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.)

Tutorial: Sixty Minute Split Strip Quilt

And try and say that in a hurry!

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.

Tutorial: Machine Chain Piecing Techniques

Here a tutorial on two machine piecing techniques. Simple Machine Piecing shows you how to make a simple single strip for quilt borders etc. Chain Assembly assembly allows you to make larger quilted pieces very quickly.

NOTES:
1) Cutting your pieces accurately is a really important part of making your quilt. If your pieces are not cut to the correct size to begin with - your quilt/pattern will not fit together as you have planned.
2) I prefer to press the chains as I go. Iron the back of the chain first, ensuring all the seams are ironed in the same direction. Then iron from the front to make sure there are no puckers or pleats along seams.

SIMPLE MACHINE PIECING (for a single quilted strip)
You can make a quilted strip for quilt borders etc very quickly using this technique.

Step 1: Design, cut and lay out your quilt border/strip.Step 2: Starting at the top of the border/strip stack your pieces into a pile. Be careful to stack them in order!Step 3: Take the first two squares from the stack. Place them right sides together and sew a seam on the right hand edge. DO NOT REMOVE THE SEWN SQUARES FROM THE MACHINE. Then take the next two squares from the stack, place them right sides together and feed them into the machine following your first two squares. Continue this process until you have reached the end of your stack.

Sew squares together in a chain

Step 4: Cut the threads between the sewn pairs.

Cut threads between the pairs of squares

Step 5: Stack your pairs - ensuring to keep them in order ... ... and take the first two pairs right sides together and sew a seam on the right hand edge. DO NOT REMOVE THE SEWN SQUARES FROM THE MACHINE. Then take the next two pairs from the stack, place them right sides together and feed them into the machine following your first two squares. Continue this process until you have reached the end of your stack.

Sew pairs together in a chain

Step 6: Snip the threads between the squares and continue as above until you have reached the desired length for your border.

Continue to sew chains of squares together

Remember to press your squares ensuring the seams are lying in the same direction.

CHAIN ASSEMBLY (for larger areas)
Using this method you will be able to assemble your quilt in a very neat and speedy manner.

Step 1: Design, cut and lay out your quilt.Step 2: Starting at the top of each row stack your pieces into piles. Be careful to stack them in order. Step 3: Take the first two squares from the top of stacks Row1 and Row2. Place them right sides together and sew a seam on the right hand edge. DO NOT REMOVE THE SEWN SQUARES FROM THE MACHINE. Then take the next two squares from Row1 and Row2. Place them right sides together and feed them into the machine following your first two squares.
Continue this process until you have reached the end of Row1 & Row2. Remove the chain from the machine but DO NOT CUT ANY CONNECTING THREADS between the pairs of squares.

Sew rows 1&2 together in a chain

Step 4: Go back to the top of your chain and begin to add the pieces from Row3 in the same manner. Remove from the machine but DO NOT CUT ANY CONNECTING THREADS.

Add Row 3 to the chain

Continue until you have all the squares for Rows 3 & 4 in place. Remove from the machine but DO NOT CUT ANY CONNECTING THREADS.

Step 5: Sew your vertical chains together.

Sew your vertical strips together

Once all your chains are sewn together press - ensuring your seams are lying in the same direction.