Kaffe Kassett Hankerchief Corners

This is another beautiful quilt made by Andrea. Andrea claims no originality in this quilt - but having not seen the fabric or pattern before - I think it is just gorgeous. (I understand the pattern is from the book Shots & Stripes.)

When Andrea & I discussed quilting options I was really surprised that I kind of persuaded her to take on my idea on how the quilting should be. Andrea has some recipients in mind for this quilt and I felt that the pattern was very bold and could take and not be affected by a softer more feminine approach than just straight lines.

When ever I hang quilts to take photos of them in the hall I always get little visitors. This is my youngest little bunny - playing hide & seek.

I still struggle not to point out every mistake when I return a quilt. I know I have to stop this - I know that the people who come to me are happy with what is returned to them. To demonstrate my issues here I have photographed what I consider is a big mistake. Can you spot it? (And here I am foolishly opening myself up to you spotting all sorts of things I haven't spotted yet!!)

The thread I used is King Tut by Superior Shifting Sands. (Do not be fooled by the orangey color shown on the internet.) It is a gorgeous variegated thread - soft beige's and golds with tinges of light blue in it. I can easily see myself using it in all sorts of projects in the future.

I think the pattern adds another layer to the quilt - a soft beautiful layer you can only see when you get up close. 

And being a lover of white on white texture I think the back looks pretty yummy too. 

A big thank you to Andrea again for trusting me with her beautiful quilt tops.

Tutorial: Sixty Minute Split Strip Quilt

And try and say that in a hurry!

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Sixty Minute Strip Quilt 

(Top only  - twin size.)

Material needed for top:

~ 5 yards of different fabrics – cut into 5” width strips (making the strips wider gives the quilt a more modern bolder look)

~ or 35 x 5” WOF strips to make a scrappy version.

- Sew all your strips together into one big strip – mixing up the materials in random or in a pattern 

- Fold your long strip in two and sew along the right edge – when you reach the end/or fold – cut the bottom

-  Continue folding the strip and sewing along the right edge & snipping the bottom until you have 16 strips sewn together.  

- The width of your quilt so far should be approx. 72” - measure 72” up the quilt and cut straight across. You will have 1 x 72" square and 1 x rectangle approx 72" wide. 

- Turn the 72” square 90 degrees and sew the cut off strip back onto the square. 

- Baste & quilt your quilt. 

- Trim & square corners.

- I  added a cute pink ribbon & bow at the 72” seam point (as this was made for a 7 year old) – but you don’t need to do this.

- Bind your quilt. 

The sewing for this quilt top only took me a little under 60mins. It would be an easy last minute project to make in a night .

Doing the Fancy Fandango with Jennie Rayment

 
I think I have mentioned before that my Grandmother was a keen patchworker and knitter. We sadly never got a chance to share the passion together. I also have some UK patchwork royalty in my family too - the wonderful Jennie Rayment. Jennie has been my step-mum for a long long time - although I have none of her actual sewing genius genes - she is a great inspiration to me. Jennie's work is quite incredible and she was able to stop and stay with us in between teaching & Houston. She was kind enough to give my church quilting group a private talk. It was so much fun, witty and so inspirational to us all.

A lot of Jennie's creations are made from manipulating and folding fabric (think origami for fabric fans.) You can see the vast array of quilts she showed us due to the massive pile on the floor. I don't know how she drags everything around the world with her - she is much fitter than I.

One of the things that Jennie showed me was a box made out of what she calls Fancy Fandango's (you can get the pattern of a Fancy Fandango on this DVD). During Jennie's stay I was in the planning stage for a Memory quilt and these Fancy Fandago's really spoke to me.

 

So what did you do this Thanksgiving season? Because I made 70+ of these little guys ranging from 0.75"- 2" finished size!

Valentine Quilt

It has taken a while but I have finally finished my Valentine Quilt which is a design from a this book by Elizabeth Hartman. I really like the book - I must go back and visit its patterns and ideas again.

I'm very pleased with the quilt. The top of the quilt has been sewn together for quite sometime (pre bunny #3) but I just hadn't got around to putting all the layers together and quilting the beast.

This quilt it pretty much all made up by fabric scraps from my scrap bin - which is now mysteriously full again - how does that happen?

I used a swirly whirly pattern during the free motion quilting. The same sort of pattern I used on the Mother's Day Cushions.

I even used up the last few strips of scrap fabric left over on the back of the quilt.

You also might remember I used some of the same left over scraps to make this quilt for baby Flora. 

Getting projects finished feels good - with the three little ones constantly underfoot and demanding my attention - finishing these kind of projects feels like a monumental achievement!

Nana's Memory Quilt

Back back in what seems like many years ago I was asked to help make a memory quilt that would be used as a chuppah for a wedding. It was such a great project to be a part of - I've been dying to do another memory quilt ever since.

Nana turned 90 this year - and it seemed like a perfect occasion to put together a memory quilt as a gift for her. Nana makes every grandchild a quilt when they are born (to remind you here is what she made for Bunny #1!). She is quite the dedicated sewer as well as a loving mother to four children, grand mother to 13 and great grandmother to an additional 21!!

Back at the beginning of this year I sent a letter to everyone in the family asking them to create a square that would be sewn together into a quilt to celebrate Nana's 90th birthday. Here is the form letter that I used in case you wanted to put together a similar project:

A Memory Quilt for Nana

In addition to all the heart felt things that are being planned for Nana's 90th birthday we thought it would be a nice idea to create a memory quilt for Nana. Nana over the years has made us all so many lovely things - lets make her a quilt packed with memories and love.

Memory quilts are quilts pieced together from squares depicting thoughts/mementos for a special loved one. They can be made from clothes, T-shirts, ties, direct printed photos - almost anything that might hold a special meaning.

If you would like to participate you will need to return any finished patch(es) or materials for the quilt BY - any squares/materials received after this date might not be able to be included in the finished quilt.

You will find in this package:

-       a square of material 14 x 14". (There should be enough pieces of material for everyone in your family plus some spare.)

-       Ziploc bag to protect your patch/material during return mailing

-       an addressed envelope for returning your squares

You can decorate your patch in anyway you wish with what ever method you wish – here are some ideas:

NOTE: you do not have to fill all of the square provided

-       write out your message with a permanent fabric marker, or perhaps penning a favorite quote or lyric that is meaningful to you and Nana

-       embroider a message or image on the square

-       use iron-on letters or pictures

-       appliqué or patchwork your own patch

-       fabric pens, paints or dye – used freehand, stenciled or stamped

-       transfer photos/drawings with heat transfer paper or printable fabric sheets.

-       buttons, beads, ribbon, lace

You do not have to fill the square provided - you do not have to use the provided square of fabric - you can:

-       use any other fabric you might prefer

-       return a piece of fabric/clothing that has meaning to you that you would like to be included

Please feel free to be as imaginative as possible and take your square any direction you want. Thank you so much for your participation in this project.

Any questions please contact me @


It was such a fun project - I really enjoyed putting it all together.

I quilted the huge beast on my Bernia which was quite an undertaking - it isn't perfect - but I think Nana was pleased with her gift. 

 Here are some of my favorite squares ...

Motivation

I'm lacking in motivation. I think because the only real time I get to myself is nap time. Once both girls are quiet and resting it leaves me with a small window of time which I 'have' to use for crafting else I go a little crazy with a feeling of not having achieved anything for myself. I'm beginning to resent that pressure to sit down and be creative at that very moment - sometimes I'm just not in the mood and sometimes I'm just bit mentally exhausted from having battled with two gorgeous - but sometimes unreasonable - bunny's all morning and I just want an hour of mindless anything ... so I've be rebelling by filling nap times with other delightful activities such as laundry, cleaning, emptying and refilling the dishwasher ...

This is not a productive mindset ... I have projects I want to make/do/achieve falling out my ears.

But I have been doing some sewing. I've finished the top of my Valentine Quilt. I'm not convinced by the quilts size - so I sewed all the scrappy strips left over together in hopes to make a border for the quilt ... ... it all looked a little odd when I laid everything together so I made one of these long strips into this little baby mat/quilt (still to be quilted.) It has cute scrappy corners.
My other idea is to turn the Valentine Quilt into a picnic blanket by using some laminated cotton or a poly-laminate on the back ... I like this idea ... and I think it would be something we might use a lot.

Every evening I try and tackle a little bit of my paper pieced quilt. It is coming along - I don't want to paper piece the entire quilt - but use hand quilting to emboss unpatched areas of the quilt and maybe have scattered paper pieced blocks throughout the quilt top too ... ... I haven't quite decided on exactly how it is all going to come together ... but I have a vague vision at least ... somewhere over the top of that never ending laundry basket!!

I'm also making some more art smocks - birthday presents for little people. I beginning to like mixing up bright colors for these smocks - the color splashes seem adapt for little budding artists. I'm often much to shy with color - something I'm really trying to get better with.