Some new stuff

Hi Peeps, it's been a very long time since I've blogged but I haven't stopped making stuff and am still quilting.  Here's a couple of thing recently done.

I've always been a HUGE fan of Kaffe Fassett ever since he appeared in my life with knitting back in the 80s.  I've just finished this quilt top from one of his books called Bordered Diamonds  (still have batting, backing and borders to add).  It was the whole reason I started quilting in the first place.  I knew I just had to make it.

This is a wall hanging by JoAnn Hoffman called The Modern Dragonfly.  Again, all Kaffe Fassett fabrics and about 1.2 m/4ft height and width. I've changed the dragonfly layout slightly and added a border. I just have to find a wall to hang it on!  If you like the pattern you can buy it here.

First quilt done!

I have finally finished my first quilt.  It probably wasn't the easiest project to choose as a starter but it was a fabulous learning curve and even though there are some cock ups in it, you can't seem them unless you look closely because it is so busy.   It's made up of many different blocks, some of which you can see in this post, which are joined together by strips 

I had so many strips left that I also decided to make the border although not many of the versions I've seen on the internet seem to have this.  I also joined all my left over strips for the binding.  It was almost impossible to choose a colour for the binding and I think the multicoloured strips worked really well

And here's the finished quilt....

There's a very popular basket pattern going round the quilting internet at the moment called the one hour basket. It's available to download as a pdf file if you google it. Admittedly it took me longer than an hour (!) but it's probably my most neat an accurate piece of stitching yet.

I decided to straight line quilt the fabric.

and added a border to the top

and a matching lining...

I'm already planning another  - it's a perfect size for nappies and would make a lovely gift for a new mum.

What I've been up to....

It really has been a while this time and I did wonder whether I should even bother to carry on posting. Like a lot of folks whose blogs I've read recently, they are using other forums such as twitter and facebook these days.

I'm still doing lots of sewing.  One of the latest things I tried was paper piecing using a template from the latest Love Patchwork and Quilting. In a nutshell you start with a paper template which has numbered sections.

Starting at number 1 section you add your fabric piece by piece

but you actually do the stitching on the template pattern side

Took me a while to get my head round it but I was on a roll once I started.  This is the first quarter

followed by the second.  You can see if will look fab once it's finished.

My Gypsy Wife quilt is all layered up with wadding and backing (see previous post) and ready to quilt.  I've just realised what a marathon task it's going to be trying to get all this through my little sewing machine but it seems such a cop out to send it to the quilter.  I have yet to decide what I'm going to do......

And finally, I've started dressmaking.  There are so many patterns on the internet that you can download and print yourself now.  I've also discovered I've got a local fabric shop which is actually a tardis inside  lol   I've started with this.... just my colours and am already making my second item.  Watch this space!

Happy New Year

Well it's been a while again but since I'm not making cards (at the moment) and playing with fabric, the projects take longer but it's all still happening. I've started knitting again as it's winter and found this cute little shawl pattern on the internet.

I was supposed to block the lace edging but decided not to as I liked the bounce and frilly effect.  It's likely the blocking would lose that.

It's a cute extra warm layer for these cold frosty days.

I bought a charm pack at a local quilt show.  I love bright colour but when I put it all together I thought it was going to be a horrible clash.  Luckily I've managed to settle it down with the mellow border and solid colour edging the blocks.  

My local quilting shop came up with this brilliant binding (see above) which picks up the colours from all the blocks.  

It looks really cheerful on the coffee table.  Finally, I've been looking at this quilt pattern called Gypsy Wife for ages.  

So I ordered the pattern and have started making all the different blocks from the scraps that I have in my fabric stash.  I think I'm finally getting more accurate! (click on pics below for a slide show of some of the blocks I've made so far).

...

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope it brings you all you desire.

Bordered Diamonds Sample

I'm slowly collecting the fabrics to make Kaffe Fassett's Bordered Diamonds quilt but in the meantime, I thought I would make up a sample with some sale fabric that I'd bought just to make sure I understood what I was doing before I ploughed into the full size thing. Each diamond shape has it's own contrasting border

.. and they get stitched together in strips across the diagonal once the border goes on.  I decided to add my own stitching detail across the diamonds for added interest.

It's ended up as an unexpected present for my parents as it looks really good on their dining room table!

eeek two months since I blogged!

Yes I am still here but work has taken over my life at the moment. I'm finding it difficult to get my head round crafting but one of my workmates asked if I would make a bag for her so having chosen a pattern (which was a freebie I had from the internet), she went and bought some gorgeous fabric from Liberty and off I went.

The fabric pack came in 5-7 inch strips so in order to get a piece to fit my pattern template, I stitched the strips together.

 The bag has a really interesting top edge shape as well as an outside pocket...

 ...plus a couple of nice roomy inside pockets (you can just see I did some random quilting on the inside).

And finally the finished item.  I may have to make another one for me.

Kaffe Fassett at the American Museum in Bath

I've been a lifelong fan (well since the 80s) of this man and first saw him in Covent Garden when he gave a lecture on knitting.  

Since then I've followed his career from knitting to tapestry to quilting, completed many of his kits and patterns along the way and own way too many of his books (but they are lovely to look at!). Finally today, I made it to the exhibition in Bath. I've been on holiday for the past two weeks. It's been rather an up and down two weeks, this being my third attempt to get there.  The first time, the M5 was blocked due to a 

rolled coach. It took me 2 hours to travel one junction and when I eventually managed to leave the motorway to go another route, the roads were jammed and the satnav estimated I wouldn't get there until

after the exhibition had closed.  I was planning to go again yesterday but having got home from a couple of days away, discovered our son had accidentally left the freezer door open and EVERYTHING in the 

freezer had defrosted (this was yer full sized 6ft high freezer).  It was pretty devastating so yesterday hubby and I spent the whole day cooking everything that we could rescue.  Must admit though, we've got lots of 

ready meals now.  Anyway today it was third time lucky, finally I made it and oh what a joy, it was well worth the wait.  As you can see, Kaffe is all about colour and as you can see from the top pictures and 

here, the entrance walls were painted a wonderful shade of pink (and I'm not a pink girl!).

Inside the theme was continued with one strong colour on the walls in each area of the exhibition. For me, it 

was like meeting up with old friends.  Some of these knitted items are so familiar to me (I've knitted quite a number of Kaffe's patterns over the years) and to see some of the patterns in real life for the first time was a

delight.  One room was painted in lime green and most of the textiles creations within it were vegetables

and fruit.  I've had this tapestry below on a postcard in my collection for years and again, to see the real

thing was wonderful. The tumbling blocks pattern below is actually knitted - I believe on a circular needle - imagine the weight of that on your needles! 

As you can see, there was colour everywhere

I absolutely LOVE the quilt below.  I'm going to have to have a go at making it, even though I'm not sure my quilting skills are up to it.  Since I started quilting at the beginning of this year, it's been my end game to make a Kaffe Fassett quilt.

I called this picture "the cauliflower years."  :)  I've never seen cauliflowers look so good as the ones created here.

I don't think this is Kaffe but he looks very chipper dressed up in his pink flowers. lol

Below is the green room, all decked out in textiles showing mainly vegetables

...and here is one of the display cases with one of Kaffe's many quilts on view at the end.  

You can see how beautifully the colour schemes were thought through.

The tree outside the exhibition wasn't left out either.  I have no idea how they managed to decorate it so high

up (well ladder I guess).  

Even the lamp posts were yarn bombed.

Of course, I couldn't resist coming away without a couple of souvenirs and they just happened to feature my favourite quilt.