Sewing not quilting

Love the photos of your sewing room, Kim.  My space is not nearly so well organised, or ever so neat.  It is a little spot in the sun room off our bedroom.  The nice part is an early Australian cedar filing cupboard that I bought to store fabric in.  There are 20 drawers, the size of 8 x 5 inch filing cards, which can be pulled out and taken to another place to investigate the contents as required.  The IDEA is that they are colour themed.  However, this has got a bit messy after a few quilts and a few quick tidy ups.  The proximity o our bed of my sewing area is a problem, as I often lay things out on the bed to get a look at them.  And sometimes, actually very very rarely, a pin ends up making its way off the fabric and onto the bed.  Never my side .... always my husbands's.  Lucky he is long suffering.

I am making progress on my pickle dish (photos another time) but am showing you here a table runner I am thinking of giving my sister-in-law as a present.  It is a piece of old French silk and cotton (I think) that came from Brigitte Giblin's stash, and I've bordered it in some linen.  A quick whip up over the weekend.  What do you think?  It is an acceptable present?

Sewing Spot

I often wonder about other peoples sewing spaces.  Do they have a dedicate area?  How do they store their fabric? How is their fabric stored?  Well I thought I'd let you in on my sewing spot(s).  I live in a 2 bedroom town house with a small study area.  The most sensible idea would be to have my sewing area set up in the spare room so I can just close the door and not worry about the mess.  However I often have visitors so this isn't practical.

Primarily I sew in the study area.  Its a great area as it has high ceilings (very very high about 14 feet!) and the light is reasonable.  My sewing table is an old boardroom table from an office I worked at, it's been cut down from a 14 seat boardroom table to custom fit my space.  It works a treat.  This room is now known as Betty Bernina's Room (Betty is my Bernina 820), she shares the room with Sally Singer (the dressmakers dummy - she is wearing a top I am in the middle of making).

Fabric storage..... primarily in the smallish bookcase behind my table.  Plus under my table I have plastic tubs, these generally store my Kaffe fabrics that I've collected for my Flower Garden applique quilt.  I also have a separate plastic tub for all my Liberty fabric.

To the side of my bookcase I also have plastic tubs stacked beside my bookcase.  These store my "in progress" projects - NOTE this isn't all my in progress just the ones that fit nicely into a tub!!!

As space in my study area is so limited, I have set up a design wall in my spare room - which is just a few metres from my desk.  I appreciate that not all my guests enjoy my design wall so I made it so that I can easily take it down.  This design wall was probably the BEST thing I made last year - seriously it rocks!!!  Currently I am working on a sort of log cabin- the bed has all my strips on it so hopefuly no visitors for a little while.....  Another interesting aspect is I often look at the quilt via the mirror on the opposite wall - it gives another aspect to the quilt. When the design wall is no in place I have my Sisters Tree hanging.

My kitchen table also gets used as a sewing area - when I am sewing with Baby Betty Bernina and watching TV at the same time.

Lastly, I would like to publicly declare that my sewing area is very very very rarely this tidy!!!  Due to the rain I decided to spend a few hours going through my sewing area.

Anyone else want to share their sewing areas?

Puppies busting a Swoon move

Three puppies busting a move on the Swoon quilt laid out ready to be basted. 

No sooner has one taped the backing down, spread the batting smoothly and and laid the patchwork top in place than the entire space is suddenly transformed into a wrestling ring for all canine life forms in the house....tumbling, playing, romping on the newly-laid play pen. 

I've basted the quilt using spray adhesive *koff* and have started to machine quilt it. Yay for holidays!

Quilt Review - Liberty Diamonds

As most of you know, I loooooove Liberty of London fabrics.  I love the little detail in the print, I love the colours, and I especially love how it feels.  As an added bonus, it is a complete joy to sew with - both machine and by hand.

Liberty Diamonds is my take on Kaffe's version.  The quilt is relatively easy but the difficulty comes in the choice of fabrics.  The original version works on contrasts in the print with the large flowery print in the main diamond contrasted with a small print in the diamond sashing.  

For my version I had to work especially hard at trying to get the contrasts as Liberty is not renowned for "large" prints.  I was very fortunate that I attended the workshop with Kaffe and Brandon in Feb 2011 and gained a lot of insight from them both on choice of fabric combinations - and they didn't necessarily agree with each other's choice.  I was super chuffed when Kaffe commented on my quilt saying "it had every potential to end up looking like a dogs breakfast but it is a really great"!!!

A few stats....

• It's big - approx 240cm square
• Entirely made of Liberty of London Fabrics - including the backing!
• 81 Diamonds - only a few of them have been repeated (but with a different sashing)
• Top and bottom have half diamonds all in the same fabric as the side boarders
• Commercially quilted 
• Cost me a fortune - but I love it!!!!
• And it hasn't made a dint in my Liberty stash!!!

Look forward to seeing other peoples quilt reviews!

Eye Candy

Another great day of class!!!  Here is a review of blocks and quilts.  Sorry didn't get a full picture of Marg's gorgeous quilt - another Sue Ross class creation!!!  In no particular order.

New Teachers Pet

Without wanting to gloat (too much anyway).....

FYI - I reduced the pattern by 85% when copying, in total this reduced the circle to approximately 15.5" wide.  Don't forget to add the extra square on one of the ends - it's easy enough just measure the other square from the sew line to the cut line.

Bernina Work Horses

We love our Berninas, and decided to give them a little airplay of their own. 

These four ladies joined us on a rainy and rather chilly Saturday quilting bee with the lovely Sue Ross. 

B550 Quilters Edition, sews quilts and garments without skipping a beat, loved by owner.

Big Bertha, can go into eco mode and display The World for all to see.

Quilters Edition, has clocked up miles & miles of stitches.

Bertha-in-the-middle, one of several that Kimmy uses to maintain  her incredible output of gorgeous quilts.

Without them, where would be our flying geese, ganders, feathered stars, swoons and the like?

D

Retrospectives - Baby Quilt for Alessandro

At our class today we discussed posting pictures of our retrospective quilts - quilts we have on our beds, lying around on sofas, or, heavens, maybe even acting as dog blankets to very special dogs...

Here is a baby quilt I made for a good friend's son Alessandro. You  may recognise it from our blog header. It is a scrappy quilt with 4 inch squares, 9 by 13, so it's cot sized. Cutting the squares took longer than sewing it together, and I really enjoyed making it.

The backing is a soft green vintage cotton flannel and I shadow quilted it a quarter inch from the seams. 

Oops! Skew stitching on the corner of the binding which I machine sewed. 

Cute little foxes, bears and deer, not to mention elephants.

Bernina alphabet stitches did the name really well. Alessandro is being kept warm in his quilt in Melbourne.

Denny

Finally goosey

Well I have finally finished it the points are about 50% perfect but the measurements mostly worked.

Now for the basket....

Photos help!

First up is Marg from Quiltsmith

Then we have my wonky border Liberty Plaid quilt - hard to see but I did manage to appliqué "Liberty Plaid" on the front.

Megan from Material Obsession - this is her version of Kaffe's Rice Bowls, using Reece shot cottons.

And lastly Megan's award winning applique, her version of Kim McLeans' Flower Garden, again using Reece shot cottons.

Lastly, this is a friend of mines, Bronwyn, her lovely wall hanging.  It is very very heavily quilted and has a beautiful texture to it.

Darling Harbour

For those of you who didn't get a chance to make it to Darling Harbour this year here is a little recap.

Firstly, the shops / exhibitors.  I personally feel as though each year there is less and less "quilting" and more crafting.  The quilting stores that are there are varied and offer a good range of different products. There was the usual suspects, Material Obsession, Bee Bee Bold, Studio Mio, Kelani Fabrics.  A new stand that I loved (but did resist) was Craft Schmaft.  I have previously bought a super cute sock dog pattern from these guys and I can't recommend them enough - the pattern was clear and easy and the kit contained everything I needed (except the stuffing).  If you are looking for some good craft projects check them out.

I resisted the shopping, well realitively resisted.  I really only bought two clothing patters and some material to make the dress.  Now all I need to do is actually make them.

Now on to the serious stuff...... the quilts.  One thing I love about the show is just how varied all the quilts are, I don't necessarily like them but really admire the workmanship and processes that one follows to achieve the end product.

You aren't supposed to post photos of peoples quilt without their permission, so unfortunately I only have a couple of photos to share with you.

Firstly, Marg Yip from Quiltsmith. Love this version of a log cabin, initially I thought it was a string quilt but then realised it wasn't.  Love the vibrant colours of this quilt.

Secondly, Megan from Material Obsession.  Both her quilts were applique with Reece shot cottons as the back ground.  Megans version of Flower Garden won her second prize in the amature appliqué category, and deservedly so!!!

Lastly, my sad Liberty Plaid quilt.  It looked so beautiful sitting on my lap as I quilted, but hanging up with a disaster!!!  I knew I had issues with the

Teacher's pet

Here is my basket, all nicely finished and a week early!  I might bring Sue a nicely polished apple too.  I kind of enjoyed this block, although I am not all that keen on applique generally.  I liked the graduated effected in the basket rather than equally spacing the strips, and I chose a blue background to look a bit like water.

I am still crotcheting hexies, and this weekend I am trying to finish a knitted linen top (in time for winter!) which has been on the needles for around 6 years.

Can't wait to see what you ladies have been up to and hear about Darling Harbour.

Catching up

After finally finishing my Liberty Plaid (at 0230) I am now playing catch up with our Sue Ross Mystery BOM.   Here is a picture of my almost complete hexagon wreath.  I just need to add a couple of leaves and it will be complete.  I am really happy with the final version.  Surprisingly the rosettes are all from the same fabric but in two different colour ways.

Today is the opening day of Darling Harbour Quilt Show.  I hear that this year there is a record number of quilts entered so there will be plenty of eye candy for all.  Below are a couple of photos of my two favourite quilts from last year.

The photo doesn't do justice for this quilt - the quilting is more like a variety of embroidery stitches.  Simply magnificent.  I'm sorry I can't recall the maker of this quilt but in my opinion she is a genius!!

My other favourite was a group collaboration of a Chuck Nohara Quilt.  You could spend hours looking at this quilt and seeing all the quirky blocks that are in it.  I am fortunate enough to have a copy of the book and can highly recommend anyone have a good glance at it and consider purchasing it for themselves.  The book is produced by Quiltmania.

Darling Harbour is opens today and closes on Sunday.  Its a great day out and you walk away with a hundred ideas for new quilts!  I'll be there over the weekend and will post some of my favourites.   Hope to see you there!

Kim

Blindman's Fancy Block

Terrible lighting but I'm just so chuffed to actually complete one block....only 5 behind now!

Not entirely convinced by my fabric choices but this is how it will stay for now, have to work on the others before I go unpicking this one.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend,

Caroline

Please keep off the carpet ....

This beautiful "carpet" is created every year in the Grand-Place in Brussels . It's made entirely with fresh flowers - begonias What a breathtaking sight! Isn't it wonderful that there is so much creativity and beauty in this world and the computer enables all to enjoy it.

Home Stretch

When I sleep at night now I dream of waking to a bright cheery morning where I don't need to crawl out of bed, stretch out my fingers and begin the arduous task of quilting..... I am glad to report I am now on the homeward stretch and sewing down binding!!!

This is without it's problems, originally I had a second border on but decided against it mid way through quilting the borders.  Asthetically I am very pleased with this decision, however since removing the outer border I have now created a large amount of bias in the border which is not a smooth as I like.  In places I am having to really stretch out the border when sewing the binding as I am getting pin tucking.

Anyway, here is a last glance before you see the final version (hanging at Darling Harbour).  You can see my problem - and I've rebasted and re-basted several times.  Tried steaming it out.  I am considering quilting another line down the centre but I don't know if I have the time (or the energy).  This is a big quilt, 230 cm square!!!  I've opted for a scrappy binding to go with the rest of the quilt, and to keep in theme the scrappy binding is of course in Liberty!!!  In case you don't know, I ADORE Liberty!!!

I am looking forward to catching up with my Sue Ross Mystery BOM on the weekend (pending no visitors).  Enjoy your week.

Kim

Whetting the appetite

I have already ordered my Mark Hearld Notebook in anticipation of the next project with Sue Ross at Material Obsession.  This is completely consistent with my previous behaviour in all things quilting which is to have at least 3 or 4 projects going at the same time, and at least another couple forming in my head.

Not content with waiting for the post to arrive, I have been looking up Mark Hearld on the World Wide Web.  And I am seriously impressed.  Not only is he more talented than I am, he is also younger than me.  Born in 1974, he studied illustration at Glasgow College of Art and then completed an MA in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art.  According to St Jude's Prints, he has taken his inspiration from the flora and fauna of the British countryside, and  works across a number of mediums, producing limited edition lithographic and linocut prints, unique paintings, collages and hand-painted ceramics.

Here is some eye candy.  Oh and I have started hard sewing that basket ..... All I can say is that I found it necessary to baste the sides of vertical lines in place before weaving in the horizontals.  Photo soon ...