Playing with Curves

I really like curvy patchwork patterns but normally avoid them for fear of them being a nightmare to stitch and to get right. Just recently Amy at The Cute Life posted a tutorial to make curvy pinwheels and she makes it seem so easy and with great results! Then there's Jenny at Sew Kind of Wonderful with some fabulous patterns with curves. 

I have been making progress with some of my WIPs this month although there is still plenty to be getting on with. But last week I just had this urge to drag out some fabric and do something different! So I pulled out these Simply Colour fabrics and some solids.

I had been watching the Curve It Up QAL with Jenny at Sew Kind of Wonderful and some of the wonderful blocks being created - take a look at the flickr group. I have had her ruler for quite some time and not used it, still put off by the unknown.

So I downloaded the directions for some of the QAL blocks and started reading through! I picked the 4-patch block to start with. The finished size of the block is 16.5". I didn't really want to create a huge quilt as I struggle to quilt large ones, so I was thinking wall hanging or small quilt. So I worked out the maths to make the block smaller. Then grabbed my rotary cutter and jumped in! But followed the wrong workings and ended up with the first quarter being the size Jenny says to make! Duh! So I had one of these at 8.5":

Despite being bigger than I had planned I liked what I saw so I made another one. I then made a couple more that were smaller with the aim of making the full block at the 8.5" size. But I am not sure what I am going to do with all these blocks yet. So, I for now have 2 large and 2 small.

I then picked the rail fence to play with. Sticking with the finished size of 8.5", I made just 2 rail fence blocks instead of the 4 in the pattern.

The next block was more tricky to break into smaller parts, so I just made the whole thing a bit smaller and omitted the outer portion. This is the 9-patch, I particularly like this one being on point. I might have to make more of this one.

Then last night I completed the log cabin. Again I tried to make this smaller to fit in with the 8.5" size of the other blocks. 

Unfortunately, it was obviously getting too late to be working things out and it wasn't until I pinned the finished block on the wall and stood back to take the picture that I discovered I had done something wrong! The logs are not the right sizes and don't line up right. But that's life, it's all an experiment. Not sure I can rectify the problem now so it might have to stay like it or I could try again!

So altogether I have a mixture of blocks, but plenty more to experiment with. 

Sewing these gentle curves is surprisingly easier than I had imagined, although probably easier at the intended larger size. The ruler makes light work of cutting the curves too! I guess you could freehand cut them and get a similar result, but in my world no two curves would be the same, where as there is some hope with the ruler!!

All good fun :)

Linking with Freshly Pieced and The Needle and Thread.

Quilting practice

I have spent the last few days quilting my Something New Sampler. I decided this was an ideal opportunity to try out some new FMQ patterns. Especially as each block was a new technique, some of which I had not attempted before. Each block is only 7" x 14" so not too large if the pattern turns out to be tricky or go wrong! 

I went straight to Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project for some ideas. There are so many great ones there though that I sat for ages looking through and trying to picture them on my blocks. In the end I just had to go for it and select a pattern. So far I have tried Flowing Glass, Bubble Wand and Pebble Maze. 

I have completed 4 blocks out of 8 but this I think will be my favourite one - the trapunto block!

I deliberately picked a heavy quilting pattern - the Pebble Maze - to encourage the trapunto stand out further. And it worked so well! I am really pleased with the result on this one.

And here's another view, just because! :)

It took some effort I must say and was tricky in places. It certainly didn't flow as easily as Leah makes it look in her movie!! But then there were the 3 trapunto areas to go around so, unless doing straight lines, any new pattern was going to be awkward.

Off to choose another new FMQ pattern for the next block :)

A Lovely Year of Finishes: April Goal

I have put off setting my goal for April as I couldn't decide what it should be! I have several WIPs that could do with being looked at but no major deadline for any of them (which is nice!). 

First up my Something New Sampler needs quilting. 

Then I have the Mario quilt, which now has 4 completed blocks and 1 half sewn. I could make this a priority to get more blocks done and maybe complete the quilt top.

Then I have the hexies which I should do something with, a mini quilt maybe...

I have another quilt top that has been waiting patiently to be quilted for well over a year now! This double nine patch quilt is for our youngest daughter. There is a lot of white space on this quilt though, which does scare me a little. I had originally thought of hand quilting in the white space, but I think my child will have left home before I get that completed, so machine it is. Straight line, FMQ?? 

For the last few days I have focused on sewing all the 1" squares together for the question mark and fire flower Mario blocks. I think if I do too much of this quilt in any one go I will loose my sanity! There are so many seams to match it is painful after a while. 

I am uncertain about the quilting design for the double nine patch quilt and don't want to rush in, what's another month on top of a year or so!! It's not her birthday until November, so maybe next month I'll focus on this one.

So, my goal for April will be to quilt the Something New Sampler! This should be fun as I think I will quilt each block differently and then maybe an all over pattern on the green borders. Watch this space ...

Linking up with

Christmas Quilt Finished!

With no sewing machine for over 2 weeks of the month I didn't get much sewing done this month. But now I have a lovely working machine again I have been putting it to work!

I started with my Christmas quilt - my March challenge. I then turned to the Mario blocks. I have sewn all the little squares into rows, just now need to sew the rows together. Takes some doing all those little squares.

Anyway, back to the Christmas quilt. It feels like ages ago that I started it and many things have come and gone in between. But last summer I took part in the Freespirit Christmas in July Block-a-thon. I finished the quilt top ages ago and it sat on my design wall for quite some time whilst I created the quilt back. 

As with most quilts I ended up with a whole load of scraps left over. I can't bare to waste fabric so I decided to use as much of this as possible on the back. 

I started by sewing together lots of the little scraps! I got a bit fed up doing this though as there were many small scrappy triangles and odd shapes and it didn't make for very fast progress. Anyway having sewn some together I decided how the back was going to look. I took the idea from one of the blocks from the front, this block: 

and made a larger version. But just had to include a star too, as I just loved the star block and had some larger pieces of fabric left too. After several more evenings of piecing, the back was complete, yay!

Then to layer and baste it altogether.

Then to the quilting! This was a tricky one. I didn't know how to quilt it! No one had posted any completed quilts in the flickr group, so I had no inspiration except for the one made using the bloggers blocks. And that I think had been professionally quilted, so was way beyond me!

I wanted an all over design but not my basic stippling option. So I sought advice and decided on a large swirl pattern. It went ok, not perfect but I think I got better towards the end. But the size of this quilt made it really hard work getting it through my machine. Some of the seams at the points were very thick which made it hard to quilt.

I found some good quilting to take a close up picture of! :-) 

I did have a small issue towards the end. I ran out of top thread and I haven't found a supplier here for the sulky thread I was using! I only had a few square inches left to do, it was so annoying! I am wishing now that I had used a lighter thread that blended in more and perhaps a bit thinner too (sulky is quite a heavy thread). I think the quilting stands out a bit too much and distracts from the blocks. It's all a learning curve!

Anyway, here is the final result in all it's glory!

Quilt stats
Fabric : Moda Blitzen, Kona white and ruby
Size: 60" x 63" (not sure why it's not ended up square, I think it should have been!)
Started: July 2012
Finished: March 2013


Linking up with 

Voting - Something New Sampler

Amy over at The Cute Life has now opened up the voting for the Something New Sampler! There are some great finishes so go take a look here and cast a vote for your favourite.

Due to problems with my sewing machine I didn't get round to quilting my quilt top entry. Looking at some of the quilted ones I am now wishing I had done the QAYG method as this whole quilt is going to be more tricky to manoeuvre through my machine. Especially as some of the blocks are quite thick due to the techniques used. Oh well, you live and learn!  

My sewing machine is home again!! Yay! I was so excited to go and pick it up on Friday! Only when I did, I discovered that my (very essential) power converter had not been returned with the machine! So I have a wonderfully clean, apparently perfectly working machine - that did not need a new gear set in the end! Phew! But I still can't sew until I get my little black power box back! Pure torment having the machine waiting to be used and no way of turning it on! :( 

Oh well, I will continue with the hexies! :)

Oh my poor machine...

With my machine still at the menders and no news on what the prognosis is, sewing around here has almost come to a halt! 

It was Mother's Day in the UK last Sunday so I sent my mum a gift in the post. I had made her this mug rug and included a mini charm pack of the latest William Morris range.

Having no sewing machine this last week has meant no guilt that I should be finishing off some WIP or other! It gave me the ideal opportunity to start something new, by hand! I have wanted to make some hexies for ages now, so I did! 

I had a Vintage Modern mini charm pack that I am now turning into these adorable little  hexies.

Not sure yet what I will turn them into but it keeps me from missing my machine too much :)

Linking up with

Something New Sampler

As you may be aware I have been taking part in the Something New Sampler with Amy at The Cute Life.

This was really fun to do as there were a lot of different techniques to play with and with weekly deadlines there was the incentive I needed to make sure each block was finished!

I was doing so well getting the quilt top to the point of basted. But then my machine decided it didn't want to sew nicely so I took it in for a service. A week later I am still waiting to find out if it needs a new gear set or not. I could be without my machine for another 2 weeks! Going to have serious withdrawal symptoms by then!

Thankfully, I had finished sewing together the quilt top before my machine went in. When I brought the background fabric I got this Bella green and a light grey and plumped for the green to be different. I am struggling with it a bit, as the colours are just not me. I tend to prefer much brighter colours.

So, my quilt top will remain basted and will patiently wait to be quilted. I am thinking I will quilt each block differently as they are all so different and then an all over pattern in the green. But who knows what will happen when I actually get to do it.

There are some great projects resulting from this QAL in the flickr group, go take a look.

Ouch!

Last night I had an evening of peace ahead of me. The kids were in bed and hubbie had decided to go skiing for the evening! I got out my WIP - the Christmas quilt that I WILL finish this month - hoping to make some progress.

First, I got out my sample piece to check the thread was good and my free-motion quilting skills were still capable of the pattern. Well the tension was well off. I have a dark bobbin thread and a light top thread which wasn't a problem a while back as I have quilted half this quilt already. But it would seem something had drastically changed. So I set to playing with the tension. It would look to be sewing nicely then when I changed direction the bobbin thread could be seen on top! Not on every stitch, I just don't understand why.

The offending bobbin thread!

Oh, it was beginning to drive me mad not being able to sort it out! Then something happened to take my mind off the thread tension.

I was rethreading the needle and I must have put my foot on the peddle by mistake and my finger was very much in the wrong place at the wrong time!  The needle went through my finger. Aaaah! Thankfully it only went through flesh but even so.  I am not the best with blood or pain. As my hubbie would recount a story from when we were first dating where I cut my finger whilst chopping veggies and promptly passed out! 

With no one here to assist me, I sat with an ice cube, in a tissue, pressing on it for a good hour until it stopped bleeding and I could actually look to see what damage I might have done! I am such a wimp! All is well though, it would appear to be fine, no swelling, a bit of throbbing and not even a mark this morning.

And I am always drumming it into the kids when they use the machine - keep fingers well away from the needle and the foot off the peddle when not actually sewing! Lesson learnt, hopefully!

So, I didn't get an awful lot of sewing done last night! But the previous few days had been more productive :)

When setting my March goals I forgot I had the Something New Sampler quilt top that needs attention before the middle of the month. So I worked on that this week for a while. 

I finished the gift I was making and it is now in the post. Hopefully it will arrive on time and not take the 1-2 weeks the lady at the post office said it might!!

And more cutting of little squares! Mushroom on the left and star on the right! Now the fun bit of sewing them all together! So many corners to match up! In case, you've not been here before, it's all about Mario Bros!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Linking up with