Leaves and Sunbursts

So 'Hummeltje' is finished, and is winging its way through the postal system as I type.  My client chose meandering leaves and sunbursts for the quilting designs, and I've got to say, it was a good choice! 

I do love the way the orange applique sings against the green.

I have really enjoyed making this quilt.  I know that every element holds a special meaning, and for me, that is what keeps me sewing.

Top Completed

The fabrics arrived yesterday for the borders, but unfortunately not in in time for me to work on them.  I suggested using Oakshott fabrics, as I love the way the different coloured warp and weft threads create a sort of shimmer.  I haven't worked with them before - little did I know the treat I was in for.  It is such a beautiful fabric.

  I just love it.  It adds just the right amount of depth and texture to a solid colour.  It feels almost silky. and was a dream to sew with.

 I used the colour Alboran for the borders with Flame for the applique.

 I used a YLI thread for the quilting, which is a burnt orange and sagey green variegated colour.  It work well against the two vibrant colours.

I have started thinking about the quilting, so had a little play this afternoon with some ideas.

Now it's time to rest my aching shoulders.  I wonder if I can persuade my husband to give me a massage?

Green and Pleasant

Today I started sewing the 'Hummeltje' quilt.  This part is quite fast, so it's always a bit of a motivator.  The fresh greens are looking great together, and there is a feeling of vibrancy. 

Here is today's work.

 Sewing the patches together to form rows.

 Rows all ready to be sewn together.

Completed centre.

I would like to work on the borders tomorrow, but as the fabric isn't due to be delivered until tomorrow, I'm not sure I'll have time.

Hummeltje

I have a lovely new custom order I am working on right now.  Three sisters want to give a quilt to their niece or nephew, who is due to arrive very soon.  They have fond memories of their own childhood quilts, and would like to give this first baby in the family something similar.  I love the idea of this, and feel very honoured to be part of the process.

As two of the sisters are in Holland, and one here in the UK, this seemed like a good place to share my progress reports. 

Here is the design that we have worked so hard to bring together.

It's a very traditional pattern, and the palette of greens works very well. 

Here are some of the fabrics to be used.

 Some of these didn't pass the audition.

Today I started the cutting.  It's always exciting when you start to make little piles of fabrics.

(The orange didn't make the final cut I'm afraid)




Here is the final layout.  I needed to jiggle a few things around.  It's very hard to make something look random, as true randomness often looks unbalanced.

Please excuse my little tags.  I have to mark everything carefully so that I dont misplace anything.

Unfortunately my camera has not captured the true colours very well.  It's a very bright and vibrant colour mix.  It's not a collection of colours that I have worked with before, but I am so enjoying this.

Tomorrow I will start joining all the little squares together, and will post some more pictures in the evening.

A Little Explanation

It's been a while, hasn't it?  The summer has passed in a blur of busyness.  We have had a tricky year, and it's only now that I feel we are starting to get a handle on it. 

The spring started with my father-in-law being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.  This didn't come as too much of a shock, as it was what we had suspected.  However, with my mother-in-law also having AD it did make things rather difficult.  It's very hard to manage a situation like this when you are one hundred miles away.  Yet, with the help of a strong Social Work team and a team of carers we coped. 

May saw a two week hospital stay for both of them, and we knew that our system was starting to break down.  In July we moved them to a care home, just a mile away from our house.  This proved to be far more traumatic that we could have imagined, but we are now starting to see some improvement.  They seem to be mostly happy, and importantly, much healthier.  It's great that we can drop in whenever we feel like it. 

Whilst this was rocking our family boat, it started to become apparent that my daughter's school was not working for her.  She was approaching the end of Year 9, and about to start her GCSE syllabus.  We had to move very quickly.  Fortunately we managed to find her a lovely new school, who had a vacancy for her, and seemed to be the right fit for her.  She started in September, and my goodness!  The change in her has been quite startling.  She is really happy and doing so well.  WE went to her first parent's evening last week, and heard so many positive things about her.  We were so proud.

I did manage to find time to sew as well.  I had a few custom orders over the summer, which I managed to fit it around everthing else.  It was touch and go at some points, but I got there in the end.

Some pictures from the last few months.

 My son, as a chimney sweep for the local festival.  His school won!

 Our Holiday to Northern Spain.  We had such a fun time, and we can't wait to go back.

 My daughter's first day at her new school.  Very smart uniform!

I'm hoping to have a bit more time now to blog again, and I have a lovely project to tell you all about.

Making progress

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to try a new basting method.  Well, I used this method and I am so impressed!  The quilt is double bed sized, and usually this would take me about 4 hours to baste on the floor.  Not to mention the aching neck, back, knees and wrists.  I was all done in 2 hours, and the basting was far more extensive than usual.  As this all took place on my dining table there was no aching involved.  I can see me using this method all the time in future.  I was worried that I was going to get fed up of cutting the basting from the area to be quilted, but it has been no problem whatsoever. 

Here is the basting, if you can make it out (you can click on the picture to enlarge)

This is the next square to be quilted, so I just need to clip a couple of threads before I start.

I'm using a variegated thread by King Tut.  I think these may be my favourite threads for machine quilting.  I love the finish they give, and they glide so smoothly through my (increasingly more finickety) machine.  Here is the pattern I have chosen for the quarter square triangles.

I know my fmq needs improving, but I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking.  I'm about a third of the way through these blocks, and growing in confidence with each one.


I still have to decide how to quilt the alternate blocks

I'm swaying towards an orange peel design.  What do you think?

Friendships

Do you ever wonder what sort of a friend you are?  I have been asking myself this question just recently.  I think I am generally a fairly good friend.  I'm a great listener, and a solution finder.  I like finding things that people need.  I'm very easy going, and don't have huge expectations - I'm low maintenance!  I remember birthdays (I may not always remember to buy a present, but I remember the day!)  All in all, I don't think I'm too bad.

However, there is an uncomfortable truth I have to face.  I am also the person who gave my very best friend an unfinished quilt for Christmas in 2011.  I hadn't quilted it as I was about to attend a free motion quilting course, and I wanted to use my new skills on this project.  How is it, then, that one year later I am no further forward with this quilt?  What sort of friend am I really?

You will be pleased to know that I am putting this right.  Despite having a host of ideas whirling around my head, I have pushed them aside for now.  I am determined that the first quilt I finish this year will be my friend's.  I have finished the border and am ready to start making my sandwich.  Fortunately I have everything here I need to complete it, so there are no excuses.

I have been looking at Sharon Schamber's herringbone basting method here. I like the look of it, and I think I'm going to try it for this quilt.  It's the biggest one I've made in a while, and the last double bed quilt I had trouble keeping the backing flat, even with extensive basting.  I'm hoping this will help.

Here is the top at the moment. 

I really love all the different greens in this, and the little bits of red to add some zing.  I hope I can do it justice with the quilting.  If you are reading, my friend, thanks for being patient with me, and for being the friend I'd like to be. 

A Leap into the Unknown

In the autumn my sister asked if I would make her a quilt to give her boyfriend for Christmas.  He is a Karate Sensei, and she wanted a quilt to represent his art, and also his karate school.  She wanted to include some kanji with his personal and club motto, and also an photographic image of his silhouette.

What could I say?  I was completely terrified!  This was completely outside of my comfort zone, and yet I knew how much my dear sister had emotionally invested already, when it was still just an idea.  We got together to discuss the design further, and we bounced lots of ideas around.  The kanji to be used translates as"the peaceful way", and this set the mood.  I went away to look at fabrics, and this is what I found

This is a Kona Bay fabric called Sanctuary.  It was perfect for the background, and the name clinched it!

 This lovely batik reminded me of the sea in a storm, all those swirling blues and greens.  This would be the first border.

Having surreptitiously questioned C I knew that he loved cranes, and when I found this on Etsy I knew it would tie together the various design elements as the final border.

Finally, I found this fabulous kanji fabric for the backing and binding.  I was ready to go.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to make a start on this until the beginning of December, after the mayhem of the Bazaar had passed.  However, i found myself completely unable to start.  I had a serious case of the jitters.  Still, I was working to a very tight deadline, and I had to just knuckle down and make that first cut.  After that, it all got much easier.  I even finished it 2 days before my deadline!

Here's the finished article

Unfortunately, the quilting doesn't show up well, but there are rays of sunshine emanating from behind the silhouette.

 I quilted a sort of zen raked sand garden pattern on the lower half of the background, and a water design on the inner border.  On the outer border I outline quilted the cranes to make them stand out a bit more.

I can't believe I finished it.  Of course, it wasn't nearly as onerous as I was expecting.  In fact, it was all quite straightforward (except for the quilting on the inner border - the thread broke 23 times.  I know because I counted!)

Now, what shall I start as my next project?

Catching Up

So the latter part of 2012 certainly went with a whirl!  I got caught up with helping to organise the Christmas Bazaar at Thing 2's school, as well as holding my own stall at said Bazaar.  To say life was a little manic is a slight understatement, but it's all good practice as I have volunteered to run the Bazaar next year.  Gulp.

Here are a few of the quilty things I made for the Bazaar, and for myself!

I made this little wall hanging as a twin to Frosty, and they do look super cute together.

I found this lovely Christmas tree fabric in my local quilt shop, Nature's Threads.  In fact, I liked it so much I bought the whole bolt!  You'll be seeing more of this.

A set of 4 snowman placemats.

 

A couple of years ago I bought these preprinted gingerbread people stockings.  I quilted them with a very seasonal variegated thread in reds and greens.  I think they turned out ok.

I have a thing about moose (mooses?)  I just can't resist them. When I was digging through my pattern draw I found this one, and knew he would look fabulous on a stocking - my stocking!

I made a Santa in the same style, and let my ever suffering husband have him.

Recognise this fabric?

I had bought a couple of jelly rolls of Blitzen by Basic Grey for Moda.  I love the funky patterns.  I bookmarked a pattern by Polkadot Chair on Moda Bake Shop ages ago, and I used this as a starting point for my table runner.

 I quilted a trio of holly leaves and berries in the stripey sections.

I found this backing fabric in my stash, and it was the perfect match.

I also made a set of placemats to match.

Phew, that's a lot of photos.  I have to say that I really enjoyed all the sewing I did for Christmas, it really helped to get me in the festive spirit.  However, I did then have a very important commission to start, and finish, for Christmas.  I'll tell you about that next time!