Crab & Winkle at my house

Last Friday evening it was my turn to host the Crab and Winkle group. We were getting together our entry forms for the Oast Quilters Showcase. Maggie had retrieved her little people quilt from her own little person to put in the show and also brought her embroidered and stitched hexagon piece to show us. Mary is putting the finishing touches to her family wallhanging; her three young ones are depicted on it and she's machine quilted a log cabin quilt for a new born in the family.

Quilt as you go 03 done

Although I haven't posted anything this week I have been really busy as I have had the house to myself and set up tables in the spare bedroom to get down to some machine quilting. I am really trying to finish those many projects in a partial stage of completion so I can get back to where I was when I first started quilting with just a couple of projects at different stages  on the go. One of my problems in this respect is belonging to groups which generate projects and also attending workshops though I have cut down on these and try to stick to ones which generate samples rather than projects. Also there is the spot of teaching and demonstrating I do for which I make things and also complete charity projects started in the class. This Twisted Sisters is one of these. Quayquilters made the blocks and I'm putting them together. Now it's done but I haven't taken a photo yet.  Here it is with two of the purple inner borders added and two more to go. Quay Quilters member Ruby sewed all the offcuts into two 4" wide strips which I've cut in half and placed all round. They make a very effective finish.

Quilt as you go stripwise 02

Once the rows have been created, sewing and flipping, then they too can be joined with a long piece of sashing, pinning at intersections to try to to make the blocks to line up.

Quilting as you go stripwise 01

I am joining Twisted Sisters blocks made by Quayquilters for a Linus quilt. I have cut rows of backing and wadding and am stitching and flipping blocks and sashing. Lastly I'll add the borders. First I lay down the backing and mark the centre with a pin. Then I find the centre of the wadding strip and match it to the backing. A quick spray of basting glue secures them together. I mark the wadding to show the placement of the first block and a line all the way along to keep them straight as I go. The block is basted down and the strips pinned to either side then sewn using a walking foot.

Liberty Hall

I went to the BQSG day at the V&A - an interesting talk, lunch and then round the show starting at the end this time and listening to the recorded commentary. I was much more thorough this time. Having investigated lots of details I will stand back and consider general aesthetics on my next trip.  I decided I had time to go to Libertys as quilts were on display there and check out their fabrics especially as I need one with a 24" repeat for my Sisters class. There were several large scale designs but the repeats were only 12-15" though one was a possibility - photograph here. I'll look again at Malvern.

The quilts on show were very expensive - £1400 - £1900. I thought one at least was probably of Chinese manufacture and the suspended ones were held by huge tacks with heads an inch across making for a largish hole or tear I would guess.

If there were such a thing as a medieval department store Libertys would be it but in fact its it's late C19th Arts and Crafts and just wonderful. I came away with a reel of cotton.

Bag Ladies

Three Usual Suspects have had a very pleasant day at my house. Judi showed us how to make a very pleasing bag which was not too hard to construct. I'm very pleased with mine - the one with stripes and trees. The others are ones Judi brought with her, the wavy stripy one made by Brenda from Judi's fabrics. Immaculate work. Mine is not perfect but I will be neater next time and meanwhile it's an acceptable result. destined for the Oast bag tombola.

Oh and Judi has made a Convergence top a la Ricky Tims under the guidance of Jenny H.

Patchwork Party

I finished catching down the Quiltology binding while watching The Quilt Show on my computer feeling very virtuous as I cleaned the house this morning. As I'd marked the stitching line on the border with a felt tip I washed the quilt and it's done  apart from the label. It will never win a prize for my workmanship but at least it is finished.

Galvanised by realising I'm behind with the Bonnies PP quilt I've laid out my blocks ready to join some together but want to redo one which is just too dark and dirty for the rest. I'll do a different design as LeMoyne star is not the easiest pattern and am making templates for a block from another PP series.

Bonnie Quilters

Now we no longer meet in the log cabin we've reverted in my mind at least to our previous Bonnie Quilters title. This morning I attached the binding to the Quiltology quilt and took it along with me to catch down on the back. Mavis meanwhile has made far more progress with her Patchwork Party quilt than anyone else even though she's done four extra blocks. All those wildly different greens add up to an amazing combination. Just wonderful. Next time we plan to make a bag.

Now I need to get going on my setting triangles. I'll use a fabric bought for the Quiltolgy quilt and joy of joys it's been bought recently locally so I can buy more if need be. We have three shops each with a very small selection but this one proved just right.

Quiltology QAYG 05

At this point I had lost the plot to some extent trimming the backing as well as the wadding and joining backing and wadding together so I needed to add either a single or turned over double strip to the back when I joined the blocks so I had a flap to cover the exposed seam.

Once all the blocks were joined I quilted the sashing and show a back view here.

Quiltology QAYG 04

Rows are joined in the same way.

Quiltology QAYG 03

First I catch the two sets of wadding together so a horrible gap doesn't open up when the quilt is finished.

Then I turn over the flap of backing and pin. Lastly I catch it down as neatly as I can.

Quiltology QAYG 02

Here you can see two blocks in a row ready to be joined . The wadding is trimmed but the backing extends.
The sashing is placed on top of the next block and I sew through four layers. Then I flip and press
so the block is joined at the front but open at the back. What next? Wait for 03!

Quiltology QAYG 01

I'm constructing Quiltology in quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) fashion. I lay the block on backing and wadding and tack and there are dots of glue baste here and there too. The extra backing and wadding is to accommodate sashing added later. Then I quilt the block. It's easy to quilt in the ditch round all the shapes when the piece is small. Next I lay out the sashing and then flip over and pin and stitch the seams. Once done and pressed I trim the wadding but not the backing. This isn't a quicker way but is very suitable for sampler blocks like this which involve lots of maneuvring when quilting. I like handling the quilted pieces

C&W Show & Tell

My Show and tell was my magazine project so no photo here as yet. I showed the Quiltology blocks and some were immediately apparent such as Grandmother's Flower Garden for Pam grandma par excellence and great gardener. Mary hoped hers would be the house and it was - a schoolhouse, her place of work. Maggie's was the log cabin variation because she always puts her own spin on traditional patterns and her home has traditional wooden cladding. The others were obvious once named: Marion's Choice for Marion, Mother's Delight for Melanie who loves her little one dearly and North Wind for me who has drifted south.
Marion had finished her hexagon top shown above in soft brushed checked and striped cottons started on our last sewing day led by Maggie. It is just gorgeous and we couldn't resist stroking it. I'm dying to get on with mine but must FINISH what I've started first. Mary brought in her log cabin for a new baby in the family and we deliberated on backings - we do love to give advice. There's a lot of work in it as some of the logs are quite narrow. We also tacked a top to be quilted by visitors to the Oast Showcase but I've no photo of that either.

Quiltology 03

Yesterday I made the border or edging pieces for the quilt with just one framing yellow piece and the rest in background fabric. I've also decided on the sashing posts, again keeping the focus on the blocks by using a pale background fabric. I like to have sashing posts rather than continuous strips of sashing as they help to keep the blocks lined up properly. Also I plan to quilt this in quilt-as-you-go sections.