Carve this into my forehead, please...

Do. Not. Use. Red. Fabric. Without. WASHING. IT. FIRST.

This is important.
Sigh.

Siblings Together

Lily's Quilts is showing an example of some small thing that can change people's lives. I've never been in care, never been anywhere near The System, grew up on a small island with loving parents and a cheeky annoying fantastic younger brother. The idea that you can grow up without parental love, sibling affection, or even a home to call your own is mind blowing in its awfulness. Was I inconsiderate in that it never crossed my mind when I was young, that I took it entirely for granted that I was loved, cared for, had food, clothes, games, education, friends, stability and the feeling of being part of something bigger?

I dont suppose I ever needed to worry about that. I was, and still am, very very lucky. My daughter is growing up as part of a family who loves her,  watch over her and help keep her safe. She is also very very lucky. There are some children in our society who dont have the luxury of a community, family, parent, sibling; who grow up, or at least grow older, all by themselves. That is one of the saddest things I have ever heard.

So I would like to declare myself part of this initiative; to help a child by giving him or her something of their very own. To wrap them in comfort if not love, to help them cope with the hardships of their life. I dont want this to be patronising, although I know very little about the difficulties they face daily, but if I can give some crumb of comfort to another human being then thank you. Let that person thrive just a bit, knowing they have been brought a little bit closer to another living being.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.swimbikequilt.com/p/100-quilts-for-kids.html" title="Swim, Bike, Quilt"><img src="http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z420/swimbikequilt/100quiltsbutton2011.jpg" alt="Swim, Bike, Quilt" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Ta-Dah!

Finished! With washing and drying and everything!

Here's the whole quilt, in not brilliant detail, because the camera has decided it is not long for this world. Hmph.

Really chuffed with it though (the quilt, that is). Have taken the Irish Chain to the corners and placed the hearts in between, 7 blocks x 7 blocks, so 49 in all - 24 Heart and 25 Chain. Plus a 4 inch border and pieced striped binding, which I love.

 This one on the right shows the backing. I pieced a colourful strip down the centre of the quilt to make the back a bit more interesting. Duck egg sheeting. All over stipple quilted.

The whole thing shrank by about 3 inches after washing, which is ideal really - the quilt looks textured without being too crinkled. Finished size 89" square.

I dried it indoors - this is a Scottish summer after all - and it took a couple of days laid out on a sheet on the floor.
Even managed to keep the cat off it :)

Detail of the quilting, and a heart. I love the wee owl print here, though I can't remember where it came from.

Note the wee label sewn into the binding - Handmade by Fankle. That's me!












So...what do you think?

Light at the end of the tunnel

The heart chain quilt is lying in a crumpled heap at the end of the sofa. Looking for all the world like a neglected unloved pile of fabric. But this incarnation is a good thing, actually, because this means it is nearly at the end of the journey; the binding is about 1/3 sewn on with a little more being done each time I sit down to watch telly. Once I get the cat off it, and persuade my daughter she really doesnt want to use it as a tent.

The Union Jack bedpsread is languishing upstairs, however, although it will also be finished soon (honest, guvnor). Future plans involve making little things for a craft stall in Stair, Ayrshire in August and starting the Swoon quilt, which I am really excited about! Have also seen a gorgeous and ridiculously easy quilt in the latest issue of American Patchwork and Quilting

by Malka Dubrawsky of A Stitch In Dye, which I have fallen in love with, despite not usually liking the block. Who knew something could appeal so much with a simple change of scale?

Anyway. Going to wend my weary way to bed having not done any sewing, oops, but have got the shopping, put it away, and been totally engrossed by the last book in Celia Friedman Magister Trilogy. Good stuff.

99% success!

Only 99% because after I'd finished quilting the mammoth, I turned it over to discover a couple of wee puckers in the back. Rats. But they'll hopefully be all but unnoticed after it's been washed, so it will all work out ok. Apart from that, grrr, it looks really good. The binding has been machine stitched on too, so just the sewing in of the ends and stitching the back of the binding. Yeah, that's all (ha!)

This is my next project for us, using some darker colours I have been saving for my hubby. Cant recall where the photo came from, many apologies, but the Swoon block is from here.

Cool, eh? And only 2 years after everyone else :)



 

Have discovered a few things about me and my sewing:

1.  Use good quality thread for quilting. I used my piecing thread, in a fit of inattention, and it kept breaking. I hope there is enough goodwill in the quilt to counterbalance the loud swearing as it was being worked on.

2.  I can quilt better during the day, when I am less tired. Even though I am a night person.

3.  Quilting is more relaxing listening to Ken Bruce than to Jeremy Vine. (I wonder why?!)

4.  You use more thread than you think when stippling. I went through 15 bobbins on that baby, all 92" square, or thereabouts. Phew!

4 hours of quilting so far

That post title first came up as 'wilting', and after 4 hours I reckon I have had enough for just now. Going well so far, no puckers or folds (touch wood, cross fingers, chuck salt over shoulder, kiss the cat, etc) and the stipple effect is looking good.

I'm quite happy to stay stippling for now, although I do have an occasional foray into straight lines. I like the overall background effect of the stipple, how it looks like a scribble but doesn't detract from the main theme which, for me, is the colour. I LOVE the colours in quilting. The richness, depth, bouyancy and life of a mix of colours is what it's all about, I reckon.

And here's some shots to document the process:

Light slightly blue on this one, not sure why, but work going on. The machine was red hot by the time I'd finished today!











My sewing machine feet :)




I like to sew barefoot.
It seems I can work the pedal better.














More of the quilting. I use ordinary rubber gloves to move the quilt around, they have good grip and are inexpensive. Only trouble is, they give your hands a horrible rubbery smell. How we suffer for our art!

I've used 7 bobbins, with less than half of the quilting done. Stippling is heavy on the thread, but worth it in the end. I should have some more bobbins really, but find that by doing 3 at a time, I can have a good break when winding some more on.

I also sit on a gym ball when at the sewing machine, which really helps during a long session. When you start ot stiffen, just lean back and roll around for a bit, it really helps :)

More later then, peeps....

How do I grow my blog?

How do I grow my blog?

Just found this fantastic blogging entry on Lily's Quilts, an amazing and colourful blog I read. Ideal advice and relates to anything you blog about, not just quilting. 

For example: Do it because you love it, do it because you have something to share, and dont be afraid to tell people about it.

Sounds like common sense, but for those of us just starting to dip a toe in the water, invaluable.


Thanks Lily!

Really am still here...

Plugging away at loads of stuff - brother and family down for the Jubilee weekend, where we did absolutely nothing relating to the queen at all. We did go to Blair Drummond Safari Park on the Monday, and had a great day - maybe the lions would be considered Royal?
Spent the week before gutting, cleaning and sewing, spent this week cleaning and organising my month. Honestly, why do so many people have events in June? Plus making two cakes for the wee one's party tommorow, shopping for the load of people we have staying over, trying not to think about the wedding next month that the quilt HAS TO BE READY FOR...

But it is basted and just needs some quality quilty time, which is next week. Am looking forward to it actually.

Here's a wee something to keep you going till the finished pics:

Phase I finished. Prepare for Phase II...

Last block of the wedding commission finished tonight. Phew.

Now all I have to do is sew the top together, layer and pin baste, quilt and bind.

So not much left to do then :)

Groundhog Quilting...

You know that feeling you get when you make something from lots of little bits, and it feels like you've been doing it a while, and you look up, and the clock hasn't moved one single solitary second?

That's what these quilts feel like. Don't get me wrong, I love them, and the finished results are going to be so worth it, but I sew and cut, cut and sew, iron, cut, sew, iron, and I'M STILL NOT FINISHED!

But I suppose it's getting closer to being done with every stitch. I will just have to grit my teeth and get on with the last few blocks and not, repeat NOT, think about all the cool quilts out there, and all the tempting new fabrics I have ordered, and the colour combinations I want to try out; none of that. I will get my head down and get on with the job in hand.

It may kill me.

Here's some evidence I am doing something: (old photos doesnt mean I aint workng, you know)

Have since added blue and purple hearts, and some more green.

Fankle Quilting at the Perth Scottish Knitting Show

   No, not a mistake, I do have some knitting things left from my olde shoppe, oh! those were the days...But I will have a few quilting efforts there to show people what I  have done, and can do.
   I'm currently sitting listening to the printer laboriously chugging its way through some descriptions and pictures of my quilts to put in a folder. Not very technologically advanced, I'm sure some sort of virtual album could be whizzinbg around pon the table at the show, but we fear change - unless it suits our prupose. Like web shopping for sewing supplies WOOHOO!
   Anyway, for those who want to check it out, come to the Perth Racecourse on Saturday 12 May from 10 - 4, and you'll see loads of lovely wool, notions, accessories, handspun and dyed and machine knitting cones, plus a wee stall upstairs with cheap knitting needles, patterns, books, and the promise of some lovely quilts.
   Cheers!

Raindrops on roses...

Well, no rain here at all, actually, which makes a change, but my favourite thing at the minute is the basted and almost finished huuuuuuuuuuge Union Jack bedspread, languishing on the sewing room floor upstairs. So close, I can imagine it gracing the bed it's bound for, putting all other room decorations to shame.

I really should get off here and finish it! Have restarted the heart and Irish chain blocks, and they've picked up again nicely. Good to have stuff on the go. Off to do some sewing - the housework has just been pushed even lower on the priority list....

Final Stages....

Have sewn the backing together.

The finished top looks like this:

And the backing will be reddish, and also the binding. I think it looks really cool.

heehee!

Chuffed face :D

See? I am doing something!

Here's a wee peek of the work-in-progress bedspread - which is really real, not just a blether :)

Its coming on well, and should hopefully be done by end April; although now that I have seen the date on my laptop, it may be later....

But the top is in it's final stages, and as there's no wadding, the basting should be fairly easy. Will be quilting along the line just to define the pattern.

Details to follow when I finish, I've been noting the process and will hopefully have enough to make another one, should it work out that way. Always easier to follow instructions.

More soon!

Hannibal chews the end off his cigar and winds another bobbin....

Sewing is going on. Honest. Have made half of the top of the bedspread, laid it out with some raw fabric to check the design, and it looks. Really. Good. Have photos, but camera too far away to show - plus, lighting and cameraman not the best by any standards ie. me.

Still glad it looks good in reality, and that what I imagined is coming out true. It'll be big too, calculations very much guesstimates, but in a good way.

I Love it when a plan comes together.

Where does the time go?

Have been mostly working at my real job, boohiss, although it is a bookshop so it could be a lot worse (!) and visiting the family in the islands, so not much crafting going on other than travelling socks, but I am working between two projects. The wedding quilt has paused temporarily to make way for a denim Union Jack bedspread due at the end of April.

I am planning it along these lines:

(Pic from Amazon)
Except with denim jean patchwork for the blue bits, and have some red and cream upholstery for the rest. Has to be dogproof, hence the heavier fabrics. So far so ...slowly. But definitely getting there.

Working on the chain (piecing) gang #2

Hallo blog! Am sitting on my arse downstairs wasting time on the computer when I should be upstairs cutting and sewing, but just wanted to say have finished the first of the quilt top targets - the Irish chain patches are done, 24 complete blocks all ready to be used.
Now I have to carry on with the heart ones, which is more fiddly (although not much more) and I've been putting them off in my laziness.

But no more! off we go, up the wooden stairs to creativity :)

Have some inspiration -

This is what I can do when I try!

Holidays

Not usually something we do really, as in, take a few days out in the sun to do nothing, but the last year has been a really difficult one for us, so we have just done exactly that. 4 nights all inclusive in Spain, flying from the airport right beside our house (well, almost) and with actual yellow hot shiny sun when we got there. Aaaaaaaah.......

So relaxing. Little'un left with granny so I could get a proper break, and a good time had by all. Flippin marvellous. Will be doing that again.

Since we came back, have got 7 more squares done and another 6 half cut. Shame they all look like this:

(imagine the background is actually white and please excuse the rubbish night-time photography)

so I have nothing more exciting to show, but it is moving forward, albeit slowly. But moving is moving!

PS with extra GRRRRRRRR!

There is no such word as ADDICTING. It's just wrong and fills me with unmentionable horror and nausea. SO wrong. The word you are looking for is ADDICTIVE. You know, as in, so good you can't stop?

And while we're on the subject, hoi! Blogland! If you want to sneak a wee look at something you take a PEEK, not a PEAK. That's a mountain top.

Morons.

Still here

And much less snottery too. Yay! I can almost hear properly again. Now I have no way of tuning out the Blighter, though, but nothing in life is perfect. Had my best pal staying with us this weekend, and she finally understands what we've been saying for the last 3 years - that it is totally exhausting listening to our daughter's wittering all the time. She had it from about 6.45 am to mid morning, and now really feels our pain. Glad it's not just our imagination, I can tell you.

Sewing done in the last few days? HeeHaw. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Nowt. Flip all.

But I did rearrange my sewing room and it looks pretty good. Bought another table, moved the fabric, found shelves in other rooms that worked, basically made it ergonomic and more user friendly. Now I just have to be the friendly user!
Taking a few days off, and will be back in sewing mode next week. Have got a few blocks cut so lots to be getting on with.

It's all getting good.

PS. Check this out - how cool is this??