Quilt Now BOM - Issue 13

The Quilt Now magazine Mystery BOM has finally reached its final set of instructions in Issue 13 which has just landed with subscribers.  Having followed along with Reene's skill-building 4 weekly challenges, and mostly kept up to date, I have been very excited to see how she would finish the BOM quilt and she has not disappointed!

At this point, I have a small confession to make.  This issue of Quilt Now seems to have taken longer to be published than usual and I knew I would never get this top finished on my own if I waited for it to land on the doormat.  So, a few weeks ago I knew that there was a single day opportunity to get my sewing machine out and get to work for what was the last machine time pre-arrival of my now massive pregnancy bump.  I was so keen that this quilt top would not lie unfinished (at least in the piecing of the quilt top sense) for months and months that I decided to make a guess at how the final two side block panels were supposed to go together and then to add a final solid aqua border myself ahead of knowing what Reene's plans actually were.  In the pic above you can see what I decided in terms of the block layout for the two sides.  Reene's top and bottom block panels really helped me to understand and make a reasonable informed guess as to where I should position the final blocks and by Miss Marple deductions I made the right decisions!

So I sewed and sewed, happy as the flowers in May, knowing that I would actually achieve a quilt top  finish before child no 2 enters our lives.  Yay!

Ta-da, here is my finished Quilt Now Mystery BOM quilt top!!

I really, really love it!!!  It is by no means perfect.  Some of those skills were not my forte and are a bit lacking in precision and talent, but oh I am so glad I gave them all a go.  I think my favourite new-to-me technique was the needleturn appliqué (which I really want to do more of in the future) and I also loved trying out the no-waste method of making flying geese.

I may have said before that I found myself quite surprised to jump in with the Quilt Now magazine's Mystery BOM right from the start, mainly because that word "mystery" doesn't tend to do it for me normally.  Joining a Mystery BOM or QAL involves NOT knowing what you are making ahead of time and that's not usually something I want to commit to (control freak alert).  However, this was definitely the right one to throw my inhibitions away on.  It did what it said on the tin and introduced new skills to try across a small selection of blocks with each issue of the magazine, and you know, if I really hadn't enjoyed it I could have just stopped at some point.  But, the team at Quilt Now were right to trust Reene with their first ever BOM project and I say thanks to them and to Reene for the challenges and fun along the way.

Now I'm off to store this pretty flimsy away carefully until I have the time to baste and quilt it - maybe a touch of hand quilting this winter if I'm lucky!

Quilt Now BOM - Issue 12

In Issue 12 of the Quilt Now Magazine Mystery BOM Reene had us making the final blocks for the quilt top.

I got to cut circles from my spring/summer palette of fabrics for some handsewn Suffolk Puffs (or yoyos, if you like).  It always amazes me how much smaller the circles end up when the puff is actually gathered in, but it is a really fun little technique which is great for all sorts of embellishment activities and brooch-making too, which is how I first learned it at one of Judith's workshops what seems like eons ago now.

Then, following Reene's instructions for placement and a little invisible appliqué stitch or two these pretty blocks took shape.  I just wish I could have closed the gap up a little tighter when I gathered the circles.  When I tried, I broke my thread - several times!  Not sure why the openings didn't close in a little more, but it's not really a big drama.

So, since all the blocks are made now, I'm imagining that the final month of the BOM will show us how to order the remaining blocks and how to finish the borders?  It's so nice to be this close to completing the quilt top.  I've just got my fingers crossed that I might make it over that piecing finish line before our expected arrival relegates it to a UFO box!

Quilt Now BOM - Issue 11

Getting ever closer to the finish of this BOM methinks, and it's very exciting.  I've even seen that Reene has sent her finished top off to be quilted, but spoilsports that she and Quilt Now are the pic snippet was enough to tell it was the quilt, but not enough to actually see anything properly - sigh (patience not being much of a virtue here lately).

So, issue 11 presented me with a little EPP dresden quarters stitching which was just perfect for Sunday evening stitching on the sofa.

I wasn't as speedy as I'd hoped and had to wait until yesterday to applique the last two dresden quarters to their low volume backgrounds.

Looking pretty and summery in those fabrics I think.

Playing detective a little, I'm guessing these will be for the corners of the quilt top's final borders.  At least I hope so because I cut directional lv fabrics for two of my backgrounds without thinking and have tried to arrange the layout to keep them right way up!  I'm sure I can remedy it if my Miss Marple skills are a bit off kilter.

Once again this was a fun month's skill in the Mystery BOM.  I'm not a stranger to EPP but I do love my hexies and don't often try other shapes - I really should get out more!

Quilt Now BOM - Issue 10

Time for the next instalment of Quilt Now Mystery Block of the Month blocks.  Hard to believe it's issue 10 already!  Reene's skillbuilder this month was to have us make little gathered hexagon blocks.  It started off with my sewing table covered in these strange little hexie bug thingies.

It finished with little blocks like this one. Sort of puffy, gathered hexagons which are machine appliqued to my low volume background blocks.

Eight blocks made and waiting for Issue 13 as instructed (I think that maybe the last one of this BOM).  Wonder what Reene and Quilt Now have in store for Issues 11 and 12 then?

Quilt Now BOM - part 9

When Quilt Now Issue 9 hit the doormat last weekend I was in the mood for just getting on with the next part of the Mystery Block of the Month.

This month's skill was making prairie points.  Reene promised these blocks would be fast and fun, and she was right, they were.  What she didn't say was that it would be a few days before my scorched finger tips recovered!  Perhaps, I'm just clumsy...

With the prairie points looking sharp, I chose some of the blocks I'd made from previous issues of the magazine and stitched them together as directed by Reene's instructions to create the top and bottom borders of the mystery quilt.  I LOVE how it's shaping up and wonder what Reene has in store for the other two sides.  I don't think there can be too many months left until it's complete and I can't wait to see how it will finish!

Catching Up

You may recall that when I set my little focus list at the beginning of January I included on that list catching up and staying up to date with the Quilt Now Magazine Mystery Block of the Month.  

Well it took me a while, and another two issues of the magazine landed on my doorstep in the meantime, but as of now I am officially caught up - need to say that just before Issue 9 arrives!

Issue 6 introduced a skill I haven't tried before - reverse applique on these sweet flower shapes.  

My verdict is that I need a lot more practice with the final stage of 'turn under and stitch down' to be happy with these and this shot is the only one you'll see close up.  This was my first block and contrary to what I thought, I didn't improve as I went along!

Issue 7 involved a trapunto effect - extra layering of wadding - on some weeny pieced bow ties.

I hadn't tried this effect before but the piecing and layering were much more in my comfort zone.

Eight pretty bow ties later and I'm looking forward to seeing how these take effect when the quilt is eventually finished and quilted up.

It was a relief after all the itty, bitty piecing of the bows to discover that the fast flying geese of Issue 8 were created from MUCH larger fabric cuts!  This was a new to me way of constructing flying geese and not only did I enjoy the technique, but I loved the pointy results.

Not a single goose beak/tip/or whatever the pointy bit is supposed to be was harmed in the making of these.   Although I am so used to making flying geese a different way, I really would like to make the effort to use this fast, no-waste method again - will just need to do a bit of research on how to achieve different sizes.

So, all this catching up allowed me to add to some blocks from previous issues and complete a border -

It is so lovely to see it all coming together after weeks of storing separate block types and not knowing how Reene is planning to combine them.  I'm enjoying trying new things and being challenged by some of them too.  Now, I'm curious as to how the flying geese and bow ties will work in the next border round.  How long until Issue 9?

Apple Core Epp quilt

I finally got my EPP back in the zone to finish off my giant apple core quilt as inspired by Fiona Poppy Makes' quilt from the very first edition of the Quilt Now magazine.

All of the apple cores have been pieced together by hand. I made my quilt a bit larger than Fiona's using 99 apple cores in 11 rows of 9.  It finishes up approx 56.5" x 66.5" which is big enough as a topper for a double bed with no overhang and starting just below the pillows.  For me it's big enough to wrap up well in on the sofa because the nights have been freezing here this week!

I know this quilt would have been a nice one to hand quilt with cotton perle but honestly, I just don't have the time at the moment and really, really not wanting to carry this over into 2015, I decided I would just get on with quilting it in some echoing lines about 0.5" from the seams.

I did take my time over the biased binding to keep the lovely shape of the apple cores (mostly) in tact.  This was my first effort with bias binding a quilt and making my own bias binding. Let's just say it worked better than I expected but I'm not in a big hurry to be "bendy binding" again.  There wasn't really anything wrong with the process, though perhaps I have just been a little impatient due to lack of time and it did take longer trying to ease around those convex and concave curvatures.

Here's a wee picture of the back of the quilt just because I quite like how modern it feels in comparison with the front fabric selections and because I love the quilting lines on it.  Reminds me of a loose rope weave effect.  This is a fabric I picked up in Ikea a couple of years ago and never had the opportunity to use until now.

Anyhoo, enough to-do, except to declare this as another finish for my Quarter 4 Finish Along Goals.  Tickety tick!!

Pixellated Heart Baby Quilt

Presenting my scaled down version of Katy's Pixellated Heart Quilt from Issue 1 of Quilt Now magazine - ta da!

Those fold lines have come out a bit too clearly in the pic - ugh!

I loved this quilt when I flipped through the magazine's first issue and decided that it would make a perfect baby girl quilt option for my cousin whose second baby is due at Christmas.  (For my boy option see this post.)  As the original is more or less double bed sized, I opted to re-size this one using 2.5" cut squares for my pixels.  So, this quilt finishes at 42.5" square.

I had intended to quilt it with straight line grids either side of the seam lines but after stitching all of the horizontal lines I called it quits because it was getting a little bit stiff.  I guess that was just a bit much quilting for pixels of this size.

Anyway, there it is - pretty, pink and suitably baby girlish!

Also adding that this is another FAL finish - yay!

Quilt Now BOM - part 5

Now I am really intrigued!

Part 5 of Reene's Medallion Block of the Month for the Quilt Now magazine involved some crazy patchwork and machine appliqued hearts.

Reene gave some choices for the crazy patchwork piece and I enjoyed playing a little with some of my machine embroidery stitches to fancy up the 'crazy' a little.  In her magazine article Reene says "If you're not having fun with this technique, you're trying too hard!"  and you know what, I think she was right! This was great fun!

Six of these quick pretties were to be made up as per this month's instructions and this is where I'm confused.

I now have 12 sixteen patch bargello blocks and 6 crazy heart applique blocks and I cannot figure out where's she's going next or how these all go together.  Oh, do hurry up Issue 6!!!

Thanks for a fun one Quilt Now and Reene!

Quilt Now BOM - part 4

I'm just about squeezing these Quilt Now BOM blocks in before the next instalment arrives!  When my aqua fabric arrived at the weekend I couldn't wait to get started on adding the border to finish part 3 and make a start on part 4.

Unpicking little bargello tubes.

Reene's chosen skill for the part 4 blocks was the bargello tube.  I'm not entirely sure I'm sold on the tube process, but that might be more because unpicking on such short lengths seemed to take too much time and I've been unusually impatient lately.  However, I can see how much quicker this technique would make piecing long bargello strips so it's a useful skill to know about.

Don't look too closely at my blocks as there are more wobbly bits than I'd like and some are just a tad under size.  I foresee a little fudging to fit them in to the remainder of this border!  I wonder what Reene has planned next?

Quilt Now BOM - part 3

The Quilt Now magazine's Mystery BOM is actually now well into it's fourth part with part five due soon, but I have managed to fall behind a bit and am just catching up with part three now.

Last weekend, after a very long no-sew spell, I decided I would cut and prep all the little applique bits and bobs for Reene's skill choice for this third section.  In spite of everything else that was going on, I was convinced that these little vines and flowers would be good to pick up and put down in between grocery stocking, Christmas cake baking, cleaning, ironing and all the other exciting parts of a weekend playing catch up on life.

I was right!  This was just the ticket for snatching half an hour's stitching here and there and by Sunday evening I had flowers, leaves and vines just about where they should be, all neatly stitched and the pieced into the border along with the quarter circle blocks from part 2.

I have tried this applique briefly before with a workshop at Fat Quarterly Retreat.  I loved it then but the time limitation of a busy workshop meant I didn't get very far.  Despite my best intentions to keep at it when I got home, that little WIP is still in a plastic ziplock bag (shame).  Still, I hadn't forgotten the handy tips Mandy gave us at the workshop and coupled with some info from Sarah Fielke's Craftsy Class which I have just recently watched, I was well on my way to getting a nice result from Reene's instructions for part three.  As a skill builder this re-introduction to applique has made me really want to do more (maybe in 2015?) so thank you Reene for re-igniting that spark and for this gorgeous design which I am loving so far.

To complete part 3 I need to add a solid border.  As you can see above, I have auditioned a pale grey and an aqua solid for this purpose.  My heart said aqua, my head said grey because the mystery aspect of this project means I don't know if aqua is going to work with what comes later and grey is more likely to - well, that was sort of my logic.  My heart said aqua a bit louder, so I invited the IG peeps to share their opinion and ... aqua it shall be!!  Except, I didn't have enough so I am waiting on a wee piece to arrive before I can finish off part 3 completely.  I know you'll forgive me that little delay and I promise you will see it there when I have my part 4 bargello style blocks completed. Do I think I can squeeze them in before Issue 5 drops through the letterbox? Hmmm, wishful thinking perhaps!

New Inspiration

I'm sure you've heard all about the launch of the latest quilting magazine to hit our shelves.  The first issue of Quilt Now was published last week and there's been a massive buzz on social media since.

To be honest, I don't normally do magazines of any kind.  I want to, but generally find that there's too much advertising and not enough content. I know, I know, bah humbug me.  Anyhow, for reasons unknown to me I was enticed a few months back to sign up to Quilt Now on a great £5 for three issues deal, and I'm glad I did.

Let me say now that I have no vested interest in promoting this magazine, other than sharing that I think the first issue is full of pretty projects you will love.  Taking an hour with a cup of tea to read through the magazine was a feast for my wee stitcher's eyes.

I really loved the layout, the projects, the articles and just the general feel of it.  Have to admit I was also quite excited that a pattern page of full size templates was included.  No having to figure out where to take the magazine to blow up the photocopies to 225%!

I limited myself to just four projects as potentials or I really would get carried away!  Clockwise from top left: I fancy the look of Fiona's giant apple core EPP, the strawberry pincushion free gift, Katy's pixellated heart quilt and the Quilt Now BOM which will be a medallion quilt designed by Reene.

 First, I made up the little freebie strawberry pincushions just for the fun of it.  (Yep, more avoidance.)

Then I got a bit carried away pulling from my stash for the BOM.  As I pulled fabrics I realised that actually I am a blender girl.  My stash is rather devoid of statement prints (except perhaps for my Bonnie and Camille fabrics) and it's interesting that blenders of various kinds are what I obviously tend to choose if I'm not buying for a specific project.  Anyway, this BOM is a mystery so I'm going to try to work from stash (because it really is time to use some of it up) AND I'm going to give low volume background a try for this project.  I'm not convinced that LV and I get along entirely, but if I keep the emphasis on LOW volume and create a very distinctive contrast in my use of colour, perhaps this experiment will succeed.

So here's my version of Reene's central medallion block -

My centre star is a wee bit off on the left side but I'm very happy with it generally and am looking forward to what Reene and Quilt Now have in store for us next time!

If you do happen to spot Quilt Now out there on the shelves and feel even slightly tempted, I really think you won't be disappointed.  As you can see, I have found some lovely inspiration and these are only a few of the projects you'll find inside.

Right I'm off now, I have some apple cores to cut out!