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Hi
I have temporarily lost my sewing mojo so no new photo's to show, I think I need a new project to get me going again.
anyways sorry for a boring post but I needed to claim my blog on bloglovin.
Happy sewing!
Patricia

Oakshott appliqué

I've started a small wallhanging to test how Oakshott fabric behaves when used for appliqué, I'm using the spray starch and raw edge methods of appliqué.
My favourite type of appliqué is spray starch but if the appliqué piece is small or hard to turn under il use steam a seam and then blanket stitch around it on my sewing machine.
As Oakshott fabric has a looser weave than some fabrics, it tends to fray quicker, when turning under the appliqué pieces over the freezer paper it worked better to have a wider seam allowance, the flowers and birds were no problem but it was trickier to turn under the leaves and stems as it is one piece and they were close together not leaving a lot of fabric to turn under so they were harder to do as fraying was more of an issue.
I've glue basted all the pieces in place with roxanne glue.
The design is from a book called William Morris in Appliqué by Michelle Hill.
Happy sewing!

Pickle dish quilt

I've finished the first corner of my pickle dish quilt, I cut up the freezer paper pattern from the centre, and used a quarter of the design to fit into the corner and happily it fits there very nicely!
The centre is now finished but the light isn't good enough for a photo.
I'm using the instagram app on my phone for this post, and I'm not very happy with the photos quality, but as time seems to get away from me most days before I can get a chance to blog, I thought this was better than nothing!
Happy sewing!

Hexie quilt

I'm back in the hexie business, I started this wallhanging last July, so I had to blow off the mothballs.
I have been sewing them for the last few weeks and have made very good progress (patting myself of my back).
Once it's sewn together I'm sticking it to some Kona White and then quilting around it, I'm thinking of doing something pictorial? it will be fun dreaming up a design.
Happy sewing!

Pond quilt

Unfortunately I seem to have lost my way on this quilt, and it has turned into a UFO for the last few months, the rot set in when I had trouble with the water lilies that I planned to make, they were lovely but just too deep for this wall quilt, I now have a new plan to make them flatter.
I have been thinking a lot about the quilting for the water and have come up with a design that excites me and I hope to freemotion scales in gold thread onto the fish.
Once I have finished appliquéing the fish it will be ready for quilting and the lilies will be attached after the binding.
It will have to sit in the quilting queue for a bit then thou.

Just wandering did anyone think I must have gone off my rocker when you saw my last post, I am totally blaming sleep deprivation for my wordless Wednesday post on a Monday!

Happy sewing!

Wordless Wednesday

Pickle dish

Been busy, I tried another filler in the oval, it's sits on top of two seam lines and the swirls don't hide them, so I have done a grid pattern to see if it works better, it definitely hides the seams but it's not as pretty, so I decided to leave both in and sew ovals to match them at either side.
I also started to sew in the straight line fillers, it was my first attempt and I will definitely be doing more of them in the future.
I hope you got some sewing time in today too.
Happy sewing!

Festival of Quilts in Birmingham

I spent two days at the quilt festival this year and had a blast, I took loads of photos of some really awesome quilts and have now uploaded them to my Flikr account.

So grab yourself a coffee, click on the link and enjoy!

www.flickr.com

Pickle dish

I have decided to postpone the unpicking of this motif

I'm still not 100% happy with it, but it doesn't look as bad as I originally judged, its a connecting design so I'm going to stitch the next one in and either I will like it or be un picking two motifs instead of one.

This is how the design was marked out

The oval motif is designed on freezer paper and then ironed in place, I can then mark around it with a soluble pen, I won't mark the swirls in the centre.

This blue line is just to tell me to stop sewing.

Using a curved ruler, I marked the feathers spine, I keep the ruler in the same curve for both sides and use the measure markings for length placement in this case from 7 to 2 cm and then on the opposite side, flip the ruler over and measure from 2 to 7cm.

There is actually a blue line marked for both spines, but it so faint it not showing up in the pic.
Anyways that it, minimal marking means more time sewing.

Happy sewing!

Wall quilts

I always make wall quilts, there have only been a few exceptions over the years, I think it's mostly a size thing, wall quilts are smaller, bed quilts are harder to freemotion due to their size and I love the quilting part of making a quilt the best, and there are only three beds in my house so in theory my hobby would be finished already if I made bed quilts even taking into account a summer and winter weight one, I know I could gift some quilts and I have but they take so long to make, only close members of my family have got lucky :)
There are loads of walls in my house thou and I could be seasonal too when I eventually fill them all, but the best thing about putting a quilt on the wall is the sheer enjoyment I get everyday from looking at them!
The following pics are from my lounge.
On the flying geese quilt the quilting only really shows up when I put the lights on in the evening, it's my favourite moment of the day!
Two posts in one day, I think I've got verbal diarrhoea!
Happy sewing! again

It also might be that wall quilts don't get touched or washed often, but that makes me sound OCD so Im sticking with the size thing theory!

Blogger app and instagram

I thought I might try using a blogger app with the instagram app as a quicker way of blogging, so here goes!

These are some photos of my folk art vase quilt, I have sewn down most of the flowers and have been enjoying the pleasures of hand sewing while listening to an audio book.
what bliss!

Happy sewing to you to!

Pickle dish quilt

Its not a keeper!
I thought this design would look better, but I'm not happy with it at all, its the feathers fault, they have no graceful plumes just stubby thumbs!
Will be spending time with my unpicker today.

Freemotioning in the ditch

While happily sewing in the ditch this morning on my pickles, I was thinking about what it would be like to sew with a longarm, I always turn my quilts frequently so that they are facing the best way to sew out the designs, but on a longarm the quilt is loaded and its only moved forwards.

So I challenged myself not to turn my quilt as much, I was only freemotioning in the ditch (would definitely not feel comfortable trying this with feathers) and I was happy with how I managed, yes there were some wobbly moments but mostly I got the hang of it quite well.

The above photo is quite dark, but I hope you see what I'm getting at, usually I would turn the quilt so that it was facing me straight on, in the photo its at an angle, ok I know its baby steps but its still its a new skill learnt!

Happy sewing!

Design Tablet learning curve

Idiot at work
Ive had a couple of mostly frustrating attempts on my design tablet so far, it takes me ages to find a brush setting that works (as I have no clue what are the best settings to use), like an idiot when I find a brush setting I like I dont right it down, so end up repeating the whole exercise of trial and error the next time I use it.
I just realised that I have again not written down any settings, Im such a doofus!

Anyways

This is the quilting motif that I plan to freemotion around the middle section, it is designed to be repeated and connect.

As I have left the design of this very late and have no way of using a light box to trace the design onto the quilt, I am going to make a freezer paper template for the oval and feather stem, iron the template onto the front of the quilt and then quilt around them and then freemotion the feathers, I could just iron on the template and then use a blue washable marker to transfer the design so will probably try out both methods to see which I like best.

Plea for help
If you are reading this post and use a design tablet yourself, this complete doofus would be ever so grateful for any hints and tips!
Happy sewing!

Pickle Dish

This is the finished top before quilting

Once I had come up with a design for the centre I drew out onto freezer paper, and then ironed it onto the back of the quilt

There were no worries that the design would move while I marked it onto the front.

Next quilting out the design

I have been playing with my design tablet to work out a design to compliment the quilting already done and will post pics soon.

This post is linked to Freemotion by the river.

Happy sewing!