Orphan Block Quilt Top TaDa!!

Here she is, done at last..the Orphan Block Linus Quilt. Blocks kindly donated by a couple of Linus ladies and Kate from this blog (when I won one of her giveaways last year some time)
I've monkeyed around with them, adding borders and setting them on point with floral fabics..and loved every minute. I hope this quilt goes to a colour loving older girl, with a love of florals..

with the light shining through, giving a stained glass effect

spot the Jack Russell..

Geometric shapes softened by florals.

Also yesterday, I was inspired to make a bag for a forthcoming workshop that I am attending..and a brand new tea cloth caught my eye that I've been stashing and not using for quite a while now.
I can't go through the process and it was one bodge after another, but I like the finished result and when I find another towel , I'll take some pics of the process.

Above 'DORSET' there was an ugly 3 lion badge that spoilt the look, so I covered it with a 'made' postcard complete with stamp

this is the side I prefer.

Thats all for now but a big THANK YOU to all that stop by, it's lovely to share with you. And to those who comment, an extra BIG thank you - it is always a lovely surprise when something pops into the inbox.

Quick March Update

Here's just a couple of pics of what I'm up to at this moment in time..

The biggest is this:

Thats about as much as I can show at the moment! TOP SECRET!!!

This is what I tried to do.... back the Underground Quilt..BUT something got in the way.

So then Mary Ann and I did some sewing for Project Linus Thankyou day at the Parish Room, making needle cases and goodie bags.

We had another wonderful day, about 20 of us in all, sharing our quilts and quilting patterns

Here's one of the marvellous quilts made from mens shirts

and these are vintage blocks that we plan to complete into a quilt worthy of raffling and fund raising

We have enough of the blocks above for about 3 king-size quilts!! We would love to know the story behind them - the fabric dates from mid seventies we think. Can you spot any familiar ones to you?? I'd love to know.

And finally I've been sewing some orphan blocks together that have either been donated to the Linus project or are from a wonderful giveaway , at least a year ago. It's almost complete tonight, I'll post again tomorrow. I've loved putting the jigsaw pieces together.

First Quilt of 2013

Here's the making of a quilt that I have completed as part of a challenge on the Bumblebeans / 15 minutes Play blog (it's a great blog - please pop over and have a look - it's a lot of fun) Victoris sent the challenge fabric out (all the way from New York) to a dozen or more people like mysef in order to try and make something lovely out of it. Sort of like a silk purse from a sow's ear....but I happen to really like this sow's ear!!

I might add that quite a few of the fabrics were not quilting cotton, lots were polycotton, especially the shirting, and I think the final border too. I love using a mixture of fabrics and also I couldn't find my rotary cutter over Christmas so alot are scissor cut or...torn.

Here we go!! I loved the challenge fabric , so cut a big square from it, retaining the roses. I had 2 fat quarters of zingy Michael Miller fabrics that I've been waiting for the right moment for....here cometh the HOUR . I auditioned many fabrics and shapes but loved the idea of the roses being the centre of a star.

Next I cut up lots of stripey shirt pieces to 'make' some lights to form a star and used very dark striped black and green to form the points....OH NO!! TOO dark

So i softened the points with made fabric from the photo below....

I added tarten to the left-over scraps of the challenge fabric

Now that's more pleasing to the eye. And YES if the Quilt Police are watching...it is a Wonky Star...a very wonky star

Next I added the second of the Michael Miller fabrics as a border together with random squares inserted of the first one and added some fussy cut cornerstones edged in the tarten. You'll note I'm constantly trying to get a couple of my favourite fabrics of the moment in...but it wasn't to be

Lastly, a bit more chequered shirt 'upcycled' fabric - emphasising the points of the star, with a little whimsical change of colour in the bottom right corner -  and a border of a red/blue cotton just waiting for a day like today.

I think that I'll put a scrappy light binding around it, with a hint of an inch of black here and there. But I've LOVED doing this ..THANK YOU Victoria, I love a challenge and this will make a great Linus Quilt for a little star child out there. Put together with love, with a 12" square from New York and pieced with the bonniest of scottish tarten!!

102_1164, a photo by julie wyer on Flickr.

Project Linus September in Shipley, Heanor

They came in their droves...

Some on their bikes...

They saw the sign....

Standing room only!!

Saturday morning saw a prompt start to a fabulous turnout of quilters and knitters to the Parish Room at Shipley (20 folk all-in-all, a record turnout).
Not only did these wonderful women arrive and immediately set to and make some inspiring quilts and blankets on the day, but many came laden with bags of items , completed since the last session. Some from themselves and some from absent friends, who couldn't make the date. One batch of tiny hats came from an elderly mother who knitted around 50 of these bonny coloured bonnets despite having one eye and a cataract - a 'life saver' her daughter described the goal of knitting for this much loved cause.

The word of our Shipley Linus sessions had spread to Cornwall, as a friend of one of our regular knitters pledged her support in the form of 2 beautiful  neonatal blankets ..plus 2 more from a friend of hers...passing on the goodwill.

We sewed, chatted, knitted, shared ideas until we ate a well earned lunch of hearty Autumnal soup and crusty hot rolls...(thanks to the generosity of our funders UK Coal) and then continued into the afternoon. This saw the unveiling of our huge roll of wadding as quilts drew near completion (how on earth did Mary Ann get that whopper in her car and still manage to drive??"!!) her car has all the traits of Dr Who's tardis!!

Knitters nattering

Ingenious blocks made of recycled mens shirts

Industrial extension leads were called for!!

As 4 'o'clock beckoned, the day slowly drew to a close - eager to know the date of the next meet up, we reluctantly packed every scrap away. And the tot-up of the 'Glory Pile' of quilts commenced:

Knitted baby quilts                                 x 18
Quilted baby quilts                                 x 4
Incubator quilts                                      x 32
Quilts (biggies!)                                      x 15
Hats                                                      x 116

plus 2 Laura Ashley 'shabby chic'vintage fabric quilts made with the sole purpose of raffling or autioning to secure the rent for another couple of Linus days in the Shipley Parish Room.

What a glorious end to the day!!!

Project Linus 2012 style

Oh how I wish I styled this photo a bit better!! This one in the foreground was an amazing quilt - made from men's shirts gathered from charity shops. bordered and backed with calico and hand tied with a brownish silk. Kath really made a fantastic job, it even has a pocket here and there salvaged from the shirts. Because its hand tied and not quilted by machine or hand, it has a lovely loftiness about it. A mCuhh9]Octor!!
These quilts were handed in, before we sxwpc|JRik)on - whick means that our little group must have sewn and knitted over 50 quilts, thanks to 2 sessions and alot of home-work. How brilliant!! and to say that some are first time quilters too -a fine bunch of wonderful women (and one small star of a boy!!) Now we start afresh and start to count again for 2012.....!!

This yellow fabric is recycled duvet and curtains...quite zingy

Here are some of the busy bees...15 joined in this time

and here's another one being made from the shirt blocks..perfect for boys. I love the reds and oranges

Huge thank yous to all those wonderful ladies that ventured out even with the threat of bad weather advancing...and the snow did start about 3 pm. It was a lovely atmosphere and some fantastic quilts were started. We will be back again in force in May!! Watch this space.

Quilt-as-you-go Scrap Buster!!

This is my new love! I've always wanted to have a bash at Quilt as you go..and through one link or another I stumbled across this..here
Its not a tradional way, as you don't add the backing until last, therefore the back won't be technically quilted, just a bit of stichin in the ditchin! But it has meant that I can test out a few new stitches on my new machine and the quilt top will be lovely and quilted.
At the moment I'm not sure how big to go, I might stop at 9 squares, add a Q.A.Y.G. border and then hand tie with a button on each square and use as a throw...not sure yet...and I'm getting impatient!!

each square of batting starts out approx 14 inch square

each oblong of fabric..I didn't use a ruler...is sewn log cabin style and quilted as it is layed down

I'm currently hiding from the Quilt Police as there are some VERY DODGY stitches that are TOO nicely in focus!!

BUT who would know and I won't tell if you don't...

This is a really fun approach, a brilliant scrap buster, so far I have only shelled out for a metre of cotton batting. I have some backing that might be JUST right but thats another story.

Project Linus day of quilting on Saturday here in Derbyshire..we have a machine you could borrow, we have the fabrics and the batting ...we even have lunch. If you're free and would like to spend a day quilting for a VERY good cause - let me know and I'll forward you details  .

BOM meets Project Linus! Finished at Last..

Saturday, January 14, 2012

BOM meets Project Linus! Finished at Last..

Thank you Victoria for encouraging me to complete this quilt in time for the 16th BOM quilt deadline - I've really enjoyed the whole process. I combined my Hybrid T- Rose   BOM (x 2 plus a couple of mini ones)with some donated blocks for Project Linus to make a quilt for the project to be distributed locally in Derbyshire.
When I was wondering about how to put it all together you guys at 15 mins helped with tips and colour suggestions - so I added red and some navy - and its been a real joy to stitch as close up, these fabrics and colours are enough to make your heart sing!

I've quilted the rose in a 'liberated'spiral!

Backed with bubblegum pink fleece and finally a binding of a recycled navy and white dress fabric

Mostly I've quilted in the ditch, but on these leaves I've quilted with some horizontal stitching - plus I picked out the stars and quilted around them

Wonderful mixture of vintage and new fabrics - my favourit bit is on some text fabric that mentions Tea Roses - I LOVE IT!!

So again, thank you for the inspiration - sorry there wasn't more more BOM's within it ...but I'm recycling ...what can I say??!!

I-Spy quilt for a little boy

This was the first layout of an I-Spy quilt for a little 3 year old's Birthday. I ended up putiing a little square of colour within the the 2 solid blocks because I thought they were a little plain. And if I remember rightly (golly this was only a week agao and I've forgot already!!??) I removed the orange paisley and the Kaffe stripes and instead popped in some other 'busy' fabric with a picture on rather than a pattern...and then I added a border of the Kaffe stripes that I love so much.
For quickness and ease I have backed with fleece for the last few smaller quilts...something that I never thought I would do but have been quite pleased with the results and when needs must....(and did I mention that Dunelm Mills have a half price sale on their fleeces....aha method in my madness....)

And at last I have been quilting the Pinky-Blue quilt that I made earlier last year out of orphan blocks donated to Project Linus and a couple that I made for Block of the Month over at 15 Mins Play

Victoria has encouraged me to finish this quilt in time for the 16 th January where it will be judged with some other quilts that have been made out of Block of the Month samplers...and I'm so glad that she did. I have so enjoyed making this quilt - the colours just make my heart sing...al those pinks and reds....lovely. I'm sure wherever it ends up it will be enjoyed.