Back to my crochet; it must be the end of Summer.

I have a crochet finish, a new crochet project and some progress on my English Country Garden appliqué BOM to report this week. Amazing really, as my parents visited for the week and we tried to get out most days.

Firstly, by appliqué fuchsia block for Kerry's BOM at Pennydog Patchwork

I decided to do this block by hand and I have all but finished it. The background was meant to be improv but I just used up my scraps. Is that more or less the same thing? Anyway I added in a bit of floral background too. The various blocks were taken in different lighting situations but I swear that they are all with the same background fabrics.
The stems and leaves are turned edge appliqué and the flowers are fusible appliqué. I will be finishing the flowers with some blanket stitch in embroidery silk and also embroidering the veins on the leaves. I was a bit behind as I ran out of fusible web and had to make a trip to our local patchwork shop in Llantrisant; The Patchwork House. The lovely owner Sue is really building up a great selection of fabrics as well as running workshops.

I'm really pleased with how the blocks are looking together.

UPDATE******
I finished the fuchsia flowers with blanket stitch. I had planned to sew the veins on the leaves but after I did one I decided it looked a bit ugly. I'll be doing some fmq on the leaves at the end.

Next my crochet bag which I have been making to keep my knitting/crochet projects in. It has been very nearly finished for weeks and I just had to sew the handles and buttons on.

The pattern is "Jolly Chunky Bag" designed by Lucy at Attic24
I'm sure there can be very few people who have not heard of this fabulous blog and resource. Lucy has so many followers for a very good reason. She has a fantastic eye for colour, a way with words and is a really nice person in the flesh too. I blogged about the materials for the bag here

I'm using the bag to store my latest crochet project, "Coast Ripple Blanket" which is also by Lucy. I'm using the same yarn colours that Lucy used too.  I love the idea of sea and skies. Wool Warehouse has put the Coast collection of 15 DK Stylecraft yarn colours together as a pack with the free pattern but the pattern is also free on Lucy's blog is you want to use different colours. Lucy has a full tutorial which I found very useful. The following photo is from Lucy's blog. I think it's beautiful.

So far I've managed 3 different colour wavy stripes. I am finding the pattern easy to do in the evening watching TV now I have mastered the ripple pattern.

I have only managed to do one more block of my Summer Breeze quilt due to the visitors but I hope to crack on with that on Monday.

Next week I'm off to Lampeter to search for fabrics for two new projects. One is for a workshop (a bag for my cutting board) and I need ideas for "Green Tea and Sweet Beans".

Challenging or what? More on that next week.


I'm linking up with Whoop Whoop and Building Blocks Tuesday









and on Sunday with

Have a great weekend,

Catherine

Needing advice about thread, HELP!

It seems ages since I wrote my last post so apologies to everyone. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Mike and I took two of my grandchildren, Sam and Lexie to stay in a family holiday home in Walberswick on the Suffolk coast. We were blessed with fabulous weather and spent most of the time just pootling about, looking for crabs in the river, visiting the pier and lighthouse in Southwold and walking on the beach.

Once home I spent a couple of days washing clothes and getting straight but last week decided to get my machine out again and do some more work on my Summer Breeze quilt.

I had run out of the thread I started piecing with so had to rummage around and found a variety of neutral threads in various makes. Gutermann, Mettler, Aurifil and Cotty. The Gutermann and Mettler were fairly dark and slightly greenish and I worried that this might show through the Kona Snow background fabric. The Aurifil was an off white in 40 weight. I threaded up my machine using a new 90/14 needle and with a bobbin that was already wound but looked as if it was the same thread.

I struggled with the thread snapping or slipping out of the needle every time I machine cut the thread for at least 30 minutes. I rethreaded the machine a dozen times before I gave up in disgust.
What am I doing wrong? Is it the wrong size needle or does my machine just not like the make of thread? It was finer than my usual Gutermann.

In the end I decided to cut my losses and used the Cotty which I bought from Cottonpatch in Birmingham. Guess what? no problems at all with snapping or unthreading.

I finished cutting and trimming all the pieces for the Summer Breeze blocks, no small feat for a Queen size quilt, and have finally managed to piece one of the sixteen giant blocks.

This block looks deceptively simple but I struggled matching a few of the points. In the grand scheme of things I think it will do and hopefully the rest will come together a bit quicker.

Other news…….

I went with Gina (blog- The Occasional Quilter) to an small exhibition of quilts by Katharine Guerrier at the Rhondda Valley Heritage Park. The exhibition is free to enter and runs until September 19th. Katharine's style is to put a contemporary twist on traditional blocks and is full of colour.

Gina blogged about the exhibition fully and with lots of photos here It was a really interesting morning discussing techniques, likes and dislikes with another more experienced quilter.

Lastly I attended a talk and lunch with the Gloucestershire Womens Institute near Stroud. One of my oldest friends, Margaret, had invited me as she knew I would enjoy the lecture about the textile collection held by the W.I. at Denman College. There were beautiful examples of smocking, Dorset buttons, embroidery and so much more. A few photos follow….

I hope this post has not been to photo heavy but I had to include the closeups of the embroidery.

If anyone can help me with thread choices for piecing please help!

Have a good week.


Catherine

July applique block

Next week is going to be a bit manic with a party, a holiday and preparation for my parent's visit. I've spent two days sewing and have managed to cut all my fabric for the Summer Breeze quilt. I blogged about this here. An amazing amount of fabric for the queen size quilt has been reduced to various sized squares and rectangles and piecing has begun.

The pieces are all packed away for a couple of weeks and this afternoon I managed to finish the July block for the English Country Garden appliqué BOM. I had been waiting for some Heat n'Bond Featherlite as the flowers were much more intricate for this block and I did not feel I could manage needle turn appliqué. The background for the block was flying geese. I machine appliquéd the leaves, hand appliquéd the flower stem and crazy stippled the flowers. I thought that even a simple machine edging would make the individual florets look too heavy so just caught down most of the flowers with an uneven stipple. I'm pleased with how it turned out even if it is not as the experts would do it.

These are the four blocks I have completed.

The backgrounds all look slightly different in tone because of the lighting conditions when they were taken. I think it will be really pretty when I've finished and will probably have it in the conservatory during the winter to remind me of gorgeous spring and summer flowers. If you fancy having a go (and it's not too difficult) take a look at Kerry's blog. It has been really nice to have a small project like this which has a choice of techniques.

I also ordered a few fat quarters of Tanya Whelan's Barefoot Roses fabric and some perle thread from Cottonpatch. I think it may come in useful for making a rose block. I'm sure Kerry will include one (at least, I hope she does!)

Finally, I had a lovely card from Hugo and Vivi in the post today. I think Hugo may have added the bit on the left.

Tomorrow I intend to do some planning, a bit of ironing and shop for a few tops for Mike and a new dress for myself. Then I'll recover in the garden.

What great weather we are having. Enjoy the summer while it lasts. I'll be back in about 2 weeks.

Catherine

I'm linking up to SewCuteTuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts. There's so much great stuff there so take a look.




Also linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday at Quilter in the Closet



Linking up later in the month with PennyDog Patchwork

Two quilt shows and my new project

It has been an interesting week with plenty of quilty news.

I have taken all your advice and started a quilt for myself at last. My fabric is Printemps by 3 Sisters Fabrics for Moda. The palette is a mix of duck egg blue, pale yellows and corally pinks and has a slightly more traditional design.

I chose a pattern by Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting called Summer Breeze. I've been following Melissa for a few months and love her style. She offers masses of advice and tutorials on her blog. Check it out here. Summer Breeze was her first published pattern and is one of many available from her Craftsy shop.

I think this design will show off the fabrics I have chosen. The pattern is layer cake friendly with instructions to cut from 10" squares. I decided the queen size quilt was large enough and this size required almost 2 layers cakes plus 5.25yards of background fabric. Again I have gone for Kona Snow. Luckily Moda manufacture one of the designs in the range in an extra wide width(108") so I have ordered this for the backing. Still not sure about the border though so I'll wait until the top is finished before deciding on colour. I spent a couple of hours cutting and preparing this afternoon and ended up with the prettiest pile of scraps!

Earlier this week I visited the Kaffe Fassett exhibition at the American Museum in Bath. In all honesty I was slightly underwhelmed. It could have been because there was so much hype in blogland about it. I much preferred last years exhibition at the Welsh Quilt Museum. However it was a lovely day out with fellow quilters from Busy Bees. There was plenty of needlepoint and knitting and clever arrangements of various artefacts but the quilts lacked impact despite the colours. The gardens were looking pretty and the Museum itself is worth a visit.

Buttoned hats

Needlepoint chair

The quilting highlight of the last week was the exhibition in my local town of Penarth by the Penarth and District Quilters. This group meets regularly in a local church hall and have years of experience in all kinds of quilting. The exhibition was a real delight.

Marvellous trapunto work on Japanese fabric

There were too many photos and too many beautiful quilts to show. What's more, there was tea and home-made cakes. A fab morning.

I'm sorry if the post is a bit photo heavy but it's been that kind of week- lots to see and admire.

I hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you are. It is going to be a warm week so I might enjoy the garden a bit myself.

Catherine

Triangle quilt finished at last

During the last ten days I have driven from Cardiff to Somerset and back, Cardiff to Plymouth and back and then up to the Lake District and back so please forgive me for writing this in bed while drinking my tea. Finally though, I have finished the triangle QAL before the final deadline of July 31st.

The QAL was run by Paula (the Sassy Quilter) and finished on April 25th but so many of us were not ready so Paula extended the QAL for a second deadline thank goodness. This gave me the incentive to push through the pain barrier and I finished last week. It may be some time before I attempt another triangle quilt!

Anyway, prepare for some photos of the quilt taken in the Lake District at it's new home. I am so pleased with this quilt.

Fabrics:
Sunnyside layer cake by Kate Spain for Moda, plus extra yardage.
Kona: Bluebell, cactus and azure for plain triangles
Kona silver for border and back.
Back: Annali Scribble and one of the Sunnyside prints.

I could kick myself for forgetting to take a closeup of the binding which is pieced and all stripy. (I blogged about making it here.) I shall ask Susannah to send a photo when she has time. I cut this as 2" binding and this really made life difficult with all the seams. If I ever do stripy binding again it would have to be 2½".

Sue Phillips made a super job of the quilting again.

I attended a 'quilt as you go' class in Eccleshall, Staffordshire on the way up north. This was at the Corner Patch, a super quilting shop run by Jane. I joined 5 local ladies for the class. Our tutor was Chris Frances. She managed to demystify the techniques by teaching us to make a simple table runner. Again no photo as I left this in Cumbria where it has become a dolly's pram quilt. However I am gaining confidence and will now try to quilt small projects myself.

Finally a photo of Hugo with his quilt.

So I have no WIPs at all and can start a new project with a clean slate. I have fabrics for a baby playmat, fabric for Isobel's quilt and for a quilt for myself at long last. Which will it be?

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts for a Tuesday finish and to the Triangle QAL- Last Chance Link UP!

Have a great week. I am off to a class in FMQ today!


Catherine

Hugo has my heart!

Who knew that cycling could be so compelling? Or was it the beautiful Yorkshire countryside bathed in sunshine? Move over Wimbledon- make way for the Tour de France.
I had a wonderful afternoon in front of the telly ignoring the sunshine outside. First the superb and very fast victory for Petra Kvitova all done and dusted in 54 minutes. She was unstoppable! Then fantastic coverage of the Tour on ITV4 through pretty Yorkshire villages and countryside. Makes you proud to be British. I loved the sport, the sights, the crazy commentary with very unsound historical facts and the finish with poor Mark Cavendish taking a tumble at the last moment.
All this gave me time to sit and finish the binding on Hugo's quilt so it is ready to take up to the Lakes next weekend when we visit.

So, some photos…..ta dah!!!!

The quilt was long arm quilted by Sue Phillips. I love the cloud design in variegated light green. It shows really well on the fabrics but does not dominate the design.

I blogged about this quilt here but just some quick details again.

Pattern: Key to my Heart, by sweet jane available on Etsy

Fabric: Road 15 by Sweetwater for Moda (jelly roll) with Kona Silver for the border and Ikea Britten Nummer for backing.

I cannot remember the name of the binding fabric. It is black with very small slightly uneven white dots.

I know that there is a convention to name quilts so what shall I call this? If you knew Hugo and saw his beautiful big brown eyes you would know why I call it "Hugo has my heart". He's more likely to call it roads or houses!

I dropped Vivi's quilt off last Thursday and practically begged Sue to see if she could find time to quilt it. I should know by Wednesday whether it will be ready so that both the grandchildren get their quilts. If it is ready I will be sewing binding all the way up North.

I'm linking up with Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I get a Whoop Whoop? She is having a fund raising giveaway in a really good cause. Please take a second to have a look.