing - Hoffman 1895 Swordfish

 

And that is the story of Jigsaw Stars

 

I Made a Quilt!

When I say I made a quilt, I mean I have actually finished one; quilting, binding, hanging sleeve. The lot. Well apart from a label, which I will add shortly.

This is a rare occurrence for me.

I do actually make a lot of quilts.........well quilt tops. I'm designing and creating all the time, especially now that I have developed this addiction for pre-cuts. I have a further three pre-cut quilt tops to quilt and started another one over the weekend using the new Hoffman Bali collection pre-cuts.

And not meaning to boast, but I finished quilting quilt #2 on Saturday so that just needs the binding and hanging sleeve added and then that is done too!

 

So where is this new found explosion of getting things done come from? It's because I am combining my learning to machine quilt with making all these quilt tops. It's just so quick to whizz around with the machine. It doesn't need to be perfect, its not for a competition. It just needs to be good enough to make the quilt look good and I think so far I have achieved this.

 

Everything has just come together nicely as this first completed quilt is going to be a pattern that I will be launching it Quilts UK this coming week. Wanting to make it into a pattern made me realise that I really needed to learn machine quilting for me to do this. I love hand quilting but its just not practical if I want to make something as a display model.

 

So this is the start of something new!

 

And as for the quilt itself............here it is! It's made from a Bali Cracker plus background fabric so its layer cake friendly.

 

 

Quilt #2 is possibly more suitable to teach in a class as its simpler........this is something else I think I need to start doing! 

A Good Day's Quilting

Spring has finally sprung here and we have some beautiful weather this weekend. This always gives me a real dilemma. As it's the weekend I can finally get down to some serious guilt-free sewing as I don't *have* to work but on the other hand when the sun is shining I feel that I should get out in the garden, especially as I am a bit of a fair weather kind of gardener!

 

I've been designing and making quite a few quilt tops recently using Hoffman pre-cuts, with a view to making them up as patterns but of course they need quilting. And they need quilting before I can have the pattern for sale! I hoping to release the first one at Quilts UK in a couple of weeks so I can show you a sneak peak but not the whole quilt just yet. It's made using a Bali Cracker ie layer cake. It was the first time I had stippled quilted ANYTHING and not quilting in straight lines was totally out of my comfort zone!

 

 

 

I'm quite pleased with my effort. Just need to add a bit more stippling to some bits of background in the centre and add the binding...........and its done!

 

I have had real problems with the wadding though. Its a polyester batting, one of the ones on the bolt from Legacy by Pellon. So much fluff and fibre has come through the fabric, not as I'm stitching just generally.

 

 

I was really disappointed although it seems to have settled down a bit now.

What I was amazed at was how quickly I was able to quilt. I know stippling isn't the most exciting of machine quilting techniques but hey it's a start!

 

So its onwards and upwards!

Practice practice practice!

Practice makes perfect, or so they say.

I decided it was time I practised my machine quilting skills or lack of them, on an actual proper quilt; rather than rambling around on a piece of calico. So I dug out a really simple quilt. It was a quilt top I put together when I had a quilt shop, which was (wow) three years ago this summer! The quilt was intended to be a display sample for a beginner's  quilt kit. I think when it's finished I'll still do that with it as the quilt shows some good and not so good quilting, ideal for not putting people off trying!

The quilt top was just a basic Trip Around the World pattern in rainbow colours and I thought I would quilt it in a simple spiral pattern. Despite this being straight lines, I still used my free motion foot. It would have been easier to use my walking foot and I did in fact when I quilted the border, but saying that, I think my control over my quilting when using the free motion foot has improved quite a bit.

I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out. Just need to sew the last few ends in and add the binding and it's done!

Otherwise I've been playing with another Bali Pop and made a nice nine patch quilt which I've added to my pile of quilts that need quilting................
 

Getting on with it!

Somehow I have reached my mid 40s. No idea how I got here really. I'm sure I don't feel any different to how I did 20 years ago........or is that because I'm getting older and can't remember?!

 

I tend to find family celebrations and other occasions difficult now; Christmas, Valentine's Day, my birthday.............
For some reason it's drilled into me that I need to have that special someone to make me feel complete, that that person will spoil me on these occasions; and because I don't have that special someone, I get upset or lonely on those days because no one seems to care.
But it shouldn't be like that though should it? I shouldn't need another person to make me feel whole?
I am where I am now because I decided to leave a loveless marriage where I was incredibly unhappy. I thought I was madly in love with another guy and without him I might not have had the courage to leave, but I did. Unfortunately he turned out to be a lying cheating womaniser who broke my heart.
Yet without this chain of events I wouldn't be where I am now. Ok I get lonely but I am in charge of my own destiny. I own my own home, I now have a job which I love, I am self sufficient financially. I can do what I want, when I want..........well son permitting.......and I have my quilting!

Where would I be without my quilting? I can't imagine not having this creativity in me, bursting to get out all the time, seeing design inspiration everywhere I go.
The Red Cross is progressing nicely. I kind of wished I had started quilting a frame of cross hatching in white and then crossed hatched the centre of the white area in red, but what I'm doing already will be fine!