...doing good stitches in January

It feels like ages since I last made a bee block, and I guess in a way it is. In the Cherish circle we take December off so I last made a block in November and I made it the first weekend of the month so it has bee about 10 weeks. Ages!

This month Kim asked for star blocks in blue and white.

I chose to make Another Star by Beth Gutcheson using the tutorial from Fresh Lemons Quilts. I constructed mine a little differently by sewing the first strip on the center square using a partial seam and the finishing it off after the other three strips were sewn.

I also chose to make the Evening Star block using the tutorial by Swim, Bike, Quilt published as part of the Summer Sampler series. I also changed this one up a bit by using a single piece to make the star points.

I can't wait to see how this quilt turns out!

...making links

When I posted about my vision for the May do. Good Stitches quilt by the cherish circle I was thinking the block would be a good scrap buster for the bees in the circle, would make a decent sized quilt and the blocks would look like little chain links, hence the name. 

When I went to think of a title for this post I also though - hey, it links us all as well. I'm not too quick with things like that sometimes. 

The top came together really quickly thanks to the 12 oversized blocks it is made up of and basting was completed over the weekend when I scrounged enough basting pins from the already quilted sections of the other 4 I am currently quilting (3 hand, 1 machine - yes I know, I'm crazy). 

I've been working on practising my free motion quilting for a little while now, mostly on smaller pieces and I felt ready to tackle a larger project. In the centre of the links I FMQed some lines, Amanda Jean style, and then in the larger white squares went back and made some spirals to soften some of the lines. I'm pretty darn pleased for a beginning effort. I'd like the spirals to be a little more round and a little less egg shaped but I can't draw that well with paper and pencil so I don't think I can expect miracles with thread and fabric. 

I used a Gutterman Sulky 30wt in white cotton and I found it really good to use with only a few breakages (which I really think was down to my technique and not the machine). 

It's bound in a white solid from my stash which I think frames it nicely and blends well with the Little Things fabric used on the back. 

It measures about 59"x 78" so it is a good size and it will be off to Needy Stitches later in the week when I head down that way for work. 

...crafty time

While I'm not a teacher I work in schools and with students so when school holidays come around I don't have to leave for work so early in the morning or work quite so last. This weekend marks the beginning of two weeks of this quieter, less frantic work time and in just my style I have a long, long list of crafty plans.

This weekend saw me have a very crafty themed weekend with a fun Sit and Sew evening on Friday night (with the start of my Hexy MF after my papers arrived and I finally decided on my fabrics - but more on that later), a very sad craft show on Saturday with some not sad at all company and lots of sewing and other things. Let's hope I haven't burnt myself out too early!

Top of the list was the blocks for June for the Cherish circle of do. Good Stitches. Melissa had asked for Granny Squares with and extra rounds and pink as the last one (she had sent us the spots to be used for one of them). Given the larger size someone had dubbed them Great Granny squares - a good name I think!
It was good to be able to put some of the 2.5" scrap stash I cut up ages ago to good use.

She has asked they be sent back untrimmed but I folded some of the sawtooth edges over to see how the pinks will look together - OK, I think and I love the concept - looks much more like a 'real' Granny Square!

The other was also to get the top together for the May do. Good Stitches Cherish quilt - for which I was responsible for the design. I posted about my plan here and I am so please it has come together a lot like what I had in my mind. I have the backing and the batting ready to go - I just need to do the next thing on the list and finish quilting one of the quilts I have on the go to gather enough basting pins for the basting and quilting!

I hope to have this one quilted and bound in the next couple of weeks!

...bee quilt update

 Earlier this month I posted a tutorial for my fellow bee makes in do. Good Stitches bee Cherish circle. The other ladies in this bee are so efficient two blocks have already arrived in the postbox and others are on the way.

As this bee only has 10 people per circle I made two extra blocks this morning so the final quilt will be a 3x4 layout and measure almost 60"x80".

Laid out in the front hallway with the door open to let in some light for photos it brightened up a dreary and cold Melbourne day although the air coming in with the light was quite brisk!

...planning stitching and crackers (do. Good Stitches March Cherish Quilt)

This post is about the quilt I have designed for the next month of the Cherish Circle in do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}


I make no claims the that following block design or colour choices are my own. I have taken ideas and inspiration from this design on the Moda Bakeshop by Mary from the Tulip Patch and this block by Angela from Cut to Pieces. A colour plan came from the Warm and Cool quilt along hosed by Jeni from In Color Order. I have chosen to revise the block tutorials highlighting the measurement of block components and colour placements for clarity and the ease of use by my bee mates. So here goes!


This month we will each be making one larger than average block that is constructed in four quarters (two warm and two cool in this design). 

To construct the whole block you will need


(4) 6" square of white (any will do but please avoid creams, light greys and beige) 
(2) 6" warm colour squares (or 4 triangles cut from 2 6" squares) 

Cross cut all of the squares into triangles

(2) 6" cool colour squares  (or 4 triangles cut from 6" squares)  
(4) 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" cool colour rectangles
(4) 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" warm colour rectangles 
(4) 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" rectangles of white (any will do but please avoid creams, light greys and beige )
Note: As part of the Quilt Along Jeni had a great primer on Warm and Cool colours, worth a read here. Like her, I am looking for colours that are medium value but on the warm or cool spectrum. Sticking to the medium value should help the blocks to fit cohesively together. 

This would be the time to raid your scrap box to get a huge variety of fabric colours and prints. The hardest to include variety in will be the squares (to become the corner triangles) because of the way they are cut but if you have some off cuts from large HST this would be a great use for them. 


Constructions
1. Make the centre units 
Sew a warm (cool) strip to each side of the white strips. You will end up with four units, two warm and two cool. Press seams towards the coloured strips. 

2. Sew on the coloured triangles

- Find the centre of the centre white rectangle and the centre of the long side of the triangle. To do this fold the units in half and finger press the centre, be extra careful when doing the triangle so as not to warp the bias edge.

 - Match the crease marks and sew triangle to the centre square. Press the seams towards the coloured triangle on the warm blocks and the centre unit on the cool blocks. 

- You will end up with something that looks like this. 

- Repeat with the other three units. 

3. Sew on the white triangles

- Using the same method find the centres again. 

- Match the crease marks and sew on the white triangles. Press seams towards the triangle on the cool blocks and the centre unit on the warm blocks. 

- You will have one quarter unit completed!

- Repeat with the other three units. 

4. Trim your units

- The units have been deliberately oversized. They will be trimmed to 10" square. I find having a square ruler really helps me do this and this is how I have done it in the pictures but there is not reason is can't be done with a straight ruler. 

 - Place the ruler over the completed block, matching the mark 1/4" from the edge of the ruler with the spot where your centre unit and triangles meet. This will ensure you are left with a seam allowance that will not cut off your points when you join the units!

5. Sew your units together to make a block!

 - Lay your units our with the coloured triangles meeting in the middle and the units forming an 'X' of sorts. 

You will want the warm units on the top left and bottom right. 

 - Pin the units that form the top row together matching the points and sew. Press towards the 'Warm' block. 

 - Repeat with the bottom row, again pressing towards the warm block. 

 - Sew the two halves together nesting the centre seam and matching the triangle points. 

Your block will be about 19.5" square and finish in the quilt at 19"

Success! Thanks so much 'Cherish' Bees!

...fine for ducks...and quilting

When I was 15 my family and I went on our first (and to date, only) overseas trip as a family travelled the massive distance to New Zealand. Come to think of it it wasn't such a short trip, we were coming from Perth and had top stop over in Sydney making the travel time quite awhile.

But I digress, sort of. At the time my brother must have been about 11 and had a little travel diary that he filled in. At the top of the page were spaces for a whole lot of information that the printers of the diary though essential for the traveller to record but the only stat I remember specifically is where you had to record the weather. I can't remember all the descriptions now but the one for rain was described as 'fine for ducks'. There were a lot of days that little box was ticked.

Today in Melbourne has been wonderful for ducks....and sewing.

So I have made my November blocks for do. Good Stitches Cherish circle. We had free rain this month on the block design but an aqua, orange and grey palette.

This block is Potager by Yvonne and featured in Modern Blocks.

The second is a Cracker Jack rip-off. The centre section of the block is actually a quarter of a block designed by Angela in this tutorial. I was all set to make the whole block until I came to the part where you trim the quarter and confirmed my suspicion that what I had was too big to be trimmed to 6.5". Note to self, read through the whole tutorial before starting in future.

I added the border to my 10" unit and am still quite pleased with it, and also quite sure I might put this tutorial to use for a quilt in the not too distant future.

...do. Good Stitches - the local connection

Last year sometime I joined do.good Stitches, it was/is another Flickr based bee but instead of participants requesting blocks to be made into a quilt for themselves the resulting quilts donated to various charities or to individuals who are going through difficult times.

Earlier this year I was given the opportunity to form part of an Australian based circle, I jumped at the chance, charity beginning at home and all that.

The second month with this new circle was my chance to design a quilt, or the second time. I had previously been given special dispensation to make this quilt for Claire after the floods in Queensland but prior to the beginning of the interbational circle all the quilters (and quilt donations) were made in the US.

I had been inspired by blocks published here, here, here and here on the Lark crafts blog and after gaining permission to trace and send the templates for various blocks I went out and bought the book, spent a lot more time than I expected would be necessary tracing them and then sent them off to my other bee mates.

I asked that all blocks be made in solids or nearly solids and that the animal blocks that finished at various sizes accoring to the templates, be sashed in primary or secondary colours to a 12.5" unfinished block.

The blocks were not 'easy', when I originally planned the quilt I thought they were paper pieced and I wasn't until I was fully committed to the theme I realised they were all cut from templates. I came to realise many of the bee mates were not so familiar with pieces of fabric that small cut with templates and embroidery or with the applique that about half the blocks included - but without fail everyone gave the challenge a try and the blocks all turned out wonderfully!! I appreciate their effort all the more with the little added challenge.

Sewing the top together was ver straight forward. The sizing borders on each of the block meant their was no need for sashing and I think the whole exercise only took about 20 minutes!

Backing was 2/3 Lizzy House Red Letter Day ducks that I found in the cupboard having bought for a steal at spotlight and a Spotlight Solid in yello mustard colour.

Quilting was 1/4 inch inside each of the frames and 14inch outside the animal blocks. This seems to have kept the whole thing stong enough without needing to sew all over everyone careful piecing.

It has been delivered to Needy Stitches and will soon been delivered to a little girl who is jest beginning her chemotherapy journey. Hopefully this will add a little brightness to a drab time.

'Faith' May string blocks

'Faith' May string blocks, a photo by HandmadeRetro on Flickr.

Some sewing has been done - and I'm slowly climbing out from the the unfinished project pile!

do. Good Stitches April Rainbow block-with a Perth fabric secret

So after a 5am wake-up time, a frantic trip tp the airport and a cross country flight with a lot of toddlers I have arrived in Perth for a quick visit before my flight to Bali tomorrow. As is often the way I had a long list of things to do before I went and I didnt get to the all. One that didnt happen was my April block for do. Good Stitches, and while I would probably have time to get it done on my return without being late but when I have a free day why risk it?


It also givs me a chance to introduce you to a little Perth secret – Textile Traders. It is a fabric chain store- in that there are several around WA but they only exist in Western Australia as far as I can tell. Lead by Benny (and I have it on good autority that his advert persona is not an act) they stock some designer quilting weight fabrics for about $12-$15 in Australia! It seems that excess stock is sold at auction and Benny buys it for the stores so nowhere gets a whole line. That being said I have found several Amy Butler Lotus prints in one store in the past as well as heaps of Prints Charming. A great place to happen upon Out of Print or had to find fabric at a reasonable price but I think it really comes down to the luck of the find.

So when I wanted to get some fabric this morning off I went.

Rachel asked for Rainbow blocks in saturated colours, in any size or design and I couldn't go past piecing an actual rainbow!

Using the free-cutting technique Kerry asked for a few months ago in Bee {a little} bit Japanese I cut the centre half circle and then each of the rainbow bands in turn, sewing and pressing to the centre as went.

The final outside white area was cut and attached in the same way.

Off to Rachel now -she explains she would like to make a BIG  quilt so this is a BIG block- 20 inches by 24 inches.

A blocky weekend!

A bee block weekend was had by me last weekend



The end of the month was fast approaching and I had some bee blocks to make before they were late!


First up were two sets of blocks for Bee Seam Piecing Downunder with the February blocks for Erin being delayed after it took a whole month for an envelope to arrive in the mail from Adelaide. Continuing frustration from Australia Post is becoming the norm for me lately!


Erin had previously asked us for our favourite colour and sent us some fabric in that colour as well as other fabric and set us a free choice block. With the flying geese kick I had been on recently this was the first block I made.

Originally it was to be three rows of flying geese until I (thankfully checked) the instructions and noted Erin had asked for 10.5” blocks.

More triangles for block two seemed fitting and a pinwheel emerged from the machine.


Next up was two of these blocks for Nicole in the same bee but for March. Based on this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts that was apparently originally based on another seen on flickr she asked us to create these, full of squares and half square triangles. Unfortunately we were all a little short of the yellow as the bolt appears to have been narrower but this and the almost finished second was sent on the way.

This will be a wonderful quilt but with so many small pieces in each block is it one that is helpful to have some assistance in piecing!

Also on the list was the this scrappy stashbuster block for Crystal in Bee (a little bit) Japanese.

Thankfully she had precut all the tiny little squares for us and these came together surprisingly quickly.

A lovely detail that she requested was that we sub in two squares of our own and then raw edge applique another scrap of this same fabric to a label/siggy block to help her identify and remember everyone's contribution in the final quilt.

She also asked for our favourite quote to be included on the label - I went with the one I consider most fun.

The final bee blocks for the weekend were two for the Faith circle do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}. Kathy Dougherty of Material Obsession fame (both the store and the books) had given permission for us to use the stashbuster quilt pattern so long as it was not published publicly.

As this quilt will be going to a little baby girl I included some fun prints and a little pink.

I really love this quilt (it is on the long, long list for things I might get to one day) and was pleased to be able to have a small hand in one in the meantime.

To round out the weekend I finished the final two blocks I still had to go for the Quilt Bloggers Blockapalooza

and fixed an earlier one when I found some more orange stripe.

Sewing the top together is the next step!

This weekend it is all about the double wedding ring quilt top (and back hopefully!)

Claire's Quilt - A quilt by do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}

Claire’s quilt is on her way to her now.

This quilt was made with blocks contributed by the members of the do. Good stitches {a Charity Bee} on flickr in a break from regular programming. Generally the quilts are designed and blocks joined to tops and quilted and bound by the ‘quilter’ members all of whom are based in the US but I asked and the group agreed to make an exception to normal progress in the face of the natural disaster playing out in Queensland at the time.


Sadly these disasters have become all too common in more recent times.


Inspired by this quilt I asked for Disappearing 9 patch blocks with a white centre in varying sizes, with the tutorial posted here. These were sashed with more white and squared to 19.5” and then sewed together in a 3x5 grid. This has yielded an almost 60” x 90” quilt that is the perfect size of an Australian King Single sized bed (or large couch quilt if that is more Claire’s style).

It is backed in a wide cotton fabric from IKEA and bound with Kona Coal (this gives a nice contrast frame to the front and blends well with the backing.

I have quilted it in a unmarked grid style with each stitching row being about 6” apart (and much straighter than I thought it would be when I started)

It is labelled and dated on the back – label created in Kona Snow with fabric stamping ink and has survived one wash so far.

I am so pleased to have this quilt on the way to a young person that deserves more than most a nice surprise and a metaphoric pat on the back. Since this quilt has been started Claire’s family has had to move house and pressures that predate the flood continue. I hope the arrival of an unexpected parcel cheers her and that she likes the colours and design of the quilt.

I would also like to publicly thank Julie at this point as well. Julie, herself a resident of a flood affected area, wrote an email to Toni from Make it Perfect that inspired the Flood Relief Auctions. When I went looking for a recipient for the quilt Julie, living in the area, was able to find such a person for me. She has also very generously made two extra quilts, one for each of Claire’s younger brothers that will be delivered later this week as well.


So thank you to all the members of the do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} and Julie and best wishes to Claire and her family.

A weekend of almost dones....

I've been really busy this weekend and have made a lot of progress with nothing finished to show.

So a series of progress shots

Claire's quilt - do Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}

This one was basted with a Ikea fabric backing, quilted in a grid pattern with horizontal and vertical lines approximately six inches apart.

The binding (Kona Coal) has been machine sewn to the front, just waiting on the back to be hand stitched.

Doll Quilt
I finally finished the hand quilting 

and this this was bound using a voile - Pastry Stripes in blue.

A label has been made using printable fabric and just waiting to be stitched on.

Charming Stars in the Park quilt
This was basted and then machine quilted 1/4 inch inside each of the sashing lines and borders.

I have started hand quilting inside each of the stars in a variegated blue perle no 8 cotton.