I really love this wall hanging

I attended a work shop by Melinda Bula, her work is absolutely stunning, I nearly passed out when she showed us what we were going to do. Undeterred head down transferred pattern, cut out bits, screwed up eyes to check values and would you believe the top was created in a day.

It was meant to be a two day workshop the second day was quilting it, but I was so terrified of messing it up and I could never do it justice, Robyn Fahy offered to take the wall hanging and quilt it for me and it is to die for. Robyn's quilting is very distinctive she free machines on her long arm, now it takes me all my time to free machine a quilt as you go block on a regular machine and about as far as I go for adventure is meandering. The feathering on this is all done free hand!! I tried it..... on my own machine on a wee bit, and there is no way I could ever do this, even with a pattern to follow..

If anyone has a chance to do a workshop with Melinda I strongly recommend it, it must have been the most enjoyable one and the first one where I have actually finished something!

another day

 

I think this would make a real nice bed quilt with 24 different blocks this pattern came from Angela Maddens Quilted baskets CD. There are so many variations from filling in background to trapunto / Italian quilting or heavily quilted as a whole cloth block. the basket could be done in Christmas colours and filled with poinsettias or little Suffolk puffs or indeed any appliqued flower

If these two would sit still I might get a decent photgraph

 

yeah another finish

During a patchwork exhibition I saw a bag something like this over someones shoulder. Needles to say i stopped and asked how she had made it and she said she had bought it.. MMM I could make one of those, so I asked if I could take a few measurements. This is the result from memory hers was smaller and didn't have the piece sewn up at the side. By the time I had it done and couldn't remember if it was quilted etc, it is far removed from the one I saw. Mine was too big and floppy hence bringing the corners up. But I am pleased with it.

I am sure it is well over a year since I bought the upgrade EQ7and probably 2 years since I bought the acquilt go. Both have sat in their boxes , every so often they would moan pleadingly. But I appeased both by buying dies etc every so often. along the way I bought the dog and cat die and found the rather nice dog quilt on the acquilt site. So starting with the blocks in the centre I started to change a few things and started designing my version on eq7. 

I really do struggle with EQ7 and I should sign up for a class I can never seem to save anything, I hit save and it disappears! Now I print and hit save and if nothing else I have a printed version of what I want to do. However, I did this with the dog quilt it was so long ago I now have forgotten what size some of it was meant to be!!

Rooting in boxes a few months ago I also found 90, it could even be more 4 patches and some HST (1 1/2 ) ones, I remember these were meant to be a mystery quilt of Bonnie Hunters many years ago, But I gave up at the time, I now have these to use up, so have designed a quilt again on EQ7 and printed. Did quite a few versions, I found this very useful and was able to decide much quicker what I am going to do. This will take time to do as I have a lot more cutting to do!

It has been a while

As per the last post seems ages since i was here thought I had better get myself back in gear.

I haven't been idle!
This has come from the book Lil Twister and is so easy to do, I have managed to do a Xmas one as well with place mats, it still needs quilted. Years ago I did a quilt similar to this and had to make a template, you can now buy rulers and it is so easy to do.

I love the colours in this I am not really a red person when it comes to fabric it was a bit of a challenge getting the right reds!

Then  this started off as a sampler quilt, but I wanted to do something different and decided to box the blocks, could also have turned the box round and it could have been an attic window effect. My grandsons got a kitten and then the cats evolved on it. the quilt became a wall hanging.

I didn't buy any fabric for this, its a real nice feeling when you can make something for nothing. But you wouldn't see a dent in the stash/

 

This is taken from the book simple stained glass quilts by Daphne Craig and Susan Purney Mark. Really simple and effective and has encouraged me to try something more complex, about this time my trusty old pfaff started to protest and sounded like a tractor. I fought with it till I could bear it no more and gave in and bought a new machine a Pfaff creative performance. I am still learning on it and went back to sewing on the old one again but today I am determined to master the new one.

This bag was so easy, the base uses the crinkle fabric. its three layers top wadding and then crinkle fabric, do a meander and then take to the ironing board and hold the iron over the crinkle fabric . Do not let it touch the iron . As you hold the iron over it it crinkles up and gives the puckered effect. really fun to use and a nice effect.

 

just the binding to do

I love this quilt, a friend and I both decided that we wanted time for us to sew as opposed to sewing for class teaching. We get together every Wednesday evening at my house and we sew to our hearts content.

We find a pattern and look at each other and say shall we and invariably we do, this is one of these quilts it came I believe from a Fons and Porter magazine probably well over a year ago. I was goingt o hand quilt it but is way to big to handle and I really wanted it finished to take with me at our Quilters Guild of Ireland conference/retreat in March.

I left it with Yvonne McKee in Quilters Quest in Belfast, with the only instruction that I didn't want flowers. I am delighted and over the moon. just the binding to do.

I think Poppy is looking for any mistakes!

time flies

it really is time to post again and catch up on things I have been doing, this is a layer quilt pattern finished at the Quilter Guilod of Ireland conference in 2010. It still has to be quilted and as usual I am undecided on how to do it. It requires more thought!!

I really need to reorganise my sewing studio, it became a dumping ground when family were over early in the New Year, it is a case of taking everything out and putting it all back in again.

I bought a couple of 4 drawer storage plastic affairs to hold quilts that need wadded and backed as opposed to totally sewn together. I filled all 8 drawers! now i need a couple more sets to hold stuf f I am working on and then as I still seem to have 5 boxes of scraps I should really buy anoter 2 sets for those.

I am contemplating buying a die cutter, yes I am convinced it will solve everything!! we will see.

shamed

I rejoined the fabricholics yahoo group to take part in their NYE mystery and there was chat about all those dreaded UFO's. Up for a challenge I started to drag out what i could lay my hands on without looking for and guess what 27 projects now all on the dining room table. I still have a quilt on the quilting frame to be hand quilted only a couple of rows to go, and I have a quilt in bits on the design wall. Plus heaven knows how many leaders and enders.

I then decided maybe i should actually clear up the piles of mess now scattered all over the floor and came across many orphan blocks, all different sizes all different backgrounds and styles. Those i just popped into another box, maybe I will do something with those at some time.

This purge also found some Japanese quilt magazines I want to sell on eBay, some magazines that I had kept and have marked with quilts I want to make, patterns downloaded from the net and some bought. I found fabric I didn't know I had and it really is too nice to use!

Earlier in the year i catalogued all my books and numbered them, and organised strips into boxes.

So now my computer desk is covered with papers and patterns with barely enough room for a keyboard, and there is a heap of everything else that was lying in a corner now in the middle of the floor.

I suppose I'd better go and do something about it I dread finding more UFO's Happy New Year to all