The crochet continues, we are now onto week 2, I was a bit late starting.
I am finding lots of odd balls of wool around the house now that I am looking for them.
A bit of Kogin. Because of 'habit' I always write an evaluation of each class I teach with the aim of improving it. I think I have another project here.
This week has all been about the machine quilting, I took this with me on my trip to Toowoomba and made quite a bit of progress.
I started with geometric designs and then went from there. I think I like this curved line pattern the best.
A curved line of channel quilting.
And then the same pattern reversed.
You can see the pattern better on the reverse side.
There are a lot more (another 16 in fact), straight line, grids, vanishing points but if I were to try to put them up here it would look quite boring I think. I will post the others when I finish the binding on the mats. The next challenge will be to translate the pattern on the place-mats to the quilts.
And I am also working on a C.Q. for a young child. It is a panel that was given to me. I have machine quilted the borders and am hand quilting (very slowly, in perle 8) the figures in the panel. I might have to decide just how much I will do here as the hand quilting hurts my wrist.
I am travelling away to Toowoomba this weekend for a sewing weekend with my friends. The first time I have gone anywhere since I became ill. So everything is about preparing what to take with me.
I think I will concentrate on quilting my CQ 6, so I am layering it up in preparation.
And if I get this finished I will quilt some new placemats.
I still have some other things on the go. The unpicking continues.
And I have finished the machine quilting on CQ 4 .
I am attempting to outline quilt the characters in the print but it is hard going with my sore wrist.
The next embroidery is all ready to go. This is a traditional style of stitching from Norway. It is very like Japanese Kogin but stitched with wool on linen. I have stitched a sample bookmark using the Japanese technique, i.e. starting in the middle of the fabric and thread. This time I am going to trial the Norwegian method, starting at the top left hand corner and the end of the thread. It is on 40 count linen so I think I will need to use a a magnifier.
I am also using up 'orphan blocks' for CQ 4. I have another row of 5" blocks to go around the edge and perhaps another red border or perhaps just red binding.
I have 'fudged' some of the measurements to fit the blocks together but I think once it is quilted this will not be too noticeable.
I have managed to catch the flu, everything is floating around at the moment. I must not allow myself to have too many projects on the go but my mind keeps coming up with new things to do.
So on the embroidery front I only have two centres of flowers to finish on the Cornish Coast embroidery.
I found an orphan embroidered block from another quilt and some charm squares so we will see what we can do here.
And, whilst in the quilt shop, buying some paper interfacing, to experiment with a new method of paper piecing, I found this panel.
Just love the colours but I'm not sure how I will use it. So it is up on the board. And I am unpicking the heart quilt. There are parts of this that I like and the quilting is just what I wanted.
I think that I will keep the bits that are OK and unpick the others. I was going to sent it out to be quilted but I won't make a decision on this until I have got it unpicked leaving the good bits.
I have the binding on my Charity Quilt No 3 ready to stitch. I think I have got how to do channel quilting now.
I am taking this one a bit slower as stitching for a longer stint leaves my arm aching. Slow and steady for this one.
Charity Quilt No 4 is now all preped ready for the quilting. I will need to make sure it is flat first and I need to buy some more spray adhesive for quilters.
And I found the box with the quilting rulers from Bernina and Westerlee. I think I need to practice a bit before I start on the real thing.
And one tiny embroidery for a necklace.
I have finished piecing the quilt top for Charity Quilt No 3 and looking at it on the wall I think I will have to use the circle quilting pattern on this one too.
I had hoped to trial a different pattern on each quilt but this one says 'circles'.
And I am unpicking the skirt. I wondered why I had such large seam allowances? It was because the fabric was so thick. When I got the waist band on it was too tight around the waist. "Not happy Jan!"
And some more stitching on my "Cornish Coast" piece. This is my slow stitching piece, loving it.
I am collecting fabrics for this cushion that I want to use in a Quillo for Charity Quilt No 3. (I like these instructions on You Tube for adding the pillow to the quilt to make a quillo. Just google quillo and there are lots of patterns and tutorials for free on-line.) I found this free pattern and tutorial on-line that I intend to use for the pillow part of my quillo. I will have to play around with the fabrics because I will only use what I have in my stash.
But looking at my stash this one will need to go down the list. I have a couple of lengths of Aboriginal prints that I need to use first.
I have decided on the pattern, which is free from Jordan Fabrics, and I now have to work out how to adapt the size to fit my fabrics.
Stitching the binding into place for Charity Quilt No 2 is now finished.
Making this quilt has been a great learning exercise. The key thing I learnt was the importance of getting that quilt sandwich just right. It does take more time but I like the result. It is difficult to see the quilting because the design is so busy but I quilted it using overlapping circles and although there are a few mistakes they disappear when you look at the quilt as a whole.
And a spot more embroidery on my Cornish Coast.
This hasn't gone as expected. I think I became too complacent. The pattern called for a 'bright pink' which wasn't in the thread provided. First thing to do is panic. So I thought "just follow the instructions, it will all work out." The second thing was that I got the names of the flowers mixed up. If the pattern had said wattle or melaluka I would have been fine but I am not familiar with these flowers. So there has been a bit of unpicking going on, not much, just a bit. I think I am back on track now.
This week has been about preparing my next Charity Quilt. A lot of time has gone into tacking up the background to the wadding and then tacking the top layer to the lower ones.
I intend to use this quilt to improve my machine quilting and I have to have all the layers flat. I would usually just safety pin them together but I don't want any mistakes on this one and I expect the quilting to take most of next week..
Just a bit more on the Cornish Coast embroidery.
And I made the pillow to go with the Horses quilt.
I have actually done a bit of stitching, because my access to the sewing machine has been limited.
All the leaves and stems are now finished.
Next step is the flower heads. I think I will start at the bottom. (Just loving this kit Marion.)
And the charity quilt No 1. "Horses and Old Ladies".
One of the members, who I did not know, of my local quilting group died. Her family brought in all the fabrics, patterns, books etc that they did not want and from this I selected two small panels of patchwork that she had stitched.
I have decided to put these into the charity quilts. The top one for dementure patients, the other for teenagers who have been taken into care by the state. (As I had a rocky home life as a teenager
(I have decided to now make my quilts for those kids that are taken into care. Most arrive with just what they stand up in and the Charity that I am supporting give them a back-pack of things for themselves and the choice of a quilt, if they have them in stock.)
I suppose you would call this an Improvised Quilt. I know teenagers love horses so I bought his panel and the orphan block holds the love of stitching of an old person who has passed, who I am sure would be pleased that her work went to one of these kids. I might include some other stitched items to go with the quilt.
I have been busy socialising, which cuts into my sewing time but I have done a bit more of my Cornish Coast Embroidery, in fact I have nearly finished Diagram No1.
Sewing some more scraps together for the Charity Scrap Quilts. I found some precuts in amongst the scraps.
I was hoping to make some cushions from my grand daughter but I have an intruder in my sewing room.
And a bit more of the applique on my breakfast cloth. Mounting the pieces onto the cardboard templates has worked well. Then I thought "this design is too basic" . I am now in the process of adding more to the applique. I am previewing it with paper cut outs first. Now I have to buy some green fabric!
This is really slow stitching but I will get it finished, eventually.