Urban Bushland Quilted

It might seem like I haven't been doing much quilting but I have. It's just that I am at the boring, not worth blogging stage of many projects!!!

I sent Urban Bushland off to the quilter last week and she is now back. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I was afraid that the linen might cause problems but it looks good. I've made the binding, just need to machine it on and do the hand stitching. This could take a while as it's a big quilt. On the plus side, I think the more open weave of the linen will make it easier to sew, therefore not as much stress on my hands so I should be able to sew longer.

P.S. Cleo seems to like it. I think this will be a great summer quilt.

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Still Alive and Kicking

I've been absent from the blogosphere for about a month. I stopped sewing as I was trying to get some of my handmade leather journals done for a craft fair. Turned out to be a bit of a waste of time as I only sold one book!! Anyway, here is a picture of what I made.

This is the furbabies helping me with some cutting out. I've been quilting for a while but you never stop working out better ways to do things. I've been using a big folding table for my quilting. I can set it up and take it down quickly and lets me work in the room with the best light.

However, it's quite low. So when cutting it can get quite tiring. I had visitors last week and put my normal table away. Once they were gone and I wanted to do some cutting, I put up another folding table I have, this one is smaller, but it is height adjustable. I put it up to the maximum height, and boy what a difference!! Sooo much easier to cut and no more sore neck or shoulders. I will definately be using this one from now on. I am thinking of getting another one, to be set up at a lower height for sewing. It will be a better set up as it will take up less room, as I can slip one under the other but still have a cutting space and a sewing space.

This is the kitties helping me use my Westalee rulers. I've had them for ages but not used them. They've been great for cutting out so far. I like the idea of sewing the bias before cutting the triangles. These will be for donation quilts.

I just wanted to sew!! Lots of HST in progress and some green and yellow pinwheels for another donation quilt.

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Field Greens Quilt Finished

Yay, another finish while I was on break. I did want to do more but I am happy with two quilt finishes.

I went a bit old school on this one. I've been spending a small fortune on batting. I usually buy cotton but I wanted something a bit warmer as I don't have any quilts with non-cotton batting, which is fine for the majority of the year, but in the middle of winter, doesn't really cut it. So I thought why not use some of the many wool blankets I own? I have them in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. So I thought for this one, I'd go with a very thin blanket.

Here is a picture of me trying to iron the finished top before basting the layers together. Cleo really wanted attention that day. She followed me around everywhere, which isn't like her at all.

I have a large number of blankets which I bought to make clothes with (re-enactment) but I haven't gotten around to it, so I thought why not? Many of them a not the nicest colours or have some marks on them. Also, even nice well used ones can be a bit scratchy. Not a problem when inside the layers of a quilt.

I did a simple grid quilting at 3" apart. I wanted to do quilt dense quilting as the blanket has alot more movement than normal quilt batting. It would also put more pressure on the stitching when wet, so the more quilting the better. I managed to get the quilting done in one day, with a couple of breaks. While the wool sewed fine, it was a bit of extra work as it is much heavier than either wool or cotton batting. The finished quilt is quite heavy for a 72" x 72" finished.

And here is the finished product in use. Miss Cleo really does love snuggling in finished quilts. I think she really likes this one cause it's green and cause it's super warm.

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Repro Log Cabin Progress

On Saturday I decided the jobs I had planned weren't that important, so I stayed home and worked on my Repro Log Cabin quilt. I was able to lay the blocks out ready to be pinned together. I only pinned to keep them in the right order.

Here you can see Miss Cleo assisting with the layout.

I got this far and then was totally exhausted, so I layed down for a while as I had to go out in the evening. I figured best to stop and wait until I had a clear head. Sleepy head equals quilty mistakes!!

I'm glad I did. As I was waiting to go out, I checked my Log Cabin board on Pinterest and found a layout I liked better. It still has the star in the middle but rather than just continue the radiating lines (which I wasn't super happy with as they don't quite work on a quilt with this few rounds), I found one with a corner treatment I preferred much better. Almost like Geese in Flight. Here are some of the other layouts I considered.

Only problem is, once the rows were sewn together, I was one block short!! (Top right corner). At one stage, I was two blocks short but I found one. So I need to make one more block. It won't be an issue as I have heaps of strips left. It shouldn't take more than half an hour to cut, sew and iron. Anyway, I got all the other rows sewn and the top one is done bar the missing block. So just need to iron the rows and sew together and the top will be done. Not sure whether to do cotton batting or make another one with a wool blanket. Thoughts?

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Cold, Wet Day for Quilting

It's been raining here on and off for a week now. It is getting colder and wetter. The perfect weather for a pit of hand quilting.

I had a couple of days off during the week.I was just really under the weather. I didn't do anything but the occasional bit of hand quilting in between naps.

I am feeling a bit better now, but I have holes in my fingers from the quilting. I am happy with this, however, because I really want to get this quilt done. It's been sitting in the spare room for years while I took a break from quilting and did scrapbooking. But I love this quilt and I'm in the home stretch now. I think I should be able to get this finished in the next couple of months. I've almost finished the middle section and the borders will be basic cross hatching, so it shouldn't take too long.

Miss Cleo here will only sit on my lap about once or twice a year and I HAVE to have a quilt on my lap for that to happen. She loves a cuddle, but against your side, not your lap.

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Hexagons

I have joined the craze! I have been using these as my handsewing project. Something to do infront of the TV or when waiting somewhere. I am doing them in 1930's repro fabrics.

I had planned on doing them with a yellow floral centre, but I am thinking maybe a more traditional yellow centre? Or is the plain yellow too bright? Opinions wanted!!!

I also couldn't help buying some of the new range of blenders that I saw at Spotlight a couple of weeks ago. Really loving the colours and patterns. I thought they lent themselves to 1800's repro patterns.

This is the range in a better light.

And here is Cleo helping me. I had them ready to iron after washing. They looked comfy!

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Competition Winner is....

The Winner of the Dresden Plate template is....Teresa!!

Congratulations, Teresa. I will email you to get your address. Sorry Joy and Joyce!!

Since there were only three entries, I just wrote the numbers on paper and got someone from work to pick it out of a cup!! So much easier than using the Random number thingy. Well, it's easy to use, it's getting the image that's a pain.

To add some colour to this post, here is a picture of a very old UFO that I am trying to finish. I got it to this stage about 15 years ago, then I stopped sewing and there it sat. I've dug it out to finish it. I don't have any of the cream left, so I can make any more blocks. It's a bit of an odd size, too long for a baby quilt but not quite wide enough for a lap or single bed quilt.

I found a purple and black stripe fabric that I think will make an interesting binding. I am going to try and pick up some batting during the week and get it quilted on the weekend. Man, I am powering through things now I've discovered machine quilting. I got my Japanese X and Plus and a baby quilt, quilted on the weekend. Yay!!

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Repro Cross and Plus Quilt

So, I have always resisted Instagram, but last week I signed up for it and now I'm hooked. A couple of quilt-a-longs have been running on there and I sort of got hooked on the Japanese Cross and Plus one - #xplusalong! But I wanted to do it in something I actually had enough fabric for. So I started one in 1930's Repros, which is actually a good fit I think, as this is when the block is first dated to.

I have to say, I got a bit carried away. Most people are doing scrappy versions. This becomes a lesson in sitting down and thinking first, before cutting. I decided I liked the look of red crosses. I normally don't like the red in the repro palette. I tend to find it jarring against the pastels, but I am growing to like it and I think the contrast works really well with this block. Anyway...I cut up all the pieces, as you can see below.

For the most part this was not a problem. But I realised way too late that I could've saved myself alot of time cutting and ironing if I had strip pieced the red and white two patches that I needed. Lesson learned!!

The corner blocks produced many, many offcuts, which have now become little HST (used as leaders and enders in the string piecing!!). I think these will become several mini-quilts!!

Rather than joining the blocks straight to each other, I am using sashing. This sashing will then create secondary crosses between the blocks and make an all over pattern.

This is what the rows look like sewn together.

This is the completed top. No border is planned. The blocks are 10" finished. I had hoped to start quilting it this week but various things came up. I am determined to get it done this weekend!!

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Japanese X and + Progress

I finally bit the bullet and sewed these blocks together. Cause I'd run out of the background green, I only had enough fabric to put four blocks together. I have two others left over.

I have plenty of the Gatsby fabric left, so now I have to decide what colour to use for the background. I'm thinking a bone or taupe? Any comments? What about something completely left field? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

This is the construction. If you put a strip between each block, you then get a repeat of the overall pattern. Good bang for your buck!!

Each of the blocks had the same green background, then the cross done in various fabrics from the Gatsby range and the plus done in a dark brown (one of which was from Gatsby).

This one has be matching Gatsby brown.

This is Cleopatra making sure it's comfy!!

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Cat Quilt - First Finish for 2013

So I had my first finish for 2013 yesterday. It is a very small quilt, made for my cats!! Yeah, yeah I know, but better they get their furry fur on this one that I can chuck in the was, than other things which are a much bigger pain to wash! And I figure I put this near the sewing machine and they sleep on that rather than what I am trying to work on. I also chose this one as I am really trying to finish off some of my UFO's especially the smaller ones, now that I am giving machine quilting a go.

This is Miss Cleopatra (Cleo) using the finished product.

Below is Miss Hatshepsut (Hattie) helping me with blocking the quilt. Normally, I don't block my quilts, but this one uses blocks which were my very first attempt at machine piecing, so there was some interesting results. Also, this has been sitting in the UFO pile for so long it was pretty dusty and stinky (as was the batting off cuts used) that it was gonna get a wash anyway.

So, after washing, I pinned it to my cardboard cutting mat, which is actually perfect for this, since it has the grids for aligning and gives me something to push the pins into! I would worry about the damp damaging it, but after spin drying and the hot temperature, it didn't stay wet for long.

So here is the finished product. The quilting is a bit dodgy, I was in a rush and the blocks weren't exactly in perfect alignment (although blocking it did the world of good in getting it squared up). It is actually alot squarer than it looks, it was given a good test drive before I could get a photo, so a few creases. The similar blocks are ones I made and the alternate ones are some that I received in various 9 Patch swaps, 6" blocks.

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Productive Quilty Weekend

Overall, I had a pretty productive quilty weekend. No finishes, but alot of progress on several projects.
First off, I got a start cutting out all the light segments from my Omigosh Redux quilt. It is the same pattern but at a much more manageable scale than the original. In addition to getting all the triangles and strips of the light fabrics cut, I got about half of the darks done. Enough that I could get started on the HST. The first picture shows Miss Cleopatra "helping". Someone wanted some attention. The second photo shows the actual HST.

I am taking part in a Fat 1/8's swap, so I will be able to use some of these fabrics in this project as well.

Secondly, I finished up a heap of 30's Repro Nine Patches. I always have a heap of pre-cut white and repro fabric strips sitting ready to be sewn. I don't have any particular project in mind, but there are soooo many ideas for nine patches, I can never have too many! These are great when you have a spare 5 or 10 minutes to sew, as they don't require much prep or thinking about when sewing. As you can see, they are being supervised by the lovely Cleo, who loves to help!!

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Cleopatra the Very Tired Cat

Very Tired Cat, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Cleo had had a very big day and was very tired.

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Quilt and Cat Model

Quilt and Cat Model, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Close up of the vines. The pattern called for a solid green for the vines but I decided to go with patterned fabric, partly because I had a roll of green bias that I'd made about 8 years ago which I wanted to finally use!!

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Cleopatra Working Hard At Sleeping

Cleopatra Working Hard At Sleeping, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

All that attacking and helping is hard work. Here she is concentrating very hard on sleeping - the looking cute just comes naturally!

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Cleopatra Attacking The Embroidery

Cleopatra Attacking The Embroidery, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Cleo is blurry as she is attacking the edge of the fabric.

I worked on some heraldic banners to use at events. I also made some homemade tomato sauce. I'd run out of the last batch. It tastes pretty good.

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Cleopatra "Helping" with the Embroidery

Cleopatra "Helping" with the Embroidery, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I was putting the embroidery on the bed to get a photo. Cleopatra was helping.

I haven't got any embroidery going at the moment so I did a few half square triangles for my 1930's quilt. I also spent all of the today getting my car checked for a road worthy. And just for fun I found out that someone had racked up $1500 on my credit cards which means I now don't have them money to pay to register my car, which also needs to have rust fixed before I can get a pink slip. Fun!

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Fair and More Sewing

I weakened and decided to have another look at the fair on Sunday before gathering. What a mistake! I've seen school fetes with more stalls and things of interest. Total, total rip off. Never again. The sad thing is there were heaps of people their, so if someone did decide to do a proper job of it, there would be an audience. I just hope this guy hasn't wrecked it for everyone else.

On a more positive note, I finally got around to starting to put the stripes on the sleeves of my brown coat. It is basically the same style as the green one, but with long sleeves, decorated with diagonal stripes. I won't be using boning in the sleeves of this one. I think this will be my sunday garb - keep it in the car and use it when it gets cold!! If I make a matching hat, I could be in garb with very little effort. I got one sleeve done, but ran out of black wool trim. So I am going to have to make some more. I love when I get craft cross over - time to break out the quilting rotary cutter.

Cleo, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

I came home this afternoon and couldn't find Cleo. After a little searching, I found her snuggled up in my green coat, underneath some tracing paper. She looked very comfy.

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Cleopatra

Cleopatra, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Bubba as she is otherwise known is feeling a bit ignored and left out at the moment. What this really means is that the Boy aka Pharaoh is getting as much attention as she usually does and she doesn't like it.

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Cute Cats

Cute Cats, originally uploaded by Jane Stockton.

Weather prevented sewing night last night, so you get cute cats instead. They were very hot the afternoon this was taken. They are sleeping in the same position, it's soooo cute.

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Cute Cat Photos

Not much to report. Back to work today. I have a tension headache already and it isn't even lunch time. I got a bit of sewing done last night. I got about 15 sets of collars and cuffs in wool drawn up and put into bags with the yarn to work them. This should speed things up, as all I have to do is grab a bag and start sewing. I am doing them in three sizes. Mostly small (which should fit most people) but some medium and large as well. I might also do some Elizabethan blackwork collar and cuff sets as well. They shouldn't take too long. And I was thinking of what to do with the Chinese silk I've got. Maybe some silk on silk keyhole necklines for some 12th Century stuff. I will have to see how time goes.

Now for your viewing pleasure, some cute cat photos. First, Bubba in my embroidery basket. And then on the bed this morning, it was cold. I will have to post some of the Boy or he will get jealous. He poses so well for the camera!

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