10 things I desperately need

This is simply my list of things I need to buy in the very near future to be able to quilt properly. It is simply a memory aid for me

1/4" foot,  Completely fed up with guessing seam and never getting them accurate. It's just a standard low shank foot, nothing special

Free Motion Quilting foot. I really want to get away from only straight line quilting and add some detail and texture

Bobbins.  21x7mm bobbins, plastic or metal.  I work with a single bobbin as it is so more would be pretty wonderful

2m Klona white cotton  Ran out part of the way through my Summersville Spring project and I need enough to do Ryan's quilt.

Thread. An ongoing problem.  I want to move to using decent thread but at present can't afford to.  Even Coats Moon for piecing is better than nothing but using decent stuff for the final quilting would be nice.

Quilters Muslin  I need to buy a lot of this for upcoming scrappy projects

Wadding I love natural fibre wadding but this beggar can't be a chooser. The polyester waddings don't shrink and remain colour fast. They are pretty much idiot proof too.

Backing fabric Pretty much the final expense on any quilt and Ikea has some excellent budget fabrics for silly prices. I also have the option of Fabricland which also has some good fabrics at really silly prices.

Laminate and fabric 1/2 yard of this and 1/2 yard of this plus hardware to finish my Weekend bag from Lisa Lam's Bag Making Bible.  This has all been cut out for months but now I can proceed further without additional fabric

Quilt Labels Now I want to do this properly - I never sign my stitching which is probably a huge mistake as my memory is so dreadful that I rely on blog posts to determine when I started/finished projects. My quilts deserve more.  I need labels. End of story. Best place to get them from is Spoonflower as a bespoke print job.

My aide-memoir is complete.

Rosanne

Lucky fabric hoarder

Sorry everyone.  I have been finding writing any sort of words hard for months now, mainly because I lead a chaotic life and have ad quite bad depression.  Enough of that - that's not why you are here.

I love my fabric and have been quite incredibly lucky recently.  I've won two layer cakes: California Girl by Fig Tree Quilts from Simply Solids and Summersville Spring by Lucie Summers, and been gifted a third Sunkissed but Sweetwater from Amanda as part of her PIF plan.

This is the Sunkissed made up to GoGoKim's pattern Happy Weekender on Moda Bake Shop

I have another pile of fabric left from this quilt and I'm working towards finding a pattern or design to show the remaining fabric off and I'm loving choosing solids to match.

California Girl was made up using the Little Apples Quilt pattern from the main Moda website The finished top is on Flickr here .  I can't get the image to load so have to link it.  The original image is on my other laptop and I can't face the faffing about to find it!

The Summersville Spring Layer Cake is a work in progress but it I need to feed it more white before I can show the finished article.

I also won a bundle of fabric earlier in the year from Pink Castle Fabrics.  It is Hope Chest by Josephine Kimberling for Blend Fabrics. I'm liking the handle of Blend Fabric very much.  Soft. even and very easy to sew with.  I mixed in the fabrics with the remainder of the Swanky jelly roll I've had for ages and turned it into a prairie braid quilt top.  The colours go together well; better than I hoped in fact.  I need to trim the the top and finish this one quickly now as I have the perfect person to gift it to!

What else....... I was running very low on scraps and trying to avoid cutting my limited stash.  Then two of my Fairy Quiltmothers came to my rescue.  January saw the arrival of two huge boxes of scraps from Lynne and Brioni.  That was such fun to sort though and begin to work with.  Scrap Vomit 3 is well underway now with enough strips of squares ready to build a quilt 64" square.  When I get bored, I just come and sew squares together.

That's about it from here.  I have a pile of ideas for this super scrappy year. Can't wait to have some fun.

Feather Bedding my nest

This all started as a 'what if' late at night a couple of weeks ago.  I was looking at the AMH website when  I saw the pattern and loved it.  Actually I was supposed to be looking and and downloading Spinning Stars ready to be swept up in another of Katy's QAL's.  I got completely distracted, ignored Spinning Stars and downloaded the Feather Bed pattern.

Then last week Jo at Saints and Pinners blogged her Feather Bed Quilt. This is actually a free quilt pattern by Anna Maria Horner available here.  It's been released to work with her new Field Study collection which is what Jo had used to make her quilt.

What had gone through my mind in those late nights was would this pattern work as a foundation pieced project - either paper or calico.

I said as much to Jo on Twitter last week and she got all excited.  Monday, with all the major stuff off my table, I get to work.  By Monday evening, I was extremely tired, cranky and finished but I did have two finished sample blocks

I used the cream fabric as it was what I had to hand.  All the scraps used are what most people would throw away. Strips under 2" wide, right down to saved selvedges.  I have three bags of teenies in my workroom ready to be used and this looks to be the perfect project to use some of them.

I'll also need another pack of paper and a black ink cartridge.  Each feather needs two copies of one page to complete if I choose to use the paper option.

All that's left to do now is find a background colour and feather spine colour that works and I like.

Scrap Vomit redux

Yep, I've done another one as I have a whole box of 2.5" squares.  It I have a small piece of fabric, then if I can get a square out of it, then I do. As a result, I have this shoe box full of little squares.  Perfect for swaps but even better for my own use.

Katy started all of this with Scrap Vomit  and keeps leading me (and a lot of other people) astray. Not that I mind as I usually end up learning something.  Quite often I have to sit on my hands when she proposes another quilt-a-long. because I know I will be cheerfully joining in without thinking things though unless I stop and think about the logisitics!

So here is Scrap Vomit Redux - all 80" and 1600 pieces of it.  There are even two scowly faces from Tula Pink's Nightshade Cameo prints.  There are bits of everything in here from all sorts of manufacturers.

Having learnt from version one, this one was made slightly differently and with more pins. Also the pieces were more evenly cut this time so actual construction was a great deal more accurate and a lot easier than version one.  There are some tiny scraps from cherished fabrics that have come in scrap bags from others. Examples are the teeny bits of From Little Things and the single piece of Sis Boom fabric that was not withheld for other things.

For now, it is sitting in the filing cabinet maturing and awaiting the monies for wadding and backing with several others.

Scrap Vomit 1 - fully finished and gifted

Well, I've finally finished another quilt.  Finished as in ready to use and be snuggled under. Even down to the hand finished binding. Here is my original Scrap Vomit in brown batiks with green, pink and white solids.

This one got a really simple finish because it is meant to be used on the sofa downstairs.  It has a turquoise and pink pieced fleece backing as the flippin' fleece only comes in 60" widths and this finished at 64"!

It has a scarlet binding to add to the wild colour combination making it absolutely unique. One of a kind and it is already loved and used.  In fact it's currently on the sofa awaiting it's owner for a nap.

A little of what I've been up to since July

Well the answer to the post title is actually quite a lot.  While I'm still hung up on the projects I'm really wanting to do due mainly to lack of funds, I'm busy doing little bits and problem solving.  

 I took part in a Fat Quarterly magazine Designer Challenge in August and the results  have been featured on their blog just before the Festival of Quilts.  It was to showcase Nel Whatmore's new range for Free Spirit called Katherine's Wheel.  There is a third project I made that didn't feature on the blog post that was a fabric embellishment piece that is now with Katy of Monkey Do because she loved it from when I started it.  I started because I was bored with my normal stitching and loved the Spiral fabric.  As I have a large amount of 'leftover' specialist threads, I set to to see what could be done.  With the aid of Perle Cotton 5, stranded cotton, rayon, beads and crystals, it actually turned out really well.  I must look out Katy's instagram of the finished piece........

I'm currently finishing the binding on Jo's belated birthday present.  I've mislaid my lovely leather thimble so I've got a very sore finger from pushing the needle. I'm working on another huge Scrap Vomit and it's got 17 of the 25 blocks needed to complete it.  My seaming is getting better, even if my cutting is still erratic.

I've done another Designer Challenge piece for Fat Quarterly but I can't show that yet.  

I've got a ton of planned quilts in my head and none of the right fabric to do them.  The Sis Boom Pickle Dish quilt being case in point. All I can say of that is that I need to get some scrap packs soon to start it.  
There is also a plan to do Jaybird Quilts Chopsticks but I need both the ruler and the pattern!

On the days I've not been sewing, I've been planning and working on ideas for projects,  It's gradually getting easier but I have to work with my depression and some days, nothing goes right.  

That's enough for now but there are some spectacular finishes to come soon, I promise and with photographs!

Fairy Tale Lane finished

 To start at the beginning, I am a self confessed Tula Pink fan. I have bits from most collections but have just collected together 15 half yards of Prince Charming bought from sales across the pond as the powers that be at Coats Crafts never imported it to Europe!

Then I was given the book - Quilts from the House of Tula Pink.  This is full of clever projects and not just quilts.  It's also got some clever advice about selecting your fabrics and showcasing those special prints you struggle to cut because they are so beautiful.

 So here I am with a pile of beautiful fabric in differing print scales and colours.

The pattern I chose from the book was Fairy Tale Lane.

Cutting into the stack proved a lot quicker and easier that I had feared. Even the large scale frog prints (left) managed to be fussy cut to allow the full detail of the print to show.

Once cut I organised each pile on the ironing board as there are nine pieces to each block

I don't know about anyone else but when it comes to selecting pieces for each block, I have to get organised.  This is really hard for me because I am naturally untidy.

I use my sandwich bags to keep all the pieces of each block together and to keep the colour distribution even through the blocks as I tend to fixate on colours when free-piecing. It also eliminated fabric repeat within a block.



First four blocks complete and ready for inspection

Here's the stripy sashing that forms the lane of the title.  The original uses Dandelion print in cream so i swapped it out for cream Klona and red Klona for the lines

There's miles of this sashing - literally

Once made and when assembling the quilt, it became apparent that 1) My 0.25" seam are more than a bit iffy. 2) I am useless at reading instructions!

The end result was that the suggested quantity for the sashing wasn't enough.  Not like slightly not enough - miles of not enough. Luckily, I had enough fabric and stripes lying around to make up one more long strip and one side street.

So if you make this quilt - check your seam allowances! The instructions are good, it pieces together really quickly and you could personalise this quilt in so many ways.

So here is the finished Fairy Tale Lane and I love it.