WIP Wednesday :: So many projects so little time!

I am happy to say that I have actually been sewing since the weekend.  I think unearthing some old projects gave me the motivation to get out of my sewing slump and achieve something.  I worked on two of the projects from my Projects to Finish list, but also added a few to the list too!!

The first one I worked on was the Baby Quilt from Samples.  Looking at the fabric that was left, I made another with leftover units from the sample and then decided to make 5 quick and easy bordered 9 patches.  Once I had decided that it really didn't take that long to piece them and then the quilt top.  Why did I leave it lingering for sooo long?  I think because the fabric isn't really me I wasn't grabbed by it.  But now that it is finished I see lots of possibilities for quilting.  I have no photos of this yet because it was a dark wet day when I finished it so rubbish for taking photos.

I think I am going to custom quilt this one using Pro-Stitcher.  It will be my first proper quilt to custom quilt and so will be a learning curve if nothing else.  I have wadding in my studio and I am sure I have backing I can piece for this, annoyingly it is 45" so normal width fabric is just too small, so it really shouldn't even go back on the shelf ...... watch this space!

The second quilt I worked on was my Black and Silver Jelly Roll quilt.  I pulled some black and silver fabric and thought I would add some 2" strips in the opposite direction on both ends of the quilt so that the thin red sashing wasn't on the edge of the quilt.  When I looked at it again I realised that I could use what I already had.

I unpicked 4 rows into the jelly roll portion and then simply turned it around so that the thin red strip was in the body of the quilt.  I have to say I hate redoing things - don't ask me why I would have preferred to have made piano key borders but it was actually so much quicker doing what I did and it really isn't that bad unpicking a little bit.  This is a head shift I need to make.

This quilt is going to have an E2E design quilted over it and I already know the one I am going to use.  The Pro-Stitcher library comes with loads of designs in it both designed by Handi Quilter and other designers aswell.  Saying that there are 1000s of designs out there that you can buy although I did say I wouldn't initially.  But you know how that goes right?  I saw this design being quilted out by a fellow longarmer and just loved it so I gave in!  I haven't quilted this yet and I am looking forward to it.  It is called More Square Drama from Wasatch Quilting.

So I am really happy to have two quilt tops ready to quilt .... and I am determined that they will not sit on the To Quilt Pile that I have.  A finish for Friday?  Probably not, but wouldn't it be great if they were both quilted to show you next Wednesday?!

Works in progress ....

I have had my first illness of the season these last few days and, lacking in energy and with a head that hurt to move, I thought I would slowly give my studio a sort out.  I know I have lots of WIPs, a fair few made it onto my 2016FAL Q4 list, but I wasn't quite sure where I was on them all or what I needed to proceed.  So here is a summary:

My Bee Hive Quilt

I was Queen Bee earlier in the year and having seen Michelle tackling her blocks I was motivated to get mine pieced together.  

I had also asked for signature blocks so I pieced these, along with two blocks, into the backing - I love how this worked out.

All I have to do is cut the wadding and then it's ready to quilt.

New Zealand fabric Christmas Quilt - what a catchy name that is!

This quilt didn't get touched last quarter, or the quarter before, but I am determined to get it finished to use this Christmas.  I needed to make some more blocks to get it up to size and happened to have some pale green solid fabric, Kona Pond, on my cutting table whilst making them and so decided to outline several blocks in that instead of the red wickerweave.

I need to order a bit more Kona Pond to make a small border before a larger red border.  I happened to have a suitable backing in my stash.  I bought this at Quilts UK in Malvern earlier this year as a bargain so I am delighted it works with this quilt.  This quilt is proving difficult to photograph because I can't get a true reflection of the colours.

So to proceed on this one I need to order fabric, get borders attached, piece a panel in the backing, cut wadding and then it will be ready to quilt.

Feathers Quilt

This is a quilt for my daughter who chose for the backing Feathers from the new Lewis & Irene To Catch a Dream collection.  I have never ordered fabric for backing before and usually like to touch fabric before buying!  However, I am hoping this is the same quality as all the other Lewis & Irene fabric and that both my daughter and I will like it when it arrives.  There has been a delay in it arriving in the UK but it is in the country now and I am just waiting for it to be dispatched.

Once the backing has arrived I have to cut the wadding and then this will be ready to quilt.

Rainbow Rose Quilt

This is ready to quilt right now.  I know what design I am going to quilt on the grey background but still undecided on the coloured parts ..... I think I just need to load it onto the rollers and start!

 

 
Back to Front Quilt

This needs to be cut into again and have some more improv blocks placed in it.  There is a chartreuse/lime accent in a few of the fabrics and I have decided to get some solid fabric in that colour to highlight some of the areas.  I had wanted this done ready to gift next week but in reality I think I will have to deliver it myself a few weeks later.

Accent fabric needs to be ordered, some more piecing needs to be done, backing needs piecing, wadding cutting and then this will be ready to quilt!

In an effort to be more efficient and tidy I have decided to use my hanging hooks for all my quilts in progress ....

So there's the five quilts listed above plus an extra one - a customer quilt!  It is so exciting to be starting to quilt for other people and it's a real honour to be entrusted with their quilt tops.  This one is a pirate ship for the lady's grandson which should be great fun to quilt.

And, as if 6 quilts wasn't enough, I sorted out all the blocks I wanted to make into cushions or minis.  My husband kindly got me the cushion inserts on Monday, I have figured out what zips I need to purchase and I have found suitable backing fabric.

So that's me - as soon as I feel well enough I will be quilting up a storm!  It feels good to get organised and my studio now feels clearer even though nothing has actually been moved out yet.  I am hosting a sewing day in early December where 5 ladies have to be able to sew so I am slowly working towards that goal.

I am linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts today.

New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Week 2

You may have noticed that a little thing called New Quilt Bloggers has been going on recently!  Hosted by three very talented bloggers, Yvonne from Quilting Jet Girl, Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie from Late Night Quilter, it has given a chance to people new to blogging to connect and learn from each other and, of course, our talented hosts.

 

 

Last week saw the start of the Blog Hop and there were some fantastic introduction posts, click here to see a list from last week.  There are also some fantastic prizes on offer through giveaways ....

 

So where should I start?  I guess with some quilts - it is the New Quilt Bloggers group for a reason!  Almost a year ago I got a longarm quilting machine and that has certainly altered the course of my quilting ..... I have also been a lot more productive since acquiring it!  There was something about basting a quilt on the floor that had the tops sitting on shelves for rather a long time. 

 

The first quilt of mine that I quilted on the longarm machine was Straight Line Bow.  It was also my first entry in a quilt show, The Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate in September 2015, where I was delighted and rather surprised to be awarded a Judge's Merit ribbon!  I love the texture on this one.  You can read more about it on this post.

 

 

Also last year saw me participate in my first ever Blog Hop, run by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for her Dog Gone Cute Quilt Along.  My daughters had seen me looking at the really cute pictures and my youngest loved the design.  Her birthday was coming up so I thought I would make the quilt for her.

 

I also really love the pieced back on this one.  For more information head over here.

 

Just last month I finished my oldest quilting WIP, which was such a wonderful feeling.  It had been 6 years in the making and I am absolutely delighted with the result.  The motivation to get it finished was twofold - I could now quilt it as I had always envisioned (I really couldn't get FMQ on my little vintage Bernina!) and I had entered it into the Group Quilt section of Quilts UK, in Malvern.  Yet again, if you want to know more about ANZAC Hearts then click on over here!

 

 

The last quilt I would like to share with you is entitled Should I Stay or Should I Go?  This was made for the Theme Category at Quilts UK, which this year was Where the Heart Is.

My statement for the show was:

I was born in the UK; married a Kiwi; one daughter born in New Zealand and one born in the UK; home has been moved back and forth numerous times over the years.  My heart lives in both countries and, no matter which country I am living in at the time, is always there at the back of my mind - should I stay or should  I go?

For more on this quilt head over here.

 

Why cut&alter?

 

In short because that's what we do in so many facets of our life.  We take something, whether that be fabric, wood or food, we cut it, we do something with it and it is altered!!  The wood comes from my husband who is, at times, a picture framer and a furniture designer/maker.

 

Snippets about me

 

::  I have been sewing in some shape or form all of my life.  I learnt to quilt 6 years ago but sadly had a 2 year period when I did not sew at all, due to injuring both my wrists - let's hope that never happens again.

 

::  I have made over 50 pairs of curtains - we move a lot!

 

::  I am a Pisces.

 

::  I now realise that I will never make all the quilts that are in my head.  As soon as I have made one then 10 more possibilities come into my head, not to mention all the inspiration I see on the great www!

 

::  Favourite book - too hard to say!  I am an avid reader and have recently discovered goodreads.  Here you can make lists (and I am a list girl!) - read, reading, to read .... get recommendations, read reviews etc, etc.  If you are a reader too then head on over. 

 

::  Dream holiday spot will always involve the coast.

 

::  I am the youngest of 5 children.

 

::  I have had hypothermia and my youngest daughter has had hypothermia!

 

::  I now truly appreciate living in the UK having lived in other countries.

 

::  How are you? in Māori is Kei te pēhea koe?  (Pronounced Kay tay pay he are kway?) to which you can reply I am good or Kei te pai ahau (Kay tay pie a hoe) - just in case you ever need to know that!

 

Blogging Tip

 

To post regularly and then it becomes a habit and much quicker.  I find the hardest thing is get to back to blogging if I have taken a break, intended or otherwise. 
 

Quilting Tip

 

Never be afraid to try anything and go with your gut instinct if something feels right.  There are lots of people out there with their own opinions, but that is exactly what it is theirs.  Some will work for you and some won't - don't be afraid to mix and match.  It's all about enjoying it at the end of the day and if a certain technique is not making you happy try another!

 

And a question for you ......

 

Books ..... The last couple of years I have tried to expand my reading horizons and have been taking recommendations from all manner of places and then reading the books .... to the end!  Some I have loved and some I have not but all have been interesting.  I am now on the lookout for more - so my question is twofold:

 

what is your favourite book or who is your favourite author?

 

Here's the schedule for the rest of my Hive:

Jennifer @ Inquiring Quilter

Jen @ Faith and Fabric

Jamie @ Small Town Stitchin

Irene @ Patchwork and Pastry

but please do go visit the others too .....

there is the Sewcial Network over with Yvonne

and Hive Sewciety over with Stephanie

There are also lots of lovely prizes up for grabs in a giveaway!!  Talking of prizes .... there will be something up for grabs on my blog later this week.  I am approaching 150 posts which is definitely a cause for celebration.  I had hoped it would coincide with this post but it was not to be.  It just means that you will have to pop back later in the week if you are interested!

 

Many thanks for reading and hope to see you again. x

ANZAC Hearts - another finish!

So there have been a few finishes around these parts of late.  This is the last post about the quilts I finished for the Show recently.  Not only is it a finish in itself, which qualifies it for a link up to Finish it up Friday, it also ticks another project of my 2016FAL list AND it was my oldest WIP (and subsequently contained a lot of emotion!!!)

 

Progress posts can be found here, here and here - all from when I was blogging as Little Grubs!

 

Started:  March 2010

I had recently learnt to quilt and joined my first quilting bee via Flickr.  I liked hearts and I liked the fabric so I sent out a bundle with a request for hearts.  That was it!  I was too new to the game to realise I should have given some specification on block sizes.  It was only when they started to come in I realised how hard it would be for me to put them all together!

 

Finished:  14 May 2016

This quilt top was finished in August 2010 and then sat on shelves in many houses, both in NZ and the UK!

 

 

One of the reasons it took so long to quilt was because I did not know how to quilt it.  I loved the top and did not want to ruin it with my quilting!  When I got my longarm machine last July, I thought this would be the first quilt of mine that I did on it.  But no, I then realised I had so much to learn on my machine that this top still languished on my shelf.  It made my Finish Along list twice before this quarter hoping that would be enough motivation for me to get it done.

 

 

Even when it was loaded onto the frame I was not really sure how I was going to quilt it.  Any of your regular readers noticing a theme here?!!  I knew I wanted hearts and feathers but what I did not realise was how many straight lines I would put onto it.  The rulerwork practice I got has certainly improved my skills.  Oh and my burying threads has got real quick too using a spiral eye needled!

 

This was one of my blocks, made from this pattern by Tallgrass Prairie Studio.

I think this is my favourite quilted block - my feathers flowed on this one!

 

And finally it was ready to bind.  I still had the time to handstitch this binding, which I actually really like doing.

 

The wadding used was Warm and Natural by the Warm Company and the backing was pieced using For You by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic by Moda and Prints Charming by Sandy Gervais for Moda.

 

 

I used Glide threads top and bottom in Coffee, 27504, and Light Turquoise, 32975.

Dimensions:  50" x 70"

I entered this quilt into the Groups Category at Quilts UK, Malvern and was delighted to receive a Judge's Merit ribbon for it.  Of course credit must go to all the members of the Bee for making their blocks.

Luckily six years on I still love it.  I am so please that it is finished and I am really looking forward to being able to use it! x

............. and breathe!

Last week I posted on the predicament I found myself in relating to getting 3 quilts finished in a very short time.  Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and words of encouragement - they really helped.

 

A week on I am very happy to tell you that I DID IT!!!!!  And just in the nick of time.  I literally had finished sewing the last stitch on the hanging sleeve of my last quilt, pinned the Show organiser's label to it and got the bags ready for the quilts to be packed in when my husband returned to deliver them for me.  He had kindly offered when he saw just how tired I was that morning!  Oh the relief!!! 

 

In hindsight I think I was crazy for putting myself under that kind of pressure but on the other hand I have three brand new finished quilts.  I may have done things differently on them if I had not had such a tight deadline but then again they may have been sitting as tops for another few months ........ or years!

 

I posted about Say "Cheese!" over here if you want to read about it.

Second to be finished was my oldest WIP - oh the memories this stirred up ..... It was actually a really emotional journey quilting this one!  Luckily I still love the fabrics and love the finished quilt.  I didn't have time to take lots of photos of ANZAC Hearts so the ta-da post will be next week when it is back from Show.

 

The last quilt to be quilted and finished was Should I Stay of Should I Go? On this one I was really under serious time pressure.  There are lots of things I would have done differently but in the end I just had to do it.  Yes, there is some stitching I would have taken out and redone if there had been time and yes, the quilting design may have been different but ........ it's done!!  Again there will be a full post about this quilt next week.

 

 

Suffice it to say I am exhausted but extremely happy and really rather proud.  I haven't finished three quilts in a year before let alone a week!

 

So today I am going to be very social and link up over with Lorna and actually head around and see some of the other lovely bloggers!

 

 

 

Rather anti-social in real life!

Is it wrong to sign up to Let's Bee Social when in real life I am being anything but social?!  I have 4 1/2 days left to have all my quilts ready to deliver to Malvern for Quilts UK.  When I filled out the entry form, what seems like months ago, I decided to be brave and enter 4 quilts .... only one of which was actually made.  My reasoning was that with a deadline I would actually start AND finish the quilts and push myself forwards on my quilting journey.

Fast forward to today and I think I am certifiably insane and am cancelling everything that I had in my calendar until next Tuesday!

There are reasons that I am so far behind 1) my husband, rather unexpectedly, went back to New Zealand for 3 1/2 weeks which meant all the Home Ed and family and home responsibilities fell to me 2) lots of people requested a pattern for my Union Jack block so I wrote one, whilst aforementioned husband was absent! 3)  I fell down the stairs 10 days ago and I am only just able to move freely but it certainly wasn't conducive to rotary cutting, sitting still piecing or quilting on my longarm machine.

Which brings us to today and the following list:

Quilt No 1 - ready - hooray

Quilt No 2 - requires binding, label and hanging sleeve

Quilt No 3 - requires quilting, binding, label and hanging sleeve

Quilt No 4 - still needs strip to be pieced, then assembled, quilted, then binding, label and sleeve attached

I can do it, right?  Yesterday was a disaster on Quilt No 2 requiring lots of unpicking, repressing and reloading.  Today some stippling and matchstick quilting went well and my Polaroid Quilt is now ready to bind!

Quilt No 4 is my flag quilt and I have made good, but slow, progress .... the New Zealand flag is now finished!

I still have to decide how to join the Union Jack and the NZ flag together.  They need something between them otherwise they lose their demarcation.  I better get my thinking cap on whilst I bind my other one!

Work in Progress .....

I can't believe how quickly you can make blocks when you have bought yardage!!  My normal practice is to make do and cobble together bits and pieces but yesterday I bought some fabric and it makes the process so much easier and quicker.

I love the polaroid quilts I have seen on the WWW and IG and decided to make one as a cot quilt.  For the practice ones I used a grey as a surround and whilst I love this I didn't think it was best suited to a cot quilt.  Instead I have chosen Moda Grunge Pool in Aqua.  I hadn't seen any Grunge fabric in real life until yesterday when I saw the whole range.  They are gorgeous!  It also co-ordinates with the some of the colours in the backing fabric (there's a snippet in the corner there!), which may also have an accent border on the front.





I have also been working on my daughter's quilt, which is needs a border top and bottom and then some applique on the front.  She is wanting to 'catify' her room so, of course, cats are going on the front of the quilt and the backing is all cats!

The other project which really should be taking priority, due to the shipping date being next week, is my Rainbow Mini Swap.  I have been posting updates on Instagram but haven't said much about it here.  The top is finished and has been on my frame for two days but I think I have Quilter's Block.  Is there such a thing?  I can picture it fully quilted in my head but I am not sure if I can produce my metal image in reality.  I guess I just have to take the plunge and start ......

There are lots of other projects at various stages of completion but these are what I am physically working on right now.  I like having multiple projects to chose from because you can do what you feel like at the time but ........ I don't seem to have had any finishes recently, which is always such a mental boost!

 

I am almost at 100 blog posts and it's my birthday week sooooooo I think a giveaway is in order.  Be sure to pop back on Friday for my 100th post!

Linking up to Let's Bee Social today over at Sew Fresh Quilts.

A little shopping therapy ...

My husband has taken this week of work and will be with the girls so I have a week in my studio.  I have never had such a long period of dedicated studio time and I can't believe how much I achieved yesterday.  Well, working today consisted of some shopping!  I had a good sort out yesterday trying to match tops with backing and realised that I would have to buy some.  So a trip to The Bramble Patch was in order.

 

I think this cat print is adorable, as does my daughter who it is for .....

 

 



however, it really doesn't go with the top.  Hey ho she's happy with it and that's all that counts right?

 

The next purchase was some backing and sashing fabric for a new quilt ....

 

and a few blocks made up.  Wow blocks are made sooooo much quicker when you have yardage and aren't trying to cobble together all your scraps!

Then three fabrics that will make two backs.  Hmmmmm, see yesterday I was trying to save money and piece together a back for my heart quilt.  There was so much piecing going on that it almost turned into another top.  Compounded with a couple of cutting errors which meant more piecing I decided that it really should be a quilt of its own hence why I needed fabric for two backings!

 

At the weekend I went into my local WHSmiths and was surprised and delighted to see Simply Moderne on the shelf.  It is not the latest edition but that doesn't matter  - I can always keep an eye out for that now I know they stock it.  It's certainly not a cheap magazine but the first copy I bought I read from beginning to end and just loved the article and quilts.  I have not finished reading it yet as I am savouring it!

 

On Sunday I went to the CHSI Stitches trade show at the NEC and came across Karen Lewis Textiles Blueberry Park stand.  I approached a lady on the stand who was free and started chatting away ..... little realising that it was Karen herself!

Check out those awesome bunnies!

 

And the quilt in the corner?  That the lovely pattern by Mary Emmens.  I have seen both this pattern and the Blueberry Park range all over the WWW and IG and have admired from afar.  But to see them in real life was wonderful. x