Winston Wades Into the Brown Debate

Brit Quilt Progress

I've had a big empty weekend so far.  No plans, no chores, no family - all is quiet around here.  Except in the sewing room of course.

With nothing specifically planned and no meals to prepare I have been stitching away to my little heart's content and making progress on my Brit Quilt Swap 3 Mini-Quilt.

Fabrics were chosen, strips were stitched, triangles were cut 'til my brain hurt figuring out which way to turn a 6" x 24" ruler for the easiest slice

Don't those little flowers look like fried eggs?

and hexies were arranged.

Somewhere about 30 mins in to pressing open about a hundred seams I had a brainwave and dropped the height of the ironing board and squeezed it in beside me.  Yes, I know, it can take a long time for the penny to drop with me some days!

Pretend all that clutter isn't really there.

Pressing the seams open isn't something I generally do unless a pattern particularly calls for it, but with these hexagons reducing the bulk in the centre joins really helped keep the momentum with the machine piecing.

With the top all together, I did something I rarely do and pieced a back for this little quilt.  I had some remaining triangles and joined them differently to make a centrepiece for the backing.

Then I pieced this into some white cotton and made the whole thing my quilt label (partner's name is hidden of course!).

See those pins poking up at the corners of the hexagon up there? They are how I tried to keep the back hexagon centred with the front hexagon.  The pins were inserted at the corners of the front centre hexie and then I positioned each corner of the back hexagon over the corresponding pin and voila!  It wasn't perfect, but pretty close.

I am rather impressed with myself for getting this far today.  I'll get the quilting done shortly and then I need to decide on binding.  It doesn't look very big but when I calculated the binding requirement it  is quite a bit more than I had imagined.  Dare I go scrappy with the fabrics already in here?

All in an afternoon's work

Today was a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, so no work for me!  After a lazy morning catching up on google reader and general hopping around websites, we headed out as a family into the sunshine (yes, actual real sunshine!) to climb Slieve Croob which is not too far from where we live.

I promise there was sunshine in spite of all those clouds!

See the fabulous views from the top.
Those are the Mourne Mountains in the background.

I have never climbed Croob before and, usually preferring flat(ish) beach or woodland walks, felt that after all that exertion I had earned an afternoon in the sewing room.

I gathered six of the lovely Melissa Averinos Swoon fqs which I won from Mandy at Simply Solids in a giveaway last year

and "allowed" myself to be distracted from what I actually went up there to sew (will have to show you that another day). Instead, inspired by this quilt I had a go at the Yellow Brick Road pattern.

After some nifty cutting of 6 fat quarters

I had 20 blocks of three varying designs

and not long after, a little quilt top measuring 36.5" x 45.5"

It's very busy I'll admit, much busier than I would usually go for, but I think I kind of like it in a not-very-me sort of way.  Oddly, when I had the fabrics in their little fq bundle I had the impression that this quilt would turn out to be quite brown, but actually it's quite purple among the yellow and orange and green.

I've been playing with possibilities for borders but, not having any more of the Swoon it would have to be a solid and when I tested them, they look so empty compared with the business of the quilt.  My son suggested just keeping this quilt small and adding an orange binding and I think I might just follow his advice.

The Yellow Brick Road pattern was a great pattern to work with.  The cutting instructions are clever and there's very little wastage.  It probably works best when the fabrics are more contrasting than these ones, but it's got a slightly modern feel to it and it can be whipped up into a top in just a few hours.  I will definitely be trying this one again.

Zip trials

As you'll know if you drop in from time to time I have sometimes mentioned that my ability to fit a zip can be quite inconsistent.  A little while ago I spent a very frustrating morning trying to fit an invisible zip to a cushion and it was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back.

I had also read of someone else using the same machine experiencing similar difficulties with their zips and, while I am always happy to admit user error/incompetence, I did wonder if maybe something about the zip foot was causing the problem.  So, after a prompt from the wise one and a quick google search I did find that my machine can be fitted with an alternative foot like this one

It's much narrower at the back than the standard zip foot supplied with the machine, and as a result it allows me to stitch closer to the zip teeth without the traumas of previous experience.

Armed with a few bits and pieces I decided to road test it and make myself a simple zippy pencil case to  store my rotary cutters.

So this little lot

became this wee rotary cutter case

all matchy- matchy with my new travel sewing pouch

And the verdict on the new zipper foot:  I think that maybe I could get better with a little more practice with the foot and gauging the positioning, but I definitely think it helped to get a neater seam line next to those zip teeth without all the heartache.

Showing off!

So, on Friday I promised I would show what these lovelies were destined to become.

Ta Da!!!

This is my slouch bag made at Judith's workshop yesterday.  It was an Adult/Child workshop which I managed to sneak a place on without my offspring (couldn't quite convince my son that he needed to make himself a slouch bag).

It was a great wee day and inspiring to see the girls so keen and eager for Judith's teaching and development of the machine mastery. Yay for encouraging the next generation of sewists!

I must admit to having a quiet chuckle as some of the girls looked daggers at their supervising adults (mummies, aunties and grannies) who dared to break for coffee when the girls just wanted to keep at it!  Oh, for the stamina of youth!

If you want to see their great makes check out Judith's post.

Off now to fill up my bag with all the necessary junk to keep me portable during the week!

Check these out!

First up, fancy a chance to win this fabulous set of Oakshot cotton fqs?

Well, the lovely Lynne at Lily's Quilts is offering us all that chance, so if you are already thinking up plans for using these fantastic fabrics hop on over and sign up for the giveaway.  There are 32 fqs up for grabs!

Next, I have been remiss in sharing a new blog with you.  My Bee Blessed friend Tina has recently started sharing her creativity online at The Secret Ingredient: Love.  

Tina has a fabulous log cabin quilt to show off and is working on a Double Irish chain quilt for her friend's wedding - nip over and check them out.  Tina is also a fantastic baker and I know she has plans to share her recipes and tips on her blog as well as her stitchy talents.  So, if you're interested in edible goodies, don't miss out 'cos at Bee Blessed we have tasted her culinary efforts and those recipes will definitely be worth making a note of!  So, why not pop over and say Sarah sent you.

And just before I head out for the day, here's a wee squizz at my latest Bee Blessed blocks.

Antique Tile blocks

Judith has posted the link to the tutorial and the Bee Blessed specifications for the colour placement here if you are interested in this block.  It was fun to make and I can't wait to see a whole quilt of these in blues and whites.  Those of you familiar with me will know that I have a soft spot (a very large soft spot) for blue and white quilts so those at Bee need to keep an eye on that quilt when it's finished just in case I sneak off with it!

Have a great Saturday in spite of the rain!

Plans for the weekend

Got plans for these lovelies for this weekend - if all goes well I'll show you on Sunday.