Nearly up to date

I have been working steadily on my Sarah Fielke BOM, and am catching up gradually.  I have now finished the sunflowers and leaves, and I'm happy with them.  I used some gorgeous fabric I bought in Australia for parts of the sunflowers, and fussy cut them.  It's amazing how much fabric this uses, but I'm quite satisfied that I didn't have enough matches to make all the flowers the same.  Nature doesn't make all the flowers the same, so why should I?

It's getting very big!  I think the next border needs to be blue, but I'm having a brief rest before that. 

One of the things I'm using for a bit of mindless sewing is this jars quilt which was started by some U3A Craft ladies who meet in Breaston. It just needs a border then it'll be done. 

A sort of Victorian bonnet

I am doing the costumes for our local production of 'Frankenstein' and needed a Victorian bonnet.  The only ones to buy that I could find were actual ones, and consequently out of our budget.  So I decided to have a go at making one.

I got a straw hat and chopped a piece off.

Then I bound the edge with fabric.  I could have used ribbon, but I used fabric and my trusty Clover 0.5" bias tape maker instead.  I started and finished at the side of the bonnet so the ribbon ties would hide the join.

Next I put the ties.  It's one long piece of ribbon sewn onto the bonnet - makes it secure that way.

Then some decoration I found in my ribbon box.  I think theyve been saved from boxes of chocolate, but they do the job pretty well!

Here is the finished item modelled by my good self.  Not the most authentic bonnet,but certainly passable, quick and cheap!

Experiment

HI don't like quilt as you go.  It's a great method for making big quilts without all the hassle of heaving them about under the machine, but personally I find all the fiddling about with covering the seams on the back outweighs the heaving.  That's just my view of course: I know others love it.  Well, they say a lady has the prerogative to change her mind, and I'm making a reasonably big quilt, and I thought, 'What about making it in two halves?'  

It's a mile a Minute with hearts, and I thought if I made it in two halves, then I could join it down the middle and it would save both the heaving and the fiddling!  Plus, I'm using large pieces from my stash as backing, but only making them half as big as I would have had to do! The first half is ready for quilting, and I'll report back. 

In other news, my pineapple blocks are ready to layer up.  I'm really pleased at how well the scrap box went down, and am waiting to show Carole, as it was her scraps in the box!  Just shows what you can make from what was ready to be thrown away! 

And here is my Sarah Fielke BOM so far.  I've been a bit slow on the corner sunflowers, but that's fine, because it isn't a race!  I'm pleased at how they're going, and will just take it steady till they're finished.  

Class finish

I've layered up, quilted and bound my class quilt for this year.  The reason it's not been done before this is that I thought people might like to see the back of the work, especially for the appliqué centre. 

It's inspired by old quilts in Sarah Fielke's book, 'Old quilts, new life' and I've called it 'Heirloom'. I'm really pleased with it, and love the setting.  I started by choosing mainly Baltimore appliqué colours, red, green, yellow, and added a bit of turquoise and pink along the way!  The date is 2016 because that was the year in which I made the top.  If I'd been sensible, I'd have bought the border fabric first and chosen the colours from that, but I was lucky to find this border fabric in my LQS and I think it's a good choice, even if it does contain purple! 

I've also been making more pineapple blocks.  Carole gave me a bag of strips and scraps which have been perfect for this project. 

And here is a bit of progress on my Down the Rabbit Hole quilt.  I took a long time to decide on my sunflower fabrics, but now I just need to get on with them! 

Holidays

Hi It's August, and while there has been some sewing going on, there's also been the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham - as good as ever!- and a couple of short holidays.  (A couple of nights in Weymouth - very good - and then a week in Edinburgh for the Fringe festival - fabulous!). That has meant not so much sewing has been completed.  

This UFO has finally been bound and labelled.  A very suitable Linus quilt, I think. 

I haven't done very well on my Sarah Fielke BOM.  I waited till I was ready to choose fabrics, and that was just before we went away to Edinburgh.  The choosing is done, now the sewing follows.  So far, so slow.  Good job it's not a race. 

If it was a race, I'd be doomed.  I never let an unfinished project get in the way of starting something new, so here is the start of a scrappy pineapple quilt.  I have an extensive collection of strings and strips, and the idea of using them whatever width and only in pairs was irresistible!  Off I go! 

Progress

I have just finished the current part of my Sarah Fielke BOM.  Apart from cutting all the Dresden petals, which seemed interminable, and awkward, as they couldn't be completely rotary cut, it was quite straightforward. 

Here it is ready for the next instalment.  I'm pleased with it so far, although I'm a bit concerned at how big it's going to be!  It'll be tricky to quilt, but then, I'll worry about that later. 

Meanwhile, I've been trying to use up the scraps!  It's a constant task!  I enjoyed making the Bonnie Hunter design with 2" scraps, and thought it might be possible to make it with 2.5" scraps. 

The answer is yes!  However, since the central nine patch finishes at 6", the trapezium fabric needs to be 26" long.  Not many 26" scraps in the box!  So, I have cut some strips from yardage, and since the blocks are big (finish at 10") chosen interesting fabrics for that part.  Just 16 blocks will make a great quilt, and make a bit of an impression on the 2.5" bin, hopefully! 

 

A trial run

It's all Julie's fault.  She was the one who had this idea about jelly roll races, and got me looking at YouTube videos of people sewing strips of fabric together!  Then I saw this idea of a 4Corners Jelly Roll Quilt at quirky granola girl's site and I got all fired up to have a go!  There were just two little snags.  One, I didn't have a jelly roll, and two, I didn't want a quilt the finished at 52".  The first problem was solved by assembling some strips and joining them till they were about 42", and the second with a pencil, paper and a bit of head scratching! 

If I used half a jelly roll, there would be half the number of strips, so if I just joined till there were eight strips sewn, it would work out!  So, I sewed and sewed and this is what I ended up with. 

The strips were mainly blue and gold, and I added in some Viking fabric just to cheer it up a bit.  With the centre square (which I cut to 9" in case you fancy a go) and 25" slices, I ended up with something more than acceptable! 

Not the prettiest of quilts, but I think someone who likes blue and Vikings will be pleased to snuggle up with this!  It finishes at 42" which is perfect for a Linus quilt.  Now I need to get an Accuquilt 2.5" cutter and make myself some more jelly rolls!