Easy Swap UK Mini Quilt - DONE!

This summer I signed up for my first ever swaps and, with my usual over ambition and enthusiasm, I didn't stop at one!

The first of these was the Easy Swap UK hosted by Nina of Bossy Oz.  The brief for my partner was either red, black and white, or rainbow plus low volume.

I went with red, black and white just to try something a wee bit different.  I added some light grey to the mix too.



Last year I participated in the Little Blogs Quilt Bee and Celine of Espirit Patch had requested foundation paper pieced (FPP) pineapple blocks.  I was intimidated by trying a new technique but soon realised FPP is easier than it looks and a guaranteed way to deliver clean lines and matching points.  You can see my first block from that bee here.

As my mini was going to be for someone else, someone I had not met, I wanted it to be something a bit special but still not too complicated to sew.  I instantly thought back to the pineapple block. My partner had said they liked log cabins too and I thought there was sufficient similarity between them to go for it.

I opted to quilt the mini using "Stitch in the Ditch".  I was using white thread and it was inevitable that I would be successful on the white fabric and wobble on the black.  However, it was my first time doing quilting like this and, again, I wanted to try something a bit special as it was a gift.  I didn't think my usual stipple would compliment the design at all so I braved it out. The front looks good and the back looks ace!

I sent it off to my partner along with some perle cotton in matching colours so she can use her favourite shades in other work.

Buzz Buzz - 7

The Little Blog Quilt Bee has been a highlight of my sewing year.  Last February, Lou of I'm Studio Lou gathered a crew of merry bloggers, each with small numbers of followers, to encourage skill building and blogging friendships.

Over the last year we've challenged one another to make a variety of blocks and there's some fabulous quilts emerging from our efforts.

I've never participated in a bee before, and have loved every minute.  I have really been pushed out of my comfort zone, which has made me better at sewing in the areas I'm more familiar with.  Firsts for me in the bee have included:

• Cutting pieces to 7/8 of an inch - no room for my usual slack approach to a quarter of an inch seam here!
• Flying geese
• Foundation paper piecing (not scary or hard - it makes life easier and points more precise - hurrah!)
• Using white 
• Oakshott (so lovely, thanks for letting us have a go Nessa!)
• Templates

And so much more!

Here's a run down of the blocks I've made:

Wonky star for Lou of I'm Studio Lou

Wonky churn dash for Joanna at My Quilts and Other Stories

Friendship star for Natalie at Love Natalie 

Jewels for Claire at Cor Blimey Claire E Poppins

Posies for Vanessa at Nessa's Place

Pineapple block for Celine at Espiritpatch

Scrap block destined for bigger things for Sheila at Chez Budsmam

Purple scrappy trip for Gina at the Occasional Quilter

Anna Maria Horner feathers for Roseanne at Not a Floral Girl

And the last, for the extremely patient Alison at Patchwork Alley

You can see all the blocks these super folk made for me here.  

The best thing about this bee has been sewing along with lovely people who have all championed and supported one another to get better at an activity we all enjoy.  I've gained so much from this ladies so a massive THANK YOU to you all!  

Buzz Buzz - 6

I've had a lovely weekend catching up on my bee commitments.  The January queen in the Little Blog Quilt Bee, Roseanne, asked us for Anna Maria Horner's feather blocks.

 

It is the first time I've worked with templates, and I thought it would be the last until I finished them. I am now quite charmed by them and all thoughts of cutting up bits of paper are behind me!

The Little Blog Quilt Bee is almost at an end. It was started after Lou linked up with the Small Blog Meet - where did that year go?  It's been a blast!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts.

Blogging Hiatus

Wow, it's been a while!  Hi everyone.

Since my last post in August 2014, everything has changed and there has been a lot of life administration taking up my free time.  In a good way though, so I shan't complain too much.

Without really having a plan to do so, we bought a new house in September, which meant putting ours on the market with no preparation time.  A week of dashing between storage units and lawyers' offices followed, and the next few months were all about selling our house.  All the sewing paraphernalia had to go into storage as I used to sew on the dining room table.

Boo!

I managed to get it back briefly before we had to move though, which gave me enough time to catch up on my Little Blog Quilt Bee commitments.

I made:

These posies for Nessa

This scrappy trip for Gina

This postage stamp block for Sheila

And this pineapple block for Celine.

We're in the new house, boxes are unpacked and the sewing machine is BACK! Normal service will hereby be resumed.

Scrappy Days - How I organise my leftovers

Recently, I have been working on reducing my pile-o-scraps.  The fabric fund has been a bit depleted after making my Sister's Choice quilt (for which I collected lots of love purple, pink and grey fabrics) and I have decided I need to use the fabric I have instead of buying more just because I like it.

I am a hoarder in all areas of my life and fabric is no exception.  I have kept all the itty bitty tiny bits from all of my projects.

Recently, I decided it was time to sort them out and put them to use.

At the Stitch Gathering last year, I attended a class on making scrap patchwork squares.

The class suggested hand sewing, which meant you could use really tiny pieces.  However, I thought at the time I would like to have a go using the sewing machine and approach this as a method of using up scraps.  So I had a go.





The pieces are all sewn together using a quarter inch seam, which means that scraps which are less than an inch across are pretty useless and just add bulk. These squares are cut to 5".



I have also recently had a go at EPP and have sorted through my pile of scraps for pieces which can be used for 1 inch hexagons.

Turns out they have to be roughly 2.5" square, which is handy as I have a lot of squares and strips in this size from other projects.

So, all of this has led me to devise a new system for organising my scraps (which I am now doing as I go).  I've started using sandwich bags labelled with a Sharpie to house my organised scraps.

1. Anything less than 1.5" square is pretty useless and can be disposed of without guilt.  
2. Anything more than 1.5" and less than 2.5" square (roughly, they don't have to be square, but do need to have a minimum width of 1.5") gets sorted into colour coordinated bags for making scrappy blocks.  Eventually, I hope to turn these into a rainbow quilt.  I am also saving white and low volume scraps to use as sashing on this quilt.  A very long term project I think.
3. Anything big enough to cover a 1 inch hexagon is being basted and added to the pile of hexagons I am saving to make a hand sewn scrappy EPP quilt.  Again, I will probably arrange these to make a rainbow.
4. Anything larger than this is being neatly folded and kept in my scraps box for use in other projects. For example, I recently raided this for some low volume scraps for my Little Blog Quilt Bee block for July. If I can, I'm cutting out 5" square pieces to add to my charm pile.
5. All strips of 2" or more are being kept in one bag together.
6. All strips of less than 1" are being kept for ribbon for wrapping gifts.  However, I see these being disposed of (either re-housed or chucked) as I am yet to wrap a single present using these.  Some of them are so lovely though, I don't want to throw them away.

So, that's how I am managing to find new fabrics, ideas and quilts in my leftovers and make the most of what I have.  Quilting is a rewarding but dear hobby, so it's nice to satisfy my need to reduce waste and add to my stash.  

Anyone have any other scrap busting/sorting tips?

Buzz Buzz - 4

For my June trick, I present....

Heidee's friendship star block.

There's a great tutorial for how to make this lovely block here.

I am not going to lie, I was horrified at the thought of cutting anything to 7/8 of an inch, but therein lies the learning, which is what this bee is all about.

Now onto Claire's July block.

Buzz Buzz - 3

For the May block of the Little Blog Quilt Bee, Joanna from My Quilts and Other Stories asked for a Wonky Churn Dash.

She wrote a great tutorial for this block which you can find here.

Here's how my block turned out:

Buzz Buzz - 2

While I went off galavanting all over Europe, my Little Blog Quilt Bee chums were hard at work making me blocks for my quilt.

For my month as Queen, I chose the wonky log cabin block, following a great tutorial by Nicole at Mama Loves Quilts.

I asked for solids, as I loved Nicole's block so much, but also said bold, bright prints would suffice.

Well, the hive did me proud!  Look at these beauties:

First through the letter box was this winner from my pal at Handmade Somethings

Then I went on holiday and had a HUGE pile of lovely parcels to greet me.  You know what they say about brown paper packages (but more on that later).

First to be unwrapped was this lovely block from Joanna at My Quilts and Other Stories which looks like sweeties.

The Occasional Quilter went off-piste with this colour explosion

Nessa sent me this lovely mix of solids and prints, including some I recall from the Stitch Gathering.

Could I believe my eyes when I saw this from Patchwork Alley?  One of my favourite things.

Lovely presents!

And her block:

Espirit Patch whipped up this block for me:

This was was signed off  Love Natalie

From the Mindful Quilter, who sent me two!  What a champ.

From the machine of our organiser, I'm Studio Lou, blocks with chocs!  They didn't last long...

This gorgeous block is from Claire E Poppins:

And last, but not least, this lovely block from Not a Floral Girl:

Now, I just need to decide how to sew them together - to sash or not to sash!

Thanks again for all my bee chums for their hard work and lovely blocks.  I am really enjoying being part of my first bee!