Vol 2 - Project 8 - Five Patch Chain - Assembly

The top is now completed and ready for quilting.  First all the birds had to be appliqued -

I like to use a small blanket stitch 1.5 x 1.5 - small enough to go around those tiny curves on the feet

Sewing the rows together was tricky, due to ongoing pressing problems with the polyester fabric.  Lots of distortion in the seams and edges.........

Ewww - quilter's nightmare!

Really frustrating when you take so much care with accurate cutting and sewing, only to get this sort of result after pressing.

The  oops ................

Three little Dickie birds sitting on a quilt .... one is ready to fly away home!

For the backing, I wanted to use the red cotton, but didn't have enough of the fabric left.  Back to Spotlight for some more - sold out!  There were still bolts of the cream and white - so a white backing it will have to be.  Carefully checking the bolts, I found lots of them were unlabelled but there was a mix of cottons and polyester.

I picked out a likely suspect and asked a staff member to scan it as there was no info on the bolt except for a bar code.  It was cotton!  The staff member pointed out that it was easy to tell which was which, the polyester was shinier - but given the mess and poor lighting in the store, not to mention the long queue at the counter just to ask a simple question, it's really a matter of pot luck. A 'fabric expert' could probably tell which was which, but as a relatively new sew-ist I wasn't that confident.  Really, labels on the bolts would be nice!!!

The fabric is 220 cm wide (that's around 87" to you non-metric folk) and I bought extra so I could put a white border around the edges - enough to help square out the wonky quilt and to give the top a nice finish.  I like to use wide fabrics for borders if I can get it - no joins!

First task was to get the grain straight............ check it out!

Almost 11.5" lost from each side after tearing

I lost so much fabric getting the grain straight, there wasn't enough left for the borders.  Grrrrr!!  A pity, cause once I folded the backing around the edges, the white looked quite good.  I'll have to settle for white binding instead.

The fabric also was dotted with little spots and dots, the blue ones were mostly around the edges, so I can work around them, I'm hoping the dark ones will wash out.  This really isn't good enough for fabric which costs $20 per metre.

                                                                                                

I've used a 60/40 wool/polyester batting - it's got a medium loft and I want to see how this works with applique.  I'm hoping the extra loft will help the birds pop up.  I'm planning to do quite a bit of quilting on this - and I'm even going to practice free-form FMQ.  Being confined to small blocks I think will help a bit. 

The Bird wall hanging is currently in the process of being quilted and I've done a combination of echo and free-form.  I have a tendency to get lost and backed into a corner and the 'headband' design I'm using keeps turning into teardrops as I try to fit the quilting into the available space.  LOL.  Still it's nice to climb out of the stencil box!

I have a few things to finish up before moving onto the next project from QA - finish the quilting and bind the bird wall hanging - bind the 'Cobweb Cottage Girls' quilt, finish quilting Krakatoa, bind it and send it to my daughter-in-law (who actually likes it)!!, and of course ditch-stitch, quilt and finish this red & white quilt. Whew - a bit of a list, but what an excellent way to spend spare time!

An Award!

Yesterday at Island Quilts, the Tasmanian Quilt Exhibition,  Pauline and I were thrilled to receive an award for our crazy patch quilt - Crazy Ladies of Franklin Court.

The award we received was Best Use of Mixed Media.  All credit for this win goes to Pauline's extraordinary embroidery.

As much as I love working through Harriet and Carrie's QA projects, I sometimes get the urge to be individually creative.  Imitating someone else's designs is absolutely necessary when learning, but after doing this for a year or so, I needed something else.

After moving house 10 months ago, I was delighted to discover my new neighbour was not only a lovely lady, but talented both as a sew-ist and artist.  Pauline had never made a quilt before but was happy to embroider the crazy patches as I produced them.  I took a lot of time and trouble choosing fabrics, pictures, laces etc. to put the patches together, but honestly, I needn't have bothered.  Handing over the first patch, I expected to have some nicely worked hand embroidery across the seams, but Pauline had other ideas.  She put close to 500 hours of hand-work into this quilt and the completed patches I received back were nothing short of astonishing. 

To understand what I'm talking about, please take around 3 minutes for a close look at the quilt in the slide-show below..............

Pauline, who is quickly approaching 75 (she doesn't mind me saying that, I did ask!) has been sewing and embroidering for as long as she can remember and is currently teaching some of the young neighbourhood girls the craft (for no fee) which is a brilliant opportunity for them.  She learnt to sew from her mother and grandmother as a young child and can still remember embroidering a duck at age 7.  She tried to teach me, but alas I just don't have the patience - I'm busy enough learning machine quilting. 

It seems I've started something - Pauline started making crazy patches of her own and has already made some gorgeous bags from them.  Now, after viewing the beautiful quilts on display at the exhibition, she has shown a lot of interest in learning free-motion quilting.  I think ladies, we have a new quilter about to emerge!  I will of course point her in the direction of the free motion quilting bible - Harriet Hargrave's Heirloom Machine Quilting!

As for my own contribution, after the crazy patch embellishments were completed, I set about turning them into a quilt.  It was no easy task adding the sashing - have you ever tried to rotary cut sashing while your ruler is sew-sawing on top of buttons, beads and balls?   I did the best I could to get it all assembled, using the window-pane technique I'd just learned from making Harriet's Card Trick quilt and adding a jewel pieced border (which I wish I'd made larger),   The quilting is simple stitch-in-the-ditch, it being rather pointless to try to quilt it any other way. 

The inner seams of the patches have been hand-quilted to help carry the weight and prevent sagging of the heavy blocks.  This was done by Pauline, who armed with a batting sample for practice and a how-to-hand-quilt book, learned the technique overnight and finished the quilting the following day.

A big thank you to Horn Australia who sponsored this award.  The prize is very much appreciated!

The Island Quilts Best in Show 2011 - a very well deserved win for Rose Lewis - can be seen on the Tasmanian Quilting Guild website here .  The show finishes Sunday May 1st, so if you're in Tassie and haven't yet been, the details can all be found on the quilt website.

Vol 2 - Project 8 - Five Patch Chain - Making

The bulk of the piecing is done - I'm not quite sure why this design was included as there are no new techniques to learn in putting it together.  Still, it's a nice design and my red and white colour choice looks rather different to the example in the QA book.

Here it is up on the design wall waiting to be sewn together and side triangles added

Many people don't like to use white in their quilts, they prefer cream as white can be a bit stark.  I like cream too, it tends to muddy up the surrounding colours a little and tone it all down, perfect if that's the effect you're after.  I like to use white as I find it gives a freshness and brings out the surrounding colours with a bright and crisp look.

Having said that, this top is nice, but a little, well - boring.  When l first looked at the design I wanted to add something to it, a bit more interest - important as I've chosen rather uninteresting fabrics!  Traditionally, those blank white spaces are perfect for showing off beautiful quilting.  Hmmm - maybe one day, but not this day.

Instead I opted for applique - selecting a simple bird, designed by Michele Hill (which I took from a magazine - hope that's ok copyright police?)  

Two birds are better than one!

ANOTHER LESSON LEARNED

Even though this top has no new techniques to learn, I still managed to make a technical failure.  The white fabric I had so much trouble with, continued to cause problems.  It frayed terribly, it wouldn't press properly and it was tricky to cut and handle under the needle as it was so slippery.

I got suspicious and did a burn test on it and yes - it contains polyester!  The red damask was clearly labelled on the bolt as 100% cotton. It sewed and pressed beautifully.  The white damask was displayed next to it and I assumed it too, was 100% cotton.  I don't remember if I read the bolt label on the white or not, but it should not have been selling amongst the quilters cottons.  Naughty Spotlight.

Anyway, I found out why quilters use cotton and not polyester or polyester blends for quiltmaking!  The main issue for me was the pressing.  The stuff would ripple, bend and stretch.  I ended up with curved strips and wavy seamlines. Having struggled through making the blocks, I decided to live with it, so this quilt is not going to be winning any awards for precision!

Harriet Hargrave has written a brilliant book about the fabrics we use for making quilts called "From Fibre to Fabric".  This book tells us everything we need to know about working with cotton and every serious quilter should read it!  Here's what Harriet has to say about polyester blends (abridged) ..

'Polyester will not press flat because of the permanent press finish - it has a tendency to lift.  Polyester is more transparent than cotton causing seam allowances to shadow through.  Piling is a problem after quilts have been washed a few times and bearding can be a problem when polyester batting and fabrics are sandwiched together.'

As this quilt has lots of white, it's going to require lots of washing and piling is not a good look!  Oh dear.  I think perhaps this one will be put away, or just displayed and not used.  A shame to put so much work into a quilt which in the end won't get used.  It will make good quilting practice though!

Vol 2 - Project 8 - Five Patch Chain

I finally started on this project, the Five Patch Chain.  I had my fabrics selected some time ago and decided to do something a little different with this one.

A red and white.  The plain red & white fabrics are actually cotton damask, which have a nice sheen and a tiny bit of texture.  Why damask?  Because I had rather a lot of it!  The printed fabrics are all simple cottons and yes, I seem to have too many.  A bit of a surprise for later.

The red damask behaved beautifully but the white is naughty!  It frays and stretches and refuses to do as its told.  I think I have it tamed though as I learned to work a little differently with it.

I really haven't got very far - just the cutting and strip sewing.  I did do a single block to check the size after struggling with the white damask, and with a bit of trimming, it should work out fine.

Ready for chain stitching..........

The sample block

It doesn't look much yet, but sometimes simple is exactly right. 

OTHER STUFF

I've been a bit lazy and taken a few days off here and there.  Sometimes we all just need a break. 

The show quilt needed some tweaking, a hanging sleeve and a label and is finally ready for delivery, and I can't wait to show it off - not long now.  The Tasmanian Quilt Show happens at the end of April - be ready for pics then!

Krakatoa, the bright yellow/orange french braid quilt continues to hassle me.  I started quilting it with a twin needle but it snapped and I didn't have another, so had to go to plan B.  I ended up with straight stitching in the braids, FM squares in the centres and a cable on the borders.  I'm now in the long process of unpicking the border quilting as it looked just awful, and some of the worst free motion I've done in a long time.  I'm sure this quilt is cursed, but I can't let it go and move on - I'm now challenged to finish it!  I didn't bother to take any photos of the process - just wasn't inspired to, besides it's not a QA project.

The other thing I've been working on is the Michelle Hill Bird wall hanging.  This one is coming along nicely.

Pre-quilting, but the borders look nice!

I've ditch stitched around all the applique, a job which had to be done s-l-o-w-l-y.  It took quite a while to do, but I'm happy with the result.  I must admit though, it was a relief when the last leaf was done!  At the moment I'm part-way through echo quilting it.  The echo is 1/4 inch from the applique and I plan to go around each piece twice then decide where to go next.  I may continue echo quilting or I may be brave and do a filler pattern.

Finally, I took another workshop at the Patchwork Cafe, this one for a foundation pieced Mariner's Compass table runner.  No pics of this one either.  I've only finished half of one star so far (there are 3 in total), but it was taking a while and I wanted to get back to work on the QA projects.  I'll return to this one a bit later.

Off to Melbourne this weekend for a look at the Tukenkarmen Exhibition and the Australian Quilt Show, so again a delay in progress.  Never mind, I'm enjoying having a bit of a rest!

Bits & Pieces

 JOHN'S QUILT

It's a good thing John doesn't feel the cold, because he'd be hard put to wrap himself up in this one.  He says he doesn't mind, because he doesn't see it as a quilt but as a work of art (bless him). 

NHP - FRENCH BRAID QUILT
This is the quilt top from the class I took at our new quilt shop - The Patchwork Cafe.  Lesson 2 was on Monday evening, and the last one for this project.  Next week I'll be doing another class - a Mariner's Compass table runner.

I've been a little aggravated the last couple of days, and today I was downright angry.  Now I have nothing in the world to be angry about - life is good!  It took me a while but I think I figured out the problem.  It's the quilt I've been working on!

I know about how colours can affect moods and all that, but I've never really taken much notice of the theory.  If there are changes, then they are pretty subtle and unnoticeable.  But take a look at this quilt, which I've spent the last couple of days working on................

 That's a pretty aggressive looking quilt!

Not only are the colours aggressive but the design is all sharp points and zig-zags, not a gentle curve to be found. The more I worked with this, the angrier I became, to the point where today I felt nauseous whenever I want near it.  I had considered adding some contrast colours to tone it down, or a plain dark border, but was instead defiant and went whole way -no place for the eye to rest, no relief from the 'in your face' attitude of this quilt.  I'm naming it KRAKATOA.

I'm considering quilting it in long curves from top to bottom, using a twin-needle and a combination of threads in yellow, orange, red and maybe a touch of green and blue.  I sort of want the quilting to look like flames consuming this piece.  I have no idea what I'll do with it when it's finished - even the cats stay away from it - no kidding. 

Krakatoa

TANGLED WEB QUILTERS

This is the group I go to each Wednesday (but not today as I was feeling rather unwell & anti-social)! We've started a blog of what we get up to.  Not much there yet as it's early days, but please drop by from time to time and take a look.  We'd love to hear what you have to say!

 Tangled Web Quilters  - click the link and say hello!

Vol 2 - Project 7 - Card Trick - Stippling

For many hours over the last 3 days I've been stippling this quilt.  Although I am happy with the amount of practice I got, I did find that if I kept going without a break (sorry Helen, I did listen really), the work got messier the more tired I got.

I did however, achieve the look I wanted................

.................flattening out all the black areas really makes the colours and frames pop out.

I tried to keep to medium, small & micro stippling for different areas, but over the days it all sort of got mixed up.  The 2" black patches inside the frames got micro-stippled, the black strips inside the frames were stippled small and the rest - sashing seams & around the stenciled motifs, medium size stipple.

I know that stippling is 'old hat' and that creative filler patterns are now the trend.  I am new to this so stippling is new to me and I wanted to put some on my quilt.  I like the process and I like the finished look, so 'phff't to trends and I'll stick to stippling for a while.

THE PROBLEMS

Of course, things go wrong and yes, I had a couple of disasters!  The first one was fixable but the other ...!!!

I purchased a Supreme Slider to help with drag issues, which I taped down to the bed of my machine.  Yup - I managed to sew it to the back of the quilt.  I need to un-tape it whenever I change the bobbin (which was frequently), and I must have gotten slack in ensuring it was properly taped down before sewing............

It wasn't difficult to unpick, but it was a stressing moment when I discovered what had happened.

The other issue was worse and I don't know how to correct it.  After a bobbin change, I noticed the bobbin thread popping up to the top.  I loosened the tension till I was happy, then continued sewing.  I didn't check the back.............

The stitching is too small to unpick, but I'm concerned that leaving the loopy threads like that, the stitching will eventually unravel.  Besides, it looks awful!  Such a shame, it happened about 4 blocks from finishing and I'm really annoyed with myself.  I was stitching with loud music playing and didn't notice any change in sound from the machine which normally would have warned me all was not well.

I'll continue on with the trimming and binding meanwhile, and hope I can get some info on what to do with this mess!

Vol 2 - Project 7 - Card Trick - Quilting, Classes and a NHP

Last week I finished the straight stitch quilting on Card Trick.  Stitch-in-the-ditch and linked squares in the blocks, which I did with the "sew 2 inches, pivot, sew 2 inches, pivot" method - 8 times per block - fairly tedious work.

For the triangles I selected a Fleur-de-lis design to do free-motion, but decided to hold off on doing these until I'd completed a free-motion class which was coming up.

The class was yesterday, run by local quilter, Helen Ducker.  A nice small group, we covered all the basics including setting up the machine, cleaning and thread tensions.  A bit of thread painting in a hoop was fun, and also spending time drawing the designs before attempting to stitch them.  Helen spent a lot of time emphasising speed control and favours the go-slow style of FM rather than the pedal to the metal full on style.

Helen at work

Well, what a difference!  My version of slow was very different to Helen's and all through the afternoon, Helen would mutter "slow down" at me.  Helen showed me how to use my ankle to control the speed of my machine, rather than the ball of my foot, as I had been doing.

I must say the improvement was immense! 

After the 6 hour class, I was inspired enough to finish the quilting on Card Trick and I'm really happy with the results.

FM Fleur-di-lis

Still not ready to stop, I decided to stipple in the black areas.  I chose to do this for several reasons - to flatten the background so the colours would 'pop' - to help cover up some poor seam sewing - and for more FM practice!

I still haven't had enough FM - I'll keep going with the stippling today.

NHP - FRENCH BRAID QUILT

During the week between quilting methods on Card Trick, I took a class at my LQS.  The Patchwork Cafe opened in my area last November, and they have been growing steadily since.  I signed up for a class or two in order to support the store and to meet local quilters.  The turnout was rather disappointing, there being only 2 students, but apparently the beginners classes are full!

The project was a French Braid, and although I really don't need a new project to work on right now, it was an interesting one to do and I learned quite a bit.

Yellow & orange are my 'current colours' and I pulled this lot from my stash.  The focus fabric I spotted at another LQS while looking for something else.  With this fabric added as separator bands and borders, the finished quilt should be eyecatching!  The next class is in a week, where I learn to put it all together.

 

Vol 2 - Project 7 - Card Trick - Framing Triangles!

"If you want to challenge yourself, try making the setting triangles with the strip in them as Carrie did." 

A quote from the book - I took the bait!

I read through the instructions, which looked horribly complicated.  I decided to try to work this out for myself instead - not a particularly intelligent decision on my part.  Carrie suggests using the Creative Grids Side Set Triangle Ruler - which I did, and it really makes doing the triangles easy.

With the blocks laid out on the design wall, I simply slipped the ruler into the space, took note of the measurements and started cutting.  They are sewn in exactly the same way as the frames around the blocks.

They look like the newspaper hats my Dad used to make for me.

Not too difficult - the hardest part is deciding where to put the frame.  I followed Carrie's lead, placing them so they looked like they run behind the block.  (Actually trying to get them to run around the block was much trickier - I tried it and failed).

All done - time to sew the rows together

CORNER TRIANGLES

Now comes the fun part.  The instructions in the book use graph paper to figure out how to place and construct these, so that the frame turns the corner.  This wasn't going to work for me, as the pattern, rulers and instructions are all in inches.  The only graph paper I can find around here is metric with cm grids.

Instead I made a template the size I wanted and set to work trying to put these together.  Oh dear.  There may not have been tears, but there was some language as colourful as the quilt!

My first attempt was too small and the frames didn't match.

Hmmm - I need to re-think my technique here...............

I worked really hard on getting this right, and was getting frustrated with the results.  I concluded my problem was not that I didn't know what to do, but that I lack the sewing skills to do it.  I muddled my way through, using my template and my un-picker.  Follow the pictures to see what I did...........

You need to make 2 triangles per corner - my bunch of mini pirate hats!

Tah-dah!

I got there in the end.  This is a technique which for me, is best learned in person - it would be so much easier to learn this hands-on - to watch how it's done before attempting it myself.  Even a video would help!

So here is my somewhat wonky framed quilt.  It's not perfect but I'm pleased I had a go. 

"This was a bit of work, but well worth it for what these triangles add to the edge of the border.  Congratulations for trying!" 

Another quote from the book - you're certainly making us work hard Harriet!

QUILT AS DESIRED

All through the making of this quilt, I've been pondering on how to quilt it.  My first thought was that it's such an angular pattern, that some curves were needed.  Then it occurred to me that this is a contemporary looking quilt and also made for a man, so straight lines would be fine.  I like what Carrie has done with hers - she has a combination of grids in the blocks and a curvy design in the triangles.  It may be a while before I quilt it as I ponder how best to do it.  Meanwhile, it's time to make a sandwich.

This is a very small quilt.  Really small.  I found it a handy size to work out my batting and backing sizes on the design wall.

The backing width is fine - just need to cut the length

Set the backing over the batting and cut to size - handy dandy!