Wednesday 27 June 2012

Home again

Had a lovely time in the van, but all things come to an end. Back home, I did some more of the Australian Wildflowers Quilt (for a friend) and did the pink stripy blocks for Orca. I then started a bookshelf wall-hanging that I have wanted to do for years.

 Sewing the sashing onto the blocks

 The almost finished quilt top. Still have to add the wadding and the backing and do some quilting.
The lady I'm finishing it for has already done some of the quilting, so I now have to match what she has already done AND fussy cut the wadding to fit around.

 It does look great and I'll make one for me too one day.

BOOKSHELF WALLHANGING
I have wanted to make this wall hanging for almost 4 years, and have never had time to do it.
I did think it would take a long time to make, but was surprised at how quick it was to make.
It did take a long time to plan, and record the 100 book titles.
I should say here, the reason for making this wall hanging was for the 100 days of school clebration.
Our school celebrates each year, but I only do a big celebration once every two years. 

First I ironed fabric onto freezer paper, so I could print the 100 book titles.

I also decided to add some photos of my beautiful grand-daughters.
I choose kids books and history books and Scottish books and of course Quilting books.
I added some funny titles too, like Cutting Trees by Tim Burr.

I then sewed each strip to black fabric to make the background of the book shelves.

A lot of ironing was done at each step.

I next combined different titles to make each section of the shelves.

I laid out each section onto a 'shelf' and changed and changed until I had what I was happy with.

This became the bottom shelf  - kids books.

Here is the almost finished top. I still have to add the stands for the photo frames and a vase and maybe my glasses and a teapot. That will be the task for tomorrow.


Happy Sewing

Saturday 16 June 2012

From the beach..

Been away in the van, and catching up on Orca Quilt.

 These are all the bits and pieces from home - all sorted and ready to sew. 

I added the blocks to make the first row.

This is the second row all sewn.

First lot of rows ready. BUT - I ran out of pink material for the strip piecing triangles.
So now I will have to wait until I get home to make some more to finish the top.
See my little quilting iron - great for quick block ironing.

 While away I had to go to Spotlight to buy some material - like I need material - but quilters out there will know that one's stash can never be too big.
There was a special on fat quarters, so I ended up with 20 of them.

 I also got some new release fabric that was on special. I'm going to make some cushions for Bethie, and some little girl lap quilts. With the cakes the little ones will be good for applique and the big ones in a alternate block quilt - maybe a nine patch.

 When I had done as much as I could of the Orca blocks I decided to make a quick baby quilt with the nursery rhyme material and some of the fat quarters.

I cut 2.5" off the end of the fat quarters and proceeded to sew them together at random lengths.
Peter then arrived, so sewing machine was packed away under the bed until next time.

NOW - the plan is .... a bit of housekeeping - provided I don't get scared by the mouse - and then sewing. 
Don't want to think about school work for at least another two weeks!

Happy sewing.
Allison


Monday 4 June 2012

Catching up on Craftsy BOM - May

Been so busy and once I had finished reports, well the first stage of reports - I decided to catch up on some sewing. May Craftsy BOM was first on the list.

 First was to fussy cut a center for the block. 
It is a log cabin block - and I love log cabin blocks.

This is the finished block - well......................
I wasn't so happy with it, so went back to the instructions.
Yes..instructions - and I read them incorrectly. So back to the sewing machine.

So this time I did it according to the instructions.

 ...and it looks much better.

 The second May block was named a wonky log cabin.
I actually made the two blocks at the same time. I used each one as an anchor cloth the other.

This block is more like a crazy patch block and it would have been better if I had used more irregular shapes like a crazy patch.

I like it, but may re-do it later as a real crazy patch.

 This is my anchor cloth. I have always used an anchor cloth and feel it helps with each end of the block pieces and tends to stop stitches falling out.

Happy sewing.

Friday 1 June 2012

Something Special


Been a very busy month at school - parent interviews - assessment - reports - planning - meetings etc etc.
I did manage a little bit of sewing. I wanted to make a special gift for a special friend. It is a memory wall-hanging.

After sharing my thoughts with my Quilting Buddies back in March, I had decided to make a wall hanging with squares of different blue fabric around the selected photos. 

 Quilting Buddy, Rhianon, had published on her blog, some lovely placemats using the strip method to make blocks. I have been doing this technique for years, but only as a 'crazy' type block, not as a border or part of another larger block.

So, the plan was drafted.


Next was the cutting of the many strips of blue material - I now have a 'bucket' full of blue strips.

 Using paper piecing was something that I learnt in the Orca Mystery Quilt Project. Prior to this I had sewn random strips together. 
This paper piecing technique I really like. I cut paper 7" by 11" and proceeded to sew each strip.

I had to make sure each section was different from each other, and that I used a variety of materials.
Once finished I had to peel all the paper from the back. 

 I used my $10 mini iron from Missouri Quilting to set the fabric.

Next was the cutting of the 3.5" square individual blocks.




I made more than I needed as I wanted a variety of different blocks for the quilt.
I was so happy with the way they turned out.

 Next was the setting out. I had used freezer paper to iron the plain fabric onto for printing the photos. 


Then stitched each section together.

 
Next the background was cut. I had so much trouble trying to work out what colour fabric the background should be. With Peters help we decided on this light blue.

Next was the pinning of the binding.

I'm still not so good at mitred corners, so watched a couple of you-tube videos, and I must say, although not perfect, I am happy with what I did. 

I had printed the label. I wanted to put a lovely poem that I had found, but wrote it on an envelope, which of course I couldn't find. I now have a notebook close by the computer for jotting down verses etc. 
 There wasn't much hand-sewing, but I like to place the label on before quilting as the quilting keeps the label in place a little better.


 
I like using a large stippling, almost a meandering, as a quilting stitch, as it suits most patchwork. 
It looks good and is quick and easy.




 

I have been working on lots of different types of ways to hang wall hangings. 
This time I am working on the rod pocket type. I cut the fabric double, to allow for seams and thickness.

 This was also a hand sewing part.





It took me almost three months of planning, and changing, and sewing to create this wall hanging, and I am so happy with the way it turned out. 
The look on my friends face when I gave it to here was worth a million dollars!

Happy Sewing